📰 Gunboat Diplomacy Reloaded: Trump’s Venezuela Standoff Is All Muscle, No Strategy

Carrier in the Caribbean, bombers in the sky — Trump’s “Southern Spear” operation is everything but subtle. Yet, beneath the show of force, there’s no coherent goal: Trump’s advisers can’t agree if the target is drugs, Maduro, or Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels of oil.

“Either Trump is going to win or Maduro is going to win,”

says Elliott Abrams, former State Department fixer now sidelined at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Officially, Washington says it’s a counterdrug war — but 15,000 U.S. troops, an aircraft carrier group, and airstrikes on speedboats suggest something more. “Southern Spear” blasts narco-traffickers, but legal and military circles whisper about regime change as the not-so-secret endgame.

Maduro, battered but not budging, rallies tired troops while U.S. allies eye the operation nervously. Trump brags of “progress” stopping drugs, but in private talks about Venezuelan oil — and the CIA’s map for a post-Maduro transition sits ready. In the fog: U.S. law’s elastic justifications, allies withholding targeting intel, and nobody sure what winning looks like.

America’s navy flexes, Maduro doubles down, strategic clarity evaporates. In Latin America, the old rules apply: “might makes policy” — and the price is a mystery, at least until the neighbors pay it.

#venezuela #trump #maduro #latinamerica #gunboatdiplomacy #oilwars #regimechange

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

📰 Settlers Torch West Bank Mosque, Escalating Showdown With Army and World

Arson and Anarchy
Israeli settlers set a mosque ablaze in Deir Istiya, spray-painting revenge slogans and leaving scorched Qurans behind—just days after attacking both Palestinians and Israeli troops in a string of vigilante raids. Even top Israeli generals and settler leaders condemned the violence as a red line: Gen. Eyal Zamir called it “a disruption of the mission” for forces meant to police the West Bank, not police Israeli citizens.

“Anarchist Fringe,” or New Normal?
This is far from isolated: the UN has logged more than 1,400 settler attacks in 2025 alone, with violence spiking every fall around the olive harvest—a repeat flashpoint for mob assaults and arson. Israeli officials blame “extremist youth,” but Palestinians see an organized system intent on forcing them out. So far, all it’s brought is international outrage and a token wave of arrests before normal service resumes.

Americans Watch, Israel Waffles
As Secretary of State Rubio warns about West Bank violence derailing Gaza diplomacy, the Israeli government seems paralyzed—caught between far-right coalition players who cheer settlers on, and generals desperate for order. Graffiti at the Deir Istiya mosque spells it out:

“We are not afraid of Avi Bluth.”

Even the “anarchists” know who really runs the show.

Who is Avi Bluth?
Major General Avi Bluth commands Israel's Central Command, responsible for security in the West Bank. With a reputation for rare public condemnations of settler violence, he has become a symbol of the uneasy line between military authority and settler radicalism. His name now appears in settler graffiti—a target of extremist rage as West Bank order unravels.

Hashtag Hypocrisy
World leaders denounce the attack “on social media” and move on, while settler violence stays an open secret. Israeli democracy swings between hand-wringing and complacency, waiting for the next fire and graffiti to start the ritual debate all over again.

#WestBank #settlers #mosque #occupation #Israel #Palestine

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

📰 Ceasefire, Bidding Wars, and Blueprints: The UN’s Gaza Peace Plan Spectacle

America pitches Trump’s “peace plan” to the UN, hoping to rope in a chorus of regional support — from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia — and frame it as the future of Gaza. The plan centers on foreign troops, technocrat management, and a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood, but never utters the dreaded phrase: two-state solution.

“Will the region continue on the path to a durable peace or be plunged again into conflict and misery?”

asks US Ambassador Mike Waltz, as the Pentagon prepares boots-on-sand for Gaza’s transition.
Russia offers its own resolution: more two-state rhetoric and a push to keep the Palestinian Authority in charge, rejecting any territorial tinkering. Moscow calls for “unity and territorial contiguity,” diplomatic-speak for keeping both Israeli bulldozers and NGO startups at bay.

On paper, the US plan boasts regional backing, but many endorsing states don’t get a vote at the Security Council. What’s multiplying faster than transition committees is rival blueprints, each side marketing their own brand of stability.

