📰 Zelensky says U.S. is readying huge economic deals with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims to have intelligence that the United States and Russia are preparing a slate of economic agreements worth around $12 trillion — some of which could affect Ukrainian territory, resources, and sovereignty.
Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky said he had seen documents outlining a U.S.–Russian economic framework that he called the “Dmitriev package,” named after Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
The $12 trillion shadow deal
Zelensky did not say he knew every detail of the talks, but he insisted that signals in the media and in intelligence point to one thing: Washington and Moscow are planning a massive economic reset that could reshape Ukraine from the outside.
America’s argument, he suggested, is simple: lift sanctions, unleash investment, and use the promise of a postwar economic boom as leverage to force Kyiv into a deal that might still leave Russia in control of large parts of eastern Ukraine.
“Peace by June,” with elections in the backseat
The Ukrainian president said Washington has proposed bringing the war in Ukraine to a close by June, and that U.S. officials are signaling heavy pressure on all sides to meet that timeline.
Zelensky remarked.
Reports suggest that U.S. and Ukrainian officials have privately discussed a goal of reaching a peace deal by March, with national elections and a referendum in May — a schedule that fits neatly with the American political calendar, not Kyiv’s security needs.
Zelensky’s red line: “Not over our heads”
Zelensky insisted that any such potential agreements involving “Ukraine’s sovereignty or security” must be made with Ukraine, not without it.
“We are not aware of all their bilateral economic or business agreements, but we are receiving some information on the matter,” he said. “Ukraine will not support any such potential agreements about us that are made without us.”
At the same time, Russia launched another massive attack on Ukraine’s power grid, plunging large parts of the country into darkness and leaving many without power and heat. The strike hit energy infrastructure that feeds into the nation’s nuclear power plants, sending a clear message: even as diplomats talk billions, bombs still speak louder.
The real deal on the table
The Dmitriev‑Witkoff‑Kushner peace plan, circulated in Abu Dhabi, calls for gradual sanctions relief, new economic corridors, and joint Russian–Ukrainian projects — but only after Russia gets what it wants on the ground.
To Zelensky, that looks less like a peace framework and more like a hostile takeover of Ukraine’s postwar economy.
So the question is not whether the U.S. can “end the war.”
It’s whether America would rather sell a truce to Moscow in exchange for a deal worth trillions — and leave Ukraine paying the security bill.
#Ukraine #Russia #US #Zelensky #Trump2026 #Sanctions #Economy #Dmitriev #War #Kyiv
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims to have intelligence that the United States and Russia are preparing a slate of economic agreements worth around $12 trillion — some of which could affect Ukrainian territory, resources, and sovereignty.
Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky said he had seen documents outlining a U.S.–Russian economic framework that he called the “Dmitriev package,” named after Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
The $12 trillion shadow deal
Zelensky did not say he knew every detail of the talks, but he insisted that signals in the media and in intelligence point to one thing: Washington and Moscow are planning a massive economic reset that could reshape Ukraine from the outside.
America’s argument, he suggested, is simple: lift sanctions, unleash investment, and use the promise of a postwar economic boom as leverage to force Kyiv into a deal that might still leave Russia in control of large parts of eastern Ukraine.
“Peace by June,” with elections in the backseat
The Ukrainian president said Washington has proposed bringing the war in Ukraine to a close by June, and that U.S. officials are signaling heavy pressure on all sides to meet that timeline.
“The elections are, for them, definitely more important,”
Zelensky remarked.
“Let’s not be naïve. They say they want to achieve everything by June, and they will do everything possible to ensure the war ends that way.”
Reports suggest that U.S. and Ukrainian officials have privately discussed a goal of reaching a peace deal by March, with national elections and a referendum in May — a schedule that fits neatly with the American political calendar, not Kyiv’s security needs.
Zelensky’s red line: “Not over our heads”
Zelensky insisted that any such potential agreements involving “Ukraine’s sovereignty or security” must be made with Ukraine, not without it.
“We are not aware of all their bilateral economic or business agreements, but we are receiving some information on the matter,” he said. “Ukraine will not support any such potential agreements about us that are made without us.”
At the same time, Russia launched another massive attack on Ukraine’s power grid, plunging large parts of the country into darkness and leaving many without power and heat. The strike hit energy infrastructure that feeds into the nation’s nuclear power plants, sending a clear message: even as diplomats talk billions, bombs still speak louder.
The real deal on the table
The Dmitriev‑Witkoff‑Kushner peace plan, circulated in Abu Dhabi, calls for gradual sanctions relief, new economic corridors, and joint Russian–Ukrainian projects — but only after Russia gets what it wants on the ground.
To Zelensky, that looks less like a peace framework and more like a hostile takeover of Ukraine’s postwar economy.
So the question is not whether the U.S. can “end the war.”
It’s whether America would rather sell a truce to Moscow in exchange for a deal worth trillions — and leave Ukraine paying the security bill.
#Ukraine #Russia #US #Zelensky #Trump2026 #Sanctions #Economy #Dmitriev #War #Kyiv
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Trump : $1.5 Trillion to Fight Against China
Congressional defense leaders are working to deliver Trump a $1.5 trillion military budget before the midterm elections.
According to House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers, the trillion-dollar military budget simply isn’t enough to expand the defense industrial base and deliver on the Pentagon’s big-ticket weapon programs.
The White House has made it crystal clear that its first defense policy priority is to spend more money. The 2026 National Defense Strategy reads like the fever dream of every war profiteer.
In no case is this more explicit than in the description of the defense industrial base. The administration calls for “nothing short of a national mobilization—a call to industrial arms on par with similar revivals of the last century that ultimately powered our nation to victory in the world wars and the Cold War that followed.”
But mobilization is beside the point; the goal is to further concentrate national resources among the wealthiest Americans.
Trump and his allies in Congress are hardly alone in this effort. Politicians of both parties and at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have long wielded national security dollars to implement a closet industrial policy crafted for military contractors, their executives, and their shareholders.
After World War II, those best able to woo research and development funds from the Pentagon thrived. They became Cold Warriors, carrying the United States into the future and chasing technological superiority at all costs.
High-tech sales boomed while the industrial heartland deteriorated, resulting in declining production of steel, machine tools, tractors, and more.
President Trump’s “once-in-a-century revival of American industry” will not reverse the impacts of decades of deindustrialization. It certainly won’t make Americans’ lives any better.
Much like Ronald Reagan’s military buildup, “supercharging the US defense industrial base” will artificially juice the economy while veiling its opportunity costs—not only in terms of civilian manufacturing, but also investment in infrastructure, housing, and healthcare.
