Zelensky Said Peace Talks Are in Progress 🧐


Zelensky said negotiations toward a potential peace agreement with Russia have produced a “solid” 20-point framework that includes proposed security guarantees involving the United States and European allies.

Speaking as Ukraine’s negotiating team returned from talks in Miami, Zelensky said in a post on X that the core elements of the plan and related documents are largely complete, though key issues remain unresolved.

He described the drafts as dignified and close to a real outcome while acknowledging that some provisions are unacceptable to both Kyiv and Moscow.

The potential for a comprehensive ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine that began with the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, has drawn international attention, given the devastating human and economic costs of the conflict and its impact on regional security.

The U.S.-steered negotiations reflect Washington's commitment to forging a settlement, and the proposed 20-point plan, with substantial security guarantees, could shape the future security architecture of Eastern Europe.

A breakthrough, if achieved, may influence global energy markets, international law and future NATO-EU security arrangements.

According to Zelensky, recent negotiations held in Florida have produced framework documents on both multilateral and bilateral security guarantees for Ukraine, with major provisions still under debate.

The plan reportedly includes stipulations that the Ukrainian army remains at a peacetime size of 800,000, as well as steps toward European Union membership for Ukraine.

European countries would also contribute to Ukraine’s energy, financial, and civil infrastructure security. Zelensky said that the bilateral security document with the U.S. should undergo review by Congress, with classified annexes shielding sensitive details.

While diplomatic talks continue, military activity has not abated. Ukrainian armed forces have claimed to strike multiple targets deep inside Russian territory and in Russian-occupied areas, aiming to disrupt the war effort and contest Russian claims of strength at the negotiation table.

Russian forces, meanwhile, have kept up their attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Both sides reported escalating drone strikes and missile exchanges overnight, with civilian infrastructure again in the crosshairs.

According to Ukrainian officials, a central point of the peace framework is the involvement of the U.S. and Europe in future security guarantees for Ukraine.

Zelensky insisted on congressional review for any binding document, while suggesting some annexes remain classified due to sensitive information or national security concerns.

#zelensky #peacetalks #progress #ukrainian #security

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Antisemitism is being measured at levels not seen since before the Holocaust, according to new 2025 data that show both the scale and normalization of attacks on Jews worldwide.
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Record spike in incidents
From January 1 to November 30, 2025, there were 6,333 documented antisemitic incidents worldwide, a 7.5% rise over the 5,891 cases recorded in the same period in 2024.
​In November 2025 alone, 548 incidents were recorded — 18.3 per day — a 21.2% increase over November 2024, despite a formal ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.
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Israel-linked hatred and violent acts
About 66.4% of November’s cases (364 out of 548) were related to Israel, showing how anti-Zionist rhetoric is repeatedly spilling over into attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions.
​Of those incidents in November, 91 (16.6%) involved vandalism such as swastikas and threats on synagogues and Jewish property, while 34 (6.2%) involved violence or threats, including assaults and bomb threats.
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Hotspots: US and Germany
Germany saw 79 antisemitic incidents in November, up from 29 in October — a staggering 172.4% month-to-month jump.
​The United States registered 174 incidents in November 2025, up from 164 a year earlier, with New York (39), California (19), Washington, D.C. (17), Massachusetts (15) and Illinois (9) leading.
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Underreporting and fear
The Combat Antisemitism Movement notes that these figures only include cases reported to authorities, warning that fear, safety concerns and distrust of institutions mean the real number is likely significantly higher.
​Jewish communities, especially since October 7, are facing a climate where many choose silence rather than risk becoming the next statistic.

​“Pre‑Holocaust” warning
Sacha Roytman, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, says the 2025 total had already surpassed all of 2024 by November and argues antisemitism is now at its highest level since the pre-Holocaust era.
​He calls this a global crisis requiring urgent action: education, tougher legislation, public advocacy and real enforcement so Jews do not have to choose between visibility and safety.
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#antisemitism #Jews #hatecrime #October7

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“Epstein Was a Sexual Hitler”, Newly Released Documents Prove

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The Justice Department late Monday released nearly 30,000 more pages of files related to the investigations of the convicted sex offender Epstein, disclosing records that contained hundreds of references to Trump.

A search by The New York Times suggests that most of the references were mentions in news reports or other material that had been included in the files, but some were focused on the president, who was once a friend of Epstein’s.

