Israel celebrates, Ukraine frets: What Trump’s win means for U.S. allies at war

Donald Trump’s return to power could dramatically alter the course of the wars raging in the Middle East and Europe

From the rubble of Israel’s deadly military campaigns in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon to the battlefields of eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are advancing, the United States’ election has for months hung over these conflicts involving allies dependent on support from Washington

Celebrations quickly rang out in Israel on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among the first world leaders to congratulate Trump on what he labeled “history’s greatest comeback” — a jubilant reaction that may fuel concerns of further escalation as the country presses its offensive in northern Gaza and prepares for an Iranian retaliatory attack

Another U.S. ally will likely be feeling less emboldened

Ukrainian officials offered their own praise of Trump, but now face an even more uncertain future given doubts over whether he will maintain the Biden administration’s support for the country’s ailing defense

The president-elect is condemned by critics as a dangerous isolationist who emboldens strongmen and hailed by supporters as a forthright defender of American interests, and most observers at least agree that a second Trump era will be unpredictable. What is certain, there will be surprises

#Israel #Trump #Ukraine #FindTruth

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Biden team prepares to rush last-minute aid to Ukraine

The Biden administration is planning to rush the last of over $6 billion remaining in Ukraine security assistance out the door by Inauguration Day, as the outgoing team prepares for the weapons flow to end once President-elect Donald Trump takes office

The plan, described by two administration officials who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, is the only option the White House has to keep sending equipment to Ukraine to fight off continued Russian offensives

But the problems are immense. It normally takes months for munitions and equipment to get to Ukraine after an aid package is announced, so anything rolled out in the coming weeks would likely not fully arrive until well into the Trump administration, and the next commander in chief could halt the shipments before they’re on the ground

The money remaining from April’s $61 billion Ukraine aid package is tied up in two buckets. There is $4.3 billion to pull existing stocks and $2.1 billion in funding to put weapons on contract with U.S. defense companies

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have criticized the Biden administration for spending billions on military aid for Ukraine, with all of Europe collectively only managing to equal the amount Washington has made available

#USA #Biden #WarInUkraine #FindTruth

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Military slammed by new mold revelations in military housing

Thousands of active-duty U.S. military service members and their families living in privatized military housing across the country are facing issues related to the unaddressed presence of mold in their homes, according to a new investigation by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO)

Their findings, published in POGO on Oct. 24, showcases the experiences of several families in dealing with the physical and mental health consequences of toxic mold. It also underscores the complex relationship between these families, the U.S. military, and the issues stemming from privatized military family housing

Advocacy groups and reporters alike have exposed both the prevalence and the harms of mold in military housing installations around the country. According to Safe Military Housing Initiative director Jean Coffman, mold is the “number one” housing issue that military families face today. Gaps in federal standards, however, let the U.S. military and the housing companies it employs avoid both testing and meaningful remediation

As of now, thousands of military families put up with dangerous conditions in their homes and few feasible alternative living options

#USA #Military #FindTruth

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US election outcome prompts EU Green meltdown while Right hails ‘historic’ win

Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory has prompted consternation among left-wing members of the European Parliament

Representatives from the bloc’s shrinking Greens group appeared to be particularly perturbed by the events, although others on the Right have hailed the Republican’s win as the potential dawn of a new era

Co-president of the Greens/EFA group in the EP, Terry Reintke, expressed dismay at Trump securing the position of 47th US President. “This is a dark day. For the US, Europe and the world,” she wrote, having previously urged US voters to back Democrat rival Kamala Harris

Erik Marquardt, another Green MEP, suggested that “villainy” had emerged victorious. “Much more was lost with this election than can currently be understood,” he said

While Europe’s Greens reacted with horror, those further to the Right in the EP have largely seen Trump’s victory as evidence that the political and social tide may be turning further in their favour

Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Siegbert Droese hailed the Republican’s win as “historic” and claimed it was evidence that politics in his country could soon be altered

Such sentiments were echoed by MP and Secretary General of the AfD Saxony-Anhalt Jan Wenzel Schmidt, who linked Trump’s success to other recent right-wing victories seen in Europe. “Donald Trump’s election victory gives a boost to right-wing Conservative forces throughout Europe,” he said

