Russian Army van with full of Kontakt-1 ERA.

Orban's allies will hold closed-door meeting with Republicans in Washington to push for an end to US military support for Ukraine, The Guardian reports.

View of Russian Ka-52 crew ejecting from the cockpit of another Ka-52 getting hit by Ukrainian MANPADS.

It is reported that the crew of the downed helicopter survived and are still fighting.

Ka-52 is the only serial helicopter in the world with an ejection system.

Biden has invited Ukraine's Zelensky to the White House for a meeting on Tuesday, December 12 to underscore "US' unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia’s brutal invasion."

They'll discuss "Ukraine’s urgent needs and the vital importance of the United States’ continued support at this critical moment."

Elon Musk confirms “community notes is being gamed by state actors”.

Then he gets community noted by community notes again.

IISS study finds there are 183 regional and local conflicts underway in 2023, the highest number in 30 years.

The intensity of conflict has risen year on year, with fatalities increasing by 14% and violent events by 28% in the latest survey.

The International Committee of the Red Cross catalogues 459 armed groups whose activities provoke humanitarian concerns, with 195 million people living under their full or partial control.

Ukraine remains, unsurprisingly, the most violent place on the planet, but Syria, Brazil, Myanmar, Mexico and Iraq are also riven.

The numbers of refugees displaced by war are stunning: more than six million in Syria, five million in Afghanistan, a million in Myanmar.

Source: Bloomberg

Funeral is held at the Central Bank of Argentina as Javier Milei sworn in as the new President of Argentina today.

Gaza in ruins.

U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in the Yellow Sea, South Korea.

The pilot was safely rescued after making an emergency escape.

The crash was near the U.S. Air Force base in Gunsan.

Argentina’s new President Javier Milei passes the chainsaw for the first time officially and signs the reduction of ministries in Argentina from 19 to 9 ministries, eliminating 10 ministries at once.

Republican U.S. Senator J. D. Vance:

Any person with a brain knows that the conflict in Ukraine will end in negotiations. The idea that Ukraine will push Russia back to its 1991 borders is ridiculous, no one actually believed it. Ukraine is functionally destroyed as a country.

American authorities should stop the bloodshed, not write more blank checks for war.

IDF’s official death toll in Gaza has surpassed 100, reaching 101.

High-ranking officials from leading Western countries are increasingly discussing the need to replace Zelensky, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service claims.

“Among Zelensky’s possible successors, Brussels is considering Zaluzhny, Budanov, Ermak, Arestovich, Klitschko.

In the West they believe that Zelensky has gone too far and, if necessary, will not be able to become a party to negotiations with the Russian Federation to “freeze” the conflict.”

Concerns are growing over the weakening of armed forces and the emptying of arsenals in Europe, WSJ reports.

The leaders of Europe - the British military - have only about 150 tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery guns.

France, also a big military spender, has less than 90 heavy artillery pieces, equivalent to what Russia is losing roughly every month on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Denmark has no heavy artillery, no submarines, no air defense systems. The German army has enough ammunition for two days of combat.

For decades, Western governments have put up with the weakening of European armies because the US has been the backbone of NATO and defense policy in Europe.

However, anxiety is growing as America takes an increasingly isolationist position, and the understanding of the potential threat to Europe from the Russian Federation is re-emerging after almost two years of fighting in Ukraine.

“Israel has only a few weeks left to destroy Hamas”: America has given Israel until the new year to complete the operation in the Gaza Strip, The Economist reports.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed a similar message to his interlocutors during a recent visit to Israel.

The Biden administration is demanding that Israel do more to reduce the suffering of Palestinian civilians, especially in the southern Gaza Strip.

If the US demands to stop bombing the Gaza Strip early next year, the Israeli army will most likely continue its military campaign, albeit with less intensity.

In this situation, Hamas will continue to control part of the Gaza Strip, and Israel will not achieve its main goal - to destroy the organizers of the October 7 attack.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has called for 350 billion dollars (£278 billion) in frozen Russian bank accounts to be used to fund the Ukrainian war effort:

Instead of just freezing that money, let’s take that money, spend it on rebuilding Ukraine and that is, if you like, a downpayment on reparations that Russia will one day have to pay for the illegal invasion that they’ve undertaken.

I’ve looked at all the arguments and so far, I haven’t seen anything that convinces me this is a bad idea.

New Argentinian President Javier Milei:

Argentina has no money.