Mar 202025
 


Caravaggio I musici 1595-96

 

Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Within Weeks’ – Steve Witkoff (RT)
Zelensky Makes New Victory Promise (RT)
Trump Derangement Syndrome Could Be Recognized As A Mental Illness (RT)
Trump Will Run Again In 2028 – Steve Bannon (RT)
Here’s Why Trump Is Talking Peace With Putin (Timofeev)
Trump Looking To Give Up US Command of NATO – NBC (RT)
Trump Wants US Ownership Of Ukraine’s Energy Facilities – White House (RT)
Italy and Spain Reject EU’s Ukraine Spending Hike – Reuters (RT)
Biden Autopen Actions ‘Non-Delegable’ and ‘Invalid,’ Legal Analysis Finds (DS)
USPS Calls on DOGE for Help, but Is It Too Little Too Late? (PJM)
The Judiciary Is Attempting to Seize Executive Power (Paul Craig Roberts)
Trump to Sign Order to Eliminate Department of Education (ET)
Judge Temporarily Blocks EPA From Canceling Climate Grants (ZH)
Trump Fires Democrat FTC Commissioners (ZH)
A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall – From The West Down To The East (Pepe Escobar)
The Kingdom of Judea vs. The State of Israel (Alastair Crooke)
President Trump: Stop Bombing Yemen and Exit the Middle East! (Ron Paul)
What Will US Trade Wars With Canada, Mexico And Europe Lead To? (Pacini)

 

 

 

 


https://twitter.com/AutismCapital/status/1902175105305981196
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1902173370579337700

Rogan Musk

Sachs

Bessent

American Academy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1902100705969594607

 

 

 

 

“According to Witkoff, more progress was made on March 18 than in the “last three and a half years,..

Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Within Weeks’ – Steve Witkoff (RT)

A complete ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict will likely be implemented within “a couple of weeks,” US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has stated. He also said that sanctions imposed by Washington on Moscow could be relaxed once they reach such an agreement. Commenting on the phone call on Tuesday between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Witkoff hailed the conversation as “epic” and “transformational.” “President Trump and President Putin were in sync with one another, the call was outcome-oriented,” the official said. He confirmed that the two leaders agreed on a “cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure, from both [Russia and Ukraine], and civilian infrastructure for that matter.” Trump and Putin also undertook to work “toward a Black Sea moratorium on hits on naval vessels and freighters carrying grain and things of that sort.”

Witkoff expressed hope that these initial steps would “evolve into a full-on ceasefire, which is a bit more complicated because there is a 2,000-kilometer border, there’s [Russia’s] Kursk [Region], and there’s a lot of details that go into that.” Commenting on the Russian Defense Ministry’s report that its air defenses had shot down their own drones headed for Ukrainian energy infrastructure after receiving an order to halt such attacks overnight, Trump’s special envoy told Bloomberg TV, “I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith.” According to Witkoff, more progress was made on March 18 than in the “last three and a half years,” with important “trust-building” steps being taken now. President Trump and President Putin “went into how you would put the finishing touches on a full-on ceasefire,” with technical teams expected to meet in Saudi Arabia beginning next Monday or Tuesday, the White House envoy revealed.

“I actually think in a couple of weeks, we’re gonna get to [a ceasefire],” Witkoff told the outlet. When asked about a possible in-person Trump-Putin meeting in Saudi Arabia, the US official said that “my best bet would be that it’s likely to happen.” He reiterated that the two heads of state have a “great rapport,” dating back to Trump’s first term in office, which was “on display yesterday.” While the two leaders “did not discuss specifically sanctions yesterday… everybody is open” to such a conversation down the road, Witkoff added. Once a ceasefire in Ukraine takes hold, “everything else will be a detail: sanction relief and all the other things that go with a full-on peace treaty,” he predicted.

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“Following Putin’s order the Russian military had to shoot down seven of its own kamikaze drones launched at Ukrainian energy facilities..”

Zelensky Makes New Victory Promise (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday reiterated his pledge to achieve a victory over Russia, as he touted an upcoming phone call with US President Donald Trump. Zelensky made the remarks during a press conference alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb, during which he expressed hope that Trump will brief him on Tuesday’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Today I will have contact with President Trump. We will discuss the details with him today. I am thinking about the details of the next steps. Well, and I think I will hear from him the details of his conversation with Putin,” Zelensky stated, reiterating his determination to achieve a victory. “And we live, we defend ourselves, we survive, we fight for our sovereignty and our independence. And we will definitely win this war,” he said.

The conversation between Putin and Trump lasted for 2.5 hours, during which the presidents focusing on the Ukrainian crisis and ways to resolve it. Putin backed Trump’s proposal of a mutual 30-day suspension of strikes on energy infrastructure facilities and repeatedly “immediately” ordered a halt to such strikes, according to the Russian defense ministry. Zelensky publicly backed the idea shortly after the Trump-Putin talks concluded. However, he expressed concerns about how exactly the pause could be implemented. “If Russia stops striking our targets, we will definitely stop hitting targets in Russia. But Putin’s promises alone are not enough; there must be control. The main subject of this control must be the US,” he said during the press conference.

Following Putin’s order the Russian military had to shoot down seven of its own kamikaze drones launched at Ukrainian energy facilities. A few hours after the Putin-Trump talks concluded, Kiev attacked a Russian oil pumping station with three fixed-wing kamikaze drones. The attack sparked a massive fire at the facility, the military noted, describing the incident as “yet another provocation deliberately staged by the Kiev regime to derail the peace initiatives coming from the US president.”

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“..the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump.”

Trump Derangement Syndrome Could Be Recognized As A Mental Illness (RT)

Republican lawmakers in Minnesota have introduced a bill seeking to amend state law to classify ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ (TDS) as a mental disorder. The proposal defines TDS as a condition affecting individuals who react irrationally to US President Donald Trump’s policies and presidency. The term ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ has been widely used by Trump supporters and conservative commentators to describe strongly negative reactions to the Republican leader. The Minnesota bill was introduced on Monday by five GOP lawmakers who proposed adding TDS to the state’s official list of mental disorders, defining it as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump.”

The text of the bill claims that TDS can manifest in behaviors such as “verbal hostility or acts of aggression against those with differing political opinions.” The proposal further suggests that individuals with TDS struggle to differentiate between political disagreements and psychological conditions. Senator Glenn Gruenhagen, one of the bill’s authors, defended the proposal, arguing that the “irrational behaviour” exhibited by some Trump critics indicates a “deeper psychological problem” and that the bill seeks to address this issue, “not mere political disagreements.” “We should be able to have civil debates without demonstrating violent and unreasonable reactions such as burning down Tesla dealerships, threatening people who wear Trump hats or committing road rage at the sight of a Trump bumper sticker on a person’s car,” the senator wrote in a Facebook post.

At the same time, Gruenhagen has acknowledged that despite its introduction, the bill is unlikely to pass the Minnesota Senate where Democrats hold a narrow majority. “Of course, we all know that the Democrats and Governor Walz will never allow this bill to pass anyway, so take a deep breath and calm down,” he wrote, referring to the outrage stirred by the bill in the Minnesota Capitol. Critics of the term TDS have argued that it is a rhetorical tool used to dismiss legitimate criticism of Trump’s policies and behavior. Some have also pointed out that the label could apply to Trump supporters who react aggressively to opposition against him.

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Nothing could trigger Trump Derangement Syndrome more than merely mentioning this:

Trump Will Run Again In 2028 – Steve Bannon (RT)

President Donald Trump will find a way to bypass America’s constitutional two-term limit and run again in 2028, former White House strategist Steve Bannon has said. The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Bannon, however, who led Trump’s 2016 election campaign, has argued that Trump would be able to secure a third term. “I’m a firm believer that President Trump will run again in 2028. I’ve already endorsed President Trump,” Bannon told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday. “A man like this comes along once every century if we’re lucky. We’ve got him now. He’s on fire, and I’m a huge supporter. I want to see him again in 2028,” he added. When asked how Trump would bypass the constitutional ban on a third term, Bannon replied, “We’re working on it.”

“I think we’ll have a couple of alternatives, let’s say that. We’ll see what the definition of term limit is,” the former Breitbart News chairman said. “We’ve had greater longshots than Trump 2028. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’re working on. We’re not prepared to talk about it publicly.” When asked if he was implying a violent revolution or an insurrection, Bannon said, “No. We are big believers in democracy.” The strategist said that the Trump supporters intend to mobilize their voting base, including low-propensity and low-information voters. Trump has repeatedly joked about the possibility that he could serve more than two terms. In January, he told a crowd of supporters in Nevada, “It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve, not once but twice or three times or four times.”

Earlier this year, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles proposed to amend the Constitution to allow presidents who did not serve two consecutive terms to serve three terms in total. “It is imperative that we provide President Trump with every resource necessary to correct the disastrous course set by the Biden administration,” Ogles said in January. Trump was first elected in 2016, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He ran for reelection in 2020 but lost to former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump won his second term last year, defeating Biden’s hand-picked successor, Kamala Harris. The two-term restriction was included in the US Constitution in response to Franklin D. Roosevelt serving an unprecedented four terms in office. Before him, presidents had only served one or two terms.

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“Russia is willing to incur significant losses and take substantial risks in order to defend its fundamental security interests. It is not willing to back away,..”

Here’s Why Trump Is Talking Peace With Putin (Timofeev)

Tuesday’s talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump have marked a shift towards the resolution of the Ukraine conflict. However, given the number of unresolved issues, the results are still unclear and a setback could occur at any moment. The flaws in the European security system will continue to jeopardize prospects for normalization for a long time. Nonetheless, the window of opportunity for achieving peace is still open. The motivation to leverage these circumstances is shaped by the results that Russia has achieved in its military operation so far, as well as the potential scenarios that could unfold for both sides if the conflict continues.

Among the key results, we may note Russia’s readiness to use force to defend its interests in Europe. For three decades following the conclusion of the Cold War, Moscow’s ability to protect its interests using force was often dismissed. The military operation in Ukraine put an end to this misconception. It has demonstrated that security relations with the West had become so complicated that, from Russia’s perspective, there appeared to be no other option. It became clear that the use of force and a large-scale conflict in Europe were real possibilities, so Moscow’s demands and concerns couldn’t be brushed aside with vague reassurances. Russia is willing to incur significant losses and take substantial risks in order to defend its fundamental security interests. It is not willing to back away, even if it can save face by doing so.

In the field of diplomacy, it’s notable that the non-Western countries have not formed any major anti-Russia coalitions. The Western bloc, united against Russia, has failed to pull in additional players. China, India, Brazil, South Africa – and others – have distanced themselves from sanctions policies. While businesses in these nations are wary of the secondary sanctions that could be imposed by the US and are not always eager to engage with our country, their governments have avoided imposing anti-Russia measures.

Trade with many nations in the Global South has surged. These countries have neither adopted a pro-Russian stance, nor formed a unified anti-Western front. However, discussions about diversifying global finance, trade, and political institutions have gained considerable traction. Ultimately, the resilience of the Western coalition has begun to falter. The new US administration seems to have recognized that the conflict has reached a dead end and has taken preemptive steps to end it.

Among the diplomatic outcomes, we may note Moscow’s ability to contain the escalation of military support for Ukraine. For an extended period of time, Russia’s ‘red lines’ were often crossed, as it struggled to halt increasing weapons supplies to Ukraine. These deliveries increased, with weapons systems becoming more long-range and lethal. Changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine and the deployment of a new medium-range missile with a non-nuclear configuration have provided a crucial deterrent signal against the potential mass use of Western cruise missiles and other weapons systems by Ukraine.

Another significant outcome has been the ability to engage in a large-scale conflict with an opponent that has received substantial Western support in the form of weapons, intelligence, and funding. Russia’s defense industry has managed to maintain a high pace and scale of operations, quickly adapting to the new challenges posed by advancements in military technology, including the production and use of drones. At the same time, Moscow has essentially maintained an expeditionary approach in its military actions, avoiding extensive mobilization and instead relying on military volunteers and contract soldiers. The ability to conduct a large-scale and sustained military operation with a professional, rather than conscripted army has been a key interim achievement.

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In Europe, that is.

Trump Looking To Give Up US Command of NATO – NBC (RT)

US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering giving up Washington’s exclusive role in leading NATO’s military command, NBC News has claimed, citing defense officials. The outlet said Trump is exploring the possibility of relinquishing control of the office of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), which has been held by a US four-star general since the bloc’s founding in 1949. The SACEUR is tasked with overseeing NATO military operations in Europe. The position is currently held by Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, who has also been in charge of NATO’s coordination of military assistance to Kiev throughout the Ukraine conflict.

If the US does give up ownership of the role, it would likely be filled by one of NATO’s European member states. According to NBC, Trump weighing the move is part of a broader effort to restructure US military commands and reduce defense expenditures. The report states that his administration has been looking into cutting costs within the Department of Defense. Over the years, Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO. Following his inauguration in January, he urged European bloc members to increase their defense spending and warned that the US would not be responsible for defending NATO countries that do not meet their financial obligations.

Trump has also claimed that NATO’s expansion and its outreach to Ukraine under former US President Joe Biden were among the factors that led to the current conflict. Russia has consistently condemned NATO expansion towards its borders, describing the bloc as a threat to its national security. Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have also repeatedly stressed that NATO’s push to include Ukraine was one of the root causes behind the escalation of the conflict in 2022. The NBC report did not specify whether Trump has made a final decision on relinquishing the SACEUR position, and the extent to which the proposal is under consideration remains unclear. The US Defense Department has also not commented.

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“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure..”

Trump Wants US Ownership Of Ukraine’s Energy Facilities – White House (RT)

US President Donald Trump has proposed an American takeover of Ukrainian power plants, suggesting it would be the best way to protect the infrastructure, the White House has revealed. The idea was floated by Trump during a phone conversation with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday, described by the US president as a “very good” call. “President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise. American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” according to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz released shortly after the call.

The Trump-Zelensky phone call comes a day after the US president held a conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. They discussed the Ukraine crisis, with Trump floating the idea for Moscow and Kiev to halt long-range strikes on energy infrastructure. Putin backed the proposal and ordered a halt to such strikes immediately. The Russian military said it had to shoot down seven kamikaze drones en route to Ukrainian energy facilities when the order was issued. Ukraine’s leader has publicly backed the idea as well, albeit expressing concerns about how exactly the truce would be implemented and monitored. Following the phone talk with Trump, Zelensky appeared to offer a broader definition of targets that should be avoided during the period, including unspecified “civilian infrastructure.”

“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it,” Zelensky said in a statement. Overnight, Kiev attacked an oil pumping facility in Russia’s south with three fixed-wing drones. The strike sparked a massive blaze at the site, the Russian military said. The attack was “yet another provocation deliberately staged by the Kiev regime to derail the peace initiatives coming from the US president,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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“..Lavrov said earlier this month that the Trump administration is “guided by common sense. They say outright that they want to end all wars, they want peace. And who demands a continuation of the banquet in the form of a war? It is [Western] Europe.”

Italy and Spain Reject EU’s Ukraine Spending Hike – Reuters (RT)

The EU’s third and fourth largest economies – Italy and Spain – are skeptical about the bloc’s idea of doubling military aid to Ukraine, Reuters has reported. Proposed by renowned Russia hawk and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the plan would increase the bloc’s cashflow to Kiev from €20 billion ($20,9 billion) last year to €40 billion ($43,7 billion) in 2025. Following a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, Kallas acknowledged that her proposal had “broad,” but not unilateral, support among the 27 member states. She has been pushing for more EU aid to Kiev amid concerns in Brussels that US President Donald Trump could stop the flow of American arms to the government of Vladimir Zelensky.

Earlier this year, Kallas, along with NATO chief Mark Rutte urged EU members against prioritizing social welfare over military spending, arguing that billions already invested in healthcare, education and other areas would be “at risk” if the bloc is unable to defend itself from a supposed “Russian threat.” The idea of ramping up EU military aid to Ukraine has “strong backing” from northern and eastern European countries, the agency said in an article on Monday, citing diplomatic sources. However, some southern European capitals, further away from the Russian border, have been “more reticent,” it noted. Speaking before the meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministers from Italy and Spain made it clear that it was too early to take a definitive stance on Kallas’ proposal, Reuters said.

Italian FM Antonio Tajani said that the decision on doubling aid to Kiev should be made taking into account the progress in the talks between Moscow and Washington. He also noted that Rome needed money to increase its own defense spending. Spain’s top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares reminded that Madrid did not wait for Kallas to make her proposal and had already committed to providing 1 billion euros (around $1.1 billion) in military aid to Ukraine this year. Even France, which has been one of the strongest backers of Ukraine during the conflict with Russia, has questions about Kallas’ plan, according to the diplomats.

During the ministers’ discussions, Hungary and Slovakia, who have long been critical of EU military assistance to Kiev, said that they will not participate in the initiative, Reuters said. EU officials have assured Reuters that Budapest and Bratislava would not be able to block Kallas’ proposal as increased contributions to Ukraine would be voluntary. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this month that the Trump administration is “guided by common sense. They say outright that they want to end all wars, they want peace. And who demands a continuation of the banquet in the form of a war? It is [Western] Europe.”

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“Howell predicted the end of the Democrat Party, which he said will meet its demise “defending terrorists, transgenders, and autopens.“

Biden Autopen Actions ‘Non-Delegable’ and ‘Invalid,’ Legal Analysis Finds (DS)

The pardon authority is the president’s alone and cannot be delegated, according to a legal analysis by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. The watchdog group—which first conducted an analysis of former President Joe Biden’s White House use of autopen—released a memo late Monday night on the matter, bringing the numerous acts of clemency into question. “Every leftist who shrieked, whined, and moaned about defending democracy is a complete hypocrite if they are not outraged by the antidemocratic action on the scale of presidential actions enacted by people who were never elected to anything,” Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell told The Daily Signal Tuesday. Howell added, “The pardons are as valid as a $3 bill.”

The legal analysis came after President Donald Trump, based on the Oversight Project’s investigative work, said he would nullify the pardons. Pardons included members of Biden’s family, members of the House Jan. 6 committee, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley. “If President Biden’s non-delegable official actions were not his own, then they are invalid,” the analysis says. “Start with the Constitution. Multiple Constitutional provisions, like the pardon power, vest those powers solely in the president. In those cases, the president affixing his signature is his execution of the acts as president.” The use of the autopens occurred amid broad speculation about whether Biden had enough cognitive capacity to carry out the job of president.

An early 2024 Justice Department report by special counsel Robert Hur—regarding Biden’s handling of classified information—found Biden had “diminished faculties” during the counsel’s interview. Biden’s own Democrat Party eventually forced him off the 2024 ticket during last year’s election. Howell predicted the end of the Democrat Party, which he said will meet its demise “defending terrorists, transgenders, and autopens.” “If we have autopen, we don’t really need them anyway,” Howell said. The use of autopen is not new for presidents and staffers, but has traditionally been for minor or routine proclamations. Howell stressed that after the John F. Kennedy assassination, the 25th Amendment was enacted to ensure a process is in place if an incapacitated president is not able to serve. In this case, the autopen was misapplied, Howell said.

“This was a device used as a workaround of the 25th Amendment,” Howell said. Based on a 2005 Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel finding, it’s permissible to use autopen signatures for legislation. The Oversight Project contends the DOJ was wrong in its conclusion. Nevertheless, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel 2005 opinion states, “we are not suggesting that the president may delegate the decision to approve and sign a bill, only that, having made this decision, he may direct a subordinate to affix the president’s signature to the bill.” The Oversight Project analysis adds, “Thus, the Biden administration’s use of the autopen may well have been contrary even to the most permissive interpretation of the law.”

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“The USPS has been bleeding money for a long time, including a whopping $9.5 billion in the last fiscal year..”

USPS Calls on DOGE for Help, but Is It Too Little Too Late? (PJM)

In D.C., DOGE is the talk of the town. Whether it’s conservatives applauding every move Elon Musk’s governmental organization makes or bureaucrats crying about having to account for their time at work, everybody can’t stop talking about DOGE. This includes the United States Postal Service (USPS), which has authorized DOGE to swoop in and save the day.“The U.S. Postal Service has authorized Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to help eliminate red tape hurting financial and operational performance in a move Democrats decried but some postal workers say could be beneficial,” reports FreightWaves.“It also gave concrete figures on previously announced force reductions, saying it expects to eliminate 10,000 jobs through a voluntary early retirement program,” the report continues. “Meanwhile, postal workers and community activists this week plan to protest Trump administration expressions of interest in selling the Postal Service to private sector owners.”

The USPS has been bleeding money for a long time, including a whopping $9.5 billion in the last fiscal year. Yet shipping prices keep going up while service has been dissatisfactory for millions of Americans. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is leaving his office once the Trump administration identifies a successor, has been trying to turn things around for about three years. He set out to make the USPS profitable by the end of this decade, although it sounds like a fool’s errand of the highest order. DeJoy told lawmakers last week that he signed an agreement with DOGE and the General Services Administrations to identify inefficiencies and, as FreightWaves reports, “tackle big challenges related to retirement benefit calculations and investments, which have been a drag on Postal Service finances, and reform the Postal Regulatory Commission.”

“The Postal Service once faced the immediate threat of insolvency, which would have required a taxpayer bailout…” DeJoy wrote to congressional leaders. “Our efforts have provided a lifeline to our organization and [a pathway that is] financially sustainable. I ask that you please engage with the Postal Service, our DOGE representatives, and the federal agencies that need… to correct for the deficiencies of the past.” DeJoy believes that fixing accounting errors and revamping pension and worker’s compensation programs will help the USPS become more solvent, which is why he’s seeking DOGE’s help. He also believes that cutting burdensome regulations can save money. But, naturally, Democrats and left-wing media outlets are up in arms.

“As you explain in the letter, this agreement authorizes DOGE to ‘assist’ the Postal Service, presumably in making drastic cuts to Americans’ mail service and firing thousands of postal employees,” Rep Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) carped in a press release disguised as a “letter” to DeJoy. “The actions of employees operating under the ‘DOGE’ moniker have thus far been shielded from transparency and accountability, but this cannot continue.” “This backroom agreement between the billionaire-led DOGE and Postmaster DeJoy sets off alarm bells about this administration’s plans for the Postal Service’s role as a cornerstone public institution,” complained a bunch of Democrats in another letter. (These folks love them some letters.) And the Daily Beast rushed out with the breathlessly melodramatic headline, “USPS Chief Calls in DOGE to Slash Your Local Post Office.”

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I looked it up. There are 677 district judges in the US.

The Judiciary Is Attempting to Seize Executive Power (Paul Craig Roberts)

Biden judge Tanya Chutkan orders EPA not to obey a presidential order to terminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Chutkan was admonished by the US Supreme Court last June for ignoring presidential immunity and rushing a politically motivated case against Trump just prior to election season. Biden judge Ana Reyes ordered the Defense Department not to enforce a presidential directive to ban transgender people from serving in the military. No Democrat judge blocked the Biden Defense Department’s order to put promotions of white heterosexuals on hold while transgendered, homosexual, and blacks were promoted in their place.

Obama judge James Boasberg ordered planes in flight deporting dangerous immigrant-invader gang members to return the illegal aliens to the US. President Trump called for the lunatic judge’s impeachment, and Republican Supreme Court justice Roberts (no relation) upbraided Trump. Boasberg’s order is especially egregious as is Justice Roberts upbraiding of Trump. It seems neither Boasberg nor Roberts are sufficiently competent to know that the US Supreme Court has previously ruled that deportations under the Alien Enemy Act are not subject to judicial review.

I predicted that the judiciary would be the main obstacle to American renewal. So many incompetent and unqualified people have been put on the bench that the judiciary is an obstacle to governance. So many judges have been put on the bench because of where they stand on liberal causes such as abortion and who use judicial rulings to legislate their personal preferences that the institution of the judiciary is a dangerous threat to the United States. The only solution is to ignore the corrupt judiciary, or perhaps they should all be removed and we start over. The US judicial system is so cumbersome that an appeal of a ruling against a president can take longer than a presidential term. This makes it so easy for ideological judges to prevent governance.

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Bring the lawfare!

Trump to Sign Order to Eliminate Department of Education (ET)

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on March 20 that will facilitate the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, taking a step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge. The order, which has been under preparation for weeks, will be signed at a White House event with several Republican governors and state education commissioners in attendance, as confirmed by the White House. The plan was first reported by USA Today. Trump will direct his recently confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all required steps to prepare for the closure of the Education Department and transfer its authority to the states, according to a White House fact sheet obtained by NTD TV, sister media of The Epoch Times.

According to the fact sheet, the order also aims to ensure that, throughout the process, there is no disruption in the delivery of services, programs, and benefits that Americans rely on. The order also instructs that any programs or activities receiving remaining Department of Education funds will not promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or gender ideology. The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McMahon, confirmed by the Senate on March 3, said in her first message to employees—titled “Our Department’s Final Mission”—that her “vision is aligned with the president’s: to send education back to the states.”

She added, “Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education—a momentous final mission—quickly and responsibly.” The Department of Education employed about 4,200 workers before its recent termination of around 1,300, and the buyout of another 600. The agency’s current form stems from a 1979 law that made it independent by splitting it from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The federal government’s role in education, according to the White House, has failed students, parents, and teachers.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores demonstrate that student achievement has not improved, despite more than $3 trillion invested since the Department of Education’s inception in 1979, according to the fact sheet. Trump promised on the campaign trail to abolish the Department of Education, alleging it is responsible for indoctrinating America’s youth. On Feb. 4, Trump cited global rankings that have the United States behind many other countries, despite spending the most per student. He suggested at the time that he could work with Congress and teachers’ unions to abolish the agency but also did not rule out issuing an executive order.

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It’s Judge Tanya Chutkan again!

Judge Temporarily Blocks EPA From Canceling Climate Grants (ZH)

A federal judge on March 18 blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from terminating grants that were part of a $20 billion climate funding program created by the previous administration. In a 23-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the EPA from terminating grants awarded to three environmental groups—Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities—and block Citibank from transferring the funds back to the government. According to the court ruling, the EPA explained that it was terminating the grants because of multiple ongoing investigations into “programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse and conflict of interest.” Chutkan said the evidence was insufficient, as the agency failed to provide specific information about the investigations, factual support for the decision, or an individualized explanation for each plaintiff.

“Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” the judge wrote. Chutkan said the plaintiffs would face imminent harm if Citibank were to transfer the funds—which they use to pay staff, rent, and fund projects—out of their accounts, as the money would be unrecoverable by then. The judge stated that the plaintiffs have no cash or reserves available to cover their operating expenses and have no other committed sources of funding that could replace the grants. Climate United was awarded $6.97 billion, the Coalition for Green Capital received $5 billion, and Power Forward Communities received $2 billion last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Their grants, held by Citibank, were part of the $20 billion in funding the Biden administration awarded to eight entities for projects aimed at curbing pollution. The three nonprofits filed the lawsuit on March 8 after Citibank withheld their funding and their grants were terminated. The plaintiffs alleged that the EPA’s decision to terminate their grants was unlawful. Climate United CEO Beth Bafford said in a statement that the preliminary injunction was “a strong step in the right direction” for their legal challenge against the EPA. “In the coming weeks, we will continue working towards a long-term solution that will allow us to invest in projects that deliver energy savings, create jobs, and boost American manufacturing in communities across the country,” Bafford stated.

Commenting on the ruling, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the former Biden administration awarded the grants to “politically connected” nonprofit organizations “in a manner that deliberately reduced the ability of EPA to conduct proper oversight.” Zeldin vowed to claw back the funding and ensure that “every penny EPA spends” is directed toward its core mission of protecting human health and the environment. “I will not rest until these hard-earned taxpayer dollars are returned to the U.S. Treasury,” the EPA head said in a statement. Zeldin said last month that the EPA had decided to rescind the grants for climate and clean-energy projects because of concerns over lack of oversight and transparency.

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“We are still commissioners. We’re suing to make that clear for everyone..”

Trump Fires Democrat FTC Commissioners (ZH)

President Trump has fired the two Democrats sitting on the Federal Trade Commission. Rebecca Slaughter – a former legal advisor to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Alvaro Bedoya – a former Georgetown official, were informed by the White House that the president was terminating their positions at the FTC, which enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws. The Commission typically has five members, with the president’s party holding three seats and the opposing party two. Slaughter and Bedoya say they plan to challenge their dismissals in court. “Today the president illegally fired me from my position as a federal trade commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent,” said Slaughter, who Trump nominated to the FTC during his first term in 2018. “Why? Because I have a voice. And he is afraid of what I’ll tell the American people.”

Former FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (L) and Alvaro Bedoya (R) say they plan to sue President Trump’s administration over their firings. Bedoya wrote on social media, “I’m a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The president just illegally fired me,” adding that Trump wants the FTC to be “a lapdog for his golfing buddies.” “We are still commissioners. We’re suing to make that clear for everyone,” Bedoya said in a follow-up statement reported by Fox News. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican first appointed by President Biden and recently made chairman by Trump, said he sees no issues with the firings. “President Donald J. Trump is the head of the executive branch and is vested with all of the executive power in our government,” Ferguson wrote. “I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government.”

“I wish Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya well, and I thank them for their service,” he added.The FTC firings are set to become yet another test to the limits of Trump’s executive authority, as Democrats who don’t get their way can simply go venue shopping for an activist judge who will halt, even if temporarily, various decisions by the executive branch. Last week, US District Court Judge James Boasberg issued a 14-day restraining order to immediately halt several planes full of Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – which the Trump administration ignored since the planes were over international waters at the time.

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“..what matters is off the record. And that might as well have been Iran.”

A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall – From The West Down To The East (Pepe Escobar)

Let’s start with that phone call. The is quite sober – but it does reveal a few nuggets. There is no comprehensive deal – yet – between Moscow and Washington. Far from it: we are just in the initial tentative stage of talking and talking about several interconnected dossiers. President Putin gave absolutely nothing away. The agreed-upon pause on attacks on energy infrastructure – not energy and (italics mine) infrastructure – spells out as Putin imposing a stop on dangerous Ukrainian hits on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. That may be lost among all the Western hysteria; but there are two absolute conditions expressed by Moscow for anything in this riddle to start complying with objective reality – and not muddle along as a reality show narrative trainwreck:
1.“The settlement in Ukraine must take into account the unconditional need to eliminate the root causes of the crisis, Russia’s legitimate security interests.”
2.“The key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict should be a complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kiev.”

U.S. special envoy Witkoff is spinning that ceasefire “details” will be ironed out on Sunday in Saudi Arabia. No matter the amount of shrieking, Kiev will have to accept it. Putin-Trump did not spend over 2 hours just talking hockey, hazy Black Sea navigation prospects and a quite limited energy infrastructure missile strike one-month pause. In this incandescent juncture, what matters is off the record. And that might as well have been Iran. And the prospect of serious Hard Rain fallin’.

I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard

A certain psychopathological entity in West Asia is obsessed to ram all its opponents through the mouth of a graveyard. Putin must have had the chance to explain to Trump that Russia respects the UN Charter and abides by international law. Russia and Iran – top BRICS members – signed a comprehensive strategic partnership last January in Moscow. Russia provides detailed ISR/air defense/EW intel to Tehran. A proverbially hysterical narrative now imprints the notion that Tel Aviv – courting Trump 2.0 backing – is ready to inflict airstrikes on Iran to “prevent it from going nuclear”. Tehran, as detailed by Ayatollah Khamenei, has no interest whatsoever in building a nuclear weapon. There’s no way Russia will allow Israel – with crucial American backing – to wreak havoc on Iran. Even as Tehran is already capable to react to any attack, with devastating consequences. Without nuclear weapons – and even without Russian direct help.

Operation True Promise 2 – True Promise 3 is still on hold – had already demonstrated that Israel is absolutely defenseless against wave after wave of sophisticated Iranian missiles. Were the U.S. under Trump 2.0 to be involved in a direct attack, all U.S. military bases in West Asia would be incinerated, plus severe punishment to vassals hosting these bases. End result: oil prices skyrocketing, massive global economic crisis.

I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken

While the self-proclaimed peacemaker was on the phone polishing the newest iteration of his Art of the Deal, genocidal psychopathological Zionists with hammers a-bleedin’ were unleashing wild wolves on displaced newborn babies – huddling in tents ablaze in Khan Yunis. And ten thousand EUrotrash talkers with their tongues all broken were mute on genocide but ready to erupt in shrieking delight pledging loyalty – and billions in funds – to the envoy of the former self-proclaimed Emir of Al-Nusra, a moderate head-chopper turned Hugo Boss-clad President. sAll yelled a Eurovision-tinged Sieg Heil to the protégé’s mercenary “army”, duly backed by Qatari, British and European masters: ISIS-clad Salafi-jihadis, al-Qaeda remnants, assorted takfiris, Chechens, Uzbeks, Uighurs, a movable Terror Inc. on tour slashing Alawites, Christians, Shi’ites and even moderate Sunnis, facilitating the evisceration of Syria and the “donation” of large swathes of Syrian sovereign territory to Tel Aviv.

The Zionist SS Brussels Medusa von den Lugen gleefully showered the moderate head-chopper gangs – al-Qaeda R Us – with 2.5 billion euros. It was Qatar that pressured the European Commission (EC) to invite Jolani’s henchman turned Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani to the 9th Brussels Conference for Donors on Syria – even as at least 7,000 Alawites and Christians were being “slaughtered” by his goons, according to a Greek Member of the European Parliament, Nikolas Farantouris, who visited Damascus on March 8-9 and met, among others, with the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Near East.

In parallel the Exceptionalist “peace through strength” circus ringmaster – dubbed across vast swathes of the Arab street as “The Marmalade Moron” – brutally started bombing Ansarallah in Yemen, to force unbowed warriors to ditch their unwavering support for Palestine and wallow in submission. Additionally, “Bomb, bomb, bomb – bomb bomb Iran” was back as the crypto-Beach Boys theme song, because in the end Tehran must by all means be turned into Syria, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Yemen: a pitiful Quisling Zionist regime.

The destabilized but not broken Axis of Resistance is fighting titanic, simultaneous battles against the Axis of Genocidal Zion on several fronts: the psycho-killers in Tel Aviv; the Jolani mercenary army in Syria, de facto ground troops of Israel, simultaneously supported, ideologically, by Zionist Arab regimes and assorted Salafi/takfiri Islamic outfits blessing the massacre against Palestinians; the Eurotrash liberal totalitarians, who are financing Jolani; and Washington/Pentagon-bombed Ansarallah in Yemen.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Ansarallah, made it all very clear in his March 16 speech: “Our decision to support the Palestinian people, including our move to block Israeli maritime navigation, that clearly targets the Israeli enemy and no one else, is aimed solely at pressuring Israel to open the crossings, allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and put an end to the starvation of Gaza.”

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Deep state.

The Kingdom of Judea vs. The State of Israel (Alastair Crooke)

Israel is deeply fractured. The schism has become bitter and heated as both sides see themselves to be in an existential war for the future of Israel. The language used has become so venomous (particularly in reserved channels in Hebrew) that calls for a coup and for civil war are far from uncommon. Israel is nearing the precipice and the seemingly irreconcilable differences may soon erupt into civil unrest – as Uri Misgav writes this week, the “Israeli spring” is on its way. The point here is that President Trump’s utilitarian and determinedly transactional style may work effectively in the secular western hemisphere, but with Israel (or Iran) Trump may find little or no traction amongst those with an alternative weltanschauung that expresses a fundamental different concept of morality, philosophy and epistemology, to the classic western deterrence paradigm of material ‘carrots and sticks’.

Indeed, the very attempt to impose deterrence – and to threaten ‘all hell breaking out’ if his injunctions are not followed – may produce the opposite to that which he seeks: i.e. it may trigger new conflicts and wars. An angry plurality in Israel (led for now, by Netanyahu) have taken the reins of power after a long march through the institutions of Israeli society, and now have their sights focussed on dismantling the ‘Deep State’ within Israel. Equally, there is a furious push-back to this perceived take-over. What exacerbates this societal fracture are two things: Firstly, it is ethno-cultural; and second it is ideological. The third component is the most explosive – Eschatology. At the last national election in Israel, the ‘underclass’ finally broke the glass ceiling to win election and to take office. The Mizrahi (Jews from the Middle East and North Africa) have been long treated as the poorer, lower order in society.

The Ashkenazi (European, largely liberal-secular Jews) form much of the urban professional (and until recently) the security class. These are the élites whom the coalition of National Religious and Settler Movement displaced at the last election. This present phase to a long struggle to power perhaps can be put at 2015. As Gadi Taub has recorded, “It was then, Israel’s Supreme Court judges removed sovereignty itself—that is, the power of final decision over the whole realm of law and politics—from the elected branches of government and transferred it to themselves. One unelected branch of government officially holds power, against which there are neither checks, nor balances, by any counterforce”. In the optic of the Right, the self-awarded power of Judicial Review, gave to the Court power, Taub writes, “to prescribe the rules of the political game – and not just its concrete results”.

“Law enforcement then became the huge investigative arm of the press. As was true of the “Russiagate” hoax, The Israel Police and State Attorney were not so much collecting evidence for a criminal trial as they were producing political dirt for leaks to the press”. The ‘Deep State’ in Israel is a consuming point of contention for Netanyahu and his cabinet: In a speech at the Knesset this month – as one example – Netanyahu savaged the media, accusing news outlets of “full cooperation with the deep state” and of creating “scandals”. “The cooperation between the bureaucracy in the deep state and the media didn’t work in the United States, and it won’t work here”, he said.

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“In a real “America first” foreign policy we would be following the Russian and Chinese lead and staying out of the conflict..”

President Trump: Stop Bombing Yemen and Exit the Middle East! (Ron Paul)

Over the weekend President Trump ordered a massive military operation against the small country of Yemen. Was Yemen in the process of attacking the United States? No. Did the President in that case go to Congress and seek a declaration of war against the country? No. The fact is, Yemen hadn’t even threatened the United States before the bombs started falling. Last year, candidate Trump strongly criticized the Biden Administration’s obsession with foreign interventionism to the detriment of our problems at home. In an interview at the Libertarian National Convention, he criticized Biden’s warmongering to podcaster Tim Pool, saying, “You can solve problems over a telephone. Instead they start dropping bombs. Recently, they’re dropping bombs all over Yemen. You don’t have to do that.”

Yet once in office, Trump turned to military force as his first option. Since the Israel/Hamas ceasefire plan negotiated by President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Yemen has left Red Sea shipping alone. However, after Israel implemented a total blockade of humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza last week, Houthi leaders threatened to again begin blocking Israel’s Red Sea shipping activities. That was enough for President Trump to drop bombs and launch missiles for hours, killing several dozen Yemeni civilians – including women and children – in the process. After the attack, Trump not only threatened much more force to be used against Yemen, but he also threatened Iran. His National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added that the US may start bombing Iranian ships in the area, a move that would certainly lead to a major Middle East war.

Like recent Presidents Bush and Obama, candidate Trump promised peace after four years of Joe Biden’s warmongering and World War III brinkmanship. There is little doubt that with our war-weary population this proved the margin of his victory. Unfortunately, as with Bush and Obama, now that he is President, he appears to be heading down a different path.The Republican Party is gradually becoming a pro-peace, America first party, but the warmongers and neocons of the old line in the Party are not going to let go so easily. Unfortunately many of these dead-enders have found their way to senior positions in Trump’s Administration, with voices of restraint and non-intervention nearly nowhere in sight among his top tier of advisors.

To solve the Yemen problem we must understand it: Russian and Chinese ships, for example, are not being threatened because they are not enabling the Israeli demolition of Gaza. The slaughter there has been facilitated with US money and US weapons. It is the US doing Israel’s bidding both in Gaza and in the Red Sea that is painting a target on us and unnecessarily putting our troops at risk of retaliation.The US government, starting with Biden and continuing now with Trump, seems eager to make this our war even though, as Rep. Thomas Massie pointed out over the weekend, Red Sea shipping is of minor importance to the US economy. In a real “America first” foreign policy we would be following the Russian and Chinese lead and staying out of the conflict. It’s not our war. End US military involvement in the Middle East and our troubles disappear. It really is that simple.

Olmert
https://twitter.com/AdameMedia/status/1901998480756793838

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They will lead to tariffs.

What Will US Trade Wars With Canada, Mexico And Europe Lead To? (Pacini)

The recent trade wars waged by the United States against Canada, Mexico and Europe have had a significant impact on the international economic system. These protectionist measures, characterized by the imposition of significant tariffs on a wide range of imported products, have raised concerns about the possible consequences for global trade dynamics and economic relations between the world’s major powers. In particular, the question arises as to whether these tensions can favor greater commercial, economic and investment cooperation between the United States and Russia. The main questions that arise are: what will be the consequences of these trade wars on global trade and on the economies involved? Could these conflicts favor an economic rapprochement between the United States and Russia?

Trade tensions between the United States and its main economic partners are not a new phenomenon, but they have intensified in the last decade with a return to protectionist policies. With regard to Canada and Mexico, the United States has imposed tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico, provoking negative reactions from both countries. North American trade relations, traditionally based on a free trade agreement (USMCA, formerly NAFTA), have been seriously damaged by these measures. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the EU, which has been hit by tariffs on imports of cars and other luxury goods, in response to European duties on U.S. agri-food products. Tensions between the United States and Europe have led to a worsening of transatlantic relations, compromising the economic stability of both parties.

Trade wars inevitably lead to an increase in production costs, which translates into higher inflation and a reduction in the competitiveness of companies. The imposition of tariffs makes imported goods more expensive, with repercussions on various economic sectors: industries that depend on imported components, such as the automotive and technology industries, are strongly affected by the price increase; Producers in the U.S. of soy, meat and dairy products have suffered significant losses due to trade retaliation from Canada, Mexico and the EU; transatlantic tourism and transportation have been affected by economic tensions, reducing growth in the sector. The interruption of global supply chains is one of the most serious consequences of trade wars (and, let’s remember, it’s a consequence that also has an impact on many other countries that apparently don’t seem directly involved, but that in reality depend on the trend of that market).

Modern industry depends on a complex network of international suppliers, and customs tariffs increase production costs, making global trade less efficient. Trade wars are not just an economic issue, they have profound geopolitical implications. It is now well known and widely acknowledged that sanctions policies have been a tool for the planned weakening of Europe. The data shows that the EU has a significant trade surplus with the USA in the goods sector, equal to 157 billion euros in 2023. However, in the services sector, the EU has a deficit of 109 billion. The economic ties between the two areas are therefore not as unbalanced as is often claimed. European companies export many goods to the United States, but on the other hand Europe buys many services, particularly digital services, from the U.S. American tariffs on European goods could damage the sectors most dependent on the U.S. market, with different impacts depending on the countries and the types of goods affected (such as cars).

There may be an intention to exploit this disparity to divide EU member states and push them to negotiate separately, while trade policy should remain the exclusive competence of the Union. Some are already putting forward the idea of negotiating favorable conditions to the detriment of others, but it is clear that the EU should maintain a unified approach to exert greater influence in the negotiations. The European single market is the largest in the world, with around 450 million people representing 20% of global GDP. It is clear that Europe will have to adopt a strategy that combines both pressure and incentives in order to remain in the international game.

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1991

 

 

BBee

 

 

Fractals

 

 

Smart bird
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1902042650527600713

 

 

Shower
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1902364436062728572

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 042025
 
 March 4, 2025  Posted by at 11:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  38 Responses »


Edouard Manet The absinthe drinker 1859

 

Europe’s Reckless Warmongering Pushes Trump Toward NATO Exit (Sp.)
Why Is Europe Making Itself Irrelevant? (Paul Craig Roberts)
Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
Attitude Adjustment (James Howard Kunstler)
US Halts All Military Aid To Ukraine – Media (RT)
The Three Conditions For Zelensky’s Departure (Ryumshin)
Trump-Zelensky Clash Shows Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Kremlin (RT)
Musk Slams Zelensky For Rejecting Ceasefire (RT)
Tulsi Gabbard Questions If Ukraine Is ‘Aligned’ With US Values (RT)
Scott Ritter: US Had Its fingers in Every Aspect of Ukrainian Pie (Sp.)
Zelensky Rejects Calls For Immediate Ceasefire & Won’t Apologize To Trump (ZH)
US Reportedly Halts Offensive Cyber Ops Against Russia (ZH)
Trump Tells Americans To Worry About Migrants Not Putin (RT)
Bessent “Shocked” By Scale Of Fraud Already Uncovered By DOGE (ZH)
Economist Says DOGE Checks Are ‘Exactly The Right Incentive To Find Waste’ (JTN)
AG Pam Bondi Received “Truckload” Of Hidden Epstein Documents From SDNY (ZH)
Democrats Go Full McCarthy in Attacks on Musk (Turley)
Chinese Models Are Stunning Americans In The Tech Catwalk (Pepe Escobar)

 

 

 

 

Failings

Hegseth 5 bullets
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896279104535904726

Dellinger

Tucker

 

 

 

 

Time to talk Europe. Why do they insist on antagonizing Trump by sabotaging his peace efforts? Martin Armstrong says Europe is so far gone, the only thing they can think of doing is go to war with Russia. Von der Leyen today presented a $1 trillion EU rearmament plan. Which they can’t afford, but they could blame Putin for all consequences, not themselves. Consequences such as widespread and deep poverty across the continent.

Europe’s Reckless Warmongering Pushes Trump Toward NATO Exit (Sp.)

So long as the US provides an expensive and robust support for Europe’s defense, oligarchs based in Europe can continue business as usual, living their lavish lifestyles and provoking their nuclear neighbor, Wall Streest analyst Charles Ortel says. “Our European ‘partners’ seem to want ‘war at all costs,’ believing that America will do the paying and Americans will do the dying,” Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik, commenting on Europe’s demonstrative support for Volodymyr Zelensky, who rejected a Trump-brokered ceasefire in Ukraine. The UK and EU feel free to provoke Russia – a nuclear power – because they believe their security is guaranteed by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which would obligate the US to come to their defense, according to the analyst.

Europe’s proxy, Zelensky, “is behaving like an old-fashioned mafia goon, demanding protection money,” Ortel says. US involvement in the Ukraine conflict would mean increased protection for Europe and further US taxpayer money flowing into European coffers. But that won’t happen under Donald Trump and JD Vance, Ortel underscores. As Europe’s reckless warmongering continues, the US may have no choice but to leave the transatlantic alliance, he believes. “The US has no business subsidizing Europe and defending it,” Ortel says. “Indeed, I believe we have a duty to our own citizenry to significantly reduce our defense commitments to Europe and rescind NATO treaty assurances — if not exit NATO altogether under present circumstances.”

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“Trump has given us an opportunity we have not had for a long time. Be thankful for it.”

Why Is Europe Making Itself Irrelevant? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Readers want to know why the UK PM and European leaders–really, non-readers, misleaders, bad leaders–want war with Russia over Ukraine. My answer is that they don’t. What would they go to war with? According to the European “leaders,” they already have given all their weapons to Ukraine and have nothing with which o fight a war. The only way Europe can send any money to Ukraine is to get the EU central bank to print euros to send to Ukraine. Moreover, the NATO force structure depends on the United States. Without the US, Europe lacks a force structure that can support a war. Trump has ruled out war with Russia and read Zelensky the riot act. Unless Putin makes a fantastic mistake, I expect the conflict to end.

Perhaps what is going on with Europe’s is that EU governments, after sending so much money and weapons to Ukraine backed by claims that Ukraine was winning and would win, want to be able to say that Trump sold out Ukraine in order to avoid accountability to the deceived populations of Europe. They can blame Trump for denying Ukraine and NATO a victory. The European talk of sending “peacekeepers” to Ukraine is nonsense. Putin intends a settlement, an over-and-done-with event, not a ceasefire with European “peacekeepers.” Trump can’t get a settlement if he sides with the EU against Putin. If Trump and Putin don’t accept “peacekeepers,” it can’t happen.

Here is a thought. Trump sees economic growth as fed by opportunity. He sees more opportunity in business deals with Russia, India, China, the rest of Asia, and Africa than he sees in Europe. Trump understands that it was sanctions and the weaponization of the dollar that produced BRICS and the search for an alternative for central bank reserves and international payments. To save the dollar’s role as reserve currency, Washington needs to stop bullying. Trump, like Putin, wants deals that work for everyone, not wars. In a world in which the dollar is not used as a weapon against other countries, BRICS is not necessary. Trump sees tariffs in a different way than indoctrinated free-market economists. Tariffs don’t prevent trade. They ensure that countries have something with which to trade.

Moreover, tariffs are a tax on consumption, not a tax on factors of production such as labor and capital. And as I emphasize, tariffs in place of income tax eliminates the resurrection of a form of slavery established in 1913 when government was given partial ownership of the labor of every working citizen. We have little to lose by supporting Trump and keeping him focused on his agenda. We should not add to problems for Ukraine’s sake, or for Israel’s sake, or some other non-American interest. There are sufficient unaddressed threats around, such as AI and the creation and release of another virus, to knock Trump’s agenda off balance. Life is a challenge. Making good decisions is a difficult thing to do. Let’s try for a change to meet the real challenges and to make good decisions. Trump has given us an opportunity we have not had for a long time. Be thankful for it.

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“Right now, I am concerned from about May 15th on. . . . Our computer (Socrates) says Europe is going into war, and I put it into this report, Europe will lose. . .”

Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is back with a new warning about war coming to Europe. You may have seen the heated exchange between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday. If not, you should. Some of the Trump highlights are: “President Zelensky is not ready for peace. . . (Zelensky is) gambling with WWIII, and You either make a deal or we are out.” It looks like Zelensky intentionally started a fight with Trump in the White House. It also looks like every country in Europe is backing more war in Ukraine. And now, there is renewed talk of an EU army. Armstrong says, “Why?” ” Because they all are facing the collapse of the European Union. The debt is just unbelievable. They never consolidated. Between Covid, Climate Change and sanctions on Russia, the German economy has shrunk . . . 3% to 5%. The economic growth (of the EU) is appalling. Europe is falling, and this is why they need war. So, they are backing Zelensky.”

In a new report released yesterday, Armstrong lays out the case why war in Europe is coming and coming soon. Armstrong points out: “In this report, I gathered a bunch of headlines: London Financial Times, what’s the headline? ‘America is Now the Enemy of the West.’ This is why Trump is saying ‘We are out.’ Zelensky has admitted that 58% of the $350 billion the US gave him is missing. You cut the funding, and you are going to find out the truth. Trump should cut every single penny. Bring it all out. Zelensky is counting on Europe to replace the United States. This is why he’s so arrogant. . . . Trump should get the hell out of NATO–ASAP.”

So, why are all these reports coming out in the last few months about gold coming to America from Europe? Armstrong says, “Last week, I was on the phone, and I can’t tell you how much, but when you are about to go into war, capital moves…” “Right now, I am concerned from about May 15th on. . . . Our computer (Socrates) says Europe is going into war, and I put it into this report, Europe will lose. . . . This is why the gold is coming to America.” Armstrong also contends you can forget about predictions of the US dollar collapsing anytime soon – it won’t.

Armstrong says, “The Euro will become extinct.” Armstrong also predicts, “I published what the computer “Socrates” put out on Ukraine. It’s a flatline, and I have never seen that on any other country. It’s a flatline. It’s going dead. That’s it.” Did the election of President Trump stop a thermonuclear exchange with Russia? Armstrong says, “Absolutely! You had Dick Cheney endorsing Kamala. . . . Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were on the J6 Committee. Both of them are Neocons. Adam Kinzinger said ‘We could defeat Russia in three days.’ They put out nothing but propaganda all the time.”

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“Because Ukraine is mostly a flat plain, it has served historically as the doormat for invasions into Russia, so you may see why Russia was not comfortable with the prospect of NATO perched there..”

Attitude Adjustment (James Howard Kunstler)

See if you can get this straight: So, Kier Starmer says: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland wants to “put boots on the ground and planes in the air” in Ukraine so as to lead a “coalition of the willing” (NATO) against Russia. Sounds a little like the British PM is holding seances at No. Ten Downing Street to channel the spirits of bygone European leaders who launched doomed bear hunts into the vast and mysterious Eurasian east. (Who comes to mind?) Why is Europe so avid for war? After eighty-odd years of serving as the world’s tourism theme park, languishing in their cafes, maybe they forgot what war is like. The New York Times reports: Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would fortify Ukraine with economic and military aid, aiming to turn it into “a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders.”

This requires you to fall for the fake idea that Russia seeks to invade western Europe. Notice how much the EU acts like America’s Democratic Party — projecting its own hostile fantasies on its adversaries. Also, like our Democratic Party, Europe is sinking into oblivion. The animating ethos of the ruling parties in Germany and France is to punish their own citizens with censorship, tyranny, and sponsoring an alien invasion that aims to demolish European culture. Their economic wizards are taking the continent medieval, to a global backwater of defeated peasants eating bugs. I will boldly predict that the likes of Starmer, von der Leyen, and Friedrich Merz will be swept out of power by angry mobs before next Christmas. In the meantime, Europe has made itself preposterous. Europe does not have the mojo to do a darned thing about Ukraine or Russia.

The British army has 74,296 active-duty troops, comparable to Algeria. The UK’s North Sea oil production has declined by approximately 73-percent since 2000. Germany produces around 23,000 barrels-a-day, enough to meet two percent of its domestic oil demand. Anyway, exactly a year ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared, “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states.” So, who’s kidding whom? Circumstances are driving the USA and Russia into an alliance of necessity. The immediate goal is to stop the insane war provoked by previous non-Trump administrations (and the EU) going back to George W. Bush, that repeatedly promoted “color revolutions” (regime change) in Ukraine so as to drag it into NATO — putting a hostile forward base on Russia’s “front porch.” The idea all along among the most fervidly delusional neocons has been to bust-up Russia in order to seize its oil and mineral assets.

That project never panned out because after a decade of post-Soviet chaos, Mr. Putin put his country back in order, turned it into what used to be the definition of a normal European nation and — too ironically even for Russian literature — made it a bastion for defending Western Civ while the other nations of Europe launched their campaign of collective suicide. History is ever a trickster and the zeitgeist is its consigliere. Mr. Trump and his wingmen apparently recognize the obvious: that Ukraine is exactly what its name signifies in its Slavic root, (Ukraina): frontier, borderland, periphery, outskirts. Ukraine is on the edge of Russia. Most of all, it is geopolitically within Russia’s sphere-of-influence in the same way that Mexico is in ours, with similar implications for national defense as laid out explicitly in our Monroe Doctrine.

