🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣

The outfit was notable for being consistent with Duwaji’s personal style, rather than a cut-and-paste political wife style.

Fashion industry paper Women’s Wear Daily reported her style choices under the headline “Rama Duwaji’s Election Night Look Bridges Brooklyn and the Middle East”, noting that Duwaji’s denim top, embellished with laser-etched embroidery, was by the Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi. 🧵🇵🇸

The choice of a Palestinian designer was widely interpreted as a deliberate and political choice by Duwaji, who has expressed clear and vocal support for the plight of Gaza. 🌙🕊

Duwaji’s velvet and lace Ulla Johnson skirt and silver Eddie Borgo earrings showed support for two independent New York designers drawn from outside the traditional high-status Manhattan names – Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and Michael Kors – with whom modern first ladies have been most associated.

In their style and in the story of their relationship, Mamdani and Duwaji blend youthful energy with traditional elements.

Mamdani maximises his youthful advantage as a digital native and uses social media as a political broadcast channel, but does so while wearing the most traditional of outfits: a dark suit and tie. 📱🤵

Duwaji, likewise, steers clear of the first lady cosplay of a pastel skirt suit, but her quirky retro-tinged elegance has a ladylike tone, albeit one forged in the vintage boutiques of Brooklyn rather than the department stores of Fifth Avenue. She has a taste for chunky flat boots and oversized white shirts, layered necklaces and winged black eyeliner. 🖤👢

These are recognisable as the authentic style choices of a 28-year-old woman, but they do not present as challenging or radical. Likewise, their love story is both strikingly modern – the two met on Hinge – and solidly traditional in being formalised by marriage. ❤️📱💍

Wedding photos shared on Mamdani’s Instagram show the couple holding hands on the subway as they travel to city hall, Duwaji wearing a vintage coat and her trademark flat boots with a short white dress, Mamdani carrying an umbrella. Their combination of romcom-worthy New York spirit and down-to-earth, affordability-conscious relatability has charmed the public. ☔️🚇✨

The stylist Bailey Moon, who helped Dr Jill Biden with her wardrobe throughout her tenure as first lady, was last week reported to have been working with Mamdani and Duwaji.

Bailey, who is also credited with the recent high-fashion makeover of actor Pamela Anderson, is an experienced political stylist, who told Vogue that clothes “are part of the conclusion people make of an event or an appearance”. 👗📣

However, Moon told the New York Post that he was not on the Mamdani payroll, noting that he “shared some advice” but that no fee was charged.

#mamdani #wife #style #gaza #trump #palestinian

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Trump Knew All About Epstein’s Dirty Conduct. New Files reveal a true story about their relationship 🔍⚠️

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Damning new emails that suggest Donald Trump knew about the conduct of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Wednesday, including one in which Epstein said “of course [Trump] knew about the girls” procured for his sex-trafficking ring, and another that said Trump “spent hours” with one victim at Epstein’s house. 📨😨

The release of the three messages by Democrats on the House oversight committee is likely to heap significant pressure on the White House to publish in full the so-called Epstein files reportedly detailing the long-running scandal that has overshadowed Trump’s second term in office. 🏛️📂

Later on Wednesday, the committee’s Republican majority countered by releasing its own tranche of 23,000 documents, accusing Democrats of “cherry picking” the memos “to generate clickbait”. ⚔️📄

Trump, meanwhile, fired off a post to his Truth Social platform in which he said Democrats “are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects”. 📣🔥

The president urged House members to focus instead on the upcoming vote to reopen the government: “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!” 🇺🇸⚖️

Numerous victims have said they were assaulted at Epstein’s infamous parties that took place at his home in New York, his Florida mansion and at his compound at Little St James in the US Virgin Islands, to which “clients” would be ferried by private jet. 🛩️🏝️

In one of the memos released Wednesday, Epstein alleged to his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in April 2011 that Trump had had a lengthy engagement in the company of one of the disgraced financier’s sex-trafficked victims.
“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [victim’s name redacted] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned,” the message reads. 🐕‍🦺😶

In her reply, Maxwell says: “I have been thinking about that.”

