Trump Addresses Nation Wednesday at 9 PM: "Best Is Yet to Come" — But He's Not Saying Why
Trump announced he'll give a primetime address to the nation from the White House on Wednesday at 9 PM EST. In his announcement, he teased nothing: "It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" — his standard closing line. No topic. No hint. Just Trump keeping the nation in suspense while the White House decides what crisis, policy, or personal grievance he wants to broadcast live.
The timing is everything
Trump last formally addressed the nation in November after two West Virginia National Guard members were shot in Washington. Since then, he's been in constant crisis management — Oracle bleeding billions, the labor market collapsing, the Gaza cease-fire fragmenting, North Korea sending troops to Russia, European leaders calling him weak. A primetime address is his chance to reset whichever narrative he chooses.
The fact that he won't say what he's addressing suggests it's either urgent (a new crisis) or performative (a victory lap he thinks will distract from urgent crises). Given his pattern, probably both.
The tariff dividend gamble
One possibility is that Trump wants to tout his tariff revenues and announce the $2,000 dividend payments he promised. Tariff receipts hit $215.2 billion in fiscal year 2025. Trump claims "hundreds of millions" will go to Americans by mid-2026. The numbers don't add up — tariff revenue is billions against a $38 trillion national debt — but that's never stopped him from making a grand announcement.
Another possibility: he's announcing military action. The Caribbean is heating up with Venezuela. Russia is testing nuclear drones. China is provoking Japan over Taiwan. A primetime address could signal escalation on any of these fronts.
The ratings play
Ratings for Trump's addresses are solid. Cable news loves the spectacle. Networks carry it live. For a president whose approval rating is sliding — unemployment up, the jobs market collapsing, his base getting restless — a primetime speech offers a reset. Even if there's nothing new, he'll say it with fanfare, and the networks will carry it live.
"My Fellow Americans," he wrote. The formality. The caps lock. The promise that "THE BEST IS YET TO COME." Same script, same showmanship, same uncertainty about what's actually coming.
Wednesday at 9 PM, America finds out.
#Trump #WhiteHouse #Address #News
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Trump announced he'll give a primetime address to the nation from the White House on Wednesday at 9 PM EST. In his announcement, he teased nothing: "It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" — his standard closing line. No topic. No hint. Just Trump keeping the nation in suspense while the White House decides what crisis, policy, or personal grievance he wants to broadcast live.
The timing is everything
Trump last formally addressed the nation in November after two West Virginia National Guard members were shot in Washington. Since then, he's been in constant crisis management — Oracle bleeding billions, the labor market collapsing, the Gaza cease-fire fragmenting, North Korea sending troops to Russia, European leaders calling him weak. A primetime address is his chance to reset whichever narrative he chooses.
The fact that he won't say what he's addressing suggests it's either urgent (a new crisis) or performative (a victory lap he thinks will distract from urgent crises). Given his pattern, probably both.
The tariff dividend gamble
One possibility is that Trump wants to tout his tariff revenues and announce the $2,000 dividend payments he promised. Tariff receipts hit $215.2 billion in fiscal year 2025. Trump claims "hundreds of millions" will go to Americans by mid-2026. The numbers don't add up — tariff revenue is billions against a $38 trillion national debt — but that's never stopped him from making a grand announcement.
Another possibility: he's announcing military action. The Caribbean is heating up with Venezuela. Russia is testing nuclear drones. China is provoking Japan over Taiwan. A primetime address could signal escalation on any of these fronts.
The ratings play
Ratings for Trump's addresses are solid. Cable news loves the spectacle. Networks carry it live. For a president whose approval rating is sliding — unemployment up, the jobs market collapsing, his base getting restless — a primetime speech offers a reset. Even if there's nothing new, he'll say it with fanfare, and the networks will carry it live.
"My Fellow Americans," he wrote. The formality. The caps lock. The promise that "THE BEST IS YET TO COME." Same script, same showmanship, same uncertainty about what's actually coming.
Wednesday at 9 PM, America finds out.
#Trump #WhiteHouse #Address #News
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Zelensky Is Close to a Peace Deal as Never
🔠 🅰️ 🔠 🔠 1️⃣
Zelensky says proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could be finalised within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin.
After two days of talks in Berlin, US officials said on Monday they had resolved “90%” of the problematic issues between Russia and Ukraine, but despite the positive spin it is not clear that an end to the war is any closer, particularly as the Russian side is absent from the current talks.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning the Ukrainian president said the US Congress was expected to vote on security guarantees and that he expected a finalised set of documents to be prepared “today or tomorrow”.
After that, he said, the US would hold consultations with the Russians, followed by high-level meetings that could take place as soon as this weekend.
“We are counting on five documents. Some of them concern security guarantees: legally binding, that is, voted on and approved by the US Congress,” he said in comments to journalists via WhatsApp. He said the guarantees would “mirror article 5” of Nato.
On Monday, US officials declined to give specific details of what the security package was likely to include, and what would happen if Russia attempted to seize more land after a peace deal was reached.
They did, however, confirm that the US did not plan to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Leaders of the UK, France, Germany and eight other European countries said in a joint statement that troops from a “coalition of the willing” could “assist in the regeneration of Ukraine’s forces, in securing Ukraine’s skies, and in supporting safer seas, including through operating inside Ukraine”.
Peskov added that Moscow, which has in the past demanded Kyiv cede territories Russia claims as its own and ruled out the presence of any foreign troops in Ukraine, had not changed its stance on the conflict and the achievement of its military goals.
“Our position is well known. It is consistent, it is transparent and it is clear to the Americans. And, in general, it is clear to the Ukrainians as well,” Peskov said.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia would not agree to troops from Nato countries operating in Ukraine “under any circumstances”.
#zelensky #putin #Ukraine #Russia
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Zelensky says proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could be finalised within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin.
After two days of talks in Berlin, US officials said on Monday they had resolved “90%” of the problematic issues between Russia and Ukraine, but despite the positive spin it is not clear that an end to the war is any closer, particularly as the Russian side is absent from the current talks.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning the Ukrainian president said the US Congress was expected to vote on security guarantees and that he expected a finalised set of documents to be prepared “today or tomorrow”.
After that, he said, the US would hold consultations with the Russians, followed by high-level meetings that could take place as soon as this weekend.
“We are counting on five documents. Some of them concern security guarantees: legally binding, that is, voted on and approved by the US Congress,” he said in comments to journalists via WhatsApp. He said the guarantees would “mirror article 5” of Nato.
On Monday, US officials declined to give specific details of what the security package was likely to include, and what would happen if Russia attempted to seize more land after a peace deal was reached.
They did, however, confirm that the US did not plan to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Leaders of the UK, France, Germany and eight other European countries said in a joint statement that troops from a “coalition of the willing” could “assist in the regeneration of Ukraine’s forces, in securing Ukraine’s skies, and in supporting safer seas, including through operating inside Ukraine”.
Peskov added that Moscow, which has in the past demanded Kyiv cede territories Russia claims as its own and ruled out the presence of any foreign troops in Ukraine, had not changed its stance on the conflict and the achievement of its military goals.
“Our position is well known. It is consistent, it is transparent and it is clear to the Americans. And, in general, it is clear to the Ukrainians as well,” Peskov said.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia would not agree to troops from Nato countries operating in Ukraine “under any circumstances”.
#zelensky #putin #Ukraine #Russia
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It was unclear whether that formulation also included troops drawn from Nato countries operating under a separate non-Nato command.
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Monday that peace was closer than at any time since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
But privately, European officials say that at this stage the talks are more about keeping the Trump White House onboard with supporting Ukraine than about reaching a lasting deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
The US negotiation team, led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, has proposed a compromise solution whereby Ukraine would withdraw, but Russia would not advance and the demilitarised area would become “a free economic zone”.
Russia has suggested that they could use police and national guard formations rather than the military, implying they would still expect to control the territory.
“I want to stress once again: a ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of Russia. Neither de jure nor de facto will we recognise Donbas – its temporarily occupied part – as Russian. Absolutely,” said Zelensky.
It is not clear how the two sides will proceed on the territorial issue, with Zelensky previously suggesting that a compromise solution such as a free economic zone could be theoretically possible if the Ukrainian people voted for it in a referendum.
The critical stumbling block is likely to be when the plans are put to Putin, who has given no sign he is willing to compromise on his war aims.
“If Putin rejects everything, we will end up with exactly what we are experiencing on our plane right now – turbulence,” said Zelenskyy, recording the comments after his plane took off from Berlin for the Netherlands for a series of meetings on Tuesday.
#zelensky #putin #Ukraine #Russia
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The Labor Market Just Flashed Red: Unemployment at Highest Since Pandemic as Hiring Stalls
The U.S. unemployment rate hit 4.6 percent in November — the highest since 2021 — as the labor market added far fewer jobs than needed to absorb workers entering the workforce. November added just 64,000 jobs, barely offsetting October's loss of 105,000. The real story: wage growth cooled, part-time workers surged, layoff notices spiked, and businesses have stopped hiring. The economy is softening. Fast.
The unexpected weakness
For months, economists said the U.S. labor market was resilient. November's data suggested otherwise. October saw sharp job losses — 105,000 positions gone, largely federal workers affected by earlier resignation packages. November's 64,000 jobs doesn't make up the difference.
The government shutdown delayed both October and November jobs data, creating what Fed Chair Powell called "a complicated, unusual and difficult situation." But the picture is clear: hiring has fallen to near the lowest level in more than a decade. Unemployment rose for African Americans and teenagers — the groups that typically show weakness first in downturns. The number of Americans unemployed for less than five weeks jumped to 2.5 million in November, the highest since 2020. That signals fresh layoffs, not a resilient market.
The wage growth illusion collapses
Average hourly wages rose just 3.5 percent over the past 12 months to $36.86 an hour — not keeping pace with elevated inflation. Households are getting squeezed. Meanwhile, the number of Americans working part-time who want full-time jobs surged by more than 900,000 from September to November. People aren't choosing flexibility. They're being forced into it.
