German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met with California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge A. Colby:

We’re not trying to strangle China.

Maria Corina Machado:

We must dismantle the presence of Cuba, Russia, Iran inside our institutions. China lent over $60 billion to the regime.

Once we dismantle the regime in Venezuela, Cuba will be next. Nicaragua will follow.

For the first time in history, the Americas will be free of communism and dictatorship.

Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado:

The vast majority of the armed forces support us.

They were ordered to stop us — and they disobeyed.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius:

Moscow is not acting alone. It is pursuing a revisionist agenda by cooperating with China, Iran, and North Korea.

Up north, Russia and China are preparing to project military and economic power in the Arctic.

In the event of an escalation in Europe, Russia would most likely use its Northern Fleet to open a second front, cut transatlantic supply chains, and threaten both sides of the Atlantic with nuclear submarines.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius:

We cannot afford another paper tiger like the Budapest Memorandum.

Europe and Germany stand ready to play their part.

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski:

If the US forces Ukraine into an unfair deal, we will continue our commitment to Ukraine.

It is Ukraine that will decide when to make a deal.

And then we will not be able to be ignored by Putin, because we will become the main provider to Ukraine.

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski on Ukraine:

If we are paying, if this is affecting our security and not just Ukraine’s, then we deserve a seat at the table, because the outcome of this war will affect us.

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski:

If Russians cross the border, start killing NATO citizens, we activate the plan.

The plan is simple: we win, they lose.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Taras Kachka:

The real cost of one year of war is more than 100 billion dollars.

90 billion is not all the money we will need to spend on defense.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Israel:

After the 8th of December, more than 1,000 airstrikes hit Syria, targeting civilian and military sites.

New Syrian territories were occupied, Syrian citizens were detained by Israel, and more than 500 land incursions were conducted.

Since day one, the Syrian state has wanted to deal realistically with Israel. We said that we want to focus on reconstruction. We want recovery first, and then development.

But perhaps Israel did not welcome that approach, as it appeared to be looking for side conflicts in the region. We rejected that path. We remained patient and chose negotiations.

With the support of the United States, we managed to bring Israel to direct negotiations.

The goal of these negotiations, as we see it, is Israel’s withdrawal from the territories it occupied after the 8th of December, preventing Israel from violating Syrian airspace, and ensuring that there are no further incursions into Syrian territory.

These are our demands.

Israel is overreacting to perceived threats, and I believe this is the wrong policy. In fact, such policies may become the gravest threat to Israel itself, rather than the threats it perceives from others.

I do not believe Israel can ignore the realistic approach Syria is following. President Trump and the United States are supporting this approach and mediating this dialogue.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen on Syria:

Are there going to be mistakes? Of course there will be mistakes.

I just finished watching The American Revolution, which is a documentary in the United States about our fight for independence. There were all kinds of mistakes made in the early days of the United States.

We continue to make mistakes.

But the important thing about democracies — the important thing about stable societies — is that we are able to correct those mistakes, to provide accountability and justice when mistakes are made, and to move forward in a positive way.

And that is what I think we want for Syria and for the entire Middle East region.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani:

We do not see the SDF as enemies. We see them as partners.

WATCH: Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system misses a Ukrainian kamikaze drone at nearly point-blank range, after which the drone strikes and destroys the system.

Zelensky:

Investors say they need guarantees that would be longer than 5, 10 years, etc.

Today we have a proposal from the American side for 15 years.

We want to have 20 years plus. 30, 50...