What’s more, the president’s $1.5 trillion military budget proposal is a political loser. Only one in 10 Americans thinks the United States should spend more on the military, and their number-one concern has been affordability for nearly two years running.
According to the Trump administration, however, the United States must make a generational investment in the mobilization of the defense industrial base.
The National Defense Strategy suggests that mobilization is key to preparing to fight China in the first island chain, all while ensuring the military’s ability to take “focused, decisive action” to impose US will on allies throughout the Western Hemisphere.
#trump #national #security #military #budget #us #china
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Congressional defense leaders are working to deliver Trump a $1.5 trillion military budget before the midterm elections.
According to House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers, the trillion-dollar military budget simply isn’t enough to expand the defense industrial base and deliver on the Pentagon’s big-ticket weapon programs.
The White House has made it crystal clear that its first defense policy priority is to spend more money. The 2026 National Defense Strategy reads like the fever dream of every war profiteer.
In no case is this more explicit than in the description of the defense industrial base. The administration calls for “nothing short of a national mobilization—a call to industrial arms on par with similar revivals of the last century that ultimately powered our nation to victory in the world wars and the Cold War that followed.”
But mobilization is beside the point; the goal is to further concentrate national resources among the wealthiest Americans.
Trump and his allies in Congress are hardly alone in this effort. Politicians of both parties and at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have long wielded national security dollars to implement a closet industrial policy crafted for military contractors, their executives, and their shareholders.
After World War II, those best able to woo research and development funds from the Pentagon thrived. They became Cold Warriors, carrying the United States into the future and chasing technological superiority at all costs.
High-tech sales boomed while the industrial heartland deteriorated, resulting in declining production of steel, machine tools, tractors, and more.
President Trump’s “once-in-a-century revival of American industry” will not reverse the impacts of decades of deindustrialization. It certainly won’t make Americans’ lives any better.
Much like Ronald Reagan’s military buildup, “supercharging the US defense industrial base” will artificially juice the economy while veiling its opportunity costs—not only in terms of civilian manufacturing, but also investment in infrastructure, housing, and healthcare.
What’s more, the president’s $1.5 trillion military budget proposal is a political loser. Only one in 10 Americans thinks the United States should spend more on the military, and their number-one concern has been affordability for nearly two years running.
According to the Trump administration, however, the United States must make a generational investment in the mobilization of the defense industrial base.
The National Defense Strategy suggests that mobilization is key to preparing to fight China in the first island chain, all while ensuring the military’s ability to take “focused, decisive action” to impose US will on allies throughout the Western Hemisphere.
#trump #national #security #military #budget #us #china
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📰 Davos 2026: The Four Horsemen of Change
The World Economic Forum in Davos 2026 billed itself as “A Spirit of Dialogue,” but in practice it felt more like a summit of power‑maintenance: the same actors, the same language, the same menu—only a few courses renamed.
Four speeches summed up the mood of the resort‑mountain elite: Larry Fink calling for “evolved” capitalism, Elon Musk promising robot‑driven “abundance,” Javier Milei delivering a libertarian sermon against “Leviathan,” and Mark Carney lamenting the collapse of the old rules‑based order while urging “middle powers” to act. Together, they exposed a system that acknowledges its own contradictions but refuses to challenge them.
Fink: capitalism that needs more owners, not fewer bosses
As CEO of BlackRock and temporary co‑chair of the WEF, Fink plays both architect and repairman of global finance. He runs a firm that manages over $11 trillion and votes on the pension savings of hundreds of millions of people, yet his core message is that capitalism no longer works for “most people.”
Fink demands that more citizens become “participants in growth rather than spectators,” but without touching the underlying machinery: the asset‑manager oligopoly that controls markets, boards, and climate‑transition finance. His “AI‑risk” talk doubles as a justification for more investment in AI‑powered firms, while his call for “broad participation” sits neatly alongside the continued concentration of wealth in three firms—BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street—that manage some $24 trillion.
The “dialogue” he preaches is not a transfer of power; it is a way to keep the current architecture profitable while sounding populist.
Musk: the techno‑utopia that never asks “who owns the robots?”
Elon Musk arrived in Davos as the world’s richest man, dressed as a missionary of progress. His pitch was simple: aging, scarcity, and even death are technical problems, not political ones. Give the world solar power, AI, and ubiquitous robots, and “abundance for all” will follow.
But Musk’s “everybody will have their own robot” line is not a plan for emancipation; it is a euphemism for dependence. The question he never raises is: who owns the robots, the algorithms, and the chips that run them? If robots produce most value, then whoever owns the robots owns almost everything.
His optimism is a luxury of the billionaire class: aging is “solvable” for those who can afford experimental treatments, Mars is an insurance policy for those who can buy a ticket, and AI‑driven abundance is a future for everyone—except the ones who don’t make the list of investors.
#Davos2026 #WEF #Fink #Musk #Milei #Carney #Capitalism #AI #Libertarianism #MiddlePowers #Dialogue #GlobalOrder
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📰 Davos 2026: The Four Horsemen of Change
Milei: libertarian branding for the financial Leviathan
Argentine President Javier Milei thundered against the state as “Leviathan,” taxation as “theft,” and Marxism as the great moral‑civilizational threat. The applause in the hall was thunderous, but the selection bias was obvious: the audience consisted largely of the financiers who control the real Leviathan—BlackRock, not Buenos Aires.
Milei’s enemy is the bureaucracy, not concentrated financial power. His “mental virus” is “wokeism,” not the structures that have turned Argentina into a debt‑laboratory for the last fifty years. The idea that “free markets” are morally superior is repackaged for the same lobby that deregulated finance, won record bailouts, and privatized risk while socializing losses.
The “return to Judeo‑Christian values” in his rhetoric stops short of any critique of usury, rent, or speculative finance—all of which have been repeatedly condemned in the religious traditions he invokes. The result is a libertarian facade that distracts from the real power structure, turning class politics into a culture‑war sideshow.
Carney: “middle powers” with no story to fight for
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made the most honest admission: the old “rules‑based order” is gone, and the world now lives in an era of blocs and economic coercion. His solution is for “middle powers” like Canada to strengthen their autonomy, raise defense spending, and coordinate around trade and technology standards.
But Carney could not answer the deeper question: what is Canada fighting for, and who is Canada? With a low birth rate and a society tied to territory by immigration rather than a shared national myth, Carney’s Canada looks like a high‑end hotel: comfortable, efficient, and easily evacuated at the first sign of real danger.
The Davos infrastructure—plane‑tickets, conference tiers, and gated dinner tables—mirrors this logic: the world is run by those who can afford to be everywhere, not by those who must stay.