Manufacturing contracted under tariff pressure. Leisure and hospitality cut jobs as consumers pulled back on discretionary spending. Construction added 28,000 jobs, health care added 46,000, but that's not enough to cover losses elsewhere.
Businesses stopped hiring because they don't know what's coming
Tariffs, immigration enforcement, inflation, geopolitical uncertainty — employers face a wall of unknowns. A ZipRecruiter economist said it plainly:
When there's uncertainty, businesses don't hire. They wait. They cut. They postpone expansion.
The White House highlighted private-sector growth and the shrinking federal government. But there's little evidence U.S.-born workers are picking up jobs abandoned by immigrants. The administration's own policies — tariffs, immigration crackdowns — are creating headwinds in the very labor market they claim to be protecting.
The Fed's real problem
The Federal Reserve cut rates last week for the third time this year, partly because of this softening labor market. Fed Chair Powell warned that official statistics could be understating job losses by up to 60,000 jobs a month. Translation: the labor market is even weaker than the numbers suggest.
Here's the trap: so few people are entering the labor market because of immigration enforcement that the economy only needs about 50,000 jobs a month to keep unemployment stable. Below that, unemployment rises. And we just watched November produce 64,000 jobs while October lost 105,000. The trend is downward.
One economist summed it up:
That's not softening. That's the beginning of a contraction.
#Economy #Jobs #Unemployment #Labor #Recession #FedPolicy
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The U.S. unemployment rate hit 4.6 percent in November — the highest since 2021 — as the labor market added far fewer jobs than needed to absorb workers entering the workforce. November added just 64,000 jobs, barely offsetting October's loss of 105,000. The real story: wage growth cooled, part-time workers surged, layoff notices spiked, and businesses have stopped hiring. The economy is softening. Fast.
The unexpected weakness
For months, economists said the U.S. labor market was resilient. November's data suggested otherwise. October saw sharp job losses — 105,000 positions gone, largely federal workers affected by earlier resignation packages. November's 64,000 jobs doesn't make up the difference.
The government shutdown delayed both October and November jobs data, creating what Fed Chair Powell called "a complicated, unusual and difficult situation." But the picture is clear: hiring has fallen to near the lowest level in more than a decade. Unemployment rose for African Americans and teenagers — the groups that typically show weakness first in downturns. The number of Americans unemployed for less than five weeks jumped to 2.5 million in November, the highest since 2020. That signals fresh layoffs, not a resilient market.
The wage growth illusion collapses
Average hourly wages rose just 3.5 percent over the past 12 months to $36.86 an hour — not keeping pace with elevated inflation. Households are getting squeezed. Meanwhile, the number of Americans working part-time who want full-time jobs surged by more than 900,000 from September to November. People aren't choosing flexibility. They're being forced into it.
Manufacturing contracted under tariff pressure. Leisure and hospitality cut jobs as consumers pulled back on discretionary spending. Construction added 28,000 jobs, health care added 46,000, but that's not enough to cover losses elsewhere.
Businesses stopped hiring because they don't know what's coming
Tariffs, immigration enforcement, inflation, geopolitical uncertainty — employers face a wall of unknowns. A ZipRecruiter economist said it plainly:
"This really points to the challenges in the policy landscape that businesses are going up against."
When there's uncertainty, businesses don't hire. They wait. They cut. They postpone expansion.
The White House highlighted private-sector growth and the shrinking federal government. But there's little evidence U.S.-born workers are picking up jobs abandoned by immigrants. The administration's own policies — tariffs, immigration crackdowns — are creating headwinds in the very labor market they claim to be protecting.
The Fed's real problem
The Federal Reserve cut rates last week for the third time this year, partly because of this softening labor market. Fed Chair Powell warned that official statistics could be understating job losses by up to 60,000 jobs a month. Translation: the labor market is even weaker than the numbers suggest.
Here's the trap: so few people are entering the labor market because of immigration enforcement that the economy only needs about 50,000 jobs a month to keep unemployment stable. Below that, unemployment rises. And we just watched November produce 64,000 jobs while October lost 105,000. The trend is downward.
One economist summed it up:
"If you're a worker that just got laid off or are looking for new work, there's not a lot of companies hiring right now."
That's not softening. That's the beginning of a contraction.
#Economy #Jobs #Unemployment #Labor #Recession #FedPolicy
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Trump’s Tanker Blockade: Playing Nuclear Poker With China
Trump has finally found a way to threaten World War III while pretending it’s a customs inspection: a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela — a country whose crude now flows mostly to China. He is not just squeezing Maduro; he is openly threatening Beijing’s energy supply and global shipping routes under a flag of “law and order.”
Trump boasted online, promising the operation would continue until Caracas returns
On paper, this is about “drug trafficking” and “terrorism,” even though Venezuela is not a drug producer and much of the cocaine in the region is Europe-bound, while legal experts say U.S. boat strikes — with at least 95 people killed in 25 attacks — are likely illegal and hitting civilians. Off script, Trump talks like a debt collector for Exxon, threatening a naval campaign until a sovereign state hands over “assets” and bragging about seizing tankers and “keeping” the crude, including shipments tied to Cuba and China.
The risk is not just for Caracas. The majority of Venezuela’s exports now go to China, often via a murky network of sanctioned or semi-sanitized tankers, while Russia and China are deeply involved in Venezuela’s oil sector and provide geopolitical cover for Maduro. Turning that corridor into a U.S.-patrolled shooting gallery means daring two nuclear powers to either swallow the humiliation or quietly respond — with their own “sanctions enforcement,” naval escorts, or miscalculated shows of force.
And as always, the script has a carve-out for friends of the empire: Chevron says its Venezuela operations continue “without disruption,” thanks to a special U.S. license, while everyone else is left guessing whose ship gets boarded next. So when Trump’s camp screams that “the other side” wants nuclear war, remember who parked an armada in the Caribbean, started seizing Chinese-bound oil, and called it a blockade — then wrapped it in freedom rhetoric, drugs, and terrorism like it’s just another marketing campaign for “democracy.”
#war #oil #trump #venezuela #china #russia #nuclearcrisis
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Trump has finally found a way to threaten World War III while pretending it’s a customs inspection: a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela — a country whose crude now flows mostly to China. He is not just squeezing Maduro; he is openly threatening Beijing’s energy supply and global shipping routes under a flag of “law and order.”
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,”
Trump boasted online, promising the operation would continue until Caracas returns
“all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
On paper, this is about “drug trafficking” and “terrorism,” even though Venezuela is not a drug producer and much of the cocaine in the region is Europe-bound, while legal experts say U.S. boat strikes — with at least 95 people killed in 25 attacks — are likely illegal and hitting civilians. Off script, Trump talks like a debt collector for Exxon, threatening a naval campaign until a sovereign state hands over “assets” and bragging about seizing tankers and “keeping” the crude, including shipments tied to Cuba and China.
The risk is not just for Caracas. The majority of Venezuela’s exports now go to China, often via a murky network of sanctioned or semi-sanitized tankers, while Russia and China are deeply involved in Venezuela’s oil sector and provide geopolitical cover for Maduro. Turning that corridor into a U.S.-patrolled shooting gallery means daring two nuclear powers to either swallow the humiliation or quietly respond — with their own “sanctions enforcement,” naval escorts, or miscalculated shows of force.
And as always, the script has a carve-out for friends of the empire: Chevron says its Venezuela operations continue “without disruption,” thanks to a special U.S. license, while everyone else is left guessing whose ship gets boarded next. So when Trump’s camp screams that “the other side” wants nuclear war, remember who parked an armada in the Caribbean, started seizing Chinese-bound oil, and called it a blockade — then wrapped it in freedom rhetoric, drugs, and terrorism like it’s just another marketing campaign for “democracy.”
