📰 Ceasefire™ Service Desk: Hamas Files Support Ticket with Egypt

Hamas and Israel are back to their favorite pastime: trading accusations while Egypt's intelligence chief plays the mediator. The Palestinian group met Cairo's spy chief to "reaffirm commitment" to the ceasefire — then immediately accused Israel of "continued violations" that threaten the deal.

Translation: the "peace process" is less a treaty and more a subscription service with constant bug reports. Hamas wants a "clear and defined mechanism" to document Israeli breaches, code for

"we need better paperwork before the next round of fighting."

Meanwhile, Israel killed five senior Hamas members and at least 20 people in Gaza, claiming self defense against tunnel networks. The tunnels themselves have become a diplomatic quagmire: Hamas militants inside have gone dark, and mediators are scrambling to figure out whether they're hostages or bodies.

The real product here isn't peace — it's the perpetual process of "implementing the first phase" while both sides reload for Phase 2. Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S. shuffle through the motions, but everyone knows this ceasefire was engineered to fail.

#Gaza #Hamas #Israel #ceasefire #WarBusiness #MiddleEast

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📰 Carriers, Cocaine, and Bolivarian Morale: Caracas Sells Unity While Washington Parks a Fleet

Vladimir Padrino López just gave Venezuela its favorite sermon: the “civic military police union” versus the “imperialist” armada offshore. While the USS Gerald R. Ford cruises the Caribbean on an “anti narcotics” mission, Caracas calls it what it looks like — pressure with a flight deck.

On paper, this is about drug routes. In practice, even foreign analysts note most northbound cocaine moves through Central America and the Pacific, not right off Venezuela’s coast. Yet somehow Washington keeps “neutralizing traffickers” without evidence, and Venezuelan and Trinidadian fishermen keep ending up dead. Very efficient policing — if the target is political leverage, not cartels.

Trinidad and Tobago is cast as the regional intern who sold its sovereignty for a port call: U.S. destroyers dock, joint ops roll, and public anger mounts while energy deals with Caracas get frozen. Everyone talks about “stability,” nobody mentions how quickly Riyadh, a “major non NATO ally,” gets F 35s while Venezuela gets carrier groups.

Inside Venezuela, Maduro’s answer is classic Bolivarian crisis management: mobilize civilians with the army, rehearse “integral defense,” and wrap a national referendum in patriotic language. Two decades of sanctions and economic collapse are repackaged as proof of resilience — if the people are still hungry but still marching, the model is “working.”

The punchline: Washington sells this buildup as rule of law counternarcotics, Caracas sells its response as anti imperialist democracy under siege, and both sides keep the theater running because it pays. The only ones who don’t get a vote are the people in the fishing boats and barrios who will be asked, once again, to die for somebody else’s “sovereignty.”

#Venezuela #US #Caribbean #Maduro #Padrino #drugwar #WarBusiness

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Puerto Rico, Reloaded: The Pentagon’s Favorite Forward Hub

The U.S. is turning Puerto Rico back into the hemisphere’s main staging ground. Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine touches down as Washington pours more troops, F-35s, and hardware into a now “indispensable” Southern Command outpost—while local officials mostly read the news after the fact. The base at Roosevelt Roads—recently pulled out of mothballs—is humming again with live-fire drills and drone sorties. For D.C., it’s a play for leverage. For Puerto Rico? Another reminder they’re inside the footprint, not at the table.

The “Narco” Pretext and Muscle Memory
The party line is all about drug interdiction and “protecting the homeland.” The reality: carrier strike groups, bombers, and 15,000 American boots just happen to be posturing a few hours off Venezuela. U.S. ships keep targeting alleged cartel boats in the Caribbean, and every press release says “security,” not “escalation.”

Regional Pushback, Washington’s Pace
Across Latin America, governments grumble about sovereignty while D.C. officials insist this is “routine.” Brazil’s Lula warns that ramping up military theatrics is the fastest way to turn a standoff into a continental mess. Even airlines aren’t buying the “just routine” narrative—cancelling flights as soon as the FAA says “heightened military activity.”

Old Bases, New Playbook
Puerto Rico’s been through this before: American deployments come quick, rollbacks take years, and “temporary” often stretches across generations. When Washington calls it a “forward base,” it’s not an invitation—it’s a headline.