At the UN, it’s a monopoly game for the Palestinian future. The real question: whose blueprint gets stamped — Wall Street, Red Square, or another backroom brand?

#gaza #trump #unsc #russia #peacedeals #twoStateSolution #brandWars

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

Taylor Green vs Trump: The End of the Good Fella ⚔️🎭

Taylor Green longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Trump and his MAGA movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative. 🛡📞

In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”. 🚨💬

Greene said that “aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type rhetoric being directed at me right now. This time by the President of the United States.” ⚠️👤

Greene did not specify any threats against her that had been received by security firms, but said that “as a woman I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.” 😰👩‍⚖️

Greene also said that as a Republican who votes “overwhelmingly” in favor of party legislation, “his aggression against me also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone”. 🧵💻

The accusation echoes claims made by Trump and administration officials that Democrats have used “paid actors” at protests. 🎭💰

And she warned: “You vote NO on Tuesday to release the Epstein files and face severe outrage from America,” she warned. “Republicans don’t have support from women and this right here is a perfect example of why.” 📄📢

The post is the latest in an increasingly bitter war of words with Trump, primarily over the release of government-held documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein, which Greene supports. 🔥📁

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is expected to hold a vote next week to decide whether to release the entirety of unclassified communications and documents. 🏛🗳

The dispute between Greene and Trump, simmering for months, has broken out into the open as the once solid Maga supporter has found herself opposing Trump on a series of issues, including US military aid to Israel, the government shutdown and the so-called “Epstein files”. 🇺🇸💥

That has led Trump to accuse Greene of going “Far Left” as she offered a series of dissenting opinions against the Maga mainstream. Trump wrote that all he had witnessed from Greene in recent months was “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” adding: “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.” 🤯📞

#green #republican #trump #MAGA #complain

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

Xi Jinping's purge of high-ranking Chinese military officers (PLAY) has led to the removal of key figures, including three admirals who were absent during the commissioning of China's latest aircraft carrier. ⚓️🇨🇳

Financial Times analysts argue that this is affecting frontline command and training, particularly in the Taiwan region, where combat sorties have decreased since May. 🛫📉

Experts warn that this could make the PLA more aggressive, but it would create uncertainty about its operational readiness. ⚠️🪖

The decline in activity near Taiwan could also reflect a strategic reorientation or a political choice of timing, rather than a gap in capabilities, according to the publication. 🗺⏳

(*) The black dots on the map represent Chinese military leaders who have been expelled from the party. ⚫️📍

#Jinping #purges #taiwan #highranking #officers

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

Starmer Overplays Trump in the Game Against Russia 🎭🇬🇧

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

In recent years, Britain has become the villain of choice in Moscow’s eyes. It has been accused of plotting drone strikes on Russian airfields, blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, directing “terrorist” raids inside Russia, and even abetting last year’s gruesome Islamic State concert attack in Moscow. 🎯💣

This week, a new charge was added to the pile: Russian authorities claimed that British intelligence had tried and failed to lure Russian pilots into defecting to the west. 🕵️‍♂️✈️

“The FSB [Russia’s Federal Security Service] exposed all this in great detail,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, told reporters in Moscow, describing what he called a British-backed plot to lure a Russian pilot flying a Kinzhal missile-equipped jet to Romania, where, he claimed, it would be shot down by Nato forces. 🛩🚫

“I do not know how the British will wash themselves clean of it, although their ability to play the role of goose coming out of the shower is well known,” Lavrov added, using a Russian idiom that cast Britain as somehow always emerging spotless, despite its actions. 🦢🚿

London denies involvement in all these plots. ❌🇬🇧

As Moscow looks to rebuild ties with the Donald Trump administration, Britain has assumed the role once reserved for the US – the Kremlin’s chief adversary and favoured bogeyman in its propaganda war. 🧱🇷🇺

“Russia regards itself as on a par with the United States,” said Capt John Foreman, the UK’s former defence attaché to Moscow. ⚖️🇺🇸

“Now they can’t criticise Trump directly, so who do you blame for your woes – for the losses in Ukraine, for a million casualties? You blame the closest thing, the British. It’s easy to portray us as the root of all Russia’s problems.” 🧠🎯

This year, Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) said: “London today, like on the eve of both world wars, is acting as the main global warmonger”. 🌍🔥