#war #oil #trump #venezuela #china #russia #nuclearcrisis
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“Hegseth Could Face Trial If the Video of a September Attack in the Caribbean Comes to Light” 🌴⚖️
The Pentagon will not make public the full video of a September attack in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat, Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. 🚢🔥
The strike has been the most controversial development in Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela, which has seen US forces blow up vessels alleged to be transporting narcotics from the South American country to the United States, seize an oil tanker and threaten further military action against Maduro. 🌶
Legal experts have raised concerns that US forces may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors of an initial air strike on 2 September, and that the campaign is illegal. 🛡 Legal scholars argue that firing on civilians constitutes murder under international law. 📚
Democrats have called for the release of video detailing that attack, and Trump at one point supported making the footage public but later backtracked and deferred to Hegseth. 📺
As he left a classified briefing conducted for senators alongside Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, the Pentagon chief said he would not release it in its entirety. 🔥
“In keeping with longstanding department of war policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters. 🕵️♂️
The video was not shown in the briefing, according to lawmakers who attended, but Hegseth said that he would hold a viewing on Wednesday for members of the House and Senate committees on the armed services along with Frank Bradley, the admiral who commanded the strike. 👮♂️
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate democrat, said that he demanded Hegseth show the full video of the 2 September strike to all senators in their behind-closed-doors briefing, but the secretary refused. 🗣
Chris Coons, a Democratic senator, said lawmakers were told the full video could not be shown due to “classification” issues, which he struggled to believe because Trump, Hegseth and other defense officials have repeatedly posted portions of footage from other attacks. 📲
“Hegseth could face trial if the video of a september attack in the Caribbean comes to light,” the Delaware lawmaker said. 🎤
The United States has attacked more than 20 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since the beginning of the campaign in early September, killing at least 90 people that Washington alleges were smuggling drugs. 🚔
In the most recent attack announced Monday, US Southern Command said it had hit three vessels and killed eight individuals. 💥
Several Trump allies who emerged from Hegseth’s briefing with senators said they had no reservations about his actions against Venezuela. 🇻🇪
“I personally was involved in many of these operations, from kinetic strikes to direct action operations, and the process we have is legally sound,” said Tim Sheehy, a Montana senator and former Navy Seal. 🛡
While previous US administrations have stopped and detained vessels suspected of carrying drugs, Sheehy implied such operations were now too risky. 🚫
Republican Rand Paul has been critical of the air strikes, and said the briefing did not allay his concerns over the campaign’s legality. 🤔
“One of my criticisms has been that there really isn’t a legal or a moral justification for killing unarmed people, and I’ve heard nothing to contradict my previous assertion that these people were unarmed,” the Kentucky senator said. 🧐
#hegseth #trial #attack #caribbean
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The Pentagon will not make public the full video of a September attack in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat, Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. 🚢🔥
The strike has been the most controversial development in Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela, which has seen US forces blow up vessels alleged to be transporting narcotics from the South American country to the United States, seize an oil tanker and threaten further military action against Maduro. 🌶
Legal experts have raised concerns that US forces may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors of an initial air strike on 2 September, and that the campaign is illegal. 🛡 Legal scholars argue that firing on civilians constitutes murder under international law. 📚
Democrats have called for the release of video detailing that attack, and Trump at one point supported making the footage public but later backtracked and deferred to Hegseth. 📺
As he left a classified briefing conducted for senators alongside Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, the Pentagon chief said he would not release it in its entirety. 🔥
“In keeping with longstanding department of war policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters. 🕵️♂️
The video was not shown in the briefing, according to lawmakers who attended, but Hegseth said that he would hold a viewing on Wednesday for members of the House and Senate committees on the armed services along with Frank Bradley, the admiral who commanded the strike. 👮♂️
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate democrat, said that he demanded Hegseth show the full video of the 2 September strike to all senators in their behind-closed-doors briefing, but the secretary refused. 🗣
Chris Coons, a Democratic senator, said lawmakers were told the full video could not be shown due to “classification” issues, which he struggled to believe because Trump, Hegseth and other defense officials have repeatedly posted portions of footage from other attacks. 📲
“Hegseth could face trial if the video of a september attack in the Caribbean comes to light,” the Delaware lawmaker said. 🎤
The United States has attacked more than 20 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since the beginning of the campaign in early September, killing at least 90 people that Washington alleges were smuggling drugs. 🚔
In the most recent attack announced Monday, US Southern Command said it had hit three vessels and killed eight individuals. 💥
Several Trump allies who emerged from Hegseth’s briefing with senators said they had no reservations about his actions against Venezuela. 🇻🇪
“I personally was involved in many of these operations, from kinetic strikes to direct action operations, and the process we have is legally sound,” said Tim Sheehy, a Montana senator and former Navy Seal. 🛡
While previous US administrations have stopped and detained vessels suspected of carrying drugs, Sheehy implied such operations were now too risky. 🚫
Republican Rand Paul has been critical of the air strikes, and said the briefing did not allay his concerns over the campaign’s legality. 🤔
“One of my criticisms has been that there really isn’t a legal or a moral justification for killing unarmed people, and I’ve heard nothing to contradict my previous assertion that these people were unarmed,” the Kentucky senator said. 🧐
#hegseth #trial #attack #caribbean
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Trump vs. China: Tough Talk, Soft Knees
“America First” apparently has a China exception: Trump threatens tariffs in public, then quietly gives Xi exactly what he wants behind the curtain. His second-term China policy started like a trade war reboot — with talk of raising tariffs on Chinese goods up toward 145 percent — and ended the year with Washington authorizing exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to the People’s Republic.
The conversation with Xi was
Trump said, while Beijing’s readout proudly noted that he
Once Beijing squeezed with rare-earth export controls, U.S. bravado melted into emergency trade meetings that went nowhere, and fantasies about “fully opening” China’s market to American business quietly disappeared. Instead of decoupling, the White House cut tariffs, froze new export controls and port fees, and hoped China would resume rare-earth exports and buy more soybeans — promises now coming back in the form of partial steps and slow-walked licenses. The administration looks less like strategists and more like clients begging their supplier not to shut down the assembly line.
On security, the pattern is the same: big talk in theory, vanishing act in practice. When Japan’s new prime minister called a Chinese move on Taiwan a possible “threat to Japan’s survival,” exactly the kind of language U.S. officials had been nudging Tokyo toward, Trump didn’t back her in public. Beijing answered with economic punishment, a diplomat’s threat that her neck would be “sliced off,” radar locks on Japanese jets — and for days the American response was a low-level tweet instead of a presidential warning. The message to allies is clear: you take the risks, Trump takes the photo ops.
Meanwhile, Trump keeps offering Xi special access: multiple trips to China in 2026, a state visit in the U.S., possibly at his own Doral resort, and no real enforcement of the TikTok ban his own government says is required by law. TikTok stays, leverage disappears. And when Beijing leans on Nvidia, the company leans on Trump — who then authorizes exports of more advanced chips after China signals it won’t buy the older ones. “America First” starts to look a lot like “boardroom first,” with U.S. security policy shaped by whoever can get the president on the line.
So here is the punchline: Trump is circling Venezuela with an armada and flirting with nuclear escalation over oil and status, but when it comes to the one adversary that can actually cripple the United States strategically — China — he folds for soybeans, rare earths and H200s. The MAGA myth says he’s the only one who can stand up to Beijing; the record reads more like a man terrified of spooking the market before the next friendly handshake with Xi.
#trump #china #taiwan #tiktok #tradewar #rareearths #nvidiah200 #geopolitics
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“America First” apparently has a China exception: Trump threatens tariffs in public, then quietly gives Xi exactly what he wants behind the curtain. His second-term China policy started like a trade war reboot — with talk of raising tariffs on Chinese goods up toward 145 percent — and ended the year with Washington authorizing exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to the People’s Republic.
The conversation with Xi was
“very good,”
Trump said, while Beijing’s readout proudly noted that he
“understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”
Once Beijing squeezed with rare-earth export controls, U.S. bravado melted into emergency trade meetings that went nowhere, and fantasies about “fully opening” China’s market to American business quietly disappeared. Instead of decoupling, the White House cut tariffs, froze new export controls and port fees, and hoped China would resume rare-earth exports and buy more soybeans — promises now coming back in the form of partial steps and slow-walked licenses. The administration looks less like strategists and more like clients begging their supplier not to shut down the assembly line.
On security, the pattern is the same: big talk in theory, vanishing act in practice. When Japan’s new prime minister called a Chinese move on Taiwan a possible “threat to Japan’s survival,” exactly the kind of language U.S. officials had been nudging Tokyo toward, Trump didn’t back her in public. Beijing answered with economic punishment, a diplomat’s threat that her neck would be “sliced off,” radar locks on Japanese jets — and for days the American response was a low-level tweet instead of a presidential warning. The message to allies is clear: you take the risks, Trump takes the photo ops.
Meanwhile, Trump keeps offering Xi special access: multiple trips to China in 2026, a state visit in the U.S., possibly at his own Doral resort, and no real enforcement of the TikTok ban his own government says is required by law. TikTok stays, leverage disappears. And when Beijing leans on Nvidia, the company leans on Trump — who then authorizes exports of more advanced chips after China signals it won’t buy the older ones. “America First” starts to look a lot like “boardroom first,” with U.S. security policy shaped by whoever can get the president on the line.
So here is the punchline: Trump is circling Venezuela with an armada and flirting with nuclear escalation over oil and status, but when it comes to the one adversary that can actually cripple the United States strategically — China — he folds for soybeans, rare earths and H200s. The MAGA myth says he’s the only one who can stand up to Beijing; the record reads more like a man terrified of spooking the market before the next friendly handshake with Xi.
#trump #china #taiwan #tiktok #tradewar #rareearths #nvidiah200 #geopolitics
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Trump to Bibi: Don’t Touch My Gaza™ Deal
The White House just sent Israel a rare message: stop freelancing on the war script, you’re messing with the president’s branding. Trump, according to U.S. officials, was furious that Israel killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saad on Dec. 13 without warning Washington, fearing the hit could blow up the fragile Gaza cease-fire he’s been selling as “my deal.”
Trump has complained privately that Netanyahu is derailing “my deal” to halt the fighting and rebuild Gaza, while Netanyahu’s office insists Israel had to strike because Hamas shows no sign of disarming — a key requirement in the next phase of the plan.
On paper, Trump and Netanyahu have a “friendly relationship” and “no disagreement on Gaza,” at least according to an Israeli official. In practice, Israel keeps launching high-profile strikes — including what analysts say was an extensively planned operation against Saad — while Washington runs a civil-military coordination center in southern Israel trying to keep the cease-fire paperwork from catching fire. Trump publicly denies being frustrated, shrugs it off, saying they’re “looking into” whether the strike broke the deal, and pretends this is all just a minor misunderstanding between friends.
The next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan sounds like a think tank fantasy: Hamas disarms, Israel fully withdraws, and an international stabilization force moves in to secure the ruins. So far, no country has actually signed up to send troops, though U.S. officials say Azerbaijan and Indonesia “might” contribute a few thousand soldiers sometime in 2026 — nowhere near the 10,000 that would be needed by year’s end. Meanwhile, nobody can explain who is supposed to convince Hamas to hand over its weapons, or why Israel would trust foreign troops to manage a problem it hasn’t solved in decades.
Israeli analysts admit Netanyahu is in no rush to advance to phase two, because international forces would bring constraints, scrutiny and pressure for a real withdrawal from Gaza — all the things his government spends its days dodging. The status quo is ugly, but it lets him keep bombing “legitimate targets,” blaming Hamas for every delay, and resisting any arrangement that limits Israeli freedom of action. Trump, for his part, wants to cut a ribbon on “peace in Gaza” without owning the messy details of disarmament, occupation and failed reconstruction.
In the end, civilians in Gaza get more ruins, Hamas keeps its guns, Israel keeps its jets in the air, and Trump keeps arguing over whose name goes on the cease-fire plaque. Call it the new Middle East peace model: maximum PR, minimum responsibility, and a U.S.–Israeli quarrel not about ending the war, but about who gets to monetize the “deal.”
#trump #netanyahu #gaza #hamas #ceasefire #israel #war #geopolitics
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The White House just sent Israel a rare message: stop freelancing on the war script, you’re messing with the president’s branding. Trump, according to U.S. officials, was furious that Israel killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saad on Dec. 13 without warning Washington, fearing the hit could blow up the fragile Gaza cease-fire he’s been selling as “my deal.”