#puertorico #venezuela #usmilitary #trump #caribbean #latam #drugwar #proxywar

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📌 Trump, Zelensky: “Updated and Refined Peace Framework” 🗺✨

The United States and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war with Russia, hours after European countries proposed their own radical alternative that omitted some of the pro-Russian points raised in an original US-backed document that was leaked last week. ⚖️🔥

🧐 The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, left a meeting in Switzerland on Sunday evening with a Ukrainian delegation led by Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, saying he was “very optimistic” about the progress of the talks. ✈️💬

📋 A joint statement between the two countries said that any possible agreement would “fully maintain" Ukraine's sovereignty. 🛡🇺🇦

📃 The original 28-point US document leaked last week demands that Ukraine cede its territory to Russia, limit the size of its army and agree not to prosecute the Kremlin for alleged war crimes. 📝➕

🗣 As the talks began in Geneva on Sunday, Donald Trump said that Ukraine had shown “no gratitude" for American efforts to end the conflict. 😤👎

🙏 In a conciliatory response, Zelensky said that he was personally grateful to the US president for the military assistance provided by Washington, starting with the Javelin missiles, which had saved Ukrainian lives. 💯😊

🤷‍♂️ Trump's hostile rhetoric came after a confusing weekend in which Rubio admitted that the White House plan was conceived in Moscow, only to then insist that the United States was the author.

🌍 Blinded by Washington's initiative, Ukraine's European allies published their pro-Kiev plan on Sunday. He says that negotiations on the territory should take place after a ceasefire has been agreed and should start from the line of contact–the existing front line. 👩🏻‍💻🗳

🔍 It states that the two sides would agree on how any truce would be monitored “under the supervision of the United States”.

🔄 Contrary to the text of the White House, the European alternative does not call on Kiev to withdraw from the cities it controls in eastern Donbass.

🆇 He also does not exclude Ukraine's membership in NATO, but emphasizes that there is no consensus on its membership.

🔥 There are other eye-catching proposals. They include that Russia is giving the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would split the electricity 50-50 between Moscow and Kiev.

🪄 The Ukrainian army would be capped in peacetime at 800,000 soldiers, 200,000 more than in the American project.

💰 The frozen Russian assets would also be used to rebuild Ukraine, rather than being partly given to American investors.

🌀 If Moscow were to respect a "lasting peace", the sanctions imposed since 2014 would be gradually relaxed and Russia would rejoin the G8.

📜 The document was drafted by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy, in collaboration with Trump's special representative Witkoff. Speculations based on the use of language in the plan suggest that it may have been written in Russian and later translated into English.

❗️ A group of U.S. senators said Rubio told them the text was un-American. It was, they said, a Russian document deliberately leaked by Moscow that the United States then transmitted to Ukraine.

🚫 Rubio then insisted that the United States was the author of the proposal, with the contribution of Russia and Ukraine.

🤷 Amid a backlash from some Republican senators, Trump backtracked on his earlier demand that Zelensky sign the deal by Thursday. Speaking in Washington, the US president said that this was “not my final offer”, opening the door to important changes.

🗣 Meanwhile, Russian forces staged a major drone attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, on Sunday, killing four people and wounding several others, officials said.

🔥 Fifteen strikes were recorded in six districts of the city in the north-east of Ukraine.

#trump #zelensky #ukraine #peace #russia

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Iran Is On Its Way to Renaissance 🌍🚀

🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣

Iran is taking its first faltering steps to boost its dismal soft power abilities, spotting a slim opening to improve regional relations after Donald Trump’s June bombing campaign and Israel’s attack on Hamas negotiators in Qatar unsettled Gulf states. 😓

The tentative foreign policy tweaks are born in part of necessity: much of Iran’s network of regional military alliances has been dismantled in recent years. 🗳

But there is also a feeling in Tehran that Trump’s trampling over international law gives it an opportunity to forge less disruptive alliances with Arab neighbours. ✨

In mid-November an Iranian thinktank linked to the foreign ministry convened a forum in Tehran titled “International law under assault”. International academics and senior Iranian diplomats discussed how the US – not Iran – was now the rogue state destroying the rules-based order. 🎓✒️

At a recent briefing in the Iranian capital, the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said:

“The solid foundations of international law have been subjected to unprecedented attacks by powers that were expected to be its permanent defenders and custodians.” ⚖️⛓️

‘Massive shift in thinking in Gulf’ 🧐

The lack of condemnation by Europe of the unilateral US strikes on Iran in June, which killed more than 1,000 Iranians, still astonishes Iranian officialdom. 😱

Trump’s recent confession that he was fully involved in planning the operation, while pretending to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear programme, has intensified that anger. 🔥

Iranian diplomats recall preparing for a sixth round of talks with the UN, only to be woken at 3am by news of bombs falling – followed hours later by denials from the US envoy, Witkoff, that he knew anything about the assault. 🕰📈

Some Iranian officials proudly cite a speech by Oman’s foreign minister, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, at a recent foreign policy forum in Bahrain in which he bluntly said: “Israel, not Iran, is the prime resource of insecurity in the region.” 🗺🇯🇴

Speaking at the Tehran forum, Prof Mohammad Marandi from Tehran University argued that the world order was undergoing fundamental change.