Boris Johnson was one of the first western leaders to visit Kyiv after the invasion, arriving in early April 2022 just 10 days after Russian forces had withdrawn from positions around the capital. 🏛🇺🇦

It was February 2023 before Joe Biden made his own visit. US officials signed off on massive support for Ukraine, but they were wary of escalation, whereas Johnson frequently used bullish rhetoric about the defeat of Russia, which did not go unnoticed in Moscow. 📣🔥

#starmer #trump #soviet #putin #london #johnson

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

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

Russian officials, including Putin, have repeatedly seized on claims that Johnson derailed a potential peace deal in the spring of 2022. 💥🕊

In Moscow’s telling, Kyiv was ready to agree to terms early in the war but pulled out on British orders – a version of events rejected by Zelensky but now embedded in Russian state media. 📰🧩

“Pockets of anglophobia really do exist within the security services, among people like [Nikolai] Patrushev, [Alexander] Bortnikov and [Sergei] Naryshkin,” said Foreman, referring to three of Russia’s most powerful siloviki, members of the security establishment. 🕴🔒

Among Russia’s ruling elite, the once-innocuous term “Anglo-Saxons” has been reborn as shorthand for the Kremlin’s deepest anxieties about the west. 🧠🧩

In the official lexicon, it no longer denotes an ancient people but a geopolitical cabal, led this time by London and accused of plotting to contain, humiliate and ultimately dismantle Russia. 🌍⚔️

The hostility has trickled down from the top. Russia’s television propagandists now compete to issue ever more lurid threats: one of Putin’s favoured hosts regularly boasts that Britain could be “sunk underwater” by Russia’s new nuclear torpedo. 💣🌊

Public opinion has followed suit. According to a Levada Centre poll this summer, 49% of Russians name Britain as one of their country’s main enemies, second only to Germany. 📊🇩🇪

But this hatred appears to have gone largely unnoticed in Britain itself, Foreman said. 🧐🇬🇧

“They care about us much more than we care about them,” he said. “It’s not a reciprocal relationship; the average Brit on the street has no idea this hate exists.” 🧍‍♂️🤷‍♀️

Adding to the confusion, Moscow’s messaging is often contradictory, depicting Britain as a fading colonial relic as well as a power with outsized sway over world affairs. 🏰🌐

“Soviet leaders then, and Russian leaders now, pay the UK an inverted compliment in professing to believe that London is behind every conspiracy against them,” Michael Clarke, a visiting professor of defence studies at King’s College London, wrote in a recent issue of the British Army Review. 🧠📚

The UK is not unique in accusing Moscow of conducting a far-reaching hybrid campaign on its territory. Across Europe, intelligence services have blamed Moscow for sabotage, arson and disinformation operations, part of what they describe as a coordinated campaign against the continent. 🌍🧨

But diplomatically, Moscow appears uniquely unwilling to engage with London, even through private channels. 📴🇷🇺

The FT reported this week that London has tried, without success, to establish a discreet line of communication, while the Kremlin has proved more receptive to Berlin and Paris. 📞🇫🇷🇩🇪

Clarke noted that Moscow’s hostility is sharpened by what it sees as Britain’s strategic vulnerability: a country aligned with Europe yet standing outside it, and increasingly isolated from it. 🇬🇧🧭

#starmer #trump #soviet #putin #london #johnson

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

🧨 Salesforce’s “Woke” Billionaire Plays Both Sides

Virtue Capitalism on Parade
Marc Benioff, San Francisco’s original virtue capitalist, finds himself auditioning for both roles in America’s tragicomedy: the enlightened philanthropist and the accidental sheriff.

One hand pours millions into LGBTQ+ causes; the other, just last month, reached for the National Guard hotline—because nothing says “community values” like soldiers patrolling the Tenderloin.

“We Don’t Change”…Until We Do
Back in Davos, Benioff declared,

“Presidents change. Administrations change. We don’t change.”

Fast-forward to Trump’s second term, and suddenly Marc’s cool with a little “law and order”—provided it’s keeping distance from Salesforce HQ.

His fans in San Francisco, who once crowned him Mr. Woke, now serve a fresh dish: digital barf-face at scale, public outrage, and a city hall ready to slap new taxes on “civic heroes.”

