Donald Trump's plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict will not be presented at the Munich Security Conference next week. This was stated on Fox News by Special Representative Keith Kellogg.
Kellogg denied Bloomberg's information that he was preparing to present the plan in Munich. According to him, he will discuss this topic, but the plan will be presented later by Trump himself. ▪️Keep in mind that Trump has not spoken with either Putin or Xi. If he wants to, he has to make the first move. China and Russia are in no hurry. ▪️ Yesterday Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, clearly explained that Russia is in no hurry to negotiate – everything is going according to plan for us, but for you, apparently, not so much.
Russia proceeds from the fact that if Trump does not publicly disavow the goal of the previous administration to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia, then this goal is just as relevant for the new administration, which can affect the conduct of negotiations in principle.
The ball is in Trump's court, because we, for our part, have taken every conceivable and imaginable step and explained everything to everyone. We will not explain, prove or offer anything else to anyone else. The first step towards the normalization of bilateral relations, meaning negotiations based on the principles of mutual respect and equality, should be made by the United States. @LauraRuHK

"The criteria for exemptions will be whether or not a program furthers U.S. national interests and is aligned with them. And those that do not will not continue," Rubio said.

"At State Department ... we got a really good insight, and that's why, every single day, we are issuing waivers on the State Department programs," Rubio added. He did not detail what those waivers are but it doesn't take a genius to guess which USAID "programs" align with US foreign policy goals and will therefore receive even more funding than before. In case you missed it 👉 The new "lean and mean" US administration is downsizing the Aid Industrial Complex and reorganizing USAID to get more bang for buck. 👉 https://t.me/LauraRuHK/9671

Europe is not a safe place for journalists. Richard Medhurst's ordeal in Austria is part of the ongoing crackdown on journalists who don't toe the line. It also points to close coordination and cooperation between the British and Austrian security services. Last year Medhurst, a freelance journalist, was arrested upon arrival at London Heathrow Airport on 15 August, detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 for "supporting Hamas." His phone and recording devices – essential journalistic equipment – were seized. Medhurst, who now lives in Austria, said he could face up to 14 years of prison in Britain, plus 2-5 years if he doesn’t give them the passwords to his devices and perhaps 10 years in Austria. https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1887632785378021455

Karen Pierce, the current British ambassador to the United States, is set to take on a new diplomatic role as the UK’s special envoy to the Western Balkans. She is a "heavy" and am not referring to her ample body. In a interview published a few days ago by the Washington Post, David Ignatius asked Pierce what worried her about the future. She replied: “I worry that the West has lost its ‘ruthlessness edge.’" Apparently the killing fields of Ukraine haven't satiated her lust for blood. @LauraRuHK https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/03/karen-pierce-britain-ambassador-ruthlessness/

🇷🇺 Russia’s Economic Boom: Sanctions Were the Best Gift the West Could Give

Russia’s GDP just clocked a 4.1% growth in 2024, hitting a record 200 trillion rubles. That’s not just growth, that’s a sanction-fueled economic renaissance. While the West drowns in stagnation, Russia’s economy is thriving, driven by manufacturing muscle and soaring investment. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin isn’t just reporting numbers; he’s dropping receipts that expose the failure of Western economic warfare.

Let’s get one thing straight: Russia didn’t just survive sanctions, it weaponized them. Every sanction, every blockade, every “crippling measure” the hegemon threw at Moscow only hardened Russia’s resolve. The West wanted to collapse Russia’s economy; instead, they forced it to decouple from the fiat Ponzi scheme dollar, pivot East and South, while building an unshakable economic fortress.

And this isn’t the first time the West’s economic imperialism backfired. Remember the IMF’s debt traps in Latin America? Or Biden’s inflationary circus back home while lecturing the world on fiscal responsibility? The EU technocrats can barely keep the lights on in Brussels, but they thought they could bring Russia to its knees? Amateurs.