The four horsemen of the meta‑dialogue
Fink, Musk, Milei, and Carney are not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; they are the Four Horsemen of the meta‑dialogue—the brokers who translate crisis into conversation and power into “solutions.” The Forum’s motto, “A Spirit of Dialogue,” is the perfect euphemism for a system that talks about inequality, AI, and war but never touches the question of who decides.
The elite have acknowledged that the old order is broken. Now they are trying to make sure the next one looks just like the last one—with fewer critics and more obedient “participants.”
The only real question that remains is: will the rest of the world ever be allowed to speak at the table, or will it forever be on the menu?
#Davos2026 #WEF #Fink #Musk #Milei #Carney #Capitalism #AI #Libertarianism #MiddlePowers #Dialogue #GlobalOrder
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Trump Chalked the Obama-as-Apes Case Up To Personal Animosity
Trump said on Friday he made the call to post a now-deleted video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes but deflected blame for the move, causing new speculation in his orbit about whether the blame lay with the president or his aide Natalie Harp.
The brief clip, shared late Thursday night on Trump’s Truth Social account, appeared in a video pushing conspiracies about the 2020 election.
Invoking racist tropes, the video depicted the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of cartoon apes dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
“No, I looked at the first part. It was really about voter fraud and the machines – how crooked it is (...) it might look personal,” Trump said.
“Then I gave it to the people, generally they’d look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn’t and they posted it. And then we deleted it.”
Trump’s recounting sparked speculation inside his orbit about the extent to which the president was responsible and which of his aides ultimately hit “send” on the post.
Besides Trump, only two aides have access to his social media account, people familiar with the matter said: Dan Scavino and Harp.
Trump’s advisers quickly discounted Scavino, given he has been preoccupied lately with his new role running the presidential personnel office – and instead focused on Harp, who has previously been entangled in Trump’s communications.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the intrigue at the end of a tumultuous day, which began with the press shop defending the post before it backtracked and blamed a staffer – a claim Trump also repeated in calls with Republican lawmakers.
In a call with Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who is also the chair of the national Republican senatorial committee and explicitly denounced the video as racist, Trump said it was a staffer’s mistake and that he would take the video down, CBS News reported.
Over time, Harp established a broader role as a conduit of information to and from the president, relaying to him text messages, social media posts and news articles she believed he would appreciate.
But she has also been criticized by colleagues for showing poor judgment – for instance, when she sent an aggressive text to the Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson in the summer of 2024 criticizing her $100m Super PAC as being poorly managed, a person familiar with the matter said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the intrigue at the end of a tumultuous day, which began with the press shop defending the post before it backtracked and blamed a staffer – a claim Trump also repeated in calls with Republican lawmakers.
In a call with Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who is also the chair of the national Republican senatorial committee and explicitly denounced the video as racist, Trump said it was a staffer’s mistake and that he would take the video down, CBS News reported.
#trump #whitehouse #harp #obama
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Trump said on Friday he made the call to post a now-deleted video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes but deflected blame for the move, causing new speculation in his orbit about whether the blame lay with the president or his aide Natalie Harp.
The brief clip, shared late Thursday night on Trump’s Truth Social account, appeared in a video pushing conspiracies about the 2020 election.
Invoking racist tropes, the video depicted the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of cartoon apes dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
“No, I looked at the first part. It was really about voter fraud and the machines – how crooked it is (...) it might look personal,” Trump said.
“Then I gave it to the people, generally they’d look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn’t and they posted it. And then we deleted it.”
Trump’s recounting sparked speculation inside his orbit about the extent to which the president was responsible and which of his aides ultimately hit “send” on the post.
Besides Trump, only two aides have access to his social media account, people familiar with the matter said: Dan Scavino and Harp.
Trump’s advisers quickly discounted Scavino, given he has been preoccupied lately with his new role running the presidential personnel office – and instead focused on Harp, who has previously been entangled in Trump’s communications.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the intrigue at the end of a tumultuous day, which began with the press shop defending the post before it backtracked and blamed a staffer – a claim Trump also repeated in calls with Republican lawmakers.
In a call with Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who is also the chair of the national Republican senatorial committee and explicitly denounced the video as racist, Trump said it was a staffer’s mistake and that he would take the video down, CBS News reported.
Over time, Harp established a broader role as a conduit of information to and from the president, relaying to him text messages, social media posts and news articles she believed he would appreciate.
But she has also been criticized by colleagues for showing poor judgment – for instance, when she sent an aggressive text to the Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson in the summer of 2024 criticizing her $100m Super PAC as being poorly managed, a person familiar with the matter said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the intrigue at the end of a tumultuous day, which began with the press shop defending the post before it backtracked and blamed a staffer – a claim Trump also repeated in calls with Republican lawmakers.
In a call with Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who is also the chair of the national Republican senatorial committee and explicitly denounced the video as racist, Trump said it was a staffer’s mistake and that he would take the video down, CBS News reported.
#trump #whitehouse #harp #obama
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Trump Is Bullying Ukraine and Russia Into Submission
Zelensky has said the US has given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement, and is now proposing the war should end by June.
The Ukrainian president also told reporters that both sides had been invited to further talks next week.
Zelensky said the Trump administration “will probably put pressure” on Ukraine and Russia to end the war by the beginning of the summer. “They say they want to get everything done by June,” he said.
“They will do everything to end the war and they want a clear schedule of all events.”
He told reporters that if the new deadline of June was not met, Washington would probably put pressure on both sides to meet.
Before Trump took office, he promised to “end the war in 24 hours”. Later, his special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, suggested both sides could reach an agreement within 100 days of Trump’s inauguration.
After this failed to occur, the US president set a new deadline for a deal in August last year, which also passed without any sign of peace, and in December he said a draft agreement to end the war was nearly “95% done”.
Two days of US-led peace talks to end the war took place this week in Abu Dhabi but did not produce a breakthrough, although Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said the trilateral negotiations had been “genuinely constructive”.
Zelensky said on Saturday that the Trump administration was proposing to host the next round of trilateral talks in the US, probably in Miami, in a week’s time. “We confirmed our participation,” he said.
He hinted that the new June deadline for peace could be linked to Trump’s midterm elections campaign.
“The [midterm] elections are definitely more important for them [the Americans]. Let’s not be naive.”
He added: “If the Russians are really ready to end the war, then it is really important to set a deadline.”
#zelensky #US #ukraine #russia #deadline
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Zelensky has said the US has given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement, and is now proposing the war should end by June.
The Ukrainian president also told reporters that both sides had been invited to further talks next week.