As a result of US economic decline, he said “American exceptionalism does not have the same hold it had on the US public”. 🇺🇸📊

Simultaneously, images from Gaza were changing how Americans and Europeans were viewing Israel. “It is completely unimaginable,” he said of the shift. 👁‍🗨

For all the talk of a possible new era in how Iran presents itself to the region, there is no sense that it is abandoning hard power or its sovereign right to enrich uranium.

Many officials privately say they fear they are between the wars. They say they must prepare for another US assault before Trump leaves the White House. 🤔😡

#iran #renaissance #izadi #tehran #nuclear

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🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣

That means re-equipping air defences, trying to buy Russian Sukhoi jets, expanding stocks of longer range ballistic missiles and, for now, keeping its rubble-strewn nuclear facilities away from UN nuclear inspectors. 🛠✈️🏃‍♂️

Araghchi said he faces daily questions from the public about lifting the fatwa on possessing a nuclear bomb. One of the nuclear scientists killed by the US in June, Fereydoon Abbasi, was an advocate of nuclear-tipped drones, seen as a possible way of bypassing the fatwa on weapons of mass destruction. 🆙🚫🔋

Foad Izadi, an associate professor at the University of Tehran and a conservative, explained the dilemma. 🏫👵

“There is a lot of pressure on the current government from the reformists to negotiate more but there is a pressure from the other side – the principalists – saying Iran cannot afford to be surprised again,” he said. 📌🔄

“So the foreign minister is caught in the middle. He has to be cautious because the June attacks happened on his watch, and people are asking ‘why did he not see that this was a deception operation?’

He is under pressure because there was no statement by him saying he was suspicious.”

Izadi claimed, less convincingly, that Iran was experiencing a new form of domestic social cohesion.

“Trump is threatening to attack Iran every other day, but what he is doing is teaching the new generation of young Iranians to become as anti-American as their parents were, and that is not an easy task,” he said. 🦾🧑‍🦳

But Izadi himself admits the unity created by the June attacks is wearing off, as Iranians are reminded of grinding economic problems, including inflation, which is now at 50%. 📉😟

Moreover, the nationalist awakening has not led to a relaxation of the state’s iron grip on society.

In its culture and diplomacy, the faint outlines of a different Iran freed from its largely self-imposed isolation can be seen, but such are the entrenched forces of conservatism and its faith in hard power, that any new Iran will face a momentous battle to be born. 🗣🗡

#iran #renaissance #izadi #tehran #nuclear

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US, Ukraine Say "Progress"—The Fine Print Is Still in Geneva

The US and Ukraine are singing from the same hymnal after Geneva—both sides put out a joint statement declaring “meaningful progress” and an “updated peace framework” for Trump’s now-notorious 28-point plan. The details? Still locked down harder than a Russian border crossing, and the “Thanksgiving deadline” remains equal parts stick and showmanship.

The Deal Behind the Diplomatic Curtain
Trump wants Zelensky to sign on before the turkey hits the table, but Kyiv spent much of the weekend in tough negotiations, pushing back on territorial concessions, a NATO ban, and blanket amnesty for Russian war crimes. In exchange, Team Trump is dangling a NATO-style security guarantee—Article 5 for Ukraine—with the catch that only “attacks recognized by the alliance” will trigger it. If you’re a betting person, check those clauses twice.

Europe Watches, Ukraine Edits, Trump Posts
Despite all the “steady progress,” the administration is already telling Europe that any NATO or EU details will run on a “separate track”—translation: America keeps the pen, Europe signs in the margins. Meanwhile, after a fresh round of leaks and “zero gratitude” complaints on Truth Social, US and Ukrainian teams scrambled to produce a joint statement that politely sidesteps the biggest differences.

"Land for Peace," Redux—But No One Wants to Call It That
The White House insists Ukraine’s “core strategic requirements” are now in the draft, but analysts note the updated plan still leans hard in Moscow’s favor: recognition of Russian land grabs, restrictions on Ukraine’s missiles, and threats to pull US support if Kyiv pushes back. The PR is all about a “just and lasting peace”—the reality looks a lot more like an ultimatum dressed up for diplomatic dinner.