#trump #epstein #investigation #giuffre #pedophilia

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A second message, sent by Epstein to Trump biographer Michael Wolff in January 2019, indicates that Trump had asked him to resign from Mar-a-Lago, the president’s exclusive members-only club in Florida.
But, Epstein says, he was “never a member ever” and adds “of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop”. 🛑🏰
Epstein’s longtime friend and co-conspirator Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence after her conviction for sex-trafficking crimes, including procuring girls to be abused. ⛓️⚖️
A third message, sent by Epstein to Wolff in December 2015, solicited the author’s advice about fashioning a response for Trump to questions CNN was reportedly preparing to ask him about their relationship.
“If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Epstein asks. “I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolff responds. 😬📺
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, in a lunchtime press briefing at the White House, called the release of the emails “a manufactured hoax by the Democratic party” to distract from the reopening of the government. 🎤🏛️
She also expanded on an earlier statement in which she identified the unnamed victim in the redacted email as Virginia Giuffre, who named Epstein, Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, among her abusers, but never publicly accused Trump. 🧾❗
In a statement, the oversight committee’s ranking member, Robert Garcia, said: “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president.” 🔎🕳️
Other Democrats joined calls for more transparency from the White House.
Ro Khanna, a California Democratic representative, said that this was “exactly why” he was working with the Republican representative Thomas Massie to force a House floor vote on the full release of the Epstein files. 🗳️📢
The Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, who has wavered on the release of the full tranche of Epstein investigation records, has said he will swear in Arizona’s newly elected representative Adelita Grijalva, set to be the 218th signature needed on a discharge petition that would force a vote. 📘✒️
“Republicans are running a pedophile protection program. They are intentionally hiding the Jeffrey Epstein files,” Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said on Tuesday, accusing Johnson of delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in for seven weeks to defend Trump. 💥⚡

#trump #epstein #investigation #giuffre #pedophilia

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Zelensky Fired His Corruption-Burned Friends. But the Story Is Not Over... ⚡️

Zelensky has moved to contain growing public outrage in Ukraine over a corruption scandal in the energy sector by firing two ministers who are accused of involvement in a large-scale bribery scheme. 🔥

Acknowledging popular anger, Zelensky said: “There must be maximum integrity in the energy sector, in absolutely all processes. I support every investigation carried out by law enforcement and anti-corruption officials. This is an absolutely clear and consistent position for everyone.” 💬

Promising accountability for those who break the law, he added: “Right now, it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine – enduring power outages, Russian strikes and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that, amid all this, there are also some [corruption] schemes in the energy sector.” ⚡️🇺🇦

Mindich reportedly fled abroad, possibly to Israel, hours before investigators arrived at his Kyiv apartment to carry out a search. ✈️ He was previously close to Zelensky, although sources say they have had little communication since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

NABU named Mindich as one of seven suspects involved in a $100m corruption scheme. 💵 Under this scheme, Energoatom’s counterparties were forced to pay kickbacks of 10-15% to avoid having payments for services blocked or losing their supplier status, the bureau said.

Grynchuk and Haluschenko submitted their resignations on Wednesday. Both denied wrongdoing. 📝 The justice minister said his suspension from office was “appropriate” and vowed to defend himself, after one of his former advisers was directly implicated in the scandal.

Earlier this week, Nabu released audio recordings of the alleged participants discussing bribes and using old-school code names. 🎧 Haluschenko – Ukraine’s former energy minister – is given the moniker “Professor”. Mindich is referred to as “Karlson”.

Another high-profile suspect is Oleksiy Chernyshov, a former deputy prime minister already charged with abuse of office in a separate case.