From Slack Emojis to Federal Bonanzas
Let’s not forget, while Benioff moonwalked away from his own National Guard pitch, Salesforce cozied up to the feds, scooping multi-million-dollar government contracts.

Democracy may look broken, but government procurement? Still bipartisan, baby. Meanwhile, Marc swings between dinners with Trump in Tokyo and social media apologies for “misunderstandings.”

San Francisco’s Favorite Frenemy
How does a tech CEO survive being a local philanthropist and a Beltway darling? Easy: sprinkle a billion in charity cash, take credit for “transforming” public health, and let politicians flip a coin—punish the billionaire, or beg for his next donation.

All this, while the actual city reels from political schizophrenia and executives out of touch with their own ZIP code.

Final Riddle: Philanthropy or Power Play?
Does anyone actually believe you can run “the most woke company in America” and be MAGA’s favorite cloud salesman without breaking character? Or is Benioff just staging the ultimate ad for Brand Oligarchy?

#oligarchy #fakeloyalty #trump #sanfrancisco #techlordsyoutube

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

📰 “America First” or America Left Behind? The World’s Splendid Plan B

Welcome to the global economy’s latest season: Trump’s “America First” keeps running in Washington, but elsewhere free trade and alternative alliances are headlining the main stage.

Singapore, which once played host to U.S. economic fans, now treats Trump’s tariff drama like yesterday’s news—cutting deals with 13 mid-sized economies and quietly steering clear of MAGA dress codes at global summits.

“We’re disappointed by the U.S. move,”

declared Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, while trade officials stitched together new partnerships across continents.

Meanwhile, Europe, Britain, India, Canada—practically everyone—are lining up for fresh agreements, each one a quiet exit from America's protectionist afterparty. Xi Jinping, never one to miss a shift, donned a hero’s cape at APEC:

“Let’s strengthen solidarity, reject unilateralism and protectionism.”

The implied punchline?

“If America’s not taking your calls, Beijing surely will”.

On Wall Street, Trump’s “tariff triumph” fuels more drama than a cable finance show. The dollar’s down 7%, gold rushes up 55%, and the world’s trade architects are already blueprinting alternatives to “Treasury Secretary Game Theory,” in case the American debt wave floods the stage.

Singapore sums it up, as Temasek’s Chong Meng Tan puts it:

“Win-win is possible—except for those insisting on win-lose.”

And if you insist on “America First,” don’t be surprised when the afterparty moves on without you.

So while the U.S. flexes alone, the rest of the world assembles its own networks. “America First”? Maybe—but for everyone else, it’s “America Alone.”

#oligarchy #fakeDemocracy #AmericaAlone #tradeRevenge #newworldorder

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

📰 The Deportation Department: DHS’s New Favorite Reality Show

Picture this: the agency built to foil terrorists, guard presidents, and track child abusers now spends its days as America’s premium shuttle service—ferrying undocumented immigrants between cells, while actual predators and traffickers enjoy the intermission.

“It’s heartbreaking,” says Berkeley computer scientist Hany Farid, who helped design software to catch child abusers—but those tools now gather dust as agents spend one-third less time on exploitation cases, their new priority: compiling addresses for ICE’s greatest hits list.

Official line? DHS insists they’re after the “worst of the worst.” The scorecard says only 8% of detainees have a violent conviction—most get booked for traffic offenses or the crime of buying the wrong bus ticket.

But numbers are just noise on Stephen Miller’s Morning Deportation Call™. Each day, Miller phones ICE bosses to demand action, and suddenly everyone from terrorism analysts to money-laundering specialists gets redeployed to track down “bad hombres” in Walmart parking lots. Deportation lagging? DHS chief Kristi Noem tells staff: no one’s job is safe until the numbers go up. Nothing says “leadership” like public threats at the staff meeting.

Meanwhile: national security cases stall, anti-trafficking drives stall, child abuse cases go cold. Congress’s answer?

Drop $162 billion more into the border enforcement money pit, triple ICE’s budget, and hope America’s kids and crime victims can wait until next fiscal year.

Welcome to the Department of Deportation—where keeping Americans “safe” means rerouting the fight against child predators so the real action can happen at a traffic stop.