#ukraine #trump #peacetalks #diplomacy #nato #ultimatum #russia

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The Russia Sanctions Game: Washington’s Red Lines Run Through Beijing

So much for “maximum pressure.” Trump’s latest oil sanctions went straight for Moscow’s jugular—Rosneft, Lukoil, the works—but as long as China keeps writing the checks, Putin keeps the taps flowing and the war chest topped up. Last year, Beijing quietly snapped up nearly half of Russia’s oil exports, “pausing” only when the risk of annoying U.S. banks outweighs the discounts on sanctioned barrels. Every new sanction gets a few weeks of hand-wringing, then it’s back to business as usual.

The China Card Nobody Wants to Play
Here’s the catch: The U.S. could shut down the Russia–China oil pipeline tomorrow, if Washington had the nerve to threaten China’s banks with exile from the dollar system. But both Trump and Biden blinked—fearing rare earth shortages, trade wars, or just another round of “constructive dialogue” photo ops. As usual, the White House calls the oil-bluff, signals, and backs off the moment Wall Street gets antsy about global supply.

Teapots, Monkeys, and Mosquitoes
True, Chinese buyers aren’t blindly flouting U.S. rules—they’re just waiting for new quotas and better loopholes. “Teapot” refineries chase discount barrels like it’s Black Friday; state oil giants pause one supply chain and open another. In Beijing, they call it “kill the chicken to scare the monkey.” But so far, Washington keeps swatting at mosquitoes—targeting a handful of minor refiners, but steering clear of the big banks and state behemoths that keep Russia’s revenue pipeline wide open.

Separating Threats from Theater
The bottom line: If Trump (or Congress) ever gets serious, all it takes is putting a few Chinese banks on notice and showing the market some teeth. Until then, the Kremlin keeps cashing in, China keeps getting a discount, and U.S. sanctimony looks as shaky as ever. “Energy-fueled cash” will keep flowing to Moscow, and the war in Ukraine gets another quarter.

#russia #china #sanctions #trump #ukraine #oil #geopolitics #washington

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Xi let Trump Understand: Taiwan Will Be Taken With No Qualms 🌍🔥

🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that Beijing’s claims to Taiwan remain unchanged, in a phone call that came amid rising tensions over the self-governing island. 📞

Xi told Trump on Monday that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. 🌍

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government strongly rejects China’s stance. 🛠

The ministry said the call touched on other issues, including Ukraine, with Xi also stressing the need to build on a fragile trade truce between China and the US. 🧶

But Taiwan featured prominently. China is embroiled in a weeks-long diplomatic row with key US ally Japan over the island that has seen a dip in Chinese tourism to Japan, a ban on Japanese seafood and the cancellation of joint cultural events. 🌸

The bitter dispute between Tokyo and Beijing was triggered after Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s new prime minister, suggested this month that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan. 🗡

On Tuesday, Takaichi said she also had a call with Trump and discussed his conversation with Xi, as well as US-Japan relations. 💬

She and Trump “held a wide-ranging exchange of views on strengthening the Japan-US alliance and the challenges and issues facing the Indo-Pacific region”, she told reporters, without elaborating. She said Trump had proposed the call. ✉️

The US does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood but Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier. 🔥

Trump did not mention Taiwan in his post on Truth Social about his call with Xi. Instead, he praised “extremely strong” US-China relations. 🌐

According to China’s foreign ministry, Trump told Xi during their discussion that the US “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”

In response, Taiwan premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday that a “return” to China is not an option for the island’s 23 million people.

“We must once again emphasise that the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a fully sovereign and independent country,” Cho told reporters outside parliament, referring to the island’s formal name.

“For the 23 million people of our nation, ‘return’ is not an option - this is very clear,” he added. 📌

#xi #jinping #taiwan #trump #ile #pékin

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🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣

Trump’s statement also confirmed that he will visit China in April and that Xi will come to Washington later in 2026. Beijing said nothing about the state visits. 🌍

Their call came after the pair met in late October for the first time since 2019, engaging in closely watched trade talks between the world’s top two economies. 📊

The Washington-Beijing trade war, which encompasses everything from rare earths to soya beans and port fees, has rocked markets and slowed supply chains for months. A tentative deal reached in October’s meeting in South Korea saw Beijing agree to suspend for one year certain export restrictions on critical minerals. 🚀

China is hugely dominant in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries including auto, electronics and defence. 🚗

Xi told Trump on Monday that their two countries should “keep up the momentum”, according to the foreign ministry. He added that the “successful” meeting in South Korea “recalibrated the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and provided more momentum for it to sail forward steadily”. 🚢