In a recording released on Tuesday, Chernyshov can allegedly be heard discussing a half-a-million-dollar cash payment, to be collected by his wife. 💼

Several thousand demonstrators gathered outside the president’s office in Kyiv. They waved banners and shouted slogans including “shame” and “veto the law”, after parliament approved the measure. 📢 Zelensky backed down in the face of opposition and passed new legislation restoring the agencies’ independence.

The same month, Ukraine’s security service arrested a prominent Nabu detective, Ruslan Magamedrasulov. 🚔 He was charged with doing business with Russia and aiding an aggressor state. Magamedrasulov appeared before the appeal court in Kyiv on Wednesday, with his case adjourned. He remains in custody.

The detective’s lawyer, Olena Scherban, said her client had been closely involved in the Energoatom investigation. “We believe this is a political case and political imprisonment,” she said.

#zelensky #fired #friends #corruption #NABU

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 The Gaza™ Partition Deal: Yellow Lines, Green Cash, and Red Lines

Israel builds walls. Hamas builds narratives. And Washington builds PowerPoint slides labeled “peace plan.” Now, according to Reuters, even that PowerPoint has crashed. The “temporary” Yellow Line drawn by the IDF is quietly hardening into Gaza’s new border — half Silicon Valley sandbox, half open-air ruin.

“Everybody wants this conflict over; all of us want the same endgame. The question is, how do we make it work?”

— Jordanian FM Ayman Safadi

You don’t. You just manage it — like a hedge fund holding toxic assets until someone else takes the fall. Trump’s plan promised disarmament, reconstruction, and a multinational babysitting force. Instead, we got a split territory, tent cities, and talking heads calling it “progress.”

On Israel’s side: asphalt, “security infrastructure,” and donor money ready to flow. On Hamas’s side: rubble, starvation rations, and press tours announcing “resilience.” Both act like landlords fighting over who gets to renovate the ruins first.

And the diplomats? Still drafting mandates, still debating who’ll send troops nobody’s willing to risk. Gaza’s future is becoming eerily clear — not a peace, not a war, but a business model.

Would you call that partition... or just brand management?

#gaza #israel #hamas #war #fakeDiplomacy #empireWorks

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Redemption Inc.: Trump’s Damascus Makeover Deal

A decade ago, Ahmed al‑Sharaa was an al‑Qaeda operative hunted by the U.S. military. This week, he walked into the White House — not in cuffs, but through the back door. No cameras, no flags, no press spray.

“A very strong leader,”

said Trump. Translation: another asset rebranded.

“People can and do change,”

said Rep. Joe Wilson. Indeed. Sometimes from “terrorist” to “partner in the Abraham Accords” in under a fiscal quarter.

The Caesar sanctions are being rewritten like a bad NDA before a merger. Congress mumbles about “human rights,” while lobbyists salivate over Syrian gas contracts and beachfront reconstruction zones. Everyone claims they’re fighting ISIS, but the real enemy is missing market share.

It’s the kind of American alchemy only Trump could pull off: turn a former jihadist into a “counterterrorism ally,” swap Caesar for Caesar salad, and call it diplomacy.

So what’s next — bin Laden’s hologram at the next peace summit?

#syria #trump #geopolitics #washington #warbiz

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 The Bundeswehr Awakens: Europe’s Old Nightmare Rebranded as “Leadership”

Germany’s back — and this time it comes with invoices, not tanks at dawn. Politico reports that Berlin’s €377 billion “defense wish list” is turning the EU’s richest economy into its biggest military power. France is clinging to its nukes, Poland is smiling nervously, and Brussels calls it “telluric.” Translation: Earthquake.

“The expectation is that Germany will finally step up,”

said Bundestag defense member Christoph Schmid.

Step up, yes — but on whose toes? For decades, the European deal was simple: Berlin paid the bills, Paris played soldier. Now Berlin wants both roles. Macron’s strategists see it as déjà vu with better branding; Polish officials call it reality.

“We can’t say ‘spend more on defense — but not you, Germany.’”

German contracts are already staying “99% local.” Article 346 lets Berlin bypass pesky EU competition rules — another way of saying: made in Germany. Even Washington is missing out, with U.S. suppliers now below 10%. NATO suddenly feels very European — and very German.