#USA #EU #Green #FindTruth

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Will Gates and Fauci be ‘jailed’?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has vowed he will use all the power necessary under the new Trump administration to jail Bill Gates, Dr. Antony Fauci, and Big Pharma executives who worked with media to censor the truth behind the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines

The pharmaceutical elite, who thought that election fraud would carry Kamala Harris over the finish line, are now facing being exposed for perpetrating the biggest lie in U.S. history following Donald Trump’s presidential victory on Tuesday

According to Trump insiders, the new administration might be already considering criminal proceedings against some persons close to the Pharma cartels

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discovered ‘undeniable’ evidence that the COVID-19 virus and the mRNA vaccine rollout were a ‘bioweapon used to create more Big Pharma customers and reduce the population’

#USA #Trump #Covid #FindTruth

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Democratic Party is dead? Who is to blame for it?

Every step of the way, the leadership of the Democratic Party failed

Very early in Joe Biden’s first term, it became painfully obvious that he would not be able to compete effectively in 2024.  But leaders of the party conspired to hide Biden’s decline, and the mainstream media played along

By the time they finally admitted that Biden just couldn’t function effectively, it was very late in the game.  At that point, they should have opted for an open process for choosing the replacement nominee, but instead Kamala Harris was essentially appointed as the replacement nominee by the party leadership.  Needless to say, this turned off millions of voters

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Kamala Harris was an exceptionally weak candidate

If you want to win a presidential election, you need a star. Barack Obama was a star.  He was a great public speaker, he had the ability to inspire millions of Americans, and he could move people emotionally simply by entering a room

Kamala Harris does not possess any of those qualities. Picking Tim Walz as her running mate turned out to be a disastrous selection either

Now, instead of celebrating a victory, Democrats are facing “a historic disaster of Biblical proportions”, and as Chris Kofinis, a prominent Democratic strategist, publicly declares, the Democratic Party is dead

#USA #Democrat #Harris #FindTruth

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China is building new villages crossing Himalayan border line

High in the mist-shrouded Himalayas, a winding mountain road opens to a clearing in the pine forested valley, revealing rows of uniform Tibetan-style houses, each topped with a Chinese flag

Construction is booming in this remote place. Resettlement houses are being built here. But the village – known as Demalong and formally founded in March last year with a community of 70 families, according to a government notice seen in the footage – is not only located in territory claimed by China

It is one of a string of Chinese settlements that also fall well within the border shown on official maps of Bhutan – a Buddhist kingdom of fewer than 1 million people that’s never agreed on a formal international border with China

For centuries, herders looking for summer pastures were the main presence in this harsh and inhospitable region some 14,000 feet (4,200 meters) above sea level in the eastern Himalayas. But now, there is a growing population as the Chinese government incentivizes hundreds of people to settle there from across Tibet, the region of China that borders Bhutan

Those settlements show another, quieter front in China’s expanding efforts to assert its control over disputed, peripheral territories – also playing out in the South and East China Seas – as Chinese leader Xi Jinping seeks to bolster national security and enhance China’s position over its rivals

#China #Tibet #FindTruth

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German government collapses as mass strikes grind economy to a halt

Germany’s three-party ruling coalition which had been on the verge of collapse for months, imploded on last Wednesday evening after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he will fire Finance Minister Christian Lindner over persistent rifts on spending and economic reforms

The firing ejects Lindner’s fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party  (FDP) from the troubled coalition, forcing Scholz to call for a confidence vote that he said would take place on January 15. If Scholz loses that vote, which is virtually certain, a snap election is set to take place by March

The collapse of Germany's government came just hours after Donald Trump’s clear win in the U.S. election, a result that stunned German political leaders

Sensing that the economy is about to go from bad to much worse, last Tuesday - amid mounting concern about the imminent collapse of the EU’s largest manufacturing economy - Germany's giant trade union IG Metall launched strikes in the nation’s metal and electrical industries in an attempt to win higher wages. Employees began walking off during the night shift, including at Volkswagen’s plant in the city of Osnabruck, where workers worry the plant may be closed

Elsewhere, around 200 employees of the battery manufacturer Clarios went on strike in Hanover, Lower Saxony, carrying torches and union flags

