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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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.

“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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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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Never at Rest: the FBI Witch-Hunting Is Gaining Momentum 🕵️‍♂️⚖️

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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”

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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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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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📰 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.

“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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📰 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.

“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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Whose Peace Is This, Anyway? Ukraine on the Table, Not at It

The war in Ukraine may be crawling toward a ceasefire, but the “peace” being drafted looks like a settlement between Washington and Moscow, with Kyiv treated as a line item, not a subject. Erdoğan is out giving speeches about how “peace is not far away” and the Black Sea shouldn’t become a battlefield, while the real talks are circling one core idea: Ukraine is supposed to swallow permanent neutrality so that the great powers can move on.​

Under the U.S. proposal described by Ataman, Ukraine is pushed into a forever gray zone — no NATO, no EU membership bid worth the paper it’s written on — in exchange for an end to a war it didn’t start. Russia keeps Crimea and swathes of eastern Ukraine because Putin “cannot” go home empty‑handed, and Europe, terrified of being next but lacking the muscle to say no, tries to tweak Trump’s plan at the margins while still protecting its own interests first.​

The kicker is what comes after the guns go quiet. Ukraine will be told to hold elections under the watchful eyes of the same outside powers that have been meddling there since the 2000s, with pro‑Western, pro‑Russian and “neutral” candidates all backed by foreign money and pressure. The country stays structurally split, Russian influence bruised but not gone, nationalism hardened, and real sovereignty reduced to choosing which external patron gets to claim the win.​

So when leaders talk about a “historic peace,” it’s worth asking: peace for whom? The U.S. gets to cut its losses, Russia gets to keep its trophies, Europe gets to pretend it stood firm, Türkiye gets to pose as the mediator — and Ukraine gets millions displaced, hundreds of thousands dead, and a map redrawn over its head. That’s not peace; that’s an armistice on other people’s terms, branded as stability and sold as mercy.​

For now, Zelenskyy is signaling that the only peace he’ll accept is one that doesn’t touch Ukraine’s formal borders — which in practice means no peace at all, just a war paused until someone else blinks first.

#ukraine #russia #trump #erdogan #nato #peaceDeal #war #geopolitics

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🔴 "Brussels Theatre: The €90 Billion Hostage Deal"

Ukraine needs €135 billion. The EU has €200 billion of Russian cash literally sitting in Belgium. Simple math? Try telling that to Brussels.
Instead of saying

"Sorry Putin, liability's on us"

—they chose the coward's path: €90 billion in new EU debt, borrowed at market rates, with Ukraine left to repay it after Russia compensates them (good luck with that).

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot:

"We do not wish to provoke our partners or Ukraine. Our aim is simply to avert potential disastrous outcomes for a member state that is expected to demonstrate solidarity without receiving the same in return."

Translation: We're happy to let other Europeans bleed but won't risk our own courtroom headaches.

The Absurdity:
• The EU holds stolen Russian money but refuses to touch it
• Belgium—custodian of €183 billion at Euroclear—demands insurance from 26 other nations for legal risks that don't exist
• Germany wanted the Russian assets; Belgium screamed "liability!" Everyone collapsed
• Result: EU taxpayers now borrow, investors get paid, Ukraine gets an interest-free IOU, and frozen Russian money sits untouched


Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron—who just defended Ukraine at every summit—suddenly decides Europe needs to

"find the right framework to re-engage with Putin."

Not through Biden. Not through Trump. Direct talks, he says. Because clearly, the best time to negotiate with an invader is when you've just told him:

"We're too scared to even touch your money. You're safe here."

Brussels avoided "chaos and division" by choosing cowardice dressed as prudence. Zelensky called it "significant support." Macron called it a launching pad for peace talks. Germany called it a "signal" to Putin. Belgium called it survival.

Everyone's lying to themselves. That's not unity—that's performance theater with an audience of one: Moscow.

#frozenAssets #ukraineFinance #EUTheatre #liability #macronDiplomacy

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Putin’s “Ready for Peace” Routine: Surrender, But Make It Yours

Putin just told the world he’s “ready” to end the war in Ukraine — as long as nothing important changes for him. In his annual Moscow show, he boasted that Russia has “practically agreed” with the Trump-brokered Alaska peace outline, then immediately blamed the lack of progress on Ukraine and Europe for refusing to accept a deal written around Kremlin demands.

This is the line: Putin says he wants peace next year, while insisting on maximalist territorial claims in eastern and southern Ukraine, including areas his army still hasn’t fully taken after nearly a decade of war. At the same time, he openly admits Russia has 700,000 troops deployed in Ukraine and is bleeding men and money at historic levels. The message is:

“We’re exhausted, but you’re the ones being unreasonable if you don’t sign away land.”