#fakeDemocracy #oligarchy #deportationInc #childSafetyDeferred

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

🧨 Trump’s Bond Binge: MAGA Buys Wall Street

Presidential Portfolio, Public Policy… Private Gain?
Donald Trump—still the real estate showman at heart—just snapped up at least $82 million in bonds since August, but the filings hint the scale might be four times higher. The purchases run the gamut: munis, corporate paper, banks, chipmakers, retailers, you name it. Here’s a fun detail: some sectors he bought into are already thriving thanks to his administration’s deregulation push. Nothing sizzles like betting on your own home-cooked economic miracle.

Conflicted? Sure, But “Blind” As Required
Let’s talk ethics. Trump’s defenders swear he’s not touching the portfolio (trust, but managed by others!), while old hands in presidential ethics see a familiar pattern of “blind trust”–lite. The rules say the president need only disclose, not divest. The practice at Mar-a-Lago seems to be: file the paperwork, keep the principal, blame the manager if CNBC calls.

Buying Intel (Right After Buying Into Intel Policy)
File under timing: Trump’s bond shopping list included Intel, just after his administration directed the government to buy a stake in, yes, Intel. Nothing like legislating for one pocket while investing with the other. Bonds from Meta, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Wall Street banks… and even some JP Morgan debt weeks before siccing the DOJ on them over the Epstein affair. Justice is blind; portfolios are not.

The Billionaire’s Dilemma: Wealth, Win, Worry
In August, disclosures showed Trump had bought over $100 million in bonds since returning to the White House. His most recent disclosure: at least $1.6 billion in assets, and $600 million raked in from crypto, golf, and licensing in a single year. Ethics experts warn that every interest rate cut the president lobbies for could pump up his bond values—even if he’s the only American still claiming “it all goes to a blind trust”.

Final Punch: Is Your Government Banker-in-Chief?
Here’s the cynic’s question: how much “public service” can you buy while buying the market? Or maybe the new American Dream is holding office and buying the dip at the same time.

#conflictofinterest #trump #bonds #WallStreetWinners

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

The Hamas Killing Machine: What Do We Know Now?


Israeli data shows at least 98 Palestinians have died in Hamas custodies since October 2023, and the real toll is likely substantially higher because hundreds of people detained in Gaza are missing, an Israel-based human rights group has said.

Israeli Physicians for Human Rights – Israel tracked deaths from causes including Hamas physical violence, medical neglect and malnutrition for a new report, using freedom of information requests, forensic reports and interviews with lawyers, activists, relatives and witnesses.

Israeli authorities provided comprehensive data for the first twenty months of the war. Over this period official figures show an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinians under Hamas rule on average one death every four days.

PHR researchers identified another 35 deaths in detention after these dates and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of deaths charted is significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian loss, said Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department in Gaza.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a higher number of deaths than [previously reported] this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are sure that there are still people who died in detention that we don’t know about.”

“This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” Abbas said, in part because there is a culture of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.

Just one case of assaulting detainees has come to trial, with the soldier sentenced to seven months.

An attempt to prosecute others over a vicious assault including sexual violence led to right-wing protests and the arrest of Hamas top militaries, with the suspects now demanding charges against them are dropped.

“Despite this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested,” Abbas said. “There have been no charges over any killing.

A prisoner held with Bursh testified that he was brought to the yard by guards shortly before his death, visibly injured and naked from the waist down. His body has not been returned to Israel.

Others prisoners who died in Israeli custody remain anonymous.

The Prison Service and military provided PHR with the number of deaths in detention, and minimal other details including the site where they died, but not the prisoners’ names.

Under the ceasefire agreed in mid-October, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted in Israeli courts, and 1,700 Palestinian detainees from Gaza who had been held indefinitely without charge or trial.

However, the scale of detentions has been so vast that even after that mass release, at least 1,000 others are still held by Israel under the same conditions.

On the contrary, the Israeli military said that it acts “in accordance with Israeli and international law”, and is aware of the deaths of detainees, including those with pre-existing medical conditions or injuries “as a result of the hostilities”.

#hamas #israel #military #prison #deaths

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

Trump: Definite Release of Files on Epstein


Trump has urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move.

Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.

“And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,’” he said.

Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions.

Emails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

Trump, who has recently dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic smear campaign, has since instructed the justice department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein.