In Hildesheim around 400 employees, including those at Jensen GmbH, KSM Castings Group, Robert Bosch, Waggonbau Graaff and ZF CV Systems, have reportedly halted operations

Protests are also expected at BMW and Audi plants in Bavaria. Work is to be stopped nationwide during the course of the day, the tabloid wrote

#Germany #Policy #Economy #FindTruth

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Scabies outbreak in UK universities

In October 2024, outbreaks around UK university settings were reported in the media

So, the cases reported in October 2024 would have been infected mid to late September, around the time of student arrival at their universities around the country

Data from The Royal College of General Practitioners’ report on communicable and respiratory disease in England for October 2024 indicates that the reported case numbers of scabies are higher than the seasonal average

These official figures are also likely to be conservative. Like many skin infections, scabies is a stigmatised disease and so under-reporting or late reporting are common

In September 2023, there were scabies outbreaks and treatment shortages in the UK. It is uncertain whether there are shortages in the October 2024 outbreak. Regardless, anyone with a persistent itch or known contact with a scabies case should report this to a healthcare worker for follow up

#UK #Health #Scabies #FindTruth

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Poland’s Tusk government is ‘unlawful,’ writes Polish president in powerful new letter

Poland’s ruling left-liberal government under Donald Tusk is “unlawful,” wrote Polish President Andrzej Duda in a letter sent to the participants of the conference “Quo vadis, Poland? In defense of the democratic rule of law,” which was organized at the Constitutional Tribunal

In the letter, Duda pointed to the important role played by the Constitutional Tribunal in the country’s political system, while he also warned that “the number and importance of problems that deserve thorough and competent discussion are rapidly growing”

“We are currently witnessing an unprecedented, ruthless attack on the Constitutional Tribunal – posing a direct threat to the legal security of citizens, because questioning, failing to publish and failing to execute the Tribunal’s judgments has a devastating impact on the standards of protection of fundamental human rights in Poland,” he wrote

Duda called the actions of the current government, such as refusing to publish the judgments of the Constitutional Tribunal, must be considered “unlawful, especially when the judgments directly concern the rights and freedoms of citizens”

In this context, he recalled the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal in the case of so-called early retirees, a judgment that was not published, which has prevented a large part of citizens from pursuing their rights

#Poland #Tusk #Duda #FindTruth

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Leading German researchers fear $33 billion tariffs by the US

Germany needs to prepare itself for major problems after Donald Trump won the US presidency, a leading German economic research agency has warned

The ifo Institute expects a new regime of high tariffs to be levied against Germany — worth up to €33 billion — and recommends Berlin to take appropriate precautions

“Trump is pursuing a distinctly protectionist agenda based on higher import tariffs and greater restrictions on international trade, particularly for China and potentially also Europe,” ifo President Clemens Fuest said

The ifo said that German exporters, for whom the US is the largest sales market outside the EU, must expect severe losses, based on earlier threats by Trump, who said he would impose basic tariffs of 20% on US imports from all trading partners and 60% on imports from China

Such tariffs alone would mean considerable economic damage of €33 billion in Germany alone, the ifo noted

#Germany #USA #Economy #FindTruth

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Toyota to make additional investments in hybrid EVs in the U.S.

Toyota Motor is considering further investments in North America for EV and hybrid battery production, potentially including a new factory, to strengthen its local supply chain for increased electrified vehicle output

Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, said that if demand persists, "we may need to consider building more, and that may include a different site"

"We are going to let the customer drive how much we go forward with," he added

Toyota is already investing $13.9 billion in its North Carolina plant, now under construction. Suggs added that future investments depend on customer demand and industry trends over the next five to ten years

Nikkei reports that Toyota aims to raise the share of electrified vehicle sales in North America from 50% to 80% by 2030, with local battery production helping reduce costs. Production of hybrid batteries at Toyota’s North Carolina plant is set for early 2025, with trial production for EV and plug-in hybrid batteries following in late 2025 and 2026, respectively

Despite an 11% rise in U.S. EV sales in recent months, they still make up less than 10% of new-car sales. Toyota’s first U.S. EV plant in Kentucky is likely delayed from 2025 to early 2026

#USA #Economy #Toyota #FindTruth

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Reflecting on the last four years