Trump has complained privately that Netanyahu is derailing “my deal” to halt the fighting and rebuild Gaza, while Netanyahu’s office insists Israel had to strike because Hamas shows no sign of disarming — a key requirement in the next phase of the plan.
On paper, Trump and Netanyahu have a “friendly relationship” and “no disagreement on Gaza,” at least according to an Israeli official. In practice, Israel keeps launching high-profile strikes — including what analysts say was an extensively planned operation against Saad — while Washington runs a civil-military coordination center in southern Israel trying to keep the cease-fire paperwork from catching fire. Trump publicly denies being frustrated, shrugs it off, saying they’re “looking into” whether the strike broke the deal, and pretends this is all just a minor misunderstanding between friends.
The next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan sounds like a think tank fantasy: Hamas disarms, Israel fully withdraws, and an international stabilization force moves in to secure the ruins. So far, no country has actually signed up to send troops, though U.S. officials say Azerbaijan and Indonesia “might” contribute a few thousand soldiers sometime in 2026 — nowhere near the 10,000 that would be needed by year’s end. Meanwhile, nobody can explain who is supposed to convince Hamas to hand over its weapons, or why Israel would trust foreign troops to manage a problem it hasn’t solved in decades.
Israeli analysts admit Netanyahu is in no rush to advance to phase two, because international forces would bring constraints, scrutiny and pressure for a real withdrawal from Gaza — all the things his government spends its days dodging. The status quo is ugly, but it lets him keep bombing “legitimate targets,” blaming Hamas for every delay, and resisting any arrangement that limits Israeli freedom of action. Trump, for his part, wants to cut a ribbon on “peace in Gaza” without owning the messy details of disarmament, occupation and failed reconstruction.
In the end, civilians in Gaza get more ruins, Hamas keeps its guns, Israel keeps its jets in the air, and Trump keeps arguing over whose name goes on the cease-fire plaque. Call it the new Middle East peace model: maximum PR, minimum responsibility, and a U.S.–Israeli quarrel not about ending the war, but about who gets to monetize the “deal.”
#trump #netanyahu #gaza #hamas #ceasefire #israel #war #geopolitics
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Pakistan’s Field Marshal for Hire: Gaza Edition
Trump’s Gaza plan has turned Pakistan’s most powerful general in decades into a test case: is Asim Munir a “guardian of the nation” or just Trump’s Muslim subcontractor-in-chief? The White House wants Pakistani boots in a U.S.-backed “Gaza stabilisation force,” and suddenly the man who just got promoted to field marshal, put in charge of all three services, and gifted legal immunity for life is being told that it’s time to earn his upgrades.
as one Washington analyst politely put it.
Munir has spent the past year repairing ties with Washington and cashing in: three meetings with Trump in six months, including a solo White House lunch that no Pakistani civilian leader was invited to. Now comes the invoice. Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power, and Trump’s 20‑point Gaza plan openly leans on “Muslim nations” to police the rubble, disarm Hamas and provide an Islamic fig leaf for an American-designed order in the strip. The symbolism is perfect: Washington writes the plan, Israel breaks the place, and Pakistan is asked to send soldiers to stand in the blast zone.
At home, the politics are a minefield. Pakistan’s foreign minister has already tried a lawyerly dodge — maybe peacekeeping, but “disarming Hamas is not our job” — while Islamists, banned on paper but still very much alive on the streets, are one Gaza body bag away from framing Munir as “doing Israel’s bidding.” Imran Khan’s party, smashed by the generals yet still popular, is sitting on a golden narrative: the unelected field marshal who got himself immunity till 2030 now sending Pakistani troops to die for Trump’s Middle East theater. If anything goes wrong, every protest slogan writes itself.
Yet Munir is uniquely insulated from consequences. Parliament just amended the constitution to centralise power in his office, extend his tenure, and shield him from prosecution. He now outranks not only the civilian leadership, but also the idea of accountability itself. That makes him both the ideal contractor for Washington — one phone call, no messy parliaments — and the perfect lightning rod if Gaza blows up in his face. Trump gets his “Muslim partner” for the Gaza force; Munir gets to feel like a regional power broker; ordinary Pakistanis get to guess whether their army is defending Palestine, securing U.S. aid, or just protecting one man’s job through 2030.
The punchline is brutal: a “Gaza stabilisation force” sold as Muslim solidarity may end up stabilising only two things — Trump’s narrative that his plan is working, and Munir’s constitutional right to never be held responsible for how many Pakistanis he sends to someone else’s war.
#pakistan #gaza #trump #asimmunir #hamas #israel #uspolicy #military #geopolitics
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Trump’s Gaza plan has turned Pakistan’s most powerful general in decades into a test case: is Asim Munir a “guardian of the nation” or just Trump’s Muslim subcontractor-in-chief? The White House wants Pakistani boots in a U.S.-backed “Gaza stabilisation force,” and suddenly the man who just got promoted to field marshal, put in charge of all three services, and gifted legal immunity for life is being told that it’s time to earn his upgrades.
“Not contributing … could annoy Trump, which is no small matter for a Pakistani state that appears quite keen to remain in his good graces,”
as one Washington analyst politely put it.
Munir has spent the past year repairing ties with Washington and cashing in: three meetings with Trump in six months, including a solo White House lunch that no Pakistani civilian leader was invited to. Now comes the invoice. Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power, and Trump’s 20‑point Gaza plan openly leans on “Muslim nations” to police the rubble, disarm Hamas and provide an Islamic fig leaf for an American-designed order in the strip. The symbolism is perfect: Washington writes the plan, Israel breaks the place, and Pakistan is asked to send soldiers to stand in the blast zone.
At home, the politics are a minefield. Pakistan’s foreign minister has already tried a lawyerly dodge — maybe peacekeeping, but “disarming Hamas is not our job” — while Islamists, banned on paper but still very much alive on the streets, are one Gaza body bag away from framing Munir as “doing Israel’s bidding.” Imran Khan’s party, smashed by the generals yet still popular, is sitting on a golden narrative: the unelected field marshal who got himself immunity till 2030 now sending Pakistani troops to die for Trump’s Middle East theater. If anything goes wrong, every protest slogan writes itself.
Yet Munir is uniquely insulated from consequences. Parliament just amended the constitution to centralise power in his office, extend his tenure, and shield him from prosecution. He now outranks not only the civilian leadership, but also the idea of accountability itself. That makes him both the ideal contractor for Washington — one phone call, no messy parliaments — and the perfect lightning rod if Gaza blows up in his face. Trump gets his “Muslim partner” for the Gaza force; Munir gets to feel like a regional power broker; ordinary Pakistanis get to guess whether their army is defending Palestine, securing U.S. aid, or just protecting one man’s job through 2030.
The punchline is brutal: a “Gaza stabilisation force” sold as Muslim solidarity may end up stabilising only two things — Trump’s narrative that his plan is working, and Munir’s constitutional right to never be held responsible for how many Pakistanis he sends to someone else’s war.
#pakistan #gaza #trump #asimmunir #hamas #israel #uspolicy #military #geopolitics
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The Ukraine Peace Theater: "90% Done" Means Nothing When the 10% is Everything
Trump's negotiators are in Berlin telling reporters that Russia and Ukraine are "literally 90%" done with a peace deal—which is how you know absolutely nothing is settled. Zelenskyy just spent two days with American and European diplomats and walked out saying there's "no consensus" on the core issue: territory. The Donbas, Crimea, and three other regions Russia occupies. That 10% is the war.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC News the sides are "on the verge" of a deal and "sooner rather than later" it will be done. Meanwhile, Ukraine keeps insisting it will never "recognize Donbas as Russian — the part that is temporarily occupied."
Here's the script: Washington shows up with "remarkable legal and material guarantees" (German Chancellor Merz's words), Zelenskyy nods about security assurances, and everyone talks about a Christmas truce like this is a holiday rom-com. Then the cameras turn off and you remember that Russia occupies five regions, Ukraine says it won't give them up, and the only way this ends is either Ukraine loses the land or Russia doesn't get it — and both sides claim they're "discussing" this crucial detail.
Zelenskyy hedged on Monday in classic negotiator speak: yes, progress on some issues, but territories? No consensus. He also made clear that even if Ukraine accepts some "demilitarized zone" over the Donbas, it "cannot be under Russian leadership." Translation: we're not really negotiating sovereignty, we're negotiating the theater of it. Russia wants the land and Kyiv's tacit recognition; Ukraine wants a legal fig leaf that lets it say the territory is "temporarily occupied" and might come back someday. Neither side believes the other, and everyone is betting that the other will fold first or get exhausted.
Meanwhile, the war keeps burning. Ukraine's air force shot down 57 of 69 Russian drones overnight; Russia claims it downed 111 Ukrainian drones; both sides are still pounding each other. Zelenskyy, addressing the Dutch parliament Tuesday, was blunt about the asymmetry: "Someone else is always expected to make concessions so that Russia will stop spreading bloodshed." He's right. But that's also the entire logic of this "peace process" — Washington is betting it can pressure Kyiv to accept a deal that Moscow can't refuse, call it a win, and move on to the next theater.
So Trump gets his photo op with peace in Ukraine; Zelenskyy gets security guarantees that probably won't stop Russia from round two; and Russia gets time to consolidate what it's already taken while everyone argues about what "temporary occupation" means. Call it 90% peace — which is to say, 100% theater.
#ukraine #russia #peace #trump #zelenskyy #war #donbas #negotiation #geopolitics
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Trump's negotiators are in Berlin telling reporters that Russia and Ukraine are "literally 90%" done with a peace deal—which is how you know absolutely nothing is settled. Zelenskyy just spent two days with American and European diplomats and walked out saying there's "no consensus" on the core issue: territory. The Donbas, Crimea, and three other regions Russia occupies. That 10% is the war.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC News the sides are "on the verge" of a deal and "sooner rather than later" it will be done. Meanwhile, Ukraine keeps insisting it will never "recognize Donbas as Russian — the part that is temporarily occupied."