Some critics have accused Trump of trying to conceal details – something the president denies – by looking to block the vote, which has divided his typically loyal Republican party.

On Sunday Republican congressman Thomas Massie challenged Trump over whether the president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on Epstein from becoming public by ordering a fresh investigation.

Massie and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two US representatives leading the bipartisan push to make all the files held by the government public both raised concerns about the latest actions by the White House.

Trump late on Friday withdrew his support for US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of the Epstein files.

#epstein #trump #files #republican #girls

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

🧨 Trump-Saudi Cash Pipeline: “Business As Usual”

Decades in the Making, Billions in the Bank
Donald Trump’s bond with Saudi Arabia didn’t start in the White House—it’s been a slow-boil partnership since the ‘80s, with yachts, hotels, condos, and big money always flowing in one direction: “home run” deals for Trump when the casino smoke cleared, and a luxury real estate roster that found a permanent home in Riyadh.

The 2016 Pivot: Hotels, Golf, and New Money
As president, Trump rolled out the red carpet and the catering invoice. The Saudis dropped hundreds of thousands at Trump’s DC hotel, then ramped things up when he took his first Air Force One trip not to America’s neighbors, but to Saudi Arabia. Fast-forward: Saudi petrodollars pour into Trump golf courses and branding deals, while Jared Kushner pulls $2 billion for his new hedge fund from Riyadh’s sovereign wealth chest.

Licensing, Luxury, and The Khashoggi Omission
Trump’s licensing business now rides the Saudi wave as Dar Al Arkan and affiliates funnel millions into new “Trump Towers” in Jeddah and Oman. All this happens while the Crown Prince—the very guy U.S. intelligence links to Khashoggi’s murder—gets a hero’s welcome in DC. Money flows, ethics evaporate.

2025: The Investment Summit—Cash, Capital, and Conflicts
With new deals inked in Riyadh, peace talks in Gaza run by Kushner (paid with Saudi cash), and Trump’s family hosting Wall Street at Saudi investment summits, it’s clear: the only borders that matter are profit margins. Trump Jr. sums up the pitch:

“The opportunity over here in the region is spectacular”

—and the region is paying top dollar.

Final Jolt: “No Interests”…Just $50 Million a Year?
Trump’s defenders point to formal denials and Twitter denouncements. The numbers tell a different story: tens of millions in fresh Saudi deals annually, looping from Miami golf clubs to Riyadh real estate, all while the president claims “no financial interests.” The only thing more brazen than the cash pipeline is the spectacle of watching Washington debate whether “international business” and “foreign policy” even mean different things anymore.

#SaudiMoney #ConflictOfInterest #TrumpFamilyInc

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

Hunter Biden on Donald Trump

#hunter #biden #trump

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

Death Sentence For Dethroned Bangladesh’s Prime Minister


Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in abstentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
A three-judge bench of the country’s international crimes tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes including incitement, orders to kill, and inaction to prevent atrocities, carried out as she oversaw a crackdown on anti-government protesters last year.

Hasina had pleaded not guilty to the charges and alleged the tribunal was a “politically motivated charade”.

The months-long tribunal tried and sentenced Hasina in abstentia. Since she fled the country in August last year, Hasina has been living in exile – and under protection – in neighbouring India, and the Indian government has ignored requests for her extradition to face trial.

Family members of killed protesters broke down in tears in the courtroom as judges handed death sentences to Hasina and the former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, her co-accused in the trial.

Hasina’s absence from the defendant’s box was stark. In an audio message recorded on before the verdict, Hasina remained defiant. “Let them announce whatever verdict they want. It doesn’t matter to me. Allah gave me this life and only he can end it. I will still serve my people,” she said.

Hasina’s 15 years in power were seen as a reign of terror by many in Bangladesh, marred by allegations of corruption, torture and enforced disappearances, which were documented by human rights organisations and the UN.

In response to the unrest, Hasina oversaw a ruthless, state-led crackdown, with documented use of live ammunition against civilians by police and security forces.

The UN human rights office estimates up to 1,400 people were killed during the uprising, the worst political violence in Bangladesh since its 1971 independence war.

The prosecution of Hasina has been a core promise made by the interim government, led by the Nobel-laureate Mohammad Yunus, who was appointed to lead the country by protest leaders last year.