Because Ukraine is mostly a flat plain, it has served historically as the doormat for invasions into Russia, so you may see why Russia was not comfortable with the prospect of NATO perched there, especially in a new age of drones and missiles. As Europe now flounders impotently and wrecks itself, America and Russia are motivated to avoid being snookered into an unnecessary world war over Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy is but an anachronistic artifact of the color revolutions that finally sputtered out with “Joe Biden,” who was himself in the vanguard of a colossal money-grubbing operation in that sad-sack country.

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“This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing..”

US Halts All Military Aid To Ukraine – Media (RT)

US President Donald Trump has instructed the Defense Department to pause all military aid to Ukraine following his public spat with Vladimir Zelensky, news agencies reported on Monday, citing American officials. According to Bloomberg, the freeze affects the equipment already designated for delivery, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland. The suspension will stay in place until Trump sees that the Ukrainian leaders “demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace,” Bloomberg said, citing a senior Pentagon official. According to the New York Times, the order takes effect immediately and affects more than $1 billion in “arms and ammunition in the pipeline and on order.”

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Washington has stopped funding new weapons sales to Ukraine and was considering freezing weapons shipments. Trump has repeatedly accused Zelensky of undermining his effort to broker a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow. Their public feud culminated in an unprecedented shouting match during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday, after which Trump said that Zelensky was disrespectful to the US.

Zelensky has insisted that a ceasefire must be tied to security guarantees provided by the US and other Western countries. Trump, however, has refused to commit to specific guarantees and has ruled out making Ukraine a NATO member or contributing American troops to a potential peacekeeping mission. On Sunday, Zelensky told reporters that “an agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet.” Trump condemned his statement on social media, promising that “America will not put up with it for much longer.”

“This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Zelensky told reporters last month that Ukraine had a “low chance” of survival without American aid. The US is one of Kiev’s principal suppliers of weapons, including M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley armored vehicles, M777 howitzers, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and artillery rounds. As of December 2024, the Pentagon has committed more than $66 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2022. Russia has stressed that no amount of Western aid would stop its troops in Ukraine.

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Just take the arms away.

The Three Conditions For Zelensky’s Departure (Ryumshin)

For a long time, discussions about elections in Ukraine were hypothetical, a distant prospect. But recent developments – including Russian-American negotiations and the growing friction between Washington and Kiev – have thrown the question of Vladimir Zelensky’s future into sharp focus. The emerging détente between Russia and the US has activated what one might call a “Chekhov’s gun” scenario – an inevitability set in motion long ago. Both Moscow and Washington now seem to agree that Zelensky, whose legitimacy is increasingly in question, must face elections before making any binding agreements. Public statements from Russian and American officials indicate that if Zelensky were to exit following an election, both parties would welcome the outcome.

However, Zelensky’s departure is far from certain. For him to resign, at least two of three critical conditions must be met:
• The key players in the Ukraine conflict – Russia, the US, and the European Union – must want him to go.
• The Ukrainian political elite must push for his resignation.
• Zelensky himself must see a reason to step down.
• At present, none of these conditions are fully in place.
The US and Russia have seemingly converged on a three-stage process: ceasefire, elections, peace talks. Reports indicate that an informal consensus is emerging in both capitals. However, neither side has explicitly acknowledged a unified stance, likely because the negotiations are still in their early stages and have yet to formally address Ukraine.

The European Union remains the wildcard. Brussels is adamant that Ukraine must be supported, regardless of Washington’s position. This provides Zelensky with an alternative power base, meaning that even if Russia and the US agree on his departure, he could still count on support from Europe to justify staying in power. Public sentiment within Ukraine is difficult to gauge accurately. While polls indicate that Zelensky’s approval ratings have been steadily declining since 2023, recent attacks from US President Donald Trump and other Western critics have paradoxically caused his numbers to rebound. Whether this surge in support is genuine or a manufactured crisis response from his administration remains unclear. Polling during wartime is notoriously unreliable, making it difficult to assess whether the Ukrainian people truly want Zelensky to step down.

Ukrainian political opposition also remains fragmented. Many figures within the ruling elite bear grudges against Zelensky, but their ability to effectively challenge his authority is questionable. The Ukrainian parliament recently embarrassed Zelensky by failing to pass a resolution reaffirming his legitimacy at the first attempt – an incident that took place in front of EU representatives. But this is hardly a coordinated coup attempt; rather, it underscores the lack of unity among his detractors. A unifying figure for the opposition remains elusive. Former Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, once seen as a potential rival, has so far refrained from making any overt political moves. Without him, Zelensky’s adversaries appear more interested in minor disruptions than in mounting a serious challenge.

Despite his declining popularity, Zelensky is not without influential allies. His inner circle, particularly Andrey Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Yermak, often seen as the power behind the throne, has built his career on his proximity to Zelensky. Any shift in leadership could threaten his influence and that of his associates, making it likely that they will fight to keep Zelensky in office. The simplest answer is no. Zelensky appears convinced that his leadership is indispensable to Ukraine’s survival. He has consistently rejected any suggestion of early elections or stepping down voluntarily. His statements on the matter are often deflective, saying he would consider resignation only if Ukraine was admitted to NATO – an impossible condition. This suggests he will cling to power for as long as possible.

While Zelensky currently holds his ground, shifting battlefield dynamics could force his hand. Ukraine’s military situation continues to deteriorate, its resources are stretched thin, and Western support is no longer guaranteed. The new US administration is unlikely to display the same patience as the Biden White House. If Ukraine fails to turn the tide, Zelensky may face a stark choice: hold elections before the situation becomes catastrophic or risk being overthrown in a palace coup orchestrated by Ukrainian elites desperate to preserve their own futures. The latter scenario would not be unusual in history. Leaders who refuse to acknowledge military defeat often find themselves ousted by their own ranks. If Zelensky continues to insist on leading Ukraine down an unwinnable path, he may well meet the same fate.

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“The argument at the White House was “a rather unprecedented event,” during which the Ukrainian leader “at the very least, demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic skills..”

Trump-Zelensky Clash Shows Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Kremlin (RT)

The public dispute between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the White House last week is further evidence that Kiev is not genuinely interested in a diplomatic resolution to its conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated. Zelensky’s visit to the White House on Friday was abruptly cut short after a heated exchange with the US president and vice president in front of the media. During the tense meeting, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War III” by refusing to negotiate peace with Russia. They also criticized him as ungrateful and disrespectful despite the significant military aid Washington has provided to Kiev. During the intense argument, Zelensky once again ruled out talks with Moscow, demanded security guarantees from the US, and denied that Ukrainian forces are facing manpower shortages.

“The Kiev regime and Zelensky do not want peace,” Peskov told journalists on Monday. “In this situation, Washington’s efforts and Moscow’s readiness alone will clearly not be enough [to stop the fighting] as a very important element is missing.” The Ukrainian leader’s behavior at the Oval office “demonstrated how difficult it will be to get on the path of a settlement around Ukraine,” he said. According to the spokesman, Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the details of the clash between Trump and Zelensky. “It was available for the entire international community to see… Therefore, of course, the president knows all the nuances,” he confirmed. The argument at the White House was “a rather unprecedented event,” during which the Ukrainian leader “at the very least, demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic skills,” Peskov noted.

The Kremlin spokesman also stressed that “the collective West has partially begun to lose its collectiveness” when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, as some nations or groups of nations are beginning to work out their own more nuanced stances. There remains “a party of war” in the West, which declares its readiness to continue backing Ukraine and ensuring the continuation of the fighting, he said, adding that “at the same time, some first drafts of eventual peace plans are also appearing.” Peskov emphasized, however, that “it is too early to speak about some kind of a coordinated, detailed peace plan being on the agenda.” Overall, the situation surrounding the resolution of the Ukraine conflict remains complex, he stressed. Peskov reiterated that Russia remains committed to achieving all the objectives outlined at the start of its special military operation.

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“The EU leaders and Zelensky having fancy dinners while men die in trenches. How many parents will never see their son again?”

Musk Slams Zelensky For Rejecting Ceasefire (RT)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has lashed out at Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in a series of X posts, accusing him of prolonging the conflict with Russia by refusing to negotiate. Musk’s comments follow a tense White House meeting on Friday between Zelensky, US President Donald Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance. The meeting ended abruptly without a planned minerals agreement. During a heated exchange, Zelensky resisted Trump’s demand to negotiate with Moscow, leading Trump to accuse him of ingratitude, “gambling with World War III,” and lacking the willingness to end the conflict. After Zelensky’s “fiasco” in Washington, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called an emergency summit in London on Sunday to discuss Western support for Ukraine. Some European leaders raised the possibility of sending ground troops.

Early Sunday, Musk reposted a statement made by Balazs Orban, political director of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling for “direct negotiations with Russia” and an “immediate ceasefire and peace.” He then re-shared his 2022 peace proposal, suggesting referendums in Russian-controlled territories, the recognition of Crimea as Russian, and Ukraine’s neutrality. The Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Kherson Region and Zaporozhye Region—formerly part of Ukraine—became federal subjects of Russia after referendums in 2022. Crimea and Sevastopol had previously voted to join the country in 2014. However, Kiev continues to assert sovereignty over these territories.

“What I said over 2 years ago was that Ukraine should seek peace or suffer severe loss of life for no gains. The latter was Zelensky’s choice. Now, he wants to do that again. This is cruel and inhumane,” Musk wrote in a pinned post. Musk followed up with a meme of a tram running over people, with Zelensky at the control lever. Another post showed a blood-stained chessboard next to a dining table, captioned: “The reality of war.” He later reposted the image, adding: “The EU leaders and Zelensky having fancy dinners while men die in trenches. How many parents will never see their son again?” Musk’s remarks come as Zelensky demands more funding from Western backers while resisting talks with Moscow. Reports indicate Washington is unwilling to approve further aid unless Ukraine agrees to negotiations.

During the summit, Starmer urged the EU and other sponsors to take a leading role in supporting Kiev. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backed the idea, stating that “everything’s on the table.” French President Emmanuel Macron said deployment would only be possible “when the peace is signed.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed strong opposition to the potential deployment of Western peacekeeping forces. He emphasized that NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders is perceived as a threat, and deploying the bloc’s troops in Ukraine, even under a different guise, does not alter this perception.

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Ukraine is aligned with EU/Biden values.

Tulsi Gabbard Questions If Ukraine Is ‘Aligned’ With US Values (RT)

Ukraine and many of its European backers may not be aligned with the US values of freedom, peace, and democracy shared by President Donald Trump, according to Washington’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Gabbard was asked about last week’s heated exchange at the White House involving Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance. The tense meeting ended with Zelensky abruptly leaving the White House after being accused by Trump of ingratitude, “gambling with World War III,” and refusing to seek peace with Russia. The incident has sparked a backlash from Trump’s critics, including several EU leaders, who have accused him of “bullying” Zelensky.

However, according to Gabbard, anyone who has criticized Trump over his interaction with the Ukrainian leader is merely showing that they are “not committed to peace.” “Many of these European countries, and Zelensky himself, who claim to be standing and fighting for the cause of freedom and democracy” are actually acting contrary to these values, Gabbard stated. “When we actually look at what’s happening in reality in these countries, as well as with Zelensky’s government in Ukraine, it is the exact opposite,” she added. Gabbard pointed to the lack of elections in Ukraine, Kiev’s criminalization of opposition parties, the shutting down of Orthodox churches, and the complete government control over media outlets.

“It begs the question. It’s clear they’re standing against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But what are they actually really fighting for, and are they aligned with the values that they claim to hold in agreement with [the US], which are the values of freedom, peace and true security,” Gabbard said. The DNI chief further criticized Washington’s EU partners, recalling Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused European countries of implementing policies that “undermine democracy” and show that they “don’t actually believe in the voices of the people.”

“We’re seeing this in the United Kingdom, we’re seeing this in Germany, we saw it with the tossing out of the elections in Romania,” Gabbard said, suggesting that this shows a “huge divergence” between US values and those of the European nations that have backed Zelensky. Russia has also suggested that last week’s clash between Zelensky and Trump once again proved that Kiev is not genuinely interested in peace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that the Ukrainian leader’s behavior in the Oval Office “demonstrated how difficult it will be to get on the path of a settlement around Ukraine.”

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“A hammer doesn’t know the intent of an architect. America was the architect of Ukrainian project. Ukraine is just the hammer, just like Europe..”

Scott Ritter: US Had Its fingers in Every Aspect of Ukrainian Pie (Sp.)

Aside from preparing Ukraine for guerrilla warfare and conducting anti-Russia propaganda operations, the US and the CIA built 20 bases throughout the country, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik. Hunter Biden’s position on the board of the major Ukrainian energy company Burisma also shows that “the United States had its fingers in every aspect of the Ukrainian economic pie.” Ukraine, Ritter explained, is just a tool US tried using to defeat Russia – a tool that wasn’t even aware of “every aspect of this grand plan.”

“A hammer doesn’t know the intent of an architect. America was the architect of Ukrainian project. Ukraine is just the hammer, just like Europe,” he said. Commenting on the recent clash between JD Vance and Zelensky, Ritter noted that Vance is “the vice president of the United States, who has received some of the best intelligence there is about the reality of Ukraine.” “Zelensky is an actor who reads from a script as part of a play that’s being controlled by others,” he remarked.

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“This is a new president, and we are determined to take a new approach towards peace.”

Zelensky Rejects Calls For Immediate Ceasefire & Won’t Apologize To Trump (ZH)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has remained defiant in the wake of Friday’s explosive confrontation with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office. He said from London Sunday that he will not apologize and that his country’s freedom is “not for sale”. He acknowledged that the public spat “didn’t bring anything positive or additional to us as partner” – however he also said “This relationship will continue because this is more than a relationship in one moment.” “If you don’t have an end to the war and you don’t have security guarantees, no one is able to control a ceasefire,” he told reporters while preparing to leave the UK, following a meeting with European leaders to agree on continued support for Ukraine.

Financial Times has underscored that Zelensky is not only rejecting calls from the US to apologize to Trump and Vance, but he’s now openly pushing back against ceasefire. The Ukrainian leader…rejected calls for Ukraine to agree an immediate ceasefire in its war with Russia, saying it would be “failure for everyone” if a cessation of hostilities were not accompanied by detailed security guarantees. “If you don’t have an end to the war and you don’t have security guarantees, no one is able to control a ceasefire,” Zelensky stressed in these latest remarks. He still proclaimed that he remains “ready” to sign a US-Ukraine minerals deal, confirming that his aides are now speaking to Trump’s team about ways to move forward on it. Zelensky says he is prepared to sign a mineral rights deal with the US and thinks the relationship with Washington can be salvaged. —NBC

But the mood from the White House appears to be one of willingness to cut Zelensky off altogether. There are reports that President Trump is mulling cutting off all continuing defense aid to Ukraine. Administration officials have sought to clarify that this was no ambush which played out before media cameras on Friday, but that Zelensky was rude and confrontational the whole time, and never satisfied with what the US was providing to Ukraine. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told the Sunday news shows that President Trump “was frustrated and angry because it’s unclear if Zelensky truly wants to stop the fighting. The President and VP said enough is enough.” Walz added: “This [lecturing] was the wrong approach, wrong time, and the wrong president to try to do this kind of a thing. This is not Joe Biden. The entire world saw that, crystal clear.”

And this segment from Walz’s account in a Fox News interview is hugely revealing:
Q: How did Zelensky react after press left? Was he surprised?

Waltz: No. His team was. His ambassador, and adviser were practically in tears, wanting this to move forward. But Zelensky was still argumentative. I said “Mr. President, time is not on your side here, on the battlefield, and in terms of the world situation. And most importantly, USAID, and the taxpayers’ tolerance, is not unlimited”.

Waltz: I think Zelensky is used to hearing that “as long as it takes” and blank check from Biden. He has not gotten the memo that this is a new sheriff in town. This is a new president, and we are determined to take a new approach towards peace.

European leaders are meanwhile trying to absorb the blowback and fallout, now talking about an alternative peace plan backed by “boots on the ground and planes in the air”. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is leading the way on plans for a ‘stabilization force’ to back a Ukraine ceasefire, likely involving France – and which the Europeans hope Trump can sign on to. But the Kremlin is likely to immediately reject it, given the Western ‘boots on the ground’ aspect to the plan.

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“If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize…”

US Reportedly Halts Offensive Cyber Ops Against Russia (ZH)

In the latest indication that we’re entering a new, less adversarial era of US-Russia relations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a suspension of offensive cyber operations against Russia. The length of the pause is uncertain but the purpose seems clear: To demonstrate good will as the Trump administration earnestly seeks a negotiated end to the three-year-old war in Ukraine, which has been costly not only to the two warring countries, but to the United States and Western European countries that first precipitated that conflict, and then perpetuated it. The pause will continue as long as negotiations move forward, according to the Washington Post’s sources. US officials tell various media outlets that the stand-down order was issued to US Cyber Command in late February.

Headquartered at Ft Meade, Maryland and commanded by Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, the mission of Cyber Command’s two to three thousand employees is to “plan and execute global cyber operations, activities, and missions to defend and advance national interests in collaboration with domestic and international partners across the full spectrum of competition and conflict.” “I have seen many times when we are in some type of negotiation with another nation, especially if it’s one that is considered an adversary, that we stop operations, exercises, we even cancel speeches sometimes,” retired Cyber Command deputy commander Lt. Gen. Charlie Moore told the Post. The pause in offensive cyber-operations was first reported by The Record. The precise nature of the adjustment in activity is unclear, but the outlet’s sources say it does not apply to the National Security Agency and its signals intelligence-gathering.

Right on cue, hawks squawked over the deescalation move. “Russia continues to be among the top cyberthreats to the United States,” James A. Lewis, a Clinton administration diplomat and former U.N. cyber negotiator told the Washington Post. “Turning off cyber operations to avoid blowing up the talks may be a prudent tactical step. But if we take our foot off the gas pedal and they take advantage of it, we could put national security at risk.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of giving Russian President Vladimir Putin “a free pass…to launch cyberoperations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure.” Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on leftist hysterics about Trump’s eagerness to reach a negotiated ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine — consistent with his campaign pledges:

“If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize. This is absurd. We are trying to end a war. You cannot end a war unless both sides come to the table, starting with the Russians, and that is the point the president has made. And we have to do whatever we can to try to bring them to the table to see if it’s even possible.” In another recent sign of easing tensions between the world’s two nuclear superpowers, the United States approved Russia’s selection of a new ambassador to Washington. Aside from the Ukraine peace overtures, current bilateral US-Russia dialogue has been focused on fully restoring relations and putting back in place all embassy staff in Washington and Moscow, respectively. As relations deteriorated during the Biden era, there had been several rounds of hostile, mutual booting of diplomats. Meanwhile, a summit between Trump and Putin is in the works.

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“We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!”

Trump Tells Americans To Worry About Migrants Not Putin (RT)

President Donald Trump has stated that the US should prioritize domestic issues, such as migrant crime, rather than focusing on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Recent Russia-US talks initiated by Putin and Trump, followed by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s disastrous White House appearance, have triggered concern among Kiev’s backers that the US president’s approach could benefit Russia more than Ukraine. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has commended Trump’s approach, noting that it “largely aligns with our vision.” The American leader has dismissed concerns about his relationship to Putin, emphasizing that Washington has more pressing matters to address. “We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

EU nations are meanwhile facing a migration-related security crisis. France has seen a rise in extremist attacks linked to radicalized asylum seekers, while Germany grapples with migrant-related violent crime. Italy continues to struggle with mass arrivals via the Mediterranean, prompting stricter border controls. In Sweden, studies have highlighted a high percentage of sex crimes committed by foreign-born individuals, fueling debates on immigration policy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has underscored these concerns, stating, “There is a very clear link between terrorist acts and migration.”The US has faced a surge in illegal border crossings, increased cartel-linked drug trafficking, and crime in migrant-populated areas. In response, Trump has threatened tariffs on Mexico if it does not take stronger action. Since taking office in January 2025 Trump has signed executive orders tightening immigration policies.

One expanded expedited removal, denied federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, and increased border enforcement hiring. Another declared a national emergency, allowing the deployment of the armed forces to secure the border. The administration is expanding detention facilities to house up to 30,000 migrants. Former President Joe Biden had made Ukraine one of the key focuses of his administration, a decision that drew strong opposition from conservatives. Critics argued he should have prioritized domestic issues instead of sending billions in aid overseas. Biden’s visit to Kiev in 2023 and other foreign trips sparked backlash from Republicans who accused him of neglecting crises at home. Following Trump’s inauguration in January, the White House reaffirmed his ‘America First’ policy – first introduced in 2016 – by outlining plans to “make the country safe again” through stronger border security and a renewed focus on “American values.”

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President Trump and Elon Musk [..] are planning to visit Fort Knox in the near future to “audit” the gold stocks and make sure all of the gold is where it’s supposed to be. I’m certain that visit will be the mother of all photo-ops.”..

Gold’s Historic Rally (Jim Rickards)

Even casual observers know that gold has been trading near all-time highs lately. The dollar price of gold has been trading around $2,955 per ounce, quite close to the all-time closing high and near the recent intraday high just below $3,000 per ounce. Since November 1, 2022, gold has rallied from $1,650 per ounce to $2,955 per ounce, an 80% gain in 28 months. Since the U.S. dollar is also near interim highs based on leading indices, gold’s performance when measured in euros, sterling or Swiss francs is even stronger. We expect this trend to continue and to push gold solidly above the $3,000 per ounce level on its way to even higher levels in the months ahead. That’s news in its own right but there’s a lot more going on in the gold space than just the price action. President Trump and Elon Musk (head of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, and the world’s richest man) are planning to visit Fort Knox in the near future to “audit” the gold stocks and make sure all of the gold is where it’s supposed to be. I’m certain that visit will be the mother of all photo-ops.

Of course, Trump and Musk will not be conducting a real audit in the financial sense. They’ll just look around and show that the gold is actually there. This should lay to rest the rumors and ill-founded theories that the gold is somehow missing or has been shipped to JPMorgan. It hasn’t been. Even this publicity visit has not captured all of the gold news lately. On a more serious note, Scott Bessent the U.S. Treasury Secretary said recently that “within the next twelve months, we’re going to monetize the asset side of the balance sheet for the American people. We’re going to put the assets to work.” There has been so much focus on the liability side of the balance sheet (basically the $38 trillion in national debt) that it’s refreshing to hear a senior official talk about the asset side.

The liberal critics will wail that Bessent plans to sell Yosemite National Park to real estate developers. Nothing like that will happen but the U.S. does have ample assets it can sell, lease or otherwise monetize without invading national parks or wilderness areas. These include mineral and mining rights, intellectual property, airwaves, rights of way, flight paths, and, yes, property development rights and land sales in non-sensitive areas. No one has any idea what all of this is worth, but it’s certainly worth in the trillions of dollars and can be monetized for the benefit of the American people including paying down the national debt.

Gold dealers and gold bugs immediately focused on one particular U.S. asset that could be monetized – gold. The U.S. has 8,133 metric tonnes of gold bullion in three locations – Fort Knox, West Point and the Denver mint – that could be sold. That gold has a current market value of $771 billion. Of course, any effort to sell more than a small fraction of that would drive the price of gold straight down. It would be an immense blunder to sell any of it anyway. The Treasury should be buying gold to maintain confidence in the dollar, not selling it.

Another take on monetizing gold revolves around the fact that the Federal Reserve currently holds a gold certificate issued by the U.S. Treasury in 1934 in compensation for the transfer of gold bullion from the Fed to the Treasury on orders of Franklin Roosevelt (backed up by legislation). That certificate is valued on the Fed’s books at $42.22 per ounce. If the Treasury ordered the Fed to write-up the value to market, that would add $760 billion to the Treasury’s general account, which could be used to finance the U.S. government without adding new debt.

Trump definitely wants new revenue streams for the government. I wouldn’t count marking-up the price of gold as a revenue stream. It does produce cash with no addition to the national debt but it’s not really a revenue stream; it’s just an accounting entry. It does produce cash but only on a one-time basis. In principle, you could repeat the process if gold went higher in the future but that’s uncertain and not completely reliable like taxes, leases and tariffs.

Despite the gold bug claims, there is no particular connection between marking up the price of gold (accounting) and selling gold reserves for cash (monetizing). One has nothing to do with the other. The government could sell the gold today at the market price without having to wash the accounting through the Treasury general account at the Fed. There’s nothing about marking up the price of gold on the Fed’s books that affects the government’s ability to sell the gold one way or the other.

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Scary numbers.

Bessent “Shocked” By Scale Of Fraud Already Uncovered By DOGE (ZH)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did the mainstream media press tour this weekend, clarifying two critical bullshit talking points to the propagandists: first, DOGE is doing a good job; and second, the US economy faces some significant headwinds as a hangover from ‘Bidenomics’ spendfest. Speaking in a Feb. 28 interview on Bloomberg Podcasts, Bessent was asked whether DOGE’s cost-cutting measures would have a “material” impact on deficit reduction. “I think we can make a pretty big hit here,” he replied, explaining that if DOGE identifies $300 billion in savings – which he suggested is possible – it could reduce the annual deficit by approximately 1 percentage point as a share of GDP. Even if the savings total only $150 billion, he said, this is still “moving us back toward the target, and we’re determined to get this down.”

As The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek reports, Bessent emphasized that DOGE, which was tasked by President Donald Trump with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending, has already uncovered substantial inefficiencies—and a surprising amount of outright fraud. When in comes to “waste, fraud, and abuse, I think most of us think in terms of waste and abuse,” Bessent said. “I’ve got to tell you that I’m slightly shocked at some of the fraud we’re finding, and you’re going to be hearing about more of that over the next couple of weeks.” As for the ultimate savings that DOGE will deliver, Bessent said: “We’ll see.”

DOGE, led by Elon Musk in a special government role, has an 18-month mandate to slash $2 trillion in federal spending before its scheduled dissolution on Independence Day 2026. Musk has acknowledged the ambitious nature of this goal, saying that even cutting half that amount would be a major step toward reducing inefficiency and lowering deficits. Over the past month, Musk and DOGE staffers have moved aggressively to pursue reforms across federal agencies, reporting $65 billion in savings through canceled grants, asset sales, workforce reductions, and terminated contracts and leases. Trump recently urged Musk to push even harder to root out waste and fraud. He also signed an executive order directing federal agencies to work with DOGE to eliminate costly or duplicative regulations, further accelerating its deficit-cutting mission.

“We either solve the deficit, or all we’ll be doing is paying debt,” Musk said in a recent interview with Fox News. “It’s not optional. America will go bankrupt if this is not done.” According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the federal deficit is projected to average $1.9 trillion per year between 2025 and 2034, or approximately 5.4 percent of GDP over that period. If DOGE’s projected $300 billion in savings materializes—a figure Bessent said was not out of the question—it would lower the deficit to $1.6 trillion and reduce the deficit-to-GDP ratio by nearly 1 percentage point, improving fiscal sustainability. The CBO has warned that persistently high debt could slow economic growth, increase interest payments to foreign creditors, heighten the risk of a fiscal crisis, and limit policymakers’ ability to respond to future downturns. It has stressed that lawmakers must pursue comprehensive fiscal reforms, including spending cuts, revenue increases, or a combination of both, to put the budget on a sustainable long-term path.

Meanwhile, DOGE’s aggressive efforts have drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress, who accuse the agency of overstepping its authority and operating without sufficient oversight or transparency. The agency also faces multiple lawsuits, some challenging its access to federal data and others questioning its constitutional legitimacy. Despite the legal and political battles, DOGE appears to have significant public support. A recent poll of Epoch Times readers found overwhelming backing for DOGE and the Trump administration’s push to curb waste, fraud, and abuse. At the same time, respondents called for greater visibility into DOGE’s findings, with some demanding greater accountability—including the prosecution of individuals found to have engaged in fraud. Bessent’s remarks suggest that such accountability may be on the horizon.

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“Trump will turn it around. We’re going to get inflation back down at 2% but it’s going to take a little while.”

Economist Says DOGE Checks Are ‘Exactly The Right Incentive To Find Waste’ (JTN)

Since news broke last week that Elon Musk wants to send $5000 as a waste reduction dividend to every taxpaying household, outlets like CNN and Forbes are repeating DNC talking points that it could make matters worse. National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett defended the plan to CNBC, noting that if the government spends the money on a program or sends it back to the American people — who will spend it back into the economy or save it — the outcome is the same. But in the latter scenario the American people get some money back. “Imagine if we don’t spend government money and we give it back to people, if they spend it, you’re even but they’re probably going to save a lot of it in which case you’re reducing inflation” he told the press during a briefing at the White House last week. Notwithstanding fears about inflation being heightened by another stimulus-type check to Americans, the economy has a major renovation job ahead.

Many blame that stimulus spending for the inflationary surge during Biden’s term in office. Moore, who served as President Trump’s senior economic advisor told the “Furthermore with Amanda Head” podcast that for Trump to overhaul Biden’s economy, “he needs a big pooper scooper to clean up the mess that was left behind… everything that Trump is doing is deflationary; whereas, everything that Biden did raised the cost of businesses and led to runaway inflation.” It can be done, however. Moore gives a timeline of six to nine months for Trump to undo the damage and for the American people to start feeling relief. “Trump will turn it around. We’re going to get inflation back down at 2% but it’s going to take a little while.” A significant contributor to that economic recovery is reducing the cost of oil and gas. In 2024, 82% of energy consumption was sourced from traditional means like oil, gas and coal.

The Biden administration, through vehicles like the Green New Deal, allowed for regulations and standards that stymied or halted altogether domestic energy production. The “Green New Deal,” introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey in 2019, has not passed legislatively, but its core principles have been implemented throughout industry and used as a template for blue state policies like California’s push to eliminate gas-powered cars. Speaking to the seeming intentionality of Biden damaging energy production, Moore cited the first-day-of-office action by Biden to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and asked, “why would anybody do that? Why would they try to destroy American infrastructure?” While legacy media outlets ran coverage for Biden and stuck to DNC talking points, Biden ultimately admitted in January of 2023 that the cancellation of the natural gas resource in fact cost thousands of jobs and revenue in the billions.

Other contributors to the rebounding economy are government spending and the tax bill Americans must pay to satisfy that spending. The budget resolution passed by Congress on Tuesday provides a framework for what needs to be done. Each of the House’s committees are now tasked with finding tax cuts and opportunities to reduce spending. The resolution passed 217 to 215 with all Democrats and one Republican voting against it. Digging into the alternative had it not passed, Moore indicates Americans dodged a bullet: “Republicans voted to stop the biggest tax increase in the history of this country” that would’ve hit taxpayers next January. When asked what a $4 trillion tax increase would have cost the average, middle-income household, Moore said, “The average family would pay somewhere between $2000 and $3000 a year more on taxes.”

Read more …

Looks like she gets a second chance. Use it wisely. And yes, get DOGE involved. You don’t have 6 months.

AG Pam Bondi Received “Truckload” Of Hidden Epstein Documents From SDNY (ZH)

After last week’s botched Epstein files release, many are calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired over the lame binders given to right-wing influencers and journalists that contained old information. On Monday, Bondi appeared on Fox News, where she told host Sean Hannity that she received a truckload of files on Friday morning containing additional Epstein files which were hidden away in the Southern District of New York. “FBI handed over a couple hundred pages of documents, but you know Sean, I gave them a deadline of Friday at 8am to get us everything, and a source had told me where the documents were being kept – southern district of new york (shock), so we got – hopefully all of them, Friday at 8am. Thousands of documents,” said Bondi.

“I have the FBI going through them … Now that we have Kash here it’s a game changer of course, and Director Patel is going to get us a detailed report as to why the FBI withheld all of those documents.” Sean Hannity: “I want to be clear, because I think people are frustrated. You were expecting more, and you didn’t find out – less than 24 hours before the release, you got a whistleblower that confirmed that there were way more documents that they were supposed to turn over, and then you found out just before that.” Pam Bondi: “Well sure, you’re looking at these documents going ‘these aren’t all the Epstein files!’ – and we’re going ‘where’s the rest of the stuff?’ and that’s what the FBI had turned over to us. And so a source said, whoa – all this evidence is sitting in the Southern District of New York. So based on that I gave them the deadline – Friday at 8. A truckload of evidence arrived.

It’s now in the possession of the FBI. Kash is going to get me – and himself a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld. And, you know, we’re going to go through it – go through it as fast as we can, but go through it very cautiously to protect all the victims of Epstein, because there are a lot of victims.” “Now, is that the only thing that would be redacted,” Hannity replied, referring to the names of the victims. Pam Bondi: “Yeah, the FBI hasn’t had, obviously, they haven’t looked at the thousands of pages of documents that they just received Friday. Kash has a team going through them – and it’s always about protecting the victim … We believe in transparency, and America has the right to know.”

The Biden administration sat on these documents. No one did anything with them, and why are they sitting in the Southern District of New York? I want a full report on that. Sadly these people don’t believe in transparency, but I think more than that – I think they don’t believe in honesty,” she continued. “Everything is going to come out to the public.” Watch (via Collin Rugg):

Maybe they can ask Elon Musk and DOGE to scan and redact the documents by the end of the week, vs. stringing us along for what could now take months?

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“..this is a naturalized citizen who not only could be the next Elon Musk. He is Elon Musk.”

Democrats Go Full McCarthy in Attacks on Musk (Turley)

This month, 75 years ago, Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wisc.) gave his infamous speech denouncing disloyal Americans working at the highest levels of our government. It was the defining moment for what became known as McCarthyism, which attacked citizens as dangerous and disloyal influences in government. Some of us have criticized the rising “rage rhetoric” for years, including that of President Trump and Democratic leaders, denouncing opponents as traitors and enemies of the state. In the 2024 election, the traditional red state-blue state firewalls again collapsed, as they had in 2016. The response among Democrats has been to unleash a type of new Red Scare, questioning the loyalty of those who are supporting or working with the Trump administration in carrying out his promised reforms.

Elon Musk is the designated disloyal American for many on the left. That rage has reached virtual hysteria on ABC’s “The View.” This is the same show before the election on which hosts warned that, if Trump were elected, journalists and homosexuals would be rounded up and “disappeared.” After the election, democracy seemed to stubbornly hang on, so the hosts had to resort to attacking as disloyal anyone joining the government or supporting Trump’s policies. This week, co-host Joy Behar followed many others in questioning Musk’s loyalty and attacking him over being a naturalized American citizen: “The guy was not born in this country, who was born under apartheid in South Africa. So, [he] has that mentality going on. He was pro-Apartheid, as I understand it.”

Behar was then forced, perhaps by panicked ABC lawyers, to walk back the comment — such retractions having become a regular feature on “The View“. What came out was the type of jumbled confusion that results when you interrupt a lunatic on the metro in mid-rave. Behar stated: “I’m getting some flack because I said that Musk was pro-apartheid. I don’t really know for sure if he was … He was around at that time, but maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t—he might have been a young guy, too. So, don’t be suing me, okay Elon?” This anti-immigrant attack on Musk, however, has worked its way into many Democrats’ talking points, even though their party had previously claimed to defend immigrants against racist Republicans seeking to close the Southern border and deport criminal illegal immigrants.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) launched a xenophobic tirade that should have shocked the conscience of the nation. She warned citizens that Musk could not be trusted because he is an immigrant who has been a citizen for only a couple of decades: “Mr. Musk has just been here just 22 years and he’s a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself the question: With the damage he’s doing here when push comes to shove, which country is he loyal to? South Africa, Canada, or the United States? And he’s only been a citizen, I’ll say again, 22 years.” Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney was another joining in to attack Musk for being an immigrant. “You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen,” she wrote on Musk’s social media platform, X.

These attacks are straight out of McCarthy’s playbook. It was McCarthy who insisted that “there are no degrees of loyalty in the United States — a man is either loyal or he’s disloyal…” Of course, McCarthy (and the earlier Red Scare) attacked government employees, writers and others on the left. It is now the left that is employing the same tactics, including censorship, blacklisting and public vilification. Throughout the 2024 campaign, the Democrats, including President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, painted Republicans as either aspiring or actual fascists. That continued recently with Minnesota Gov. and former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz (D), who referred to Republicans as “fascists and Nazis.” Even journalists and civil libertarians have been reviled using the same terms.

After a hearing on censorship two years ago, MSNBC contributor and former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) attacked journalists and members who had spoken in favor of free speech. She denounced the member witnesses (Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson and former Rep. Gabbard) as “Putin apologists” and Putin-lovers. Stacey Plaskett, the Democratic delegate representing the Virgin Islands in the U.S. House, even suggested arresting respected journalist Matt Taibbi, who, along with Michael Shellenberger, testified on their investigation into a massive censorship system developed under the Biden administration. The attack on Musk is particularly disgraceful, given his contributions to his adopted country. Ironically, filmmaker Michael Moore denounced the deportations of criminal illegal immigrants last week by noting that Trump was deporting someone who might cure cancer or be the next Steve Jobs. Well, this is a naturalized citizen who not only could be the next Elon Musk. He is Elon Musk.

Read more …

Americans are so addicted to the idea of being No. 1 that they’ve completely forgotten it’s just an idea.

Chinese Models Are Stunning Americans In The Tech Catwalk (Pepe Escobar)

When President Xi Jinping hosted a recent – rare – meeting with an array of Chinese tech superstars, including a “rehabilitated” Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, he urged them to “show their talent”, code for going for broke in the tech war with the U.S. It was no wonder that young Liang Wenfeng, founder of AI sensation DeepSeek, was among the guests. DeepSeek threw not only Silicon Valley but the whole somewhat paranoid U.S. national security ecosystem completely off balance. Yet Beijing’s emphasis is not subversion, but a sound drive towards building an AI system totally independent from U.S. monopolistic pressure and Nvidia products. Alibaba, Huawei and Tencent will likely align their infrastructure with DeepSeek. This process is perfectly synchronized with the Made in China 2025 project, which has already propelled China to the leadership position in several sectors – from electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels to smart grids and advanced manufacturing.

The final breakthroughs will be on top semiconductors and aerospace. It’s now common knowledge that DeepSeek’s development was not a product of Silicon Valley labs showered with billions of dollars of research funds. Liang Wenfeng himself revealed it: “I won’t lie, our AI was created on the basis of Soviet developments – the OGAS system of Academician Glushkov.” The wonders of History: a Soviet marvel auctioned off for a pittance, $15,000 in 1995 possibly because it was considered worthless, is now the backbone of China’s new digital revolution. Physics heavyweight Quantum Bird, formerly with the CERN in Geneva, is adamant: “The Americans lost the plot. It’s all about models employing less computing power and less data. Nvidia high-performance GPUs costing $40,000 consume too much energy.

Then there’s financial speculation. Raspberry Pi [a small single-board computer], the size of a credit card and with a simple processor, costing $50 for students, they may run DeepSeek, consuming less energy than a cellphone.” And that’s just the beginning, Quantum Bird adds: “When Russia and China come up with their first lithographic machine… It was Silicon Valley that pushed the world to this.” Russia-China scientists have already accelerated scientific computing on conventional Nvidia graphics cards by 800 times, creating a new algorithm using reverse engineering. That was pulled off by a joint group of scientists from MSU-PPI University in Shenzhen (MSU-BIT University), established in 2014 by Lomonosov Moscow State University and Beijing Polytechnic Institute. In parallel, researchers using Made in China GPUs have already boosted 10 times their performance over U.S. supercomputers relying on Nvidia hardware. U.S. tech sanctions? Who cares?

Chinese scientists are not intimidated by any challenges. On hardware, production of advanced GPUs like the A100 and H100 is a foreign monopoly. On software, Nvidia has restricted its CUDA software ecosystem from running on third-party hardware; that’s a serious problem for those working on independent algorithms. These may not be insurmountable problems when a rolling wave of Chinese scientists is coming back home to China mostly from the U.S.. Take Tsinghua University chip superstar Sun Nan. Tsinghua’s social media recently revealed that Sun Nan came back in 2020 after many years in the U.S. to “train chip professionals for China and solving the manufacturing problems of mid- and high-end chip technology”. The key sectors, once again, are semiconductors and quantum computing. Nothing Trump 2.0 will throw at China in terms of “tech containment” will alter the Chinese drive.

Sun Nan and his team have already come up with high-performance circuit design tech they integrated into more than 50 chips used in the Chinese power grid, high-speed rail, industrial measurement and control, instrumentation and electric vehicles. Countering the American drive to derail China’s development in AI and chipmaking equipment, interconnected Sun Tzu maneuvers paint the picture of a Chinese transformation of current supply chains, fomenting a tech crisis in the West itself. That is a key reason for Trump’s obsession with Greenland and Ukraine’s rare earth potential. Sanctionmania has been going on since 2017, when Trump started to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese imports. The Cadaver in the White House administration then slapped a 100% tax on Chinese EVs, and dozens of export controls on China, via coercion of its own “allies” such as Holland’s ASML and South Korea’s Hynix and Samsung.

Trump 2.0 will come up with a renewed charge of the heavy brigade quite soon. By 2018, China was entirely dependent on Western tech. That was a time when telecom towers came from Ericsson, GPUs and chips for neural networks from Nvidia, and cars from the European giants. Now it’s a completely different ball game: a blowback game. Huawei leads in global telecom equipment. BYD is the world’s top producer of electric vehicles – ahead of Tesla since last year. Huawei is ahead of Google in smartphone processor shipments, also since last year. Xiaomi will launch its own smartphone processor this year. Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip is already just 5% behind Nvidia’s AI products – and 70% cheaper. Huawei is vertically integrated with its own chip design and manufacturing supply chain – offering mobile operating systems (Harmony OS NEXT), electric vehicles, streaming services, and autonomous driving.

Apart from DeepSeek, ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, and 01.ai have all developed their own sophisticated LLM models. China not only already leads in industrial AI applications from robotics and drones to autonomous driving; it is also metastasizing its industrial, technological and economic breakthroughs into military power. Example: the recently launched world’s first 6th generation fighter prototypes – not only one but two, simultaneously; the world’s first drone-carrier; the first hypersonic stealth unmanned airplanes for strike and reconnaissance; the first stealth unmanned warship; and the most powerful long-range air defence systems. China is advancing at breakneck speed in directed energy weapons, military 5G, atomic timing, and space warfare systems.

[..] “China’s nuclear fusion device Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), Physics World wrote, ‘produced a steady-state high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds, breaking EAST’s previous 2023 record of 403 seconds’. This last development is an advance for the potential of a fusion power plant, a promise of almost limitless clean energy without significant radioactive waste.” China trades mostly with the Global South: more than 50% of total. Trade with the U.S. is less than 3% of its GDP – as of last year.

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Nosey

 

 

Water
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896231517065785524

 

 

Bobcat

 

 

Rhinos
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896233790294327794

 

 

2
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896481106687639791

 

 

Pack
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896536408346788183

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 032025
 


Gustave Courbet The village maidens 1852

 

Europe Unveils Rival Ukraine Peace Plan (ZH)
UK, France, Ukraine Agree To Work On Cease-Fire Plan To Present To US (ZH)
We Won’t Give Kiev Money Until Zelensky Seeks Peace – Lutnick (RT)
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz Suggests Zelensky May Need To Go (RT)
Trump, Vance, and the New New World Order (Soukup)
Musk Backs US Withdrawal From UN and NATO (RT)
Without The US There Is No NATO And No Ukraine (ZH)
NATO Chief Urges Zelensky To Make Peace With Trump (RT)
Hollywood Celebrities Were Paid Millions To Back Ukraine – Orban (RT)
Ukraine’s Future Now Rests With A New President, After White House Fiasco (Jay)
US Approves New Russian Ambassador As Part of Major Reset Underway (ZH)
Trump Impressed By Vance’s Handling Of Zelensky – WSJ (RT)
Putin Ally In Secret Talks With Trump Admin To Restart Nord Stream 2 (ZH)
Top DOJ Attorneys Involved In Biden-Era Prosecutions Demoted (JTN)
Exposing Elite Degeneracy – Mr. and Mr. Macron (Karganovic)
The Press Falls to Another Record Low in Public Trust (Turley)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1896167156863381762

Rubio

Schiff

Kolomoisky

Georgescu
https://twitter.com/i/status/1895891169407877562

Rogan Elon

Mearsheimer 2015

Sachs

 

 

 

 

For three years, Europe has done nothing to establish peace in Ukraine, quite the opposite. They want to keep the war going. But now that Trump acts, they do too. Or they at least want to give that impression. Still, they don’t want peace, they want the fight to continue. That’s why they inject their voice at this point in time, when Trump threatens to get results. They call it a peace plan, but it’s a war plan. Given a chance, they will simply add some point(s) they know Putin cannot accept. That’s all it takes to provide a forever war. The idea of boots on the ground might be enough.

Perhaps the only way out for Trump is to leave NATO.

Europe Unveils Rival Ukraine Peace Plan (ZH)

Is the UK trying to pull Trump into starting WW3? During Sunday’s security summit of European leaders to find an alternate peace plan to Washington’s, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a “coalition of the willing” to step up efforts in support of Kiev. Starmer said he hopes this coalition will gain support and leadership from the Trump White House. “We are at a crossroads in history today,” Starmer said after the summit of 18 leaders – which included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Starmer unveiled a four point agreed-to ‘peace plan’ (..though not agreed to by the US):
• to keep military aid flowing into Ukraine, and to keep increasing the economic pressure on Russia
• that any lasting peace must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security and Ukraine must be present at any peace talks
• in the event of a peace deal, to boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities to deter any future invasion
• to develop a “coalition of the willing” to defend a deal in Ukraine and to guarantee peace afterwards

But one crucial line in his remarks detailing the plan caught many people’s attention – the expressed willingness to put Western/NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine: “The UK are prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air,” Starmer said. He also announced a £1.6bn missile deal for Ukraine, saying this “support for Ukraine is unwavering.” His rationale was that “We have to learn from the mistakes of the past, we cannot accept a weak deal… which Russia can breach with ease, instead any deal must be backed by strength.” He further in the wake of the disastrous Trump-Zelensky meeting said Europe will have to do the “heavy lifting” – and that’s when he said it would be backed by boots on the ground:

The PM said his coalition “will intensify planning now, with real urgency” and reiterated that the “UK is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air”. He said: “Together with others, Europe must do the heavy-lifting but to support peace in our continent and to succeed, this effort must have strong US backing. We’re working with the US on this point.” Speaking to journalists after the summit, the PM said he did “not accept that the US is an unreliable ally”, and that the discussions formed a plan that would see the US as allies. Of course, being this antagonistic to Russia – at the very moment the US is trying to forge ahead on peace – is in reality a scenario that eventually forces Trump’s hand to react. It also appears a deliberate effort by Europe to keep the US on a hawkish path, and to sabotage US-Russia talks in the process.

***
After essentially being kicked out of the White House on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to London where British Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately offered a warm embrace: ‘we stand with you’ – was the message after the major public clash with President Trump and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office. “You have full backing from the United Kingdom and we stand with you with Ukraine for as long as it may take,” Starmer, who was also just at the White House on Thursday, said in a presser with Zelensky on Saturday. “And I hope you’ve heard some of that cheering in the street, that is the people of the United Kingdom coming out to demonstrate how much they support you, how much they support Ukraine, and our absolute determination to stand with unwavering determination,” the UK leader added.

Zelensky is also meeting with the UK’s King Charles on Sunday. CNN and other are presenting this moment as a consolation of sorts after the “nightmare Trump meeting”. Currently, European leaders are meeting at Lancaster house, hosted by the UK’s Starmer, reportedly to work with Ukraine on a peace plan. The leaders in attendance include NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Starmer said Sunday before the meeting that Kiev and Europe will work together toward a plan to “stop the fighting” with Russia before presenting it to the White House.

The British PM told BBC: “We have agreed that the UK, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting. Then we will discuss that plan with the US.” The fact that these European leaders are now talking about urgently drawing up an official new peace plan is without doubt due to the pressure of the Trump presidency as well as the controversial mineral deal and Zelensky’s apparent rejection of it. While these leaders may still not actually be interested in peace, given many of them have urgently called for the West to keep transferring weapons to Ukraine’s military, they are at least making a show of it as an alternative approach to Washington. This older interview clip of Zelensky is making the rounds again after Friday’s fireworks at the White House…

https://twitter.com/i/status/1891830368459792863

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has bluntly acknowledged that the Western allies appear weaker and more divided than ever at this point, per FT: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned that fractures in the traditional transatlantic alliance will “leave us all weaker”, while suggesting that the UK and Italy can together “play an important role in bridge-building”. “We are all committed to the goal that we all want to achieve — which is a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Meloni told Starmer at the start of a bilateral meeting before the summit. “It is very very important that we avoid the risk that the west divides.”

The Kremlin will meanwhile likely bypass engaging these European leaders altogether, in preference of continuing to deal with Trump on the cause of achieving ceasefire in Ukraine. Russian leadership also understands that Europe will ultimately fall in line based on whatever Washington finally achieves on the peace negotiations front, as has been the historic pattern, and given the US shoulders the bulk of defense funds and hardware for NATO. The US has continued to pursue bilateral talks with Moscow, yet without European or Ukrainian representatives in the room.

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Note: all these guys have terrible polling numbers domestically. Scholz, Macron, Starmer, Trudeau, Zelensky. The only one who does not is Trump.

UK, France, Ukraine Agree To Work On Cease-Fire Plan To Present To US (ZH)

[..] perhaps in response to the latest toothless European summit, which Poland’s PM summarized best as follows…
*TUSK REITERATES POLAND WON’T SEND ITS TROOPS TO UKRAINE
*TUSK: SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE NOT DISCUSSED IN SUMMIT
… or in other words, once again nothing of significance was agreed upon, Donald Trump posted in his Truth Social account a quote from Gartner analyst Michael McCune, according to whom Zelensky now has “no choice but to back down and accept Trump’s terms” suggesting that Trump clearly is content with the outcome of the Friday debacle in the White House.

Earlier, from Jacob Burg of the Epoch Times:

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 2 that Europe must continue to provide funding for Ukraine to sustain its position during peace negotiations, while also committing to roughly $2 billion in export financing to supply Ukraine with 5,000 air defense missiles. Starmer hosted a security summit in London on Sunday with other European and world leaders as Britain, France, and Ukraine work on a cease-fire plan to present to the United States as an effort to end the Russia–Ukraine war. Starmer emphasized that despite the breakdown in talks at the White House on Feb. 28, the United States remains an important ally to Britain. “The U.S. has been a reliable ally to the U.K. for many, many decades and continues to be,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries.” Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.

Starmer’s March 2 summit of leaders stands in contrast to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House on Feb. 28, during which U.S. President Donald Trump scolded him for not being ready for peace and not being grateful for America’s support in his nation’s defense against Russia’s three-year-long invasion. Starmer said he’s working on restoring discussions of peace and is using the breakdown on Feb. 28 as an opportunity to reengage with Trump, Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.” “We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC, adding that he and Macron have both spoken to Trump since the latter’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

At the Feb. 28 summit, European leaders will look toward shoring up the continents’ defenses in defending Ukraine, including discussions to create a European military force to send to the war-torn country to cap a cease-fire. Starmer suggested the military force would include a “coalition of the willing.” While he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said he trusts Trump. “Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes,” he said. Starmer added that “intense discussions” to obtain a security guarantee from the United States are one of the three components of lasting peace. “If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended, because the worst of all outcomes is that there is a temporary pause, and then Putin comes again,” Starmer said. “That has happened in the past. I think it is a real risk, and that is why we must ensure that if there’s a deal, it is a lasting deal, not a temporary pause.”

The summit, which will be held at Lancaster House—a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace—will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Romania. Other attendees include the Turkish foreign minister, NATO secretary-general, and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council. Zelenskyy received support from European leaders after the contentious Feb. 28 meeting at the White House in which a rare earths deal was abandoned and Trump told Zelenskyy to come back when he was ready for peace. After the Ukrainian president arrived in Britain on March 1, Starmer embraced him. “As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer said. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”

Starmer also pledged to boost military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027. Other European nations might follow suit. On Saturday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said European countries must increase military spending to at least 3 percent of GDP as the continent faces a historic test in defending itself. “If we don’t increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won’t end up well,” he said. In calling for unity among his European neighbors, Macron embraced more defense spending after saying it was legitimate for the United States to shift its military focus to China and Asia. “We should have woken up earlier,” Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”

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“Zelensky needed to hear it directly from the funding mouth of the United States of America: We’re not going to give you money unless you’re here for peace..”

We Won’t Give Kiev Money Until Zelensky Seeks Peace – Lutnick (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky was given a clear message during his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday, that further financial support hinges on Ukraine’s willingness to negotiate peace, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said. His comments follow Zelensky’s heated confrontation with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. Zelensky visited the White House on Friday, intending to finalize a minerals agreement. However, the discussion deteriorated when he insisted that Trump back Kiev rather than act as a neutral mediator in talks with Moscow. In response, Trump and Vance accused Zelensky of “gambling with World War III” and showing reluctance to pursue peace with Russia, portraying him as ungrateful despite the billions in US military assistance.

In a Sunday Fox News interview, Lutnick stressed that US president made clear he “just wants to make peace.” However, he said that Zelensky did not come for that, and made “ridiculous” requests to Trump and Vance. “Zelensky needed to hear it directly from the funding mouth of the United States of America: We’re not going to give you money unless you’re here for peace,” Lutnick stressed. He added that Trump had tried to reason with Zelensky, stressing that the Ukrainian leader can’t say “[Russian Presiden Vladimir] Putin’s a terrorist and then call the guy up and try to make peace with him.” During the Friday meeting, Zelensky insisted on US security guarantees while fighting is still ongoing with Moscow. Trump dismissed these requests as “ridiculous.” The confrontation ultimately led to Trump cutting the meeting short.

Not only did the visit conclude abruptly without signing the minerals agreement, but it also raised concerns about the future of US military assistance to Ukraine. According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration is now reconsidering its financial and military commitments to Kiev. US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also hinted at a possible shift in Washington’s stance, suggesting that Zelensky may need to step aside if he refuses to pursue a diplomatic solution. Speaking to CNN, Waltz stated, “it’s unclear whether President Zelensky, particularly after what we saw on Friday, is ready to transition Ukraine to an end to this war and negotiate a compromise.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that while Washington seeks peace for Ukraine, some European allies seem to prefer prolonging the conflict to further weaken Russia. As of January 2025, the US had provided $65.9 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since February 2022.