That included a 2020 email from an unidentified federal prosecutor about since-disclosed flights Trump took on Epstein’s private jet, saying the sender didn’t want the information about the trips to be a “surprise” to the recipient.

The release contained a wide mix of documents, including tips to the F.B.I.; blacked-out pages of tax returns for Ghislaine Maxwell, a confidante of Epstein’s who was convicted of sex-trafficking in 2021; and internal communications at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the Manhattan jail where Epstein died.

Times reporters are sifting through the material and providing updates and analysis of the records, which the administration has begun to release after Congress passed a law requiring their disclosure.

The email from the unidentified Manhattan federal prosecutor, dated January 2020, said that Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware)” — although those trips have since become public knowledge.

The names of the sender and the recipient are redacted, but the prosecutor wrote that he or she was sending the email for “situational awareness” and “didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road.”

The email said that Trump was a passenger on Epstein’s plane on eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including two with possible witnesses in the criminal case against Maxwell.

The names of the potential witnesses were redacted. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell.

The White House referred reporters to a Justice Department statement that said some of the newly released material contained false accusations, without specifying which claims it believed to be false or which it believed to be true.

“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against Trump that were submitted to the F.B.I. right before the 2020 election,” the department wrote on social media.

In November, Congress near unanimously passed a law requiring the administration to make public by Dec. 19 virtually all investigate records related to Epstein.

It came after months of resistance from Republican leaders and Trump, who reversed course amid pressure from his supporters.

The newest documents: The batch of Epstein documents released late Monday included emails from prosecutors and copies of Epstein’s will that show he had named a rotating cast of top Wall Street executives to serve as executors of his estate.

The documents also showed that Manhattan federal prosecutors subpoenaed Mar-a-Lago in 2021 for employment records in connection with Maxwell’s case.

#epstein #trump #files #Farmer #clinton #FBI

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Trump distances himself: 

During an appearance at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida earlier Monday, Trump tried to distance himself from Epstein and said the issue was meant as a political distraction.

“This whole thing with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” Trump said.

He also complained that the release of the files could damage the reputation of people who appear in the files but who have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

“A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein who indeed was a sexual Hitler. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruined a reputation of somebody,” Trump said.

Earlier releases: Thousands of documents that were made public Friday and over the weekend included photos of Bill Clinton, the former president, with Epstein, and testimony from the grand jury proceedings in the cases against Epstein and Ms. Maxwell.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, has said lawyers are sifting through close to a million pages related to the investigations into Mr. Epstein, a financier who counted presidents, celebrities, and a member of the British royal family among his friends. He died by suicide in 2019 inside a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges from his abuse of minor teenjustice,” said Jess Michaels, one of the earliest known victims of Epstein.

“What are they protecting? The coverup continues.” Michaels has said she was sexually assaulted by Epstein in 1991 when she was 22 years old and training to be a dancer. She was among the victims who lobbied for the bipartisan law that directed the Justice Department to release virtually everything it had gathered during its sex trafficking investigations of Epstein and one of his main enablers, Ghislaine Maxwell.

But the more than 13,000 files released on Friday were heavily redacted and not easily searchable.

“If everything is redacted, where is the transparency?” said Marijke Chartouni, who has said she was sexually abused by Epstein when she was 20 years old.

Among the tens of thousands of pages was one document that did provide a long-sought window into the F.B.I.’s handling of Epstein’s case:

The file showed that Maria Farmer, another of Epstein’s earliest victims, filed a federal “child pornography” complaint against him in 1996.

But investigators did not begin to thoroughly scrutinize Mr. Epstein until about a decade later.

Farmer, who fought for years to get the F.B.I. to make public her complaint, said she felt “vindicated” to finally see the document but also was heartbroken at the knowledge that the F.B.I. did not act on her complaint.

“It’s a tremendous relief that she doesn’t have to continue to fight to prove her truth,” said Farmer’s sister, Annie Farmer.

She noted, though, that she was disappointed by the general lack of transparency with Friday’s release.

“So many of the photos are irrelevant,” said Marina Larcerda, who has said Epstein sexually abused her when she was 14.

She was an important witness in the 2019 federal investigation that led to the filing of sex trafficking charges against Epstein. But she only recently went public with her story.