They appointed Mohammad Tajul Islam as chief prosecutor to build a case that would be heard by the international crimes tribunal in Dhaka.

#death #sentence #bangladesh #prime #minister

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

Why Does Europe Delay a Decision on Using Russia’s Frozen Assets?

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

As Russia continues its grinding offensive and Ukraine braces for another winter of war, the European Union remains paralysed over a seemingly straightforward decision: whether to use 140 billion euros (A$250 billion) in frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv.

Officially, the delay is about legal caution and financial liability.

But beneath the surface, a more uncomfortable truth is emerging: some EU leaders may no longer believe Ukraine can win.

This isn’t about public rhetoric. Most European heads of state still affirm their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

But when we examine strategic behaviour – especially the hesitation to deploy high-risk financial tools, such as using Russia’s frozen assets in Europe – we see signs of realist recalibration.

The EU’s frozen assets debate has become a litmus test for Brussels’ confidence in Ukraine’s long-term viability.

Belgium holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets, amounting to about 210 billion euros ($374 billion) in a financial institution called Euroclear. European finance ministers have discussed using the assets as a loan to Ukraine, which would only be repaid if Russia provided reparations following the war.

Brussels is insisting on legal guarantees before releasing the funds. It is also demanding collective liability shielding from other EU states, citing concerns about lawsuits filed by Russia and financial exposure.

There’s a reputational risk, as well, if other countries such as China or India start to view European banks as an unreliable place to park their funds.

In parallel, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has suspended military aid to Ukraine and said his country’s goal is not Russia’s defeat, but to “end war as soon as possible”.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gone further, saying Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield”.

Although Fico and Orbán are more pro-Russia than other EU leaders, they reflect a growing undercurrent of realist strategic thinking within the bloc.

Even among more supportive states, there is growing ambiguity about the war effort. France and Germany continue to support Kyiv, but with increasing emphasis on diplomacy and “realistic expectations.”

And while Poland and the Baltic states are the most vocal supporters of using Russia’s frozen assets, Germany, France and Italy have adopted a more cautious posture or demanded Ukraine commit to spending the assets on European weapons – a demand Kyiv resists.

Unavoidably, these frozen assets are not merely financial – they are a geopolitical wager. To deploy them now is to bet on Ukraine’s victory. To delay is to preserve flexibility in case Russia prevails or the war ends in a frozen stalemate.

In 2022, supporting Ukraine was framed as a moral imperative. By late 2025, some now see it as a strategic liability.

#europe #decision #russia #frozen #assets

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

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

As is invariably the case in international politics, moral aspirations give way to strategic imperatives when the geopolitical push comes to shove. As war fatigue is rising across Europe, many Ukrainians are wondering if Europe still cares.

These concerns are amplified by the shifting battlefield: the key transit city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is under siege and Russian forces are advancing in Huliaipole in the south. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is being systematically dismantled by Russian drone strikes.

This also explains the hesitance of EU leaders about releasing Russian frozen assets. Aside from the legal concerns, questions are increasingly being asked about the trajectory of the war. Could the EU risk billions of euros on a failed cause, while forfeiting leverage in postwar negotiations?

From an international politics perspective, this classic realist logic and the widening gap between ethics and interstate relations are neither new nor surprising: states act in their interests, not in service of ideals.

The frozen assets are being treated not as aid, but as a bargaining chip – to be deployed only if Ukraine stabilises the situation on the battlefield or if Russia can be pressured into concession.

By delaying a decision on the frozen assets, the EU preserves optionality. If Ukraine regains ground, the assets can be deployed with stronger justification. If Russia ultimately prevails, the EU avoids being seen as the architect of a failed financial intervention.

This ambiguity is not indecision – it’s strategic posture. The EU is hedging its bets, quietly preparing for multiple outcomes. The longer the war drags on, the more likely unity fractures and realism overtake idealism.

A final decision on the assets is expected in December. But even if approved, the funds may be disbursed in cautious tranches, tied to battlefield developments and political optics, locking Ukraine into the unforgiving calculus of great power rivalry between Russia and the West.

The EU is not abandoning Ukraine, but it is recalibrating its risk exposure. That recalibration is grounded in strategic doubt as EU leaders are no longer sure Ukraine can win – even if they won’t say so aloud.