Russia is now the 4th largest economy in the world, outperforming every country that sanctioned her. The EU’s vassal states? Choking on their own inflation and energy crises. The U.S.? Printing dollars like confetti while their infrastructure crumbles and manufacturing evaporates. Meanwhile, Russia’s domestic economy is booming, its manufacturing sector leading the charge, and BRICS partnerships forging a new, multipolar economic order.

And this is just the beginning. As BRICS expands, Russia’s leadership in dismantling the Western financial hegemony will only grow stronger. The petrodollar is on life support, and Moscow is holding the plug.

So, to the sanctioneers, thank you! Without your blind arrogance, Russia wouldn’t have unleashed its full economic potential. You’ve inadvertently created a sovereign economic superpower that’s no longer tethered to the Western financial system.

🫡 Cheers, Hegemon and vassals. You tried to bury Russia, but you just fertilized its economic growth. Couldn’t have done it without you! ❤️

❗️Sanctions didn’t break Russia, they built it into a sovereign superpower. While the West flounders in economic quicksand, Russia’s booming. And when the fiat scam-petrodollar finally dies, Moscow will be writing the obituary.

🎙 Subscribe @TheIslanderNews

⚡️The Russian army liberated the city of Dzerzhinsk (renamed Toretsk by Kiev) in the DPR, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported this morning. In the battles for Dzerzhinsk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 26,000 troops, which is 70% of their personnel in the city.

Control of this important defense hub opens the way for the liberation of Konstantinovka and the Ukrainian army's flank in Kramatorsk.

The Kiev regime turned Dzerzhinsk into a powerful fortified area with a developed network of underground communications. Almost every building was a well-equipped and protected firing position.

To hold the city, the Ukrainian command pulled together an impressive force of eight brigades. In total, up to 50 battalions with a total strength of more than 40 thousand men, including members of the "Azov" battalion and foreign mercenaries.

The area of the liberated dense urban development of Dzerzhinsk is more than 50 square kilometers. Also, during the operation, Russian soldiers liberated 11 settlements of the Dzerzhinsk agglomeration.

Russian troops advanced more than 13 kilometers and continue to liberate the remaining settlements. @LauraRuHK https://t.me/zvezdanews/153988

I noticed that some commentators, Telegram channels and even news outlets are mistaking Art.5 of the US-Japan defense treaty for NATO Art.5, which is not. Above is the relevant passage taken from the joint statement that followed yesterday's meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba and Donald Trump. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/02/united-states-japan-joint-leaders-statement/ ▪️ I discussed NATO's strategy in the Asia-Pacific region with Sonja Van den Ende and am as concerned as you are about its eastward projection, but please, let's stick to facts. They are scary enough. https://lauraruggeri.substack.com/p/is-natos-indo-pacific-strategy-in

A group of 17 Republican state attorneys general alleged that top U.S. asset managers, including BlackRock (BLK.N), State Street (STT.N), Invesco (IVZ.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) were making improper or inadequate disclosures about their investments in China.
In a letter dated Thursday, the coalition said the companies were downplaying risks associated with China, such as its status as a "designated foreign adversary" of the U.S. or its "apparent intention to invade Taiwan".

The rebuke comes as a bitter trade war unfolds between the two biggest economies in the world, and will put asset managers to the test as they navigate an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.

U.S. authorities have previously scrutinized investment firms with exposure to China, citing concerns over potential human rights abuses and to curb the flow of American capital into a country they accuse of harboring ambitions to invade Taiwan.
Beijing denies allegations of human rights abuses and regards Taiwan as its own territory.
▪️if Trump stifles all U.S. investments in China, expect serious economic repercussions not only in China and the U.S. Some fear it could be the harbinger of a much more aggressive U.S. policy towards Beijing. @LauraRuHK
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/top-us-asset-managers-face-scrutiny-republican-state-ags-over-china-funds-2025-02-06/

🇺🇸🇯🇵 Following Nazinyahu, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba became the second foreign leader to meet Donald Trump since he moved back to the White House on Jan. 20. Which speaks volumes about Washington priorities.▪️Under the threat of tariffs, Japan was asked to help reduce the U.S. trade deficit, buy more liquified gas from the U.S., spend more on defense, buy more U.S. weapons, invest more in U.S. companies (Nippon Steel would no longer take over U.S. Steel as planned, but instead pour money into it), be the US guard dog in the Asia-Pacific by playing a more active role in both the QUAD and SQUAD grouping, and keep kowtowing to the white master. @LauraRuHK

The demise of fact-checking organizations is simply an evolutionary pivot. Social media platforms and stakeholders such as Western governments have realized that this traditional approach that relied heavily on centralized, self-professed expert gatekeepers is infeasible or even detrimental when accusations of bias and censorship run rampant.