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“Waltz compared Zelensky to an “ex-girlfriend that wants to argue everything that you said nine years ago, rather than moving the relationship forward.”

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz Suggests Zelensky May Need To Go (RT)

Washington is unsure whether Vladimir Zelensky is the right man to lead Ukraine at this juncture, the US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has told CNN. The official argued that Friday’s tumultuous spat between the Ukrainian leader, President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance indicated that Zelensky may not be ready to talk peace. When asked by Dana Bash on Sunday to share his view of Zelensky, Waltz said that “it’s unclear whether President Zelensky, particularly after what we saw on Friday, is ready to transition Ukraine to an end to this war, and to negotiate and have to compromise.” He noted that it is President Trump’s conviction that both Kiev and Moscow would have to make concessions in order to stop the bloodshed. According to the national security advisor, during the US president’s meeting with Zelensky on Friday, “it did not appear to us that [he] was ready to go to peace.”

When pressed by a CNN presenter as to whether the White House wanted Zelensky to step down, Waltz clarified that “we need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war.” The official added that “if it becomes apparent that President Zelensky’s either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands.” In an interview with Breitbart Radio on Saturday, Waltz compared Zelensky to an “ex-girlfriend that wants to argue everything that you said nine years ago, rather than moving the relationship forward.” Speaking with ABC news on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he had not “had any contact with [Zelesnky] since Friday.” The diplomat stressed that the Trump administration’s goal is to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table, with the US head of state being the “only person on Earth who has any chance whatsoever” of accomplishing this.

“Don’t do anything to disrupt that, and that’s what Zelensky did unfortunately – he found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue,” Rubio stated, recounting Friday’s shouting match at the White House. Commenting on Zelensky’s demeanor at the White House on Friday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News later that day that his altercation with Trump and Vance represented a “missed opportunity.” Addressing the Ukrainian people, the lawmaker added, “I don’t know if Zelensky can ever get you to where you want to go with the United States. Either he dramatically changes or you need to get somebody new.” The senator, who hailed Zelensky as the “ally I’ve been hoping for all my life” during the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, wrote in a post on X on Saturday that the Ukrainian leader’s “behavior was beyond unacceptable and [his] lectures are wearing thin.” Graham also lauded President Trump for standing up to him in defense of American interests.

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“Wilson’s goal, of course, was “global governance” under the League of Nations, a goal that the U.S. Senate, mercifully, denied him..”

Trump, Vance, and the New New World Order (Soukup)

This past week, the venerable Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for The Financial Times, used his column to declare the Trump administration and, by extension, the United States “the enemy of the West.” “Today,” Wolf wrote, “autocracies [are] increasingly confident,” and “the United States is moving to their side.” According to the subhead on the column, “Washington has decided to abandon…its postwar role in the world.” Meanwhile, Wolf cites the (in his estimation) august Franklin Roosevelt, as he complains that the United States “has decided instead to become just another great power, indifferent to anything but its short-term interests.” The ironies here—as well as the historical ignorance—abound.

To start, one would imagine that Wolf, an educated man with two degrees from Oxford, might know that it was his countryman (and two-time Prime Minister), Henry John Temple (i.e. Lord Palmerston), who declared in a speech in the House of Commons that “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Wolf might also be expected to know that this statement was repeated—more famously and more pithily—by Henry Kissinger, perhaps the quintessential American diplomat in the supposedly vaunted postwar order. Kissinger, like Palmerston and Trump (apparently) understood that a nation that pursues anything other than its interests is foolish, faithless, and, in time, doomed.

What bothers Wolf, it would seem, is that American interests are diverging from British and continental European interests. That is unfortunate, but it is also more than likely the case that this divergence is the result of Britain and Europe’s abandonment of the principles, values, and ambitions the allies once shared, rather than the other way around. For example, Wolf criticizes the speech given by J.D. Vance in which the vice president defended the traditional American dedication to free speech and attacked the British and European rejection of that principle. Yet again, Wolf might be expected to know that the American preoccupation with this and all other negative rights is something the nation’s Founders inherited from their British forefathers. If the two nations now differ on the importance of this fundamental right, then that’s hardly Vance’s, Trump’s, or any other American’s fault.

More ironies are found in Wolf’s praise of the now-dying postwar order and his citation of FDR as the architect of that order. While Wolf is correct that Roosevelt was one of two Americans most responsible for the creation of the postwar order, he is wrong in believing that the order was virtuous by design and that it played out precisely as Roosevelt intended. Indeed, he couldn’t be more wrong if he tried.

Almost from the moment the United States entered World War II, Roosevelt was planning how best to achieve the goal he inherited from his former boss and Progressive predecessor, Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s goal, of course, was “global governance” under the League of Nations, a goal that the U.S. Senate, mercifully, denied him. Regrettably, Roosevelt shared Wilson’s dream. The political scientist and historian of the Cold War, Amos Perlmutter, wrote that Roosevelt’s “vision for a postwar world was neo-Wilsonian, totally at odds with reality. He would help create a new international order, presided over in an equal partnership by the two emerging superpowers, the United States and the USSR, and buttressed by the newly created world organization, the United Nations.” Like Wilson, Roosevelt sought to fix the world by bringing the whole of it under the control of a handful of its most benevolent and brilliant men—himself included, naturally.

The catch, of course, was that in order to believe that he could effectuate his plan for the postwar global order, Roosevelt also had to believe that it would be received positively by the man who turned out to be the most proficient mass murderer in the war, Josef Stalin. Remarkably, Roosevelt did, in fact, believe just that. He repeatedly told his staff and others that he was convinced that the man he affectionately called “Uncle Joe” would eagerly welcome his friendship and American entreaties to share governance of the world jointly. They would, he believed, be the closest of allies and the best of friends. In 1943, before ever even meeting Stalin, FDR told his first ambassador to the USSR, William Bullit, that “I have just a hunch that Stalin doesn’t want anything but security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won’t try to annex anything and will work for a world democracy and peace.”

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First, set the DOGE guys on them?!

Musk Backs US Withdrawal From UN and NATO (RT)

Billionaire Elon Musk has publicly endorsed the idea of the US withdrawing from both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Responding to a social media post advocating such a move on Sunday, Musk, who leads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), commented, “I agree.”US President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers have vowed to reconsider Washington’s participation in the UN, as well as in the US-led military bloc. In February, Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced the Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, proposing a complete US withdrawal from the UN. Lee criticized the UN as a “platform for tyrants” that attacks America and its allies, arguing that despite significant funding, the organization has failed to prevent wars, genocides, human rights violations, and pandemics.

Echoing Lee’s sentiments, Musk wrote on X that “America provides way too much funding to the UN and associated entities.” During his 2016 campaign, Trump described the UN as weak and incompetent, stating it was “not a friend of democracy… freedom… the United States.” Last month, the Trump administration opposed a UN General Assembly resolution demanding Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. Musk, now a key advisor to Trump, has taken the lead in looking for ways to cut costs and reduce the federal workforce. In February, DOGE released its first savings report, claiming an estimated $55 billion in savings through cost-cutting measures.That same month, Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for US Ambassador to the UN, advocated the global adoption of Musk’s DOGE initiative.

She criticized the UN’s financial practices and called for a “Global DOGE” effort to reform international governance. Stefanik also pledged to push for defunding and dismantling UN-affiliated organizations accused of corruption and antisemitism. Musk has also voiced skepticism about NATO. In February, he labeled the alliance “anachronistic” and called for a full review, questioning its relevance in the post-Cold War era. He also questioned the rationale behind American taxpayers covering a significant portion of Europe’s defense costs, highlighting that the US pays for approximately 67% of NATO’s military expenses, despite spending only 3.5% of its GDP on defense. His position aligns with Trump, who has frequently criticized NATO, urging members to increase defense expenditure and threatening to withdraw, arguing the US bears an unfair financial burden for European security.

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“The western split over Ukraine is a profound event in history. Some will say it was the moment the US “abandoned their allies” and let Russia win. Those with sense will say that this was the moment the US stopped contributing to the problem..”

Without The US There Is No NATO And No Ukraine (ZH)

Well before the fireworks at the White House between the Trump team and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky European governments were increasingly discussing the possibility of an “EU army” and a NATO without US involvement. UK officials along with those in Germany and France have been playing with the notion of boots on the ground in Ukraine, an action which would no doubt precipitate WWIII with Russia. Political leaders and media proponents have been flooding social media to show support for Zelensky as the new savior of the EU and many have suggested that Europe can easily fill the void that the US leaves behind. This is dangerous delusion. For example, the US represents around 70% of the entire annual combined defense spending of NATO countries. No other nation comes close.

In 2023-2024, this expenditure amounted to over $860 billion. The closest NATO member in terms of budget for the alliance is Germany with $68 billion. NATO funding is included in America’s total defense spending package. According to RAND Corporation’s Defense Spending Index, the US carries 47% of the burden share, vastly outweighing any other NATO member. While NATO’s official budget is $3.5 billion, this does not represent the burden share if NATO goes to war. Members with the largest armies and spending the most on defense will be expected to expend the most resources in a conflict. The media consistently misrepresents the NATO spending imbalance by comparing NATO fees as a percentage of GDP. This is nonsense. The sheer amount of defense spending is what matters, not the ratio to GDP. When examined in true terms there is no argument to be made – The US is essentially the military cash cow for the entire western world. Without the US there is no NATO.

When it comes to Ukraine the waters are more muddy but the conclusions are the same; the US is expected to bear the brunt of the burden. US aid to Ukraine so far ranges from $120 billion to $180 billion depending on the source. Zelensky claims that $100 billion of this money “never reached Ukraine”. There is no verification of this either way. For now let’s assume Zelensky is misinformed. A graph of total expenditures between the US and other western nations shows the EU with a large amount of aid, but take a closer look at military commitments and it’s clear that the EU has spent a minimal amount on Ukraine’s actual defense. The US is the primary provider of weapons, ordnance and other equipment used to actually fight the war. Without the US, Ukraine’s defenses will suffer an expedited collapse.

To be clear, Ukraine is not entitled to US tax dollars or US military aid. Europe insists that the war must continue even without US help, but their ability to fund and fight the war is limited. They would trigger WWIII in the process, and they would lose. The belief that more money or more armaments will prevent a Ukraine loss or land concessions to Russia is irrational. Ukraine’s biggest problem is manpower, not money, and no amount of money is going to triple Ukrainian forces on the eastern front. A peace deal should have been negotiated a long time ago. For now it appears that the European elites are frantically trying to rally public support around extending the conflict and forming a centralized EU military. This will take them years and it will never come close to the same funding levels that the US provided. Not to mention, younger native born Europeans have no interest in joining to fight. The western split over Ukraine is a profound event in history. Some will say it was the moment the US “abandoned their allies” and let Russia win. Those with sense will say that this was the moment the US stopped contributing to the problem and offered a solution while Europe foolishly refused to listen.

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Too late.

NATO Chief Urges Zelensky To Make Peace With Trump (RT)

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has called on Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to mend ties with US President Donald Trump following a heated exchange at the White House. The meeting between Trump and Zelensky on Friday, which Rutte described as “unfortunate” in an interview with the BBC on Saturday, was originally set up to finalize a minerals agreement. It escalated into a tense exchange. The Ukrainian leader maintained that Washington should increase its support for Kiev rather than position itself as a neutral mediator with Moscow. Trump criticized Zelensky for what he perceived as a lack of gratitude for American assistance and an unwillingness to make concessions to resolve the conflict with Russia. The confrontation led to the day’s events being cut short, with the US president reportedly dismissing his guest from the White House.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the encounter as a “fiasco,” with Trump telling Zelensky to return when he was “ready to pursue peace.” “I said: I think you have to find a way, dear Vladimir, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration. That is important going forward,” Rutte said, referring to a call he had with Zelensky on Friday. He reminded Zelensky of the support provided by the Trump administration, particularly the provision of Javelin anti-tank weapons in 2019, which were crucial in Ukraine’s defense when the conflict escalated in 2022. Without the Javelins, “Ukraine would have been nowhere,” Rutte stated. The NATO chief emphasized the importance of acknowledging the assistance from the US, which remains Kiev’s biggest donor. The US has provided $65.9 billion in military aid since 2022, according to a US Department of State posting on January 20, 2025.

“We really have to give Trump credit for what he did then, what America did since then and also what America is still doing,” Rutte said. The heated Trump-Zelensky exchange has drawn diverse international reactions. European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. Conversely, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban endorsed Trump’s stance, praising his peace efforts. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the meeting a “complete political and diplomatic failure” by the Ukrainian side.

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New Oscars category? “..Jolie had received $20 million for her trip to Lviv in April 2022, and that Penn, Stiller and Bloom were written checks of $5 million, $4 million and $8 million, respectively, by USAID.”

Hollywood Celebrities Were Paid Millions To Back Ukraine – Orban (RT)

The Hollywood celebrities who visited Ukraine to ‘support’ the country during its ongoing conflict with Russia didn’t do it out of sympathy, but because they were paid millions, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. Stars’ trips to Kiev were paid for with money from USAID, Washington’s primary mechanism for funding political projects abroad, Orban said in an interview with Hungarian broadcaster TV2 on Saturday. “People were given money for their opinions. I am talking about big celebrities and movie stars. They were given money to go to Ukraine, so they did not do it from the heart or out of sympathy for the Ukrainians – which could have actually been the case – but because they were given money,” he said. The payments received by the stars amounted to “millions of euros or dollars,” the prime minister claimed, without providing any names.

Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Ben Stiller and Orlando Bloom were among the most prominent Western celebrities to have visited Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev three years ago. In early February, reports emerged on social media claiming that Jolie had received $20 million for her trip to Lviv in April 2022, and that Penn, Stiller and Bloom were written checks of $5 million, $4 million and $8 million, respectively, by USAID. Back then, Stiller rejected the accusations, calling them “lies coming from Russian media.” The actor insisted in a post on X that his visit to Kiev was “self-funded.” Penn’s lawyer also said that reports of his client being paid by USAID to meet with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky were “completely false, misleading and reckless.”

Several Western media outlets, including AFP and Reuters, said that their fact checking teams had found that the claims of stars getting USAID money originated from a fabricated video and that there were no available records of the agency paying the celebrities. Shortly after taking office, US President Donald Trump launched a clampdown on USAID, accusing it of widespread corruption and inefficiency. He imposed a 90-day funding freeze on the agency and transferred oversight of its programs to the direct control of the US State Department.

Orban said in his interview that the activities of USAID in recent decades could be “the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the Western world.” “I have never seen anything like this before – when billions of dollars are being transferred from the US budget to foundations and various forms of support, and then they are being distributed around the globe and given to those who represent the ideals, spirituality, programs and specific interests demanded by the Americans, and they receive money for that,” he stressed.

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“Ukraine needs a new cookie monster.”

Ukraine’s Future Now Rests With A New President, After White House Fiasco (Jay)

Rarely do we see such a showdown in the White House between a leader of an allied country and the president of the U.S. For many, it was surreal to the point where they questioned its authenticity. But if we were ever looking for a crystalized example of what is wrong with Ukraine and how the West got into this quagmire, it was all there in a tense, live exchange where Trump and JD Vance wanted to essentially use the moment to put Zelensky in his place. But he resisted. He believed he was a player and had many moves ahead of him. “You don’t have enough cards,” Trump exploded. Zelensky responded by “this is not a game.” And yet it is a game and Zelensky just proved himself to be the main, if only obstacle to peace in the country. The arrogance and delusion was stunning but understandable given that a number of western leaders have been rallying even more support for him.

Does Zelensky and his support base actually believe they can just ignore Trump and Putin and continue with their game? When watching the sensational crossfire, all becomes clear. The dictator is pumped up on something which carries him and leads him to believe that he is there to negotiate when in reality he is just there to be Trump’s bitch and sign whatever is given to him. The delusion was amazing. And like so many dictators, you can see the lack of preparation; where are the advisors and media experts to prepare him? Doesn’t need ‘em. The result, which could have worked out for him if he was smarter, was a bloodbath, a slaughter which in many ways made everything now clearer and simpler for Trump. He can’t work with Zelensky and so therefore, he will have to go as he is really the obstacle to anything being achieved in Ukraine. Perhaps the Russians already knew this and were just biding their time for the Trump camp to work it out.

Of course, the resentment was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The way JD Vance spoke to him was like you talk to your 12-year old boy who has been expelled from school. Trump and JD saw Zelensky as a creation of Biden and Obama of course and gave him one last chance to cross a divide and say ‘no, actually I’m with you guys’. But he couldn’t. Europe is of course to blame for making him feel so unique and irreplaceable and no doubt this will just make Trump more determined than ever that a quick fix to Ukraine will simply come in pushing for early presidential elections. Critical now will be how Zelensky’s cabal will stay with him or be peeled off one by one by a sweeter deal offered by Trump. Most likely, Trump and JD are already looking for their own replacement although it may well be that no interfering will be necessary as many Ukrainians will be disappointed with Zelensky’s performance.

Politically within Ukraine, the White House stunt will cost him a lot which he might not understand fully if his European support base is telling him not to worry. We’ve got your back. What Zelensky did in 2022 with Boris Johnson – to reject a very favourable peace deal – was foolish and will go down in history as a mistake which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who were fed into the meat grinder and sent to the front lines. But what he then did in the White House with Trump and JD was stupid beyond belief as not only did it enrage Trump – to the point where he actually asked Zelensky to leave the Oval Office – but it amalgamated support for him from EU leaders even more – the very gesture which will push Trump into an even more belligerent position.

sHe will put Zelensky and the EU in its place and now show the whole world how ineffective Europe is when it wants to play at being a superpower but doesn’t want to pick up the tab. Can Europe go it alone in Ukraine is not the question. The question is whether Trump will let it. This might have been one scenario which could have been bandied about and might have been given some oxygen, but now the EU position has to be tackled head on. Trump will be thinking ‘I have to teach the EU a lesson.’ ‘America is running the show and I call the shots,’ will be Trump’s thinking now. It is hardly a great act of prescience now to predict that Zelensky will now have, at the very least, lost all the U.S. support he had before; and at the very best a new political dynamic which will emerge in the coming weeks which will have a support infrastructure probably more than the puny 5 billion dollars that Victoria Nuland blew on the 2014 elections which installed Poroshenko. Ukraine needs a new cookie monster.

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I think the restoration of direct commercial flights will be a BIG step.

US Approves New Russian Ambassador As Part of Major Reset Underway (ZH)

The two rounds of high level US-Russia talks in Riyadh and Istanbul in the last two weeks appear to already be bearing fruit, as Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced it’s received approval from Washington to send Aleksandr Darchiev as Moscow’s new ambassador to the United States. Current bilateral US-Russia dialogue has been focused on fully restoring relations and putting back in place all embassy staff in Washington and Moscow, respectively. There had been several rounds of hostile mutual booting of diplomats as relations deteriorated under Biden. According to Russian media, “Darchiev, a senior diplomat with more than 30 years of experience, currently heads the Foreign Ministry’s North Atlantic Department. He previously served as Russia’s ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021 and has held several high-ranking positions within the ministry, including deputy director of the North America Department and counselor at the Russian embassy in Washington.”

This is no doubt part of the “concrete initial steps” being taken by both sides toward resuming regular contacts and diplomatic engagement, with a higher aim of finding a permanent peace solution to the Ukraine war. Darchiev’s predecessor, Anatoly Antonov, served as Russia’s ambassador to the US throughout much of the Ukraine crisis and the entirety of the war until now. He ran the Russian embassy in D.C. for seven years, and just recently returned to Moscow. Just as Moscow is poised for a reset with the US under the new Trump administration, Washington relations with Ukraine are at a low point after Friday’s Zelensky fireworks in the Oval Office. Russian media has been busy hailing and welcoming these developments, which may soon result in the following:

US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering ending all ongoing shipments of military aid to Ukraine, The Washington Post wrote citing sources. Military supplies could be halted “in response to remarks” by Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting with Trump in the White House and “his perceived intransigence in the peace process,” according to the publication. The decision, if made, would apply “to billions of dollars of radars, vehicles, ammunition and missiles awaiting shipment to Ukraine through the presidential drawdown authority,” an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, was quoted as saying. Ukraine frontlines have already been steadily collapsing, so without a future flow of American heavy weapons, this collapse will only accelerate, and the war would likely reach finality within a few months or less.

President Putin has meanwhile been touting the chance for “major” cooperative economic and diplomatic initiatives with the US under Trump, and as bilateral talks progress. Russia has even offered its own minerals access deal as a possibility of closer cooperation, and as Trump floats potentially dropping sanctions in the future. The next step may be the restoration of direct commercial flights between the two countries.

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JD got himself some new fans, not just Trump.

Trump Impressed By Vance’s Handling Of Zelensky – WSJ (RT)

US President Donald Trump was impressed with how Vice President J.D. Vance handled himself during a tense Oval Office exchange with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, unnamed administration officials told the Wall Street Journal. The politicians met on Friday in the White House Oval Office ahead of what was expected to be a celebratory signing of a minerals deal between Washington and Kiev. The WSJ dubbed Vance a “MAGA champion” after the confrontation in a piece published on Saturday. Vance sat mostly silent as Trump and Zelensky answered questions. But then a reporter asked the US president if he aligned with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Vance, a critic of US aid to Ukraine, interjected to praise Trump’s diplomatic efforts and criticize past policy under President Joe Biden.

The conversation escalated when Zelensky pushed back. During the intense discussion, Vance highlighted Ukraine’s challenges in conscripting additional troops and said that Zelensky should be “thanking” Trump for efforts to resolve the conflict. Vance criticized his recent public appearances highlighting war devastation, accusing him of hosting “propaganda tours,” and labeled the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful.” The confrontation led to the day’s events being cut short.Trump has reportedly told White House staff that his former vice president “would have never done that.” Former Indiana Governor Mike Pence was vice president during Trump’s first term. Their political alliance ended acrimoniously over the January 2021 riots at the US Capitol, after Pence refused to comply with Trump’s demands to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 US presidential election.

The White House later circulated statements of support from Republican lawmakers and administration officials. “I was very proud of J.D. Vance, standing up for our country,” US Senator Lindsey Graham said. While Senator Mike Lee called Vance the “GOAT,” an acronym for “greatest of all time.”The 40-year-old Vance is the third-youngest vice president in US history. His relationship with Trump has evolved significantly since the president’s first term. Once a vocal critic of Trump, Vance opposed his candidacy in 2016, calling him “cultural heroin” for conservatives and questioning his character. However, he later shifted his stance, securing Trump’s endorsement in his successful 2022 Senate bid, a move that cemented his place within Trump’s inner circle.

Last month, during his first foreign trip as vice president, Vance sent shockwaves with a speech criticizing European leaders at the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and neglecting public concerns over migration.Vance’s relationship with Trump remains strong, though the president has so far demurred on naming him his successor. Trump told Fox News in February that he considers Vance “very capable” but noted that “there are a lot of very capable people.” However, tech billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk referred to Vance as “our future President” on Saturday.

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It’s easy to get confused, but “restart” is not the correct term here. Nord Stream 2 was never activated. Neither of its 2 arms.

Putin Ally In Secret Talks With Trump Admin To Restart Nord Stream 2 (ZH)

A close friend of Vladimir Putin – and like the Russian president, also a spy – has been engineering a restart of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe with the backing of US investors, a once unthinkable move which according to the FT, shows the breadth of Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow. According to the Nikkei-owned publication, the efforts on a deal were the brainchild of Matthias Warnig, an ex-Stasi officer in East Germany who until 2023 ran Nord Stream 2’s parent company for the Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom. Warnig’s plan involved outreach to the Trump team through US businessmenas part of back-channel efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine while deepening economic ties between the US and Russia. If this was just some unilateral attempt to get the pipeline that was bombed by Western intelligence agents and assorited Ukrainian hangers-on back online, it would hardly be a surprise.

However, according to the report it appears that at least several “prominent” Trump administration figures are aware of the initiative to bring in US investors, and they see it as part of the push to rebuild relations with Moscow. While there have been several expressions of interest, one US-led consortium of investors has drawn up the outlines of a post-sanctions deal with Gazprom. Meanwhile, senior EU officials have become aware of the Nord Stream 2 discussion only in recent weeks, and leaders of several European countries are concerned and have discussed the matter, although it is unclear what the prevailing sense on the ground within the corridors of Brussels. It is far easier, for example, to guess what Germany thinks about a return of much cheaper and far more abundant Russian energy if virtue signaling and politics were not an issue.

One of Nord Stream 2’s two pipelines was blown up in what now appears to have been a US attack in September 2022 that destroyed both pipelines of its older sister project Nord Stream 1. The other Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has an annual capacity of 27.5bn cubic metres of natural gas, is undamaged but has never been used. The latest plan would in theory give the US unparalleled sway over energy supplies to Europe, after EU countries moved to end their dependence on Russian gas in the aftermath of the invasion. That said, the obstacles are considerable: a deal would require the US to lift sanctions against Russia, Russia to agree to resume sales it cut off during the war, and Germany to allow the gas to flow to any potential buyers in Europe.

“The US would say, ‘Well, now Russia will be dependable because trustworthy Americans are in the middle of it’,’” said a former senior US official, who was aware of some of the dealmaking efforts. The US investors would collect “money for nothing”, he added. The talks come as the Trump administration races to seal a peace deal through bilateral discussions with Russia that have excluded Europe and Ukraine, spooking deep-state apparatchiks in European capitals who fear a US détente with Moscow could threaten the continent. Trump has promised deeper economic co-operation with Russia if a peace agreement can be reached. Putin has talked up the economic benefits he says the US could reap with the Kremlin in the event of a settlement in Ukraine, claiming that “several companies” were already in touch over potential deals.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the pipeline’s Swiss-based parent company, received an exceptional stay on bankruptcy proceedings in January by at least four months. According to a redacted court document, Nord Stream 2’s shareholder — Gazprom — argued that the new Trump administration, as well as the German election in February 2025, “presumably can have significant consequences on the circumstances of Nord Stream 2” to warrant a delay. The submission pointed to “complex geopolitical affairs” and the sanctions regime.

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“Martin, a Trump ally, previously worked to help Jan. 6 defendants and [DOGE] in their respective legal fights..”

Top DOJ Attorneys Involved In Biden-Era Prosecutions Demoted (JTN)

Ed Martin, the interim U.S. Attorney in charge of the Justice Department’s Washington office, reportedly reassigned several senior leaders to entry-level positions. Among those demoted were Kathryn Rakoczy, Reuters reported, who secured convictions of several members of the Oath Keepers for their roles in the Jan. 6 riots on Capital Hill. Among those convicted was the founder of the group, Stewart Rhodes, who Trump pardoned along with 13 others previously convicted in the riot.

Elizabeth Aloi, who prosecuted former Trump White House advisor Peter Navarro for defying a congressional subpoena, was another prosecutor demoted in the Justice Department shakeup. Martin told Reuters that he needed to assign attorneys where he believed they could best contribute. The reassignments to misdemeanors, he noted, are not temporary. Martin, a Trump ally, previously worked to help Jan. 6 defendants and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in their respective legal fights, including by helping to orchestrate the pardons of hundreds of people convicted for their actions on January 6.

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“Mr. and Mr.” I’ve been following Candace’s latest on X a bit, and it seems she may now be ready for prime time. But who will stand up against Macron/Rothschild with her?

Exposing Elite Degeneracy – Mr. and Mr. Macron (Karganovic)

It goes almost without saying that the “elite” referenced here is located in the collective West. It would be exceedingly difficult to associate the leading segment of any other society or civilisation, as a class, with degeneracy. Our archetypal case study are the Macrons, the French power couple situated at the apex of their country’s political pyramid. Our French sources assure us that in France anomalies concerning the birth gender of the allegedly female member of that pair have been suspected for a long time. Those suspicions, however, have had to be voiced sub rosa, because of the establishment’s extreme hostility to any speculations on that subject. The few investigative journalists and investigators who had ventured to question those anomalies, many of which are obvious even to the naked eye, have been hounded by the media and persecuted by the French judicial system in a variety of vicious ways.

That plainly gives the lie to what remains of France’s historical reputation of being a haven of enlightened tolerance for diverse views. American journalist Candace Owens has assembled evidence that compellingly (and almost conclusively) demonstrates that the individual passed off to the public under the identity of Brigitte Macron, the official wife of the French President, is neither Brigitte nor a biological woman. Candace Owens’ professional trajectory parallels in many ways that of her colleague Tucker Carlson. Like Tucker, Candace laboured for many years in the ranks of establishment media until her conscience became so conflicted by the constraints on truthful reporting and honest commentary that for her remaining within the system was no longer an option. Like Tucker, Candace was able to parlay the respect and trust that she had built up over the years into an independent investigative journalism platform.

There, without censorship, she can discuss topics and articulate opinions that are off limits in the discourse of the pseudo liberal democratic world of mainline journalism that had expelled her, as it did Tucker, from the ranks of its licenced professionals. Intrigued by the rumours swirling around France’s “first lady,” Candace Owens made the bold decision to dig into the story and share the findings with her audience, which by now numbers in the millions. The result was Becoming Brigitte: Gaslighting the public, a series of investigative reports that for the first time brought to the attention of the Anglophone world the tangled web of lies and misrepresentations surrounding not just the true identity of Emmanuel Macron’s putative spouse, but also his own vertiginous (and it appears unmerited) rise to prominence and ultimately the Presidency of a major European country.

In essence, Candace’s disclosures are that “Mme. Macron” has been, so to speak, misgendered, but by deliberate design, having been born a male and subsequently undergoing surgical procedures to alter her sex. But by degraded contemporary criteria that revelation is standard fare compared to the really sleazy part of the story. It turns out that most of what we have been told about the inception of their relationship is provably false. Even the assertion in the official account that at seventeen Emmanuel was almost of legal age when he and his teacher, the allegedly thirty-six year-old Brigitte, “fell in love” is as false as “Mrs.” Macron’s official gender identity. Meticulous research has revealed that at the critical stage when he succumbed to the charms of his middle school literature teacher, Emmanuel was in fact a child of fourteen, whilst his seductress (or perhaps more precisely, seducer) was thirty-nine.

Not only does that significantly increase the age difference between the lovers, but more importantly it places the affair within the legal ambit of statutory rape, even by the notoriously permissive French standards. That, of course, is just the bare bones of the polemical contentions that Candace Owens corroborates with ample proof, leaving little room for reasonable doubt. No summary of the details can do justice to what Candace calls “a look back at the murky, hidden background of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron,” so viewing the entire series of six episodes, culminating with the just posted incisive recapitulation, Epilogue, is highly recommended to all wishing to savour the particulars of this sordid tale of debauchery, deceit, paedophilia, and betrayal of the public trust.

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“Objectivity has got to go.”

The Press Falls to Another Record Low in Public Trust (Turley)

We have previously discussed polling showing the media at record lows in public trust. Well, the latest survey from Gallup shows that the media hit another all-time low. What is most impressive is that plummeting readers, revenues, and layoffs have done little to convince the mainstream media that the problem is not the public but themselves. The only institution with a lower level of public trust is Congress, and that says a lot. It is like beating Ebola as the preferred communicable disease.Some 69 percent of Americans now say that they have no or little trust in the media. Only 31 percent say that they have a great deal or fair amount of trust. The trending line looks like the sales of buggy whips after the introduction of the Model T Ford. Gallop put it into sharp terms:

“About two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s trusted the “mass media — such as newspapers, TV and radio” either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to “[report] the news fully, accurately and fairly.” By the next measurement in 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it has gradually trended downward since 2003. Americans are now divided into rough thirds, with 31% trusting the media a great deal or a fair amount, 33% saying they do “not [trust it] very much,” and 36%, up from 6% in 1972, saying they have no trust at all in it.” In my book, The Indispensable Right, I discuss how journalists and journalism schools have destroyed their own profession by rejecting objectivity and engaging in open advocacy journalism. The mainstream media has long echoed the talking points of the left and the Democratic Party, particularly in its one-sided coverage of the last three elections.

While Bob Woodward and others have finally admitted that the Russian collusion coverage lacked objectivity and resulted in false reporting, media figures are pushing even harder against objectivity as a core value in journalism. We have been discussing the rise of advocacy journalism and the rejection of objectivity in journalism schools. Writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls, including President-elect Joe Biden and his key advisers. This movement includes academics rejecting the very concept of objectivity in journalism in favor of open advocacy. Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll decried how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation.

In an interview with The Stanford Daily, Stanford journalism professor Ted Glasser insisted that journalism needed to “free itself from this notion of objectivity to develop a sense of social justice.” He rejected the notion that journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.” Thus, “Journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity.” The Washington Post’s former executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”

Lauren Wolfe, the fired freelance editor for the New York Times, has not only gone public to defend her pro-Biden tweet but published a piece titled “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.” Former New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones is a leading voice for advocacy journalism. Indeed, Hannah-Jones has declared “all journalism is activism.” This is why the whole “Let’s Go Brandon” chant was as much a criticism of the media as President Biden. There is clearly an effort by owners like Jeff Bezos to change this culture rather than bankroll newspapers like the Washington Post vanity projects for the left.

Robert Lewis, a British media executive who joined the Post earlier this year, reportedly got into a “heated exchange” with a staffer. Lewis explained that, while reporters were protesting measures to expand readership, the very survival of the paper was now at stake: “We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,” Lewis said. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.” The response from staffers was to call for the new editors to be fired. One staffer complained, “We now have four White men running three newsrooms.” The Post has been buying out staff to avoid mass layoffs, but reporters are up in arms over the effort to turn the newspaper around.

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Malhotra

 

 

Rogan Bill Murray

 

 

Grizzly

 

 

Horsenado

 

 

First steps

 

 

Retriever

 

 

Gong

 

 

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Feb 272025
 
 February 27, 2025  Posted by at 10:57 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  45 Responses »


El Greco La Pietà c1575

 

US Relations With Russia Promise Rollback To Pre-Gorbachev Period (Krutikov)
America as Republic, not as Empire (Alastair Crooke)
US To Impose Blanket 25% Tariffs On EU – Trump (RT))
US Can No Longer Subsidize NATO – Rubio (RT)
Trump Says US Could Lift Russia Sanctions (RT)
EU Trying To Block Ukraine Peace – Lavrov (RT)
Lavrov Calls Out Europe’s Peacekeeper Plan As Ploy to Rearm Kiev (Sp.)
Russian, US Diplomats To Meet In Istanbul On February 27 (TASS)
Zelensky Now With Only The Dictatorship In London To Support Him (Jay)
Ukraine Can Forget About NATO, Says Trump (ZH)
Ukraine Should Get As Much Land ‘As Possible’ – Trump (RT)
Most Ukrainians Abroad Won’t Come Home – Unity Minister (RT)
Federal Government Can’t Comply With Judge’s Order To Unfreeze Funds (ET)
Rubio Cancels EU’s Kallas At Last Minute (RT)
NATO-Skeptic Romanian Presidential Candidate Arrested (RT)
Tulsi Gabbard Labels CNN ‘Propaganda Arm’ Of Spies (RT)
AG Pam Bondi Announces Thursday Release of Epstein Files (ZH)
Trump Gaza VIDEO With Bearded Belly Dancers Sparks Outcry (RT)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1894796332206039412

Press

Paper ballot

Bongino

ComeyKash

Ron Paul

 

 

 

 

It’s been a busy first 5 weeks of the Trump team. But every single day it feels again like we are just beginning.

John Helmer posts a translation of a piece by Yevgeny Krutikov, which describes the US withdrawing its troops from Europe pretty much entirely, or at least from those parts added after 1997. Let Europe take care of Europe. Problem is, it can’t. It’s pretty much broke, and it’s hopelessly divided. It needs its own Trump and Musk, but none are in sight. I guess we must hope for Brusssels to implode sooner rather than later. But that might take pitchforks.

John Helmer: “An essay by Yevgeny Krutikov, published this week in Vzglyad, the Kremlin-funded security analysis platform, suggests senior officials at the Security Council believe in the possibility of arms withdrawal from the current battlefield and of military deconfliction with Russia – without attempting the impossible, the dismantling of the NATO membership to the 1997 cutoff. At its simplest, this would mean the withdrawal of American troops, long-range missiles and nuclear ordnance (bombs, missile warheads, targeting systems) to the lines of 1997. This would leave in place NATO security guarantees for the post-1997 member states and their territories, combined with Russian non-aggression guarantees.”

US Relations With Russia Promise Rollback To Pre-Gorbachev Period (Krutikov)

The United States is preparing to eliminate its military presence in Europe, including Poland, the Baltic states and Kosovo, in order to normalize relations with Russia. At first, the news about this in the European media has looked like fakes, but now it appears too logical to ignore them. Is this a bluff or a real prospect of “detente”? Citing an intelligence source in an Eastern European country, Bild claims that the United States is preparing to withdraw troops from Europe. More precisely, from those bases and positions which appeared there after the expansion of NATO to the east. “According to our information, we are talking about the Russian president’s demand for 2021, that is, the withdrawal of American troops from all NATO countries that joined the alliance after 1990,” the German magazine writes. And it wants to believe this.

The facilities from which the Americans are not discussing withdrawal are the bases in Ramstein, Germany, and the United Kingdom, which existed before the collapse of the USSR. But the largest American base in Europe after Ramstein, the Kosovo Bondsteel, is allegedly preparing for liquidation, and the Italian command of the peacekeeping forces in Kosovo (KFOR) inherits its infrastructure. Currently, American military personnel (just over 600 people) in Bondsteel are not part of KFOR, this is a purely American position. In the near-sensational Bild article, it’s not so much the detail that matters as the message. This is the first (!) attempt to link President Trump’s rhetoric and plans with the creation of a new security configuration in Europe that would take into account Russia’s interests.


Map of US forces and their bases in Europe, Jan 2022

Trump himself has been talking about reducing the American military presence in Europe all the time – this has been one of his narratives since his inauguration, interspersed with demands for Europeans to “defend themselves on their own” — for example, to increase their own military spending and bring their armies to a combat-ready state. For now, threats to withdraw the United States from NATO should be regarded as deceitful and frivolous. However, events are developing at such a pace that everything seems possible. This includes the rollback of the US military presence in Europe to the “basic settings” of the pre-Gorbachev period. If the White House is really ready to discuss this with Moscow as part of the process of restoring normal relations between Russia and the United States, this is a truly revolutionary event for American foreign policy. In the light of such normalization, any other pales by comparison, including Trump’s decree that the United States now recognizes only two genders – male and female.

The simultaneous withdrawal of all American troops from Eastern Europe is a “horror story” that can be used for a variety of purposes: from attempts to influence the election campaign in Germany to fueling anti–Russian sentiment. And this “horror story” is being launched against the background of unprecedentedly harsh statements by the US authorities regarding Europe, of which the most memorable is the cavalier speech by Vice President J. D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference. In this context, it is easy to believe the panicky rumours that the United States is abandoning Europe to its fate. For the last month, Europeans have been living uncomfortably under the “American umbrella.” But the fact is that the Italian military in Kosovo are indeed showing strange activity around Bondsteel.


Left: the US Bondsteel base in Kosovo; right, red dot marks the base location on the map.

Serbian sources also confirm the possible transfer of the base under the control of KFOR, which automatically means that the Americans will leave there. The Serbs, of course, are happy; when they are happy, the information coming from them should also be treated with reasonable skepticism. That is, something is definitely afoot in Kosovo, but it is not yet clear what exactly, and in what broader context this idea should be assessed. It is noteworthy that the Bild source referred to a certain demand of Vladimir Putin from 2021. Most likely, this refers to the famous declaration of the Russian Foreign Ministry dated December 2021. No one has canceled or disavowed this document, and in theory it can indeed be on the negotiating table between the Russian Federation and the United States as a certain opening of Moscow’s diplomatic position.

Smolenskaya Square [location of the Russian Foreign Ministry comparable to Foggy Bottom for the US State Department] unequivocally claims that negotiations in Riyadh are underway not only around the Ukrainian issue, but also about the normalization or, if you want, reformatting of bilateral relations. This is not a “conference on Ukraine,” but Russian-American talks about everything. Specifically, the Istanbul agreements may become the basis for negotiations on Ukraine, but in a broader context, we really need to talk about creating a configuration of continental security that would take into account Russia’s interests. The main thing here is to take into account the threats posed to the Russian Federation by the current security organization in Europe, which has developed after the uncontrolled expansion of NATO to the east.

The problem is not only attempts to draw Ukraine or Georgia into the alliance – Trump himself calls this “involvement” a mistake which has worsened the situation on the continent. In a broader context, other examples of NATO expansion have posed a threat to the Russian Federation. The current borders and configuration of the alliance cannot be the basis for lasting peace for many years. Roughly speaking, no one feels safe right now, and the source of these worries was and remains NATO as an outdated and decaying system. In the Smolenskaya Square declaration of December 2021, the first paragraph states that the Russian Federation and the United States should act on the basis of the principles of “indivisible and equal security, without prejudice to each other’s security.” Further, this basic principle is specified in slightly less general terms, but, in fact, this is a proposal to take into account the security threats to the Russian Federation that stem from the expansion of NATO to the east.

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“Europe’s “sound and fury” after jaw-dropping pivots in U.S. policy..”

“..the ‘blitzkrieg’ was “exceptionally well-planned” and had been discussed in Trump circles since late 2020..”

“That the U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions would be a calamitous event for the Brussels technocracy.”

America as Republic, not as Empire (Alastair Crooke)

The bits are falling into a distinct pattern – a pre-prepared pattern. Defence Secretary Hegseth at the Munich Security Conference gave us four ‘noes’: No to Ukraine in NATO; No to a return to pre-2014 borders; No to ‘Article 5’ peacekeeper backstops, and ‘No’ to U.S. troops in Ukraine. And in a final flourish, he added that U.S. troops in Europe are not ‘forever’ – and even placed a question mark over the continuity of NATO. Pretty plain speaking! The U.S. clearly is cutting away from Ukraine. And they intend to normalise relations with Russia. Then, Vice-President Vance threw his fire cracker amongst the gathered Euro-élites. He said that the élites had retreated from “shared” democratic values; they were overly reliant on repressing and censoring their peoples (prone to locking them up); and, above all, he excoriated the European Cordon Sanitaire (‘firewall’) by which European parties outside the Centre-Left are deemed non-grata politically: It’s a fake ‘threat’, he suggested.

Of what are you really so frightened? Have you so little confidence in your ‘democracy’? The U.S., he implied, will no longer support Europe if it continues to suppress political constituencies, arrest citizens for speech offenses, and particularly cancel elections as was done recently in Romania. “If you’re running in fear of your own voters”, Vance said, “there is nothing America can do for you”. Ouch! Vance had hit them where it hurts. It is difficult to say what specifically most triggered the catatonic European breakdown: Was it the fear of the U.S. and Russia joining together as a major power nexus – thus stripping Europe from ever again being able glide along on the back of American power, through the specious notion that any European state must have exceptional access to the Washington ‘ear’? Or was it the ending of the Ukraine/Zelensky cult which was so prized amongst the Euro-élite as the ‘glue’ around which a faux European unity and identity could be enforced? Both probably contributed to the fury.

That the U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions would be a calamitous event for the Brussels technocracy. Many may lazily assume that the U.S. double act at Munich was just another example of the well-known Trumpian fondness for dropping ‘wacky’ initiatives intended to both shock and kickover frozen paradigms. The Munich speeches did exactly that all right! Yet that does not make them accidental; but rather parts that fit into a bigger picture. It is clear now that the Trump blitzkrieg across the American Administrative State could not have been mounted unless carefully pre-planned and prepared over the last four years. Trump’s flurry of Presidential Executive Orders at the outset of his Presidency were not whimsical. Leading U.S. constitutional lawyer, Jonathan Turley, and other lawyers say that the Orders were well drafted legally and with the clear understanding that legal challenges would ensue. What’s more, that Trump Team welcome those challenges.

What is going on? The newly confirmed head of the Office of Budget Management (OBM), Russ Vought, says his Office will become the “on/off switch” for all Executive expenditure under the new Executive Orders. Vought calls the resulting whirlpool, the application of Constitutional radicalism. And Trump has now issued the Executive Order that reinstates the primacy of the Executive as the controlling mechanism of government. Vought, who was in OBM in Trump 01, is carefully selecting the ground for all-out financial war on the Deep State. It will be fought out firstly at the Supreme Court – which the Trump Team expect confidently to win (Trump has the 6-3 conservative majority). The new régime will then be applied across all agencies and departments of state. Expect shrieks of pain. The point here is that the Administrative State – aloof from executive control – has taken to itself prerogatives such as immunity to dismissal and the self-awarded authority to shape policy – creating a dual state system, run by unelected technocrats, which, when implanted in departments such as Justice and the Pentagon, have evolved into the American Deep State.

Article Two of the Constitution however, says very bluntly: Executive power shall be vested in the U.S. President (with no ifs or buts at all.) Trump intends for his Administration to recover that lost Executive power. It was, in fact, lost long ago. Trump is re-claiming too, the Executive’s right to dismiss ‘servants of the State’, and to ‘switch off’ wasteful expenditure at his discretion, as part of a unitary executive prerequisite. Of course, the Administrative State is fighting back. Turley’s article is headlined: They Are Taking Away Everything We Have: Democrats and Unions Launch Existential Fight. Their aim has been to cripple the Trump initiative through using politicised judges to issue restraint orders. Many mainstream lawyers believe Trump’s Unitary Executive claim to be illegal. The question is whether Congress can stand up Agencies designed to act independently of the President; and how does that square with the separation of powers and Article Two that vests unqualified executive power with one sole elected official – the U.S. President.

How did the Democrats not see this coming? Lawyer Robert Barnes essentially says that the ‘blitzkrieg’ was “exceptionally well-planned” and had been discussed in Trump circles since late 2020. The latter team had emerged from within a generational and cultural shift in the U.S.. This latter had given rise to a Libertarian/Populist wing with working class roots who often had served in the military, yet had come to despise the Neo-con lies (especially those of 9/11) that brought endless wars. They were animated more by the old John Adams adage that ‘America should not go abroad in search of monsters to slay’.

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“..asked [..] whether EU countries would retaliate in-kind to any US tariffs, Trump replied: “They can’t, I mean they can try, but they can’t.”

US To Impose Blanket 25% Tariffs On EU – Trump (RT))

US President Donald Trump has claimed that the EU was designed to weaken America and has issued new threats of 25% tariffs on all imports from the bloc. Trump made the remarks on Wednesday at the White House during his first Cabinet meeting of his second term as president. The trade row between the US and the EU has been escalating since Trump announced plans to introduce a wide range of import duties in an effort to tackle what he describes as a trade imbalance. “Look, let’s be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that’s the purpose of it,” Trump told the meeting. “And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.” He reiterated that his administration plans to impose tariffs on EU imports “very soon.”

“It will be 25%, generally speaking, and that will be on cars and all other things,” Trump said, describing the EU as “a different case than Canada… they’ve really taken advantage of us in a different way.” The US and EU similarly found themselves locked in a trade dispute during Trump’s first term, when he introduced tariffs of 25% on European steel imports and 10% on aluminum, to which the EU responded with countermeasures. Trump also threatened tariffs on European cars, though those never came to pass. In total, the two sides exchanged duties on goods worth over $10 billion. As part of his current tariff push, Trump has imposed 25% duties on all steel and aluminum imports from the EU starting March 4, adding to existing tariffs. He has also directed Howard Lutnick, his nominee for US trade representative and commerce secretary, to propose new levies on a country-by-country basis by April 1 in a bid to rebalance trade.

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has slapped a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on Chinese goods, citing concerns over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. However, following talks with the Mexican and Canadian leaders, those tariffs have been postponed for 30 days after both nations agreed to bolster border security. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the latest US tariffs, expressing “deep regret” over the decision. She said earlier this month that the levies on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered.” Asked on Wednesday, whether EU countries would retaliate in-kind to any US tariffs, Trump replied: “They can’t, I mean they can try, but they can’t.”

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Neither can Europe.

US Can No Longer Subsidize NATO – Rubio (RT)

Washington can no longer allow its wealthy Western European NATO allies to take advantage of US taxpayers to fund their defense budgets, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Wednesday. The top US diplomat was responding to comments by Friedrich Merz, whose Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won last week’s elections in Germany. Merz claimed that the US-led military bloc is in “jeopardy” due to Washington’s “indifference” toward Europe’s security. “NATO is not in jeopardy,” Rubio said. “The only thing that puts NATO in jeopardy is the fact that we have NATO allies who barely have militaries or whose militaries are not very capable because they’ve spent 40 years not spending any money on it.” The current US administration considers it unfair that some wealthy Western European member states only spend 1% to 1.5% of their GDP on defense, Rubio added.

“We just can’t keep subsidizing that,” he stressed. “These are rich countries, especially in Western Europe. They have plenty of money. They should be investing that in their national security, and they’re not.” US President Donald Trump has argued that NATO’s current defense spending target of 2% of GDP per year – already a challenge for a number of member states – is too low and should be raised to 5%. During his reelection campaign, Trump said he would “absolutely” consider leaving the bloc if members do not “pay their bills.” The US allocates around 3.4% of GDP to military expenditures, according to a 2023 estimate by the World Bank. In contrast, European NATO members spend an average of 1.9%, less than 60% of the US’ spending, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing S&P Global.

Meeting Trump’s proposed 5% military spending goal would cause France and Germany’s budget deficits to rise to 4.6% and 8.9% in 2025, respectively, compared to the current projections of 1.7% and 6%, S&P estimated. Since 2022, the US and its allies have provided more than $258 billion in aid to Ukraine, including over $134 billion in military assistance, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute. Western nations have depleted their military stockpiles and struggled to increase arms production due to deindustrialization, offshore manufacturing, green policies, and sanctions on Russian energy.

Trump claims that Washington spent up to $350 billion on Ukraine under the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, and has vowed to recover this money. Moscow has warned that NATO’s military aid to Ukraine effectively makes member states parties to the conflict. Trump is the first and only Western leader to acknowledge that one of the root causes of the Ukraine conflict was “the previous administration’s ‘pushy’ policy of dragging Ukraine into NATO,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week.

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As Europe adopts new sanctions…

Trump Says US Could Lift Russia Sanctions (RT)

The US could lift sanctions against Russia “at some point” during the Ukraine peace negotiations, President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday. He noted, however, that no decision has been made so far. The US and other Western nations have placed an unprecedented number of economic restrictions on Russia since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. Moscow considers the sanctions illegal and has consistently demanded their removal. “No, we haven’t lifted any sanctions on anybody… I guess it will be at some point, but right now we haven’t agreed to lift sanctions on anybody,” Trump said at a press briefing, responding to a question on whether the issue has been part of Russia-US discussions so far.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently suggested that Western nations will have to consider lifting sanctions on Russia in order to find an “enduring, sustainable” solution to the Ukraine conflict. Speaking after high-level talks between Moscow and Washington in Saudi Arabia last week, he indicated that in order to bring an end to the conflict, “there has to be concessions made by all sides,” including letting go of sanctions policies. Rubio noted, however, that the EU will have to be “at the table” to discuss sanctions relief as well, as it has also imposed restrictive measures targeting Russia. Brussels has indicated it is prepared to pursue an independent sanctions policy regardless of Washington’s stance. EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said last week that the bloc has no plans to lift sanctions against Moscow even if the US decides to do so.

Earlier this week, the EU adopted its 16th package of restrictions, largely targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex and energy projects. It also introduced additional measures against alleged sanctions circumvention, including dual-use export restrictions. Moscow has often noted that sanctions have failed to destabilize or isolate it while backfiring on the countries that imposed them. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Western sanctions have inadvertently bolstered Russia’s development. Speaking at the Future Technologies Forum in Moscow, he stated that despite the challenges that Russia was forced to overcome due to the measures, they played a “stimulating role,” prompting closer collaboration between Russia’s domestic businesses and science and bolstering the country’s economic and technological sectors.

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“..Europe’s role in fomenting crises and its reputation in this area, which it has acquired over centuries, remains unchanged..”

EU Trying To Block Ukraine Peace – Lavrov (RT)

The EU is seeking to derail the Ukraine peace process by pushing the country to continue fighting against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking at a press conference in Qatar on Wednesday, Lavrov weighed in on a resolution drafted by the US calling for a “swift end” to the Ukraine conflict, which was approved by the UN Security Council on Monday. The document, which was supported by Russia and China, excluded strong language denouncing Moscow. The resolution also came after US President Donald Trump refused to condemn Russia over the Ukraine conflict while blaming Kiev for failing to prevent the hostilities. The Russian foreign minister said that as soon as the political landscape regarding the conflict began to shift, “Europe immediately tries to undermine this trend, announces new large packages of military aid to Kiev, incites it to continue military actions.”

Lavrov went on to state that “Europe’s role in fomenting crises and its reputation in this area, which it has acquired over centuries, remains unchanged,” adding that the EU’s approach to the conflict is “hopelessly outdated and failing.” Last week, Politico reported that the EU is preparing a military aid package worth at least €6 billion ($6.3 billion) for Ukraine, with the magazine’s sources claiming that it could potentially balloon to €10 billion as the bloc’s members “dig into their inventories to see what they can send.” Meanwhile, Trump said on Tuesday that the US is not currently supplying Ukraine with any defense assistance. Russia has condemned the Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning that they only prolong the conflict without changing the outcome.

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Who’s going to volunteer to be a Russian target?

Lavrov Calls Out Europe’s Peacekeeper Plan As Ploy to Rearm Kiev (Sp.)

For Russia, any course of action involving the deployment of European peacekeepers to Ukraine is out of the question, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday. “No, we cannot consider any such options,” Lavrov told reporters after talks in Doha. The approach being imposed by the Europeans, namely France and the UK, is aimed at further fueling the conflict and “pumping Kiev with weapons again”, Russia’s diplomacy chief added. US President Donald Trump stated that he believes the presence of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine is necessary in one form or another, but the format of this mission must be acceptable to all parties. Russia is not blocking negotiations on Ukraine, Lavrov said, emphasizing that the best way to resolve the conflict is to understand its root causes.