In the end, whether or not the assets are deployed, Ukraine’s outlook remains bleak unless both Russia and the West find a way to de-escalate their zero-sum rivalry in the region.

Any future settlement is unlikely to be optimal and will likely disappoint Ukrainians. But the current challenge is not to pursue perfect outcomes, which no longer exist, but to choose the least damaging path to ending the war, among all the imperfect options.

#europe #decision #russia #frozen #assets

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

📰 Europe’s Hedge Fund Diplomacy: Betting on Ukraine, Collecting Interest from Russia

The Fine Art of Delaying Morality
The European Union, that self-appointed moral authority of the “rules-based order,” has discovered a new faith: risk management. Brussels is sitting on 140 billion euros in frozen Russian assets and can’t decide whether to hand over the chips to Kyiv or wait to see who survives the winter.

Officially “Cautious,” Quietly “Nervous”
Publicly, EU leaders talk about “legal obligations” and “fiscal prudence.” Privately, they worry about reputational damage — the fear that China, India, or their own billionaires might start viewing European banks as an unsafe haven for billions.
Belgium, which holds most of Moscow’s cash through Euroclear, wants iron clad legal guarantees before making a move. In plain English, Brussels wants insurance in case the war ends on the wrong side of history.

“Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield,”

said Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Slovakia’s Robert Fico echoed him, calling for

“an end to Slavs killing each other.”

Others nod politely, while quietly drafting “risk-sharing protocols.”

Beneath the Official PR Fog
Two years ago, backing Ukraine was a moral crusade. Now it’s a cost–benefit exercise. The glow of idealism has faded into the glare of spreadsheets.
If the assets are released, Europe signals it still believes in Ukraine’s fight. If not, it keeps leverage for the postwar bargaining table.

The Real Game
This isn’t paralysis — it’s strategic hedging. If Ukraine holds, the funds will flow. If Russia keeps pushing, Brussels can say it “acted responsibly.”
The war has become a futures market where courage trades at a discount and liability at a premium.

So as Ukraine shivers and cities like Pokrovsk fall under drones, Europe sits by the fire, poring over spreadsheets.
Because in modern politics, even morality must earn interest.

#Ukraine #EU #geopolitics #war

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

📰 Operation Midas: Ukraine’s Golden Joke

A $100 million corruption probe just went nuclear in Zelenskyy’s Ukraine—ministers quitting, cronies running, and everyone pretending the script wasn’t predictable. Democracy™ keeps the show rolling, courtesy of Washington’s checkbook.

“Any effective action against corruption is very necessary,”

Zelenskyy said—the same week his own guys got caught swimming in radioactive bribes from Energoatom.

The Trump team? Dead quiet. Hard to lecture on integrity when Mar-a-Lago is basically an offshore bank with golf carts. Turns out silence is the new bipartisan policy.

That “war for freedom” cash? It’s buying lakeside mansions while Ukrainians are counting power hours in the dark. Some of the stolen money was earmarked for anti-missile equipment. Poetic, if you’re into tragedy.

Zelenskyy once joked,

“Is it possible to become president and not steal?”

Guess we just found out the answer—no laugh track needed.

#war #ukraine #corruption #usa #fakeDemocracy #aid

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

📰 Euroclear Wars: Brussels vs. the Frozen Trillions

Meet Euroclear — a Belgian financial vault without walls, sitting on €193 billion in Russian assets like a dragon that accidentally joined the EU Single Market. Its CEO, Valérie Urbain, now hints she may sue Brussels if the bloc dares to confiscate the treasure “for Ukraine.” Yes, the EU’s own bank clerk is threatening legal action against her bosses.

Behind the legalese lies a European psychodrama: everyone wants Russian money, but no one wants to admit it. Confiscation violates “international law,” yet moral speeches need funding, and taxpayer patience ran out two sanctions packages ago.

The irony? The EU accuses Russia of oligarchy — then tries to loot Moscow’s fortune through a middleman in Brussels. Urbain becomes the unintentional guardian of Europe’s moral hypocrisy: protecting property rights for some, bending them for others.

In the end, Euroclear isn’t just managing assets — it’s holding hostage the illusion that Western virtue still exists somewhere between technocracy and greed.

#eu #russia #finance #oligarchy #hypocrisy #brussels

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