Zelensky said the Trump administration “will probably put pressure” on Ukraine and Russia to end the war by the beginning of the summer. “They say they want to get everything done by June,” he said.
“They will do everything to end the war and they want a clear schedule of all events.”
He told reporters that if the new deadline of June was not met, Washington would probably put pressure on both sides to meet.
Before Trump took office, he promised to “end the war in 24 hours”. Later, his special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, suggested both sides could reach an agreement within 100 days of Trump’s inauguration.
After this failed to occur, the US president set a new deadline for a deal in August last year, which also passed without any sign of peace, and in December he said a draft agreement to end the war was nearly “95% done”.
Two days of US-led peace talks to end the war took place this week in Abu Dhabi but did not produce a breakthrough, although Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said the trilateral negotiations had been “genuinely constructive”.
Zelensky said on Saturday that the Trump administration was proposing to host the next round of trilateral talks in the US, probably in Miami, in a week’s time. “We confirmed our participation,” he said.
He hinted that the new June deadline for peace could be linked to Trump’s midterm elections campaign.
“The [midterm] elections are definitely more important for them [the Americans]. Let’s not be naive.”
He added: “If the Russians are really ready to end the war, then it is really important to set a deadline.”
#zelensky #US #ukraine #russia #deadline
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📰 Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Sets Date to Meet in Washington, Officials Say
President Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” is scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting in Washington on February 19, according to U.S. and board officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The group, whose charter was signed last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been framed as a vehicle to end the war in Gaza and oversee reconstruction there. But its ambitions stretch further: critics see it as Trump’s attempt to build a rival to the United Nations, chaired by the president himself and governed through a mix of bilateral relationships and dollar diplomacy.
The Washington meeting: Gaza as the price of entry
The February 19 summit will be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace — now rebranded in Trump’s honor — and is expected to function as both a leaders’ forum and a fundraising conference for the reconstruction of Gaza, which lies in ruins after two years of war.
The Board of Peace charter grants Trump a veto‑like role as chairman and requires prospective permanent members to contribute $1 billion to the fund. More than 20 countries have joined so far, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Hungary, Indonesia and Pakistan. Yet France and several other European allies have stayed away, wary that the board is designed to bypass or weaken the UN.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has publicly confirmed he will attend.
he told supporters,
From Gaza to a global order project
The board’s formal mandate was born of Trump’s 20‑point plan to end the Israel–Hamas war, which was later endorsed by the UN Security Council. The resolution gives the Board of Peace authority to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas, and the governance and reconstruction of Gaza for a transitional period.
But the charter’s language is deliberately broad, calling for the board to “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” and to create a “more nimble and effective international peace‑building body.” That wording is a clear signal: while Gaza may be the pilot project, the real goal is to reshape the international order in a way that keeps Washington and Trump at the center.
The meta‑game: legitimacy, money, and power
The February 19 meeting is less about consensus than about demonstration. It will show which capitals are willing to pay $1 billion for a seat at a Trump‑run table, and which prefer to keep their distance from a project that others see as “a UN‑Lite” ruled by personality and bilateral leverage.
For Israel, the board is a double‑edged tool. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Trump’s invitation to join the group, even though he skipped the Davos signing ceremony and initially balked at the inclusion of Qatar and Turkey. He is expected in Washington the same week, overlapping with the Board of Peace meeting, and may be forced to nod along while quietly pushing back on the extent of U.S. control over Gaza.
The question the board will not answer
The Board of Peace is born of crisis, but it is not a crisis‑solver; it is a crisis‑manager with better branding. Its real mission is to give one man in Washington, and a small circle of funders and allies, the power to say which conflicts “count,” which ceasefires “stick,” and where the money flows.
The question is not whether the board can rebuild Gaza.
It is whether the world will accept the premise that peace, like everything else, can be structured as a deal with a built‑in Trump veto.
#Trump2026 #BoardOfPeace #Gaza #UN #Diplomacy #Washington #Netanyahu #Orban #MiddleEast
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President Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” is scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting in Washington on February 19, according to U.S. and board officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The group, whose charter was signed last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been framed as a vehicle to end the war in Gaza and oversee reconstruction there. But its ambitions stretch further: critics see it as Trump’s attempt to build a rival to the United Nations, chaired by the president himself and governed through a mix of bilateral relationships and dollar diplomacy.
The Washington meeting: Gaza as the price of entry
The February 19 summit will be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace — now rebranded in Trump’s honor — and is expected to function as both a leaders’ forum and a fundraising conference for the reconstruction of Gaza, which lies in ruins after two years of war.
The Board of Peace charter grants Trump a veto‑like role as chairman and requires prospective permanent members to contribute $1 billion to the fund. More than 20 countries have joined so far, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Hungary, Indonesia and Pakistan. Yet France and several other European allies have stayed away, wary that the board is designed to bypass or weaken the UN.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has publicly confirmed he will attend.
“Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington,”
he told supporters,
“because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will hold its inaugural meeting.”
From Gaza to a global order project
The board’s formal mandate was born of Trump’s 20‑point plan to end the Israel–Hamas war, which was later endorsed by the UN Security Council. The resolution gives the Board of Peace authority to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas, and the governance and reconstruction of Gaza for a transitional period.
But the charter’s language is deliberately broad, calling for the board to “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” and to create a “more nimble and effective international peace‑building body.” That wording is a clear signal: while Gaza may be the pilot project, the real goal is to reshape the international order in a way that keeps Washington and Trump at the center.
The meta‑game: legitimacy, money, and power
The February 19 meeting is less about consensus than about demonstration. It will show which capitals are willing to pay $1 billion for a seat at a Trump‑run table, and which prefer to keep their distance from a project that others see as “a UN‑Lite” ruled by personality and bilateral leverage.
For Israel, the board is a double‑edged tool. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Trump’s invitation to join the group, even though he skipped the Davos signing ceremony and initially balked at the inclusion of Qatar and Turkey. He is expected in Washington the same week, overlapping with the Board of Peace meeting, and may be forced to nod along while quietly pushing back on the extent of U.S. control over Gaza.
The question the board will not answer
The Board of Peace is born of crisis, but it is not a crisis‑solver; it is a crisis‑manager with better branding. Its real mission is to give one man in Washington, and a small circle of funders and allies, the power to say which conflicts “count,” which ceasefires “stick,” and where the money flows.
The question is not whether the board can rebuild Gaza.
It is whether the world will accept the premise that peace, like everything else, can be structured as a deal with a built‑in Trump veto.