Here's the script: Washington shows up with "remarkable legal and material guarantees" (German Chancellor Merz's words), Zelenskyy nods about security assurances, and everyone talks about a Christmas truce like this is a holiday rom-com. Then the cameras turn off and you remember that Russia occupies five regions, Ukraine says it won't give them up, and the only way this ends is either Ukraine loses the land or Russia doesn't get it — and both sides claim they're "discussing" this crucial detail.
Zelenskyy hedged on Monday in classic negotiator speak: yes, progress on some issues, but territories? No consensus. He also made clear that even if Ukraine accepts some "demilitarized zone" over the Donbas, it "cannot be under Russian leadership." Translation: we're not really negotiating sovereignty, we're negotiating the theater of it. Russia wants the land and Kyiv's tacit recognition; Ukraine wants a legal fig leaf that lets it say the territory is "temporarily occupied" and might come back someday. Neither side believes the other, and everyone is betting that the other will fold first or get exhausted.
Meanwhile, the war keeps burning. Ukraine's air force shot down 57 of 69 Russian drones overnight; Russia claims it downed 111 Ukrainian drones; both sides are still pounding each other. Zelenskyy, addressing the Dutch parliament Tuesday, was blunt about the asymmetry: "Someone else is always expected to make concessions so that Russia will stop spreading bloodshed." He's right. But that's also the entire logic of this "peace process" — Washington is betting it can pressure Kyiv to accept a deal that Moscow can't refuse, call it a win, and move on to the next theater.
So Trump gets his photo op with peace in Ukraine; Zelenskyy gets security guarantees that probably won't stop Russia from round two; and Russia gets time to consolidate what it's already taken while everyone argues about what "temporary occupation" means. Call it 90% peace — which is to say, 100% theater.
#ukraine #russia #peace #trump #zelenskyy #war #donbas #negotiation #geopolitics
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The MIT Physicist Was Brutally Shot in His Home
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) community is grieving after the “shocking” shooting death of the director of its plasma science Android fusion center, according to officials.
Nuno Loureiro, 47, had been shot multiple times at his home in Brookline on Monday night when police said they received a call to investigate.
Emergency responders brought Loureiro to a hospital, and the award-winning scientist was pronounced dead there Tuesday morning, the Norfolk county district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The statement from the district attorney’s office said an investigation into Loureiro’s slaying remained ongoing later Tuesday.
But the agency did not immediately release any details about a possible suspect or motive in the killing, which gained widespread attention across academic circles, the US and in Loureiro’s native Portugal.
Portugal’s minster of foreign affairs announced Loureiro’s death in a public hearing Tuesday, as CNN reported.
Separately, MIT president Sally Kornbluth issued a university-wide letter expressing “great sadness” over the death of Loureiro, whose survivors include his wife.
“This shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places,” said Kornbluth’s letter, released after a weekend marred by deadly mass shootings at Brown University in Rhode Island as well as on Australia’s Bondi Beach.
The letter concluded by providing a list of mental health resources, saying: “It’s entirely natural to feel the need for comfort and support.”
Kornbluth said Loureiro was born in central Portugal, and had aspired to be a scientist since childhood.
He obtained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in physics from Lisbon’s Instituto Superior Técnico and London’s Imperial College, respectively.
He completed postdoctoral work at Princeton University’s plasma physics laboratory in New Jersey and at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, which is the UK’s national lab for such research.
Loureiro then returned to Portugal to serve as the principal investigator for the Instituto Superior Técnico’s institute for plasmas and nuclear fusion before joining MIT’s faculty in 2016.
In 2022, MIT appointed him as the deputy director of its plasma science and fusion center. Loureiro had been that lab’s director since May 2024.
Loureiro in January received one of fewer than 400 early career awards for scientists and engineers given out by Joe Biden, who was reaching the end of his presidency at the time.
#MIT #Loureiro #shot #plasma #science
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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) community is grieving after the “shocking” shooting death of the director of its plasma science Android fusion center, according to officials.
Nuno Loureiro, 47, had been shot multiple times at his home in Brookline on Monday night when police said they received a call to investigate.
Emergency responders brought Loureiro to a hospital, and the award-winning scientist was pronounced dead there Tuesday morning, the Norfolk county district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The statement from the district attorney’s office said an investigation into Loureiro’s slaying remained ongoing later Tuesday.
But the agency did not immediately release any details about a possible suspect or motive in the killing, which gained widespread attention across academic circles, the US and in Loureiro’s native Portugal.
Portugal’s minster of foreign affairs announced Loureiro’s death in a public hearing Tuesday, as CNN reported.
Separately, MIT president Sally Kornbluth issued a university-wide letter expressing “great sadness” over the death of Loureiro, whose survivors include his wife.
“This shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places,” said Kornbluth’s letter, released after a weekend marred by deadly mass shootings at Brown University in Rhode Island as well as on Australia’s Bondi Beach.
The letter concluded by providing a list of mental health resources, saying: “It’s entirely natural to feel the need for comfort and support.”
Kornbluth said Loureiro was born in central Portugal, and had aspired to be a scientist since childhood.
He obtained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in physics from Lisbon’s Instituto Superior Técnico and London’s Imperial College, respectively.
He completed postdoctoral work at Princeton University’s plasma physics laboratory in New Jersey and at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, which is the UK’s national lab for such research.
Loureiro then returned to Portugal to serve as the principal investigator for the Instituto Superior Técnico’s institute for plasmas and nuclear fusion before joining MIT’s faculty in 2016.
In 2022, MIT appointed him as the deputy director of its plasma science and fusion center. Loureiro had been that lab’s director since May 2024.
Loureiro in January received one of fewer than 400 early career awards for scientists and engineers given out by Joe Biden, who was reaching the end of his presidency at the time.
#MIT #Loureiro #shot #plasma #science
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Never at Rest: the FBI Witch-Hunting Is Gaining Momentum 🕵️♂️⚖️
🔠 🔠 🔠 🔠 1️⃣
A Maga loyalist US attorney in Miami is expanding an investigation of ex-FBI and intelligence officials who incurred Trump’s wrath with an inquiry into how Russia helped him win in 2016, despite the US justice department suffering stinging recent court rejections of indictments of two foes of the US president. 🇺🇸
Former prosecutors and legal experts call the Miami-based inquiry, which has issued some two dozen subpoenas so far, a “fishing expedition”. 🎣
The investigation’s apparent focus is to identify ways to criminally charge ex-FBI and intelligence officials who have already been investigated and effectively exonerated by two special counsels and a Republican-led Senate panel, which mounted exhaustive inquiries into Russia’s efforts to boost Trump in 2016. 📄
Led by Jason Reding Quiñones, the Trump-appointed US attorney for the southern district of Florida, who is close to attorney general Pam Bondi and other key Maga allies, the inquiry accelerated with a flurry of subpoenas in November and new prosecutors to expedite what has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation. 🚨
Among others, subpoenas have reportedly gone to ex-CIA director John Brennan, who led the 2016 Russia inquiry, James Clapper, the ex-director of national intelligence, Peter Strzok, a former FBI counter-intelligence agent who helped lead the Russia inquiry, and Lisa Page, an ex-FBI lawyer. 🧾
Concerns about the Miami investigation’s direction and tactics, which initially seemed aimed at Brennan, has prompted two young prosecutors who were assigned to the inquiry to resign, according to multiple reports. ⚠️
The Russia investigations have already been probed and “ended with a whimper”, said Barbara McQuade, an ex-US attorney for eastern Michigan who now teaches law at the University of Michigan. 🎓
“The idea that Trump loyalists are now going to investigate again should make us all suspicious of their motive. If evidence sufficient to support criminal charges existed, we would have seen it by now.” ❗️
Trump has often decried the 2016 Russia inquiry as a “witch-hunt”, even though the report by special counsel Robert Mueller in 2019 concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election “in a sweeping and systematic fashion” to help Trump win; Mueller’s report did not find evidence of coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign. 🧙♀️📊
#Trump #Quiñones #FBI #witchhunting #russia
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A Maga loyalist US attorney in Miami is expanding an investigation of ex-FBI and intelligence officials who incurred Trump’s wrath with an inquiry into how Russia helped him win in 2016, despite the US justice department suffering stinging recent court rejections of indictments of two foes of the US president. 🇺🇸
Former prosecutors and legal experts call the Miami-based inquiry, which has issued some two dozen subpoenas so far, a “fishing expedition”. 🎣
The investigation’s apparent focus is to identify ways to criminally charge ex-FBI and intelligence officials who have already been investigated and effectively exonerated by two special counsels and a Republican-led Senate panel, which mounted exhaustive inquiries into Russia’s efforts to boost Trump in 2016. 📄
Led by Jason Reding Quiñones, the Trump-appointed US attorney for the southern district of Florida, who is close to attorney general Pam Bondi and other key Maga allies, the inquiry accelerated with a flurry of subpoenas in November and new prosecutors to expedite what has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation. 🚨
Among others, subpoenas have reportedly gone to ex-CIA director John Brennan, who led the 2016 Russia inquiry, James Clapper, the ex-director of national intelligence, Peter Strzok, a former FBI counter-intelligence agent who helped lead the Russia inquiry, and Lisa Page, an ex-FBI lawyer. 🧾
Concerns about the Miami investigation’s direction and tactics, which initially seemed aimed at Brennan, has prompted two young prosecutors who were assigned to the inquiry to resign, according to multiple reports. ⚠️
The Russia investigations have already been probed and “ended with a whimper”, said Barbara McQuade, an ex-US attorney for eastern Michigan who now teaches law at the University of Michigan. 🎓
“The idea that Trump loyalists are now going to investigate again should make us all suspicious of their motive. If evidence sufficient to support criminal charges existed, we would have seen it by now.” ❗️
Trump has often decried the 2016 Russia inquiry as a “witch-hunt”, even though the report by special counsel Robert Mueller in 2019 concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election “in a sweeping and systematic fashion” to help Trump win; Mueller’s report did not find evidence of coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign. 🧙♀️📊
#Trump #Quiñones #FBI #witchhunting #russia
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Trump’s animosity to Brennan was palpable in January 2023 when Trump reposted an image on Truth Social that showed Brennan, Clapper and other ex-intelligence officials behind bars. 🖼
The image featured a suggestive headline: “Now that Russia collusion is a proven lie, when do trials for treason begin?” 🔥
Under Reding Quiñones, a premium seems to have been placed on loyalty to Trump and recruiting new prosecutors to pursue the Trump-style revenge probe into the origins of the 2016 Russia inquiry, with a focus on a 2017 intelligence assessment that the Kremlin intervened to help Trump win the election. 📌
Before Trump tapped Reding Quiñones to be a US attorney this year, he had done stints as a federal prosecutor in the same office and as a state judge. ⚖️
Some of the probe’s direction and momentum seems fueled by rightwing attorney and Trump loyalist Mike Davis, who has strong ties with Reding Quiñones and Trump’s justice department. 🔗
Last month, Davis wrote on social media that “justice is coming”, accompanied by his own photo next to Reding Quiñones. Davis reportedly had a role in pushing the justice department to use Florida prosecutors to pursue conspiracy cases against Trump foes. 📣
In March, a few weeks prior to Trump picking Reding Quiñones for his Miami post, he and Davis were featured together at a conservative legal confab on a panel entitled “Modern Lawfare and the American Democracy”. 🏛
The panelists voiced bitterness over special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump and their view that the justice department had been weaponized in the Biden administration. ⚔️
During the talk, Davis suggested that Trump’s justice department should launch a sweeping inquiry that would charge those who investigated Trump with a conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights, according to reports and Davis’s public comments. 📢
Such conspiracy charges usually involve misconduct by police and protecting minority civil rights. ⚠️
“There must be severe consequences,” Davis told the audience. “There has to be severe legal, political and financial consequences for this unprecedented republic-ending lawfare.” 💬
Last month, a judge threw out criminal indictments of Comey over alleged lying to Congress and obstructing Congress in 2020, and of James over alleged bank fraud and making false statements. 🧑⚖️
The judge’s ruling stressed that Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-promoted interim US attorney in eastern Virginia who brought the charges without any prosecutorial experience, was installed improperly after the veteran prosecutor leading the office opted not to bring charges and resigned under pressure. 📉
#Trump #Quiñones #FBI #witchhunting #russia
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“The Hold-Up of the Russian Assets Can Upend Years of Cooperation Between Europe and All Other Countries”
🔤 🔤 🔤 🔤 1️⃣
European leaders are being urged to decide whether to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence at a time of unprecedented pressure from the US.