“We are waiting for our European colleagues to stop spreading lies that Russia is blocking the negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly responded to these false claims, pointing out that the Ukrainian leadership, instigated by Europe, refuses to negotiate,” Lavrov told reporters after his visit to Qatar. Lavrov noted that European politicians assert the conflict in Ukraine should be resolved through military means rather than through negotiations. “We believe that the best help from those who sincerely want to help resolve the conflict is to understand its root causes, as [US] President Trump did recently,” Lavrov added. An upcoming Russian-US meeting that will focus on normalizing the operation of embassies will be held on February 27 in Istanbul, Lavrov said.

“We announced that our high-level diplomats and experts, will meet and consider the systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the previous administration’s illicit activities to create artificial obstacles to the functions of the Russian embassy, to which we naturally reciprocated and also created uncomfortable conditions for the work of the US Embassy in Moscow. Such a meeting will take place tomorrow in Istanbul,” Lavrov told reporters. Based on the outcome of the talks, it will be clear how fast and efficiently both countries can move, the top diplomat added. Israel’s presence in the south of Lebanon and the south of Syria requires constructive solutions which will not violate security of any party, Lavrov said.

“At present, the Israeli armed forces have entered the south of Syria, just as they decided to stay in the south of Lebanon. All this creates a new situation, which demands not simply understanding, but working out some kind of constructive steps, which take into account the security and development interests of all the countries of the region, including, of course, Israel. But these security problems must not be solved by violating the security and development of other [countries],” Russia’s diplomacy chief said at a press conference. Lavrov also said that Russia is deeply concerned about the fact that day by day the Israeli armed forces take steps that are not envisaged in the Hamas-Israel deals and create situations which contradict the agreements and the resolutions of the UN Security Council.

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No more time to wait or waste. There are major problems to be solved..

Russian, US Diplomats To Meet In Istanbul On February 27 (TASS)

Russian and US diplomats will hold a meeting in Istanbul on February 27 to discuss issues related to the operation of the two countries’ embassies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced. “Such a meeting will take place in Istanbul tomorrow,” the top Russian diplomat said at a press conference following his visit to Qatar. “We have announced that our diplomats and high-level experts will meet to address the systemic problems that have piled up as a result of the previous [US] administration’s illegitimate activities aimed at creating artificial obstacles for the work of the Russian embassy, to which we clearly responded in kind, also creating uncomfortable conditions for the operation of the US embassy in Moscow,” Lavrov noted.

According to him, the problem of Russia’s frozen assets “has nothing to do with the operation of embassies” because “the asset issue is a state-level one.” Lavrov expects that the Istanbul meeting “will make it clear how capable the parties are of moving forward quickly and effectively.” Earlier, the top Russian diplomat announced that Moscow and Washington had held two rounds of preliminary technical consultations on the issue. Russian and US delegations held talks in Riyadh on February 18, which lasted over four hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. The US delegation consisted of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

According to Ushakov, the delegations held a serious talk on all the issues they wanted to discuss, including ways to bring Russian and US positions closer to each other and future consultations on Ukraine. Lavrov described the meeting with Washington officials as very useful. According to him, Russia and the US agreed to make sure that ambassadors to both countries are appointed as soon as possible. Rubio, in turn, said after the talks that the US and Russia had agreed to reestablish embassy staffing. Embassy staff cuts began in both countries after 2014, when Washington adopted a policy aimed at “systemic containment” of Russia.

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“Who could forget Sean Penn giving him his own Oscar, or Ben Stiller chilling with the Ukrainian leader and making small talk? Angelina Jolie is even reported to have been paid 20 million dollars to meet with him..”

Zelensky Now With Only The Dictatorship In London To Support Him (Jay)

What is the definition of a ‘dictator’? In the days that followed Trump’s social media post calling President Zelensky one, British media seized upon the subject and ran with it for days. Various public figures were asked whether Trump was right to use the word and whether they believed Zelensky was actually one. Two figures from the right, Nigel Farage and Liz Truss both said they thought Trump was both wrong to call him one and that in fact he wasn’t one. This remarkable endearment for Zelensky is really the core of the problem in the west in particular the UK, where its leader Sir Keir Starmer declared that he would be ready to send British troops to Ukraine – a suggestion which was quickly shot down by the elites of Germany and France as preposterous. It’s rare that the giants of the EU put the British government in its place on world affairs but we are living in unprecedented times of sensational stupidity and perhaps ignorance from politicians which we have never seen before.

Farage’s views on the Middle East tell us he is both ignorant of what is happening there and doesn’t have any advisors covering the region. But his views on Ukraine are even more shockingly deranged. Zelensky is a leader who has shut down anything which resembles an ‘opposition’ both politically and media, he has conglomerated all TV stations into one state-owned entity so as to shut down even the slightest criticism or accountability of his own actions, he has had the few dissident voices arrested and thrown into prison, with some predicting that there are thousands of journalists and media workers. Add to that it is rapidly emerging that the level of corruption and embezzlement linked directly to Zelensky is on a scale that even hard line critics in the West could not have even imagined.

In my own investigation in October 2023, where a very angry Ben Wallace insulted me in a WhatsApp interview before blocking me, I outline how the original, more sensational claim that only about a third of all military equipment sent to Ukraine was actually making it to the battlefield was in fact realistic. This analogy was bandied about for some time and was dismissed by Wallace and others like Alecia Kearns MP as nonsense and yet turned out to be more than just realistic but likely. That is to say that 66 percent of what was being sent to Ukraine was being sold on the black market in Libya making Zelensky and his close circle billionaires.

In recent weeks now mainstream journalists and politicians are talking about the arms scandal and it is only a matter of time before we shall see the realities of this. The British government have always turned a blind eye to it, both in Ukraine and further afield. It would cost them nothing to do a study in the Sahel to evaluate how much of the equipment there funding terrorism is coming from the arms bazaars of Tripoli where all of this kit is ending up. I suggested to Wallace that his own government at the time should send some investigators there (Libya) to look at what’s available. I was more or less told to go there myself and do the job for them.

But Zelenksy support structure for so long has been that of a dictator, in particular media. The hundreds of media outlets in Ukraine which were receiving USAID funding is extensive, not to mention the hundreds of civil servants which support him being on the same payroll. If that doesn’t shock Farage and Truss, then consider the same slush fund which paid out around a 100 million dollars to movie stars to go and visit him and fake their adulation, all for the purposes of cheating the humble U.S. taxpayer by raising his profile.

Who could forget Sean Penn giving him his own Oscar, or Ben Stiller chilling with the Ukrainian leader and making small talk? Angelina Jolie is even reported to have been paid 20 million dollars to meet with him but didn’t even manage that and simply mooched about a but in the country before jetting back to the U.S. Of course, the celebrities all dismiss these claims, through the same left-wing woke press which is part of their extended political family. But the question we should be asking ourselves is simply this: if they were not paid, then why won’t they show up now and show support at the precise moment when Zelensky needs it the most? Given that these celebrities supported Biden and are Democrats, this would be the most logical thing for them to do. In reality, the wall of silence is what we see.

Dictators don’t stand over their hired killers and watch their victims in their final moments like Idi Amin did. In reality, they only indicate and hint to the thugs on their payroll what she should do to fix problems. Does Farage and Truss actually believe that dissidents are not rounded up and thrown into jail where they are tortured and in some cases murdered? Now that the vultures are circling over Zelensky and many are wondering how many days in office he has left, more reports are emerging with details of such cases. The story of Gonzalo Lira, the American Chilean blogger whose vlogs were often well-informed and threw a very poor spotlight on Zelensky is a very sad one as he was brutally tortured while in prison and finally died. If the Zelensky cabal can do this to an American citizen, perhaps Farage and Truss will not be too surprised when in the coming weeks we will have the same Damascus prison media moment where it transpires that there are certainly hundreds, possibly thousands of journalists, commentators and political rivals in Ukraine’s prisons.

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“The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.”

Ukraine Can Forget About NATO, Says Trump (ZH)

Huge and unprecedented words issued by America’s Commander-in-Chief in a press briefing on Thursday… Trump says Ukraine can “forget about” joining NATO: “That is probably the reason why the whole thing started.” Of course, Vice President J.D. Vance earlier this month voiced this point of view of the administration while addressing a gathering of defense leaders in Brussels. But never before has a US president so forcefully voiced that a path to NATO membership simply won’t happen. This also marks the most directly Trump has ever said NATO expansion is a key reason for the tragic war, which has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, having started in the first place. Mainstream media fact-checkers have been out in force, decrying this perspective as ‘Russian propaganda’. But is this really the case?

The head of NATO itself in the recent past said the quiet part out loud and fully admitted that constant NATO expansion to Russia’s doorstep was a central driving factor: “From the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve been told that the issue of NATO expansion is irrelevant to the war, and that anyone bringing it up is, at best, unwittingly parroting Kremlin propaganda, at worst, apologizing for or justifying the war. So it was curious to see NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this month say explicitly that Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his criminal war as a reaction to the possibility of NATO expanding into Ukraine, and the alliance’s refusal to swear it off — not once or twice, but three separate times.

“President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement,” Stoltenberg told a joint committee meeting of the European Parliament on September 7. “That was what he sent us. And [that] was a pre-condition for not invade [sic] Ukraine. Of course we didn’t sign that.” “He went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders. He has got the exact opposite,” Stoltenberg reiterated, referring to the accession of Sweden and Finland into the alliance in response to Putin’s invasion. Their entry, he later insisted, “demonstrates that when President Putin invaded a European country to prevent more NATO, he’s getting the exact opposite.” How much clearer could the then NATO Secretary-General have said it (in the Sept. 2023 comments)?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1706173936025874767

How much clearer could the then NATO Secretary-General have said it (in the Sept. 2023 comments)?Trump also on Wednesday blasted the European Union… “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.” Among other things, Europe has lately been accused of seeking to thwart Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine, even offering a rival rare earth minerals deal. The Europeans and Ukrainians have been cut out of direct negotiations with Moscow under Rubio.

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Aka very little.

Ukraine Should Get As Much Land ‘As Possible’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said he wants Ukraine to regain as much territory “as possible” under a potential peace deal with Russia. He claimed that Moscow will have to make concessions, but that the agreement should ultimately represent the best possible outcome for both parties if finalized. Five formerly Ukrainian regions have voted to join Russia since 2014. While Kiev rejects the territorial changes, Moscow views them as final and non-negotiable. Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump was asked if a peace deal that involved Russia maintaining control over Ukrainian-claimed land could send a message to China detrimental to American interests. ”We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides,” Trump responded, adding that for Kiev that means “they can get as much back as possible.”

Although an agreement is not guaranteed, Trump expressed hope that it would materialize “for the sake of humanity.” If a resolution is reached, Trump stressed that Ukraine “can forget about” joining NATO as this aspiration lies at the heart of the ongoing conflict. He asserted that Russia will “have to” make concessions as well. Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated that Moscow would reject a truce that merely freezes the conflict along the current front line, leaving parts of Russian territory under Ukrainian jurisdiction. ”Some propose maintaining the line of engagement – this section is Russian, that one is Ukrainian… That won’t happen, as we have a Constitution reflecting the will of the people,” Lavrov said, referencing the referendums held in the five former Ukrainian regions.

Trump’s approach marks a departure from his predecessor Joe Biden’s strategy of isolating Russia, as he seeks to normalize bilateral relations. Both Moscow and Washington suggest that this shift provides hope for a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Additionally, the Trump administration aims to recover taxpayer funds spent during Biden’s tenure through a forthcoming minerals deal with Kiev, expected to be signed on Friday. The new US administration has declined to offer security guarantees to Ukraine, arguing that the country holds minimal interest for American priorities and that European nations should address the issue instead.

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There’s nothing left to come home to but a crazed dictator and some neo-nazis in a barren landscape.

Most Ukrainians Abroad Won’t Come Home – Unity Minister (RT)

The majority of Ukrainians who left the country over the past three years will not return to their homeland even after the military conflict ends, Minister of National Unity Aleksey Chernyshov has said, according to local media reports. An estimated over 5 million Ukrainians are still living abroad, three years since the conflict escalated. Kiev wants them back as it seeks to address the country’s imploding demographics, boost conscription and generate human resources for the post-conflict reconstruction. The minister reportedly claimed on Tuesday that 30% of Ukrainians currently abroad are “seriously considering coming back” when the security situation stabilizes, according to Ekonomicheskaya Pravda. “We also clearly understand that a significant portion of Ukrainians will not return,” the national unity minister said. “They have decided to stay where they are. This is not a catastrophe, it must be acknowledged.”

Chernyshov said that Kiev is developing measures to encourage people to return and cited statistics indicating that Ukraine loses 300,000 people annually for reasons unrelated to the conflict. “For post-conflict recovery and doubling Ukraine’s GDP within 10 years, it will be necessary to attract between 3.1 to 4.2 million repatriates and immigrants,” he noted. A study by the Ukrainian think tank Center for Economic Strategy (CES) published last week found that around 5.2 million Ukrainian refugees remain abroad, of which 60% plan to settle outside their homeland. Meanwhile, the share of those considering returning home had dropped to 43% by the end of 2024, compared to 74% in December 2022. The exodus peaked in March 2022, when around 2.5 million people left the country within weeks. Since then, the outflow has slowed, with around 300,000 people departing Ukraine last year, the CES said.

The agency estimates that up to 2.7 million Ukrainians may choose to remain abroad permanently, even after the conflict ends. The majority of refugees are women and children, while Germany and Poland are the most popular destinations, a Eurostat report published earlier this month showed. The report also revealed that the share of adult men fleeing Ukraine has jumped by nearly 10% over the past year amid the massive mobilization campaign. This prolonged emigration could have devastating consequences for Ukraine’s economy. CES projects it could reduce the country’s annual GDP by 5.1% to 7.8%. According to the think tank, the primary reasons Ukrainians are not currently returning home include the ongoing security threats, destroyed housing, low living standards, and difficulties in securing employment in Ukraine.

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Remember Alastair Crooke: “..the Orders were well drafted legally and with the clear understanding that legal challenges would ensue..”

Federal Government Can’t Comply With Judge’s Order To Unfreeze Funds (ET)

Federal officials told a U.S. judge on Feb. 25 that they could not comply with his order requiring the release of frozen foreign aid within two days. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali’s order, which gave a deadline of Feb. 26 at 11:59 p.m. ET, would mean paying at least $1.5 billion across some 2,000 outstanding and newly created requests for payment to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the official serving as deputy administrator for the agency said in a court filing. It would also require paying at least $400 million to resolve outstanding payment requests to the State Department, Pete Marocco, the official, said. “These payments cannot be accomplished in the time allotted by the Court and would instead take multiple weeks,” he wrote.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ali, in a hearing with government lawyers and attorneys representing the groups that sued over the freeze, was told that the groups had not yet been paid despite his multiple previous orders, including one on Feb. 13, mandating that the Trump administration unfreeze the foreign assistance. “I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this: Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before Feb. 13,” the Washington-based judge asked Indraneel Sur, the lawyer for the government, during the hearing. “Are you aware of steps taken to actually release those funds?” “I’m not in a position to answer that,” Sur said. It’s the second time a judge has found the Trump administration did not follow a court order. U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island also found this month that the administration had not fully unfrozen federal grants and loans within the United States after he blocked sweeping plans for a pause on trillions of dollars in government spending.

In the Washington case, plaintiffs recently filed an emergency motion to enforce the judge’s temporary restraining order, saying they’re still owed millions of dollars and that their contracts terminated under Trump’s foreign assistance pause remain terminated. Ali granted the emergency motion during Tuesday’s hearing and ordered the government to comply by Thursday. Marocco’s declaration came with a motion from the government asking the judge to stay his order as a federal appeals court considers overturning it. “Defendants are likely to succeed on appeal from the Court’s order for several reasons,” government lawyers said in the filing. “To start, it is not possible for Defendants to comply,” they said, pointing to Marocco’s declaration. The government has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

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A subtle hint.

Rubio Cancels EU’s Kallas At Last Minute (RT)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cancelled a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas at the last minute “due to scheduling issues,” Euronews reported on Wednesday. Kallas, who is on an official visit to Washington to discuss the Ukraine conflict and new dynamics in transatlantic relations, intends to meet with representatives from the US Congress and Senate, according to her spokesperson cited by the EU’s news network. The bloc’s top diplomat had been scheduled to meet with Rubio on Wednesday, and news agencies had expected images from the bilateral talks, Euronews wrote. However, a spokesperson for the US official told the outlet that the meeting had been cancelled “due to scheduling issues,” adding that Kallas and Rubio “last met during the Munich Security Conference” earlier in February. According to the report, Rubio’s public calendar for February 26 did not list Kallas as an agenda item.

Former Estonian prime minister Kallas has been critical of the new US administration’s handling of the Ukraine conflict, denouncing President Donald Trump’s call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier this month as a form of “appeasement.” She has accused Washington of adopting a “Russian narrative” and argued that Brussels should “support Ukraine right now more than ever.” Kallas also claimed that Moscow emerged as the winner in the recent US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia, stressing that any peace deal concerning Ukraine must involve both Europeans and Ukrainians to be effective. Following the Riyadh talks on February 18, Kallas held a phone call with Rubio, later warning, “Russia will try to divide us. Let’s not walk into their traps.” On Monday, while announcing the now-cancelled meeting with Rubio, Kallas stated “I have been very clear that no deal without us, without Ukraine or without Europe will work in practice – and that is for the US, which also needs to work with us.”

An unnamed EU diplomat commented on the canceled meeting for Politico, saying it “seems that the Trump administration doesn’t miss a chance to show that for them the EU is not a player.” On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the aggressive stance of Ukraine’s EU backers makes them unfit to participate in the peace process. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further accused Brussels on Wednesday of attempting to derail peace efforts by encouraging Kiev to continue fighting against Russia. Kallas has recently suggested extending arms deliveries to Ukraine into 2025. The proposed package, worth €10 billion (over $10 billion), has faced resistance from some EU member states and is set for discussion at the March 6 summit of the bloc. Moscow has repeatedly warned against Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they only prolong the conflict without altering the outcome, while increasing the risk of a direct Russia-NATO confrontation.

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Europe is full of highly unpopular “leaders”. Who target the few that are actually loved.

NATO-Skeptic Romanian Presidential Candidate Arrested (RT)

Romanian police have arrested Calin Georgescu, the front-runner in last year’s annulled presidential election, and conducted dozens of raids on his supporters and people tied to his campaign, local media reported on Wednesday. A critic of NATO and the EU and an opponent of sending aid to Ukraine, Georgescu made headlines in November last year when he unexpectedly garnered 23% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in Romania. However, the Constitutional Court annulled the results shortly before the second round, citing intelligence documents alleging ‘irregularities’ in his campaign. Georgescu’s communications team has said on Facebook that he was arrested just as he was about to submit his new candidacy for the presidency.

”The system stopped him in traffic and he was pulled over for questioning at the Prosecutor General’s Office! Where is democracy, where are the partners who must defend democracy,” his team wrote. Prior to his arrest, Georgescu condemned the raids on his supporters in a post on Facebook. “The communist-Bolshevik system continues its odious abuses,” he wrote, accusing the Romanian authorities of trying to “invent evidence to justify the theft of the elections and to do anything to block my new candidacy for the presidency.” The Romanian Prosecutor General’s Office is reportedly investigating Georgescu over allegations of involvement “in a fascist organization and the promotion of controversial ideologies and historical figures in the public space,” G4Media outlet reported, citing sources close to the investigation. According to media reports, police found “weapons, live ammunition, and more than a million dollars hidden in a safe” during the raids.

Following the reports of Georgescu’s arrest, dozens of people gathered in front of the Prosecutor General’s office, chanting his name. The president of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, George Simion, said his MPs have also made their way to the Prosecutor General’s office to demand an explanation. Digi24 quoted Simion as saying that he maintains his support for Georgescu and that “until we see undeniable evidence, we suspect that this is political policing.” He added that so far, “not a single piece of evidence” has been presented. Georgescu’s surprise election victory last year and the subsequent annulment over unproven claims of Russian interference in the electoral process sparked controversy in the country. Both conservative and liberal parties have suggested that the establishment parties – the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) – are trying to hold on to power by pulling strings within the Constitutional Court.

The canceled election over alleged ‘Russian meddling’ has also been criticized by US officials. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Vice President J.D. Vance suggested that “old entrenched interests” in Romania are “hiding behind ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation” and “don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might… win an election.” Throughout his election campaign, Georgescu repeatedly insisted on Romania’s geopolitical non-alignment and highlighted national sovereignty and self-sufficiency. While expressing skepticism towards Western influence over the country’s policies and criticizing both NATO and the EU, he stated that Romania would respect its commitments to these organizations, but only “to the extent that they will respect theirs” toward Bucharest. He also vowed to halt Romania’s military aid to Ukraine if elected.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1894722137941749825

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Dismissed/disgruntled/disloyal spies.

Tulsi Gabbard Labels CNN ‘Propaganda Arm’ Of Spies (RT)

Newly confirmed US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has accused CNN of acting as a “propaganda arm” for disloyal intelligence agents, calling the network’s report on potential retaliation by dismissed spies an “indirect threat” to President Donald Trump’s administration. As part of Trump’s broader effort to downsize and restructure the federal government, the Central Intelligence Agency has recently offered so-called buyouts to its agents. In a report published on Monday, CNN, citing unnamed sources, claimed that some senior CIA officers were “quietly discussing” how the dismissals “risk creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service.” “I am curious about how they think this is a good tactic to keep their job,” Gabbard told Fox News on Tuesday.

“They are exposing themselves, essentially, by making this indirect threat – using their propaganda arm, CNN, that they’ve used over and over again – to reveal their hand,” she continued. “Their loyalty is not to America, not to the American people or the Constitution; it is to themselves.” She stressed that these disgruntled employees are “exactly the kinds of people we need to root out, get rid of, so that the patriots who do work in this area, who are committed to our core mission, can actually focus on that.” Gabbard also claimed that many within the intelligence community had reached out to her personally, expressing support for Trump’s efforts to “clean house” and refocus on the core mission of serving the American people.

A former US congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard rose to national prominence in 2016 when she resigned as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to endorse Bernie Sanders for president. She later ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, advocating against US military interventions abroad, which she argued are harmful to service members like herself and detrimental to national interests. As tensions with the Democratic Party escalated, Gabbard left the party in 2022. After two years as an independent, she joined the Republican Party and endorsed Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s nomination of Gabbard for the top intelligence role in November sparked criticism from establishment figures, who labeled her a security risk. Despite the backlash, she was confirmed earlier this month by a 52-48 Senate vote, with only one Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, opposing her appointment. In January, the Senate also confirmed another Trump nominee, John Ratcliffe, as director of the CIA in a 74-25 vote. Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman and ex-director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, is known for his skepticism of intelligence agencies and his criticism of investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

CIA

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“..this will make you sick..”

We’ll see a lot of comments on redactions. Pam better be careful.

AG Pam Bondi Announces Thursday Release of Epstein Files (ZH)

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Wednesday evening that she’s going to release DOJ files on dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. “You said last week that you had the Epstein files on your desk. When can we see them?” asked Fox News’ Jesse Watters. “Jesse, there are well over – this will make you sick, 200 victims. Well over… over 250 actually. So we have to make sure that their identity is protected, and their personal information. But other than that, I think tomorrow Jesse – breaking news right now, you’re going to see some Epstein information being released by my office.” “What kind? Are we going to see who was on the flights? Are we going to see any evidence from what he recorded – because he had all of his homes wired with recording devices,” Watters asked. “What you’re going to see, hopefully tomorrow, is a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information… it’s pretty sick what that man did,” Bondi continued.

Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender was found dead in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. While his death was rules a suicide, he was also good friends with the Clintons and several other high-profile figures such as Bill Gates, Britain’s Prince Andrew, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Barclays CEO and ‘Disney princess’ aficionado Jes Staley, Larry Summers, Harvey Weinstein, and former Victoria’s Secret boss Les Wexner. Watters’ question about recordings stems from earlier reporting that the deceased sex trafficker’s homes were wired with recording devices. In late 2019, Jeffrey Epstein victim Maria Farmer alleged that the deceased pedophile had a “media room” on the first floor where high-profile johns were allegedly recorded having sex with women and children.

“So if you’re facing the house, there’s a window on the right that’s barred – that’s the room, the ‘media room’ is what he called it,” Farmer said. “And so there was a door that looked like an invisible door with all this limestone and everything and you push it and you go in and I saw all the cameras.” Maria said: “What it was – was like old televisions basically, like stacked.” “They were monitors inside this cabinet and there were men sitting here and I looked on the cameras and I saw toilet, toilet, bed, bed, toilet, bed. “And I was like I’m never going to use the restroom here and I am never going to sleep here.” -The Sun

The claim was supported in a 2024 lawsuit by two women – Danielle Bensky and Jane Doe 3, who said Epstein employed a sophisticated system involving constant CCTV surveillance within his New York mansion. Bondi’s appearance came hours after the DOJ appeared to give Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) the brush-off, telling her in a Wednesday letter that they are “reviewing your requests and look forward to engaging further to accommodate your oversight and legislative needs.” On the campaign trail, Donald Trump suggested that he would be open to releasing the Epstein list, while Bondi said in November that anyone named in the documents who are “still fighting to keep their names private, Sean, they have no legal basis to do so unless they’re a child, a victim or a cooperating defendant.”

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Opens in new tab/window. No comment needed.Note: Trump did not make this.

Trump Gaza VIDEO With Bearded Belly Dancers Sparks Outcry (RT)

A video re-envisioning Gaza as a lavish resort complete with bearded belly dancers and dollar bills raining down posted on US President Donald Trump’s social media channel has elicited a backlash from users. The clip, which appears to be AI-generated and comes after the US leader recently suggested turning Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” appeared on Truth Social on Tuesday. The 30-second clip begins with what appear to be current scenes of destruction in Gaza, with barefoot children running between wrecked buildings. The wreckage then morphs into a futuristic-looking Gaza with skyscrapers reminiscent of Dubai, pristine beaches, casinos, and opulent hotels branded “Trump Gaza.” The video depicts an AI-rendered Trump enjoying the local attractions, including sunbathing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Elon Musk, also AI-rendered, is seen dining on the beach, surrounded by what appear to be bearded belly dancers. The video also features larger-than-life golden statues of Trump and kids frolicking under a shower of dollar bills.

The video is accompanied by a jingle with lyrics praising Trump’s supposed vision for Gaza:
“Donald is coming to set you free, bringing the light for all to see,
No more tunnels, no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here.
Trump Gaza is shining bright, a golden future, a brand new light,
Feast and dance, the deed is done, Trump Gaza number one!”

Trump suggested earlier this month that the US was prepared to take control of Gaza and transform it into a resort. He has reiterated the idea several times since, claiming that because the enclave is unsafe to live in, it should be raised completely to the ground and rebuilt. While Israel applauded Trump’s initiative, other regional players and many global powers have strongly opposed it, particularly given that it would mean relocating Palestinians living in the enclave to neighboring countries. Trump’s video has so far drawn significant backlash over its tone and messaging, even from the US leader’s own supporters. Users on Truth Social described the clip as “horrible,” “creepy,” and “in poor taste.”

“I hate this. I love our president, but this is horrible,” one user wrote on Truth Social. “This feels all wrong and actually makes me sick,” another user stated. “I could not be a bigger supporter of President Trump but this particular video is in very poor taste!” another one wrote. Some suggested that the bearded belly dancers and golden statues were excessive, while others questioned whether the video had actually come from Trump’s team. “Something does not add up here??? Really does not feel that this is something Trump would post!! Wonder if someone is messing with his account??!! I surely hope so!! Very creepy!!” a user wrote. Several more suggested that Trump should “strongly re-evaluate” the communications team responsible for creating the video. Neither Trump nor his administration has commented on the video, nor was the clip accompanied by any explanation or caption.

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Catwalk
https://twitter.com/i/status/1894497772797141391

 

 

Owl

 

 

Donkey
https://twitter.com/i/status/1894819783696359446

 

 

Dachs

 

 

Trust

 

 

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Feb 132025
 


Dante Gabriel Rossetti Monna Vanna 1866

 

Putin Invites Trump To Visit Moscow In ‘Highly Productive’ Call (ZH)
China Offers To Host Putin-Trump Summit (RT)
Hegseth Casts Doubt on Ukraine’s NATO Gamble As Peace Talks Loom (Sp.)
Trump ‘OK’ With Keeping Ukraine Out of NATO (RT)
NATO Boss Issues Warning To Putin (RT)
Musk Calls For Complete Overhaul of NATO (RT)
EU Won’t Give Zelensky 200,000 Peacekeepers – NYT (RT)
Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed As Director of National Intelligence (ZH)
Pam Bondi’s DOJ Sues NY, Hochul, Letitia James Over Licenses For Illegals (ZH)
Trump Sees ‘Tremendous Kickbacks’ In US Government Contracts (RT)
Why They Really Hate Elon Musk (Mises)
Federal Judge Allows Trump To Push Forward With Gov’t Workers Buyouts (NYP)
Federal Judge Blocking Spending Freezes Has History of TDS (AmG)
Judge Temporarily Blocks DOGE From Accessing Federal Student Aid Data (ET)
Left Will Push Violent Revolution Against Trump – Larry Klayman (USAW)
Biden WH, DOJ, National Archives Collaborated On Trump Documents Probe (JTN)
New Task Force To Probe jFK, RFK, MLK Murders, Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ (RT)
Switching Off Russian Gas Pipelines Hurts Europe Far More Than Russia (SCF)
Trump Admin Eyes Billions Going to California High-Speed Train (Turley)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889398883786301695

Navarro

Harry
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889370026626441606

VDH
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889336313322561852

Hegseth
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889686598498832503
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889684187986210922

X – a thread

 

 

 

 

“Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end.”

Putin Invites Trump To Visit Moscow In ‘Highly Productive’ Call (ZH)

Update(1330ET): Just on the heels of the historic Putin call, President Trump has revealed an outline of his call with Ukraine’s President Zelensky, calling it a “meaningful conversation”. He had earlier vowed to inform Zelensky of the contents of the Putin phone call, at a moment European allies are stressing that there can be no peace deal without Ukraine’s direct input and participation.
• Trump: a meeting with Vance, Rubio, Zelensky being set up on Friday
• Trump: It is time to stop the Ukraine-Russia war
• No Ukraine deal without Ukraine and Europeans: French, German, Spanish FMs
• Trump has pledged that talks to end the war will start immediately. Wednesday marks the first known conversation between Trump and Putin since the new US president entered office last month.

* * *
US President Trump and Russian President Putin held a nearly hour-and-a-half call this morning which the US president described as “lengthy and highly productive.” Trump said on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of “visiting each other’s nations,” while, the US leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “right now” to inform him about the call. President Trump took to his Truth Social account to explain what was discussed (emphasis ours):

“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! 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. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.”

We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end.

No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!”

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Interesting twist. Riyadh seems more logical for now, but who knows?

China Offers To Host Putin-Trump Summit (RT)

China has presented a proposal to hold a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to help end the Ukraine conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. China has long sought to position itself as a potential peace broker in the Moscow-Kiev conflict, presenting its own roadmap to resolve the crisis. The development comes after Putin and Trump held a phone conversation on Wednesday – their first confirmed contact since Trump returned to the White House last month. The leaders had a “lengthy and highly productive” conversation, according to the US president. Trump later announced that he and Putin had agreed on an “immediate” start of negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

In recent weeks, Chinese officials have put forward a proposal to the Trump team through intermediaries, suggesting a summit between the two leaders and offering to help with peacekeeping efforts following a potential truce, the WSJ reported, citing sources in Beijing and Washington. According to the report, the Chinese offer envisions a US-Russian summit without the participation of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. The proposal goes against the West’s long-standing commitment to involve Kiev in any conflict-related discussions. The White House declined to confirm to the WSJ whether it had received China’s offer but dismissed it nonetheless, with a White House official describing it as “not viable at all.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry also declined to comment on the report, stating only that Beijing is “pleased” to see that Russia and the US are “strengthening ties and intensifying dialogue on a range of international issues.”

During their conversation, Trump and Putin reportedly agreed to visit each other’s countries. The Kremlin press service has confirmed that Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow, but did not provide a time frame for any potential trip. The US president later indicated that their first meeting would “probably” take place soon in Saudi Arabia. No peace talks on Ukraine have been held since the early months of the conflict. The negotiations between Russia and Ukraine held in Belarus and Türkiye broke down in spring 2022, with both sides accusing the other of making unrealistic demands. Senior US State Department official Victoria Nuland said in 2024 that Washington and its allies advised Kiev not to agree to the terms demanded by Moscow.

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“..our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security..”

Hegseth Casts Doubt on Ukraine’s NATO Gamble As Peace Talks Loom (Sp.)

The United States holds the view that Ukraine’s NATO membership is not a feasible outcome of any potential negotiation with Russia, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. The idea of returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is unrealistic and pursuing this goal will only cause more suffering, Hegseth said. “We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” Hegseth said.

Any future security assurances for Ukraine need to be supported by capable European and non-European forces, which should be deployed under a non-NATO mission and not fall under the purview of Article Five, Pete Hegseth said. “Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under Article Five,” Hegseth said. Hegseth highlighted that these security assurances will not entail the deployment of US forces to Ukraine. The United States is making its priority deterring war with China in the Pacific, US Secretary of Defense Hegseth said.

“We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific. The US is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific,” Hegseth said. The United States under the Trump administration will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship with allies that is based on dependency, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said. “The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security,” Hegseth said.

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“They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into NATO, and I’m OK with that..”

Trump ‘OK’ With Keeping Ukraine Out of NATO (RT)

US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on Ukraine’s chances of joining NATO, aligning with Russia’s long-standing opposition to the move. Moscow has been firmly opposed to Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, calling this a key reason for the ongoing conflict with Kiev. The Kremlin views expansion of the bloc as a threat to national security and insists that Ukraine must remain neutral as part of any peace deal. “I don’t think it’s practical to have it, personally… They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into NATO, and I’m OK with that,” Trump said on Wednesday. His remarks came after a lengthy phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin – their first confirmed contact since Trump returned to the White House last month.

Trump later announced that he and Putin had agreed to begin talks to end the Ukraine conflict. He also indicated that a meeting between the two leaders could take place soon, possibly in Saudi Arabia. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s stance, calling Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and its goal of reclaiming all lost territories “unrealistic.” Speaking ahead of a meeting of the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Hegseth stressed the need for Ukraine to prepare for a negotiated peace, potentially supported by international troops, but without NATO membership as part of any agreement. The Trump administration’s willingness to consider certain Russian demands, including keeping Ukraine out of NATO, marks a significant shift in US foreign policy. Trump previously stated that he understands Russia’s stance on the issue.

Speaking to reporters in Florida last month, he said Moscow’s position had long been “written in stone,” but that former President Joe Biden had ignored it, contributing to the current conflict. “Somewhere along the line, Biden said, ‘[Ukraine], they should be able to join NATO.’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I can understand their feelings about that,” Trump added. Kiev remains firm in its desire to join NATO. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has stated that membership is a crucial security goal and a prerequisite for resuming negotiations with Moscow. Despite NATO declaring last year that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership, no timeline has been provided. While NATO members have supported Ukraine politically and militarily, they have also insisted that Kiev must meet several conditions before joining the bloc – including resolving the conflict with Russia.

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“Mark Rutte has said the US-led military bloc would crush Russia if the country attacks member states..”

This comes as Trump and Putin talk peace. The timing! And without the US, NATO can’t crush as much as a pebble.

The US is planning to undo NATO’s article 5, which obliges help if any member gets attacked.

NATO Boss Issues Warning To Putin (RT)

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the US-led military bloc would deal a crushing blow to Moscow if it attacks any of its member states.In recent years, senior officials from European NATO member states, including Rutte, have alleged that Russia is harboring aggressive plans toward the military bloc. Putin has repeatedly dismissed this speculation, calling it “nonsense” and a ruse to justify increased military spending. Answering reporters’ questions at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Rutte said, “At the moment, if Putin would attack NATO, the reaction will be devastating. He will lose. So, let him not try it, and he knows this. The deterrence and defense is very strong.” However, NATO needs to spend more on defense to be able to defend itself four or five years from now, he added.

Rutte urged member states to make “some difficult decisions this year about… defense spending, doing much, much more than the 2% we pledged.” He went on to say that while the West has “fantastic” arms manufacturers, “they are not producing enough,” which needs to be urgently addressed. The question regarding supposed Russian aggression was prompted by a report issued by Denmark’s Defense Intelligence Service on Tuesday. According to the document, within five years of ending or freezing the Ukraine conflict, Moscow would be ready to conduct a large-scale onslaught on Europe, based on the assumption that NATO’s defense spending remains at the current level. “Russia is likely to be more willing to use military force … if it perceives NATO as militarily weakened or politically divided,” the intelligence agency claimed, adding that “this is particularly true if Russia assesses that the US cannot or will not support the European NATO countries in a war.”

Last month, Rutte similarly urged NATO member states to “shift to a wartime mindset” to “prevent war.” Those who refuse to spend more on defense might as well “get out your Russian language courses or go to New Zealand,” the NATO secretary-general warned at the time. In December, Rutte suggested that European member states should redirect some of the funds they currently spend on welfare toward their militaries. On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed that the Ukrainian special services, with Western support, were preparing a false-flag provocation in the Baltic Sea involving Russian-made naval mines, in the hope of dragging NATO into a direct military confrontation with Moscow.

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“Nobody listens to them anymore. It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money..”

Musk Calls For Complete Overhaul of NATO (RT)

NATO should be thoroughly revamped, tech billionaire and US government efficiency tsar Elon Musk, has argued. US President Donald Tump has recently expressed dissatisfaction with the level of defense spending by the bloc’s European members, which he views as a drain on American resources, going so far as to threaten underpaying allies with the withdrawal of US protection. In a post on X on Wednesday, Republican Senator Mike Lee wrote that the “Cold War is over. NATO’s anachronistic.” Trump appointed Musk as a ‘special government employee’ to lead the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) following his victory in the November 5 election, aiming to slash government spending. Commenting on Lee’s message, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO concurred, suggesting that “NATO needs an overhaul.”

Over the weekend, the DOGE chief also took aim at two long-standing state-funded propaganda outlets, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA). The two CIA cutouts were prominently used by Washington to counter Soviet influence in Europe during the Cold War. “Shut them down. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore. It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money,” Musk wrote in a post on X. Trump has insisted that NATO member defense spending “should be 5%, not 2%” of GDP, accusing some European nations of taking “advantage of us.” The US is spending “billions and billions of dollars more … than Europe,” he claimed, having previously warned that Washington would not defend those NATO countries that fail to meet their financial commitments.

Earlier this month, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Berlin “could neither afford that nor spend” 5% of its GDP for this purpose while NATO chief Mark Rutte has urged countries to reduce their social support spending to boost military budgets. Against this backdrop, Italian news agency ANSA, citing EU diplomatic sources, claimed in January that President Trump was considering scaling back the number of American troops stationed in Europe by 20%. In recent years, multiple senior officials from European NATO member states have alleged that Moscow was harboring aggressive plans toward the US-led military bloc. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rejected this speculation, describing it as “nonsense” and “utter rubbish.” He suggested that Western officials employ scare tactics in order to justify increased military spending.

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The EU is toothless.

EU Won’t Give Zelensky 200,000 Peacekeepers – NYT (RT)

The EU is unable to fulfill Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s request for 200,000 peacekeepers to enforce a potential ceasefire with Russia, a senior bloc official has told the New York Times, in an article published on Tuesday. Zelensky has advocated for a substantial European peacekeeping force of some 200,000 troops to uphold a potential ceasefire and deter future Russian offensives. Analysts cited by the New York Times consider this figure unattainable, noting that deploying even 40,000 troops would be challenging and could still fall short of providing an effective solution. “A senior European official said that the continent doesn’t even have 200,000 troops to offer, and that any boots on the ground must have American support, especially faced with the world’s second-largest nuclear power, Russia,” the NYT reported.

“If not, they would be permanently vulnerable to Russian efforts to undermine the alliance’s political and military credibility.” Recent reports by the Financial Times and Politico also indicate that while Kiev has publicly called for 200,000 peacekeepers, it realistically anticipates a deployment of 40,000 to 50,000 troops. The outlets suggested that the lower figure is more feasible, though the EU would still face difficulties assembling a force. Moscow opposes the introduction of international peacekeepers in Ukraine. Russian officials have argued that the move could escalate tensions and complicate efforts to resolve the conflict. Earlier this week, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia stated that any deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine without Moscow’s consent would be “illegal,” warning that they would be considered legitimate targets.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, he called the rumors about the possible deployment of peacekeepers “bizarre,” noting that they cannot operate without a mandate from the UN Security Council, which Russia is a part of and where it holds the right of veto. Russia remains opposed to a freezing of the Ukraine conflict and the introduction of peacekeeping forces, insisting that the only way to resolve it is to address the root causes of the conflict. Moscow insists that Kiev must commit to permanent neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification, while acknowledging the territorial realities on the ground.

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Good. Is RFK today?

Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed As Director of National Intelligence (ZH)

In what is hands-down the most surprising, and welcome, development concerning a Trump pick for a national security top post, Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as New Director of National Intelligence. It was narrow, and predictably along parisan lines… Mitch McConnell was the lone Republican no vote… in a post-vote statement he claimed that Gabbard is “tainted”. “Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust. The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a DNI with a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” he said, citing her refusal to condemn Edward Snowden, and her stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.

She’s been subject to years of media attacks branding her a ‘Kremlin agent’ and ‘Assadist’ etc… For example, right up through the vote The New York Times was running its smear campaign in the following: “Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii. She has taken a sympathetic stance toward Russia and Syria under the Assad family’s rule. And she has defended Edward Snowden, an intelligence contractor who released classified information in 2013. These positions, at odds with the foreign policy establishment in both parties, have made her one of President Trump’s most divisive cabinet nominees.”

But she’s long risen to popularity among military members and veterans especially, given her no compromise approach to blasting America’s regime change wars abroad in the wake of Bush’s Iraq war, taking neocons and liberal interventions alike to task. It’s a new day in the world of the deep state intelligence blob in Washington, and without doubt the old powers that be are nervous, or else running scared. But time will tell. Meanwhile, somewhat surprising to see Thune praising her, the new sheriff in town overseeing the nation’s intelligence collection…

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Pam Bondi is ready to announce the new reality. Trump is going to sue, not be sued.

Pam Bondi’s DOJ Sues NY, Hochul, Letitia James Over Licenses For Illegals (ZH)

The US Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the state of New York and key officials over the state’s 2019 “Green Light” law, which has allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, while blocking federal immigration and border enforcement agencies from accessing the state’s motor vehicle database. The lawsuit, filed in US district Court in Albany, was announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Wednesday press conference. Aside from the state of NY, Governor Kathy Hochul, state Attorney General Letita James, and DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder were named as defendants. The 2019 Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act prohibits New York sheriff’s departments and other agencies from sharing motor vehicle data with federal authorities for the purposes of immigration enforcement. It has allowed tens of thousands of migrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Yet, as the Times Union notes, the program has been mired in fraud. “The Times Union reported in 2021 that there had been allegations of widespread cheating in the driver permit program, involving schemes to illicitly obtain driving credentials for immigrants. Many of those individuals allegedly also used the licenses to falsely prove New York residency in order to receive unemployment benefits under the state’s pandemic-era Excluded Worker Fund. The $2.1 billion program had provided unemployment benefits for a short period in 2021 for immigrants who did not qualify for regular state and federal benefits.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889805417318064384

In December, following an investigation by multiple agencies, including the New York inspector general’s office, five men, including two immigrants who had returned to Brazil, were indicted on federal charges in Massachusetts for conspiring to apply for New York driver’s licenses for more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants who did not live in New York. Those charges allege the group’s conspiracy took place between November 2020 and last September, and that they typically charged customers about $1,400 to obtain a driver’s license. The scheme relied on fraudulent residency documents and falsified driving school certificates, according to the indictment.”

When the law was enacted, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other Democrats said it was intended to improve public safety by ensuring that illegal immigrants are authorized to drive – with advocates remaining silent on subsequent allegations of widespread fraud. “From a state point of view, I want to make sure the people who are driving on our roads pass a driving test. It is a public safety issue,” Cuomo insisted during a February 2020 interview. In February 2020, former acting director of ICE, Matthew T. Albence, said that law enforcement leaders urged Cuomo and state lawmakers to restore access to NY’s motor vehicle database for ICE and the US Customs and Border Protection.

“New York has barred these two agencies, and only these two agencies, from obtaining information we need to do our jobs, and to keep you safe, and it was done purely for political purposes,” Albence said at the time. “As a 25-year law enforcement professional, it’s unfathomable that information which could be used to prevent crime or a potential terrorist attack is purposefully being withheld in this state, the same state that less than 20 years ago suffered the worst terrorist attack on American soil.”

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“How could a judge want to hold us back from finding all of this fraud and finding all of this incompetence?”

Trump Sees ‘Tremendous Kickbacks’ In US Government Contracts (RT)

US President Donald Trump has sounded the alarm over what he described as rampant corruption in the American government, while vowing to crack down on inefficient bureaucracy that costs the country billions of dollars. The president delivered his remarks in the Oval Office on Tuesday, with Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a close ally, standing next to the Resolute Desk as the two outlined their vision for cutting government spending. Trump noted in particular deals between the government and private contractors, recalling one case in which a consultant – whom he did not identify – was hired for three months, but continued to receive money over 20 years. “I see a lot of kickbacks. Tremendous kickbacks. Because nobody could be so stupid to give some of these contracts,” he argued.

Meanwhile, billions of dollars go “in waste, fraud, and abuse,” Trump said, adding that “nobody had any idea it was that bad, that sick, and that corrupt.” He stressed that he ran on promises to fight corruption, and he planned to do precisely that. Echoing the president’s remarks, Musk noted that “there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars.” The Trump administration and DOGE’s mission is “to restore democracy,” he added. He also noted that the US has no choice but to usher in major reforms. “We’ve got a $2 trillion [budget] deficit. And if we don’t do something about this deficit, the country’s going bankrupt,” Musk said. Trump also criticized the US judiciary for attempts to stop DOGE from auditing government agencies, particularly the Treasury Department’s payment system.

“If I need a vote of Congress to find fraud and abuse, it’s fine with me… How could a judge want to hold us back from finding all of this fraud and finding all of this incompetence?” he charged. While Trump has insisted that the goal of audits is to eliminate corruption, opponents have accused Musk and his agency of overstepping authority, seeking to dismantle critical government programs, and potentially misusing sensitive data for political purposes. As part of its push to combat government inefficiency, the Trump administration has already cracked down on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad, by suspending most foreign aid. The US president earlier called for the agency to be shut down, calling it run by “radical lunatics.”

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“..a political class that classifies an estimated fifty million documents a year [..] is voicing disgust over Musk’s team’s occasional use of discretion.”

Why They Really Hate Elon Musk (Mises)

As Elon Musk continues to take over and wind down parts of the federal bureaucracy, establishment figures from across media and politics are growing increasingly resentful of the tech entrepreneur. If you read a national newspaper, turn on a major news channel, or tune into one of the establishment’s many late-night “satire” shows, you’re bound to see Musk getting mocked and criticized relentlessly. He’s framed as a rich person using government to get even richer and as a political operative willing to skirt rules and norms to get what he wants. Many establishment types also like to remind their audience Musk is “unelected” at any chance they get—a not-so-subtle suggestion that the actions he’s taking in DC right now are illegitimate. You’ll also hear Musk and his team criticized for conducting some of their work in secret.

And then there’s, of course, the swipe that’s become popular in the wake of his gutting of USAID: that he is willing to hurt poor people to make himself better off. Setting aside the many flaws and inaccuracies with these characterizations of Elon Musk, it’s worth noting that all of them apply even more accurately to the American political establishment itself. To start, “rich people using the government to benefit themselves” has defined the American political system for more than a century. As Murray Rothbard laid out in great detail in his book The Progressive Era, the transition from the laissez-faire, hyper-limited government system of the mid-1800s was not driven by the bottom-up plea to protect workers and keep food clean that we were taught about in elementary school.

It grew out of the recognition among the heads of industry that they could much more effectively protect their market share from smaller competitors and go on to expand it if they used the power of government for their own benefit. In other words, the key to staying on top switched from innovating to lobbying. That started with railroad companies in the late 1800s but quickly grew to include industrial farmers, healthcare providers, and bankers in the early 1900s, followed by weapons companies, Wall Street firms, and many others in the second half of the century. Today, virtually all the giant corporations that dominate these industries owe their positions to government policies set up in their favor—to the detriment of the American public.

The modern political establishment is defined by their willingness and ability to protect and expand this dynamic. It is laughable to hear them falsely criticize Musk for doing the same thing. The same goes for his supposed violation of constitutional rules and norms. Many of the loudest establishment voices condemning this behavior were cheering just as loudly as the George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations launched dozens of undeclared wars, conducted warrantless surveillance, used torture, carried out extrajudicial assassinations on American citizens, and provided aid and comfort to Al Qaeda. At the very least, these are explicit violations of Article 1, Section 8; Article 3, Section 3; and the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, as well as Section 2340A of Title 18 of the United States Code.

And during the covid pandemic, the political establishment took the exact same kind of approach they’re now criticizing Musk for conducting. Federal and state governments rushed to close businesses, schools, and churches and prohibit people from attending public gatherings—all without even pretending to care about the constitutional rules and norms they’re now feigning concern about. Next, the implication that what Musk is doing is illegitimate because he’s unelected is ridiculous. Not only was it made very clear to voters before the election that Musk would do this if Trump won, virtually the entire federal workforce that the establishment is trying to protect from Musk is unelected too. The millions of unelected officials who conduct the bulk of federal government operations were brought on and set to work without even a fraction of the transparency and publicity involved in Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk.

Speaking of transparency, it’s comical that a political class that classifies an estimated fifty million documents a year—ninety percent of which are “probably unnecessary” according to some establishment legal experts—is voicing disgust over Musk’s team’s occasional use of discretion.

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The first of the activist judges collapses?!

Federal Judge Allows Trump To Push Forward With Gov’t Workers Buyouts (NYP)

A federal judge on Wednesday declined to pause the Trump administration’s buyout program for government workers, giving President Trump a key win in his push to shrink the size of the federal government. US District Judge George A. O’Toole ruled that the union groups suing to block the so-called “Deferred Resignation” program lacked standing and that his Massachusetts-based court lacked the jurisdiction to proceed with the lawsuit. O’Toole, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, temporarily blocked the Office of Personnel Management from moving ahead with the program earlier this week, after unions representing more than 800,000 federal workers charged that that the buyout offers were unlawful. “The plaintiffs here are not directly impacted by the directive,” the judge ruled.

“Instead, they allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm.” “The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees,” O’Toole continued. “This is not sufficient.” OPM had given some 2 million federal workers unwilling to comply with a return-to-office mandate a Feb. 6 deadline to accept about eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations. The agency further warned that the buyout offer would not be extended past the deadline and that workers choosing to stay put should expect downsizing, restructurings, realignments and workforce reductions under Trump.

About 75,000 federal workers have accepted the deal, according to OPM. “OPM is pleased the court has rejected a desperate effort to strike down the Deferred Resignation Program,” OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover told The Post. “As of 7:00 p.m. tonight, the program is now closed.” “There is no longer any doubt: the Deferred Resignation Program was both legal and a valuable option for federal employees,” she added. “This program was carefully designed, thoroughly vetted, and provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures.” OPM had left the program open to resignations after the judge’s initial stay of the deadline.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), one of the groups attempting to block the program, maintains that the program is illegal despite its lack of standing to sue. “Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants. But it’s not the end of that fight. AFGE’s lawyers are evaluating the decision and assessing next steps,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program,” Kelley added. “We continue to maintain it is illegal to force American citizens who have dedicated their careers to public service to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk.”

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“Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island can be seen in video footage from 2021 accusing Trump of being “a dictator” and claiming that “racism is a white people problem..”

Federal Judge Blocking Spending Freezes Has History of TDS (AmG)

The federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze all funding pauses while federal spending is being assessed, has a history of anti-Trump and woke activism. Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island can be seen in video footage from 2021 accusing Trump of being “a dictator” and claiming that “racism is a white people problem” and that “we all have racism inside of us.” McConnell, who was appointed by president Obama, has ordered Trump to resume all paused funding and to restore any funds that have been withheld or potentially face criminal contempt charges. The judge also mandated that if Trump wishes to delay any payment, he will need to first need to seek McConnell’s permission and justify the request to the judge’s satisfaction. Commentator Scott Jennings, in a discussion on CNN earlier this week, posed the question to fellow panelists as to whether an unelected judge can cover up fraud but the sitting president is powerless to stop it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889183393855725759

Fellow commentator and former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu raised the possibility that McConnell’s actions, in conjunction with 23 state Attorneys General, were the product of “judge shopping” and that “judges don’t just randomly get these cases.” Sununu told the CNN panel that “there’s a reason that these cases are filed in Boston and Rhode Island.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889312721176265130

The question of whether the president is subordinate to 300 district court judges will likely find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court for further clarification. In the meantime, Judge McConnell’s anti-Trump statements and history of activism casts serious doubt on his ability to maintain impartiality.

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‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to make the Education Department unnecessary.”

Judge Temporarily Blocks DOGE From Accessing Federal Student Aid Data (ET)

A federal judge has temporarily barred Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing federal student loan and financial aid information stored at the U.S. Department of Education. In an order issued Tuesday evening, Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia barred any members or associates of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from seeing or using information from more than a dozen internal databases related to student finance until next Monday. Both sides of the lawsuit—a group of students at the University of California (UC) and the Education Department—have agreed to the halt as they prepare arguments.

UC students a week ago accused the Education Department of violating the Privacy Act of 1974, a federal law that restricts federal agencies from sharing personally identifiable information with third parties unless specific legal exceptions apply. For example, the FUTURE Act of 2019 authorizes the Education Department to import tax return information from the IRS to streamline the financial aid application process.In their complaint filed at the D.C. federal court, the students allege that the Education Department has been providing DOGE with “continuous and ongoing access” to sensitive information “for an unspecified period of time” without clear oversight or legal authorization.

“Because [the Department’s] actions and decisions are shrouded in secrecy, individuals do not have even basic information about what personal or financial information Defendants are sharing with outside parties or how their information is being used,” the complaint reads. The lawsuit comes amid growing uncertainty over the future of the Education Department, which operates on a multi-hundred-billion-dollar budget and oversees $1.5 trillion in federal student loans owed by more than 42 million Americans. President Donald Trump has expressed strong interest in dismantling the department, a position long held by some conservative and libertarian-minded Republican lawmakers but rarely taken seriously in mainstream political discussions—until now.