Since the meeting, China-US ties have “generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory, and this is welcomed by the two countries and the broader international community”, Xi said. Trump struck a similarly optimistic tone in his statement. 🌍

“This call was a follow-up to our highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago. Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture,” he said. 📆

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington hoped to finalise a deal with Beijing for securing supplies of rare earths by the Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on Thursday. 🍽

The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine – an issue high on Trump’s agenda as he pushes for an end to the war. 🌟

China has positioned itself as a neutral party and, in Monday’s call, Xi reiterated his backing to end the nearly four-year conflict. 🌐

#xi #jinping #taiwan #trump #island #beijing

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State Department Pushes Back on Claims Trump's Ukraine Plan Came From Russia

The Trump administration is defending its 28-point Ukraine peace plan after senators said Secretary of State Marco Rubio privately described it as "essentially the wish list of the Russians." Rubio and his team responded Saturday on X, insisting the U.S. "authored" the plan based on input from both Moscow and Kyiv. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott called claims the plan originated with Russia "blatantly false".

Senators Say Plan Was "Received," Not Written
Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine) told PBS that Rubio said the proposal wasn't U.S. policy but something "received" from an intermediary. Rubio clarified the framework was drafted by Washington with "input from the Russian side" and "previous and ongoing input from Ukraine." Critics note that the plan's provisions tilt heavily toward Moscow: recognition of Russian control over Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk; a ban on Ukraine joining NATO; and territorial withdrawals. Russia's main concession is allowing Ukraine access to $100 billion in frozen Russian assets.

GOP Hawks and Bolton Call It a Giveaway
Even Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and Roger Wicker have criticized the plan, saying it rewards Putin nearly four years after Russia invaded Ukraine. Former national security adviser John Bolton said Russia "couldn't have written a better treaty themselves" and accused the administration of "selling out Ukraine." JD Vance defended the proposal, saying critics are "living in a fantasy land" and misunderstanding the framework.

Sunday Talks in Switzerland
Ukrainian, U.S., and European officials are meeting in Switzerland to discuss possible revisions to the plan. It's unclear how much flexibility Russia will allow on a proposal that closely mirrors its own demands.

#trump #ukraine #russia #peaceplan #rubio #stateDepartment #putin #nato

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Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University:

“If you look at the total amount of money that has been pumped into Ukraine since 2022, it is approximately $360 billion. According to my calculations, the corruption component of this amount will increase by about 15-30%. Perhaps closer to the 30% mark. That's how much American aid was stolen in Afghanistan. Corruption there was just 30%.

I think we have about the same thing with Ukraine. And that's a lot of money. If we take even the minimum, that is, 15%, then the thieves put $54 billion in their pocket. And if it's 30%, then it's $108 billion respectively.”

#ukraine #corruption #hanke

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State Department Calls Mass Migration an "Existential Threat," Orders Embassies to Track "Two-Tier" Justice in Europe

The Trump administration just fired a diplomatic warning shot across Europe's open-borders establishment, declaring mass migration an "existential threat to Western civilization" and ordering U.S. embassies to monitor how European governments treat native citizens versus migrants. The State Department says it will track "policies that punish citizens who object to continued mass migration" and document crimes committed by people with a "migration background"—a term that includes second-generation migrants.

Grooming Gangs, Lenient Sentences, and Double Standards
State's statement cited infamous examples: Pakistani Muslim grooming gangs in England that targeted working-class white girls for years while authorities looked the other way, fearing accusations of racism. It pointed to a German case where migrant men gang-raped a 15-year-old and received probation, while a woman who called one attacker a "disgraceful rapist pig" got jail time. And it highlighted Sweden, where a convicted rapist from Eritrea avoided deportation because judges ruled his crime wasn't "particularly serious."

"Two-Tiered Systems That Prioritize Migrants"
The State Department accused European governments of creating "two-tiered systems that prioritize migrants at the expense of their own citizens," warning that U.S. officials will now "scrutinize policies" that give leniency to migrant crimes or punish native populations for protesting immigration policies. The message is blunt: Washington sees Europe's justice system as rigged in favor of newcomers, and American diplomats are putting it on the record.

Trump to UK: Fix Immigration or "You Won't Have a Country Left"
Earlier this month, Trump told British PM Keir Starmer to "do something about immigration," warning that failure to act would mean the UK loses its identity. The State Department's statement doubles down on that pressure, framing mass migration not as a humanitarian challenge but as a civilizational crisis—and telling Europe that America's watching.

#statedepartment #trump #europe #migration #immigration #justicesystem #uk #germany #sweden

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Ethiopian volcano erupts for the first time in thousands of years

The eruption of the Hayli Gubbi volcano in northeastern Ethiopia has led to the release of a large ash cloud towards Yemen and Oman.