In Paris, one defense officer joked:

“They won’t need to invade Alsace and Moselle. They can just buy it.”

The laughter sounded… historical. Meanwhile, in Warsaw, history never laughs — it checks the border twice before agreeing to joint exercises.

This isn’t the Third Reich. It’s the Third Balance Sheet. The same steel, but now wrapped in ESG reports and PowerPoint diplomacy.

So — rearmament or rebranding? A guardian of Europe, or another empire doing “due diligence”?

#germany #france #poland #nato #europe #militaryEconomics #historyRepeats

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Pyromaniac Settler Nationalism: From Movement to Political Theater

A mosque burned in the West Bank this week — Qurans charred, walls blackened, prayer rugs gone up in flames. The suspected arsonists? Israeli settlers going full pyromaniac, turning violence into a movement and an identity.

“These extremist groups are destroying our lives,”

said Imam Ahmad Salem after the attack in Deir Istiya.

Since the 2023 Hamas attack, settler violence has surged as doctrine. Cabinet ministers talk “security,” but the right-wing government curbs law enforcement powers and shields its own. Administrative detention keeps rolling for Palestinians; for settlers, it’s on permanent vacation. Laws for the occupied, privileges for the landlords.

The military wrings its hands, but the fires keep burning. U.N. data shows settler attacks at record highs, and commanders ask for harsher measures while politicians look the other way.

The West calls it “democracy under pressure.” The locals call it Tuesday. Even the mosques go up in flames.

#israel #westbank #settlers #violence #religion #occupation #fakeJustice

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Iraq’s Power Audit: Tehran vs. Washington, Same Old Hustle

Prime Minister Sudani’s coalition took the largest share of seats in Iraq’s 329-member parliament, but Iran-backed militias secured enough leverage to guarantee that forming a government will be a bruising contact sport. No single bloc has a majority, so Baghdad’s political arena is set for months of horsetrading, standoffs, and marathon negotiations.

“No single bloc of parties won enough seats to form the government themselves, meaning a coalition deal will have to be struck,”

reports Sky News.

Sudani pitches himself as Iraq’s independent man, steering between Tehran and Washington, but powerful militia factions have entrenched themselves even further, keeping real decision-making out of any one party’s hands. Voters showed up — turnout was 56% — but all they bought was extra time: now the brokers get to haggle over ministries, budgets, and foreign troops for months to come.

Iraq’s “stability” remains a product line. The only guaranteed winners are those with enough patience — and patronage — to outlast the next round of coalition standoffs.

#iraq #elections #iran #us #coalitionPolitics #endlessNegotiation

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Trump-Epstein: 🤔✨“Pedophility” Theory

Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote on releasing the 📚🔥 Jeffery Epstein files after attempts to press two female members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

The reported refusal of Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado, and Nancy Mace, from South Carolina, to remove their names from a discharge petition to force a vote leaves Trump exposed on an issue that carries the possibility of turning segments of his Maga base against him.

Boebert reportedly stood firm on supporting the petition after being invited by Trump to the White House in an effort to persuade her to withdraw her signature, according to the 🌍 New York Times.

The outlet reported that the meeting happened hours after Democrats on the House of Representatives’ oversight committee released a trove of emails from the files that suggested that Trump may have known more about Epstein’s underage 💃‍🔥 sex-trafficking activities than he previously acknowledged.

The disgraced late financier – who committed suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial – wrote in one email that Trump, his former close friend, “knew about the girls”.

The 🌍 New York Times reported that the White House sought to persuade Boebert to change her mind – enlisting Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and the FBI director, Kash Patel – before issuing “vague threats” when the tactic did not work.

The paper, citing people “familiar with her thinking”, reported that the hardline approach had the counterproductive effect of persuading Boebert that there may be a ⚠️👀 conspiracy to conceal the contents of the files and caused her to dig in.