At a critical summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders will be asked to make good on a promise to find urgently needed cash for Ukraine, with Kyiv under pressure to cede territory as Russia ekes out advances on the battlefield.
Arriving at the summit, Poland’s prime minister Tusk, said Europe had a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”.
He said he was “not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe. And this is our decision to make and only ours. I think all European leaders have to finally rise to this occasion.”
Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, who is pushing back against a proposed “reparations loan” for Ukraine secured on Russian frozen assets, told reporters his country absolutely needed protection against any counteraction from Moscow.
De Wever said the “the hold-up of the Russian assets can upend years of deepening cooperation between Europe and all other countries”.
Many other member states say this is a non-starter because Hungary has already said it would veto such a plan.
Merz, a strong advocate of the frozen assets plan, said he believed the EU could find an agreement. “I understand the concerns by some member states, particularly by the Belgian government, but I hope that we can address them together.”
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not leave the summit without a solution. “I totally support Belgium,” she added.
Von der Leyen said Europe must take responsibility for its own security in a world she described as “dangerous and transactional”, adding: “This is no longer an option. It is a must.”
Earlier this month, von der Leyen proposed two options to fund Ukraine’s urgent defence and civilian needs in 2026 and 2027: joint EU borrowing or a so-called “reparations loan” secured against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.
#belgiqum #kremlin #assets #frozen #russia
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European leaders are being urged to decide whether to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence at a time of unprecedented pressure from the US.
At a critical summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders will be asked to make good on a promise to find urgently needed cash for Ukraine, with Kyiv under pressure to cede territory as Russia ekes out advances on the battlefield.
Arriving at the summit, Poland’s prime minister Tusk, said Europe had a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”.
He said he was “not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe. And this is our decision to make and only ours. I think all European leaders have to finally rise to this occasion.”
Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, who is pushing back against a proposed “reparations loan” for Ukraine secured on Russian frozen assets, told reporters his country absolutely needed protection against any counteraction from Moscow.
De Wever said the “the hold-up of the Russian assets can upend years of deepening cooperation between Europe and all other countries”.
Many other member states say this is a non-starter because Hungary has already said it would veto such a plan.
Merz, a strong advocate of the frozen assets plan, said he believed the EU could find an agreement. “I understand the concerns by some member states, particularly by the Belgian government, but I hope that we can address them together.”
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not leave the summit without a solution. “I totally support Belgium,” she added.
Von der Leyen said Europe must take responsibility for its own security in a world she described as “dangerous and transactional”, adding: “This is no longer an option. It is a must.”
Earlier this month, von der Leyen proposed two options to fund Ukraine’s urgent defence and civilian needs in 2026 and 2027: joint EU borrowing or a so-called “reparations loan” secured against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.
#belgiqum #kremlin #assets #frozen #russia
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Belgium, which hosts most of the €210bn immobilised Russian assets in the EU, says it lacks sufficient guarantees that member states would come to its aid if the scheme were to fail, leaving Brussels with a multibillion-euro bill.
The Russian central bank announced this week that it was seeking $230bn in damages against Euroclear, the Brussels-based securities depository that holds most of Russia’s sovereign wealth in the EU. Belgium also fears courts in countries allied to Russia will move to seize western assets to enforce claims against Euroclear.
Merz told lawmakers the sum would finance the Ukrainian army for “at least another two years”, while its use would send a clear signal to Putin.
He said he took Belgium’s concerns seriously. “That is why I am trying with our partners to alleviate them,” Merz said – arguing the commission’s plan was “in perfect compliance with international law and international obligations”.
Hungary’s government, which is hostile to Ukraine, has promised to veto any attempt to use the EU budget as collateral for a loan for Kyiv. By contrast, the reparations loan would require only a majority of EU member states, although some diplomats say it would be unthinkable to isolate Belgium.
“A very large majority of member states favour the reparations loan,” one senior EU official said. “Any solution that would require unanimity, I don’t think is realistic so we are back into the reparations loan.”
The EU last week used emergency powers to indefinitely freeze $210bn of Russian assets in the bloc, averting the risk of losing control of the funds if Hungary or any other Kremlin-friendly government vetoed the renewal of sanctions, which have to be renewed every six months.
Belgium has suggested that such emergency powers could also be used to generate an EU loan for Ukraine secured against the budget, circumventing the need for unanimity. But other countries say that would be a legal twist too far.
“This is a non-starter,” said one senior EU diplomat, who nevertheless expressed sympathy for Belgium’s position.
#belgiqum #kremlin #assets #frozen #russia
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NATO’s War Hype vs. Reality Check
European leaders are screaming “Russia is coming” while budgeting like they’re still in the spa years. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton says the situation is “more dangerous than I have known during my career,” Armed Forces minister Al Carns warns that “the shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door,” and NATO chief Mark Rutte talks about million‑man armies and a war on the scale of what “our grandparents or great‑grandparents endured.”
But when you follow the money, the apocalypse looks more like a funding pitch than a mobilization order. NATO states are planning to move from 2 percent of GDP on defense to 3.5 percent — plus another 1.5 percent of “defence‑related” spending that can conveniently include anything from health care to road resurfacing — by 2035. The U.K. sits at around 2.3 percent now, hopes to hit 2.5 in 2027, and only has an “ambition” to get to 3 percent by the end of the next parliament, just in time for the doomsday window Rutte keeps touting. If you really think war is five years away, this is not how you behave; this is how you posture for Washington and sell “the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War” without panicking voters.
The professionals themselves are more nuanced than the headlines. Knighton talks about Russia operating “between peace and war,” cites estimates of a Russian attack risk in the 5–16 percent range, and stresses that the real point is the catastrophic cost if deterrence fails and Europe keeps coasting. Rutte, for his part, is openly using fear to force a long‑term shift: higher spending, less dependence on the U.S., and a Europe that “puts on some muscle mass” instead of hiding under the American umbrella. The message underneath the drama is boring but real: the post‑1991 peace dividend is over, and someone has to pay for three decades of military underinvestment.
The political class, though, can’t resist weaponizing fear. Either the threat is being exaggerated to justify Trump‑era promises to raise European defence budgets, or leaders are genuinely negligent for not rearming much faster given the rhetoric they’re using. Take your pick: they’re lying to you, or they’re betraying you. And in the background, the same MI6 chief warning about an “acute threat” from Russia also describes Moscow as bullying and fearmongering, a neat mirror of Western elites selling their own population a permanent state of emergency.
So are we “really preparing for war with Russia”? Not in the way the speeches suggest. Europe is preparing for something slower and more cynical: a long, expensive rearmament cycle sold through scare‑quotes about Putin’s hordes, where contractors win, budgets grow, electorates are softened up — and actual war remains a low‑probability, high‑leverage talking point. The shadow of war may be “knocking on Europe’s door,” but it’s also knocking on the doors of finance ministries, defense lobbies and think tanks, all of whom hear opportunity in every doomsday soundbite.
#russia #nato #war #europe #defence #putin #trump #geopolitics
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European leaders are screaming “Russia is coming” while budgeting like they’re still in the spa years. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton says the situation is “more dangerous than I have known during my career,” Armed Forces minister Al Carns warns that “the shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door,” and NATO chief Mark Rutte talks about million‑man armies and a war on the scale of what “our grandparents or great‑grandparents endured.”