Volcanic eruptions have not been recorded for 10,000 years.

#hayli #gubbi #volcano #eruption

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#charlie #kirk #owens #macron

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Army Secretary Flies Solo to Abu Dhabi, Brings Revised Peace Plan to Russia

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meeting Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with a slimmed-down Ukraine peace framework—without Secretary of State Marco Rubio or any other U.S. negotiators at the table. Driscoll is carrying a plan that's been cut from 28 points to around 19, after pushback from Kyiv and European allies forced Washington to drop some of Moscow's hardest-line demands, including immediate territorial handovers in Donbas. The toughest issues are now kicked upstairs to Trump and Zelensky.

From 28 to 19: What Got Cut, What's Still on the Table
The original plan—widely seen as a Russian wish list—demanded Ukraine cap its military, ban NATO membership forever, and cede land Moscow hasn't even occupied. After weekend talks in Geneva with Ukrainian and European officials, the U.S. revised key provisions, though details remain classified. What's clear: the revised framework still favors Moscow, and European diplomats warn "the Russians will certainly push."

Trump's "Drone Guy" Takes Center Stage
Driscoll—Trump's surprise diplomatic operator, known internally as the president's "drone guy" for his work on military tech—spent last week in Kyiv delivering an ultimatum: accept the plan by Thanksgiving or risk losing U.S. support. After intense negotiations in Geneva, Driscoll flew to the UAE alone while Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner all headed back to Washington. NATO's top commander went to Brussels to brief allies.

Europe Watches, Ukraine Waits, Russia Decides
British PM Keir Starmer is convening a virtual "coalition of the willing" meeting Tuesday to coordinate support for Ukraine and discuss the negotiations. Zelensky said "many of the right elements" are now in the framework, though much remains unresolved. The next move belongs to Moscow—and whether Putin sees the revised plan as concession enough, or just another opening to demand more.

#ukraine #russia #trump #driscoll #peaceplan #nato #abudhabi #geopolitics

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Europe to Trump: Hands Off Our Sanctions, Our Assets, Our Call

European leaders just drew a hard line in the sand: any peace deal involving EU sanctions, frozen Russian assets, or Ukraine's EU membership goes through Brussels—period. The message came after the U.S. and Russia drafted a 28-point plan without European input, sparking fears that Washington might trade away Europe's leverage for a quick deal with Moscow. EU Council President António Costa made it crystal clear:

"Issues that concern directly the European Union require the full involvement and decision by the European Union."

The Geneva Scramble: Amending the Russian Wish List
Sunday's talks in Geneva produced an "updated and refined" framework after Europeans pushed back hard on the original plan's most Moscow-friendly terms: lifting sanctions, releasing frozen Russian Central Bank assets, capping Ukraine's army, and handing Russia a NATO veto. European officials worked overtime on amendments insisting on a ceasefire, scrapping Russia's veto power, and earmarking frozen assets for Ukraine's reconstruction—not Moscow's coffers. Brussels is careful not to call it a "counterproposal," fearing it would antagonize Trump, but the changes are unmistakable.

The €135 Billion Question: Who Pays for Ukraine?
Europe's biggest weapon right now is a proposed reparations loan backed by frozen Russian assets—money Brussels argues should go to Ukraine, not back to the Kremlin or into American commercial hands. Von der Leyen and Nordic leaders are pushing hard for swift approval, calling it essential leverage before any deal gets finalized. One EU official called the idea of unblocking Russian assets for Moscow's benefit "economic brutality."

Rubio Blinks, Europe Breathes
Marco Rubio acknowledged after Geneva that issues like Russian assets are "equities" that need separate EU-NATO negotiations, and admitted the Thanksgiving deadline is flexible. Europeans took it as a small win—they're still in the game, at least for now. But with Trump driving the timeline and Putin waiting in the wings, Brussels knows the next few weeks will decide whether Europe gets sidelined or stays central to the continent's security.

#europe #ukraine #trump #eu #sanctions #frozenassets #rubio #nato #geopolitics

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Senators: Trump Lets China Buy Russian LNG While Putin Funds the War

Four Democratic senators are calling out the Trump administration for allowing China to buy billions of dollars' worth of discounted liquefied natural gas from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project—a facility Biden sanctioned in 2023 to choke off Moscow's war funding. Senator Elizabeth Warren says Trump's "lax enforcement" is giving Beijing a "free pass" on cheap Russian energy while Putin uses the revenue to keep fighting in Ukraine. Since August, Chinese buyers have snapped up at least 14 cargoes at 30-40% discounts.