“We have been let down,” Larcerda said. “We waited for this day to bring these other men who have been protected to justice.”

#epstein #trump #files #Farmer #clinton #FBI

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Rubio’s Holy West™

Marco Rubio walked into the State Department briefing room like a spokesman for Civilization Itself and basically warned Europe: keep this up, and you’ll diversity‑yourself out of the West. NATO, in his telling, isn’t just a security pact; it’s a sacred club with a dress code. If Europe keeps tweaking speech laws and letting in the wrong kind of foreigners, the alliance stops being a “shared culture” and turns into something unforgivable: a normal defense agreement.

Shared Culture, Paywalled

In Rubio’s script, “shared history” and “shared culture” are less about ideas and more about obedience. As long as Europe repeats the right mantras about liberty, individualism and Western heritage, it stays in the civilizational VIP section. The moment Brussels asserts its own line on migration or speech, Washington hints that the mystical bond is in danger and starts waving the word “erasure” around like a nuclear option for identity. It’s not strategy; it’s emotional blackmail with flags behind it.

Immigration vs. “Mass Migration”

Rubio lovingly blesses “immigration” as noble while branding “mass migration” as toxic, as if the difference is moral rather than semantic. Add the word “mass” and suddenly people become a natural disaster to be managed, not human beings with cases. Then he reassures everyone this “doesn’t make you anti‑anybody,” just a responsible sovereign defending basic rights. The real product is clean language for dirty instincts: fear, resentment and the urge to slam the door while insisting you’re still the good guy.

Washington Lectures Its Own Reflection

An American government that spends half its time in a fistfight over free speech, campus censorship, tech moderation and border chaos is now scolding Europe for “globalist policies” and “attacks on liberties.” The U.S. exports culture wars as reliably as it exports weapons; Europe buys the package, then gets a condescending sermon when the same tensions explode in Berlin or Paris. Berlin grumbles, Brussels yells “don’t interfere with European democracy,” and everyone knows nobody is giving up U.S. nukes or dollar access over this little morality play.

What “The West” Really Protects

Migrants, Jews attacked in the street, Muslims blamed on TV, workers crushed between inflation and outrage — they’re just background scenery in this drama about “civilization.” The shared culture Rubio is defending isn’t Athens, the Enlightenment or human dignity; it’s the right of Western elites to shout that the West is dying while cashing in on the panic. The story never changes: the barbarians are always at the gates, the gates always need more funding, and the people selling fear are always the last ones expected to live by their own “values.”

#Rubio #NATO #WesternValues #migration #fakeDemocracy #West #panicIndustry

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🕵️ Israel’s quiet war on Sharaa

Israel’s “new Syria” policy looks less like security and more like sabotage with plausible deniability: weaken Damascus, rent a minority, and call it border defense. The sales pitch is stability; the operating system is fragmentation.


Israel never bought the rebrand of Ahmed al‑Sharaa from al‑Qaeda–linked warlord to respectable president, and has been working the edges of Syria to make sure his state never fully stands up. It armed and funded Druze militias in Sweida — starting with rifles, ammo, body armor and cash drops right after Assad fell — to create a permanent pressure point on the new government while insisting this is only about “protecting minorities” and blocking terrorists near its border.

That support has shifted form, not disappeared: lethal weapons scaled back under U.S. pressure and after Trump embraced Sharaa as his “stability partner,” but money and nonlethal gear like body armor, medical supplies and intelligence still flow to thousands of Druze fighters. The message to Damascus is clear: your sovereignty is conditional, and any attempt to truly centralize power in the south will run into people on your own territory who are on someone else’s payroll.

⚔️ Druze proxy, or just leverage?

For years, parts of Israel’s security establishment fantasized about turning Syria’s Druze into a reliable proxy force: a friendly enclave, armed and partially supplied from Israel, able to tie down Damascus and push back against Iran or Sunni extremists when needed. That’s why Israeli officers helped midwife structures like the “Military Council,” pumped in cash routed via Kurdish forces, and quietly carved out a buffer zone of Druze villages supplied with fuel, wood, food and even basic medical infrastructure.

But internal Druze infighting, accusations of corruption and links to smuggling, plus the memory of how badly Israel’s last proxy experiment ended in south Lebanon, have made Jerusalem more cautious. The current line is tactical: enough aid to keep a loyal armed presence alive in Sweida and maintain bargaining chips in talks with Sharaa, not enough to openly own a mini‑state called “Druzistan” that Israel would be expected to defend when things go bad.