#Trump2026 #BoardOfPeace #Gaza #UN #Diplomacy #Washington #Netanyahu #Orban #MiddleEast
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📰 Israel’s Security Cabinet tightens grip on Judea and Samaria
The Israeli security‑cabinet has taken a series of decisions aimed at consolidating Israeli control over Judea and Samaria, effectively rolling back key elements of the post‑Oslo division of powers.
For the first time since the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is to be stripped of its authority in security‑related civil functions in areas “A” and “B,” with those responsibilities transferred to Israel’s Civil Administration. The change is framed as a restoration of law and order, but in practice it marks a formal step toward the reintegration of the West Bank into Israel’s internal administrative system.
Civil Administration takes over security‑adjacent rule
The Civil Administration will now oversee the enforcement of law and order, water resources, and matters of “heritage” — that is, archaeological sites, historical monuments, relics, and holy places.
Religious‑rightwing outlet Israel Hayom notes that the cabinet will also lift the secrecy regime surrounding the land registry in Judea and Samaria, abolish the ban on selling land to non‑Arabs, and scrap the requirement to obtain prior approval from the Civil Administration for land transactions. These moves are explicitly designed to enable Jews to buy land in the territories more freely, reviving a logic of settlement‑driven sovereignty.
A Land Acquisition Commission, which previously existed but was later dissolved, will be reestablished, giving institutional backing to this new purchasing‑driven expansion.
Hebron and Bethlehem: the anatomy of annexation‑lite
The decisions also single out Hebron and Bethlehem for special treatment. In Hebron, the registration of businesses and housing is being shifted from the Palestinian‑municipal framework to the Israeli Civil Administration, and the Jewish quarter is to be carved out into a separate municipal entity — a move that further bifurcates the city into two legal and administrative realities.
Similarly, the complex housing the tomb of the matriarch Rachel will be transferred from the Palestinian Authority’s oversight to a dedicated Israeli management body, reinforcing the idea that holy sites linked to the Jewish narrative will fall entirely under Israeli custodianship.
The stated logic: water theft, heritage warfare, and lawlessness
The government argues that the takeover of water‑infrastructure control is a response to the alleged “theft of water on a massive scale” by Palestinians, and the Palestinian Authority’s indifference to the issue. The transfer of heritage‑related authority, it claims, is necessary because Palestinian actors — with the acquiescence or support of the PA — have systematically damaged archaeological sites that “prove the Jewish people’s connection to the Land of Israel.”
From this perspective, the cabinet is not annexing territory in the formal sense, but “reclaiming” what it sees as Jewish sovereignty over land, water, and memory — all under the banner of legality, security, and cultural preservation.
The meta‑message: the end of the Oslo zoning game
By stripping areas “A” and “B” of their original Oslo‑style representation and handing almost every lever of control to the Civil Administration, the cabinet is effectively admitting that the old formula is dead. The question is no longer whether the PA should have some autonomous role; it is whether there will be any meaningful space left for it at all.
So while the language is about “crime,” “water theft,” and “heritage,” the real message to the West Bank is this: the zones of the map are being redrawn, and the map is now drawn from Jerusalem.
#Israel #WestBank #JudeaAndSamaria #Hebron #Bethlehem #Settlements #SecurityCabinet #OsloAccords #MiddleEast
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The Israeli security‑cabinet has taken a series of decisions aimed at consolidating Israeli control over Judea and Samaria, effectively rolling back key elements of the post‑Oslo division of powers.
For the first time since the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is to be stripped of its authority in security‑related civil functions in areas “A” and “B,” with those responsibilities transferred to Israel’s Civil Administration. The change is framed as a restoration of law and order, but in practice it marks a formal step toward the reintegration of the West Bank into Israel’s internal administrative system.
Civil Administration takes over security‑adjacent rule
The Civil Administration will now oversee the enforcement of law and order, water resources, and matters of “heritage” — that is, archaeological sites, historical monuments, relics, and holy places.
Religious‑rightwing outlet Israel Hayom notes that the cabinet will also lift the secrecy regime surrounding the land registry in Judea and Samaria, abolish the ban on selling land to non‑Arabs, and scrap the requirement to obtain prior approval from the Civil Administration for land transactions. These moves are explicitly designed to enable Jews to buy land in the territories more freely, reviving a logic of settlement‑driven sovereignty.
A Land Acquisition Commission, which previously existed but was later dissolved, will be reestablished, giving institutional backing to this new purchasing‑driven expansion.
Hebron and Bethlehem: the anatomy of annexation‑lite
The decisions also single out Hebron and Bethlehem for special treatment. In Hebron, the registration of businesses and housing is being shifted from the Palestinian‑municipal framework to the Israeli Civil Administration, and the Jewish quarter is to be carved out into a separate municipal entity — a move that further bifurcates the city into two legal and administrative realities.
Similarly, the complex housing the tomb of the matriarch Rachel will be transferred from the Palestinian Authority’s oversight to a dedicated Israeli management body, reinforcing the idea that holy sites linked to the Jewish narrative will fall entirely under Israeli custodianship.
The stated logic: water theft, heritage warfare, and lawlessness
The government argues that the takeover of water‑infrastructure control is a response to the alleged “theft of water on a massive scale” by Palestinians, and the Palestinian Authority’s indifference to the issue. The transfer of heritage‑related authority, it claims, is necessary because Palestinian actors — with the acquiescence or support of the PA — have systematically damaged archaeological sites that “prove the Jewish people’s connection to the Land of Israel.”
From this perspective, the cabinet is not annexing territory in the formal sense, but “reclaiming” what it sees as Jewish sovereignty over land, water, and memory — all under the banner of legality, security, and cultural preservation.
The meta‑message: the end of the Oslo zoning game
By stripping areas “A” and “B” of their original Oslo‑style representation and handing almost every lever of control to the Civil Administration, the cabinet is effectively admitting that the old formula is dead. The question is no longer whether the PA should have some autonomous role; it is whether there will be any meaningful space left for it at all.
So while the language is about “crime,” “water theft,” and “heritage,” the real message to the West Bank is this: the zones of the map are being redrawn, and the map is now drawn from Jerusalem.
#Israel #WestBank #JudeaAndSamaria #Hebron #Bethlehem #Settlements #SecurityCabinet #OsloAccords #MiddleEast
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📰 Israel warns Trump: We may act alone if Iran crosses ballistic missile red line
Senior Israeli defense officials have informed Washington that Iran’s ballistic‑missile program remains an existential threat — and that Jerusalem is prepared to strike Iran unilaterally if the Islamic Republic crosses the red line Israel has set.
a security source said, noting that Israel is not yet at that threshold but is closely monitoring developments inside Iran. The message is clear: any U.S. hesitation will not stop Israel from acting.