Speaking about his nominee for secretary of education, Linda McMahon, Trump said he hoped she would eliminate her own position and return control of education to individual states.“We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we’re ranked near the bottom, we rank very badly,” Trump told reporters on Feb. 4 in the White House. “What I want to do is let the states run schools—I believe strongly in school choice—but in addition to that, I want the states to run schools. “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to make the Education Department unnecessary.” McMahon’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

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“Trump says he’s going to obey the orders, and I don’t think he should… Trump should not obey the orders. That is the fastest way to get it to the Supreme Court, and that is not to obey the orders..”

Left Will Push Violent Revolution Against Trump – Larry Klayman (USAW)

Renowned Attorney Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and later Freedom Watch USA, predicted that the crap would hit the fan after Donald Trump was sworn into office. He was correct. Now, Klayman says, “Just in the last few days, we have had Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters and Hakeem Jefferies, the Minority Leader in the House, threating to go into the streets for violence. ..” “We can expect violence, but right now, what they are testing are these federal judges… The Democrats have gone forum shopping in leftist states, I don’t even call them liberal anymore… and they are enjoining every one of President Trump’s major executive orders. It’s an outrage. It’s illegal, and I don’t think President Trump should obey those orders.

I think they are illegal. Trump says he’s going to obey the orders, and I don’t think he should… Trump should not obey the orders. That is the fastest way to get it to the Supreme Court, and that is not to obey the orders. They will be at the Supreme Court lickety-split.” Klayman says, “The President has the right to intervene to see how that money is being spent.” “If he finds fraud, waste and corruption, it should be turned over to (AG) Pam Bondi to prosecute. What they found so far is $50 million worth of condoms for Hamas, all kinds of money going to terrorist organizations and you name it. It’s beyond the theater of the absurd. It’s criminal. Trump pointed out at his press conference today that there are likely kickbacks… There are trillions and trillions of dollars, and that is just what has been wasted in the past.”

Klayman also says the pardons from President Biden for his son and family are illegal. Klayman contends, “These so-called pardons are null and void…” “The pardons were illegal for two reasons: He (Biden) did not have the mental capacity to grant them, and they were not specific. They did not say what people were being pardoned for. I just pardon you for any crime. You can’t do that.” Klayman thinks the fight with the Left is a lot worse than most people think. Klayman explains, “We are going to be in a violent revolution potentially in short order…” “The Left is pushing too hard right now, and they are going to start the violence like they did with Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Look what happened in Philadelphia when the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

Lawless, leftist thugs burned down Broad Street. . . . This is a situation that can only spin more wildly out of control the more Trump pushes. . . . It’s getting to a very dangerous phase… The Left wants us dead – they really do. They want to have complete control. Now that control has been taken away from them in an election, they are not going to go quietly. If they don’t get what they want in court, and they probably won’t, they are going to be violent, and this could ratchet up more and more.”

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“..was never about securing classified documents — it was always about weaponizing the full force of the Department of Justice against President Trump by whatever means necessary..”

Biden WH, DOJ, National Archives Collaborated On Trump Documents Probe (JTN)

Newly published emails show the Biden White House cooperated with the National Archives in the Justice Department’s classified documents case against Donald Trump – which allowed the White House to build a predicate for the federal case against Trump that was ultimately dismissed, America First Legal says. The emails, which were obtained in a lawsuit and released by the nonprofit conservative public interest group, show then-Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su took a phone call with National Archives and Records Administration officials to discuss the missing boxes allegedly retained illicitly by Trump in September 2021, delaying the agency’s referral to the Department of Justice until after the White House filed a “special access request” the following year.

“New NARA emails further confirm that the classified documents case against President Trump was a sham prosecution that involved the Biden White House from the start – long before NARA’s official referral of classified documents to DOJ for investigation,” America First Legal posted to X. The federal case that was ultimately dismissed centered on allegation that Trump after losing 2020 reelection took classifiied documents to his Mar-a-Lago home in Flordia. “This new timeline is further proof that Biden’s FBI raid on [Mar-a-Lago] was never about securing classified documents — it was always about weaponizing the full force of the Department of Justice against President Trump by whatever means necessary,” the group said.

On Sept. 15, 2022, NARA general counsel Gary Stern wrote to his colleagues that he had brought Su “up to speed on the issue” of the missing boxes. “this [sic] week Jonathan told me that they are open to having [redacted] participate in a meeting with [redacted] and possibly [redacted], the former Staff Secretary who was [redacted] principal source. Accordingly, they need access to war notes from the last administration, which we now hold — so they will be making a special access request,” Stern wrote. The emails show NARA abandoned sending a letter to the DOJ about the case at that time due to the ongoing discussions between the White House and Trump’s legal team. NARA admitted that the cooperation of Trump’s team on the document issue “could help to clarify, if not actually resolve, the issue,” eliminating the need for a wider probe.

But, as Trump’s team tried to fight the requests to turn over the documents, which they argued rightfully belonged to the former president, America First Legal previously argued that the Biden administration used the future “special access request” to create the predicate for an FBI-led raid of Mar-a-Lago to obtain the documents. Just the News first reported in 2022 how the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents. The White House eliminated the 45th president’s claim to executive privilege and allowed the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Trump’s Florida estate that spring, kicking the probe into high gear.

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Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. Anna Paulina Luna.

New Task Force To Probe jFK, RFK, MLK Murders, Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ (RT)

A so-called “black book” containing the list of contacts and alleged clients of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is set to be released to the public as part of a new declassification campaign, the newly appointed head of a specialized US task force has announced. The Republican-led congressional task force was created to oversee the release of government files linked to a wide range of high-profile topics, including the 9/11 attacks, the origins of Covid-19, UFOs, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother and political ally Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights campaigner Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Epstein worked as a financier and socialized with the rich and famous for years, introducing them to dozens of young women – some of whom were underage at the time – and flying them to his private island in the Caribbean on a jet dubbed the “Lolita Express.” He was arrested in 2019 and died in his Manhattan cell later that year, officially ruled a suicide. Evidence related to his case remained classified even after his death, with media reports claiming that the FBI had found videos potentially containing compromising material on his “guests” during searches of his New York residence and Caribbean island. The newly appointed head of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), has vowed to bring some of this information to light, along with other previously classified materials.

“The federal government has been hiding information from Americans for decades,” Luna said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that “it is time to give Americans the answers they deserve.” A GOP congresswoman and supporter of US President Donald Trump, Luna has repeatedly demanded “transparency” in the federal government. The 35-year-old lawmaker was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022 after serving in the military for six years. The establishment of the task force was announced by the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, James Comer (R-Ky.), who said it would “build on the Trump administration’s efforts to declassify records of national importance.” Trump signed an executive order to release federal records linked to the assassinations of the two Kennedys and King soon after his inauguration in January.

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“A low rouble is embraced which helps to offset energy price slumps and brings in bigger surpluses when prices soar. So, even cutting the oil price to $45 – which Trump is talking about – might not have as big an impact on Russia as he believes.

Switching Off Russian Gas Pipelines Hurts Europe Far More Than Russia (SCF)

European industry is being crippled by high energy prices, and we are told, this is Russia’s fault. But it is driven by self-defeating energy policies in Brussels and Berlin. The only answer is to boost global supply which may involve uncomfortable choices about Russian pipelines. The Financial Times recently reported that some European member states are pondering restarting supplies of Russian piped gas on the back of any future ceasefire in Ukraine. This is proving controversial, not least among hard-line Russophobe states like Poland and the Balts. But it might make economic sense, not for Russia’s sake, but for Europe’s. Before war started, gas prices in Europe were extremely low – comparable to U.S. gas prices today – because of hugely favourable global supply. LNG from the U.S., the Middle East and Africa together with piped gas from Norway and Russia, pushed the wholesale price of gas down to levels not seen since 2005.

European LNG imports had risen sharply after the onset of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 increasing from only 10% of to nearly 50% today, while Russian piped gas kept flowing. As part of this, imports from the U.S. tripled in volume between 2021 and 2023 and they now make up almost 50% of total European LNG imports. Read the European press and you’ll hear often how U.S. LNG is too expensive, which contributes to the economic headwinds manufacturers in Germany and else are facing. Emmanuel Macron has in the past called out the U.S. as ‘unfriendly’ for selling expensive LNG. But this is deeply misleading. Back in 2019, there was more gas than the world could possibly use, bearing down on prices. The fact of piped or shipped was immaterial to the glut in supply. The surge in U.S. supplies was doing to global gas prices what the glut of U.S. shale oil was doing in January 2016 when prices sunk to $26 per barrel.

The 2016 oil price collapse put immense pressure on Russia’s economy, which is heavily reliant on tax from oil and gas exports. Russia’s current account surplus in 2016 hit its lowest level since 1999, pinching tax income significantly. And that was at a time when Russia was pumping record amounts of oil and gas. Because herein lies a truth; the global price of energy has a much bigger impact on Russia than the amount of energy that you buy from Russia. When President Trump talks to OPEC about slashing the oil price, and, by extension, the gas price, he thinks that this will damage Russia’s economy more than cutting Russian supplies However, Russian monetary policy today is very different to 2016. A low rouble is embraced which helps to offset energy price slumps and brings in bigger surpluses when prices soar. So, even cutting the oil price to $45 – which Trump is talking about – might not have as big an impact on Russia as he believes.

And, in any case, those prices will only be possible by radically changing the supply equation. Mothballing Russian pipelines as putative punishment for Putin’s war in Ukraine is having the opposite effect – restricting supply, pushing up prices and hurting Europe far more than it is hurting Russia. In 2018, Europe imported 201 BCM of gas from Russia, mostly through pipelines, accounting for 38% of its total gas imports. Since the war started, Europe has shut down 185 BCM in potential yearly supply, or 35% of its total gas imports. This includes the destruction or suspensions of the Nordstream pipelines (110 bcm), the suspension of the Yamal Pipeline via Belarus (33 BCM) and now the cutting off of gas transit via Ukraine at the start of 2025 (42bcm). That leaves just 17.5 BCM in pipeline capacity through Turkey for Russian gas.

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“..could ultimately come in a billion dollars a mile.”

Trump Admin Eyes Billions Going to California High-Speed Train (Turley)

Despite a plethora of challenges, the Trump Administration is pushing ahead with its top-to-bottom review of government spending. It has already halted billions in what it views as wasteful spending. It now looks like one of the most wasteful, runaway public works projects in the country could be on the chopping block: California’s high-speed rail project. The project to build a bullet train from Los Angeles to Sacramento is an outrageous example of a public work that lacked any fiscal responsibility or oversight from the state government. Nevertheless, Democrats continue to push for billions more from the federal government as well as California taxpayers. There is currently $4.3 billion in unspent federal funds for California’s high-speed rail project, and Trump should seek to claw back the money in light of the gross negligence shown by the California authorities.

The project was initially approved in 2008 with the support of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) as an environmental and technological advance for the state. It proved a costly bait-and-switch. Voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue in 2008 after absurdly low estimates of the projected cost. Influential figures and companies stood to make a fortune, and the key was to get a “buy-in” worth billions so that it would be more and more difficult to abandon the project as overruns and delays sent the costs soaring. Now the official estimate of future ridership has dropped by 25% and it demands billions more to complete a project that would be delayed by decades to complete. Remember that this entire project was meant to create a rail line of only 171 miles. It is projected at over $128 billion and could ultimately come in a billion dollars a mile. There are still uncompleted environmental assessments and challenging rail lines through the mountains.

In his first term, Trump criticized the project and withheld a billion dollars in federal aid. However, when President Joe Biden came into office, he opened the federal coffers and approved billions more despite well-documented mismanagement and dubious spending. Trump is now pledging an investigation, which is long overdue. There is ample reason to suspect fraud and other possible violations in this multi-billion dollar boondoggle. Indeed, this week, the inspector general, Benjamin Belnap, issued a scathing report on the first phase of still uncompleted project. That is only the stretch from Merced to Bakersfield which was supposed to be completed by 2033.

Belnap wrote: “With a smaller remaining schedule envelope and the potential for significant uncertainty and risk during subsequent phases of the project, staying within the 2033 schedule envelope is unlikely. In fact, uncertainty about some parts of the project has increased as the authority has recently made decisions that deviated from the procurement and funding strategies that were part of its plans for staying on schedule.” The Merced-Bakersfield line alone would now cost $35.3 billion, more than the 2008 projection for a complete system. California Democrats have continued to throw money at the project without making meaningful changes on the overruns and delays. There is currently only $28.7 billion in state bonds left. The inefficiency of the project has been raised for years.

Even if completed, the system would reduce auto travel by 10 million miles a day in a state where citizens drive a billion miles a day. As noted by Cal Matters, “A 10 million-mile reduction would ostensibly cut emissions by scarcely 1%.” It added: Logically, spending emission auction money on more direct carbon reduction programs, such as reducing emission-spewing wildfires, would make more sense. The current estimate for linking San Francisco with Southern California is $107 billion. Officials don’t even know how to fully finance Merced-Bakersfield, much less raise the other $72.4 billion they would need. Both a federal investigation and a cessation of funding are long overdue. It is time to bite the bullet. California has every right to spend over $100 billion during budget deficits, but the rest of the country should not subsidize it.

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Talent

 

 

Reindeer

 

 

Explain

 

 

Blackjack

 

 

Zanzibar
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889579116162158607

 

 

Penguin
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889578911207477372

 

 

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Dec 222024
 
 December 22, 2024  Posted by at 10:42 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  44 Responses »


René Magritte The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James) 1937

 

Ukraine A ‘Gold Mine’ For Western Arms Makers – Moscow (RT)
Dangerous Fascist Elon Musk Tweets Six Words About AfD (eugyppius)
‘Associated Propaganda’: Musk Hits Out At AP (RT)
Putin Says If World War Three Is Underway (RT)
Biden’s Officials Trying To Destroy Trump’s Push For Peace – Moscow (RT)
Orban Proposing Russia, Ukraine to Preserve Gas Transit by Changing Owner (Sp.)
Slovakian PM Warns of ‘Serious Conflict’ With Kiev (RT)
Putin To Meet Slovakian PM On Monday (RT)
CIA Chief Pays ‘Last Visit’ To Kiev (RT)
Trump Plans To Continue Aid To Ukraine But Will Raise NATO Spending To 5% (ZH)
Trump Gives Oil Ultimatum To EU (RT)
US Had Foreknowledge of HTS Offensive To Topple Assad (Antiwar)
NATO Must Talk Turkey (Baumann)
How the Left Will Defend Its Censorship Regime Against Trump (RCW)
The West’s Romance With Elections Is Dead (Ottenberg)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mottur

 

 

Dana White

 

 

 

 

The only reason there’s a war going on.

“..41 US corporations out of the top 100. They received $317 billion, or 50% of global arms-sales revenues..”

“..the combined revenues of the world’s 100 largest weapons manufacturers in 2023 reached $632 billion.”

Ukraine A ‘Gold Mine’ For Western Arms Makers – Moscow (RT)

Ukraine has become a lucrative opportunity for Western arms manufacturers, who profit from weapons supplies that prolong the conflict, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has claimed. Speaking at a United Nations Security Council briefing on Friday, Nebenzia accused NATO member states of exploiting the conflict in Ukraine to enrich their defense industries. “It is well known that Ukraine has become a genuine gold mine for the military-industrial complex of the [US and UK] and their allies. But it is American companies that are profiting the most from the conflict,” he stressed. The Russian diplomat alleged that Western countries are prioritizing economic gains over peace. “According to the latest data, half of total arms sales in 2023 were processed by 41 US corporations out of the top 100. They received $317 billion, or 50% of global arms-sales revenues,” Nebenzia said.

The Russian UN representative cited a recent report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), noting that the combined revenues of the world’s 100 largest weapons manufacturers in 2023 reached $632 billion. “It would be naive to expect that these unscrupulous traders, who have tasted the flavor of lucre, will give up riding this gravy train for the sake of those miserable Ukrainians,” he argued. Nebenzia went on to suggest that Western military companies “often act in cahoots with the Kiev regime,” citing the example of 25 foreign lobby and consulting firms that began representing Ukraine’s interests free of charge after the conflict began. He specifically mentioned BGR Government Affairs, whose leadership has publicly advocated for increased military assistance to Kiev and which also represents Raytheon Company, a major US arms supplier.

Nebenzia also alleged that the US military-industrial complex funds think tanks, whose conclusions are later cited by the media. On Wednesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported that Ukraine fired six US-donated ATACMS and four UK-made Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles, at the Kamensky chemical plant in Rostov Region in southern Russia. On Friday, in retaliation to the attack, the Russian military claimed it struck a Ukrainian command center and targeted installations of US-supplied Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. Russia has consistently stated that Western aid cannot prevent its forces from accomplishing the objectives of their military operation or alter the final outcome of the conflict. Moscow has argued that by supporting Kiev, they only prolong the conflict.

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“BREAKING: In latest threat to German democracy, dangerous fascist Elon Musk tweets six words about Alternative für Deutschland..”

Dangerous Fascist Elon Musk Tweets Six Words About AfD (eugyppius)

German democracy, which has endured since 1949 but is somehow always shaken to its foundations whenever anybody sings the wrong song or holds a televised debate with the wrong person, is once again on life support. Christian Lindner, head of the market-liberal Free Democrats, did much to trigger the present catastrophe on 1 December, when he said that the Free Republic should “dare more Milei and more Musk.” Because there is little distinction between praising Milei and Musk and demanding the return of National Socialism, there ensued a brief period of establishment hyperventilation. Less than a week later, CDU chief and probable future German chancellor Friedrich Merz did his part to denounce Lindner’s political wrongthink in a statement to Deutschlandfunk:

“So neither the Argentinian president nor, how shall I put it, the American entrepreneur Elon Musk – let’s put it plainly – are role models for German politics in my view. I don’t see where we can find similarities in German politics. What Christian Lindner meant will probably remain his secret.” The next day, Merz repeated the same denunciations, only more harshly, explaining to one of our extremely adult and far-sighted pantsuit talkshow hosts that “To be honest, I was completely appalled that Christian Lindner made that comparison.” Milei, Merz said, is “really trampling on the people there.” Yesterday, all of this came to the notice of the (honestly rather tiresome) influencer Naomi Seibt, who posted a video statement to X rehearsing all of this old news to her largely American audience: Elon Musk then brought down the hammer on the German democratic order, retweeting Seibt’s video and remarking that “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Today a lot of very important and influential people got out of bed and took to their keyboards to denounce Musk’s election interference. His statement might be illegal, at any rate it is very likely fascist and certainly it is beyond the pale for an American to voice an opinion about German politics. Germans absolutely never, ever, utter the slightest word about American politics and certainly would never advance negative opinions about the American president in the middle of an election campaign. Our Foreign Office would never try to fact-check an American presidential debate! Our journalists would never depict President Donald Trump dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member or offering the Hitler salute or decapitating the Statue of Liberty! That’s just not done!

Like a great stream of green diarrhoea, the outrage is pouring fourth. Matthias Gebauer, who writes for Der Spiegel, observes that “Elon Musk … is openly promoting the AfD” and concludes that “Putin is not the only one who loves this party.” Erik Marquardt, head of the Green faction in the European Parliament, says that “The EU Commission and EU member states should no longer stand by and watch as billionaires misuse media and algorithms to influence elections and strengthen and normalise right-wing extremists.” This “is an attack on democracy,” and “has nothing to do with freedom of expression.” Dennis Radtke, CDU representative in the European Parliament, concludes that “Musk … is declaring war on democracy” and that “the man is a menace.”

We are also under siege via “interference from Putin”; “the erosion of our democracy is being fuelled from both within and without.” Julian Röpcke, who writes for BILD, believes that “This is interference in the German election campaign by a tech billionaire who uses algorithms to decide what gets heard.” If Germany does not “respond with penalties, there will be no help for our eroding democracy.” Jonas Koch, at Die Zeit, complains that “the richest man in the world is now campaigning for right-wing populists in Germany.” Tech billionaire Elon Musk has spoken out in favour of the Alternative for Germany party in the German parliamentary election campaign. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” he wrote on his online service X.

You can almost see Mr Koch before you, clasping his pearls. He notes that the government are doing their best to weather this unprecedented assault on the German republic. He quotes longsuffering government spokesperson Christian Hoffmann saying that “It’s not the first time that Elon Musk has commented on German politics.” Olaf Scholz, he notes, “has been concerned about … X since Musk assumed control of it,” but he has inexplicably not yet decided to delete government X accounts.

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Replace the MSM entirely.

‘Associated Propaganda’: Musk Hits Out At AP (RT)

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused the Associated Press (AP) of disseminating propaganda following the global news agency’s coverage of Friday’s deadly incident at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. Musk referred to the agency, commonly known as AP, as “Associated Propaganda” in a post on X that criticizes its reporting of the attack on civilians. Musk’s comment was in response to criticism by an X user over the Associated Press’s headline about the incident. The headline read, “A car has driven into a group of people at a Christmas market in Germany.” The user accused AP of using passive language that downplayed the severity of the attack, stating, “You don’t hate the legacy media enough. The Associated Press uses a passive voice when reporting on the Christmas market terror attack in Magdeburg, Germany.

As if the car simply drove itself peacefully, and the affected number of people small and insignificant.” “It wasn’t a ‘group of people’—it was an entirely mass of people whose bodies were flung by the force of the impact, and many more who were crushed beneath the wheels as the vehicle zigzagged its way through the packed market,” he added. A speeding vehicle rammed into a crowd at Magdeburg’s festive market on Friday evening, resulting in at least four fatalities, including a child, and injuring over 60 people, Bild reported, citing police. The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor residing in Germany, was detained by police at the scene. Authorities have classified the act as a deliberate attack, though the motive remains under investigation. X owner Elon Musk’s critique aligns with his history of challenging mainstream media outlets over perceived biases.

In 2022 Musk expressed concerns about the lack of public trust in news organizations, describing it as a “real problem.” This comment was in response to a Washington Post op-ed that criticized his involvement with X (then Twitter). Earlier this year Musk claimed that the “propaganda level” in mainstream media is “tediously high” and accused long-established outlets of bias in the narratives that they offer. The attack has prompted increased security measures across Germany, with several towns canceling weekend Christmas markets as a precaution. Earlier Musk lashed out at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, insisting he must resign immediately, after it emerged that the man who mowed through a crowded Christmas market in Germany was an Arab immigrant with a residence permit.

This incident mirrors previous attacks on Christmas markets in Germany, notably the 2016 Berlin attack in which a truck was deliberately driven into a crowded market, killing 12 people and injuring 56. The attacker in that instance, Anis Amri, a Tunisian national who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, fled the scene and was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.

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“If they want it so much, if their life is so bad, let them escalate..”

Putin Says If World War Three Is Underway (RT)

The threat level is rising globally, but there is no need to scare people with talk of World War Three, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. During an interview published by Russia 1 TV journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday, Putin was asked if the extensive involvement of the US in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine meant that WWIII has already begun. “You know, one should not scare people,” the president replied. However, he added that “there are many dangers, and they keep increasing.” “We see what our current opponents are doing. They are escalating the situation,” Putin said after Zarubin mentioned plans by the administration of US President Joe Biden to drastically increase the amount of weapons deliveries to Ukraine during his final weeks in office.

“If they want it so much, if their life is so bad, let them escalate,” the president stressed during a conversation recorded after his end-of-year press conference on Thursday. Russia will “always respond to any challenge” coming from the West, he insisted. “And when our current opponents – and maybe potential partners – will finally hear, understand and realize this, it seems to me that at that point the realization will come that what is needed is to seek compromises,” he said.Moscow is ready to try to rebuild ties with the US and its allies, but it should only happen “without harming our interests,” Putin pointed out.

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“..destroying the chances of its successor,” Trump, of fulfilling his campaign promise of swiftly finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict..”

Biden’s Officials Trying To Destroy Trump’s Push For Peace – Moscow (RT)

The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden is doing everything to make sure that President-elect Donald Trump will not be able to facilitate peace in the Ukraine conflict once he returns to the White House in January, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. The policy currently pursued by the White House is “quite risky, even self-destructive,” Ryabkov told RT in an exclusive interview on Saturday. “We caution them against it,” the diplomat added. He was referring to the permission given by Washington to Kiev to carry out strikes deep into Russian territory with American-made weapons, and an increase in arms deliveries to Ukraine, which happened after Biden’s loss to Trump in November’s election.

”The outgoing US administration demonstrates a unique capability of doubling down and destroying the chances of its successor,” Trump, of fulfilling his campaign promise of swiftly finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the deputy FM stressed. There have been several strikes with US- and UK-supplied missiles on internationally recognized Russian territory in recent weeks, with the deadliest coming on Friday as five people were killed and twelve others wounded after the Kiev forces targeted the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk Region with an American HIMARS system. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last month that Russia will respond to all such attacks and could go as far as using “weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities.”

Ryabkov also commented on various ideas voiced in the West about how peace between Russia and Ukraine could look, saying that Moscow is considering them, but views them as “informal.” “They are a way to probe our position, but that is absolutely unnecessary as the President has repeatedly laid it out in full,” he explained. Speaking at his end-of-year press conference on Thursday, Putin reiterated that Moscow remains open to negotiating with Kiev without any preconditions, except those that had already been agreed upon in Istanbul in 2022, which envisaged a neutral, non-aligned status for Ukraine, as well as certain restrictions on deploying foreign weaponry. He also noted that such talks would have to respect the realities on the ground that have developed since that time.

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Orban is smart: he wants the gas to officially become Hungarian while it still flows in Russia, before it reaches the Ukraine part of the pipeline. ‘The moment I pay upfront, it’s my gas’.. They won’t agree, but it’s smart.

Orban Proposing Russia, Ukraine to Preserve Gas Transit by Changing Owner (Sp.)

Hungary is interested in preserving the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine and negotiates this opportunity with both states by proposing an option to transfer gas under Hungarian ownership right on the Russian-Ukrainian border, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday. “We are not abandoning our plans to receive energy through Ukraine, and we are holding talks with both Russia and Ukraine. We will continue to negotiate next year as well. We want to pull off such a trick: what if the gas entering Ukraine was no longer considered Russian, but would be owned by the buyer? In other words, when it crosses the border into Ukraine, it would no longer be Russian but Hungarian gas. It is currently being discussed whether Ukrainians and Russians would agree to this, but we are not giving up on the idea,” Orban told a press conference.

Hungary is interested in diversifying its energy supply routes, Orban said, adding that “if you rely on energy from only one pipeline, you are always vulnerable.” “We are dissatisfied that the Ukrainian route has been replaced by another one. Of course, if it hadn’t worked out, there would have been problems. But this does not bring joy. We would be happy if three or four affordable energy sources were constantly available,” Orban stated. Hungary believes that the sanctions against Russia have to be fully lifted as soon as possible, but only a few EU member states agree with this, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday. “If it [the Ukrainian conflict] ends, the sanctions [against Russia] tormenting Europe will end. Hungary’s point of view is that the sanctions have to be lifted as soon as possible and to the full extent,” Orban said at a press conference.

The removal of Russia sanctions will end the streak inflation and the economy will start to recover, the Hungarian prime minister said. He stressed that Hungary advocates for this at European discussions, but with no success, as “only one or two member states think the same way, while the rest, including the big players, are opposed and not even discussing this.” The West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the West’s long-term strategy of containing Russia hurts the global economy. The sanctions target Russian politicians, companies, athletes, students, scientists and artists.

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“One idea was to allow the flow to continue on condition that Russia would not receive any payment until the end of the Ukraine conflict. “What fool will give us gas for free?”

Slovakian PM Warns of ‘Serious Conflict’ With Kiev (RT)

A “serious conflict” is possible if Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “doesn’t release our gas,” Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico warned on Friday. He made the comment a day after a behind-closed-doors meeting between the two in Brussels. =Slovakia is considering retaliation against Ukraine over its refusal to continue transit of Russian gas to the EU nation, Fico announced in a Facebook post. Kiev is determined not to renew a multi-year transit contract with Russia, which allowed the fuel to flow across its territory despite the armed conflict between the two nations. Slovakia is one of the recipients of the gas. Slovaks are not servants doing the bidding of Zelensky, Fico, who in March was shot multiple times at close range by an activist who disagreed with his stance on arming Ukraine, insisted. Kiev is “losing decisively,” while Zelensky “absolutely rejects any ceasefire,” he said.

Bratislava is sympathetic towards Kiev’s situation and Zelensky’s predicament, the prime minister said, but Slovakia is “not at any war” either with Russia or Ukraine. Fico said the proposals regarding the gas situation, which Zelensky outlined to him at a European Council meeting, seemed “absurd.” One idea was to allow the flow to continue on condition that Russia would not receive any payment until the end of the Ukraine conflict. “What fool will give us gas for free?” Fico asked journalists. Slovakia is helping Ukraine by providing non-military assistance, including by transferring electricity to its capacity-starved power grid, the prime minister said. Relations between the two nations cannot be a one-way street, Fico asserted, adding: “I cannot completely rule out reciprocal measures.” His government will consider its options over the next week, he said.

Kiev previously floated the idea of letting gas that is not Russian in origin to be pumped through the Soviet-built pipelines on Ukrainian territory. Azerbaijan could be the source of such supplies, according to officials. On Tuesday, European buyers of Russian pipeline gas, including Slovakia’s SPP, warned the European Commission that the looming termination of Ukrainian transit posed significant risks to members of the EU, and urged Brussels to act. The escalating row has been caused by Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, during his annual Q&A marathon. Russian gas giant Gazprom “can live” without the transit, he insisted.

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“..a possible Putin-Fico meeting “will provoke a reaction from other European leaders from the EU, and you can see how complicated things are.”

Putin To Meet Slovakian PM On Monday (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has claimed. The reported meeting comes as Belgrade is preparing for the US sanctions against the country’s main oil and gas company, Naftne Industrije Srbije (NIS). “As I learned unofficially, and when I say unofficially, as I said about the sanctions against NIS, it is absolutely certain, on Monday Robert Fico will go to Putin, as the leader of a European Union country,” Vucic said during an interview with Serbian Happy TV on Friday, as quoted by Euronews Serbia. President Vucic stated that starting January 1, 2025, gas supplies from Russia through Ukraine will stop. This decision will greatly affect European energy security and Serbia’s preparedness for winter demands. He stated that Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal had signed the relevant order on Friday.

Additionally, Vucic previously mentioned that US sanctions against NIS could also come into effect on January 1, 2025. The expiration of a transit agreement between Moscow and Kiev, which facilitates the flow of Russian gas to the EU, has raised concerns among countries like Slovakia that rely on this route for their supplies. As Fico warned on Friday, Slovakia is considering retaliation against Ukraine over its refusal to continue the transit of Russian gas to the EU nation. Relations between the two nations cannot be a one-way street, Fico asserted during the same speech, adding: “I cannot completely rule out reciprocal measures.” His government will consider its options over the next week, he said. Vucic added in his interview that a possible Putin-Fico meeting “will provoke a reaction from other European leaders from the EU, and you can see how complicated things are.”

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“Burns came to Kiev to tie up loose ends and coordinate actions with Zelensky for when Trump begins his review of the multi-billion-dollar US budget spending on Ukraine..”

CIA Chief Pays ‘Last Visit’ To Kiev (RT)

The Central Intelligence Agency’s director, William Burns, has made yet another unannounced trip to Kiev, likely his final before stepping down from his position, according to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. Zelensky disclosed the meeting in a Telegram post on Saturday, highlighting the significant role Burns has played in supporting Ukraine during its ongoing conflict with Russia. “Bill Burns paid his last visit to Ukraine as CIA director. We have held many meetings during this war, and I am grateful for your help,” Zelensky wrote, accompanied by a photo of him shaking hands with Burns. The Ukrainian leader acknowledged that such high-level meetings are typically kept confidential but emphasized the importance of highlighting their continued communication.

“Usually, such meetings are not reported publicly, and all our meetings – in Ukraine, in other European countries, in America, and in other parts of the world – took place without official information. But now, after the last visit, it is worth saying openly,” Zelensky said. Burns has held the position of CIA Director since March 2021 and is set to leave his role after the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, scheduled for January 20. Trump has nominated former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe to succeed Burns. Zelensky expressed his commitment to maintaining contact with the new leadership at the CIA. Throughout the conflict, the United States has been Ukraine’s most crucial sponsor, providing the bulk of financial and military support as well as intelligence. The visit by the US spymaster comes at a critical juncture, as Trump has pledged to quickly end the Ukraine conflict, raising concerns in Kiev that it could not only face a decline in aid but also an audit of the billions of dollars it received from Washington under President Joe Biden’s administration.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry suggested that Burns’ trip aimed to warn Ukrainian authorities against sharing potentially compromising information with Trump’s auditors. Senior Russian diplomat Rodion Miroshnik described Zelensky as a “weak link” and suggested that Burns sought to ensure he would not disclose any sensitive “evidence of illegal actions by American officials related to the Democrats and Biden.” “Burns came to Kiev to tie up loose ends and coordinate actions with Zelensky for when Trump begins his review of the multi-billion-dollar US budget spending on Ukraine,” Miroshnik told TASS on Saturday. “The Democrats hardly expect Zelensky to keep his obligations to them, which is why they sent Burns,” the diplomat said, noting that Kiev is the most vulnerable link in the chain of corruption that has seen billions of US taxpayer dollars thrown “into a bottomless pit.”

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The EU can’t afford it. You’re instigating revolt.

Trump Plans To Continue Aid To Ukraine But Will Raise NATO Spending To 5% (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to continue sending military aid to Ukraine, despite Trump earlier on the campaign trail mocking Zelensky for being the “greatest salesman on earth” for his getting tens of billions of US taxpayers’ money with ease. A new Financial Times report has cited European officials who say Trump’s team told them he plans to continue military aid to Kiev after his inauguration. He’s reportedly trying to calm fears of an immediate US withdrawal of support, and this is connected to an expected Trump policy for NATO member states to increase defense spending to 5% of their GDP. “Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine,” FT writes.

NATO’s existing target of 2% of GPD for defense spending certainly has not been met by all members… not even close. The 2% is being met by only 23 of the alliance’s 32 members, and so a significantly higher bar set of more than double that is certainly going to rile Europe. European NATO leaders have long been trying to figure out how to ‘Trump proof’ future defense aid for Ukraine, as has the Biden administration. But there’s at least one severe critic – Hungary’s Viktor Orban. He estimated in a radio interview on Friday that the US and the EU have pumped over $300 billion in financial aid and military assistance into Kiev’s coffers since the war’s start. “During the negotiation with the Americans, I received the figure that Europe and America together have spent €310 billion so far. Those are huge numbers!” the Hungarian prime minister declared.

He went to describe that such a massive amount “could have done wonders” for European people themselves, instead of sinking the funds into an unwinnable war, while avoiding the necessity of negotiations with Moscow. The 5% defense spending for NATO members could also be a ‘tough’ tactic as the new administration deals with NATO allies. According to more from Financial Times: One person said they understood that Trump would settle for 3.5 per cent, and that he was planning to explicitly link higher defense spending and the offer of more favorable trading terms with the US. “It’s clear that we are talking about 3 per cent or more for [Nato’s June summit in] The Hague summit,” said another European official briefed on Trump’s thinking.

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Once again: The EU can’t afford it. You’re instigating revolt.

Trump Gives Oil Ultimatum To EU (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has said the EU should reduce its trade gap by boosting purchases of American oil and gas, or it risks being hit with tariffs. The US goods trade deficit with the EU stood at €156 billion ($162 billion) in 2023, according to Eurostat data. In a post on Truth Social media platform, Trump wrote on Friday the EU should “make up their tremendous deficit with the US by the large-scale purchase of our oil and gas.” “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!” he warned. According to Eurostat, the US already supplied 47% of the EU’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and 17% of the bloc’s oil purchases in the first quarter of 2024. Data shows US crude exports to Europe stand at around two million barrels per day, representing over half of the country’s total exports, with the rest going to Asia.

The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden are the biggest US energy importers, government data shows. The European Commission (EC) responded to Trump’s warnings, saying it was ready to discuss how to deepen what it described as an already strong relationship, including in the energy sector. “The EU is committed to phasing out energy imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply,” an unnamed EC spokesperson was quoted as saying by Reuters. The EU pledged to stop consuming Russian fuel following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Supplies of higher-cost US fuel have replaced much of the cheap pipeline gas that was previously delivered by Russia. Data, however, shows that EU countries still continue to buy billions of euros’ worth of Russian gas each month. In 2024, the bloc is expected to import 10% more LNG from Russia than in 2023, according to energy analytics firm Kpler.

The bloc’s plans to completely phase out energy imports from the country by 2027 have been met with strong opposition from some EU members, particularly Hungary and Slovakia, that are still heavily reliant on the imports. Trump, who takes office on January 20, has pledged to impose sweeping tariffs on several major US trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and China. He also has repeatedly said during his campaign that Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades. EU exports are dominated by Germany, with key goods being cars, machinery and chemicals, which means Trump’s levies could wreak havoc on the bloc’s already struggling major economy.

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“We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.”

US Had Foreknowledge of HTS Offensive To Topple Assad (Antiwar)

The US had foreknowledge of the offensive led by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and helped another rebel group join the fight, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The report said the US notified the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA), a US-funded militia based out of a US base at Al Tanf in southern Syria, to “be ready” for an attack that could lead to the end of Assad’s rule. “They did not tell us how it would happen,” Bashar al-Mashadani, an RCA commander, told The Telegraph. “We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.” In October, the US brought several other Sunni Muslim militias under the command of the RCA, swelling the force from 800 fighters to about 3,000.

All of the fighters are armed by the US, and the US pays their salaries of $400 per month. The US also backs the Kurdish-led SDF in eastern Syria, but the RCA is a separate force. When the HTS-led force began its offensive from Syria’s northwest Idlib province and advanced south toward Damascus, the RCA headed north. According to The Telegraph, the US-funded group now controls about one-fifth of Syria’s territory. Mashadani spoke to the paper from a former Syrian government air base that was used by Russia outside of the city of Palmyra. Mashadani said RCA and HTS were cooperating during the offensive and that the US coordinated the communication between the two groups from Al Tanf. The US has celebrated the overthrow of Assad and made clear it’s willing to work with HTS despite the fact that the group is an offshoot of al-Qaeda and designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Telegraph report makes clear that the US was aware of the planned HTS offensive. RCA members said the US told them about the opportunity to overthrow Assad in early November, about three weeks before the offensive started. Mashadani said the US wanted his group to capture territory to keep it out of the hands of ISIS, which RCA has helped the US fight in the past. The Biden administration is sending a high-level State Department official to Damascus to meet with HTS’s leader Mohammad Abu al-Julani, who has a $10 million US bounty on his head. Julani founded the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, known as al-Nusra Front. In 2016, Julani changed the name of Nusra as part of a rebranding campaign to gain support from the West and merged the group with several other Islamist factions to form HTS in 2017.

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“Turkey was considered a secular nation when it sought entry into NATO after World War II. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey has been attempting to resurrect its Islamic fundamentalist, Ottoman roots..”

NATO Must Talk Turkey (Baumann)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) hasn’t just outlived its usefulness. One of its member states has been wearing out its welcome since the fall of the Soviet Union. Turkey was considered a secular nation when it sought entry into NATO after World War II. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey has been attempting to resurrect its Islamic fundamentalist, Ottoman roots. Sadly, we the people of the United States are obligated to protect and defend it. Exactly 30 years ago, in 1994, while speaking to young fundamentalist Muslims in Antwerp, Belgium, a Turkish Sheikh named Nazim Al-Kibrisi al-Haqqani took to the stage in a stadium filled to capacity, with close to 20,000 people present. After putting the phrase, “Allahu Akbar” to a repetitive musical chant, he exhorted the crowd to join him. He even referred to the audience as a “flood of people (being) a small sign of the glorious rise of Islam”.

There, in the front row, stood a smiling, young Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently the President of Turkey. In his speech, Kibrisi bemoaned the failures of his generation over the previous 70 years to preserve Islam. He insisted the young crowd which filled the stadium would restore the glory of Islam. This was a clear reference to the defeat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, in 1922. It was also a personal reference. Kibrisi was born that year. Even the stadium was built between 1921 – 1923. Did I mention that Erdogan was in the front row? In 1952, a very secular Turkey joined NATO amid concerns that the Soviet Union be problematic. Membership in NATO provided Turkey with a hedge against invasion. Then, when the Soviet Union fell, Neo-Ottomanism began to rise. Unfortunately, NATO continued growing as well, even becoming more corrupt, with the central component of its mission – Soviet style communism no longer a threat.

Neo-Ottomanism seeks a restoration of the old empire, which seeks expansionism and ultimately, a global Islamic caliphate. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in the 1920 s as well. It too seeks a return to life under the Ottoman Empire. During the one year reign of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following the Arab Spring, this became even more evident. Erdogans support for the Muslim Brotherhood was clear. Both expressed a desire to restore an era of Islamic rule. As an aside, the history between Turkey and Russia goes back well more than 500 years; it is an adversarial history at that. It includes the fall of Christianity in Constantinople. The seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church then moved to Russia. Even then it was Muslims vs. Christians. This says nothing of the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Despite the extermination of between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians, the Turks remain holocaust denialists. The removal of Bashar al-Assad is largely perceived as a good thing. Is it? The answer to that question depends on what replaces him. The Syrian rebels are comprised of various factions, but the Muslim Brotherhood is chief among them. Again, the Muslim Brotherhood’s loyalties to the Neo-Ottoman movement should not be questioned; it’s alive and well. Of course, a rudderless Syria, especially one that helps to serve Turkey’s interests, doesn’t bode well for the Iranian Mullahs either. The attacks of October 7, 2023, have had a cascading effect that has very much helped us get to this point. Israel, rightly so, decimated Hamas and its leadership; it did the same to Hezbollah. Exploding pagers and precision strikes very much contributed to the conditions that led to Assad’s ouster.

It’s far too early to tell if the Iranian regime has been weakened, if at all. It’s likely very capable of counteroffensive attacks. Nonetheless, if the Iranian mullahs are toppled the same question will need to be asked: Is it a good thing? Again, it depends on what replaces it.

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“Controlling who gets to speak and what can be said is essential to the left’s dominance over our institutions..”

How the Left Will Defend Its Censorship Regime Against Trump (RCW)

The reelection of President Donald Trump could serve as a historic turning point for free speech in America. President Trump has said he will investigate censorship practices by the federal government, end the rampant disrespect for First Amendment rights on our college campuses, and take on Big Tech’s Orwellian policing of speech on the Internet. If successful, these efforts would make the First Amendment stronger than ever before. Yet President Trump’s opponents will not simply stand by and watch as he dismantles their carefully crafted censorship machine. Controlling who gets to speak and what can be said is essential to the left’s dominance over our institutions. They will not give up such an important source of their power without a fight. To ensure the success of Trump’s free speech agenda, the right must anticipate and prepare for the left’s inevitable attacks.

Fortunately, their methods are not hard to predict. In fact, Democrats tipped their hand during the campaign. Back when the party’s out-of-touch leadership thought Kamala Harris would propel them to victory, they set about making plans to silence opposition to their agenda once in office. At the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Chuck Schumer promised sweeping changes to elections, voting, and campaign finance if Democrats won control of Congress and the White House. All of these efforts would slant the political playing field further in the left’s favor. Among the bills was legislation that would strip Americans of their privacy when supporting nonprofit groups that speak out on hot button issues like abortion, crime, the border, or extreme gender politics. The importance of this provision should not be underestimated.

The left calls it “transparency” when they publicly expose a private citizen’s personal information, including their name and home address, but Americans know it better as doxxing. They also know the purpose is not good government, but power politics. Exposing donors allows the left to build enemies’ lists and harass anyone who backs the “wrong” cause. Harris, who co-sponsored the DISCLOSE Act in the Senate, has her own long record of attacking conservative donors and journalists. As California Attorney General, her demand that nonprofits expose their confidential donor lists to her office led to lawsuits and a rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court. The First Amendment protects the right to give privately, as the justices reminded her. Now that the election is over, Democrats’ designs for regulating speech and exposing conservative donors may form the heart of their resistance strategy to splinter the Trump coalition. We have seen this movie before.

After the fight over Obamacare sparked a massive conservative movement known as the Tea Party, the left painted targets on the backs of the organizations and donors at its heart. IRS bureaucrats began grilling conservative groups about their activities and intentionally slow-walked their applications for nonprofit status. The massive targeting campaign succeeded in suppressing grassroots conservative activism in the run-up to the 2012 elections, where Democrats made gains. Yet Democrats do not even need to control the White House to target conservative donors. Threats can arise from inside federal agencies like the IRS, or from state legislation or regulatory actions, or even from unscrupulous media aided by leaks and hacking of confidential donor data. President Trump himself saw his tax returns illegally leaked in a politically-motivated scheme.

Organizations that are successful in promoting conservative policies have also seen coordinated campaigns to bully their donors into ending their support. These harassment campaigns are one of the tactics that allowed the left to seize control of corporate America. Today, many companies pay a heavy price for any public association with the right. America First organizations and citizens are more than familiar with this kind of discrimination. This time, however, they must not merely persist through it but fight back and defeat it. If not, the left’s control over our institutions will soon reemerge, strong as ever, despite our best efforts. The solution is simple: Ensure every American can freely, safely, and privately support the organizations that represent their values and beliefs. We must end the ability of bureaucrats and political operatives to spy on donors and nonprofits. If the Trump coalition can do this and protect its own, it can achieve its bold free speech agenda – and more.

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“..you can bet your paycheck the 2028 establishment campaign will dust off the 2016 playbook and get right to work.”

The West’s Romance With Elections Is Dead (Ottenberg)

It’s been a bad few months for democracy. Election results offensive to the European Union were annulled in Romania; an attempted coup occurred in Georgia over elections that didn’t go the way the west wanted; the French government, widely hated, teetered over the abyss as president Emmanual Macron tried to ignore the last election; on December 16, Washington’s pet German government fell; lots of funny-business happened in the Moldovan referendum and election, amid widespread disenfranchisement of Moldovan voters living in Russia; elections were long ago cancelled in dictatorial Ukraine; and South Korea hosted an attempted coup. In short, western democracies’ storied enchantment with elections is over. As western populations grow sick and tired of their political class and vote against it, what are elites to do? Annul, cancel, overturn and ignore the elections, that’s what. The problem, for the west, is the voters.

What will happen if far-right Alternative for Deutschland sweeps the early German elections in February, or if far-left France Insoumise does the same in France? Will the U.S. through its NATO and EU tentacles annul those votes? Don’t think it won’t try. And Washington doesn’t even have to give the order, because its European puppets know exactly what’s expected of them. Granted, the Romanian front-runner, so feared by NATO, Calin Georgescu, was far right. But so what? Besides, I doubt that’s what led to the constitutional court vacating the vote. More likely it was his opposition to the Ukraine War – hence the court citing “foreign influence” (translation: Russian) via TikTok as its flimsy basis for negating the election. Incidentally, reports are coming in that the heat and internet to Georgescu’s house have been cut off, and, surprise! he can’t get anyone on the phone to help with this.

But you can’t blame European honchos for ditching elections. They’re just following Washington’s lead. After all, the post-2016 phony Russiagate hysteria may not have succeeded in ousting Trump, as was intended, but it did provide the template for American vassals. The four years of lawfare against Trump (and then another four after he left office) blazed the trail for Europe, so that now, if a candidate not favored by political bigwigs wins, all they have to do is scream “Russian influence!” to dump the election. In other words, democracy is dying in the west. It’s kicking the bucket in Europe – and if Trump ends the Ukraine War (provided Biden doesn’t utterly sabotage his peace efforts before he takes office) or gets us out of the NATO sinkhole, you can bet your paycheck the 2028 establishment campaign will dust off the 2016 playbook and get right to work.

In western media, Georgescu has been portrayed as an unknown. This is false. He is well-known in Romania and had a diplomatic career. But he is also a religious nationalist, and that’s verboten in the EU; worse yet, the U.S., aka NATO, built its biggest military airbase in Europe – where? You got it, Romania. So Washington can’t have just anybody running that country. It must be someone who will keep everything copacetic with the U.S. A nationalist opposed to Washington’s pet proxy war in Ukraine is not that someone.

As for Georgia, there the electorate proved itself most unreliable to the Exceptional Empire. It voted in a government that actually dares to require foreign NGOs to register as such – you know, the way we do, here in the United States. But here, those NGOs don’t aim to overthrow the government, like they do in Georgia, in order for Tbilisi to open a second front against Moscow. Indeed, the vast majority of rioters against the Georgian government, who were arrested, were – I’m shocked! Shocked! – foreign, i.e. European. The icing on the cake is that the French president of Georgia refused to leave office when her term expired – a president with French and Georgian passports, who boasts Nazis in her family tree.

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Martyr

 

 

Lions
https://twitter.com/i/status/1870065824716710258

 

 

Murmuration
https://twitter.com/i/status/1870445083520344416

 

 

Great white

 

 

Elvis
https://twitter.com/i/status/1870251581045912020

 

 

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Dec 192024
 


Richard Oelze The expectation 1936

 

‘CALL THEIR BLUFF’: Trump And Vance Slam Pork-Filled House Bill (ZH)
Congress’s First Gift To Trump Could Be Legislative ‘Kitchen Sink’ (JTN)
Musk Brands Reuters ‘Paid Propaganda’ (RT)
Kaja Kallas, Queen of Russophobia (RT)
Kiev Regime Kills Russian General To Hide The Truth About Bioweapons (SCF)
Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Condemns Murder of Russian General (RT)
US Sets Conditions For Ukrainian NATO membership (RT)
No Western Troops In Ukraine Without Russian Approval – Germany (RT)
RT Winning ‘Cognitive War’ – BBC Director (RT)
The Tone Regarding Ukraine’s Future Has Shifted Significantly And Fast (Rabo)
“Free Speech Is A Human Right!” Professors Jonathan Turley & Dave Karpf (ZH)
Clouds Form Over Bluesky (Turley)
Almost 8 Million Illegal Aliens Live in American ‘Sanctuary Cities’ (AmG)
Feds Quietly Ban Liability For Vax Makers Through Trump’s Full Term (JTN)
Will Nuke False Flag Keep Trump Out of Office – Steve Quayle (USAW)
CNN Suspected Of ‘Fabricating’ Syrian Jail Release Story (RT)

 

 

 

 

Speaker
https://twitter.com/i/status/1869414683054346727

Eric Adams
https://twitter.com/i/status/1869155321987358803

Revenge
https://twitter.com/i/status/1869198929667014946

Rogan

 

 

 

 

“Speaker Johnson Tries To Ram Through Insane Funding Package..”

“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he had “hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine,” but “this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man.”

‘CALL THEIR BLUFF’: Trump And Vance Slam Pork-Filled House Bill (ZH)

Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-LA), has unveiled a 1,547-page government funding bill that has Republicans seeing red – and not just because of the looming Friday midnight shutdown deadline. Packed with disaster relief, farmer aid, and a Christmas stocking full of legislative surprises, the short-term spending bill has set off a firestorm within Johnson’s own party. The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), keeps the federal government funded through March 14, buying Congress a little breathing room. But in classic Capitol Hill fashion, the measure is loaded with provisions unrelated to basic spending – and House conservatives are furious, according to Punchbowl News.

[..] They’ve also given themselves a pay raise: “It’s complicated, but Congress has proactively blocked lawmakers from getting a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since 2009. This was done by including language in spending bills specifically preventing such pay increases, although other federal employees get them. However, the new CR includes a provision (page 15) that amends language in a previous CR that incorporated a provision from an earlier omnibus blocking any member COLA. Yes, that’s how it was done. Nothing as simple as “Members and senators will get a pay raise.” -Punchbowl

Johnson’s problems began Tuesday, when he sounded out hardliners on the House Rules Committee – Reps. Chip Roy (TX), Thomas Massie (KY), and Ralph Norman (SC) – to gauge their support for the bill. Unsurprisingly, the trio demanded a price for their cooperation:
• Adherence to the 72-hour rule to review the bill before voting.
• Spending offsets to counter the new funding.
• Restrictions on selling off border wall materials.
Johnson hasn’t agreed to these conditions, leaving him with little choice but to bring the CR to the floor under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority for passage. A floor vote is expected Thursday, giving the Senate barely 24 hours to clear the bill before the clock strikes midnight Friday. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he had “hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine,” but “this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man.” “It’s silly to pretend this is just a skinny CR,” one GOP staffer told Punchbowl News. “It’s a three-month spending bill with ornaments hanging all over it.”

Meanwhile, conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) are fuming at the bill’s scope and the speaker’s handling of the process. And GOP moderates are frustrated by the party’s inability to settle on a clean solution. Johnson, for his part, has no easy out – having opted for neither a clean CR nor a comprehensive omnibus spending package, and instead delivering a stopgap bill stuffed with unrelated provisions. Some hardliners are already withholding public support for Johnson ahead of his January 3 re-election bid for speaker, signaling that his light-handed leadership style may be backfiring.

[..] Trump and Vance just came out against the pork too… A statement from President Donald J. Trump and Vice President-Elect JD Vance: The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed. Meanwhile, Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney. The bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid security failures that happened that day. This bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas. Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration?

Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want. Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country. Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!

[..] Vivek Ramaswamy, who will be in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with Elon Musk, has analyzed the bill. Via X: “I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here’s my view: it’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO. Keeping the government open until March 14 will cost ~$380BN by itself, but the true cost of this omnibus CR is far greater due to new spending. Renewing the Farm Bill for an extra year: ~$130BN. Disaster relief: $100BN. Stimulus for farmers: $10BN. The Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement: $8BN. The proposal adds at least 65 cents of new spending for every dollar of continued discretionary spending.

The legislation will end up hurting many of the people it purports to help. Debt-fueled spending sprees may “feel good” today, but it’s like showering cocaine on an addict: it’s not compassion, it’s cruelty. Farmers will see more land sold to foreign buyers when taxes inevitably rise to meet our obligations. Our children will be saddled with crippling debt. Interest payments will be the largest item in our national budget. Congress has known about this deadline since they created it in late September. There’s no reason why this couldn’t have gone through the standard process, instead of being rushed to a vote right before Congressmen want to go home for the holidays. The urgency is 100% manufactured & designed to avoid serious public debate.