In place of a single, monolithic approach, a patchwork of solutions is taking shape—ranging from user-driven verification and AI moderation to emerging decentralized or blockchain-based frameworks. To contain and cancel narratives that debunk Western propaganda they are increasingly resorting to non-informational responses. They are fighting information operations asymmetrically, outside of information spaces. The harassment, surveillance, intimidation and arrest of independent journalists, sanctions on Russian media outlets, pressure on TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the platform, the arrest and blackmail of Telegram's Pavel Durov, the cancellation of elections in Romania on the bogus pretext of "foreign interference" in the political campaign, DoS cyberattacks etc. point to a very dangerous escalation in the West's asymmetrical response. Last but not least, NATO and the EU are not defunding their "disinfo specialists." Actually, they are doubling down on their efforts to build a new Iron Curtain citing the need to “fight FIMI” (Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference) with sharper tools. That gravy train hasn't been stopped. I quote from a recent report published by EEAS (the EU diplomatic service)

"Tangible campaigns sit behind much of the most damaging and visible information we encounter. These campaigns have people, assets, financial infrastructures, budgets and brands that can be targeted by activism and the law, by sanctions, take-down, de-listing, and exposure. When we focus on the operations that manipulate information spaces – the behaviour rather than just the content – a whole range of responses become apparent that do not require us to weaponise information spaces ourselves."

And on the topic of AI, the EU's DisinfoLab explains

"The explosive growth and availability of AI tools may even hold more benefits for defenders than attackers."

Back in 2015 the EEAS created the East Stratcom Task Force. In 2017 the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which supports the activities of NATO in this field, was set up in Helsinki to act as a single focus for the analysis of hybrid threats.
NATO built an EU-wide pipeline of researchers, university centers, journalists, fact-checkers and NGOs. They can operate without USAID funding because they are bankrolled by EU-NATO and the usual 'philanthropists'. They employ experts in data mining and analysis to organise, aggregate and process vast amounts of digital data with the help of AI. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU can demand social media platforms to give data access to these researchers. @LauraRuHK

Britain is taking over leadership of Ukraine defence

The next Ramstein session will be held on 12 February, with London rather than Washington, taking over control of the Ukraine project that it actively contributed to spearhead. Britain's long-held ambition to shape Europe's military policy, and profit from it, is now in full view. Let's not forget that in 2017 the UK Foreign Office headed by Boris Johnson organized and hosted the first Ukraine Reform Conference in London. Johnson was seeking political and financial support for Ukraine’s 2020 Reform Plan, a neoliberal roadmap designed to create a more profitable environment for Western corporate interests while priming the Ukrainian population and army for war. https://medium.com/p/7d41818139a9
And again it was Johnson who went to Kiev to pressure Zelensky to cut off peace negotiations with Russia when the two sides appeared to have made some tenuous progress in 2022 during talks in Istanbul.

The Ramstein Group, which comprises over 50 allies, was established by the US in April 2022 at its Air Force base in Germany to coordinate military aid to Ukraine. Given Britain's limited power and economic decline, London sees this leadership role as a juicy opportunity to become one of the key players in the new system of international relations, fill a power vacuum in Europe, continue to profit from the conflict and keep fanning the flames of war at a time when the new Trump administration publicly declares its intention to end it. Mind you, the idea of outsourcing the war has been aired multiple times and predates the presidency of Donald Trump - as long as weapons contracts keep rolling in, US soldiers don't return in body bags, and US corporate investments are defended by European submissives, what's not to like? @LauraRuHK

Fyodor Lukyanov raises a very important question, one I have been privately debating for the last two years.