But when you follow the money, the apocalypse looks more like a funding pitch than a mobilization order. NATO states are planning to move from 2 percent of GDP on defense to 3.5 percent — plus another 1.5 percent of “defence‑related” spending that can conveniently include anything from health care to road resurfacing — by 2035. The U.K. sits at around 2.3 percent now, hopes to hit 2.5 in 2027, and only has an “ambition” to get to 3 percent by the end of the next parliament, just in time for the doomsday window Rutte keeps touting. If you really think war is five years away, this is not how you behave; this is how you posture for Washington and sell “the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War” without panicking voters.
The professionals themselves are more nuanced than the headlines. Knighton talks about Russia operating “between peace and war,” cites estimates of a Russian attack risk in the 5–16 percent range, and stresses that the real point is the catastrophic cost if deterrence fails and Europe keeps coasting. Rutte, for his part, is openly using fear to force a long‑term shift: higher spending, less dependence on the U.S., and a Europe that “puts on some muscle mass” instead of hiding under the American umbrella. The message underneath the drama is boring but real: the post‑1991 peace dividend is over, and someone has to pay for three decades of military underinvestment.
The political class, though, can’t resist weaponizing fear. Either the threat is being exaggerated to justify Trump‑era promises to raise European defence budgets, or leaders are genuinely negligent for not rearming much faster given the rhetoric they’re using. Take your pick: they’re lying to you, or they’re betraying you. And in the background, the same MI6 chief warning about an “acute threat” from Russia also describes Moscow as bullying and fearmongering, a neat mirror of Western elites selling their own population a permanent state of emergency.
So are we “really preparing for war with Russia”? Not in the way the speeches suggest. Europe is preparing for something slower and more cynical: a long, expensive rearmament cycle sold through scare‑quotes about Putin’s hordes, where contractors win, budgets grow, electorates are softened up — and actual war remains a low‑probability, high‑leverage talking point. The shadow of war may be “knocking on Europe’s door,” but it’s also knocking on the doors of finance ministries, defense lobbies and think tanks, all of whom hear opportunity in every doomsday soundbite.
#russia #nato #war #europe #defence #putin #trump #geopolitics
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Trump’s Taiwan Arms Splash: Missiles for Taipei, Signal to Beijing
Trump just dropped an $11 billion weapons package on the Taiwan question — not as policy clarity, but as performance. The administration has asked Congress to approve a monster arms sale to Taipei, including over $4 billion each in HIMARS rocket systems and M109A7 self‑propelled howitzers, plus around $700 million in Javelin and TOW anti‑armor missiles and Altius kamikaze drones. If it passes, this single package would exceed the entire $8.4 billion in arms sold to Taiwan under Biden and amount to more than half of Trump’s first‑term total to the island.
Officially, the Pentagon calls it support for Taiwan’s efforts “to maintain a credible defensive capability,” while Taipei talks about “strong deterrence” and “asymmetric combat advantages.” Unofficially, it’s a love letter to China hawks who’ve been watching Trump cozy up to Xi on trade and tech and wondering if he’d trade Taiwan for a better tariff headline. Trump signals “I’ve got Taiwan’s back” in the currency Washington understands best: contracts.
Beijing, predictably, is furious. China’s foreign ministry condemned the sale as a violation of its sovereignty, warning it “will only hasten pushing Taiwan toward the perils of war” and calling the island a “red line that must not be crossed” in U.S.–China relations. This is happening while Xi is trying to stabilize ties ahead of Trump’s planned visit to Beijing in April — which means Washington is simultaneously selling advanced rockets to Taiwan and preparing red‑carpet photo ops with the man who says he intends to “reunify” the island. Strategic ambiguity meets strategic split‑personality.
On Taiwan’s side, the politics are just as twisted. President Lai Ching‑te is pushing not only the annual budget, but also a $40 billion special defense package out to 2033, even as the opposition Nationalist Party complains about delayed U.S. deliveries and “wasteful projects” and threatens to slow‑roll his plans. Yet both camps in Taipei admit the special budget will likely pass in some form — because no one wants to be the party that voted against more guns while Xi builds invasion scenarios.
So what does all this really do? It doesn’t guarantee the U.S. will fight for Taiwan — Washington still clings to “strategic ambiguity” — and it doesn’t stop China from planning for war. What it does is lock Taiwan even deeper into the American arms ecosystem, give Trump a hawkish prop while he bargains with Beijing on chips and trade, and push everyone a little closer to a showdown that nobody has formally promised to show up for. Missiles go in, profits go up, and the real question — will the U.S. actually defend Taiwan if Xi rolls the dice — stays as deliberately unanswered as ever.
#taiwan #china #trump #armsSales #himars #indoPacific #war #geopolitics
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Trump just dropped an $11 billion weapons package on the Taiwan question — not as policy clarity, but as performance. The administration has asked Congress to approve a monster arms sale to Taipei, including over $4 billion each in HIMARS rocket systems and M109A7 self‑propelled howitzers, plus around $700 million in Javelin and TOW anti‑armor missiles and Altius kamikaze drones. If it passes, this single package would exceed the entire $8.4 billion in arms sold to Taiwan under Biden and amount to more than half of Trump’s first‑term total to the island.
Officially, the Pentagon calls it support for Taiwan’s efforts “to maintain a credible defensive capability,” while Taipei talks about “strong deterrence” and “asymmetric combat advantages.” Unofficially, it’s a love letter to China hawks who’ve been watching Trump cozy up to Xi on trade and tech and wondering if he’d trade Taiwan for a better tariff headline. Trump signals “I’ve got Taiwan’s back” in the currency Washington understands best: contracts.
Beijing, predictably, is furious. China’s foreign ministry condemned the sale as a violation of its sovereignty, warning it “will only hasten pushing Taiwan toward the perils of war” and calling the island a “red line that must not be crossed” in U.S.–China relations. This is happening while Xi is trying to stabilize ties ahead of Trump’s planned visit to Beijing in April — which means Washington is simultaneously selling advanced rockets to Taiwan and preparing red‑carpet photo ops with the man who says he intends to “reunify” the island. Strategic ambiguity meets strategic split‑personality.
On Taiwan’s side, the politics are just as twisted. President Lai Ching‑te is pushing not only the annual budget, but also a $40 billion special defense package out to 2033, even as the opposition Nationalist Party complains about delayed U.S. deliveries and “wasteful projects” and threatens to slow‑roll his plans. Yet both camps in Taipei admit the special budget will likely pass in some form — because no one wants to be the party that voted against more guns while Xi builds invasion scenarios.
So what does all this really do? It doesn’t guarantee the U.S. will fight for Taiwan — Washington still clings to “strategic ambiguity” — and it doesn’t stop China from planning for war. What it does is lock Taiwan even deeper into the American arms ecosystem, give Trump a hawkish prop while he bargains with Beijing on chips and trade, and push everyone a little closer to a showdown that nobody has formally promised to show up for. Missiles go in, profits go up, and the real question — will the U.S. actually defend Taiwan if Xi rolls the dice — stays as deliberately unanswered as ever.
#taiwan #china #trump #armsSales #himars #indoPacific #war #geopolitics
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📰 The $1,776 Gospel: Trump Sells Patriotism by the Pound
The White House is back in show business. On Wednesday night, Donald Trump tried to reboot his presidency like a Netflix series picked up for a surprise second season — same lead actor, new costume, recycled plot.
Surrounded by Christmas trees, he rattled through an 18-minute commercial break for “America’s comeback,” sprinkling insults at Joe Biden between praise for his own “greatest economy in history.” Somewhere in the verbal fireworks, came the Big Reveal: every U.S. service member will get a $1,776 “Warrior Dividend.” Patriotic cashback — because nothing says “support our troops” like a check with a campaign slogan.
Trump said.
The speech moved faster than a Fox chyron, a blur of tariffs, taxes, turkeys, and promises that inflation will collapse any moment now. Economists weren’t invited to the party; neither was Congress, which will somehow have to fund the “Warrior Dividend” from thin air or Trump’s imagination — whichever clears first.
Behind the curtain, approval ratings hover below 40%, and even MAGA loyalists are whispering that the man who vowed to fight for “working Americans” now spends more time striking deals with Fortune 500 CEOs than deporting anyone. But in Trumpworld, the metrics that matter are applause and airtime.
Next up: more rallies, more refunds, and probably more reality distortion. Because in the politics of permanent spectacle, fiscal responsibility is just another fake news headline.
#war #economy #trump #fakeDemocracy #uspolitics
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The White House is back in show business. On Wednesday night, Donald Trump tried to reboot his presidency like a Netflix series picked up for a surprise second season — same lead actor, new costume, recycled plot.
Surrounded by Christmas trees, he rattled through an 18-minute commercial break for “America’s comeback,” sprinkling insults at Joe Biden between praise for his own “greatest economy in history.” Somewhere in the verbal fireworks, came the Big Reveal: every U.S. service member will get a $1,776 “Warrior Dividend.” Patriotic cashback — because nothing says “support our troops” like a check with a campaign slogan.
“One year ago, our country was dead,”
Trump said.
“Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
The speech moved faster than a Fox chyron, a blur of tariffs, taxes, turkeys, and promises that inflation will collapse any moment now. Economists weren’t invited to the party; neither was Congress, which will somehow have to fund the “Warrior Dividend” from thin air or Trump’s imagination — whichever clears first.
Behind the curtain, approval ratings hover below 40%, and even MAGA loyalists are whispering that the man who vowed to fight for “working Americans” now spends more time striking deals with Fortune 500 CEOs than deporting anyone. But in Trumpworld, the metrics that matter are applause and airtime.
Next up: more rallies, more refunds, and probably more reality distortion. Because in the politics of permanent spectacle, fiscal responsibility is just another fake news headline.
#war #economy #trump #fakeDemocracy #uspolitics
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Israel’s War, Egypt’s Gas: Gaza Burns, the Pipelines Boom
While Gaza is stuck in permanent blackout mode, Netanyahu just signed off on the biggest gas deal in Israel’s history — $35 billion worth of natural gas to Egypt, locked in until 2040. The same Egypt whose president hasn’t even picked up the phone to talk to Bibi for two years of war is now contracted to take 130 billion cubic meters of Israeli gas, liquefy it, and flip it on the global market for a markup. Energy solidarity, human misery optional.