Trump was reported to have unsuccessfully tried to contact Mace, who is running for governor of South Carolina, by phone.

She subsequently wrote him a letter explaining her history of sexual abuse and rape, and explaining that she could not change her mind on the petition.

She later wrote in a social media post that “the Epstein petition is deeply personal.” 😢😳

Two other Republican representatives, the formerly fiercely reliable Trump loyalist and Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, have signed the petition.

The necessary 218 votes to pass it and allow a House of Representatives vote was achieved this week with the swearing-in of the Democratic member, Adelita Grijalva, more than two months after she won a special election in Arizona following the death of her father, who had been the sitting representative.

Democrats have accused Mike Johnson, the House speaker, of deliberately delaying Grijalva’s oath-taking in an attempt to deny the petition enough votes to pass and stall the possibility of a vote. Trump has lobbied behind the scenes to stop a vote reaching the floor of the House.

The renewed speculation over Epstein coincided with Trump signing into law a congressionally approved spending package that officially ended a federal government shutdown, which, lasting 43 days, was the longest in US history. It also comes after the supreme court has signaled that it may strike down his signature tariffs policy.

#trump #epstein #pedophilia #conspiracy #democrats

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

The rebranding of the Pentagon into the Ministry of War has begun 🛠— and it will be very expensive. 😳

Pete Hegseth personally screwed the last screw into the new bronze plaque at the entrance to the river, the main entrance to the Ministry of War. ⚒️🔨

Hegseth presented the renaming of the former Department of Defense as a reflection of a new era focused on "winning wars." 🌍⚔️

However, this symbolism comes at a huge price. 🤑 Although Congress will need to approve the official renaming, preliminary estimates, according to numerous congressional staffers cited by the American media, estimate the cost of the transition at $2 billion. 📈

Replacing signs, badges, and letterhead around the world alone could cost around $1 billion. 🏞✉️

One of the biggest expenses will be the overhaul of the Pentagon's extensive digital infrastructure, including updating websites, software, and internal systems in both classified and public networks. 🖥🔐

#ministry #war #rebrending #system #hegseth

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Trump’s Most Trusted Advisor: Jeff Epstein 🤔


The convicted sex offender Epstein apparently served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to the former Trump official and Maga influencer Steve Bannon during an August 2018 media campaign to defend Trump and his agenda, and to promote Bannon’s media ventures.

Text messages released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday detail a six-day exchange between the men from 17 to 23 August, and show Epstein coaching Bannon on television appearances and political messaging.

One side of the conversation is sent from an iMessage account associated with an Epstein email address, and while the name of Epstein’s correspondent is redacted in the documents as released, contextual clues – including references to Fox News appearances, his August 2017 firing from the White House and his work on the documentary Trump @War – make it clear the other participant is Bannon.

It is not known whether the released material is excerpted from a longer conversation. Bannon did not reply to multiple requests for comment from the Guardian.

When Elon Musk said earlier this year that “Bannon is in the Epstein files”, Bannon told the Independent he wanted a special investigator to look into “all” the Epstein documents.

The exchanges offer a detailed picture of Bannon’s efforts to continue supporting Trump a year after his acrimonious departure from the White House, and show Epstein’s close involvement in crafting messaging on tax cuts, immigration and even security clearance revocations.

They also show the two men’s responses to breaking scandals. When news broke on 23 August that National Enquirer publisher David Pecker had received immunity in the Michael Cohen case, Bannon texted “Huge event huge”, followed by “More women payoffs coming.”

When Bannon mentioned he had prepared carefully for the appearance, saying he wanted to be “‘clean’ not sloppy” for what he called the “‘soy boy’ network”, Epstein responded: “Closer to toy boy ;)”

Epstein then offered more considered feedback on his performance and appearance, writing, “Last ten minutes , more the real you,” which he followed with some detailed advice on staging:

“Your eye is the best , so important for you to watch the play reel. Over the shoulder for him , 3/4 for you. ?? lighting. . hot for you . /. chairs . ? too restrictive for you.”