For Russia, the rise of a new US foreign policy centered on traditional values and transactionalism poses a challenge. The liberal agenda of previous administrations – focused on promoting democracy, human rights, and progressive values – was something Moscow learned to counter effectively. But the conservative agenda envisioned by Trumpists, with its emphasis on patriotism, traditional family structures, and individual success, could prove more difficult to combat.

Moreover, the potential digitalization of the US influence mechanisms, by streamlining the efficiency of initiatives like USAID, would amplify their reach. Automated platforms and data analytics could target resources more effectively, making American soft power even more potent.

Moscow cannot afford complacency. The outdated propaganda models of the 1990s and early 2000s are ill-suited to the current environment. Instead, Russia must develop competitive cultural narratives and master modern “soft power” tools to counter this evolving threat.

The Trumpists’ vision of reviving the “American Dream” is not just an internal matter for the US – it is a global narrative with the potential to reshape perceptions of America.

@LauraRuHK https://www.rt.com/news/612413-behind-trumps-cultural-revolution/

The evolution of US influence ops - From USAID to USBRIBE Yesterday Donald Trump signed an executive order to loosen restrictions on a law that bans US companies from bribing foreign officials arguing that the law "puts American firms and businesses at a disadvantage to foreign competitors." The US is legalizing this practice because after cutting some dead wood at USAID now it has more money to buy influence DIRECTLY. @LauraRuHK

Kit Klarenberg writes

Huge news here. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis has resigned, a day before he faced an impeachment vote sparked by the shocking, autocratic cancellation of the country's presidential election last year, to deny anti-war, anti-establishment Călin Georgescu victory.

As I wrote at the time, it was clear Romanian officials who executed and endorsed that coup well-aware it was a blunt-force, short-term solution to a panoply of deeply complex socioeconomic and political problems locally, with huge potential for blowback. Even Romanians supportive of the EU and NATO were appalled by the move.

In response, hundreds of thousands of Romanians have ever since taken to the streets to voice their anger at their country’s Western-bought political elite. Having compelled their elected representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against Iohannis, he jumped before he was pushed. There’s similarly pent up anger across Central and Eastern Europe. Things could get very interesting, very soon.

https://substack.com/@kitklarenberg/note/c-92498786

I am pleased to report that a text I published on Feb 1 https://t.me/LauraRuHK/9660 has inspired quite a few articles in the international press. I will share a little secret. Their authors subscribe to this channel. What can i say. Maybe they shouldn't be so shy. I understand silent appreciation but if they happen to be in Hong Kong they should consider buying me a drink. They get paid, i don't.

The Global Majority pins its hopes on a multipolar world order. The Collective West calls this historical process Multipolarization, putting the accent on its conflictual character. A word choice that reflects the worldview of those who choose confrontation over cooperation. @LauraRuHK https://securityconference.org/en/publications/munich-security-report-2025/

The UK and US have not signed an international agreement on artificial intelligence (AI) at a global summit in Paris.

The final statement, signed by dozens of countries including France, China and India, pledges an "open", "inclusive" and "ethical" approach to the technology's development.

In a brief statement, the UK government said it had not been able to add its name to it because of concerns about national security and "global governance." As usual, London sided with Washington. US Vice-president JD Vance delivered a keynote speech - this was his first foreign trip since taking office - in which he articulated a typical exceptionalist approach. He claimed that the US is, and intends to remain, the leader in AI, and railed against "excessive regulation" stressing that it would strangle AI potential to accelerate a new industrial revolution. Vance also took a thinly veiled jab at China:

"I would remind our international friends here today that partnering with such regimes, it never pays off in the long term. From CCTV to 5G equipment, we’re all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that’s been heavily subsidised and exported by authoritarian regimes. But as I know, and I think some of this – some of us in this room have learned from experience, partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in, and seize your information infrastructure."

Maybe i should prompt DeepSeek to fact-check his claims. 😏 @LauraRuHK