Billions for Putin, Discounts for Beijing
Arctic LNG 2 is operated by Novatek, co-owned by some of Putin's closest allies, and represents an energy revenue stream "worth billions for Putin's war machine," Warren said. The Trump administration imposed its first direct sanctions on Russia's oil giants—Rosneft and Lukoil—in October, but stopped short of targeting Arctic LNG 2 or the Chinese buyers scooping up the gas. The senators sent a letter in September urging action; the State Department's Friday response promised "careful consideration" but answered none of their questions.

The White House's "Flexibility" Defense
A White House official defended Trump's approach, saying the president "believes that there is a chance to end this senseless war if flexibility is shown." Translation: turning a blind eye to Russian energy sales is part of the "peace process." The senators aren't buying it, warning that Congress must review any rollback of Ukraine-related sanctions "instead of letting Trump cede the rest of our critical leverage."

Energy Revenue, Meet Diplomatic Leverage
The clash comes as U.S. and Ukrainian officials claim "meaningful progress" on a peace framework in Geneva, without specifying what changed. But if Trump's version of flexibility means letting Russia rake in energy cash while Beijing gets bargain LNG, senators say Washington is negotiating from weakness—not strength.

#trump #russia #lng #china #ukraine #sanctions #arctic #warren #energy

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Putin's Ultimate Hedge: Peace on His Terms, or Watch Trump Quit

Vladimir Putin is sitting this one out while Ukraine and Europe sprint to reshape Trump's 28-point peace plan—a proposal crafted with Russian input and tilted so far toward Moscow it practically speaks with a Kremlin accent. For Putin, it's win-win: either lock in a deal that guarantees Ukraine's permanent subordination, or watch Trump walk away and leave Kyiv twisting in the wind.

The Pain Contest: Autocracy vs. Exhaustion
As one analyst put it, the West is locked in a "pain contest" with Putin—and autocracies don't run out of patience the way democracies do. Ukraine's fighters are tough as nails, but they're short on troops, cash, and unified Western backing. Putin knows it, Trump knows it, and everyone in Geneva knows it. Moscow's economy is hurting—oil revenues tanked, military budgets trimmed—but Putin's betting he can outlast the other side.

Zelensky Under the Gun, Putin Under the Radar
Trump's Thanksgiving deadline has Zelensky racing to secure changes, while Putin casually notes that Russia can keep advancing "perhaps not as quickly as we would prefer, but inevitably." Translation: the clock's running, and Moscow's fine with either outcome. Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social accusing Zelensky of "ZERO GRATITUDE," as if diplomacy were a customer service review.

The 28-Point Ultimatum: NATO Ban, Territory Loss, Russian Amnesty
The original plan demands Ukraine give up more eastern territory, ban NATO membership forever, and grant blanket amnesty to Russians accused of war crimes. In exchange? A vague "transatlantic security guarantee" modeled on NATO's Article 5—minus the automatic trigger and with plenty of fine print. Ukrainian and European officials scrambled all weekend trying to tweak the language; Putin shrugged and said he's "ready" for substantive talks—or ready to keep fighting. Either way works.

Breaking Ukraine, Not Just Winning It
Putin's endgame isn't just grabbing Donetsk—it's ensuring Ukraine stays broken, dependent, and unable to integrate with the West. If Trump gets fed up and pulls support, Europe can't fill the gap alone. If the deal goes through as-is, Ukraine becomes a neutered buffer state. For the Kremlin, that's mission accomplished either way.

#putin #trump #ukraine #peaceplan #russia #nato #zelensky #geopolitics

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The U.S. Peace Plan Is Significantly Slimmed Down 🌍✨

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

U.S. and Ukrainian mediators emerged from two days of talks on Monday with a slimmed-down peace framework that sets aside contentious issues, as Ukrainian officials underscored their country's “red lines” on territory, military capacity and foreign alliances. 😎🔥

Zelensky said that Ukraine was at a “critical moment” and would soon determine its next steps. He spoke after high-level discussions in Geneva on Sunday in which Ukraine and its European allies laid out concerns about a draft of a 28-point peace proposal that was favorable to Russia on many issues. 🗳💬

President Trump, who is pushing Ukraine to agree to a settlement by Thanksgiving but has indicated that talks could continue, said on Monday that “something good just may be happening.” 🤷‍♂️👏

As Ukrainian officials told news outlets that a significant reworking of the plan had brought it closer to Ukraine's position on several points, it raised questions about whether Russia would agree to any proposal that did not hew to its maximalist demands. ⚖️📊