The bill could have easily been under 20 pages. Instead, there are dozens of unrelated policy items crammed into the 1,547 pages of this bill. There’s no legitimate reason for them to be voted on as a package deal by a lame-duck Congress. 72 pages worth of “Pandemic Preparedness and Response” policy; renewal of the much-criticized “Global Engagement Center,” a key player in the federal censorship state; 17 different pieces of Commerce legislation; paving the way for a new football stadium in D.C.; a pay raise for Congressmen & Senators and making them eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits. It’s indefensible to ram these measures through at the last second without debate. We’re grateful for DOGE’s warm reception on Capitol Hill. Nearly everyone agrees we need a smaller & more streamlined federal government, but actions speak louder than words. This is an early test. The bill should fail.

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“We have to remove a clear majority of the people who snuck in here during the four years.”

Congress’s First Gift To Trump Could Be Legislative ‘Kitchen Sink’ (JTN)

As Trump moves to implement his many campaign promises, some lawmakers hope to bundle a litany of conservative agenda items in a sort of “kitchen sink” legislative package early in his term. “We don’t have a lot of wiggle room. That’s why we have to get everybody on board with everything,” said Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show. “You’ve got to remember, we can only afford to lose one person in the House. You know, we can only afford to lose, what about four people in the U.S. Senate? So we’ve got to get everything that we need to make America great again in that first big bill that is going to be passed in, presumably, February or March.”

The Trump White House and Congress have been negotiating over their approach to key legislative priorities, notably the pairing of immigration and border security with extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts. While the Senate and White House appear on the same page with a two-step approach of passing separate legislation, House conservatives on key committees have called for a single mega-bill, citing concerns that the administration could chicken out on immigration if the bill does not include it. “It’s important that the Trump administration does not cave in to the more weak-kneed open borders Republicans who say, ‘Well, you know, why don’t you kick out the murderers and the rapists, but otherwise we can let the 10 million people stay here,’” Grothman added. “No, no, no. We have to remove a clear majority of the people who snuck in here during the four years.”

Grothman is not alone in that sentiment. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a key member of the House Rules Committee, said Tuesday on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show that Congress ought to prioritize the border efforts “because I think the American people are going to demand it, and that has got to be done early on.” “Now it’s got to be handled,” he added. “And I think the tax cuts that Trump did a great job on, we take that up in the second reconciliation. But you’d handle first things first, and that’s one of them that’s leading the pack. And it would be, I think, Well, I would say easy to pass, but in Congress, I don’t think anything’s easy.”

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“..deep state traitors are coming after me, using their paid shills in legacy media.”

Musk Brands Reuters ‘Paid Propaganda’ (RT)

US billionaire Elon Musk has expressed support for an online theory that links the Reuters international news agency with investigations into his businesses by the current administration of US President Joe Biden. Musk, a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump, has called the purported connection “insane” and claimed it “explains a lot.” Reuters is “paid propaganda” that should be ashamed, he added. The connection was suggested by Mike Benz, who heads the self-described pro-free speech website Foundation For Freedom Online. On Tuesday, he alleged in a post on X that the outgoing Biden administration “paid Reuters over $300 million in government contracts” while simultaneously 11 US government agencies “targeted Elon’s businesses.”

Benz cited public records reported by the database usaspending.gov as evidence of his claim, as well as a series of reports by Reuters about the entrepreneur that won a Pulitzer Prize in May. The series on ‘The Musk Industrial Complex’ focused on “grave harms to consumers, workers and laboratory animals across Elon Musk’s manufacturing empire.” The billionaire emerged as a close ally of Trump after endorsing his candidacy in mid-July. He is slated to become a senior member of the incoming US administration responsible for cutting government inefficiency. Prior to picking a side in the US race, Musk was heavily criticized by left-leading public figures and media outlets for his management of X, formerly known as Twitter, which he purchased in 2022. The stated objective of his multibillion-dollar acquisition was to eradicate censorship on the platform, which he claimed was silencing pro-conservative voices.

Critics claim that Musk has turned X into a hotbed of right-wing extremism, while failing to live up to the promise of free speech. The EU has threatened the platform with legal penalties for allegedly failing to tackle “disinformation.” Last week, the Musk Foundation was accused of failing to meet US requirements for charitable organizations, based on its latest tax returns submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The New York Times has since reported that the billionaire and his firm SpaceX are being investigated for compliance with US rules on classified information. Musk responded to the report by stating that “deep state traitors are coming after me, using their paid shills in legacy media.” In March, Musk stated that “The legacy media lies as easy as breathing,” and that “Reuters is the worst right now.”

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Hold on, Ursula would like to have a word. And Annalena Baerbock too. They can’t all be queens.

Kaja Kallas, Queen of Russophobia (RT)

Since assuming the role of EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy on December 1, 2024, Kaja Kallas has swiftly implemented policies reflecting her firm anti-Russia stance and commitment to supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Moscow. Her policies with regard to Russia have long been harsh, and a number of media outlets have labeled her as a ‘Russophobe’. On her first day in office, Kallas visited Kiev alongside European Council President Antonio Costa, signaling the EU’s unwavering support for Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict. During the visit, she highlighted the EU’s commitment to bolstering Ukraine’s defense capabilities, announcing a substantial investment of €400 million ($420 million) for the current year and an additional €1.9 billion for the following year to enhance Ukraine’s defense industry.

Kallas praised the EU’s anti-Russia sanctions and has been a vocal advocate for utilizing frozen Russian state assets within the EU to aid Ukraine. She stated that these funds should be used to cover the damages inflicted by Russia, viewing them as a strategic tool to pressure Moscow. She expressed confidence that, despite certain sensitivities, progress would be made toward this objective. Moscow has called the freezing of its funds blatant theft and announced that there would be consequences. In February 2024, as prime minister of Estonia, Kallas was placed on a Russian wanted list due to her government’s efforts to remove Soviet-era World War II monuments. Russian officials accused her of “falsification of history,” viewing the removal of these monuments as a desecration of the memory of Soviet soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany.

In 2023, Kallas spoke at the first in-person meeting of the pro-Kiev online group ‘NAFO’ on Saturday, praising their efforts in the ‘information war’ against Russia. NAFO, founded by Kamil Dyszewski – who is known for having anti-Semitic and white supremacist views – has celebrated Russian civilian deaths and raised funds for individuals accused of war crimes. He has made numerous posts praising Nazi Germany and denying the Holocaust. ‘NAFO’ stands for the ‘North Atlantic Fellas Organization’ and consists of internet users known for their ‘Shiba Inu’ avatars and strong support for the Ukrainian military. Members – known as ‘Fellas’ – actively promote Ukraine’s messages on social media, pressure platforms to censor pro-Moscow accounts, and solicit donations for the Georgian Legion, a mercenary group led by an individual who has admitted to committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Critics have also scrutinized Kallas’ family history, alleging connections to nationalist movements during the early 20th century. Several researchers have highlighted her grandfather’s alleged role in the Estonian police and nationalist militia during the 1920s and 1930s. In August 2023, reports emerged that Stark Logistics, a transportation company in which Kallas’ husband Arvo Hallik held a 24.9% stake, continued operations involving Russia following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in early 2022. This revelation was particularly striking given Kallas’ strong public stance urging Estonian companies to cease all business activities with Russia in response to the conflict.

Stark Logistics was found to be facilitating the transportation of goods for AS Metaprint, an Estonian company with ongoing operations in Russia. Between February and November 2022, Metaprint reportedly sold approximately €17 million worth of goods to Russia. In response to the public outcry, Hallik announced he would divest his shares in Stark Logistics and resign from all positions within the company. Kallas addressed the situation by highlighting her commitment to transparency and denying any prior knowledge of her husband’s business dealings related to Russia.

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NATO bioweapons.

Kiev Regime Kills Russian General To Hide The Truth About Bioweapons (SCF)

In a bold and lethal move, a terrorist attack carried out by Ukrainian intelligence operatives in Moscow killed Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Federation’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Forces, along with his main advisor. Kirillov, one of the most important figures in Russian national security, became a strategic target due to his investigations revealing the complex and shadowy ties between the West, Ukraine, and the bioweapons research laboratories. His death is not only a blow against Russia but also a critical turning point in international relations, involving the controversy surrounding biological laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry lobby, and, inevitably, Kiev’s connections to U.S. politics.

Since the beginning of Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine in 2022, Igor Kirillov had been denouncing the existence of bioweapons research laboratories in Ukrainian territory. These laboratories, operating under the guise of “scientific research” and funded by global actors such as the Soros Foundation, Big Pharma companies, and even influential members of the Biden family, have been accused of developing biological weapons aimed at Russia.In public statements, Kirillov warned of the growing risk posed by these biolaboratories, pointing out that their goal was to create a “universal package” of genetically modified biological pathogens to target Russian people, cattle, and crops simultaneously. The development of such weapons could potentially cause a catastrophe of epic proportions, destroying Russian food production and decimating the population. Once Russia became aware of these activities, it had no choice but to launch a military operation to dismantle these dangerous research centers.

Moscow also raised suspicions that, without early intervention, Ukraine, with U.S. support, could have launched a large-scale biological attack against Russia. This attack would target Russian public health by releasing multiple lethal viruses and bacteria simultaneously, with the aim of creating catastrophic chaos. The greatest obstacle Russia faced in exposing these threats was the absolute silence of the Western media. In the European Union, the United States, and even the Global South, an iron curtain was raised on the subject, with most media outlets ignoring or discrediting Kirillov’s revelations. However, Russia believed that without its military operation and the dismantling of bioweapons laboratories in the early days of the conflict, the country would have been vulnerable to a biological attack of catastrophic magnitude.

Furthermore, during the eight years following the Euromaidan coup, citizens of Russian-majority regions in Ukraine were subjected to a series of biological experiments. These included tests of new chemical and biological substances, some of which were administered under the guise of “voluntary treatments” or even by force, as in the case of prisoners or ethnic Russian low-ranking soldiers. The ultimate goal of these experiments was to understand the genetic characteristics of Russians in order to develop even more lethal and ethnically targeted pathogens, thus creating ethnically directed mass destruction biological weapons.

In addition to the evidence of involvement by organizations such as the Soros Foundation, another crucial point in Kirillov’s reports was the connection with Big Pharma companies. He spared no effort in revealing the role of pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Moderna in financing bioweapons research in Ukraine. The claim that these corporations were associated with the development of biological weapons was not merely speculative, having several captured documents proved the whole truth. In the same vein, the involvement of influential members of the U.S. government and their families, including Hunter Biden, in contracts and initiatives related to Ukrainian biolabs was a central issue in his revelations.

The U.S. president’s son was of the main financial supporters of the biolabs, which were part of his corruption schemes in Ukraine. Kirillov’s death, therefore, is not only a significant loss for Russia but also a grim reflection of global corporate interests and the biological risks the Western powers were willing to take in their reckless pursuit of hegemony. The pharmaceutical lobby, with its vast networks of influence, found itself in an uncomfortable position after 2022, when several countries began questioning the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as dismantling the mandatory vaccination campaigns that had been previously fervently promoted.

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“..there are rules of warfare and there are certain things that you just kind of don’t do.”

Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Condemns Murder of Russian General (RT)

The assassination of Russian General Igor Kirillov in Moscow probably won’t impede peace talks, but was “not a good idea at all” for Kiev, US President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, has said. Kirillov, who commanded the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, was killed in an explosion in southeastern Moscow early on Tuesday. The Russian authorities have detained a suspect, whom they say was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence and paid to carry out the attack. In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Kellogg was asked whether the murder of Kirillov would hinder peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, which Trump hopes to broker once inaugurated next month. “I don’t think it’s really a setback,” he responded, “but I would say this: there are rules of warfare and there are certain things that you just kind of don’t do.”

“When you’re killing flag officers, general officers – admirals or generals – in their hometown, it’s kind of like you’re extending it and I don’t think it’s really smart to do it. It’s not kind of the rules of war,” he continued, reiterating that the bombing was “not a good idea at all, in my opinion.” In light of the murder, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that “all NATO decision-makers” from countries assisting Ukraine “can and should be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian state.” Kellogg, formerly a lieutenant general in the US Army, confirmed to Fox News that he will travel to Kiev before next month’s inauguration on a “fact-finding” mission. Kellogg will not travel to Moscow, but according to a Bloomberg report earlier on Wednesday, he is open to the idea.

Previously a staunch supporter of increased military aid to Kiev, Kellogg was nominated as Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia last month. In an announcement on social media, the incoming president promised that Kellogg would help “secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Back in June, Kellogg told Reuters that he had advised Trump to use military aid as leverage to force Moscow and Kiev into peace talks. “We tell the Ukrainians: ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,’” he told the news agency.

“And you tell [Russian President Vladimir] Putin he’s got to come to the table and if you don’t come to the table, then we’ll give Ukrainians everything they need to kill you in the field.” Trump has repeatedly promised to end the conflict within a day of taking office, without providing any detailed plan as to how he intends to achieve this goal.Moscow maintains that any settlement must begin with Ukraine ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will never regain control of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, as well as Crimea. In addition, the Kremlin insists that the goals of its military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved.

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There are no such conditions that Russia would agree to.

US Sets Conditions For Ukrainian NATO membership (RT)

Ukraine can only hope to join NATO if it reforms its military and succeeds in improving its democratic institutions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Blinken rejected the idea that the US, Germany, or other NATO allies are “standing in the way” of Kiev’s accession to the bloc. Ukraine has long aspired to become a full-fledged NATO member, and formally applied to join in the autumn of 2022 after four of its former regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. The bloc, Blinken insisted, has “put Ukraine on a path to NATO membership” and taken concrete steps to advance this goal, while stopping short of clarifying the accession timeline.

“We set up for the first time in NATO’s history a dedicated command whose purpose is to help Ukraine along that path, to take the practical steps that it needs to take – in continuing to build and reform its military institutions, to continue to strengthen its democracy – that are necessary for membership,” he said. The secretary of state admitted that it would be “very challenging for Russia” to agree to a peace deal over Ukraine that would not explicitly remove the prospect of Kiev joining NATO. However, he argued that Ukraine could potentially receive “other kinds of assurances, commitments, guarantees” that would be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an attack on one member of the bloc is an attack on all.

In October, Politico reported that some NATO allies were not particularly happy with Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’, which calls for Ukraine to receive an immediate invitation to join the bloc. The article identified the US and Germany as the countries opposed to his request over fears that it would draw them into a direct conflict with Russia.

Publicly, NATO has ruled out full membership for Ukraine as long as it is embroiled in the conflict with Russia. However, some Western officials have floated an option of “partial membership” for Kiev, an idea rejected by Zelensky, who argued that this would essentially mean that the country recognizes all of its territorial losses to Russia. Moscow has long been opposed to NATO expansion towards its borders, seeing it as an existential threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Kiev’s ambition to join the bloc is one of the key reasons for the conflict, with Ukrainian neutrality, along with demilitarization and denazification, being Moscow’s main goals.

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Is that a warning? A threat?

No Western Troops In Ukraine Without Russian Approval – Germany (RT)

Both Moscow and Kiev would need to be on board with any initiative involving the deployment of Western peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said. Some EU leaders have raised the possibility of a Western peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached. Donald Trump, set to be sworn in as US president next month, recently stated that he wants to bring both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to the negotiating table. Pistorius stressed that any discussion of a European troop presence in the conflict is premature, speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. “If there is a ceasefire, then, of course, the Western community, NATO partners, possibly the United Nations, and the EU will have to discuss how such a peace, such a ceasefire can be secured,” he said.

Pistorius added that, as the EU’s largest economy, Germany “would play a role there,” without elaborating on what the role would entail. He noted that a mandate for a foreign peacekeeping force would also need to be defined. “It must be clear that the two nations negotiating for the ceasefire, Ukraine and Russia, have to agree on a mandate they would accept and on the participants of such a mandate,” Pistorius said.

On Tuesday, Zelensky stated that he expects to be in direct contact with the White House after Trump’s inauguration to find out which points of his so-called ‘peace formula’ the new US president supports. Moscow has previously dismissed Zelensky’s initiatives as completely divorced from reality. The Kremlin has argued that Kiev is not ready to negotiate. “The Ukrainian side still refuses to hold any negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday. He stressed that Zelensky has “legally forbidden himself from these negotiations,” referring to the Ukrainian leader’s 2022 decree banning any talks with Putin. Therefore, Peskov said, “it is premature to talk about everything else, namely peacekeepers, at this time.”

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Not something that can be solved with more money. But tell him that.

RT Winning ‘Cognitive War’ – BBC Director (RT)

RT and Chinese media outlets are winning public trust and waging a “cognitive war” on Western audiences, the director of British state broadcaster the BBC, Tim Davie, has told parliament, at a hearing during which he asked for more taxpayer money. Davie appeared before lawmakers on Tuesday to argue for continued funding of the BBC World Service, which broadcasts in around 40 languages to a reported audience of 320 million people per week. Maintaining this service is vital to Britain’s interests, he claimed, arguing that “we are facing a tsunami of bad actors, disinformation, [and] fakery. The threats are overwhelming.” “As a nation we’ve got a public service broadcaster with the most trusted news service in the world. That’s something,” he said. “The trouble is around us… you’re seeing trust ratings for RT and other Chinese services grow as they just take over more slots.”

“It is cognitive warfare, as it’s been called, as people try and win the hearts and minds of populations and people around the world.” Davie made similar claims at a speech in London in October, stating that the BBC’s axing of more than 380 jobs and cancelation of radio broadcasts in ten languages, including Arabic and Persian, amounted to a loss in the “propaganda” battle against Russia and China. Davie told lawmakers that a recent £32.6 million boost in funding would preserve the World Service’s current language services, but that additional taxpayer money would be needed to keep these services running past 2026. The BBC is an almost entirely state-funded operation, financed by an annual license fee of £169.50 ($221) owed by every British household with a television or device capable of receiving broadcasts. The UK’s Office for National Statistics classifies the fee as a tax, and the BBC as part of the “central government sector” of the UK economy.

The British Foreign Office also pays £104 million ($135.5 million) of the World Service’s £334 million ($435.3 million) annual budget, and is the largest financial backer of the BBC’s ‘Media Action’ department. This department, which is also funded by the governments of the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the EU, UN, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, claims that it spends this money fighting “disinformation, division and distrust” in two dozen developing countries. Davie’s grievances echo those of the US State Department. After announcing a raft of sanctions on RT and its parent company in September, department official Jamie Rubin told reporters that “one of the reasons… why so much of the world has not been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be… is because of the broad scope and reach of RT.”

In a report published on Tuesday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank funded by the US government and almost a dozen arms manufacturers, expressed concern that RT en Espanol is the second-most popular media outlet in Colombia, and along with Sputnik’s Spanish-language service, has an audience of approximately 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean. US state-run Voice of America (VOA) is not even among the top 100 outlets in the region, CSIS noted. Like Davie, CSIS claimed that the problem can be fixed with more money. Ukraine and its Western backers, the report recommended, should invest in pro-Kiev news outlets in Latin America and hire local influencers and social media personalities to spread “high-quality” propaganda created in the US.

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“It is again a demonstration of Europe’s infamous lack of true leadership.”

The Tone Regarding Ukraine’s Future Has Shifted Significantly And Fast (Rabo)

Since February 2022, the Western mantra was that Ukraine would be supported for as long as it takes and that it was up to Ukraine to decide whether it wanted to engage in negotiations with Russia. A logical argument for those who also continued to emphasize Ukraine’s sovereignty and, directly related to it, the right of self-determination. Both are crucial pillars of the concept of the nation state that has it roots in the Treaty of Westphalia. If the West would be as serious about upholding the international rules-based order as has been voiced so often, then Ukraine should be considered the litmus test. Not continuing or even stepping up support would in effect boil down to the alternative scenario in which the West would signal that they are unreliable guarantors of security alliances or partnerships (remember that Ukraine received those guarantees from the US and the UK in exchange for giving up its nuclear deterrent), that might makes right and that the West can be impressed and coerced by rattling the nuclear sabre, amongst others.

The negative consequences should be clear to anybody with even a basic understanding of security studies or international affairs. History also provides us with clues of what might be the result of such an approach. During the 1930’s, Germany felt humiliated because of the treaty of Versailles and the Nazis came with a fascist concept of a civilization state claiming territory based on both historic and ethnic grounds. After it could seize some territories without putting up a real fight, it eventually decided to test France and the UK by invading Poland. Back in the late 1930’s, the United Kingdom was still recovering from the impact of the Great War and the gradual loss of control over its empire and its hegemonic status. From Chamberlains point of view, another large war was to be avoided at all cost. But as all of us know by now, this attitude soon proved to be even more costly in a such a way that nobody could ever have imagined. The parallels with the current situation should be clear and as such have often been drawn by international relations observers.

Making a leap in time, Putin has been very clear all along about his views of the collapse of the Soviet Union which he calls the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. So to be clear, apparently from the Kremlin’s point of view it is not the more than 25 million Russians that died during World War II fighting Nazi Germany but the nonviolent collapse of a communist block that subjugated many previously independent and sovereign states, that was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the (last) century. Eager to reverse what the Kremlin seems to consider as an unpalatable humiliation, Russia embarked on several ‘adventures’ in Georgia, Chechnya, and now clearly Ukraine. This is relevant because this point of view makes it less likely that a deal between Russia, Ukraine and the West will turn out to be a stable and durable one.

Taking all of the above into account it is the West that now seems to position itself as deal takers instead of deal makers when dealing with rule breakers. The majority of blame should go to Europe. While the war has already been dragging on for almost three years, many European member states continue to talk the talk instead of walk the walk. At the cost of precious lives and Europe’s own security. It is again a demonstration of Europe’s infamous lack of true leadership. We have plenty of Chamberlains and government officials dragging their feet but there is no Churchill in sight, except perhaps for some countries in the east that have been ignored in the past but have been warning the rest of us in Europe for many years.

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“[Social media companies] were one monolithic whole, and they were all working with the U.S. government in a censorship system that a federal court called ‘perfectly Orwellian’.”

“Free Speech Is A Human Right!” Professors Jonathan Turley & Dave Karpf (ZH)

In a divide that says a lot about where Americans stand, depending on whom you ask “The Twitter Files” were a revolutionary exposé of government censorship or a “nothingburger”. George Washington law professor and favorite among ZeroHedge readers Jonathan Turley debated his left-leaning GW colleague, David Karpf, on the preeminent speech question of our age: how to secure free online discourse. Moderated by Gene Epstein of The SoHo Forum, they discussed Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and whether its new form — X — has been a net positive for society. We encourage readers to listen to the full debate, but for those short on time here were the key moments: After Musk released internal Twitter documents from the previous regime to journalists like Taibbi and Shellenberger, we often heard from the left and mainstream media that it was exaggerated excerpts from routine and banal content moderation discussions. Karpf shares this view.

Turley, on the other hand, argues that it was a pivotal moment in exposing a censorship apparatus that had grown out of hand. “The statement that the Twitter files was a ‘nothingburger’ is really breathtaking,” he says. “They were censoring jokes. They were censoring people who had dissenting views of COVID. People were barred and throttled and blacklisted.” “[Social media companies] were one monolithic whole, and they were all working with the U.S. government in a censorship system that a federal court called ‘perfectly Orwellian’.”

The question of Stanford physician Jay Bhattacharya was raised. The Context: A now-infamous leaked email between Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci, then-directors of National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), respectively, revealed that the top Biden Admin scientists privately ordered a “devastating published take down” of Bhattacharya’s criticism of national lockdown policy. It was additionally revealed that he was shadow-banned on Twitter.

Asked whether these actions taken against Bhattacharya — now Trump’s pick to lead the NIH — constituted a free speech infringement, Karpf replied that Bhattacharya’s current success proves that his “cancelling” was ineffective and thus inconsequential. Turley took issue, saying Karpf and his ilk are essentially advocating for certain voices to be “disappeared”. “I’m really troubled by this line of argument,” Turley rebutts. “It’s sort of like a doctor saying, ‘Yes I committed malpractice, but I didn’t kill the patient… The fact that people can survive is a rather chilling test when determining whether this was a good or bad thing.”

As Turley points out, for centuries governments have tried to limit the means through which their subjects can communicate via unauthorized channels.“The internet itself is the most important invention since the printing press,” he argues. “When the printing press came out, the first reaction of governments was to limit the printing press. The internet scared the daylights out of governments. Also now with social media. “Turley describes social media platforms as powerful tools that have scaled communication from orators standing atop boxes on urban street corners to everyone having global reach at all times.

He views this as tremendously positive for speech while Karpf believes Musk abused this power to elect Trump and that Turley is only celebrating because “his side” won. Karpf: “We are now at a version of Twitter where Elon Musk is spending basically every day with President-to-be Donald Trump, helping to dictate what government policy should be and which agencies should effectively go away. And he’s calling for people who work for the government to be fired.”

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“Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”

Clouds Form Over Bluesky (Turley)

After the election, liberal pundits and media have attempted to rally the public in a shift from X to Bluesky, a smaller site that is viewed as a safe space for the left. I have been critical of the move as a retreat deeper into the liberal echo chamber after an election that showed how out-of-touch many of these writers were with the majority of voters. They would be better served engaging with a broader swath of public opinion. Today, one of the top Bluesky officials embraced Canadian-style speech controls and rejected more robust views of free speech as the model for the site.Bluesky has long been criticized as a site built on the concept of “safe spaces” in higher education for those triggered by opposing views.

Many of those leaving Twitter long for the “good ole days” of when all social media platforms engaged in extensive censorship to exclude or marginalize opposing voices.This week, Aaron Rodericks, the head of trust and safety at Bluesky, confirmed the worst fears of the site. Bluesky has been hammered with complaints from conservatives and libertarians that they have been subject to not only death threats on the site but also blocked from posting.Some have demanded even more aggressive measures to block or suppress conservative or libertarian views deemed threatening or demeaning. Liberal pundits have heralded the site as allowing them to “breathe again” without hearing the type of opposing views allowed on X.

Rodericks espoused the type of anti-free speech rationalizations that are addressed in my recent book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” He insisted that there are alternative views of free speech than the type of “absolutism” supported by figures like myself. Rodericks juxtaposed what he called “free speech absolutism” against the more enlightened Canadian model, adding, “I think it just comes down to philosophies of free speech.” He explained: “Being Canadian shapes a lot of my perspective. There’s enough of the American perspective in the world on a day-to-day basis. For example, in the Canadian constitution… you have rights and freedoms, but they’re not unequivocal.” It was a chilling reference for many in the free speech community since free speech is in a free fall in Canada. As we have previously discussed, there has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada.

The country has eviscerated the right to free speech and association. Yet, that is apparently the model for Bluesky. Rodericks repeats the doublespeak of the anti-free speech movement in claiming that he just wants to create a space where all are welcomed but excluding those who are not welcomed: “I’m glad that [critics] consider it a safe space and ideally it can be a safe space for them as well. The whole point of Bluesky is for it to be safe and welcoming to all users. I think the issue is some people are defining their identity by opposition to others and how well they can harass others and deny their existence. Bluesky may not be the right place for them.” Not surprisingly, Rodericks used to work at trust and safety for Twitter before he was fired by Elon Musk. He has also sued Musk over a tweet. At issue is Musk’s response to the criticism of his firing Rodericks’s team by noting, “Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”

That would seem clearly protected opinion under the First Amendment, but, of course, for the former censors of Twitter, it should not be allowed. We have previously discussed the censorship standards at Twitter. For example, former Twitter executive Anika Collier Navaroli testified on what she repeatedly called the “nuanced” standard used by her and her staff on censorship. Toward the end of the hearing, she was asked about that standard by Rep. Melanie Ann Stansbury (D., NM). Her answer captured precisely why Twitter’s censorship system proved a nightmare for free expression.

Navaroli then testified how she felt that there should have been much more censorship and how she fought with the company to remove more material that she and her staff considered “dog whistles” and “coded” messaging. She said that they balanced free speech against safety and explained that they sought a different approach: “Instead of asking just free speech versus safety to say free speech for whom and public safety for whom. So whose free expression are we protecting at the expense of whose safety and whose safety are we willing to allow to go the winds so that people can speak freely.”

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“Eliminating sanctuaries is one of the most important steps that states can take to assist the Trump administration with enforcement..”

Almost 8 Million Illegal Aliens Live in American ‘Sanctuary Cities’ (AmG)

A new study from a hardline immigration think tank claims that nearly 8 million illegal aliens are currently residing in the United States due to “sanctuary” cities and states run by Democrats. As reported by Breitbart, the study from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) determined that there are at least 7.9 million illegals being protected from immigration authorities by these rogue jurisdictions, presenting possible complications for the incoming second Trump Administration. The vast majority of these illegals, 6.3 million, are found in the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Another 820,000 are living in sanctuary counties located in states that do not have statewide “sanctuary” laws.

And at least 750,000 are living in states that have numerous sanctuary jurisdictions, but not at the state level, including Maryland, New Mexico, and Virginia. “Although there is much imprecision in the data, the bottom line is that close to eight million illegal aliens, equaling 56 percent of the estimated nationwide total, live in sanctuary jurisdictions,” said CIS’s Jason Richwine in the report. Pointing to the strict immigration practices of Texas and Florida, Richwine adds that “every state should follow their lead.” “Eliminating sanctuaries is one of the most important steps that states can take to assist the Trump administration with enforcement,” Richwine continued.

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned heavily on the immigration issue, just as he did in 2016. He has vowed to finish construction of the southern border wall and to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in American history. Former ICE Director Tom Homan, who has been designated as the next border czar for the second Trump Administration, has frequently said in interviews that the federal government may pursue charges against Democratic officials who interfere with immigration authorities.

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“..an additional 12 months of liability protection … to allow for the manufacturer(s) to arrange for disposition of the Covered Countermeasure..”

Feds Quietly Ban Liability For Vax Makers Through Trump’s Full Term (JTN)

The federal government is protecting the manufacturers of COVID-19 and flu vaccines from product liability for another five years, on the cusp of a new administration likely to aggressively look for vaccine injuries and release its hidden books that Just the News went to court to obtain. Didn’t hear about it? That’s because the Department of Health and Human Services does not appear to have told the public outside a Dec. 11 Federal Register notice, primarily read by regulated entities, and a generic page buried deep within HHS’s website. Outgoing agency Secretary Xavier Becerra’s amendment to the declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for “COVID-19 Medical Countermeasures,” enacted 19 months after President Joe Biden formally ended the COVID public health emergency, gives a perfunctory explanation for the liability shield’s continuing necessity.

“I have determined there is a credible risk that COVID-19 may in the future constitute such an emergency,” says the 27-page notice written in Becerra’s voice, dated Dec. 6, much of it rehashing previous amendments and requirements for “covered persons.” “Congress delegated to me the authority to strike the appropriate federal-state balance with respect to Covered Countermeasures through PREP Act Declarations,” he also says. “The 12th Amendment generally extends the protections clarified in the 11th Amendment” from May 2023, which ended some liability provisions and was set to expire Dec. 31, “through 2029,” reads the PREP Act questions and answers page. The extension also covers COVID therapeutics administered “subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or orally” such as Pfizer’s rebound-prone antiviral Paxlovid, whose efficacy Pfizer’s own research has questioned.

A section near the notice’s end provides for “an additional 12 months of liability protection … to allow for the manufacturer(s) to arrange for disposition of the Covered Countermeasure,” implying the shield will last the full decade. The Dec. 11 notice gives no explanation for the lengthy duration of the extension, three times longer than the previous amendment provided. Published a month after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, it covers the entirety of his pending administration. One X observer noted interesting timing: Pfizer’s combination flu-COVID vaccine was supposed to finish Phase 3 clinical trials last month but failed an important benchmark this summer. “Pfizer would have to go through the normal licensing and approval process” with the Food and Drug Administration “and possibly lose legal immunity going forward” without this extension, the pseudonymous user wrote.

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Not sure what to think of this.

“The big lie is aliens created us . . . and there is no God.”

Will Nuke False Flag Keep Trump Out of Office – Steve Quayle (USAW)

Renowned radio host, filmmaker, book author and archeological dig expert Steve Quayle is telling the public to brace themselves for the evil deeds that will be done to try to keep President Elect Donald Trump from taking office. This includes a false flag nuke that will be blamed on Russia. One side of government is trying to nuke America, and another side of government is trying to stop it. This is what some say all the drone traffic is about. Quayle explains, “A false flag is when you initiate an illegal act. In this case, we are talking about the detonation of not only ‘dirty bombs’ but also nuclear warheads. The rumors are there are active nuclear warheads… They that hate Trump and want to literally destroy this country to save the majority of the Democrats and Republicans that appear to have an affinity for China.

That came out in the Australian News about how many US politicians are on the China payroll.” Lots of crime and treason have been going on in Washington D.C., and it only got worse in the Biden Administration. The so-called Swamp is scared. Quayle says, “They are scared because of the revelation that President Elect Trump is sending public signals that he’s going to clean house. . . . The bottom line answer is if you have sold out to the Chinese. . . . Our government was in collusion with the Chinese. We funded (CV19) gain of function experiments that resulted in the deaths of people who were vaccinated . . . and participated in the knowing and willing destruction of American citizens… A top Communist Chinese Party member said . . . with our bioweapon, we defeated the United States… They are afraid because they know what they are guilty of. . . . President Trump has the goods on them — there is evidence.”

Quayle says there is another government group who is working to stop any false flag. Quayle contends, “They are going to use everything in their bag of evil tricks, including false flag nuclear detonations.” “The Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) are good guys, and they are working tirelessly. They really want to stop this nuclear false flag,” These people who are against Trump are both desperate and evil. Quayle says, “They will do anything, including detonation of nuclear warheads in the US to stop Donald Trump.” “These are soulless creatures. . Their sole purpose is to destroy mankind.. There is only one reason to provoke a nuclear war with Russia, and that is they don’t want Trump in office. They are Luciferian, and they want a mass sacrifice of 250 million Americans.” In closing, Quayle says to be on the lookout for the big lie coming in the future. Quayle says, “The big lie is aliens created us . . . and there is no God. . .”

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Red handed.

CNN Suspected Of ‘Fabricating’ Syrian Jail Release Story (RT)

CNN has been forced to admit that a Syrian man it claimed to have ‘discovered’ in a Damascus prison, and whom it filmed as part of a highly questionable report showing a journalist participating in the captive’s release, is in fact a former intelligence officer who was involved in multiple crimes. The man was reportedly imprisoned because of a dispute with his higher-ups over extorted money. The seeds of the debacle were sown last week when the network released a widely criticized video of CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward entering a “secret prison” in Damascus, allegedly in search of missing US journalist Austin Tice, following the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. In the video, Ward is accompanied by an armed man, with whom she apparently stumbles upon a locked cell, described as the only one still closed up in the facility.

Upon entering, Ward, who shouted in English throughout, found a man under a blanket, who stood up, thanked her for his release and kissed her hand as they exited the facility. Ward claimed that the man was ‘Adel Ghurbal’ from Homs, an “ordinary citizen.” He was reported by the US network to have been several months in prison and had, according to Ward, spent several days without food or water. He also claimed that he had been interrogated by security services over the contents of his phone. The man showed no signs of hunger nor dehydration, his hair and beard were trimmed and his nails manicured, according to multiple online observers. CNN ignored the obvious signs, however. On Sunday, the Verify-sy web portal debunked CNN’s reporting, citing local sources, by revealing that the man’s real name is Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as Abu Hamza, a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence.

According to the outlet, the man “managed several security checkpoints in Homs and was involved in theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants.” He also reportedly participated in military operations in Homs, “killed civilians, and was responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city without cause or on fabricated charges.” Sources also told Verify-sy that Salama was not detained for these crimes, but rather “due to a dispute over profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer,” for which he had been imprisoned for less than a month. In addition, it shared what it said was an image of Salama in a Syrian military uniform sitting in his office.

”Did CNN fabricate the story of “Freeing a Syrian Detainee from a Secret Prison?.. Did CNN deliberately mislead its audience to rehabilitate Abu Hamza’s image, or did it fall victim to misinformation?” the portal asked. Following the revelation, CNN published an article admitting that the man in the picture did appear to have served in Syrian intelligence, and confirming that he had been accused of extortion. It added that it is “unclear how or why Salama ended up in the Damascus jail,” noting that his “current whereabouts are unknown,” and that CNN has been unable to contact him.

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Frens
https://twitter.com/i/status/1869407282033033503

 

 

Cat snow

 

 

Mantis

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 042024
 


Johannes Vermeer The geographer 1668-69

 

FBI Agents Back Kash Patel As Next Director: ‘He’s the right fix’ (JTN)
The Government Gangsters (Glenn Beck)
Tucker Carlson Claims US Embassy Has Muted Zelensky (RT)
Trump Offers Canada Chance To Join US (RT)
Joe Biden Cloaks His Legacy in Infamy With the Hunter Biden Pardon (Turley)
In Pardoning His Own Son, Biden Argues That US Justice Sucks (Marsden)
“Trump-Proofing” California Could Be a Costly Option for Californians (Turley)
Ukraine Will Reject Any Alternative To NATO Membership – Foreign Ministry (RT)
Kiev Should ‘Disregard Everything And Everyone’, Become Nuclear Power – MP (RT)
Georgia: A Second Front for Putin (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Second Front Has Been Activated In Syria (Sonja van den Ende)
EU Reports Dramatic Fall In Birth Rate (RT)
EU Has Weakened ‘A Lot’ Amid Ukraine Conflict – Hungarian FM (RT)
The End Of Fake News? MSNBC Hits New Low In Ratings (ZH)
Ryanair CEO O’Leary: Germany Is Run By ‘Idiots’ (RMX)
Fani Full Release Ordered After Fulton DA Sat On RICO Records (ZH)
House Oversight Report Supports Lab-Leak Theory for COVID-19 Origin (ET)
The Skripals Are As Good As Dead – The Judge Has Buried Them (Helmer)

 

 

 

 

YMCA

Article III

In a blanket pardon, you lose the 5th

Georgia
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863938810196955257

Gaetz

Benz


https://twitter.com/i/status/1864152269153063050

Biden AI

 

 

 

 

“..an influential retired bureau supervisor says a large number of agents support Kash Patel for the job..”

FBI Agents Back Kash Patel As Next Director: ‘He’s the right fix’ (JTN)

As Democrats try to stymie President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Director, an influential retired bureau supervisor says a large number of agents support Kash Patel for the job because of his national security experience and his vision to replace the law enforcement agency’s leadership who allowed politics to usurp crime fighting. “This guy is completely and 100% qualified to run that organization. He’s what’s needed today. He’s the right fix,” retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jeff Danik told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview Monday. While Democrats and news media critics have suggested that Patel was selected to be a loyalist seeking revenge on Trump foes, Danik noted Patel’s extensive career experience, which includes stints as a federal public defender, federal prosecutor, counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, senior counsel to the House Intelligence Committee and chief of staff to both the Defense Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence.

“He has the correct balance, in my view, having been there for almost 30 years,” Danik said of Patel. “He has the correct balance of prosecutor, which is what we do. We feed the prosecution tube. Defense attorney, so the other side of that coin. Intelligence, the intelligence agencies, which is a key element to the FBI’s either success or failure. “And then also, I think this is personal, that he’s been a victim himself of the system,” Danik said. “And the combination of those things uniquely qualifies him beyond his, you know, substantial accomplishments.” Those accomplishments, Just the News confirmed, include two major government awards for Patel’s work on national security during the Obama administration.

The recognitions included a 2017 Assistant Attorney General’s award of excellence for Patel’s prosecution of 12 Al-Shabab terrorists who killed 72 and injured dozens more with suicide bombings targeting sports fans watching a 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer match at two locations in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. They also include a Central Intelligence Agency Award for Human Intelligence Gathering for his work combating terrorism in East Africa. Patel mentioned both awards in a lawsuit he filed against a news media organization back in 2019 and they were confirmed by government officials who spoke to Just the News.Danik’s full-throated endorsement of Patel is significant, since he is a popular figure in the FBI retiree community as an accomplished bureau supervisor in the Miami area known to help and counsel agents currently on the job.

“I talk to agents all the time. I’m constantly involved with helping them, counseling them through tough times, or helping on the job or just after retirement,” Danik said during an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. “And there’s a large group that are highly, highly supportive of him, of the President-elect, and are willing to help with whatever jobs or tasks are involved in getting behind the scenes.” “When somebody new comes into into an organization, even if they’re somewhat familiar with it, there’s a lot of complexity involved with these federal bureaucracies. They have really established lots of different little machine gunner nests that need to be known about before you go in,” he added. Danik was explicitly supportive of Patel’s oft-stated strategy of “cleaning house” in the upper echelons of the FBI, saying that is where cases involving Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and others have been politicized to the detriment of the nation.

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X thread.

The Government Gangsters (Glenn Beck)

Trumps FBI Director Kash Patel knew the Deep State’s plan to remove Joe Biden and pardon Hunter to hide their crimes. Garland and Wray should have been impeached. Fauci, the CIA and the Media lied about the origins of Covid. Wray has the Epstein files. He says the FBI can be fixed by shutting down the Hoover building immediately and opening it up the next day as a Museum of the Deep State letting everyone walk the halls for free and leaving it open 365 days a year. He says twenty people can run the FBI, the other seven thousand agents that are sitting in that building should be chasing criminals around America, not distorting statistics about January 6th so Christopher Wray can go to Congress and lie and say domestic violent terrorism is on the rise.

He encourages the arrest and prosecution of Hunter Biden over the crime of prostitution for calling a Hooker, which is prosecutable in almost every jurisdiction in America and he also says Joe Biden can be prosecuted for receiving money overseas, ill gotten gains, which is illegal. There are bigger crimes involving Ukraine and other matters, but these are simple and fast crimes to prosecute. The investigation into the Hunter Biden Laptop was shutdown by the FBI and the Department of Justice with the help of the media, proving this was a coordinated Deep State effort. He says the Obama-Clinton Administration has been running the White House for years, not Joe Biden. The Deep State is evil, vindictive and very smart.

He names the Top Five Deep State Operatives in America which are General Mark Milley of the U.S. Department of Defense, Mark T. Esper former Secretary of Defense, William Barr former U.S. Attorney General of the Department of Justice, Christopher Wray current FBI Director and Merrick Garland the current Attorney General of the Department of Justice. He says the Deep State will be shattered under the second Trump Administration, but it will be a monster fight. He read the entire secret JFK files and the secret seven pages of the 9/11 report, he says he has seen it all and will recommend to President Trump to release all the files to the American people including the Epstein files. He refers to the Deep State Operatives as Government Gangsters that will be brought to justice.

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“..Carlson published a video on X in which he previewed the upcoming release of an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov..”

Tucker Carlson Claims US Embassy Has Muted Zelensky (RT)

American journalist Tucker Carlson has said the US government has been blocking his attempts to organize an interview with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for more than a year. On Wednesday, Carlson published a video on X in which he previewed the upcoming release of an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The journalist said the conversation with Russia’s top diplomat was aimed at providing a perspective on how close Washington and Moscow could be to a direct clash, after the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission to fire American-made long-range weapons deep into Russian territory.

In the same clip, filmed on Manezhnaya Square in the heart of Moscow, the former Fox News host revealed that “we have also tried for over a year to get an interview with Zelensky, the president of Ukraine.” According to Carlson, his team “have attacked that from a bunch of different angles. We have spoken to a lot of different people around him, had dinner with them. We have been in talks continuously.” “And those efforts have been thwarted by the US government. The American Embassy in Kiev, which our tax dollars pay for, told the Zelensky government: No, you may not do the interview. You can talk to CNN. You cannot talk to us,” Carlson said.

In June, the journalist said he had agreed an interview with the Ukrainian leader. However, Zelensky’s press-secretary, Sergey Nikiforov, swiftly rejected the claim, saying that “Tucker Carlson should check his sources in the FSB (Russia’s Federal Security Service) more carefully.” Zelensky “has a completely different schedule, and Tucker Carlson is not on it,” Nikiforov stressed. Carlson’s latest trip to Moscow is his second since the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in early 2022. In February, he interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the recording of their two-hour conversation getting 14 million views on YouTube and 185 million views on X in the first three days after its release.

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Western Canada would be interested. But not the east. Though Québec…

Trump Offers Canada Chance To Join US (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state unless it manages to halt the flow of illegal migrants and drugs across its border with the US, Fox News reported on Monday, citing sources. According to the report, the incoming US leader made the remarks last Friday during a dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Earlier last week, Trump threatened to place 25% tariffs on goods coming from both Canada and Mexico upon inauguration in retaliation for illegal immigration, as well as the “crime and drugs,” coming to the US across the borders with the two countries. Trudeau called Trump shortly thereafter to attempt to dissuade the incoming US president from going ahead with the proposed hike, and on Friday arrived at Trump’s estate at Mar-a-Lago to continue discussions.

According to people reportedly present at Friday’s dinner who heard Trump’s discussion with Trudeau, the US president-elect repeated his earlier claim that Canada had failed its neighbor by allowing drugs and illegal immigrants from over 70 different countries to enter the US. He also reportedly chided Canada for the US trade deficit with it, which he estimated at around $100 billion. Trudeau reportedly told Trump that such punishing tariffs would destroy the Canadian economy. Trump was said to have replied with a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Canada could avoid this by becoming the 51st US state, with Trudeau as governor. He later expounded on the idea, saying that Canada could even be divided into two states, one conservative and one liberal. The remark was reportedly received with nervous laughter from Trudeau and other dinner attendants, while Trump once again emphasized that he plans to carry out his threat as soon as he returns to the White House on January 20.

After the dinner, Trudeau told reporters he had “an excellent conversation” with Trump, without revealing its details. Trump later called his meeting with Trudeau “productive” and noted that the Canadian prime minister had “made a commitment” to work with the new US administration on Trump’s key points of concern. He did not mention his previous tariff hike threat again. Many US imports from both Canada and Mexico are currently exempted from tariffs because of the USMCA trade agreement that Trump enacted during his first term. Experts have warned that it is not clear how Trump could implement the proposed tariff hikes without violating that deal. Many economists have also warned that tariff hikes could backfire on the US economy by causing a spike in domestic prices, and also lead to retaliatory actions by targeted countries that could spark a trade war.

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“Even among past scandals in the abuse of the pardon power, Biden has done lasting damage not just to his legacy but his office.”

Joe Biden Cloaks His Legacy in Infamy With the Hunter Biden Pardon (Turley)

President Joe Biden’s decision to use his presidential powers to pardon his own son will be a decision that lives in infamy in presidential politics. It is not just that the President used his constitutional powers to benefit his family. It is because the action culminates years of lying to the public about his knowledge and intentions in the influence-peddling scandal surrounding his family. Even among past scandals in the abuse of the pardon power, Biden has done lasting damage not just to his legacy but his office. Despite its noble origins and purpose, the pardon power historically has not been a pristine power used by past presidents. As I have previously written, it was used to benefit the political cronies of past presidents. President Warren Harding was even accused of selling pardons, including to mob enforcer Ignacio Lupo, known as “Lupo the Wolf.” Former president William Clinton waited for the final days of his presidency to pardon his own brother as well as a major democratic donor.

In 2023, I wrote that Biden might follow this same pattern and pardon his son as a lame-duck president. The column suggested that Biden might withdraw as a candidate for office and then take the action as a father: “The pardon-and-apology approach might appeal to Biden not only as an effort to convert vice into virtue but to justify his withdrawal from the election as a selfless act.” In the 2020 election and throughout his presidential term, Biden repeatedly lied to the American public with an ease and impunity that shocked even many political veterans in Washington. He was repeatedly asked if he knew about Hunter’s foreign dealings, including millions in alleged deals with Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, and other clients. President Biden lied and denied such knowledge. As I detailed in my testimony in the Biden impeachment hearing, he had repeated discussions of these dealings. He is even on tape discussing news stories on the dealings.

President Biden was also repeatedly asked if he met any of his son’s clients. He repeatedly lied. We have pictures and records of dinners and meetings with these clients. Hunter Biden was expressly thanked for his arranging such access to his father. Few reporters pressed Biden on the corruption scandal, but they were often met not only with denials but angry retorts from the president. When Fox reporter Peter Doocy raised it, the President steamed “Yes, yes, yes. God love you, man — you’re a one-horse pony, I tell you.” When CBS’s Bo Erickson broke ranks and raised the scandal and drew a rebuke from Biden “I know you’d ask it. I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask.” The President continued to lie throughout the election, the presidential debates, and his term. Then, the press repeatedly asked him whether he would pardon his son. The President was now running for reelection and again lied.

He and the White House said over and over again that no such pardon would occur and was not being contemplated. That was also a lie. NBC is reporting that, while issuing these denials last June, there were discussions about the pardon. The pardon power was written in absolute terms, and a president can even, in my view, pardon himself. However, what is constitutional is not necessarily ethical or right. This is one of the most disgraceful pardons even in the checkered history of presidential pardons. President Biden has lied to cover up a corruption scandal that reportedly brought his family millions in raw influence peddling. His portrayal of his son as a victim stands in sharp contrast to the sense of immunity and power conveyed by Hunter in his dealings. There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.”

There are messages where Hunter belies the President’s portrayal of a political witch hunt, including messages like the one to a Chinese businessman openly threatening the displeasure of Joe Biden if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated: “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.” The President has now pardoned Hunter for his convicted felonies and any crimes he may have committed from “Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.” It is all now being buried under a sweeping immunity deal and a pack of presidential lies.

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“Too bad that time’s up for you to actually do anything about this kind of systemic selective prosecutorial bullying, beyond serving your own family’s interests.”

In Pardoning His Own Son, Biden Argues That US Justice Sucks (Marsden)

One of the big bonuses of being US president is that you can pardon any federal crimes you want on the way out the door. It’s a chance to help out family, friends, donors, or curry favor with potential future business associates in your post-White House career. US President Joe Biden just handed one out to his own son, Hunter Biden, who was facing up to 25 years prison in a firearms case and 17 years for a tax case. That length of sentence would make it seem that Hunter was accused of waving a gun around or firing it off in the vicinity of someone, but that’s hardly even the case. Instead, he was convicted of lying on his paperwork when applying for one. One of the questions asks whether you’ve smoked pot or done any other drugs “unlawfully.” No way, Hunter said. But unfortunately for him, a quick Google image search reveals spades of images of him with a crack pipe hanging from his mouth. Whoops.

In the tax case, he was convicted of three felony offenses and six misdemeanor offenses, according to his dad’s Justice Department statement, having “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.” And when he was finally made to pay up, having blanked out on paying for four tax years, he indulged in some creative accounting in inventing some business deductions. Enter Joe in the role of the parent who shows up at the school principal’s office to explain why his kid is such a screwup and can’t get his homework done on time for the tax man. “Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” Biden wrote in a statement. Sounds like Hunter’s serious addiction in this case was not paying taxes, just like every other American facing similar charges.

Everyone’s addicted to something. Maybe some other Americans were too busy double-fisting Ding Dongs or Twinkies to cater to the tax man? Or working on their gains at the gym? Or on a Netflix bender? Where’s their pardon? I’m sure Americans will be thrilled to learn that the president figures that indulging in some nose candy constitutes a free pass from any serious consequences of messing up your taxes – or just ignoring their existence altogether. Tax man knocking at the door? Just answer while smoking a giant blunt and tell him to bugger off. What about the gun stuff, though? Joe has an answer for that, too. “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form,” he wrote.

Yeah okay, and most drivers who speed aren’t hauled up on speeding charges. Not because they aren’t doing it, but because there isn’t a cop sitting in the back of each one of their cars waiting for them to go over the limit and give them a ticket. Biden is literally saying that Hunter has been “treated differently” simply because he’s Biden’s son. Is he seriously blowing the whistle on his own Justice Department, and American justice, in general, with accusations of political prosecutions? Sure sounds like it. Too bad that, as president, he wasn’t actually in any position to actually do anything about it, huh? How about the tax man targeting Donald Trump’s returns? Is that not political, too, Joe? What about all the other felony charges that seemed designed to derail his return to the presidency? “For the first time in American history a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” Biden said earlier his year. “But as disturbing as that is, more damaging is the all-out assault Donald Trump is making on the American system of justice.”

Are we talking about the same system of justice that sucks so much that you had to correct its errors so your kid could avoid becoming someone’s Alcatraz amigo? “It says a lot about the United States that we work relentlessly to free Americans who are unjustly held around the world,” Biden said amid a prisoner swap with Russia this summer. How much work has Biden done – beyond his own kid’s case – to ensure that people who mess up on government paperwork in the US aren’t facing prison terms that rival those of genocide perpetrators? “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. Sounds like a real problem. Too bad that time’s up for you to actually do anything about this kind of systemic selective prosecutorial bullying, beyond serving your own family’s interests.

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“Californian voters surprised many Democrats this election with almost 40% voting for President-elect Trump over California’s own Vice President Kamala Harris..”

“Trump-Proofing” California Could Be a Costly Option for Californians (Turley)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is widely known to be angling to be the next Democratic presidential nominee after the implosion of Vice President Kamala Harris. This week, Newsom positioned not just his campaign but also his state as part of the “resistance” for the next four years against the Trump Administration. Newsom pushed a special session to secure a $25 million war chest to take the Trump Administration to court, even before the inauguration and release of policies by the incoming administration. I wrote earlier about how the loss of both houses, as well as the White House, will mean that lawfare and obstructive efforts will shift to the states. Newsom is moving to out-position governors (and potential primary opponents) like Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker moved first in a chest-pounding press conference that he would stop the incoming administration from trying to remove undocumented persons, declaring, “You come for my people, you come through me.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) added that he will “fight to the death” against Trump’s agenda. Newsom has upped the ante by demanding millions to pre-fund litigation against the new administration. With a massive budget debt burden, Newsom has continued to pile on new debt for politically popular initiatives. I cannot recall any state pre-positioning funds for the sole purpose of litigating against any incoming administration. The most obvious area of disagreement is the effort to ramp up the enforcement of immigration laws and to carry out deportations.

While polls show that the public overwhelmingly supports such enforcement, including deportations, California is seeking to take the lead in court actions designed to slow or frustrate such efforts. It could prove costly, not just in litigation expenditures. The Trump Administration could seek to withhold federal funding from states and cities obstructing enforcement efforts. In the meantime, sanctuary cities are continuing to face rising costs associated with rising populations of undocumented migrants. For example, as we previously discussed, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson (D) declared that he was preparing the Mile-High City for its “Tiananmen Square moment” to fight the federal government in any attempt to deport unlawful migrants. Johnson warned that he would have not only Denver police “stationed at the county line to keep [ICE] out” but also “50,000 Denverites.” He later walked back the comments while repeating that the city is positioning itself to be part of the resistance.

