When Bush went in and blew up Iraq, he destabilized the region, because you had two strong powers—Iraq and Iran—and they were identical.

They would fight each other for 1,000 years under different names and different religions. They were the same power.

And when we blew up one of the two powers, all of a sudden you had one bully… they weren't bullies when they were fighting, because they were fighting each other.

The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition during Vice President JD Vance’s visit.

The two bills were sponsored by opposition members.

Likud and the religious coalition parties did not support them, except for one dismissed Likud committee chair.

Without Likud backing, the bills are unlikely to advance.

China’s state oil giants — PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and Zhenhua Oil — have halted or reduced seaborne Russian crude purchases after new U.S. sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, fearing secondary penalties.

These firms together imported 250,000–500,000 bpd of Russian oil earlier in 2025, a fraction of China’s 1.4 million bpd total.

Independent Chinese refiners may still buy through intermediaries, but state firms are pausing deals for now.

India is also preparing to sharply cut Russian oil imports before a U.S. Treasury deadline with Reliance Industries and state refiners reviewing contracts to avoid sanctioned entities.

China and India are Russia’s two biggest oil buyers.

Source: Reuters