The initial 28-point plan, drafted by the Trump administration with Russian input, called for Ukraine to cede land, shrink its army and forswear membership in NATO. 🇺🇸🏴‍☠️

With the uncertainty about how the most sensitive issues will be resolved by the American and Ukrainian presidents, it remained to be seen whether the latest flurry of diplomacy would produce concrete results or fizzle as previous bursts did. 🕰🧐

Until last week, the Trump administration’s efforts to broker an end to the war had been seemingly stalled. An August meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin of Russia produced little in the way of substance. 🌫⛩

Trump canceled a planned meeting last month with Mr. Putin in Budapest after he said the Russian president had no intention of making a deal. 👉😡

The first public flickers of renewed movement came when Zelensky went to Turkey last week in hopes of reinvigorating efforts to end the war with what he said were new Ukrainian proposals. At the same time, Washington was sending a delegation of senior U.S. military officials to Kyiv for talks. ✈️📝

Reports emerged on Wednesday that the U.S. Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, had come bearing a 28-point proposal to end the war that reflected many Kremlin demands that Ukraine had consistently rejected. 📋📌

That set off alarm bells well before Driscoll, a friend and former classmate of Vice President JD Vance, presented the plan to Zelensky on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said in a statement that night that Ukraine would engage “constructively, honestly and operationally” with the points in the plan. 🙌🗣

The White House said Rubio and Witkoff, an envoy for peace missions, had been “quietly” working on the proposal for a month but described the details as in “flux.” 🌪🗯

The next day, as many Ukrainians and their European allies condemned the plan as akin to capitulation to Russia, Zelensky said in an address to the nation that Ukraine might have to choose between losing its dignity and forgoing U.S. support. 🤲🆘

Not long after, plans for urgent talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials began to take shape. 🚦📅

Zelensky sent his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, to lead Kyiv’s delegation in Geneva. Washington sent Rubio and Mr. Witkoff, as well as Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. 🗽✈️

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Kushner, who is not a U.S. government employee, had also been involved in the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas. 🌍✨

Rubio struck an optimistic tone on Sunday after the talks, saying that the gaps that remained were not insurmountable. He said that some issues — like the role of the European Union or of NATO in any settlement — had been “segregated out” in the talks. 📌🤝

Things like that, he said, will need to be discussed with the parties involved. 🗣🔍

The White House and Ukraine’s presidency released a joint statement later that night saying the talks had resulted in an “updated and refined” draft, with “intensive work” to continue in the coming days. 📄🔄

On Monday, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s delegation was returning home and would deliver a full report about the progress of the talks. “Based on these reports, we will determine the next steps and the timing,” he said in a statement on X. 🚢📊

U.S. officials declined to say what parts of the proposal were adjusted in Geneva. 🤷‍♂️📋

Zelensky said that Kyiv had “managed to keep extremely sensitive points on the table,” including the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. 🕊🤵

“But to achieve real peace, more, more is needed,” he told a parliamentary summit earlier on Monday, calling this a “critical moment” for Ukraine. 🎟🗣

“Of course, we’ll continue working with partners, especially the United States, and look for compromises that strengthen, but not weaken us,” he said. 💪✌️

Germany’s foreign minister, Wadephul, suggested on German public radio that the plan had been revised to address objections to a provision ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine. 🇩🇪🗣

“All questions concerning Europe, as well as those concerning NATO, have been removed from this plan,” Mr. Wadephul said. 🗑📃

“Now we must ensure,” he added, “that Ukraine’s sovereignty will be preserved.” 🌍🛡

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, emphasized Ukraine’s red lines in a speech during an event on Crimea in Sweden on Monday, which Mr. Zelensky also addressed virtually. 🗳📞

“No legal recognition of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories. No restrictions on the Ukrainian Defense Forces. No veto on Ukraine’s right to choose its future allies,” Stefanchuk said. 🌶🚫

As Ukraine and Europe pressed for better terms in the proposal, it remained unclear when the talks would turn to Moscow. 🌭🔍

The Kremlin said on Monday that it had not yet “officially” received any information about the outcome of the Geneva discussions. Russia is open to contacts and negotiations but has “no concrete details concerning talks involving us,” the Kremlin spokesman, Peskov, told reporters. He said Russia did not plan to hold talks with American officials this week. 📌🗣

European leaders held their own meeting about the peace proposal negotiations while in Angola for a summit with the African Union. 🌍🌟

Von der Leyen, the European Commission president, told reporters afterward that while “works remains to be done” on the peace plan, the Geneva talks had helped ensure that “there is now a solid basis for moving forward.” 📈🚀

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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