A “historic opportunity” to degrade Iran’s missile arsenal
Military officials say they have presented to the U.S. operational plans aimed at degrading Iran’s missile infrastructure, including strikes on key manufacturing and launch facilities. One senior defense official described the current moment as a “historic opportunity” to deliver a significant blow to Iran’s missile program and neutralize active threats to Israel and its neighbors.
The intent is to dismantle Iran’s ability to rebuild a missile force that can credibly threaten Israel’s existence, not just knock out a few launchers, call it a day, and pretend the problem is solved. Israeli officials insist that any meaningful strike must be deep, persistent, and coordinated with Israel’s own requirements — not with Washington’s political calendar.
Fears of a Trump‑style limited strike
Behind the scenes, Israeli officials worry that President Donald Trump may favor a “limited strike” model similar to recent U.S. operations against the Houthis in Yemen — a few targets, a quick victory declaration, and an exit that leaves the underlying threat largely intact.
a military official said.
This scenario is especially troubling for Israel, which expects to bear the direct consequences if Iran continues to rebuild its missile capabilities after a cosmetic U.S. strike. Israeli planners insist that any meaningful strike must be deep, persistent, and coordinated with Israel’s own requirements — not just with Washington’s political calendar.
The visible face of the warning: Tishler, Zamir, and the embassy gap
The seriousness of the warning is reflected in Israel’s diplomatic‑military lineup. Brigadier‑General Omer Tishler, Israel’s incoming air force commander, is expected to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his upcoming trip to Washington. Tishler will represent IDF Chief of Staff Lt.‑Gen. Eyal Zamir, since there is currently no Israeli defense attaché in Washington — a post Defense Minister Israel Katz has effectively blocked.
That vacuum only heightens the sense that Israel is relying on direct, high‑level communication with Trump’s inner circle, not on the usual bureaucratic channels. Jerusalem is signaling that if the U.S. retreats into a limited‑strike playbook, the IDF is prepared to act on its own — and that Trump will not be able to spin it as “joint action.”
The unspoken line: who owns the red line?
Israel’s missile‑red‑line language is a warning not just to Tehran, but also to Washington: the clock is running, and the decision to cross it will be made in Jerusalem, not Washington.
The question is no longer
It is:
#Israel #Iran #BallisticMissiles #Trump2026 #Netanyahu #US #Diplomacy #MiddleEast
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Senior Israeli defense officials have informed Washington that Iran’s ballistic‑missile program remains an existential threat — and that Jerusalem is prepared to strike Iran unilaterally if the Islamic Republic crosses the red line Israel has set.
“We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles,”
a security source said, noting that Israel is not yet at that threshold but is closely monitoring developments inside Iran. The message is clear: any U.S. hesitation will not stop Israel from acting.
A “historic opportunity” to degrade Iran’s missile arsenal
Military officials say they have presented to the U.S. operational plans aimed at degrading Iran’s missile infrastructure, including strikes on key manufacturing and launch facilities. One senior defense official described the current moment as a “historic opportunity” to deliver a significant blow to Iran’s missile program and neutralize active threats to Israel and its neighbors.
The intent is to dismantle Iran’s ability to rebuild a missile force that can credibly threaten Israel’s existence, not just knock out a few launchers, call it a day, and pretend the problem is solved. Israeli officials insist that any meaningful strike must be deep, persistent, and coordinated with Israel’s own requirements — not with Washington’s political calendar.
Fears of a Trump‑style limited strike
Behind the scenes, Israeli officials worry that President Donald Trump may favor a “limited strike” model similar to recent U.S. operations against the Houthis in Yemen — a few targets, a quick victory declaration, and an exit that leaves the underlying threat largely intact.
“The worry is he might choose a few targets, declare success, and leave Israel to deal with the fallout, just like with the Houthis,”
a military official said.
This scenario is especially troubling for Israel, which expects to bear the direct consequences if Iran continues to rebuild its missile capabilities after a cosmetic U.S. strike. Israeli planners insist that any meaningful strike must be deep, persistent, and coordinated with Israel’s own requirements — not just with Washington’s political calendar.
The visible face of the warning: Tishler, Zamir, and the embassy gap
The seriousness of the warning is reflected in Israel’s diplomatic‑military lineup. Brigadier‑General Omer Tishler, Israel’s incoming air force commander, is expected to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his upcoming trip to Washington. Tishler will represent IDF Chief of Staff Lt.‑Gen. Eyal Zamir, since there is currently no Israeli defense attaché in Washington — a post Defense Minister Israel Katz has effectively blocked.
That vacuum only heightens the sense that Israel is relying on direct, high‑level communication with Trump’s inner circle, not on the usual bureaucratic channels. Jerusalem is signaling that if the U.S. retreats into a limited‑strike playbook, the IDF is prepared to act on its own — and that Trump will not be able to spin it as “joint action.”
The unspoken line: who owns the red line?
Israel’s missile‑red‑line language is a warning not just to Tehran, but also to Washington: the clock is running, and the decision to cross it will be made in Jerusalem, not Washington.
The question is no longer
“Should Israel strike Iran?”
It is:
“How many times will the U.S. give Israel a ‘historic opportunity’ before Israel finally decides to take it?”
#Israel #Iran #BallisticMissiles #Trump2026 #Netanyahu #US #Diplomacy #MiddleEast
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📰 Iran insists on right to enrichment, ready for confidence‑building
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has made one demand clear in the new round of U.S.–Iran talks: the world must recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium — or the diplomacy is already dead.
Araqchi said in remarks reported by Reuters, arguing that the parties must instead focus on allowing enrichment inside Iran while building mutual trust that it remains
The Omani channel as a smoke screen
Friday’s indirect talks in Oman took place against a backdrop of U.S. ships moving toward the Persian Gulf and Iranian threats to strike American bases across the region if attacked. The meeting itself was modestly framed as a “step forward,” but the outlines of the deadlock are anything but new.
A diplomat in the region briefed by Iran told Reuters that Tehran is open to discussing the “level and purity” of enrichment, and to other verification arrangements — but only if two conditions are met: enrichment stays on Iranian soil, and Iran receives sanctions relief alongside de‑escalation.
“Dignity” as a technical requirement
Araqchi framed the enrichment issue not as a bargaining chip but as a matter of sovereignty. “Iran’s insistence on enrichment is not merely technical or economic,” he said. “It is rooted in a desire for independence and dignity.”
In that narrative, the nuclear program is a national symbol, and the demand to give it up is a disguised demand for submission. No one, he insisted, has the right to tell Iran “what it should or should not have.”