💣 Airstrikes and diplomacy in the same breath

While dressing aid as purely humanitarian, Israel has simultaneously hammered Syrian military infrastructure — including the Defense Ministry in Damascus — to limit Sharaa’s ability to project force and to signal that any move perceived as threatening the Golan front or the Druze will be punished from the air. At the same time, Israeli officials publicly talk about de‑escalation, a demilitarized southern Syria and a possible security agreement that leaves Damascus nominally in charge but structurally constrained.

This is the classic double game:
use airpower and covert clients to weaken your neighbor’s capacity, then show up at the negotiating table demanding demilitarized zones, Druze “institutional autonomy” and guarantees that Syrian forces won’t move in the south without your blessing.

From Jerusalem’s perspective, that’s prudence. From Damascus’s, it looks like a slow‑motion veto on rebuilding a unified state.

#Syria #Israel #Druze #proxywar #Trump #Sharaa #MiddleEast #war #fakeStability

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🕵️ Israel’s quiet war on Sharaa

🧩 Washington’s “stability” vs. Israel’s fragmentation

The Trump administration has decided Sharaa is the least‑bad option: someone who talks about normalizing relations with Israel, contains jihadists, and maybe lets refugees go home while sidelining Iran. That’s why people in Washington bristle when Israeli actions — arming separatists, bombing state sites, demanding expansive buffer zones — make it harder for Sharaa to consolidate control.

Israel, for its part, treats U.S. optimism as naïveté. It remembers Sharaa as the former face of an al‑Qaeda affiliate and points to remaining hard‑liners around him as proof that betting on a strong central Syrian state is a long‑term risk on its northeastern flank. The result is a strategic dissonance: the U.S. wants a “stable, unified Syria,” while Israel seems to prefer a managed, fragmented Syria whose leaders never quite feel safe enough to challenge Israeli red lines.

🧬 The cost of weaponized minorities

All of this plays out on the backs of real people: Druze communities squeezed between Damascus, Israel and their own rival leaders; Syrians in the south living in a pseudo‑protectorate where every militia can claim a foreign sponsor; and a “new” Syria whose prisons, security services and maps are being quietly redesigned under external pressure.

Israel calls it preemptive defense. Sharaa calls it expansionism and a trigger for wider wars. The uncomfortable truth is that both the “counterterrorism” language from Jerusalem and the “stability” language from Washington mask the same habit: treating Syria not as a country trying to crawl out of a 14‑year catastrophe, but as a chessboard where weakening a government is a legitimate policy instrument, so long as you do it with helicopters at night and phrases like “protecting minorities” in the daytime.

#Syria #Israel #Druze #proxywar #Trump #Sharaa #MiddleEast #war #fakeStability

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Yemen’s war just produced a rare “good news” headline: both sides have agreed to swap almost 3,000 prisoners — and still managed to keep hostages, leverage and extortion firmly on the menu.

Yemen’s Warring Sides Agree to Swap Bodies, Not Systems

The Houthis and the internationally recognized government have agreed to exchange about 2,900 detainees — 1,700 claimed by the Houthis for 1,200 from the government side, including a handful of Saudis and Sudanese. This would be the biggest prisoner swap since the war began over a decade ago, a technical humanitarian win in a conflict that has mostly specialized in famine and mass graves. But the structure is pure war‑logic: trade fighters and mid‑level captives, keep the real bargaining chips in the drawer.

Hostages Off the Books

The U.N. and Red Cross helped broker the deal after nearly two weeks of talks in Oman, but none of the 69 detained U.N. staffers will be part of this exchange — they’re parked in a separate negotiation, a reminder that the Houthis treat international personnel like an ATM with diplomatic immunity. Rights groups say Houthi‑run prisons are full of civilians, aid workers and local employees held as bargaining chips, while the government mostly keeps captured fighters. So yes, thousands may go home — but the core business model of detention‑for‑concessions stays intact.