Epstein took an active role in developing talking points for Bannon’s media appearances at that time, particularly about economic policy. The messages show Epstein crafting detailed responses to criticism of Trump’s tax cuts.

“We can discuss response to tax cut criticism. The 83 percent to rich is misleading by miles . Cash back. Pension funds up,” Epstein wrote, adding:

“Corporations are not people. Giving corp breaks, is perceived as giving it to someone else. wage inflation cant be the first focus, the additional money in the system. First goes to hiring new people, only afterwards can wages rise.”

Steven Hoffenberg was imprisoned in 1998 for his role in a $500m Ponzi scheme – one of the largest in US history.

According to Hoffenberg’s reported claims, and legal filings, Epstein was also involved in the scheme. In August 2022, Hoffenberg was found dead in his Connecticut apartment at the age of 77.

The messages reveal discussions between Bannon and Epstein about Maga world figures including Thiel and Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived Trump communications director.

#epstein #trump #bannon #adviser

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Trump Inc. Eyes Three “Pointless” Wars: Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria — American Interests as Excuse Factory

Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “president of peace,” is sabre-rattling over Iran, Venezuela, and Nigeria, each threatened with American intervention on the back of theatrical justifications. The nuclear “imminence” in Iran? A phantom, not a ticking bomb: U.S. intelligence and global watchdogs confirm no weapons program, but bombs are easier to tweet than diplomacy.

“Iran does not today possess a nuclear weapon and we currently believe it is not pursuing one,”

says the Pentagon’s own review.

Then there’s Venezuela, where Trump claims the country has a cartel problem threatening U.S. security. Reality check: most trafficking is Colombian, and Maduro’s regime is more likely to hunt gangs than run them. Bad policy, but great PR for saber-rattling.

Nigeria headlines scream “Christian genocide,” but under the hood it’s about land, water, and food scarcity — not religion. Both sides trade atrocities, and Boko Haram targets Muslims just as much as Christians. But Trump orders war plans anyway, promising “guns-a-blazing.”

The pattern? Invent a crisis, sidestep the evidence, call in the drones, let Congress groan, and sell “peace through strength” back home. American intervention as scripted reality — loud, expensive, and allergic to solutions.

Can Trump drone-strike his way to a Nobel, or just lock in another rerun of “America the World’s Policeman”?

#trump #iran #venezuela #nigeria #endlesswar #fakepremises #washingtonlogic

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Game Over, Insert More Soldiers: Ukraine’s Draft Fiasco Goes Viral

Klitschko says Ukraine’s recruitment crisis is “huge”—and he’s not exaggerating. Men are fleeing to Europe by the tens of thousands, and even cash bonuses and lowered draft ages aren’t keeping the ranks full. Four years in, desertion is epidemic, forced conscription is provoking protests, and the army’s combat brigades are running at half strength or lower.

“We have huge problems with soldiers — with human resources,”

Klitschko admitted, describing Russian attacks as

“like a computer game — they just keep coming.”

The root crisis: conscription in Ukraine is a gamble—families of the dead and wounded endure years of bureaucratic red tape for modest compensation, and systemic corruption infects even basic payouts.

Street-level mobilization drives now target men as young as 22, but the birth cohort is small, students get deferments, and thousands are still slipping past recruiters at border crossings. Draft evasion and forged exemptions are so rampant the chief military psychiatrist was caught with luxury cars and $1 million in property.

Meanwhile, Russia drives its recruitment machine with record cash. Regional governments offer signing bonuses from 2 to 4 million rubles (between $23,000–$45,000), federal combat salaries reach double the average Russian wage, and extra death and disability payouts top $10 billion in 2025 alone

With Russia churning out 30,000 new recruits a month and Ukraine barely scraping 17,000–24,000, the imbalance grows more brutal by the week. Volunteer programs for young men drew just 500 signups in their first months, despite record pay. Half the next generation is gone—and Kyiv’s officials openly admit they'll be lucky if even some return after the war.