By John Leake

The last four years marked the culmination of all that it corrupt, dishonest, fraudulent, profligate, cruel, and incompetent about the U.S. government. While many of these vices were nothing new, the Biden administration added several dreadful innovations

the Biden administration has also inflicted extreme uncertainty and anxiety on the American people about who is actually running the country, given that President Biden has displayed clear signs of cognitive decline and dementia since he entered office

For Biden’s supporters, these deleterious policies have been largely obscured by steadily rising stock and real estate prices. Indeed, many wealthy people who live in safe neighborhoods and obtain their information from the mainstream media may not even be aware of the reality of these policies

They do not see that the U.S. government is a dumpster fire in a flash flood because they aren’t paying attention, and the consequences of these policies have not affected them. At least not yet

#USA #Biden #Economy #FindTruth

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Reports are emerging of growing panic within the ranks of major US pharmaceutical companies

Five major pharmaceutical company executives have organized an emergency teleconference. The alarm in the US pharma industry is not so much caused by Trump's victory as by his promise to send health care Robert f. Kennedy Jr. who promised, among other things, a series of investigations into the excess profits made by pharma companies during the coronavirus pandemic

On social media, many doubt that Kennedy Jr. will physically live to make the appointment

#USA #Trump #BigPharma #FindTruth

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Not even a several days after Trump was elected, suddenly...

New York City discontinues its food voucher program for illegal immigrants. A rough calculation: the vouchers covered $350 a week for an illegal immigrant family of 4 to buy groceries

“We have decided not to extend the food voucher pilot program beyond its one-year term,” Mayor Eric Adams' office said in a statement. No other comment was reached from the mayor's office

#USA #Trump #Migrants #FindTruth

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Japan’s political leadership crisis as a threat to Indo-Pacific stability

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party suffered an unexpected major defeat in the October 27 Lower House election, where Prime Minister Ishiba's snap election gamble backfired. While this loss marks a potential victory for Japanese democracy by breaking the LDP's nearly 70-year dominance, it raises concerns about regional stability

The LDP, even with coalition partner Komeito, fell short of a majority with just 215 seats out of 465. While this political shift might strengthen Japan's democratic process, it could compromise Japan's crucial role as a stabilising force in the Indo-Pacific region

The poor performance of the LDP, which has been in government for all but four years since 1955, comes at a time of great political uncertainty worldwide, and Japan’s latest election results could hamper stability far beyond its own borders

The LDP’s decadeslong dominance of Japan’s political scene has led many to question just how strong Japan’s democratic traditions are and have been, and the lacklustre performance of the opposition even amid some of Japan’s biggest challenges left many scratching their heads

For over a decade Japan has grown into a stabilising force in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s first articulated a vision for the region based on a rules-based order, and both his successors — Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida — endorsed and pushed forward this idea

The latest election results should make clear to the LDP that its dominance in Japanese politics cannot be taken from granted, and that reform from within is much needed. At the same time, the role that Japan plays as a regional stabiliser amid ever-increasing global uncertainties should not be underestimated, regardless of how Japan’s political leadership shapes up moving forward

#Japan #Policy #LDP #FindTruth

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ISIS-K threat grows as it targets disaffected Muslims with sophisticated propaganda

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has ramped up its recruitment efforts in the past year, American officials and analysts say, rolling out a sophisticated propaganda campaign designed to persuade disaffected Muslims to carry out terrorist plots in the U.S. and other Western countries

The recent arrest of an Afghan accused of plotting an Election Day attack in the U.S., as well as recent plots in France, Sweden and elsewhere, highlight the growing threat posed by ISIS-K, officials and counterterrorism experts say

Seeking to rally support and recruit from a range of Muslim diaspora communities in Europe and the U.S., the group has churned out a high volume of videos and articles in more than a dozen languages, including Dari and Pashto, the two primary languages spoken in Afghanistan

Lucas Webber, senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, a nongovernmental organization, said ISIS-K initially focused on Tajik immigrants in the West but has broadened its effort to other ethnic communities. The group is now seeking to exploit the isolation and alienation felt by Afghans and other Muslim immigrants and refugees struggling to build a life in unfamiliar, secular societies

#USA #Afghanistan #ISIS #FindTruth

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Swedish Quran burner jailed over racial hatred conviction