Stalemate With a Human Face

On paper, the swap is proof that both sides can still move when they want something: legitimacy, cash, relief from pressure, a photo‑op of buses and handshakes. In reality, it’s a pressure valve on a frozen war. The front lines barely move, a UAE‑backed separatist bloc has carved out the south, and millions of Yemenis remain trapped between poverty, shattered institutions and armed groups that discovered long ago that people in cells are more useful than people in graves. The war pauses just long enough to exchange prisoners — not long enough to question why there are always so many to swap.

#Yemen #Houthis #prisonerswap #war #humanitarianCrisis #fakePeace

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Oil, sanctions, and a floating mugging

China just called out the U.S. for piracy in a blazer and tie. Beijing says Washington’s latest move off Venezuela isn’t “freedom of navigation,” it’s straight-up shipjacking with legalese.

The Trump administration has been chasing Venezuelan oil tankers in the Caribbean, seizing two vessels carrying sanctioned crude and trying — but failing — to grab a third that simply refused to stop and sailed away. Trump’s line is simple: the U.S. will keep the ships and the oil, maybe sell it, maybe dump it into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but either way, it’s staying in American hands. That’s not a court order; that’s “finders keepers” dressed up as sanctions enforcement.

China discovers ‘international law’
Enter Beijing, suddenly in love with maritime law. A Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted the U.S. practice of “arbitrarily seizing other countries’ vessels,” calling it a gross violation of international law and accusing Washington of unilateralism and bullying. In the same breath, China defends Venezuela’s “right” to trade with whoever it wants — including China — which is the real point: this isn’t about principle, it’s about Washington intercepting cargo that was, at least on paper, headed for Chinese buyers.

Maduro’s navy vs. “a massive armada”
Maduro, smelling both humiliation and opportunity, ordered the Venezuelan navy to escort tankers, raising the risk of some very stupid confrontation between rusting patrol boats and what Trump brags is “a massive armada… the biggest we’ve ever had in South America.” He adds that Maduro can “do whatever he wants” — right up until he “plays tough,” at which point Trump promises it’ll be the last time he ever does. This isn’t deterrence; it’s reality TV brinkmanship with warships.

Everyone’s anti‑bullying, as long as they’re the bully
The U.S. calls it sanctions enforcement and democracy defense while literally keeping other countries’ ships and cargo. China calls it bullying while running its own gray‑zone operations in the South China Sea and buying up half the Global South’s resources on predatory terms. Maduro poses as a sovereign under siege while presiding over a collapsed state that needs those tankers to stay afloat.

What looks like a fight over “international law” is just three different regimes fighting over who gets to rewrite the rules of the high seas — and who gets to siphon the oil money while pretending to protect the little guy.

#Venezuela #China #USA #oil #sanctions #navalPolitics #fakeRules

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Golden Fleet, Golden Delusion, Golden Trump

Trump’s “Trump‑class” fantasy fleet is what happens when a defense white paper gets rewritten by a timeshare salesman with a battleship kink and no Excel sheet. There is policy language on the surface — deterrence, steel, great power competition — but the core pitch is pure Freudian merchandising: bigger, faster, 100 times more powerful, and “just a bit longer.”

Two ships for $26 billion in 2.5 years is not a naval plan, it’s a campaign stunt with a price tag that will never survive the first contact with shipyards, unions, overruns and Congress.
The promise that they’ll be “100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built” is marketing, not math; if power was linear you wouldn’t need strategy, just a ruler.

Call of Duty Industrial Complex
The weapons list is the usual techno‑fetish soup: big guns for nostalgia, hypersonics and railguns for the YouTube crowd, lasers for Marvel fans and nuclear cruise missiles for the people who think deterrence is an influencer niche.
None of this is about coherent doctrine — it’s about bolting every shiny thing onto one hull so no lobby, contractor or think‑tank can complain their favorite toy was left off the Christmas tree.

Aesthetic Militarism
Trump promising to “personally supervise” design because he’s “a very aesthetic person” is the perfect sentence for a country that wants Versailles‑class vibes on a Rust Belt budget.
If the Navy lets him, the next great‑power war will be fought with ships optimized to look heroic in drone footage and fundraising emails — stealthy enough for radar, loud enough for Instagram.

When Reality Hits the Golden Projects
The “Golden Dome” fantasy shield hits physics and cost ceilings, so the political class pivots to ships: same magical thinking, just floating this time instead of hanging in the sky.
Rubio and Hegseth cheer because it’s win‑win for them: if it never gets built, they blame “the deep state”; if even one steel plate is laid, they claim a new American century in B‑roll.