Now the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a non-partisan research organization estimated that eight percent of the city’s 2025 budget of $4.4 billion is now dedicated to housing and services for undocumented persons. If true, that amounts to $356 million or $7,900 per migrant. California has led other states in offering a wide array of benefits to undocumented persons. Notably, Californian voters surprised many Democrats this election with almost 40% voting for President-elect Trump over California’s own Vice President Kamala Harris.

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“Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Kiev’s NATO ambitions were the key reason behind the current conflict.”

Ukraine Will Reject Any Alternative To NATO Membership – Foreign Ministry (RT)

Ukraine will not accept any kind of security guarantees as a substitute for NATO membership, according to a Foreign Ministry statement published on Tuesday. In the document issued ahead of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week, Kiev blasted the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal for security guarantees from Russia and the West. The Foreign Ministry called the pact a “monument to short-sightedness in strategic security decision-making,” and urged its Western backers to issue it an invitation to the US-led military bloc during the meeting in Brussels. “Having the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates, or substitutes for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” the ministry said in a statement, marking this week’s 30th anniversary of the memorandum’s signing.

The criticism comes amid recent Russian advances and the upcoming return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House in January, which has raised uncertainty over US support as Kiev fears it could be forced to the negotiating table. “We are convinced that the only real security guarantee for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent factor for further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is only Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” the statement said. Ukraine was left with around 1,700 nuclear warheads after the collapse of the Soviet Union. While this stockpile technically made Ukraine the world’s third-largest nuclear power, the weapons themselves remained under the operational control of Russia, and were surrendered under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. This agreement involved the US, UK, and Russia providing security assurances to Kiev in return for the removal of the weapons.

While Ukraine has never controlled nuclear weapons, in 2022, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky expressed regret about his country agreeing to relinquish them, suggesting that Kiev has “every right” to reverse the decision. Earlier this year, Zelensky said Ukraine could protect itself by becoming either a nuclear state or a member of NATO. He later backtracked, saying Kiev does not have any alternative “except NATO.” NATO, however, is “highly unlikely” to heed Kiev’s call for a membership invitation during this week’s meeting, Reuters reported, citing diplomats, saying it would take weeks or even months to reach a consensus from the bloc’s 32 members for the decision. Ukraine made NATO membership a strategic goal in 2019. This was a red line for Moscow, which has for years expressed concerns about the bloc’s creeping expansion towards its borders. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Kiev’s NATO ambitions were the key reason behind the current conflict.

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Forget it. Think Oreshnik.

Kiev Should ‘Disregard Everything And Everyone’, Become Nuclear Power – MP (RT)

Ukraine must become a nuclear power to protect itself no matter the consequences, an opposition MP said on Tuesday. Becoming a member of NATO, which the current government hopes will happen, is not enough, Aleksey Goncharenko has argued. This week marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, which comprises three nearly-identical multilateral agreements with former parts of the USSR that had nuclear weapons stationed on their territories at the time the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine agreed to denuclearize in exchange for security assurances by Russia, the US, and UK. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday to complain that the document has not applied to Kiev since the US-backed armed coup of 2014.

The anniversary, it said, is a good time to extend to Ukraine a formal invitation to NATO, it claimed. ”NATO is a good thing. But NATO will not defend us. Nuclear weapons would,” Goncharenko wrote in response on social media. “So we should disregard everything and everyone and make the bomb. Then we’ll figure things out.” The MP also rebuked Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for missing the opportunity to get a “normal peace treaty” with Russia and NATO membership before the 2023 ‘counteroffensive’. He belongs to the party of former President Pyotr Poroshenko, who lost to Zelensky in the 2019 presidential election. The Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine should serve as a reminder to Western leaders that the “development of European security architecture at the expense of Ukrainian interests rather than in alignment with them is doomed to fail,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

The country “will not accept any alternative, imitation, or substitute for a NATO membership with full rights,” it added. In recent statements, Zelensky has been sending mixed messages on NATO membership, suggesting that Kiev would be willing to accept accession of only the territories currently under its control, or accession of all claimed territories without protection under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Kiev claims that Ukraine was the third-largest nuclear power after Russia and the US, before agreeing to give up the weapons. The Ukrainian government has denied having a secret nuclearization plan, after German media claimed last month that it does.

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The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas took the side of the 34%, whom she declared to be the “Georgian people,” not the 54% who won the election.”

Georgia: A Second Front for Putin (Paul Craig Roberts)

President Putin faces the possibility of a second Ukraine, a second war front that could result from Washington’s success in staging a coup d’etat in Georgia with a color revolution. Riots ongoing since the “Russian party” defeated the “Western party” by 54% to 34% have convinced the Prime Minister of Georgia that the West is in the process of launching a color revolution to overthrow, as was done in Ukraine, the democratically elected government. Putin is silent and consequently could find himself fighting on two fronts. Then the West will open a third front. This is what Putin can expect from consistently presenting himself as a non-interventionist unless Russia is attacked. Russia, certainly the most powerful military entity on earth, carries no weight in Western councils. Georgia, the country, became a part of Russia in early 1800. In 1917 Georgia became one of the provinces of the Soviet Union.

The country became independent in 1991 when the collapse of the Soviet Union gave Washington the opportunity to break up the Soviet Union. Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Central Asian provinces were turned into independent countries. In 2003 Washington engineered the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia, which put a pro-Western government in office. In 2008 Washington sent its US trained and equipped Georgian army into South Ossetia, a disputed province that did not agree to leave Russia with Georgia. As Russian peacekeepers were killed in the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia, Putin sent in the Russian Army which quickly destroyed the American trained Georgian Army and conquered Georgia in five days, which is what should have happened in Ukraine. Failing to realize that Washington would continue to try to turn Georgia into a front against Russia, Putin turned Georgia loose and took his army home.

Putin, a true believer in non-interference even when it is at Russia’s expense, left Georgia to be subverted by Washington. Putin did not require that Georgia shut down Washington’s NGOs operating in the country or that Georgia subordinate itself in any way to Russia. Consequently, Washington got a French-born woman installed as president of Georgia, and Washington’s propaganda and NGOs have convinced 34% of Georgians to prefer alignment with the West than with Russia. It is part of Washington’s intent to surround Russia with missile bases. Washington’s EU puppet has threatened to impose sanctions on the democratically elected Georgian government for failure to void the election and put in office a pro-West government. The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas took the side of the 34%, whom she declared to be the “Georgian people,” not the 54% who won the election.

She promised that the EU would punish those who won and that sanctions against Georgia was one of the options for dealing with the Georgian people’s refusal to comply with EU rule. Last Saturday the US State Department spokesman announced Washington’s suspension of its strategic partnership with Georgia, thus setting up Georgia for overthrow. The Georgian President supports Washington’s NGO protesters and said the parliamentary elections are illegitimate. There is no indication that the Russian government realizes that the overthrow of the pro-Russian government means trouble for Russia. Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, writes nonsensically about the attempt at “color revolution” as if it is merely an internal affair for Georgia.

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“..Uyghur jihadists in Syria pose an overlooked yet significant regional and international security problem..”

The Second Front Has Been Activated In Syria (Sonja van den Ende)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will go down in history as the most corrupt leader of the most extreme radical settler regime ever seen in the “promised land” called Israel, has negotiated a supposed ceasefire with Hezbollah, which will last for 60 days. Shortly after the ceasefire in Lebanon came into effect, and after Israeli Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he was “playing with fire”, a new front was opened from Idlib to Aleppo. The terrorist group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an attack on Aleppo from their last enclave in Idlib. HTS and other factions called the al-Fatah al-Mubin group, just another small terrorist organization affiliated with HTS, advanced in the western countryside of Aleppo and took control of strategic points in the villages of Qubtan al-Jabal and Sheikh Aqil.

According to sources and Syrian media, around 50 people were killed, including terrorists, Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers and an SAA soldier who was taken back to Idlib as booty. Who is HTS? If you believe Western sources, they are a Sunni Islamist political and armed organization involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on January 28, 2017, as a merger between Jaysh al-Ahrar, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Ansar al-Din Front, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haq and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement. Syrian and Iraqi people call the organization Daesh, which means “the one who crushes”. The West sometimes gave it another name, ISIS or Islamic State. Also, the so-called Syrian civil war is a proxy war of the West to get the oil and gas out of Syria (and Iraq). This is well known among Syrians, who see their oil being stolen by the U.S., initially by their proxies Daesh, but now more directly with the help of the U.S. military.

The main goal of the U.S. is to replace Russian allies with those of the U.S., usurping Assad’s power with radical jihadists, aligned in the past mainly with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, so that the U.S. could build a pipeline through Syria to Europe. The evidence is clear that U.S. President Barack Obama, against advice and warnings from his top military officers, pursued a policy to protect the fundamentalist Sunni organization Al Qaeda in Syria. Proof that the U.S. (and its Western client states) under the Obama administration sponsored terrorists in Syria and Iraq is in the form of the last mentioned group, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement. Obama had to admit before the entire Western press that Nour al-Din al-Zenki, who beheaded an eleven-year-old Palestinian boy in cold blood in front of rolling cameras, was indeed a terrorist group.

But so were all the others who the U.S. kept on sponsoring with weapons and money (as did Europe and the entire West). Later, they all merged with Daesh (ISIS). In 2016, during the liberation of Aleppo by the Syrian Arab Army, fighters from other terrorist groups (all fighting under the banner of Daesh but fighting among themselves) captured and killed members of the Zenki movement. Many of those who survived were later granted asylum in Europe (particularly Germany) along with other terrorists. But to this day, Europe is in denial and calls them rebels, while the evidence of gang violence happening in the cities of Europe is clear. Some say because of President Assad’s humane offer, they chose to be exiled to the enclave of Idlib, where a concentration of jihadists (after 2016) is now located.

The biggest Daesh group there has become HTS, and almost all groups are affiliated with them. Also, there are remaining Uyghurs, many of whom are in Idlib. This group is extremely violent, and they know they can’t go back to China. According to one report, Uyghur jihadist fighters in Syria have served as a force multiplier for insurgents there. Uyghur fighters gained ground in Idlib, the only Syrian province that still has a large local and foreign jihadist presence. Uyghur jihadists in Syria pose an overlooked yet significant regional and international security problem. They are likely to become a greater threat if fighting in Idlib winds down and the province is not decisively captured by a strong state or non-state actor hostile to jihadist groups.”

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Here’s the plan: “The negative natural change (more deaths than births) was outnumbered by the positive net migration..”

EU Reports Dramatic Fall In Birth Rate (RT)

The number of babies born in the EU fell to a record low last year, according to the latest data from the bloc’s statistical office (Eurostat). Despite this, the total population has been on the rise due to mass immigration. Births across the EU’s 27 member states stood at 3,665,000 in 2023 – a decline of 5.5% year-on-year, as per Eurostat’s figures. Birth rates have been falling steadily across the EU since 2008. The number of births last year was the lowest in the EU countries since comparable data was first collected in 1961, and the annual decline is the largest on record, the Financial Times (FT) reports. The sharpest drops in births over the past decade have been recorded in Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states.

Demographic experts polled by the FT believe the longstanding trend of Europeans having fewer babies may have been exacerbated by concerns over economic and political tensions on the international level, the worst surge in inflation in a generation, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a recent report, the Total Fertility Rate has halved from 3.3 children per woman in 1960 to 1.5 in 2022 in the 38 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which include 22 EU member states plus Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and others. According to Eurostat, all EU regions have fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 live births per woman.

Nevertheless, the population of the EU has been on the rise over the past decade, with the exception of the pandemic year of 2021. The most notable jump was recorded in 2023, according to Eurostat figures. “The negative natural change (more deaths than births) was outnumbered by the positive net migration,” the agency said in a release in July. Eurostat attributed the population growth to increased migration after the pandemic and the influx of immigrants from Ukraine who received temporary protection status in the EU.

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“When I sit on the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council with other foreign ministers and listen to some, I’m so sad, that such kind of extreme pro-war positions are present..”

EU Has Weakened ‘A Lot’ Amid Ukraine Conflict – Hungarian FM (RT)

The EU approach to the Ukraine conflict has ultimately weakened the bloc “a lot,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said, branding the decision to blindly follow Washington’s polices a “big mistake.” The top diplomat made the remarks while speaking exclusively to RT’s Saskia Taylor in an interview on Monday. Comparisons between EU and US aid to Ukraine by the bloc’s leaders are a “very bad and harmful approach from the European perspective,” Szijjarto said. While the US is hardly affected by the enduring hostility between Moscow and Kiev, the conflict has taken a heavy toll on the EU, according to the minister. “There is destruction taking place in Europe, and the European economy is faced with the impacts and the consequences of this war. So therefore, following the US policies without any kind of criticism, that’s a big mistake and I do believe that the strategy the European Union has been following in the recent 1000 days is a failed one,” Szijjarto said.

The EU has “weakened a lot” during the conflict, and the approach taken by the bloc has proven to be a wrong one, the diplomat stated. I do believe that instead of globalizing the conflict, the right strategy would have been to localize it and to do everything in order to resolve it, to make peace, instead of pouring oil on the fire, which has been the case. “There are many extremely pro-war politicians in Europe. When I sit on the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council with other foreign ministers and listen to some, I’m so sad, that such kind of extreme pro-war positions are present,” Szijjarto stated. Hungary itself has taken a different approach, remaining “the only country in Europe or European Union which has not delivered weapons to Ukraine,” he noted. “We are the only country in NATO, almost the only one, which speaks openly about the red lines which must be kept seriously. And we are the ones who speak openly about our assessment that NATO is a defense alliance and not an attack,” Szijjarto added.

The foreign minister also touched upon the situation in Georgia, which has been gripped by unrest over the past few days after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that he would freeze accession talks with the EU until 2028. The protests have been openly backed by the EU, with the stance taken by the bloc’s leadership hardly surprising given that Hungary has been “under attack for the last 15 years,” Szijjarto suggested. “My problem is that this is very [common] in Europe. In the case, if it is not the liberals to win an election, the democratic nature of the whole country and the whole political system is being questioned immediately. If it is liberals to win, everything’s fine. If it’s patriots to win, if it is conservatives to win, if it is right-wing to win, the nature of democracy is immediately questioned. And this is totally unacceptable,” he said.

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“During the week of Nov. 6, MSNBC averaged just 38,000 viewers among adults 25-54..

The End Of Fake News? MSNBC Hits New Low In Ratings (ZH)

The leftist “news” channel MSNBC is facing a ratings crisis, with some of its advertiser-coveted viewership dropping to a two-decade low, according to Nielsen data reviewed by Fox News. During the week of Nov. 6, MSNBC averaged just 38,000 viewers among adults 25-54, its lowest-rated non-holiday weekday since July 19, 2004. As reported by Fox News, this demographic is widely prized by advertisers and is crucial for network revenue. Low viewership impacted shows like The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and Jose Diaz Balart Reports, both of which saw their smallest audiences ever. Other shows—including Chris Jansing Reports, Deadline: White House and Katy Tur Reports—saw their worst days ever among the demos. Several shows lost over 50% of their 25-54 audience.

Among those shows are The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, All In with Chris Hayes, Chris Jansing Reports, Inside with Jen Psaki, The Rachel Maddow Show and Joy Reid’s ReidOut. This slump couldn’t have come at a worse time, as MSNBC’s parent company, Comcast, announced cuts to cable channels, excluding NBC News and Bravo TV. CNN reports that MSNBC will be moved into “SpinCo,” a publicly traded cable programming company. Tech mogul Elon Musk has hinted at purchasing MSNBC, while journalist Jack Posobiec says he’s recruiting investors to take control of the left-wing network.

Podcast host Joe Rogan joked about replacing Rachel Maddow if Musk buys MSNBC: “I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies.”Along with viewership and Comcast scandals, MSNBC is under the scrutiny of its viewers after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with Donald Trump, despite having previously compared him to dictators. Al Sharpton faces ethical scrutiny after his nonprofit quietly took a $500,000 donation from the Harris campaign ahead of his interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. MSNBC conceded that Sharpton blindsided them with the donation. “MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,” an MSNBC spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon.

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“Hamburg will see its flights cut by 60 percent, BER by 20 percent and Cologne/Bonn by 10 percent.”

Ryanair CEO O’Leary: Germany Is Run By ‘Idiots’ (RMX)

In an interview for the industry magazine “Airliners,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary attacked German politicians, calling them “a government of idiots,” criticizing in particular the Greens, whom he accused of “stupid solutions,” reports DoRceczy. He was also skeptical about the future government of the Federal Republic of Germany. “I don’t think the next government of Germany will be any better,” he said. Ryanair’s boss described the German aviation market as one of the worst in Europe, calling Berlin’s BER airport “dysfunctional,” adding that the airport could only function as “a regional airport at best.”

According to him, high fees of over €50 per passenger are a key reason why the German aviation industry is only slowly recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. This is why Ryanair has already reduced its German capacity from 16 million to 13.5 million seats. The fleet of 300 aircraft will be moved to more attractive markets, with the location “determined strictly on the basis of expected profits,” he said. Ryanair will be withdrawing completely from Dortmund, Dresden, and Halle/Leipzig airports by March 2025, while Hamburg will see its flights cut by 60 percent, BER by 20 percent and Cologne/Bonn by 10 percent. “Further cuts could come next year with the summer flight schedule, as Ryanair increasingly favors lower-cost destinations outside Germany,” DW reports.

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“Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure..”

Fani Full Release Ordered After Fulton DA Sat On RICO Records (ZH)

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered by a local judge to release all communications between her office, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office, and the January 6th Committee regarding her RICO case against President Donald Trump and his allies, after she was found to have violated federal law by withholding them. “The Court also hereby ORDERS Defendant to conduct a diligent search of her records for responsive materials within five business days of the entry of this Order. Within that same five day period, Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure,” reads a Tuesday order. If Willis can’t find them, she is mandated to follow court-ordered procedures to “provide an explanation why such correspondence does not exist.”

Willis, who had been served on March 11, 2024 in the suite involving conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, failed to respond by an April 10 deadline. After later claiming she ‘misunderstood’ the court’s directive, she then said that the document release would jeopardize her RICO case. [..] As the Epoch Times notes further… “In mid-2023, Willis told a local radio station that she was not coordinating in any way with Smith’s office in investigations and cases brought against former President Donald Trump. Smith had charged Trump, now the president-elect, with both classified documents-related and 2020 election-related charges in two different jurisdictions, while Willis brought charges against him and more than a dozen others for alleged election-related crimes in Fulton County.

“I don’t know what Jack Smith is doing and Jack Smith doesn’t know what I’m doing,” Willis said in July of that year. “In all honesty, if Jack Smith was standing next to me, I’m not sure I would know who he was. My guess is he probably can’t pronounce my name correctly.” Since then, however, she has made no comments about Smith’s investigation. Smith, meanwhile, has never commented on Willis’s case against Trump. Smith in November filed court papers confirming he would be dropping his election case against Trump and would stop the appeals process in his classified documents case. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said he would terminate Smith as special counsel upon taking office.

A letter sent by Willis’s office on Dec. 17, 2021, to the House Jan. 6 committee had “requested access to any Select Committee records relevant to her investigation into President Trump’s actions to challenge the 2020 presidential election, including ‘recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel,’” House Judiciary Republicans said in a report released last year relating to an investigation they launched into Willis. Willis has been critical of House Republicans’ investigation into her office and the Trump case, accusing House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of trying to interfere in the case at one point. “Jim Jordan has, time after time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose,” she told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in May. “Anyone who knows Jim Jordan’s history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation.”

In a letter issued to Republicans in 2023, Willis said Republicans are trying to “obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations.” Her case against Trump has stalled in recent months after one of the president-elect’s co-defendants submitted a court filing earlier this year claiming Willis and then-special prosecutor Nathan Wade were engaged in a romantic relationship. The pair confirmed they were in a relationship but denied any wrongdoing. A judge overseeing the case issued an order in March allowing Willis to remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later. Trump and several of his co-defendants appealed the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals earlier this year, where the case is still pending.”

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“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced..”

House Oversight Report Supports Lab-Leak Theory for COVID-19 Origin (ET)

A Republican-led oversight subcommittee has concluded that the COVID-19 virus likely originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, following a two-year investigation into the pandemic. The House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a 520-page report on Dec. 2, detailing the findings of the subcommittee’s investigation. The report found that the U.S. National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and that EcoHealth Alliance Inc. used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate this research at the lab. It also found that the Chinese communist regime, agencies within the U.S. government, and some members of the international scientific community sought to cover up facts concerning the origins of the pandemic.

The committee said that COVID-19 possesses biological characteristics not found in nature and that data indicates that all COVID-19 cases stemmed from a single introduction into humans, unlike previous pandemics, where there were more spillover events. “By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced,” the oversight subcommittee said in a statement. The report said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has a history of conducting “gain-of-function” research under low biosafety precautions. Several researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell sick with a COVID-like virus months before the first case of the outbreak was allegedly detected at a wet market, according to the report.

The report said that in January 2021, the U.S. State Department published an unclassified fact sheet that stated: “The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness.” Citing the fact sheet, the report stated that the Wuhan Institute of Virology “has a published record of conducting ‘gain-of-function’ research to engineer chimeric viruses.” The report said the June 2023 ODNI assessment supported this conclusion and went further, stating, “Scientists at the WIV have created chimeras, or combinations of SARS-like coronaviruses through genetic engineering, attempted to clone other unrelated viruses, and used reverse genetic cloning techniques on SARS-like coronaviruses.”

The June 2023 ODNI Assessment said that some of the “WIV’s genetic engineering projects on coronaviruses involved techniques that could make it difficult to detect intentional changes.” Among those interviewed during the panel’s investigation was Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who stepped down from his role in December 2022. The report stated that Fauci had “prompted” a research study titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2”—which dismissed the idea that the virus was laboratory constructed—to “disprove” the lab leak theory. Fauci testified at a June hearing that he did not suppress the lab leak theory and did not view it as inherently a conspiracy theory but said that “some distortions on that particular subject are,” according to the report.

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“Hughes’s expression of his gratitude to everyone associated with the Novichok narrative except for the Skripals means he is burying them..”

The Skripals Are As Good As Dead – The Judge Has Buried Them (Helmer)

After Yulia Skripal has testified through her doctor that she was attacked with a poison spray in a restaurant minutes before she and her father, Sergei Skripal, collapsed on March 4, 2018, the British Government hearings on what happened have attempted to suppress her evidence. Yesterday, December 2, the hearings ended with a statement by Jack Holborn, a lawyer paid by the Home Office to say he represents the Skripals, and to claim they agree to the suppression of their own evidence. “Sergei and Yulia Skripal are grateful to this Inquiry for its work,” Holborn said. “Thank you.” Page 158 The retired judge who has directed the hearings, Anthony Hughes (titled Lord Hughes of Ombersley), let slip in his closing statement that he understands the Skripals are dead or incommunicado in prison because he omitted to thank them for their participation. “

I am grateful,” Hughes said, “to all the Core Participants and chiefly, of course, to those most closely connected to the events, namely Dawn Sturgess’ family, who have coped, if I may say so, admirably with what must have been at times extremely difficult evidence to listen to.” Only the Skripals were closer to the events than the Sturgess family or the ambulance crews, police, intelligence agents, doctors, and government officials who have been called to testify on their oaths. But Hughes ruled on September 23 that the Skripals were not allowed to testify either in the open hearing room, behind closed doors, or by remote internet link. Hughes’s expression of his gratitude to everyone associated with the Novichok narrative except for the Skripals means he is burying them.

Holborn has been seconding Andrew Deakin KC, a lawyer also paid by the Home Office to represent the Skripals. Neither of them has asked questions of any witness nor made submissions throughout the eight weeks of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry hearings. Deakin’s opening statement on October 14 lasted 88 seconds. “Both Sergei and Yulia Skripal,” Deakin said, “would like to express their sorrow at the death of Dawn Sturgess and to offer their deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones. Sergei and Yulia Skripal also express their sympathy to those who were injured in the course of this incident. Finally, Sergei and Yulia would like to express their profound gratitude to the emergency workers, police and hospital staff who risked their lives to help them. Sergei and Yulia keenly await the outcome of this Inquiry. They look forward to better understanding the circumstances of the Salisbury attack, to considering the Inquiry’s conclusions as to who was responsible for that attack and to being able to move on with their lives.” Page 156-57. Deakin did not appear again.

In open testimony at the Inquiry it has been revealed that Yulia Skripal’s doctor at the Salisbury District Hospital, Stephen Cockroft, discovered she had recovered consciousness on March 8, four days after the attack. The police evidence to the Inquiry is that Skripal then communicated by eye signals to Cockroft that she remembered being sprayed, not at home but at Zizzi’s Restaurant where she and her father had been lunching just before they collapsed. The senior police source for this evidence was Keith Asman; he is the chief of forensics for the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTPSE) group which in the investigation of the Novichok affair has combined the Metropolitan and regional police forces with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Security Service (MI5). In his witness statement, Asman repeated what another police officer, code-named VN104, had recorded from Dr Cockroft. The evidence of Detective Inspector (DI) VN104, identified as the deputy head of the Metropolitan Police investigating Novichok, was not called into open or closed testimony by Hughes.

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Frens
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863534908569981204

 

 

Slide
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863660969118822457

 

 

Bonedigger

 

 

Kestrel

 

 

Seal

 

 

Dunkin

 

 

Chihuahua
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863677018270994682

 

 

Save the bees

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 032024
 
 December 3, 2024  Posted by at 10:06 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  64 Responses »


Johannes Vermeer The astronomer c1668

 

Trump And Musk Are Ready To Shake Up America (Ryumshin)
Delaware Judge Rejects (Again) Musk’s $56 Billion Pay-Package (ZH)
Musk Again Asks To Block OpenAI’s “Illegal” Conversion To For-Profit Model (CT)
Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon (ZH)
The Pardon (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Blob Has a Migraine (Kunstler)
The Democratic Diaspora (Turley)
West Won’t Return Russia’s Currency Reserves – Top Banker (RT)
The Long War To Reaffirm Western And Israeli Primacy (Alastair Crooke)
Moscow and Tehran Discuss Syria – Kremlin (RT)
China Vows Support For Syria (RT)
EU Has Turned Into ‘War Union’ – Russian Senator (RT)
Putin’s Global Influence Increasing – Kallas (RT)
Zelensky Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection (Antiwar)
Ukrainians Could Disappear (RT)
Shall We Celebrate, the World Being as It Is? (Patrick Lawrence)
Orwell’s Forecast of a Tyrannical Britain Proven Correct (Paul Craig Roberts)
Sturgess Inquiry Ends In Foreign Office Whimper, Bang Of Novichok Lies (Helmer)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1863370201581941005

 

 

Pardon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863598068039655604

 

 

Mike Davis

 

 

Kindness

 

 

 

 

View from Russia.

“What can we expect from the ‘bromance’ of the two billionaires?”

Trump And Musk Are Ready To Shake Up America (Ryumshin)

It’s often said that a king is shaped by his entourage. This saying may be as old as time itself, but it applies perfectly to US President-elect Donald Trump. Right now, however, there’s only one person truly pulling the king’s strings – Elon Musk. Since the November 6 election, the Tesla tycoon has become the most influential figure in America – and perhaps even the world. Musk’s road to power took four long years. Before 2022, Trump and the South African billionaire were rivals (in 2020, the Space-X founder even supported Biden). But when Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it as X, and gradually leaned into the Republican fold, the winds shifted. By early 2024, Musk had met Trump, publicly endorsed him in July, and begun campaigning. By the end of the year, the two had become inseparable. Now, Musk is basically joined at the hip with Trump. They attend MMA fights together, watch space launches, and share McDonald’s burgers.

Musk is now a fixture at the Mar-a-Lago estate, advising the future president on appointments, and even apparently speaking to foreign leaders on his behalf – he was allegedly present when Trump spoke to Vladimir Zelensky and is reported to have secretly met the Iranian ambassador. Trump’s old advisers are getting nervous. On November 18, Axios reported that Musk had clashed with Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump ally, over Matt Gaetz’s nomination for US Attorney General. After the dispute, Gaetz’s nomination was pulled and CNN claimed that Trump’s team have asked that Epshteyn be investigated for alleged fraud – over alleged bribes to lobby for positions within the new administration. Musk’s influence is undeniable, and the media has already dubbed him the “co-president of the United States” or more cheekily, the “broligarch.” Musk himself embraces the title of “first buddy” (a nod to the first lady).

This isn’t without controversy. Musk’s ruthless business tactics are legendary, and he has Trump’s full trust. The billionaire has promised to audit the entire US government, aiming to cut up to $2 trillion in spending. God only knows what he’ll come up with next. It’s fascinating to watch the American political establishment panic. And let’s be honest – this drama could work to Russia’s advantage. The more chaos in Washington, the better for Moscow. But don’t get too excited just yet. There are differing views on Trump’s leadership. Some see him as a weak head man, easily swayed by flattery, while others view him as a potential autocrat, quick to toss aside anyone who crosses him. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. Trump runs his inner circle like a boss, with some figures holding much more sway than others.

Musk certainly falls into this inner circle. But he’s not alone. Trump’s family – especially Donald Trump Jr. – is also a key influence. Trump Jr. has been instrumental in connecting his father with allies like JD Vance, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, and he’s helping to handpick cabinet members. His influence is on par with Musk’s, even if it’s quieter. The Wall Street tycoons Trump has befriended also play a major role. In fact, for them, Trump has compromised on his conservative values, even proposing Scott Bessent, a former George Soros manager, for treasury secretary. Musk lobbied for Howard Lutnick to join the administration, but he eventually landed at the Commerce Department. These examples show that while Musk’s influence on Trump is substantial, it’s not all-encompassing –his power doesn’t extend beyond Trump’s inner circle.

There are also questions about how long the Trump-Musk partnership will last. Both are unpredictable, volatile personalities. Trump has a history of falling out with his favorites (just look at his rocky relationship with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis). Musk and Trump have plenty of potential points of conflict – from electric cars (Trump’s not a fan) to more serious matters like government spending cuts. But that’s a problem for the future. For now, let’s sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch this unfolding spectacle.

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In 2018, when it was first agreed, the pay package was worth $2.6 billion. In January 2024, when the judge first rejected it, it had risen to $56 billion. Today, it is $101 billion.

Why the increase? Well, Elon Musk.

Delaware Judge Rejects (Again) Musk’s $56 Billion Pay-Package (ZH)

Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick has once again sided against Elon Musk… After ruling against the billionaire in July 2022 when he tried to break his $44 billion contract to buy Twitter, and again in January 2024 when she initially rescinded Musk’s record (but “deeply flawed” according to her) $56 billion performance-based compensation package (determining that Tesla deceived shareholders when the all stock compensation was approved in 2018), she has once again ruled [against] that pay package. Musk’s legal team argued that McCormick should reverse her earlier decision because Tesla had conducted a shareholder vote to “ratify” the 2018 pay plan at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in June, per CNBC.

In fact, 72% of Tesla shareholders voted in June to approve the company’s CEO’s pay package. The judge said Musk’s attorneys made an argument with multiple “fatal flaws,” including their argument that the shareholder vote was enough to validate the pay package after the fact. “The large and talented group of defense firms got creative with the ratification argument, but their unprecedented theories go against multiple strains of settled law,” McCormick said in her ruling. McCormick ruled that the vote on the payment package did not have a “ratifying effect” on the current case, because shareholders had not ratified the payment plan prior to her ruling.

“Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable,” she wrote. In addition to rejecting the revisions, Quartz reports that Monday’s decision granted $345 million in attorney fees to the lawyers who successfully challenged Musk’s pay plan on behalf of Tesla shareholders. The court deemed this amount an “appropriate sum to reward a total victory.” Tesla has the option to pay this fee in either cash or by issuing stock that can be sold on the open market. While Musk could appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court, this ruling could have broader implications for how companies structure executive compensation and the role of shareholder votes in such decisions.

Finally, the judge has some interesting ‘friends’… “Before becoming the head of the Delaware Chancery Court, McCormick worked at a Delaware law firm called Young Conaway. This firm and its employees have been major donors to President Joe Biden for decades. In 2016, Hunter Biden hosted a gubernatorial campaign event for Congressman John Carney, with then-Vice President Joe Biden as the guest speaker. This event took place at the Law Offices of Young Conaway in Wilmington, Delaware. Carney, a close friend of Joe Biden for the last four decades, later became governor and nominated Kathaleen McCormick, a partner at Young Conaway, to her position on the Delaware Chancery Court.

In a March 2018 email, Hunter Biden claimed to personally know every judge on the Delaware Chancery Court while threatening legal action against his Chinese business partners. “I will bring the suit in the Chancery court in Delaware – which as you know is my home state and I am privileged to have worked with and know every judge on the chancery court…. another clear example of the Biden administration and its allies weaponizing the American legal system against their political opponents.”Tesla issued a statement on X shortly after the decision, confirming that it will appeal her decision…. There is also the fact that Musk’s move to relocate his business to Texas (after telling people on X after the original ruling that “companies should get the hell out of Delaware”) which could change things, but it is is unclear how this will proceed for now.

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“No objective observer can look at OpenAI today and say it bears any resemblance whatsoever to what it promised to be..”

Musk Again Asks To Block OpenAI’s “Illegal” Conversion To For-Profit Model (CT)

Elon Musk filed another motion to block ChatGPT-creator OpenAI from converting to a for-profit enterprise, while also alleging that it has been engaging in anti-competitive practices. Musk accused OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, president Greg Brockman and stakeholder Microsoft of violating terms of Musk’s “foundational contributions to the charity,” according to his motion for a preliminary injunction filed on Nov. 30. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and was an early board member until he left the company in 2018. He has since launched xAI — the firm behind AI chatbot Grok — which he said is falling victim to OpenAI’s anti-competitive practices. “OpenAI’s path from a non-profit to for-profit behemoth is replete with per se anticompetitive practices, flagrant breaches of its charitable mission, and rampant self-dealing,” Musk’s lawyers wrote.

Through a “series of exclusive arrangements” with Microsoft, the two companies have engaged in “predatory practices,” enabling them to seize control of almost 70% of the generative AI market, lawyers for Musk said, adding: “Microsoft and OpenAI now seek to cement this dominance by cutting off competitors’ access to investment capital, while continuing to benefit from years’ worth of shared competitively sensitive information during generative AI’s formative years.” Allowing this to continue will hurt xAI and the public, which has become increasingly concerned about “rushed” and “unsafe” AI products, they added. California law allows a nonprofit to convert to a for-profit stock corporation, but not to a limited liability company.

OpenAI said it remains nonprofit at its core but has established a for-profit subsidiary capable of issuing equity to raise capital and hire world-class talent. Still, those tasks would be administered at the direction of the nonprofit. An injunction to preserve what is left of OpenAI’s nonprofit character is the only “appropriate remedy,” Musk’s lawyers said. “No objective observer can look at OpenAI today and say it bears any resemblance whatsoever to what it promised to be. Enough is enough.” An OpenAI spokesperson slammed Musk’s latest attempt in a note to Cointelegraph: “Elon’s fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit.”

In March, OpenAI leaked emails from Musk in 2015 showing support for the firm to find over $1 billion in funding to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook (now Meta). OpenAI claimed Musk was harassing the firm in a related October filing. “Since launching a competing artificial intelligence company, xAI, Musk has been trying to leverage the judicial system for an edge. The effort should fail; Musk’s complaint does not state a claim and should be dismissed,” OpenAI added. In June, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies when Apple touted integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. Later, Apple launched Apple Intelligence on Oct. 28.

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“No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon (ZH)

Last night Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss his California tax fraud case after Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon absolving him of all crimes committed over a 10 year period.”The President’s pardon moots Mr. Biden’s pending and yet to occur sentencing and entry of judgment in this case and requires an automatic dismissal of the Indictment with prejudice,” wrote Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell in the filing, adding that “this Court must dismiss the Indictment against Mr. Biden with prejudice and adjourn all future proceedings in this matter. “Special Counsel David Weiss isn’t having it. In a Monday response in opposition, Weiss argued that “The defendant’s motion should be denied since there is no binding authority on this Court which requires dismissal.”

“As a matter of past-practice in this district, courts do not dismiss indictments when pardons are granted,” Weiss wrote – citing cases involving Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Joe Arpaio and Ollie North, Above the Law reports. “Instead, it has been the practice of this court that once an Executive Grant of Clemency has been filed on the docket, the docket is marked closed, the disposition entry is updated to reflect the executive grant of clemency, and no further action is taken by the Court.” “Although Weiss purported not to have seen the pardon itself (which Lowell inexplicably failed to docket), he took particular umbrage at the suggestion that the prosecution was politically motivated, huffing that “The court similarly found [Biden’s] vindictive prosecution claims unmoored from any evidence or even a coherent theory as to vindictiveness.”

Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California has taken no action, thus far. But in Delaware, Judge Maryellen Noreika said in a minute order that she intends to terminate the proceedings, and instructing the government to say by tomorrow if it objects to termination by dismissal. Presumably it does, although no objection has hit the docket as of this writing.” -Above the Law. Hunter pleaded guilty to the tax charges earlier this year, after a Delaware jury found him guilty of lying about his drug use on a background check form used to purchase a firearm.

In Weiss’ new filing, he writes: “The defendant did not docket the pardon nor has the government seen it. If media reports are accurate, the Government does not challenge that the defendant has been the recipient of an act of mercy. But that does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred. It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive. No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

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“You can see the pardon as a conservative act as protection of the family is the basis of society. But in our society so is equal standing under the law..”

The Pardon (Paul Craig Roberts)

Joe Biden said he would not pardon his son, but he did. Pardons reside with presidents and governors and are supposed to be used to correct an injustice or when a service has been done by the pardoned person that offsets the harm of the offense that is pardoned. But pardons are often used for non-legitimate reasons, such as Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich and Clinton’s half brother, Roger Clinton. Bill did not pardon Roger until after Roger had served his sentence. Rich, however, an international fugitive on the FBI’s ten most wanted list, was apparently pardoned in exchange for political donations and donations to the Clinton library. Donations continued for 15 years after the pardon. In other words, the pardon was purchased. Biden’s pardon of his son occurred prior to Hunter’s sentence and before a day was served. No doubt that many a mother and father wish they had the power to grant their son or daughter a pardon.

It is disturbing that Biden pretends that the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and designed to hurt President Biden, as if the FBI and DOJ committed to Biden’s protection would act against him. The charges were protective of Biden and were brought in order to get the focus off the more dangerous information in the laptop. The politically motivated charges were the ones brought against Trump. But I don’t really blame Biden from using his power to save his son from prison. In a way it shows Joe Biden more committed to his son than to his reputation. You can see the pardon as a conservative act as protection of the family is the basis of society. But in our society so is equal standing under the law, which took a hit from the pardon. What we should find more upsetting than the pardon is the protection that the FBI and Department of Justice provided for President Biden and his son from the evidence in Hunter’s laptop.

The FBI put out the story, quickly accepted by the presstitutes, that the laptop was a Russian attempt to discredit the US president. The prosecutions that Hunter has faced are limited to his false statement on his gun purchase application and to failure to pay income taxes on the profits from his and President Biden’s influence peddling ventures to which the FBI and Department of Justice (sic) have turned a blind eye–the same FBI and DOJ that gave Biden clearance on the documents charge for which Trump was indicted and prosecuted. In other words, under the Democrats justice in America was totally corrupted and still 45% of American voters voted for Democrats in the last election.

This tells us that close to half of the voting population either is too insouciant or ignorant to know what is going on, or is indifferent or unconcerned whether law serves justice or political, ideological, and personal agendas. The damning conclusion is that close to half of the American population accepts law as a political weapon. That the personnel in the FBI and DOJ do not resign in protest at the perversion of law and prosecution indicates that they, too, accept the abuse of law by their superiors. Can the transformation of law from a shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of the state be reversed when the entire federal law enforcement system is corrupt to the core? Can such a giant task be accomplished when Trump is simultaneously attempting to restore integrity to all other aspects of government? Is this a bridge too far?

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“It’s a beautiful thing to watch the Biden family destroy the Democrat Party.” — @Mazemoore on “X”

The Blob Has a Migraine (Kunstler)

You can be sure the blobists have seen this coming from years away. The boys and girls in the agencies have behaved more than just a little badly, and they know it. They committed serious crimes against our country and its citizens under color-of-law since 2015, ranging from seditious conspiracy clear up to treason (say, just for instance, the case of Col. Alexander Vindman using his Ukraine connections to lever Mr. Trump out of the Oval Office in the 2019 impeachment scam.)

You have whole C-suites of agencies teed-up on RussiaGate for felonies, misprision of felonies, abuse of power, deprivation of rights, lying under oath, conspiracy to commit fraud, and much more. You have Judge James Boasberg playing games in the FISA Court he presided over; Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann running a two-and-a-half-year Chinese fire drill to cover-up years preceding of FBI / DOJ misconduct; John Brennan, James Clapper, and Gina Haspel abusing the “Five Eyes” intel arrangements to turn the CIA on innocent citizens at home; the fifty-one current and former intel agents colluding to bury Hunter’s Laptop to sway the 2020 election; the antics of Judge Emmet Sullivan in the Flynn case. . . .

And then on to a whole new round of frolics under “Joe Biden” including the malicious prosecutions of J-6 protesters; the pipe-bomb caper at the DNC; the use of several agencies to censor speech and manage the news media; the treasonous negligence of Alejandro Mayorkas on the nation’s borders; the DOJ-coordinated lawfare hounding of Mr. Trump and his adjacent lawyers; the Ukraine War project ginned up by the State Department’s Victoria Nuland and cohorts; and the sinkhole of greed, malice, and medical homicide that was the Covid-19 operation, millions killed and disabled, and likely more of that yet to come from the vaccines, trillions in wealth purloined or just plain lost, and businesses destroyed in lockdowns. It’s not a mere “swamp,” it’s a whole forbidden planet of turpitude.

Then there are the floaters and freelancers who move from one blob venue to the next, like lawfare artists Mary McCord, Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, David J. Kramer, or the girl-band of Lisa Monaco, Fiona Hill, Kathryn Ruemmler, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Nellie Ohr. And finally, there are the real big fishes: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, Chris Wray, Merrick Garland, General Milley, and “Joe Biden.”

Add William Barr to that list for failing to reveal that he was in possession of Hunter’s laptop as early as the fall of 2019. Of course, it was crammed with exculpatory evidence that could have ended impeachment No. 1 on day one of the initial hearings, yet he never alerted President’s lawyers to its existence. Weird, a little bit. And also, for the effrontery of allowing Jeffrey Epstein to be killed in his Manhattan jail, and never offering the public a coherent account of how the cameras on the cellblock failed, or why the guards who fell asleep on-duty were disciplined with only 100 hours of “community service.”

My Gawd, they must be eating Xanax like tic-tacs in their drawing rooms and boudoirs as the name Kash Patel floats across their social media screens. Kash Patel, a real-live exterminating angel, will finally step in to the FBI Director’s office and turn the investigative powers of the FBI on. . . the FBI! And its parent, the DOJ. The poetic justice is sublime. You must wonder: how does Mr. Patel get through the RINO-infested Senate confirmation process? Start with: what have they got on him? Answer: probably not a goshdarn thing, not a hair out of place. More to the point: what has Mr. Patel got on them? (Especially Messers Thune, Barrasso, Cornyn, and let’s just throw in the Democrat Mark Warner, VA, who was up to his eyeballs in RussiaGate as chair of the Senate Intel Committee.)

And were Mr. Patel to land in the FBI Director’s office 49 days from now, what additional info might he uncover about years of weaponized government with assistance from John Ratcliffe at the CIA and Tulsi Gabbard as DNI — who will access a pipeline to the vast national security server farm out in Bluffdale, Utah. So, in case you think that the document-shredding party currently underway in DC will conceal all that criminality, consider what lives forever in the alternate universe of cyberspace.

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“They are unlikely to improve themselves by receding further into that safe space to rave about the “f—ing morons” who make up the majority of America..”

The Democratic Diaspora (Turley)

Democrats who campaigned on the need for “joy” and “saving democracy” are strikingly unjoyful about the results of the democratic process in 2024. Before the election, slips like the one of President Joe Biden calling Trump supporters “garbage” were immediately denied or deflected. But once voters had given the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, the popular vote and the White House, leading Democratic figures and celebrities dropped all pretense of civility. They are now being open about their contempt for voters, calling them “f—-ing morons” and “arrogant, ignorant” adolescents. After calling for Americans to come together for Kamala Harris, MSNBC’s Joy Reid sent out a heart-warming holiday message to those who voted for the GOP to “make your own dinner, MAGA. Make your own sandwiches, wipe your own tears.”

Those not wallowing in Reid’s anger are increasingly voicing themes of isolation, insurrection and secession. For years, the contempt for Trump voters has been open and obvious in much of the media. The “Let’s Go Brandon” movement captured the lunacy of the press and politicians simply denying what citizens could see, hear and experience for themselves. When asked for answers on issues like the economy and immigration, Harris paraded an army of celebrities to tell the public how to vote — shiny objects that they thought would be enough for shallow American voters. They were wrong. Now that the public has made its choice, leading figures are condemning the majority of voters as a mix of misogynists, self-haters and fascists. Whoopi Goldberg, 69, even joined the “4B” sex strike against men. Others seem to be morphing into exactly what they said Trump would become as president: isolationist and insurrectionist.

Some have responded to the losses by retreating further into echo chambers protected from opposing views. Many dumped X in favor of BlueSky, a new social media safe space for liberals who fear being triggered by opposing views. Notably, censorship advocates such as Nina Jankowisz have fled to BlueSky. The site is portrayed as a return to the good old days when liberals controlled all of the social media and maintained a massive censorship and blacklisting system over political discourse. New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose wrote a column last week that offered the familiar “I can breathe again” account: “After an hour or so of scrolling through Bluesky the other night, I felt something I haven’t felt on social media in a long time: free.” It is the ultimate irony. This election shocked many on the left precisely because they were writing and commenting on each other within their hardened media and political silos.

They are unlikely to improve themselves by receding further into that safe space to rave about the “f—ing morons” who make up the majority of America. Other Democratic politicians have moved beyond the chest-pounding of leaders like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to pledges of more direct obstruction or inflammatory rhetoric. Denver mayor Mike Johnson (D) declared that he was preparing the Mile-High City for its “Tiananmen Square moment” to fight the federal government in any attempt to deport unlawful migrants. Johnson warned that he would have not only Denver police “stationed at the county line to keep [ICE] out” but also “50,000 Denverites.” Not long ago, Democrats were calling similar protests an “insurrection.” Johnson later walked back his remarks but insisted that his city would fight federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws. Rather than such trench warfare, most Democratic governors and mayors are simply pledging not to cooperate with federal authorities, which is a lawful choice. The concern, however, is how others will react to the overheated rhetoric for months that this will be “our last election” and that Trump is the new Hitler.
.

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Both sides hold frozen assets. Equal amount. An exercise in futility.

West Won’t Return Russia’s Currency Reserves – Top Banker (RT)

The West will not return any of the Russian sovereign assets frozen as part of sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, the CEO of major Russian lender VTB, Andrey Kostin, has predicted, as cited by Reuters. The US and its allies have immobilized around $300 billion of assets belonging to the Russian central bank since 2022 as part of Ukraine-related sanctions. The funds deposited in Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear have generated billions in interest, which the EU has decided to use to finance Kiev. “In the West, they say, let’s pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine from the reserves. And they will draw up such a bill that even the reserves will not be enough,” Kostin, the CEO of Russia’s second-largest lender, told Reuters in an interview published on Monday.

The new president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said on Sunday that the EU will continue to provide economic and military aid to Ukraine in the coming year, using the interest accrued on frozen Russian money. “Starting next month, we plan to provide, for a full year, every month, €1.5 billion [$1.58 billion] of assistance. This money comes from the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets and can also be used for military purposes,” Costa said during a visit to Kiev on day one of his mandate. Earlier this year, the EU decided to give Ukraine a chunk of the interest generated by Russian assets. In July, the European Commission announced it would allocate €1.5 billion to Kiev, mainly for weapons, as the first tranche of aid. The second tranche, expected to amount to €1.9 billion, could reportedly be disbursed next spring. In October, the European Parliament also approved a loan of up to €35 billion to Ukraine to be repaid with future revenues from frozen Russian assets.

The loan is the EU’s part of a package the Group of Seven (G7) agreed in June to provide Kiev with up to $50 billion in financial support. Approximately €210 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank is being held in the EU. The US has not yet made public the amount of funds it holds. According to Reuters’s calculations, at the start of 2022, Russia had $67 billion in US dollar assets. Russia has repeatedly accused the West of “stealing” its money. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned in October that Moscow would respond in kind to the West’s use of the income generated by its frozen central bank reserves. Last month, he said Russia would use income from the frozen assets of Western investors. While the finance minister did not elaborate on the amount of Western assets currently held in Russia, previous calculations by RIA Novosti put the figure at roughly equal to the size of the Russian funds frozen abroad.

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“Kennan’s thesis from 1946 was that the United States needed to work patiently and resolutely to thwart the Soviet threat, and to enhance and aggravate the internal fissures in the Soviet system..”

The Long War To Reaffirm Western And Israeli Primacy (Alastair Crooke)

The long war to reaffirm western and Israeli primacy is undergoing a shape-shift. On one front, the calculus in respect to Russia and the Ukraine war has shifted. And in the Middle East, the locus and shape of the war is shifting in a distinct way. Georges Kennan’s famed Soviet doctrine has long formed the baseline to U.S. policy, firstly directed toward the Soviet Union, and latterly, towards Russia. Kennan’s thesis from 1946 was that the United States needed to work patiently and resolutely to thwart the Soviet threat, and to enhance and aggravate the internal fissures in the Soviet system, until its contradictions triggered the collapse from within. More recently, the Atlantic Council has drawn on the Kennan doctrine to suggest that his broad outline should serve as the basis of U.S. policy towards Iran.

“The threat that Iran poses to the U.S. resembles the one faced from the Soviet Union after World War II. In this regard, the policy that George Kennan outlined for dealing with the Soviet Union has some applications for Iran”, the Atlantic report states. Over the years, that doctrine has ossified into an entire network of security understandings, based on the archetypal conviction that America is strong, and that Russia was weak. Russia must ‘know that’, and thus, it was argued, there could be no logic for Russian strategists to imagine they had any other option but to submit to the overmatch represented by the combined military strength of NATO versus a ‘weak’ Russia. And should Russian strategists unwisely persevere with challenging the West, it was said, the inherent contrariety simply would cause Russia to fracture. American neocons and western intelligence have not listened to any other view, because they were (and largely still are) convinced by Kennan’s formulation.

The American foreign policy class simply could not accept the possibility that such a core thesis was wrong. The entire approach reflected more a deep-seated culture, rather than any rational analysis – even when visible facts on the ground pointed them to a different reality. So, America has piled the pressure on Russia through the incremental delivery of additional weapons systems to Ukraine; through stationing intermediate range nuclear-capable missiles ever-closer to Russia’s borders; and most recently, by shooting ATACMS into ‘old Russia’. The aim has been to pressure Russia into a situation where it would feel obliged to make concessions to Ukraine, such as a to accept a freezing of the conflict, and to be obliged to negotiate against Ukrainian bargaining ‘cards’ devised to yield a solution acceptable to the U.S. Or, alternatively, for Russia to be cornered into the ‘nuclear corner’.

American strategy ultimately rests on the conviction that the U.S. could engage in a nuclear war with Russia – and prevail; that Russia understands that were it to go nuclear, it would ‘lose the world’. Or, pressured by NATO, the anger amongst Russians likely would sweep Putin from office were he to make significant concessions to Ukraine. It was a ‘win-win’ outcome – from the U.S. perspective. Unexpectedly however, a new weapon appeared on the scene which precisely unshackles President Putin from the ‘all-or-nothing’ choice of having to concede a bargaining ‘hand’ to Ukraine, or resort to nuclear deterrence. Instead, the war can be settled by facts on the ground. Effectively, the George Kennan ‘trap’ imploded.

The Oreshnik missile (that was used to attack the Yuzhmash complex at Dnietropetrovsk) provides Russia with a weapon, such as never before witnessed: An intermediate range missile system that effectively checkmates the western nuclear threat. Russia can now manage western escalation with a credible threat of retaliation that is both hugely destructive – yet conventional. It inverts the paradigm. It is now the West’s escalation that either has to go nuclear, or be limited to providing Ukraine with weapons such as ATACMS or Storm Shadow that will not alter the course of the war. Were NATO to escalate further, it risks an Oreshnik strike in retaliation, either in Ukraine or on some target in Europe, leaving the West with the dilemma of what to do next.

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“They expressed “unconditional support” for steps taken by Damascus “to restore constitutional order and territorial integrity of the country.”

Russia has started bombing the “Islamist militants”, whoever they are or who supports them. If Iran follows suit, who knows what happens?

Moscow and Tehran Discuss Syria – Kremlin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin. The main focus of the conversation was on the “escalating situation” in the Syria, the statement outlined. The ongoing large-scale attack by Islamist militants around Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo, is aimed at undermining the sovereignty, political and socio-economic stability of the Middle Eastern nation, the two leaders concluded. They expressed “unconditional support” for steps taken by Damascus “to restore constitutional order and territorial integrity of the country.” Putin and Pezeshkian also stressed the importance of coordinating efforts within the framework of the ‘Astana format’ with the participation of Türkiye.

Assorted Syrian ‘rebels’ and terrorists, including Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), staged a large-scale attack on government forces in northwest Syria last week. Formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, HTS is considered a terrorist organization by Syria, Russia, Iran, the US, and several other countries. The militants claim to have captured considerable chunks of the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, with some units reaching as far as the center of the city of Aleppo. Damascus has reportedly succeeded in halting the insurgents near the city of Hama in central Syria after receiving reinforcements. Syrian President Bashar Assad has pledged to “eliminate terrorists” and to punish their “sponsors and supporters.” The Syrian military acknowledged that dozens of its troops had been killed during the offensive while estimating terrorist losses at around 1,000.