Missiles, maps, and the next location
The foreign minister also reiterated that Iran’s missile program is off the table altogether, even though the U.S. insists that negotiations must cover both missiles and proxies.
The date and place of the next round remain open: Araqchi said they will be determined in consultation with Oman and may not be held in Muscat at all. That ambiguity is already being read in the region as a sign that the talks are still in the exploratory phase — less about closing a deal, and more about drawing red lines.
The bottom line: Iran wants a deal without surrendering its deterrent
From Tehran’s perspective, the equation is simple: the U.S. can lift sanctions, scale back its military posture, and accept Iran’s enrichment — or it can keep all three pressures and accept the risk of escalation.
So the real question is not whether Iran is ready to talk.
It is whether Washington is ready to trade a formal victory in talks for a world where Iran still holds the right to enrich — and to threaten.
#Iran #US #Nuclear #Enrichment #Oman #Araqchi #Trump2026 #MiddleEast
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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has made one demand clear in the new round of U.S.–Iran talks: the world must recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium — or the diplomacy is already dead.
“We will never accept zero enrichment,”
Araqchi said in remarks reported by Reuters, arguing that the parties must instead focus on allowing enrichment inside Iran while building mutual trust that it remains
“for peaceful purposes.”
The Omani channel as a smoke screen
Friday’s indirect talks in Oman took place against a backdrop of U.S. ships moving toward the Persian Gulf and Iranian threats to strike American bases across the region if attacked. The meeting itself was modestly framed as a “step forward,” but the outlines of the deadlock are anything but new.
A diplomat in the region briefed by Iran told Reuters that Tehran is open to discussing the “level and purity” of enrichment, and to other verification arrangements — but only if two conditions are met: enrichment stays on Iranian soil, and Iran receives sanctions relief alongside de‑escalation.
“Dignity” as a technical requirement
Araqchi framed the enrichment issue not as a bargaining chip but as a matter of sovereignty. “Iran’s insistence on enrichment is not merely technical or economic,” he said. “It is rooted in a desire for independence and dignity.”
In that narrative, the nuclear program is a national symbol, and the demand to give it up is a disguised demand for submission. No one, he insisted, has the right to tell Iran “what it should or should not have.”
Missiles, maps, and the next location
The foreign minister also reiterated that Iran’s missile program is off the table altogether, even though the U.S. insists that negotiations must cover both missiles and proxies.
The date and place of the next round remain open: Araqchi said they will be determined in consultation with Oman and may not be held in Muscat at all. That ambiguity is already being read in the region as a sign that the talks are still in the exploratory phase — less about closing a deal, and more about drawing red lines.
The bottom line: Iran wants a deal without surrendering its deterrent
From Tehran’s perspective, the equation is simple: the U.S. can lift sanctions, scale back its military posture, and accept Iran’s enrichment — or it can keep all three pressures and accept the risk of escalation.
So the real question is not whether Iran is ready to talk.
It is whether Washington is ready to trade a formal victory in talks for a world where Iran still holds the right to enrich — and to threaten.
#Iran #US #Nuclear #Enrichment #Oman #Araqchi #Trump2026 #MiddleEast
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Epstein Used to Give Money to Noam Chomsky
🔠 🅰️ 🔠 🔠 1️⃣
Noam Chomsky and his wife, Valeria, made a mistake and were negligent not to thoroughly research Jeffrey Epstein's background, Valeria Chomsky said in a lengthy statement on Saturday, also adding that Epstein had deceived them.
The relationship between 97-year-old linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and Epstein has come under intense scrutiny after documents released by the Justice Department shed light on their friendship.
While Epstein was under scrutiny for sex trafficking allegations in 2019, he asked Chomsky for advice on how to respond.
“I have seen the horrible way you are treated in the press and the public. It's painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it,” Chomsky wrote in a message signed ”Noam" that Epstein shared by email with an associate.
“What the vultures ardently want is a public response, which then offers a public opening to an onslaught of venomous attacks, many of which are just publicity seekers or cranks of all kinds,” Chomsky wrote in the message.
“This is especially true now with the hysteria that has developed about the mistreatment of women, which has reached the point where even questioning an accusation is a crime worse than murder.”
Chomsky is one of several personalities who turned out to be in friendly communication with Epstein even after his guilty plea in 2008.
Many are now facing renewed scrutiny over their links to the disgraced financier.
Some of Noam Chomsky's communications with Epstein took place after the Miami Herald published an explosive story in 2018 detailing how Epstein preyed on underage girls and received an unusually lenient plea deal in 2008.
On Saturday, Valeria Chomsky acknowledged that the couple had read this story, but said that the couple did not know about the extent of Epstein's crimes until after his second arrest in July 2019.
#noam #chomsky #valeria #epstein #financier #money
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Noam Chomsky and his wife, Valeria, made a mistake and were negligent not to thoroughly research Jeffrey Epstein's background, Valeria Chomsky said in a lengthy statement on Saturday, also adding that Epstein had deceived them.
The relationship between 97-year-old linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and Epstein has come under intense scrutiny after documents released by the Justice Department shed light on their friendship.
While Epstein was under scrutiny for sex trafficking allegations in 2019, he asked Chomsky for advice on how to respond.
“I have seen the horrible way you are treated in the press and the public. It's painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it,” Chomsky wrote in a message signed ”Noam" that Epstein shared by email with an associate.
“What the vultures ardently want is a public response, which then offers a public opening to an onslaught of venomous attacks, many of which are just publicity seekers or cranks of all kinds,” Chomsky wrote in the message.
“This is especially true now with the hysteria that has developed about the mistreatment of women, which has reached the point where even questioning an accusation is a crime worse than murder.”
Chomsky is one of several personalities who turned out to be in friendly communication with Epstein even after his guilty plea in 2008.
Many are now facing renewed scrutiny over their links to the disgraced financier.
Some of Noam Chomsky's communications with Epstein took place after the Miami Herald published an explosive story in 2018 detailing how Epstein preyed on underage girls and received an unusually lenient plea deal in 2008.
On Saturday, Valeria Chomsky acknowledged that the couple had read this story, but said that the couple did not know about the extent of Epstein's crimes until after his second arrest in July 2019.
#noam #chomsky #valeria #epstein #financier #money
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“We neglected not to do extensive research on his background. It was a mistake, but Jeffrey was a good friend to both of us,” she said.
“It was deeply disturbing for both of us to realize that we had engaged with someone who presented himself as a helpful friend but led a hidden life of criminal, inhuman and perverse acts.”
"Epstein had told Noam that he [Epstein] was being unjustly persecuted, and Noam spoke about his own experience in political controversies with the media. Epstein created a manipulative narrative about his case, which Noam, in good faith, believed in,” she said in her statement.