Behind the scenes, Trump’s envoys and Kremlin fixer types have built a 28‑point peace scheme that originally baked in several Russian red lines and blindsided Kyiv. Some of the most toxic provisions have been watered down under Ukrainian and European pressure, and now everyone is flying to Florida to talk “security guarantees” while pretending this is a balanced process. In reality, Moscow still won’t roll back its claims, Kyiv still won’t legitimize them, and Putin is trying to frame any refusal of his terms as evidence that the West “doesn’t want peace.”

Meanwhile, Europe is scrambling to keep Ukraine alive long enough to negotiate from something other than collapse. EU leaders just signed off on a €90 billion loan package for 2026–27, funded with joint debt — a big political shift that conveniently avoids touching frozen Russian assets for now. That money is meant to keep the Ukrainian state functioning while the same leaders quietly debate how much territory they’re willing to see written off in the final text.

And on the Russian side, the clock is ticking. Sanctions have eaten more than half of the country’s rainy‑day reserves, oil and gas revenues are under pressure, growth is slowing, and the Kremlin is papering over a growing budget hole with record domestic borrowing. Putin is signaling:

“Let’s end this before it breaks us,”

but only on terms that let him claim victory and keep the gains.

So yes, Putin now says he wants peace. Just not the kind where he gives anything up. The war ends when Ukraine and Europe agree to call his map “stability” — and when Trump can stand in front of cameras and sell that climb‑down as a diplomatic masterstroke rather than what it is: codifying conquest and asking the victim to sign at the bottom.

#ukraine #russia #putin #trump #war #peaceDeal #eu #sanctions #geopolitics

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Trump’s Gaza Plan: Peace on Paper, Stalemate on the Ground

Trump’s “I ended the war in Gaza” victory lap is colliding with a basic problem: his peace plan assumes Hamas will disarm, and Hamas is just… not doing that. The 20‑point deal stopped two years of slaughter, freed the remaining living hostages and almost all the bodies, and froze the map with Israel controlling a bit more than half of Gaza and Hamas running the rest.

But phase two — the part with “peace,” reconstruction and international forces — is built on a fantasy that Hamas will politely hand over guns and power so Trump’s Board of Peace can cut a ribbon over the rubble.

Under the plan, Hamas is supposed to give up governance, disarm and transfer its territory to an international stabilization force plus a technocratic Palestinian committee, while Israel pulls back from most of Gaza and the rebuilding begins.

In reality, Hamas has dug in across its half, Israel has carved out a wide, largely depopulated buffer zone where it can keep demolishing “terror infrastructure” with fewer troop risks, and both sides look increasingly comfortable with a frozen conflict that suits their core interests more than Washington’s PowerPoint.

The rest of the world is not rushing to fix that. Nobody wants to send troops into areas where they might end up fighting Hamas for Trump’s plan, and Arab governments are especially allergic to being seen as “doing Israel’s dirty work” by deploying only in zones under Israeli control.
So the White House talks about 10,000 foreign troops under a U.S. general “sometime next year,” while experts quietly admit the most likely outcome is a tiny symbolic deployment in a sliver of Rafah so everyone can claim “phase two has begun” without actually changing the balance of power.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian picture is grotesque: more than two million people, almost all displaced, many living in tents amid ruins in the Hamas‑run areas, dependent on aid while diplomats argue over sequencing and semantics. Yes, the truce reduced the bombing, accelerated aid and brought most hostages home, and analysts honestly say it was “the best plan on the table” to stop the immediate killing. But it was deliberately vague on the hardest piece — Hamas disarmament — because that was the only way to get signatures. Now that vagueness has come due.

So Trump gets to boast he brought

“peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years,”

Israel keeps its buffer zone and operational freedom, Hamas keeps its guns and half an enclave, and foreign troops stay on the runway.

Gaza, again, is stuck between war and peace — a showroom cease‑fire designed for speeches and photo ops, not for actually solving the one thing the whole plan hinges on: who, if anyone, is prepared to take Hamas’s weapons away.

#gaza #trump #hamas #israel #ceasefire #peacePlan #middleeast #geopolitics

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends: Philosopher Noam Chomsky, Bill Gates 🧐

Speculation surrounding the affairs of Jeffrey Epstein is expected to reach a defining moment of revelation on Friday with the much-anticipated publication of files relating to the disgraced late financier and sex trafficker. 📚🔍

After months of delay and stalling, the Trump administration is legally obliged to publish a massive archive of documents that could shine fresh light on Epstein’s misdeeds and his connections with key public figures, including Trump himself. 🗃✨

Under the terms of the Epstein Files Transparency Act – passed by Congress in November following months of resistance from the White House – Pam Bondi, the attorney general, must release by midnight on Friday “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” linked to Epstein, his jailed associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and individuals named in connection with his criminal activities. 🎯➡️

The files are required to be released in “searchable and downloadable” formats. 💾🖥

The publication will come after months of clamoring for the release of the files from Trump’s make America great again (Maga) base, which has shown signs of fracturing over the issue. 😳🤔