Government forces were also backed by waves of Russian airstrikes which also targeted terrorist headquarters, weapons, and ammunition depots. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Russian warplanes stationed in Syria had conducted strikes on militant forces in recent days. Peskov reiterated Russia’s support for the Syrian government, stating that Moscow and Damascus had been in contact and were analyzing ongoing developments. Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015, helping to inflict heavy defeats on numerous terrorist groups, most notably al-Nusra and the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). Russia maintains a significant military presence in the country and has bases in Hmeimim and Tartus. Last week’s Islamist attack was the first major clash between Syrian rebels and government forces since March 2020, when Russia and Türkiye brokered a ceasefire in the country.

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Russia, Iran and China.

“As Syria’s friend, China is willing to make an active effort to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Syria..”

China Vows Support For Syria (RT)

China is “deeply concerned” about developments in Syria, where jihadist militants launched a surprise offensive last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday. As Damascus’ “friend,” Beijing is prepared to take steps to prevent a further deterioration of the situation, he said. The Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, and allied militias launched a large-scale attack on government-controlled territory in northern Syria last Wednesday. The militants took over a number of towns and villages in the Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces. Syrian government forces, backed by Russian fighter jets, launched a counteroffensive on Thursday and successfully liberated several settlements over the weekend, reportedly eliminating hundreds of militants and thwarting their advance into central Syria.

However, dozens of Syrian army service members were lost amid the heavy fighting, the Syrian General Command said in an earlier statement. “China is deeply concerned over the situation in northwestern Syria, and supports its effort to uphold national security and stability,” Lin told a press briefing on Monday. “As Syria’s friend, China is willing to make an active effort to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Syria,” the official said. The Chinese embassy in Syria “is closely following the local situation” and has issued a security alert for Chinese citizens residing in the country, advising them to take extra security precautions and, if possible, move to safer areas, Lin said. China’s ties with Syria have been growing closer in recent years.

Last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad inked a “strategic partnership” deal, pledging to work together in order to “jointly safeguard international fairness and justice” in the face of the “unstable and uncertain international situation.” Xi told Assad at the time that Beijing supported Syria in “opposing foreign interference and unilateral bullying, safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.” A number of other nations, including Russia, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, have expressed support for Damascus over the past few days, commending it for fighting against terrorism. Moscow has slammed the militants’ offensive as a “direct violation of Syria’s sovereignty,” and mobilized air force units stationed in the country to aid the Syrian army. Tehran has urged Islamic countries to unite in helping Syria defeat the militants, placing the blame for the escalation on Israel and the US.

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“The contemporary European Union is the main factor in dividing Europe and provoking conflicts. [It’s] a union of war..”

EU Has Turned Into ‘War Union’ – Russian Senator (RT)

The European Union has morphed into an “aggressive political bloc” and a “war union,” the Vice Speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, Konstantin Kosachev, has said. The senator criticized the EU in a Telegram post on Tuesday, pointing to the bloc’s support for the ongoing turmoil in Georgia, which has been hit by mass anti-government, pro-EU protests. The unrest has been going on since Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that he would freeze accession talks with the bloc until 2028. He accused Brussels of persistent “blackmail and manipulation” of Georgia’s internal affairs in justifying the decision.

“The first Molotov cocktails were thrown by protesters at Georgian police immediately after the new EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, publicly called the crowd’s protests legitimate and the response of the authorities – illegal,” Kosachev wrote. The vice speaker was apparently referring to remarks made by Kallas during her visit to Kiev, where she threatened Georgia with “consequences” and openly took the protesters’ side. “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people,” she stated.

Members of the bloc’s foreign service are acting as “instigators” of the unrest, according to the Russian lawmaker. Kosachev recalled the 2020 Capitol Hill rioting in the US, stating that the EU kept silent on it at the time and did not mention any “citizens’ right to protest.” The bloc has grown out of its original economic cooperation framework into an “aggressive political bloc with military inclinations,” acting as the main divisive force in Europe, Kosachev said. “The contemporary European Union is the main factor in dividing Europe and provoking conflicts. [It’s] a union of war,” he stressed.

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Kallas is as bad as Ursula. They’re like evil twins. Where do they find these specimens?

Putin’s Global Influence Increasing – Kallas (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence in global affairs is growing, new EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said. Speaking to reporters in Kiev during her first official visit on Sunday, Kallas, who stepped down as Estonia’s prime minister to take the EU post, reiterated that the European Union “wants Ukraine to win this war.” She doubled down on support for military aid to Ukraine, insisting that providing the country more weapons is not “charitable aid,” but an investment in the security of the EU, since Russian President Vladimir Putin “shows no signs of abandoning his goals.” Kallas has advocated tougher sanctions on Russia and is known for her strident stance against Moscow. She also stated Sunday that supporting Ukraine is in the interests of the US.

“If America is worried about China, it should be worried about Russia first,” Kallas claimed, according to the outlet Suspilne, adding that Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are working together. She also admitted that despite Western efforts to isolate Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin’s political influence has been amplified. “And we also see what Putin is doing in other countries, really increasing his influence. So, if the United States wants to be the strongest state in the world, they will eventually have to deal with the Russian Federation. And the easiest way to deal with this is to support Ukraine so that it wins the war,” the diplomat concluded. Kallas also did not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine.

“So far, the discussion has centered on which countries are ready to send soldiers to Ukraine and which are not,” she told reporters. “I believe that nothing can be ruled out.” The remarks come as the UK and France have revived debates about sending forces to Ukraine, according to a recent report in Le Monde. In February, French President Emmanuel Macron caused controversy by refusing to rule out sending ground troops “to prevent Russia from winning this war.” The statement was quickly disavowed by NATO officials, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that Ukraine’s Western backers were “unanimous” in their opposition to the idea. Russia has long claimed that Western special forces personnel are already active in Ukraine as military advisors and mercenaries. Putin maintains that NATO troop deployments in Ukraine cannot not change the situation on the battlefield.

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Ukraine can’t become a NATO member. So they want NATO to occupy the country.

Zelensky Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection (Antiwar)

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to temporarily cede territory to Russia to bring an end to the war in exchange for NATO protection over Ukraine. “If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under [the] NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky told Sky News. “That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.” Zelensky’s suggestion is almost certainly a non-starter for Russia since the invasion was launched to keep Ukraine out of NATO, but it does reflect a shift in his position. Zelensky previously maintained that his war goals included driving Russia out of all of the territory it has captured since February 2022, as well as Crimea.

In a recent conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to a speech he made earlier this year that outlines his conditions for peace, which include a Ukrainian withdrawal from all territory Russia has annexed, Ukrainian neutrality, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Russia. Ukrainian neutrality was Russia’s main demand during short-lived negotiations that took place in the early days of the invasion. Ukrainian and Russian officials held talks in March and April of 2022, but the negotiations were discouraged by the US and its allies.

In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky said Ukraine wouldn’t agree to a ceasefire without guarantees of NATO protection. “We need [NATO protection] very much, otherwise [Putin] will come back. Otherwise, how are we going to go to a ceasefire? So for us, it’s very dangerous,” he said. While Zelensky and Putin’s terms are extremely far apart, the Ukrainian side could be forced to make more concessions if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his campaign promise to end the war and pressures Zelensky to negotiate.

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“With just such a birth rate and mortality, the Ukrainian nation will be reduced to nothing in 180 years..”

Ukrainians Could Disappear (RT)

The Ukrainian ethnos could be extinct in less than two centuries, Olga Bogomolets, a renowned Ukrainian medical expert, warned this week. Extremely low birth rates and high mortality could lead to the nationality’s demise in about 180 years, she said. Bogomolets holds a post-doctoral degree in medicine, as well as the title ‘distinguished physician of Ukraine’. According to the expert, the nation is facing an “insane, catastrophic” rise in mortality rates combined with a continued decline in the number of newborns. “If this model persists, without even taking into account the war-associated losses and emigration… With just such a birth rate and mortality, the Ukrainian nation will be reduced to nothing in 180 years,” Bogomolets told the Vechir.Live show, which aired on YouTube.

The country has only six generations’ time to reverse the trend, the health professional warned. Otherwise, “zero [Ukrainians] will remain,” she said, adding that the territory of Ukraine would be inhabited by some other people “who will no longer be Ukrainians.” The conflict with Moscow has taken a heavy toll. Ukrainian military losses alone have amounted to more than half a million since February 2022, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Around 6.6 million people had fled the country as of July 2024, according to German data aggregator Statista. The Ukrainian media has reported that the country’s population could have fallen by a whopping 10 million over almost three years of fighting, considering both conflict-linked losses and emigration. A quarter of Ukrainians who fled abroad also have no interest in going back, the news outlets said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently estimates Ukraine’s population at just over 37.7 million people as of 2023, down from 44.3 million in 2021 and almost 50 million in 2000. The international body says that number was in steady decline even before the conflict with Russia, and is projected to fall further to less than 32 million by 2050. In October, Florence Bauer, the Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), described the situation in Ukraine as a “demographic crisis,” explaining that “the birth rate plummeted to one child per woman – the lowest fertility rate in Europe and one of the lowest in the world.” She added that the nation’s population had declined by over 10 million since the start of the 2014 crisis following the Maidan coup in Kiev.

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“There are moments when you understand your thoughts only when you speak them to others.”

Shall We Celebrate, the World Being as It Is? (Patrick Lawrence)

Is it all right to be happy over a holiday that has “Happy” in its name? The genocide of a long-suffering people to which our purported leaders have made us accomplices, a senile president who leaves us living with the danger of a nuclear conflict, fear and want and disorder everywhere you look: Can we allow ourselves happiness? Can we permit ourselves merriment in a few short weeks? And the most pressing query of all: What are we supposed to do? We must act, but how? As another holiday season begins, I merely repeat questions many millions among us have asked for more than a year now. I know this because I recently conducted an extensive survey indicating that the world as we have made it leaves us, we Americans and other dwellers in the Western post-democracies, a chronically troubled people.

I made sure the poll covered a wide geographic spread: I surveyed my household; the respondents were two, including myself. So let us not argue: The results are unambiguously representative. I found frustration at a record level, and there must be a record somewhere. I found suggestions of anger and despair. I found that the questions just noted were posed not quite incessantly, but nearly. The survey’s margin of error is zero. We are a perplexed people apart from everything else we are. And our questions are the very most right questions a troubled and perplexed people ought to ask as 2024 draws to a close and year-end holidays are upon us. In mid–December a year ago, we were guests in the home of one of my kindly editors.

This was in the village of South Egremont, at the southern end of the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. There was a tree at the foot of the stairs, the fire was lit, there were drinks on the coffee table. The kindly editor, the KE, stood before the tree with a glass ornament in her hand. We were about to begin the decorate-the-tree ritual. Then the KE paused and turned. “Should we be doing this?” she asked. I vividly recall the unsettled look on her face. “Should we be celebrating?” Israel was then several months into its sadistic barbarism in Gaza, and the government that is supposed to represent us but no longer does was profligately sustaining the Zionist regime’s terrorizing troops. There was no misunderstanding the KE’s question. “Yes!” I replied with alacrity and not much reflection. There are moments when you understand your thoughts only when you speak them to others.

And so I continued, “We must insist on honoring the feasts that matter to us. Celebration: We can’t surrender it. We owe it to ourselves to refuse the temptation of learned helplessness and despair.” I paused. Then: “But that’s not the most important thing. We owe it most of all to the people of Palestine. It is for them we must demonstrate that the human spirit lives despite all, and that humanity’s shared capacity for joy is not extinguished.” The KE nodded. I seem to have brought her around. The KE’s son, a 30–something with a lightning wit and a quick, acute intelligence, considered the point carefully. His name is Stephen. After a moment Stephen said, “Yes, but a conscious ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry.’ A knowing ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry,’ a ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry’ that are fully aware—that refuse to avert their eyes, refuse to lose sight of anything.”

It was the best thing anyone said that evening. We decorated the tree just as these things always and wonderfully go: Put that silver bulb here. No, up a little. Now to the left. The pine cones should be in the front. The big red one goes on that side…. Stephen’s thought has stayed with me ever since. In a certain way I have lived by it.

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“Once a civilization becomes amoral, it succumbs to evil. When a civilization succumbs to evil it becomes impossible to defend.”

Orwell’s Forecast of a Tyrannical Britain Proven Correct (Paul Craig Roberts)

When George Orwell’s 1984 was published in 1949 everyone believed the dystopia he described was Soviet communism. Orwell said it was a description of Britain in the future. It took 75 years instead of the 35 years that Orwell estimated judging by his book’s title, but tyranny as great as he imagined now has Britain in is grip. If you doubt this, read this very short report–https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/great-reset/silent-prayer-prohibited-in-the-uk/— and watch the short video in which two policemen confront an Englishman who is silently praying in public. The police, both white and British, tell him that he is in violation of an ordinance that protects abortion clinics from anyone praying within 150 feet of the premises. The man says he is praying for his deceased son. It is not revealed whether his son was aborted by the mother or whether the death and prayer are unrelated to abortion.

What strikes me is that two white British policemen think they need to confront a person over a tyrannical ordinance that in the US is unconstitutional as it violates the 14th Amendment by creating special legal privileges for abortion clinics that are denied other service providers. The ordinance violates the requirement of equal protection of law. If Christianity or the right to protest still existed in Britain, the tyrannical ordinance would simply be ignored by police. Indeed, if Christianity existed in Britain the ordinance could not have been introduced, much less passed. Christianity is one of the foundations of Western civilization. Its demise indicates the demise of Western civilization.

In Britain where laws and police take it very easy on criminals as long as they are dark-skinned immigrant-invaders, a white British citizen can get in more trouble for praying silently within a proscribed distance of where abortions, that is, murders, are performed than an immigrant-invader faces for rape, robbery, and assault. Notice that a majority of British Members of Parliament thought that abortion clinics needed protection from prayer. By passing the ordinance the MPs shielded abortionists from ethical and moral protest. What crime will the MPs next shield? It is extraordinary, isn’t it, that the British are willing to take the entire world to nuclear war by firing missiles into Russia and find the danger instead in a person praying outside an abortion clinic. This tells us that the Western world no longer exists in a moral context. Once a civilization becomes amoral, it succumbs to evil. When a civilization succumbs to evil it becomes impossible to defend.

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“All we are left with is an assumption covered up and concealed in secret. The scientific name for that is a lie.”

Sturgess Inquiry Ends In Foreign Office Whimper, Bang Of Novichok Lies (Helmer)

The Novichok show trial ended its public hearings last week in London with the revelation that it will not name the chemical constituents of the poison used in the attempted killing of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on March 4, 2018, and in the cause of death of Dawn Sturgess on June 30, 2018. By doing this, by keeping the chemical formula combination of the poison a state secret, independent British toxicologists say there is no evidence that a Russian-made Novichok was used; and that, instead, a British or US-made Novichok was readily available in 2018, and this was as likely to have been the killer weapon. Revealed earlier in the hearings by a doctor at Yulia Skripal’s bedside four days after the attack, Skripal believed she and her father had been hit by a poison spray as they ate lunch at a restaurant just before they collapsed outside.

Skripal’s evidence pointed to a British operation to assassinate Sergei Skripal before he escaped back to Moscow, and then cover up by planting fabricated Russian clues at the crime scenes, and in the blood test reports of the victims. Weapon, crime scene, victim pathology, killer identification, motive – all faked. The toxicology experts point out that in 2018 scientists working on this type of organophosphate poison had revealed synthesis, production, testing and stocking of A232 and A234 Novichok in the US Army’s chemical warfare centre, known by its location as the Edgewood Arsenal; and at its British counterpart and partner, the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), known as Porton Down. The Iranian military establishment had also done the same by 2016. After the Skripal case in 2018, military chemists in South Korea and the Czech Republic revealed how they had produced and tested their own formulas for Novichok.

By openly publishing their Novichok chemistry, the Americans, Iranians, South Koreans, and Czechs have proved that making, detecting and naming Novichok is a transparent process, not difficult to verify forensically in a criminal investigation or court. This, British scientists now say, means that the refusal of government officials and the Sturgess Inquiry judge, Anthony Hughes, to name the Novichok alleged to have been the Russian murder weapon, is evidence of a scheme of British fabrication and coverup. Mark Allen of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was the last witness to testify before Hughes at the Inquiry’s public hearings. As head of defence and intelligence, he was also the official in charge of coordinating the intelligence and military units involved in the attack on the Skripals; and then in the police and media coverup employed to pin the crime on the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, and on President Vladimir Putin.

Allen’s testimony on November 28 identified as his direct superior Sir Mark Sedwill, the national security advisor reporting to then-Prime Minister Theresa May and then-Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. “As SRO [Senior Responsible Owner] for Russia,” Allen said, “when we’re dealing with Russia strategy, the Government strategy towards Russia, I bring together all government departments, including representatives of the agencies as well, to ensure that we’re all essentially using all of our levers, all of our information, all of our understanding is pointing in the same direction and we’re being coherent. Then where there are situations where something unexpected arises, what you might call a crisis of some sort, then I will also chair that sort of grouping to work out what our collective response should be.”

“I act, not as the Foreign Office’s DG [director-general], but as the government’s senior official. Page 17 Asked to substantiate public statements at the time by May, Johnson and Sedwill that only Russia could have made and used the Novichok weapon, Allen was unable. “… it is safe to say that any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesising Novichok. In contrast to what you have said about it being a state — really only something that can be done at the state level. Is there anything that you can add to this debate, Mr Allen? A. I don’t think that is a view that is shared in the scientific community, or in the OPCW.” Page 41. This was a lie; Hughes let it go unchallenged. “LORD HUGHES: As far as you know, is it something which has been asserted either by Mr Mirzayanov or by the other publications of American, Czech, Italian, et cetera, researchers?

“A [Allen]: I haven’t read those in detail, sir, so I couldn’t say.“LORD HUGHES: All right, thank you.” Page 41. “What’s in a name like Novichok? Why the coverup?” responds an independent British chemist and expert on organophosphates. “If the full molecular readout was exposed publicly from the blood sampling of the Skripals and Sturgess — also later of [Alexei] Navalny — then it would be obvious that some constituents are missing. And because they are missing from the name or the reported chemical formula, then identification of Novichok cannot be made. All we are left with is an assumption covered up and concealed in secret. The scientific name for that is a lie.”

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Masterpiece

 

 

Dog ball
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863627051221000445

 

 

Happy husband
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863284451158999371

 

 

Elephants
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863382783952883864

 

 

Motorcycle
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863242158439878695

 

 

Trap
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863387612053897620

 

 

Crab-rice

 

 

 

 

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Nov 302024
 
 November 30, 2024  Posted by at 10:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  47 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn The Adoration of the Magi 1634

 

What Part of Mandate Don’t You Understand? (James Howard Kunstler)
West Plotting To ‘Occupy’ Ukraine – Russian Intel (RT)
Lights Out In The Ukraine, In General Kellogg’s Brain Too (Helmer)
Zelensky Offers To End ‘Hot Phase’ Of War In Exchange For NATO Membership (ZH)
Deaths of Western Fighters In Ukraine Is ‘Dangerous Escalation’ – Orban (RT)
Boris Johnson Calls For NATO Troops On The Ground In Ukraine Yet Again (ZH)
Donald Trump Won’t Be Able To Quickly End The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)
“This Week, The Second Trump Trade War Started” (Philip Marey)
Trump Admin’s DOGE Efficiency Push Now Reaching State Level (JTN)
China Could Devalue Yuan To Spite Trump – JP Morgan (RT)
Time for Starmer to Be Honest About What Net Zero Means (Morrison)
Epps Loses Defamation Case Against Fox News (Turley)
Ceasefire Falters as Israel Launches Airstrikes on Southern Lebanon (Antiwar)
Merkel Blows A Hole In Washington’s Nord Stream Narrative (Marsden)

 

 

 

 

Miller

Hammer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1862319620511711653

Elon

RFK

Hillary

Hazel

Saylor
https://twitter.com/i/status/1862180941319610644

 

 

 

 

“This version of Trump knows what buttons to press, he knows where the bodies are buried, he’s absorbed their worst and now he is about to throw it right back at them.” — Jeff Childers

What Part of Mandate Don’t You Understand? (James Howard Kunstler)

You have every reason to believe that this arrogant, malicious, leviathan government, and the vicious intel / lawfare blob at its vanguard, is about to be turned upside-down, inside-out, and sideways. Every appointment by Mr. Trump is a dose of chemotherapy to this malignant beast, aimed at all its diseased organs. The rogue cells within are going to die hard, struggle against their extinction, shriek and thrash as the treatment proceeds. That is, if it is allowed to proceed. And so: rumors arise of a coup to prevent it from happening. The benchmark version goes like this: “Joe Biden” keeps up his stupid provocation of Russia with those medium-range ATACMS missiles until Mr. Putin is forced to respond with a strike against a NATO member, say, a military base in Poland used to stage and target the ATACMS. Under NATO’s Article Five — an attack against one is an attack against all — Europe and the US must go to war against Russia.

This becomes the pretext for “Joe Biden” to declare an extraordinary emergency (or Kamala Harris, if “JB” can be shoved out under the 25th Amendment). The inauguration of the newly-elected government must needs be postponed. . . . Such a move would surely provoke a domestic insurrection against the leviathan and Civil War Two would be on. Or else you might expect a swift counter-coup out of the US military not playing along. Mr. Putin, too, could demur from playing the game, that is, just not go for the bait, refrain from striking any NATO territory. After all, his beef is officially with Mr. Zelensky’s Kiev government. Russia could just pound Kiev until that government ceases to exist. So far Mr. Putin has carefully refrained from destroying the historic city center, mainly hitting power plants to turn off the heat and light to make life extremely uncomfortable in the Ukraine capital with winter coming on. But he could level the city.

The choice is Mr. Zelensky’s, and has been for months as his forces, armaments, and prospects dwindle. He could suspend hostilities, go to talks, even raise a white flag and put an end to the needless suffering. Under no circumstances will he get the Donbas or Crimea back. I doubt that Russia wants to take over the rest of Ukraine, considering the cost of having to support it indefinitely. Better that it should remain a sovereign state and look after itself — but neutral, demilitarized, and, if you like, de-Nazified. You understand that these will be Russia’s final terms? And that there is nothing unreasonable about them? In short, the hypothetical coup would fail, and the Ukraine war will end, and Mr. Trump will get inaugurated if he is careful to avoid the blob’s assassins until January 20.

As for Rep. Jamie Raskin’s scheme to prevent a Trump swearing-in on account of him being “an insurrectionist,” you can file that under “dumb-shit grandstanding.” So, the new government will come in, the new department chiefs will get into office, and the leviathan will get the therapeutic treatment it deserves. Outside of these criminal proceedings, the rest is executive process — just firing a lot of dead-weight and bureaucrat officials who contribute nothing but inertia and impediment to the normal functioning of a society. And deconstructing whole agencies. The blob will likely attempt to block that effort by marshaling its own allied lawyer army to bombard the courts with suits and writs. If the Trump team does its work carefully, with scrupulous attention to correct process, that offensive can be overcome and worked-around.

After a while, we’ll discover just how much government is really necessary, sort of like Twitter did, after Elon Musk fired 80-percent of the loafers on his payroll. Since so much of the US economy has shifted insidiously into government, this downscaling is apt to be painful, but especially for the local economy of Washington DC, which is to say, a grift economy of overlapping rackets. Upgrade a few laws and whole industries — such as lobbying by military contractors — might be wiped out. But you have to ask: how was that ever a good thing? For now, we give thanks that important changes are probably underway. Stolen liberties will be returned. You will be free to succeed or fail in a society of voluntary transactions. That was always the essence of being an American, not being a client of a fake therapeutic state, savior of all, but really just protector of its own.

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You would get full NATO troops right next to Russian troops. Bad idea.

West Plotting To ‘Occupy’ Ukraine – Russian Intel (RT)

The West is secretly planning to occupy Ukraine and freeze the conflict with Russia by deploying tens of thousands of supposed peacekeepers to the country, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said. In a statement on Friday, the spy agency cited intelligence sources as saying that NATO is increasingly in favor of halting the hostilities along the current front line, as the US-led military bloc and Ukraine have come to realize that they are failing to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. Freezing the conflict would allow the West to rebuild the shattered Ukrainian military and “prepare it for an attempt at revenge,” the SVR stated. It further claimed that NATO is already setting up training centers to process at least one million Ukrainian conscripts. A possible respite would also help the West restore Kiev’s military industry, which has been regularly battered by Russian missile and drone strikes, the SVR added.

“To solve these tasks, the West will need to essentially occupy Ukraine. Naturally, this will be done under the guise of deploying a ‘peacekeeping contingent’ in the country… According to the plan, a total of 100,000 so-called peacekeepers will be deployed in Ukraine.” According to the SVR, the plan would also involve Ukraine being partitioned into four large occupation zones. Romania would take the Black Sea coast, Poland would control Western Ukraine, and the UK would occupy the north, including Kiev. The central and eastern parts of the country would be taken by Germany, the agency claimed. The SVR also alleged that Germany plans to revive practices implemented by the Nazi regime during World War II to “police” Ukraine. In particular, Berlin wants to create special “death squads” made up of Ukrainian nationalists to maintain order in the occupied territory, the statement read.

“Does Russia need such a peaceful settlement option? The answer is obvious,” the SVR said. The statement comes after French newspaper Le Monde reported earlier this week that France and the UK have “reactivated” a discussion on a potential troop deployment in Ukraine. Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the West should not rule out this option to keep Russia in check, despite strong pushback from numerous NATO allies. Moscow has repeatedly signaled its opposition to freezing the conflict, insisting that all the goals of its military operation, including Ukraine’s neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification, must be met. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that while there is no consensus in the EU on sending troops to Ukraine, “there are some hotheads.”

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“..the career military experience Kellogg brings to his new job is “losing, not winning on the battlefield..”

Lights Out In The Ukraine, In General Kellogg’s Brain Too (Helmer)

The damage assessments of yesterday’s November 28 electric war strikes against targets across the Ukraine spell the countrywide collapse of electricity supply before January 20, when the new Trump Administration will take office. By then, the Russian General Staff will have deprived Keith Kellogg, the retired US Army general newly appointed to serve as Trump’s negotiator for end-of-war terms, of the options he has publicly declared for himself, and also for Trump, in their war to make America great again in Europe. “The Mayor of Kiev told us this is genocide,” Kellogg said in interview with Fox News.“Now we are right on the cusp…This is going to be a fight to the end… Again, as I said, I think it’s a fight to the finish…Why this is important geo-strategically is that if we [US] can — if the Ukrainians can defeat Russia in the field, and evict them from the Donbass or the Crimea, Putin falls. It changes Europe for a generation to come…So one of these two sides is going to win. I don’t think there’s going to be anything to negotiate.”

Kellogg said this in February 2023, after he had returned from a sponsored trip to Kiev and to the eastern region of the country. Subsequently, he was paid to write an end-of-war strategy paper for Trump to use during the last months of the election campaign this year. This focused on attacking the Biden Administration for weakening the US and the NATO allies on the battlefield, and also in Europe. Trump’s “geo-strategic” priority remained, Kellogg wrote, to prevent “Ukraine fatigue among the Europeans, threatening to leave the United States, once again, as the primary defence contributor to Europe and further straining America’s ability to maintain its own critical defence stockpiles.” Negotiating to prevent the US from losing its military dominance in Europe, and to conserve the forces and weapon supplies “needed in other conflicts, especially if China invades Taiwan” are Kellogg’s running orders from Trump.

Russian sources say that reviving the Reagan Administration’s “Star Wars” weapons systems to combat Russia’s Kinzhal and Oreshnik missile advantage is the unstated “geo-strategic” priority, not only of Kellogg but of others in the Trump administration. They believe Elon Musk will lobby the president to make himself “chief US rocketeer to get a trillion-dollar contract to build missiles to counter us. But if they want a new arms race, they are already trailing. They will lose in space what they’ve already lost on the ground.”

According to a US veteran of the Afghanistan War, the career military experience Kellogg brings to his new job is “losing, not winning on the battlefield. He’s a typical empire enforcer. The last time Kellogg fought a competent military force, it was the Vietnamese, and Kellogg lost. For Trump to pick a man whose military victories are the invasion of Panama, the defeat of Iraq in Gulf War-1, and running a nuclear war bunker with Paul Wolfowitz during 9/11, tells you that it’s lights-out in the minds of both the soldier and his commander.”

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He’s supposed to negotiate with Russia. But this is a negotiation with NATO.

Zelensky Offers To End ‘Hot Phase’ Of War In Exchange For NATO Membership (ZH)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s willing to end the “hot phase of the war” with Russia – including ceding captured territory – in exchange for NATO membership that includes Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. “If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he told Sky News, adding “We need to do it fast. And then, on the occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.” Zelenskyy said that a ceasefire was needed to “guarantee that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not come back” to take more Ukrainian territory,” or that “he [Putin] will come back.” In short, to end the war, Zelenskyy wants the thing that started the war.

The comments are a drastic departure from previous statements – as Zelenskyy has long-asserted that Ukraine’s sovereignty is non-negotiable, including over Crimea. Putting things in recent perspective, Zelenskyy’s comments come as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte admitted to Fox News that Ukraine is not in a strong enough position to negotiate an end to the war, explaining that there is not enough battlefield leverage to “prevent the Russians from getting what they want.” “I think that’s crucial that we have a good deal because the whole world will be watching what type of deal will be struck between Russia and Ukraine when it comes to it,” Rutte said. “We have to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of more strength than they are at the moment,” Rutte continued, “so that a deal can be struck which is favorable not to the Russians — and therefore to China, North Korea and Iran — because they all will be watching.”

It also comes amid pressure from the Biden administration to lower the draft age in Ukraine to 18 so it has enough troops to continue fighting Russia, aka more meat for the grinder. Former British PM Boris Johnson – who allegedly scuttled early peace talks in Turkey that might have ended the Ukraine war – has called for NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine, again. Johnson also asserted that if Russia gets the upper hand in the conflict then Britain may deploy it’s forces regardless in order to “defend Europe.” Ukraine’s eastern defenses are currently being overrun by ongoing Russian attrition tactics. This reality in combination with Trump’s avalanche election win seems to have triggered establishment ghouls into a frenzy of escalation with Joe Biden giving the greenlight on long range missile strikes coordinated directly by NATO forces.

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They’re offering up their troops to initiate a war.

Deaths of Western Fighters In Ukraine Is ‘Dangerous Escalation’ – Orban (RT)

The reported presence of Western soldiers among the casualties in Ukraine marks a dangerous escalation and risk of an “expansion of the war,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. In an interview with Kossuth radio on Friday, Orban described the current state of affairs as paradoxical, stating that while peace appears closer than ever, the situation has never been as dangerous. “According to Russian reports, American and French soldiers died in airstrikes carried out by the Russians on the territory of Ukraine. That means there are Western soldiers there,” he said. Earlier this week, Moscow launched a series of retaliatory strikes in response to Kiev using Western-supplied long-range weapons for attacks inside Russia’s internationally recognized borders.

This came after Washington removed restrictions on Ukraine’s use of ATACMS for such strikes. Russian forces hit the positions of US-made missile launchers and facilities hosting foreign instructors and mercenaries, the defence ministry said. Moscow has repeatedly said that foreign military personnel are fighting alongside Ukraine’s regular army and participating in cross-border raids. According to the foreign ministry, a group of fighters eliminated during an incursion into Bryansk Region last month included US, Polish, and Canadian citizens. In Orban’s view, the presence of Western troops “clearly shows the danger of escalation, and thus the expansion of the war.” Russian officials have repeatedly described foreign mercenaries operating in the conflict zone as a “legitimate target” for the military, while accusing NATO of direct involvement in the hostilities.

During the interview, Orban also criticized the EU for prolonging the conflict, referring to a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on Thursday to expand military aid to Kiev. This included additional supplies of long-range missiles. He called the move “depressing,” as it indicates that many EU leaders “want to continue the war and even increase its intensity.” He also highlighted a lack of an immediate impact on the Ukraine crisis from the election victory of Donald Trump in the US, who promised to end the conflict in 24 hours, and noted that the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden maintains its pro-war stance. Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict to be a US-driven proxy war against Russia, which has escalated into a de facto global confrontation, after Western nations authorized Kiev to launch long-range attacks deep inside the country using donated weapons.

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“The majority of the US and European public have confirmed time and time again that they will not support direct conflict with Russia.”

Boris Johnson Calls For NATO Troops On The Ground In Ukraine Yet Again (ZH)

After months of rumors surrounding possible peace talks in Turkey that might have ended the war in Ukraine not long after it reignited in 2022, multiple sources confirmed that British Politician and former PM Boris Johnson showed up in Kyiv to dismiss the negotiations and told the Ukrainians “let’s just fight”. These sources include David Arahamiya, the leader of Ukraine’s ruling party, Tory MP Nadine Dorries and Vladimir Putin himself. Johnson continues to deny the peace deal claims and “fact checkers” engage in extensive mental gymnastics to argue that there was no “official deal” put to paper, therefore Johnson didn’t sabotage anything. In other words, if a politician ruins a peace deal in its infancy before it is drafted then he’s not culpable for the war that follows. The bottom line? Johnson, a prominent British official with ties to NATO, showed up in the middle of early negotiations and told the Ukrainians to fight instead of pursuing peace.

This alone would have given the Ukrainians a false sense of security that NATO forces would intervene and fight for them. Boris Johnson would go on to promote a surge in military recruitment in the UK, and supported calls for conscription from military officials. He has also suggested NATO boots on the ground in the region on multiple occasions – A move that would immediately be seen by Russia as an escalation to world war. In a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph, the former British PM promoted the idea of British forces entering Ukraine as a part of a “peacekeeping plan.” The presence of any NATO country’s troops in Ukraine, even those not on the front line, would be seen as a tip-toe towards direct confrontation by the Kremlin. In early November, Johnson argued that if Donald Trump pulled US support for Ukraine in order to force a peace deal, Britain might send troops into the fray.

The argument sounds like a thinly veiled threat: If the US tries to force a peace deal, then Britain will send troops, escalate the war and ensure that no peace is possible. Johnson also asserted that if Russia gets the upper hand in the conflict then Britain may deploy it’s forces regardless in order to “defend Europe.” Ukraine’s eastern defenses are currently being overrun by ongoing Russian attrition tactics. This reality in combination with Trump’s avalanche election win seems to have triggered establishment ghouls into a frenzy of escalation with Joe Biden giving the greenlight on long range missile strikes coordinated directly by NATO forces. To be clear, Ukraine is not part of the EU nor is it a member of NATO. NATO warhawks like Johnson have consistently claimed that Russia’s intent is to invade greater Europe (domino effect propaganda similar to the Vietnam War), yet there is still no evidence to support this.

The western media has spent the better part of the conflagration claiming that Russian forces have been chewed up beyond repair in Ukraine; at the same time they suggest Russia somehow has the strength to invade the EU. The majority of the US and European public have confirmed time and time again that they will not support direct conflict with Russia. They will not volunteer to fight in such a war and will not submit to military conscription. Around 70% of Americans say they prefer negotiations to end the war. Only 10% of Europeans believe Ukraine can win and 52% of Ukrainians say they want negotiations and a quick end to the war. Despite this, establishment politicians continue to ignore the overwhelming calls for peace in Ukraine.

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We can not be sure.

Donald Trump Won’t Be Able To Quickly End The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)

Nuclear deterrence is often viewed as an impenetrable barrier, akin to a fortress that, once breached, will lead to catastrophic destruction. However, the Ukraine conflict illustrates that it works more like an immune system: while threats may penetrate, a strong system can still deal with the infection without collapse. Russia’s nuclear deterrence has been effective in keeping the West at bay, ensuring that military aid to Ukraine stays at levels that do not provoke Moscow’s direct retaliation. As Russia’s “nuclear immunity” holds, the West continues to try to find weaknesses in the system, but the Kremlin’s resolve remains firm. Yes, the globalist West continuously searches for a weak spot in Russia’s “immune system.”

And yes, the “infection” is spreading: battles rage in Kursk Region, drones fly thousands of kilometers into Russian territory, and now there are also long-range missiles. However, none of this poses an existential threat, and Moscow is successfully battling this infection. For example, two years ago, there were neither missiles nor drones striking Russia, yet the country was much closer to military defeat than it is today. Putin’s demonstration of the Oreshnik missile system, including its hypersonic capabilities, should not be viewed as a final warning. It is, rather, another indication that Russia is ready to defend its interests. The Oreshnik missile serves as a powerful reminder of Moscow’s military capabilities, but its true purpose is to maintain deterrence and remind Western leaders of the limits of their involvement.

The most ambitious scenario would be to sign a comprehensive agreement with the West, dividing spheres of influence and addressing the issues outlined in Putin’s December 2021 ultimatum. This would mean creating a new security architecture in Europe that acknowledges Russian interests and reassesses the outcomes of the Cold War. However, this goal is hardly attainable under current conditions. A more realistic scenario involves a limited agreement with the West regarding Ukraine. While this seemed improbable six months ago, it is now being seriously considered. Talks began even before the US elections. Leaked information suggests that the West may propose a ceasefire along the front lines and a 20-year moratorium on Ukraine’s NATO membership.

Moscow, however, demands Kiev’s disarmament and political neutrality. The fighting will likely continue until these contradictions are resolved. The final choice is one without any significant agreement, similar to the post-2008 events in Georgia. Ukraine’s military defeat would become a political victory. If Kiev’s reliance on the West wanes, Ukraine, like Tbilisi, would abandon its hostile stance toward Moscow to avoid further military losses and recover its economy. This third scenario has become more likely as Ukraine faces growing challenges on the battlefield and the West reduces support. The reality is that a relatively stable agreement with the West regarding Ukraine can only happen if Kiev renounces its antagonistic policy toward Russia.

For this solution to unfold, the West must avoid direct intervention and refrain from increasing military aid to Ukraine. This is Putin’s strategy – as he holds no illusions about Trump or the possibility of a diplomatic resolution. Why? Because an agreement is only possible when contradictions are resolved, but the fundamental issue between Russia and the West remains unresolved: neither side is ready to accept Ukraine as part of their opponent’s sphere of influence.

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Canada, Mexico and China.

“This Week, The Second Trump Trade War Started” (Philip Marey)

This week, the second Trump trade war started. On Monday, there was some market relief after Trump’s announcement on Friday that he would nominate Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. However, that changed on Tuesday after Trump made his tariff threats to Canada, Mexico and China. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not take long to make her own threat of retaliatory tariffs against the US. On Tuesday she said “if there’s a tariff, another one will come in response.” However, on Wednesday, Sheinbaum and Trump had a telephone conversation that she called “excellent” and he “very productive.” Sheinbaum had assured Trump that migrant caravans are no longer reaching the US-Mexican border and she also said that they had discussed increased security cooperation. US-Mexican security relationships had soured after the US had lured a Mexican drug lord out of the country into US custody, without informing Mexican authorities. This led to a split in the Sinaloa cartel and an internal battle of several months that has left more than 400 people dead.

In contrast, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau avoided confrontation and on Tuesday he said he had held a “good” conversation with Trump on Monday night shortly after the Truth Social post and that “we talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together.” On Wednesday, Trudeau met virtually with the provincial premiers to discuss a “Team Canada” approach to Trump’s tariff threat and to stress the importance of unity in Canadian reactions to Trump’s tariff threats. To get Michael Moore’s take on an escalating US-Canada conflict, I would suggest his 1995 film Canadian Bacon. China, which is blamed for not doing enough to stem the outflow of precursors to fentanyl, reacted calmly. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said that the US should “cherish” China’s goodwill over the issue and added that China was willing to continue working together.

Of course, the Chinese reaction is likely to be more forceful if the tariffs are actually implemented. Trump’s beef with Canada, Mexico and China is about fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. In his first term, Chinese companies did not only supply the precursors, but also fentanyl itself. Trump was successful in getting the Chinese to regulate the production and sale of fentanyl in China. However, production shifted to Mexico, with Chinese companies providing the chemicals needed to make fentanyl. In 2019, Trump also threatened Mexico with tariffs unless migration was reduced. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador succumbed to US pressure and deployed the Mexican military to the borders.

Immigration was a major campaign theme during the US presidential election and the tariff threat is only the beginning of a likely ambitious effort to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the US. While the President-Elect arguably has a strong mandate from US voters to enhance border security and deport undocumented immigrants, these policies will pose challenges to many US businesses. As we showed in Trump border policy and immigrant labor supply, food & agriculture and construction are especially vulnerable given the high dependency on undocumented immigrant labor. While there are still many unemployed US citizens who could do the work, most of them do not find the jobs that undocumented immigrants do very attractive. Therefore US businesses that depend on immigrant labor should prepare for possible labor shortages.

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“Delivering on Government Efficiency..”

Don’t get in Elon and Vivek’s way.

Trump Admin’s DOGE Efficiency Push Now Reaching State Level (JTN)

A Wisconsin group is asking its state government to undergo spending and staffing reviews similar to those the incoming Trump administration intends to conduct with a newly created agency that will be led by successful entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The Trump agency is named the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk, a billionaire, owns Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX. Ramaswamy is also an entrepreneur and reportedly worth hundreds of millions. The request from the Wisconsin’s Institute for Reforming Government is not entirely new. It was conceived last year but revived as Republican Donald Trump campaigned, then won the presidency on such promises as cutting jobs, replacing career civil servants with federal appointees and relocating government offices.

The institute’s plan focuses on reducing the number of full-time state employees by finding redundancies and contracting for professional services and The group has also proposed scaling back state agencies in the Wisconsin capital of Madison and moving state workers into the communities their department serves, creating less office space while making remote work more accountable. “With renewed attention on right-sizing government and reducing unnecessary bureaucracy at the federal level, it’s time for state lawmakers to seriously rethink how state agencies operate as well,” said Chris Reader, the institute’s executive vice president.

“We released a plan to rethink, reorganize, and modernize state agencies in 2023. It was DOGE before DOGE was cool. With voters distrusting the bureaucracy, [Democrat] Governor [Tony] Evers and lawmakers have a great opportunity in 2025 to listen to voters and reimagine state government.” Unlike the federal effort, whose leaders say they won’t be working with Congress to reduce the federal spending and staffing levels, IRG is calling for state representatives to lead the effort to reduce government spending.

However, within days of Trump winning the presidency on Nov. 5, then naming acolytes Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, the GOP-led House announced it had created the Delivering on Government Efficiency, or DOGE, subcommittee for the next Congress and that another Trump loyalist, Georgia Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, would lead it. The Wisconsin group said that its polling shows that 73% of residents agree that state agencies should review new regulations before they are enacted and that 67% favor having regulations expire after seven years unless they are re-approved by the legislature. The group is also calling for Wisconsin to create one-stop shops with a single digital portal for government services.

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They did it in 2018-19, so it would be no surprise.

China Could Devalue Yuan To Spite Trump – JP Morgan (RT)

An anticipated shift in trade policy during Donald Trump’s second term as US president, including a drastic hike in tariffs on Chinese products, could see the yuan depreciate by up to 15%, according to JPMorgan Chase, as cited by Bloomberg. In a note dubbed “Bracing for a storm” seen by the outlet, the analysts projected US import taxes on Chinese goods to be raised to 60% from the current 20% mark, with fresh levies to also hit imports from Malaysia and Vietnam. The Chinese government could devalue the yuan in response, and impose retaliatory tariffs to support the national economy, the strategists suggested , forecasting that China’s GDP growth next year could slip nearly one point to 3.9%, in spite of the possible measures.

JPMorgan highlighted that a potential devaluation of the yuan by 10-15% is “significantly less than the 28-30% that could be expected if China’s central bank were to rehearse the 2018-19 playbook, when it allowed currency depreciation to offset 70% of the rise in US tariffs.” In 2018, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 20% from 3%. Earlier this month, the yuan fell to its weakest level against the dollar since late 2023 amid uncertainty over Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. On Thursday, the Chinese currency traded at nearly 7.25 yuan to the greenback.

Earlier this week, Trump – who will take office on January 20 – pledged to introduce 25% import duties on all products from Canada and Mexico, along with increasing tariffs on Chinese imports to 30%. JPMorgan expects emerging economies, particularly manufacturing exporters such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Mexico, to be the hardest-hit by a US-China trade war. The analysts stressed that the affected states are likely to lose global market share, as Beijing would redirect exports toward other emerging markets. India would feel the least impact, the economists predict.

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“..a 30% reduction in energy demand. After 2030, consider that all beef, lamb and dairy will be banned and “replaced by new diets”. Then there is a massive 45% cut in most common building materials..”

Time for Starmer to Be Honest About What Net Zero Means (Morrison)

Earlier this week the Labour backbencher and Chairman of the U.K. Parliament’s Energy Committee Bill Esterson noted that people will have to adjust their habits to meet Net Zero emission goals for 2030. Such honesty, emerging as it does from the Parliament of Net Zero nodding donkeys, is to be applauded. As far as it goes. Try a 30% reduction in energy demand. After 2030, consider that all beef, lamb and dairy will be banned and “replaced by new diets”. Then there is a massive 45% cut in most common building materials such as cement, along with a similar reduction in road freight traffic. The attack on farming will be remorseless with fertiliser restriction halving “direct emission” from the soil. To sum up: widespread rationing and blackouts along with food, holiday and travel restrictions, all within about 60 months.

Look at what they fund and write and whom they consult, not what they say, is the best advice to counter all the whoppers that are being told about Net Zero. Sir Keir Starmer’s statement at the recent COP29 that he didn’t want to tell people how to live their lives can only be explained by noting it came from a British Prime Minister who has difficulty telling a woman from a man. Thankfully we have the Government-funded U.K. FIRES project to give us an honest heads-up on the near-term implications of Net Zero. All of the substantial reductions in energy, food and industrial materials mentioned above arise from its “pragmatic approach”. Its evidence-based conclusions rely on technologies that are available today. It excludes processes such as carbon capture and hydrogen that have yet to be proven at meaningful scale.

Its conclusions warm the hearts of the most committed green ideologues. Its reports also happen to be the most honest representation of the horrors that await if the Net Zero fantasy ever becomes a reality. By 2028 a total of seven million heat pumps will need to be installed and massive retrofits undertaken in domestic homes. Meanwhile, all rented and non-domestic properties will need to be EPC A rated by 2030. The desire to “manage land use for Net Zero emissions” means a massive cut in chemical fertilisers, so expect food supply to fall off a cliff. U.K. FIRES notes, correctly, that there is “insufficient time for the planning, development and construction of new large-scale infrastructure to contribute to the 2030 target”.

Again correctly, it is observed that increased use of wind and solar power creates a problem with intermittency. “Eventually, this must be addressed by either demand-shifting or storage,” it states. Storage at scale is more or less impossible with current technology, and another word for “demand-shifting” is rationing. To enforce these consumption restraints across the broad range of modern industrial lifestyles, a “whole society” approach must be mobilised. U.K. FIRES received a £5 million grant from the British Government and its warnings – or should that be wishes – about 2030 are contained in a report called ‘Minus 45’ prepared ahead of the Glasgow COP26 in 2021. It is based on a U.K. Government promise to reduce carbon emissions by 45% from 2018 to 2030. Its recommendations are relevant today, not least because Starmer tried to curry favour at the recent COP29 in Baku by promising to reduce emissions further.

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His wife is upset?!

Epps Loses Defamation Case Against Fox News (Turley)

Just months after a judge dismissed Nina Jankowicz’s much-hyped defamation lawsuit against Fox, a federal district court judge in Delaware, Judge Jennifer L. Hall, has dismissed Ray Epps’s defamation lawsuit. The Jan. 6 rioter said the network falsely identified him as an FBI informant. U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer L. Hall granted Fox News’ motion to dismiss the suit. In the original complaint, Epps made a defamation per se claim and a false light claim. Epps and his wife have clearly been through a nightmare of threats and innuendo. However, this public controversy was discussed by various networks and the Jan. 6th Committee. It was also a matter of legitimate public debate and commentary, with people on both sides expressing their views on the evidence and underlying allegations.The problem for the court was trying to draw a line when coverage and commentary becomes defamation on such subjects.

The chilling effect on free speech can be immense. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that tort law could not be used to overcome First Amendment protections for free speech or the free press. The Court sought to create “breathing space” for the media by articulating that standard that now applies to both public officials and public figures. The status imposes the higher standard first imposed in New York Times v. Sullivan for public officials, requiring a showing of “actual malice” where media had actual knowledge of the falsity of a statement or showed reckless disregard whether it was true or false.Now based in Utah, Epps alleged his life was upended after former Fox host Tucker Carlson repeatedly described him as a federal agent who helped instigate the attack on the Capitol, which was an attempt to stop the certification of the election of Joe Biden.

The breathing space cuts both ways. In reporting on the dismissal of the Epps lawsuit, it is notable that the Associated Press is still referring to Jan. 6 as an “insurrection” rather than a riot. Curiously, when you hit the link on “insurrection,” it goes to an article on the dropping of the Smith case, which notably did not charge Trump or anyone else with insurrection or even incitement. Yet, the AP is still reporting “the insurrection” as a fact. The dismissal of Jankowicz directly addressed the dangers of using the courts to try to silence your critics. The case backfired on Jankowicz in prompting a court to expressly state that what she has been advocating is censorship. After holding that people are allowed to criticize Jankowicz as protected opinion, the court added:

“I agree that Jankowicz has not pleaded facts from which it could plausibly be inferred that the challenged statements regarding intended censorship by Jankowicz are not substantially true. On the contrary … censorship is commonly understood to encompass efforts to scrutinize and examine speech in order to suppress certain communications. “The Disinformation Governance Board was formed precisely to examine citizens’ speech and, in coordination with the private sector, identify ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation.’ … that objective is fairly characterized as a form of censorship.” Jankowicz previously solicited significant contributions on the promise of this ill-conceived lawsuit. Nevertheless, Jankowicz is still being touted as a hero and enlisted to explain how to combat “disinformation.” The calls for greater censorship are likely to only increase after the election. However, we have seen figures like Hillary Clinton call on Europeans to force the censorship of Americans.

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“Israel says ‘suspects’ in vehicles violate ceasefire by trying to return home..”

Ceasefire Falters as Israel Launches Airstrikes on Southern Lebanon (Antiwar)

The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire began Wednesday morning. Less than two days later, it seems to be faltering, with multiple reports of Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon, and claims of violations by both sides. Israel carried out an airstrike against the outskirts of Baysariyeh, which is near Tyre. They confirmed the attack, saying they were targeting a Hezbollah storage facility after seeing “terrorist activity.” They added in their statement that they were “acting to enforce violations of the ceasefire.” Though the claims of violations are coming from both sides, so far it is only Israeli forces whose violations actually involve firing. Lebanese people continue to try to return to their homes in the south, despite Israel’s military forbidding them to do so. There are multiple reports of Israel carrying out artillery shelling against towns and villages across southern Lebanon this afternoon.

Strikes were reported against the towns of Halta, Taybeh, Khiam, and Rmeish. In Rmeish the attack damaged a supermarket and a home. Three were injured in Taybeh. There were also reported Israeli tank shellings in several places, including the village of Markaba. In that incident, a car was attacked and multiple civilians were wounded. Israeli ground troops also opened fire on vehicles multiple times across southern Lebanon, incidents which happened both on Wednesday and Thursday. Israel presented the people they were shooting at as a “number of suspects,” and said that any vehicles in southern Lebanon amount to a ceasefire violation. There is no indication vehicles are actually forbidden by the terms of the ceasefire. Shooting at people, as Israel has been throughout the day, is plainly a violation, however.

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“I felt that the United States was mobilizing its formidable economic and financial resources to prevent the business ventures of other countries, even their allies..”

Merkel Blows A Hole In Washington’s Nord Stream Narrative (Marsden)

Angela Merkel has just dropped a smoking gun into the pages of her new book. According to ‘Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021’, published on November 26, Berlin was fully aware that Washington wanted to kill off Nord Stream. And that it was just using Russia as a scapegoat to steal a massive new energy market for itself. “The United States argued that its security interests were affected by the building of the pipeline because its ally Germany would make itself too dependent on Russia. In truth, I felt that the United States was mobilizing its formidable economic and financial resources to prevent the business ventures of other countries, even their allies,” Merkel writes. “The United States was chiefly interested in its own economic interests, as it wanted to export to Europe LNG obtained through fracking.”

This pretty much establishes that it was by premeditated design that Washington leveraged the Russian military operation in Ukraine as a convenient pretext to turn economic competitor Germany – and the EU more generally – into a vassal. But Merkel’s successor, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the rest of the German and European establishment, acted like Joe Biden was just coming to their rescue out of benevolence when he offered to sell them LNG to replace Russian gas – which turned out to cost several times the price, to the ongoing detriment of German and European industry and citizenry. Biden had stood beside Scholz at a White House podium in February 2022, talking like a mafia boss, saying that “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2” if Russia enters Ukraine. Then the pipeline just mysteriously blew up in September 2022. Germany still hasn’t found those responsible, though.

Hey, how about this guy who was standing right next to your chancellor? German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded Biden the Order of Merit in October, citing Germany’s “friendship” with the US, and telling Biden that “under your leadership, the transatlantic alliance is stronger and our partnership is closer than ever.” Yeah, close. Like family. Where you can help yourself to stuff that isn’t yours and wreck it – like an entire German car industry or a pipeline. Or where you can disapprove of a relationship – like the one that Germany had with Russia. Or maybe one can even do both of these things at the same time, like Miami-based American businessman, Stephen Lynch, seems to be attempting to achieve by asking for the US government’s approval in bidding on Nord Stream 2, majority-owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Now that Washington’s meddling has bankrupted the pipeline project and it’s set for the auction block, guess Lynch figures that maybe he can squeeze in between Russian gas and Germany’s desperation for cheap supply, with Uncle Sam’s blessing. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for American and European control over European energy supply for the rest of the fossil-fuel era,” Lynch told the WSJ. It’s also a chance for US interests to profit from, and exert control over, both the EU and Russia, by wedging themselves between the two like they’re a chaperone on a teenage movie date. “I haven’t heard of Gazprom wanting to put gas transportation infrastructure in the hands of the USA,” the Kremlin has said, putting a damper on Lynch’s ambitions, which are perfectly aligned with what Merkel now says has been America’s objective all along.

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Detox

 

 

Nerves

 

 

Antlers

 

 

Siblings
https://twitter.com/i/status/1862557640880239046

 

 

Hoover Dam

 

 

 

 

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