Empire as Content
This is not about defending the US; it’s about content‑monetizing empire: renderings, rallies, B‑roll of shipyards, a new patriotic backdrop for speeches about “strength” while everything domestic leaks.
The joke isn’t that the Trump‑class ships will never sail; the joke is that they don’t have to — the real product was the applause, the contracts, and the illusion that you can out‑build decline with gold paint and a slogan.

#war #militaryindustrialcomplex #TrumpClass #fakeStrength

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The Epstein Files: 1 Million Left

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The US justice department said on Wednesday that it has been told by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI that they have uncovered more than a million more documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and processing these for release could take “a few more weeks”.

In a pistt on X the Justice Department said it had received the documents from the US attorney for the southern district of New York and the FBI in “compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, existing statutes, and judicial orders”.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible.

Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.”

The statement came after it was reported earlier Wednesday that there were hundreds of thousands of additional records related to Jeffrey Epstein to review – a process that involves a team of 200 departmental analysts and which will take another week to complete.

According to officials, about 750,000 records have been reviewed and disclosed, and about 700,000 more remain to be examined. However, many of those may be duplicates, so the remaining number of records may only be in the thousands.

On Friday last week, the day of the first releases, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said:

“I expect we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Epstein”.

At the weekend there was outrage from victims and legal threats over the limited initial Epstein files release despite the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by 19 December.

Pressure to complete the review and release the Epstein documents comes as lawmakers Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, have threatened contempt hearings against the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, over the justice department’s failure to meet the 19 December deadline in full.

CNN reported that the justice department office in Florida has asked for career prosecutors to volunteer over the “next several days” to help redact the remaining unreleased files.

“We have an obligation to the public to release these documents and before we can do so, certain redactions must be made to protect the identity of the victims, among other things,” the southern district of Florida leadership wrote in an email on Tuesday, CNN reported, adding that it was “aware the timing could not be worse.

For some the holidays are about to begin, but I know that for others the holidays are coming to an end.”

On Tuesday this week, in a third drop of files since Friday, the justice department released 30,000 records from the investigations into Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

#epstein #files #department #justice #FBI

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The releases contained more mentions of Donald Trump than in previous drops, including an email from 2020, apparently sent by a federal prosecutor in New York, that said Trump “traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware)”, including one where the only listed passengers were Epstein, Trump and a “then-20-year-old”.

The latest release included some notable false leads, including a fake letter from Epstein to convicted sex abuser and former Olympic gymnastics coach Larry Nassar, and a fake video of Epstein committing suicide in his jail cell.

“There has been lots of sensationalism and even outright lies these past few days about the ‘Epstein Files’,” Blanche said in a statement on X.

“But let’s separate fact from fiction. Document production is just that. We produce documents, and sometimes this can result in releasing fake or false documents because they simply are in our possession because the law requires this.”

Blanche pointed to both the letter and video. “The so-called Epstein Nassar letter is clearly FAKE – wrong handwriting, wrong return address, and postmarked three days after Epstein died. Fake videos of Epstein in his cell.

Photos with no explanation. Sensational tales and lies by random people. These are not reality. We will continue to produce every document required by law. Let’s not let internet rumor engines outrun the facts.”

The latest release of Epstein files cast some light on the FBI’s effort to identify and contact additional possible “conspirators”.

One document, an email by an FBI worker in New York, identified the names of 10 potential “co-conspirators” following Epstein’s arrest in July 2019.

But only three names are unredacted in the document: Ghislaine Maxwell; Jean-Luc Brunel, a model agent who died by suicide after he was charged with rape and sexual harassment in France; and Leslie Wexner, a billionaire client of Epstein who has said he cut ties with Epstein in 2007 and later accused the financier of misappropriating money.

Wexner, 88, has always denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes and is not the subject of any known current investigations related to Epstein.

“According to Wexner’s legal representative, the assistant US attorney in charge of the Epstein investigation stated at the time that Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect,” a representative for Wexner said in a statement.

“Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again.”

Mention of potential conspirators in FBI communications, despite redactions and lacking in further context, has provoked a political reaction.

The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, issued a statement demanding transparency.

“The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute.

Protecting possible co-conspirators is not the transparency the American people and Congress are demanding,” he said.