Netanyahu calls it proof that Israel is a “regional energy powerhouse,” and Washington loves this script: Egypt as the gas hub, Israel as the supplier, U.S. giant Chevron and its partners expanding pipelines and platforms to keep the flow going. Security issues are “part of the deal,” Bibi hints, without details — translation: politics were a problem right up until the price and guarantees looked good enough. U.S. pressure to approve the deal was first “rebuffed,” then magically overcome once everyone’s take was negotiated.
For Egypt, the math is brutal and simple. Domestic production is down, demand is up, and Sisi still wants to sell himself as the Mediterranean’s gas middleman. So Cairo buys relatively cheaper Israeli gas through pipelines, liquefies it in its own facilities, and ships it abroad for higher prices, all while publicly posturing as Gaza’s defender and mediator. For Israel, the treasury expects around $18 billion in profit and an upgraded network of pipelines that deepen its role as the region’s fossil fuel spine.
So what does Gaza get in this picture? Ruins on the shore of someone else’s export route. The same governments that spend two years arguing over “humanitarian corridors” can sign a multi‑decade energy deal in an instant when the structure is right: American major on top, Israeli fields feeding Egyptian terminals, European and global buyers at the other end. The only thing truly integrated in the Middle East is the map of who profits from the gas while everyone else is told to wait for peace, reconstruction — and maybe, someday, electricity.
#israel #egypt #gaza #netanyahu #sisi #chevron #energy #war #geopolitics
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While Gaza is stuck in permanent blackout mode, Netanyahu just signed off on the biggest gas deal in Israel’s history — $35 billion worth of natural gas to Egypt, locked in until 2040. The same Egypt whose president hasn’t even picked up the phone to talk to Bibi for two years of war is now contracted to take 130 billion cubic meters of Israeli gas, liquefy it, and flip it on the global market for a markup. Energy solidarity, human misery optional.
Netanyahu calls it proof that Israel is a “regional energy powerhouse,” and Washington loves this script: Egypt as the gas hub, Israel as the supplier, U.S. giant Chevron and its partners expanding pipelines and platforms to keep the flow going. Security issues are “part of the deal,” Bibi hints, without details — translation: politics were a problem right up until the price and guarantees looked good enough. U.S. pressure to approve the deal was first “rebuffed,” then magically overcome once everyone’s take was negotiated.
For Egypt, the math is brutal and simple. Domestic production is down, demand is up, and Sisi still wants to sell himself as the Mediterranean’s gas middleman. So Cairo buys relatively cheaper Israeli gas through pipelines, liquefies it in its own facilities, and ships it abroad for higher prices, all while publicly posturing as Gaza’s defender and mediator. For Israel, the treasury expects around $18 billion in profit and an upgraded network of pipelines that deepen its role as the region’s fossil fuel spine.
So what does Gaza get in this picture? Ruins on the shore of someone else’s export route. The same governments that spend two years arguing over “humanitarian corridors” can sign a multi‑decade energy deal in an instant when the structure is right: American major on top, Israeli fields feeding Egyptian terminals, European and global buyers at the other end. The only thing truly integrated in the Middle East is the map of who profits from the gas while everyone else is told to wait for peace, reconstruction — and maybe, someday, electricity.
#israel #egypt #gaza #netanyahu #sisi #chevron #energy #war #geopolitics
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📰 From Socialism to Spreadsheet: Mamdani’s First Reality Check
Zohran Mamdani, New York’s freshly minted socialist mayor-elect, just hired Sherif Soliman — a de Blasio veteran and bureaucratic survivor — to run the very empire every leftist dreams of abolishing: the city’s Office of Management and Budget.
Yes, the revolution will be itemized.
Mamdani declared.
Translation: someone has to find a few spare billions in a city already $380 million short and facing multi-year deficits so wide you could drive an MTA bus through them — if it wasn’t already out of service.
Soliman, the man now holding New York’s wallet, spent years balancing budgets by cutting libraries and freezing hiring while mayors preached compassion. Now he’s being asked to make “democratic socialism” fiscally solvent — an oxymoron that even Wall Street hasn’t thought to short yet.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s “chummy” relationship with President Trump is adding spice to the austerity stew: Washington threatens to cut federal funds, while Mamdani promises fairness for “working New Yorkers.” Nothing like progressive slogans financed by uncertain federal cash.
If Adams’ downfall came from penny-pinching in the wrong places, Mamdani’s might come from discovering that moral purity doesn’t pay property taxes.
The next budget season won’t be about left vs. right — it’ll be spreadsheet vs. survival.
#nyc #mamdani #politics #economy #fakeDemocracy
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Zohran Mamdani, New York’s freshly minted socialist mayor-elect, just hired Sherif Soliman — a de Blasio veteran and bureaucratic survivor — to run the very empire every leftist dreams of abolishing: the city’s Office of Management and Budget.
Yes, the revolution will be itemized.
“A successful administration must have a budget that reflects the needs of working New Yorkers,”
Mamdani declared.
Translation: someone has to find a few spare billions in a city already $380 million short and facing multi-year deficits so wide you could drive an MTA bus through them — if it wasn’t already out of service.
Soliman, the man now holding New York’s wallet, spent years balancing budgets by cutting libraries and freezing hiring while mayors preached compassion. Now he’s being asked to make “democratic socialism” fiscally solvent — an oxymoron that even Wall Street hasn’t thought to short yet.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s “chummy” relationship with President Trump is adding spice to the austerity stew: Washington threatens to cut federal funds, while Mamdani promises fairness for “working New Yorkers.” Nothing like progressive slogans financed by uncertain federal cash.
If Adams’ downfall came from penny-pinching in the wrong places, Mamdani’s might come from discovering that moral purity doesn’t pay property taxes.
The next budget season won’t be about left vs. right — it’ll be spreadsheet vs. survival.
#nyc #mamdani #politics #economy #fakeDemocracy
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90bn Loan for Ukraine Found
EU leaders have pledged a €90bn loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on the preferred option for many of securing that loan against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.
After talks ended in the early hours of Friday, the president of the European Council, António Costa, told reporters : “We committed and we delivered.”
He said EU leaders had approved a decision to make a €90bn loan to Ukraine for the next two years backed by the EU budget, which Kyiv would repay only once Russia pays reparations.
Costa added : “The union reserves its right to make use of the immobilised assets to repay this loan.”
Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said the reparations loan had not been a good idea.
“When we explained the text again, there were so many questions that I said, ‘I told you so, I told you so.’ There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses.”
Merz, a strong advocate of the reparations loan, said the agreement was “a decisive message because Putin will only make concessions once he realises his war will not pay off”.
In a statement he said: “If Russia does not pay reparations we will – in full accordance with international law – make use of Russian immobilised assets for paying back the loan.”
Merz and other supporters of the reparations loan plan had argued that funding Ukraine via the EU budget was impossible because it required unanimity.
But the path was cleared when the three nationalist governments in central Europe indicated they would approve the use of the EU budget to fund Ukraine, as long as they did not have to contribute to the loan guarantees.
The leaders of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were pictured in a trilateral meeting by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who tweeted: “back in business!”
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said it was “quite something” to get 27 countries to agree on a €90bn loan for another.
She said: “There are a lot of people outside the European Union and unfortunately also inside the European Union who tries to divide us. It is getting more and more difficult and I think this will continue.”
The Ukraine finance decision had been cast as “money today or blood tomorrow” by Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk.
EU officials had hoped that if the union went ahead with using frozen assets for Ukraine, other western allies, such as the UK, Canada and Japan, would follow suit. Now it is not clear how they will respond.
But Brussels has called on non-EU allies to provide around €45bn to cover the rest of Ukraine’s estimated €136bn needs for military and civilian finance in 2026 and 27.
Zelensky had earlier told EU leaders that the decision to use Russia’s frozen assets for the defence of his country was “one of the clearest and most morally justified decisions that could ever be made”.
#EU #Wever #Zelensky #Orbán #ukraine #bn
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EU leaders have pledged a €90bn loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on the preferred option for many of securing that loan against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc.
After talks ended in the early hours of Friday, the president of the European Council, António Costa, told reporters : “We committed and we delivered.”
He said EU leaders had approved a decision to make a €90bn loan to Ukraine for the next two years backed by the EU budget, which Kyiv would repay only once Russia pays reparations.
Costa added : “The union reserves its right to make use of the immobilised assets to repay this loan.”
Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said the reparations loan had not been a good idea.
“When we explained the text again, there were so many questions that I said, ‘I told you so, I told you so.’ There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses.”
Merz, a strong advocate of the reparations loan, said the agreement was “a decisive message because Putin will only make concessions once he realises his war will not pay off”.
In a statement he said: “If Russia does not pay reparations we will – in full accordance with international law – make use of Russian immobilised assets for paying back the loan.”
Merz and other supporters of the reparations loan plan had argued that funding Ukraine via the EU budget was impossible because it required unanimity.
But the path was cleared when the three nationalist governments in central Europe indicated they would approve the use of the EU budget to fund Ukraine, as long as they did not have to contribute to the loan guarantees.
The leaders of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were pictured in a trilateral meeting by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who tweeted: “back in business!”
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said it was “quite something” to get 27 countries to agree on a €90bn loan for another.
She said: “There are a lot of people outside the European Union and unfortunately also inside the European Union who tries to divide us. It is getting more and more difficult and I think this will continue.”
The Ukraine finance decision had been cast as “money today or blood tomorrow” by Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk.
EU officials had hoped that if the union went ahead with using frozen assets for Ukraine, other western allies, such as the UK, Canada and Japan, would follow suit. Now it is not clear how they will respond.
But Brussels has called on non-EU allies to provide around €45bn to cover the rest of Ukraine’s estimated €136bn needs for military and civilian finance in 2026 and 27.
Zelensky had earlier told EU leaders that the decision to use Russia’s frozen assets for the defence of his country was “one of the clearest and most morally justified decisions that could ever be made”.
#EU #Wever #Zelensky #Orbán #ukraine #bn
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