Trump – who was a close friend of Epstein before a break-up that he has given varying explanations for – promised to order the release of the files during last year’s presidential race but backtracked after returning to office. 🕊👋

He faced a fierce backlash from his own supporters after Bondi declined to make the files public last summer, and dismissed speculation about the existence of an Epstein client list – despite having previously said it was sitting on her desk. 👀📌

Trump, reversing his previous opposition, promptly signed the bill into law. ✅

The president’s opponents have voiced suspicions that whatever is released will be incomplete, with information that could be damaging to him possibly withheld. ⛏️🔥

The justice department is permitted to hold back records that identify victims, including images of child sexual abuse, or documents that have been deemed classified. 🔐❌

It also has discretion to withhold records that could prejudice a federal investigation. Trump last month ordered a criminal investigation into Epstein’s links with prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton. 🩺🏇‍♂️

Even before the expected release of the files, Democrats on the House oversight committee stepped up the pressure on Thursday by releasing a new tranche of 68 pictures from Epstein’s estate. 📸📌

#Democrats #Epstein #Trump #Clinton #Clinton

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Putin’s Annual News Conference to Streamline His Geopolitics

🔠🅰️🔠🔠1️⃣

Putin began his annual news conference on Friday by reaffirming the Kremlin’s determination to continue the war in Ukraine until all of its conditions were met.

Putin immediately boasted about Russia’s recent battlefield successes and said that the country was not ready to settle the conflict diplomatically unless its maximalist demands, including territorial ones, were fulfilled by Ukraine and its allies.

“The strategic initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian forces,” Putin said.

He added that Russia was “ready to end the conflict peacefully” on the basis of principles he stated in June last year, a reference to the demand that Ukraine cede large swaths of its eastern territories. That is a nonstarter for Kyiv.

But even as he accused Ukraine of refusing to end the conflict peacefully or to negotiate on the question of territory, Putin said that there were “certain signals” that Kyiv was “ready to engage in some kind of dialogue.”

Russia said this week that it was waiting to meet with President Trump’s representatives to review amended peace proposals after discussions among Ukrainian, American and European officials.

Putin’s year-end news conference, an annual tradition, is an hourslong marathon where journalists and citizens pose their questions to the Russian leader.

It has become an elaborately orchestrated television show and a demonstration of how, over the past three decades, Putin has solidified his position as the ultimate decision maker in the country.

He is portrayed as personally engaged in everyday issues like leaking pipes in small cities, even as he oversees major matters of foreign conflict.

A dedicated studio was built in a giant exhibition center next to the Kremlin for the news conference, which started at midday. It usually sets the tone for the coming year, reflecting the Kremlin’s primary concerns and the messaging it aims to send to the world.

During past news conferences, reporters came with large posters and even fluffy toys to draw Putin’s attention. This time, only small sheets of paper were allowed, giving the event a more reserved feel.

Putin’s spokesman, Peskov, asked audience members not to yell out to be chosen to ask a question.

#putin #annual #news #conference

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🔠🅰️🔠🔠2️⃣

About 2.7 million questions and requests had been submitted to the show as of Friday, according to a meter on a Russian state-run news channel. The Kremlin says it uses artificial intelligence developed by a state bank to help sift through them.

Some involve seemingly tiny problems. Residents of a small district in the city of Volgograd, for instance, sent a video plea asking Putin to help them gain access to drinkable water. In St. Petersburg, locals complained about plans to build a highway through a park.

Beyond such requests, the Kremlin carefully selects a set of questions that allow Putin to address the biggest issues facing Russia today, such as the state of the economy and the war in Ukraine.

Russian troops continue to advance in Ukraine, giving Putin little incentive to stop the fighting. This week, Ukrainian, European and American officials discussed a peace plan aimed at deterring future Russian attacks.

It involved a possible deployment of European forces to Ukrainian territory, something Putin has already flatly rejected.

On Friday, Putin responded to a recent video from President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. In it, the Ukrainian leader filmed himself in front of the welcome sign to the city of Kupiansk, in eastern Ukraine, to rebut Moscow’s claims that the city had fallen to Russian troops.

“The sign is located outside the city, about a kilometer away. Well, why are you standing on the threshold? Come inside, right?”

Putin said, referring to a Russian superstition that says it is bad luck to greet someone from the threshold of a home’s doorway.

The Russian leader also hit out at European leaders for considering using Russian sovereign assets frozen in Europe to extend a large loan to Ukraine.

Still, Putin warned that using the frozen assets would undermine the trust of other countries that hold their sovereign assets in Europe.

He argued that Europeans would set a precedent of allowing them to seize the assets of any other countries they disagreed with — like those of oil-producing nations in the Middle East that have anti-L.G.B.T. policies that Europe objects to, he said.

#putin #annual #news #conference

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