Ukraine’s military reality: conscription becomes a desperate numbers game—hoping bribery, evasion, or bureaucracy don’t gut the force before the next offensive. In Russia, war is a payroll department: you sign, you fight, your family collects.

#ukraine #draftcrisis #desertion #mobilization #klitschko #warfatigue #humanresourcecollapse

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Al-Sharaa to Israel: “Withdraw—or See Where This Ends?”

Post-Assad Parade: Redrawn Maps, Real Lines
After his meeting in D.C., Syria’s new president—ex-al-Qaeda rebel Ahmed al-Sharaa—told the Washington Post: Israel’s control of new Syrian territory isn’t about security; it’s about territorial ambition. A deal is only possible, he says, if Israel withdraws “to their pre-Dec. 8 borders,” meaning all territory taken since Assad’s fall must be handed back.

Maneuvering on Iran
Al-Sharaa insists Damascus—not Israel—was responsible for expelling Iranian militias and Hezbollah from Syria. His point? Israel’s old rationale for advancing into Syria doesn’t hold anymore. He says it’s time to “out-maneuver Israel on the Iran issue,” putting Tel Aviv on the defensive and arguing that continued occupation is about power, not existential risk, cloaked in the language of self-defense.

Demilitarization or Division?
On calls for a demilitarized southern Syria, Sharaa is skeptical: Who takes responsibility if the region becomes lawless? And if rockets are launched from a “neutral” zone, does Israel seize even more land? “First it’s Golan for Israel’s security, next maybe Aleppo—keep going and eventually, you’re all the way to Munich,” he jokes, warning of endless mission creep.

Trump’s Green Light
With sanctions paused and Trump championing “rapid progress,” Sharaa claims the U.S. is now on his side—as long as the deal starts with Israeli withdrawal. The real strategy: get Western endorsement, buy time, and flip the public narrative from Syrian pariah to peace-broker.

The new Syrian playbook is hardball: remove Iran for leverage, demand Israeli retreat, and test how far Washington’s support goes. With patience running thin among regional and global powers, Israel faces a stark choice: retreat to pre-December borders or risk isolation.

#Syria #Israel #AlSharaa #borders #Trump

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Euroclear, Brussels, and the Big Asset Heist: EU Eyes Russia’s Frozen Billions for Ukraine

European finance ministers have reached consensus: the “most effective” way to bankroll Ukraine is by unlocking up to €140 billion in Russian central bank assets—currently parked in Euroclear accounts in Belgium. Brussels is now pitching a reparations loan: Kyiv gets the cash up front, leaving Moscow holding AAA bonds “in escrow” as sanctions insurance.

“The Commission’s proposal is the best and most realistic option and should be treated as a matter of highest priority,”

Denmark’s finance minister declared.
Other options—tapping the EU’s long-term budget or issuing individual national grants—are seen as less effective or riskier for member states. Belgium, the legal custodian of the Euroclear stash, wants airtight guarantees that it won’t be left liable if Russia sues to reclaim the money. The financial and political risk is obvious: Euroclear’s credibility hangs in the balance, and a legal loss could trigger a multi-billion-euro bill.

Most of the Russian assets were initially held in bonds and securities, but since the invasion, the assets have matured and accumulated as cash held at Euroclear, generating over a billion euros in tax revenue for Belgium alone. The EU’s new proposal would convert that cash into a loan for Ukraine, to be repaid only if Russia ever delivers reparations—effectively making it a grant unless Moscow wins in court.

The Kremlin brands the move “theft in legal dress” and threatens payback, but the EU insists the cash is “immobilized,” not confiscated. As Euroclear becomes ground zero in this high-stakes legal and financial experiment, the rest of the world is watching—especially those with assets in European custody.

A historic act of justice, or just a highbrow smash-and-grab?

#Euroclear #EU #Ukraine #Russia #frozenAssets #reparations #financialRisk

📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