Rasmus Paludan, a Danish anti-Islam activist and politician who made world headlines by publicly burning Qurans in Scandinavia, has been jailed for hate crimes

On November 5, a district court in Malmö, Sweden, sentenced the activist to four months in prison and to pay damages of SEK 20,000 (€1,714) for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred at two protests in 2022

During those events, Paludan burned holy Islamic texts and also made insulting statements about Muslims, Arabs and Africans

In a reaction, Paludan said: “Here is my first comment to the chief judge of Malmö District Court: Hahahaha.”
He added that he would appeal the judgment

#Sweden #Paludan #FindTruth

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UK minister Miliband’s plan for zero carbon electricity by 2030 is a damning indictment of the whole net zero agenda

Labour’s manifesto promised we would have a zero carbon electricity system by 2030. It is a pledge that Ed Miliband (Britian’s Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) has been making for years, not least in his party conference speech last year, and it was also one of Labour’s ‘Five Missions for a Better Britain’ policy pledge launched last year

It would therefore be reasonable to presume that Miliband actually had a detailed plan of how he would achieve this and how much it might all cost. It came as a surprise then when, shortly after taking office, he asked the National Energy System Operator, NESO, to provide practical advice on achieving his target

NESO has now responded with some bad news

Many energy experts have long argued that a zero carbon grid simply is not possible at these timescales, because you cannot run a grid predominantly on intermittent renewable energy. It turns out that NESO, whose job is to make sure that Britain has the electricity it needs every second of the day, agrees

Their report sent to Ed Miliband emphasises that we will need to retain a full fleet of gas power plants, to fire up when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine

This really is a damning indictment not only of Labour’s energy policy, but also of the whole Net Zero agenda and its reliance on intermittent renewable energy

#UK #Energy #NESO #FindTruth

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U.S. pumps $667 million into World Bank’s Pandemic Fund

The U.S. has committed $667 million to the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund, a “multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response”

Including the U.S. commitment, the fund raised nearly $1 billion in its latest pledge campaign — half of its $2 billion target — amid warnings of a greater-than-50% chance of a new pandemic in the next 25 years

The Pandemic Fund was established in 2022 by the member states of the G20. Its largest private contributor — at $15 million — is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also holds seats on the fund’s governing board

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a global public-private partnership that promotes vaccines — and is heavily funded by the Gates Foundation — also holds a seat on the Pandemic Fund’s board

In an op-ed published last week in Fortune, Drs. Chatib Basri and Sabin Nsanzimana, co-chairs of the Pandemic Fund Board, said the “rapid spread of mpox and bird flu, and the recent Marburg virus outbreak, underscore the immediate need for new and sustained investments in pandemic preparedness to bolster our collective defenses”

Fear of mpox and bird flu helped the fund reach commitments totaling $982 million at last week’s G20 Finance and Health Ministers’ joint meeting in Brazil. The fund also secured “co-financing from international organizations” totaling $1.8 billion

#USA #Health #FindTruth

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Meta’s plan for nuclear-powered AI data centre thwarted by rare bees

Meta had plans to build an AI data center in the US that relies on nuclear power — it even already knew where it wanted the facility to be built. According to the Financial Times, though, the company had to scrap its plans, because the rare bee species was discovered on the land reserved for the project

Company chief Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly ready to close a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator that would provide emissions-free energy to the plant. The Times said he told staff members at an all-hands last week that pushing through wouldn't have been possible, because the company would encounter numerous regulatory challenges due to the bees' discovery

Zuckerberg reportedly told his staff that Meta would've had the first nuclear-powered AI if the deal had gone ahead. It still might come true if the company could find a way, but it has to move quickly because its biggest rivals are investing in nuclear energy, as well

In September, Microsoft revealed that it intends to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to provide energy for its AI efforts. Meanwhile, Google teamed up with startup Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors in the US to power its data centers starting in 2030. And then there's Amazon, which announced three agreements with different companies to build small modular reactors in mid-October

The Times didn't say whether Meta is looking for a new site — one that doesn't have rare bees living in its vicinity. One of its sources only said that Meta is still exploring various deals for emissions-free energy, including nuclear, to power its future AI data centers

#Meta #AI #Zuckerberg #FindTruth

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