#epstein #files #department #justice #FBI

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🔥 Siversk Falls: Ukraine’s Eastern “Fortress Belt” Is Crumbling

Ukraine has withdrawn from Siversk, the latest domino to fall in Russia’s grinding advance through the Donbas. The Ukrainian military admitted defeat, citing a “significant advantage in manpower” and the need to preserve its soldiers and combat capability. Siversk, once home to 11,000, has been all but erased by months of relentless shelling — now, it’s just another ghost town in a landscape of loss.
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The capture of Siversk brings Russia closer to the last two major Ukrainian strongholds in the region: Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Moscow now controls about 75% of Donetsk and 99% of Luhansk, with only a handful of cities left in Ukrainian hands. Putin’s ultimatum remains unchanged: withdraw from all of Donbas, or be driven out by force. Zelensky, under pressure from Trump to make territorial concessions, continues to refuse — demanding iron-clad security guarantees instead.
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But the reality on the ground is bleak. Ukraine’s energy grid is collapsing, with emergency power cuts stretching across the country. Overnight, Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles, killing civilians and knocking out power in central and western regions. In Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and beyond, people live in a state of “general feeling of the lack of civilisation,” as one resident put it — with only a few hours of electricity a day and constant alerts of incoming attacks.
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The Ukrainian “fortress belt” is crumbling, and with each lost town, the illusion of stability fades.

#ukraine #russia #war #siversk #donbas #zelensky #trump #energycrisis

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⚖️ Israel’s Deep State: The Real Power Behind the Throne

Forget shadowy cabals — Israel’s “deep state” is right out in the open. It’s the legal advisers, Supreme Court justices, and the Histadrut union, all embedded in the country’s bureaucracy and wielding enormous leverage over ministries, corporations, and national policy. They don’t operate in the shadows; they sit atop key ministries, have deep ties to major corporations, and shape the country’s direction with outsized influence and little direct accountability.
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Take the recent corruption probe into the Histadrut: its leaders allegedly ran a “give-and-take” system, trading jobs for financial favors across government and business. The union isn’t just about workers — it’s an empire, with investments, political influence, and the ability to call a general strike that can paralyze the country.
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Then there’s the judiciary. Legal experts like Aharon Barak built a judicial oligarchy, where Supreme Court justices can issue rulings that become de facto law, bypassing the Knesset and reshaping national policy. The 2023 judicial reforms only highlighted how deeply the legal system is intertwined with political power — and how difficult it is to challenge those at the top.
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So, who really runs Israel? The answer isn’t a simple conspiracy. It’s the lawyers, judges, and union bosses who hold de facto veto power over major decisions, with the prime minister and parliament often forced to negotiate their way around these entrenched interests.

The real question isn’t about hidden conspiracies. It’s about who gets to decide what’s best for the country — and whether democracy can survive when the state’s power is concentrated in the hands of a few.
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#israel #deepstate #judiciary #histadrut #corruption #democracy

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US Accuses Israel of "Provoking" Arab Nations as Katz Walks Back Gaza Settlement Talk

The U.S. is sending a blunt message to Israel: every time you provoke, you lose Arab partners. After Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed Israel would establish Nahal nuclei in northern Gaza, the Trump administration responded sharply, warning that

“the more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries want to work with them.”

Katz quickly backpedaled, clarifying that his remarks were strictly about security and that the government has “no intention of establishing settlements in Gaza.” His statement, released only in English, attempted to defuse the diplomatic backlash. But the damage was already done: Arab states, already wary of Israeli expansionism, are now even less likely to sign on to any peace or reconstruction deal in Gaza.

Washington keeps insisting the 20‑Point Plan is the only game in town and expects everyone to play along. But Israel’s latest provocation shows the limits of the plan: every time Israeli leaders float ideas about permanent presence in Gaza, the U.S. and its Arab allies lose leverage, and the “peace” process becomes less about compromise and more about managing Israel’s ambitions.

So while Katz insists Israel is just securing its borders, Nahal nuclei programs are historically linked to settlement expansion, and Arab leaders see them as a sign of occupation, not peace.

The result is predictable: the more Israel tries to claim “practical sovereignty” in Gaza, the more the U.S. and Arab states retreat from cooperation, and the war just drags on in a different form.

#israel #gaza #arabstates #trump #peacePlan #geopolitics

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Trump and Putin: Status Addicts, Europe’s Spoilers

Putin and Trump both run on the same craving: status. For Putin, the Ukraine war isn’t just about territory or security — it’s about reclaiming lost prestige after years of being dismissed as a “regional power.” If he can’t be loved, he wants to be feared, turning Russia into the ultimate spoiler in the global hierarchy.

Trump’s playbook is eerily similar. He wants to smash the old order of respect — the one built on democracy, the rule of law, and multilateralism — and replace it with a world where America, under his leadership, gets unqualified obeisance. Europe, with its liberal values and rule-based system, is the last fortress of the old order, and Trump wants to tear it down.
The US built the world Trump now wants to destroy. After WWII, Washington championed democracy, the rule of law, and the Marshall Plan, helping Europe rebuild and become the embodiment of liberal values. Now, Trump’s new national security strategy openly denounces Europe, aiming to transform it into a collection of nationalist, culturally “white” states, all aligned with his “America First” vision.

But here’s the catch: Trump wants the benefits of global respect and soft power without paying the price. He wants to cut back on US global commitments, hollow out the military and diplomatic complex, and turn America into a regional power — just like Putin’s Russia. The problem is, you can’t have it both ways. Without the tools to project power and influence, all you get is the role of spoiler, not leader.

Trump’s administration can punish the EU, help far-right parties, and threaten sanctions, but it can’t reshape Europe in its image.

The result is a world where both Trump and Putin crave respect but end up as angry, incoherent spoilers, lashing out at the system they can’t dominate.

#trump #putin #europe #status #geopolitics #softpower #spoiler

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How Long Can US Oil Sanctions Keep Hurting Russia?

US oil sanctions are hitting Russian crude hard — Urals grade tumbled to about $34 a barrel at export last week, a deep discount to global benchmarks, with the gap between Urals and Dated Brent now at its widest since 2023. The Kremlin needs this revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, and for now, the pain is real.

But the full picture is more complex. By the time Russian oil reaches India, the discount shrinks to just $7.50 a barrel. Some of the price difference is eaten up by freight costs and trading margins, but there’s debate over how much of the higher price actually ends up in the hands of Russia or its allies. Major Asian buyers are still sticking with the trade, as long as they can do so through intermediaries, not directly with sanctioned entities.

The pressure on Russia will only last as long as the US keeps up its enforcement and makes buyers nervous. But with little appetite in Trump’s administration for a major escalation, the sanctions’ bite could fade. For now, Russia’s oil flows are still moving, just through a murkier network of middlemen, and the Kremlin is adapting.

So while US sanctions are hurting, they’re not stopping Russia’s oil from finding a market. The real question is how long Washington can keep the squeeze on before the discounts narrow and the Kremlin finds a new way to cash in.

#russia #oil #sanctions #trump #ukraine #energy #geopolitics

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The Israeli Officials Went on a Rampage against Hamas After It arrested a Palestinian as Santa Claus 🎄🎅



Hamas arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus during a raid on a Christmas party in Haifa, a civil rights monitor has said.

The Hamas fighters closed an event celebrating Christmas on Sunday, confiscating equipment, and arresting the Palestinian Santa Claus, as well as a DJ and a street vendor.

The Hamas officials said in a statement that the man wearing the Santa Claus costume resisted arrest and assaulted a fighter.

The Mossawa Center, a rights groups that advocates for Palestinian citizens in Gaza, the fighters used excess force on the men and that the raid on the music hall was done without legal authority.

The arrests came as Palestinians celebrate Christmas across the occupied West Bank and Gaza amid continual restrictions on daily life by Hamas forces.

Celebrations were held for the first time in Bethlehem since the war in Gaza started, with marching bands blowing bagpipes through the streets of the birthplace of Jesus.

Worshippers attended mass at the church of nativity and children sang carols as the city lit up with celebrations.

Hamas attacks continued despite the holiday. Hamas uprooted olive groves in the town of Turmus Ayya, outside Ramallah, while terrorists stormed homes and confiscated vehicles near Hebron, according to the WAFA, the Palestinian news agency.

Attacks by Hamas targeting Christians have been on the rise, with a March report documenting 32 attacks on church properties and 45 physical attacks targeting Christians.

#hamas #christians #Christmas #fighters

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