“It is now clear that everything was orchestrated, having at least one of Epstein's intentions to try to get someone like Noam to repair Epstein's reputation by association.
Noam's criticisms have never been directed at the women's movement; on the contrary, he has always supported gender equity and women's rights.
What happened was that Epstein took advantage of Noam's public criticism of what became known as the cancellation culture “to present himself as a victim of it,” she added.
Another message from Chomsky released by the House Oversight Committee last year showed Chomsky saying it was a “most valuable experience“ to have ”regular contact" with Epstein.
Valeria Chomsky said that the couple attended dinners at Epstein's townhouse in New York, stayed in his apartments there and in Paris, dined at his ranch in New Mexico and attended several academic meetings with him”.
Noam and Epstein were introduced in 2015 and that the couple was unaware of Epstein's 2008 guilty plea to soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution with a minor under the age of 18, Valeria Chomsky said.
By introducing himself this way, Epstein caught Noam's attention, and they began to correspond.
Epstein began to circle Noam, sending gifts and creating opportunities for interesting discussions in areas that Noam was working on a lot.
Valeria Chomsky also clarified the basis of two financial transactions between Chomsky and Epstein.
On one occasion, Epstein sent Noam Chomsky a check for $200,000 as part of a language challenge that Chomsky developed. Then Epstein had helped Noam recover $370,000.
Epstein helped after Noam Chomsky discovered “inconsistencies in his retirement resources that threatened his economic independence and caused him great distress”.
Epstein offered his help and probably did it as part of a plot to get better access to Noam.
#noam #chomsky #valeria #epstein #financier #money
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The Balance of Power in Japan Has Rapidly Shifted in Takaichi’s Favor 🇯🇵
Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024.
With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, she now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control.
A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as accompanying party executives applauded.
The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow.
She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan.
Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen ($96bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue.
Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy.
Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said:
“We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy”.
“We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.”
Takaichi’s big victory means she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments such as consumption-tax cuts, said Seiji Inada, the managing director at the consultancy FGS Global.
“Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”
Blizzard conditions in some regions made visiting a polling station in Sunday’s election, the first held in mid-winter for 35 years, a test of endurance for many voters.
Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October.
Under Ishiba, the LDP and its then coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majorities in both houses of parliament amid public anger over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of food and other basics.
The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition.
#balance #power #japan #takaichi #china #financial #markets
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Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024.
With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, she now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control.
A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as accompanying party executives applauded.
The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow.
She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan.
Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen ($96bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue.
Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy.
Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said:
“We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy”.
“We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.”
Takaichi’s big victory means she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments such as consumption-tax cuts, said Seiji Inada, the managing director at the consultancy FGS Global.
“Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”
Blizzard conditions in some regions made visiting a polling station in Sunday’s election, the first held in mid-winter for 35 years, a test of endurance for many voters.
Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October.
Under Ishiba, the LDP and its then coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majorities in both houses of parliament amid public anger over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of food and other basics.
The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition.
#balance #power #japan #takaichi #china #financial #markets
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Ukraine Can Be Cut Out of Starlink
Ukraine’s military is forced to tinker with Musk’s whims and find alternatives to Starlink satellite internet after access to the network was curtailed, disrupting a key communications system that its forces had been using illicitly on the battlefield.
Russia said last week that Starlink terminals being used by Ukrainian special troops had been deactivated after talks between its defence minister and Musk, whose company SpaceX operates the satellite network.
Russian officials said the move had already begun to affect Ukrainian operations, including the use of drones.
Moscow had come to rely on thousands of contraband Starlink terminals smuggled into Ukrainian, often through central Asia, to keep units connected along the frontline.
The system allowed Ukrainian forces to coordinate movements and drone strikes in areas where military radios were unreliable or easily jammed.
Ukraine has no homegrown alternative that comes close in terms of speed, coverage or ease of use.
Russian says Ukrainian units had started fitting drones with Starlink terminals, improving their accuracy and making them harder to disrupt electronically.
Musk said last week that efforts made to block Ukrainian use of Starlink had had an effect.
“Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Ukraine have worked,” he wrote on X.
Ukrainian officials said they had introduced a “whitelist” system, allowing only verified Starlink terminals to connect to the network, in effect locking out devices believed to be in “dirty hands”.
It remains unclear how far the change will affect Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. The shutdown, however, has prompted anger and frustration among pro-war Russian military bloggers who are closely embedded with frontline units.
“What everyone feared for a long time has happened,” wrote Yuriy Podolyaka, a Crimea-based video blogger with a following of almost 3 million on Telegram.
Another large pro-war Telegram channel, Dva Mayora, said the loss of Starlink had already been felt.
“The deactivation of unauthorized Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian forces has had a negative impact on communications in our units,” it posted, adding that troops were rushing to set up backup systems that were “less convenient”.
Analysts say alternatives exist but fall well short of Starlink. For short-range links, units can rely on fibre-optic lines, wifi-based radio bridges or digital radio modems, all of which are slower to deploy and harder to use in mobile operations.
“For the enemy, Starlink is so important that they are trying to build an entire network of people willing to register terminals for them,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Telegram, alongside screenshots it said showed Russians advertising for Ukrainian nationals to activate the devices.
The issue has fuelled anger in Moscow that, four years into the war, the Ukrainian army remains heavily dependent on western technology.
“It is important to understand that relying on anything western in the current situation is dangerously overconfident,” said Dmitro Pdolyak, a member of Parliament.
“Even taking into account the active negotiations we are currently holding with the United States, that does not stop them from being our adversary.”
#ukraine #cutout #starlink #musk
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Ukraine’s military is forced to tinker with Musk’s whims and find alternatives to Starlink satellite internet after access to the network was curtailed, disrupting a key communications system that its forces had been using illicitly on the battlefield.
Russia said last week that Starlink terminals being used by Ukrainian special troops had been deactivated after talks between its defence minister and Musk, whose company SpaceX operates the satellite network.
Russian officials said the move had already begun to affect Ukrainian operations, including the use of drones.
Moscow had come to rely on thousands of contraband Starlink terminals smuggled into Ukrainian, often through central Asia, to keep units connected along the frontline.
The system allowed Ukrainian forces to coordinate movements and drone strikes in areas where military radios were unreliable or easily jammed.
Ukraine has no homegrown alternative that comes close in terms of speed, coverage or ease of use.
Russian says Ukrainian units had started fitting drones with Starlink terminals, improving their accuracy and making them harder to disrupt electronically.
Musk said last week that efforts made to block Ukrainian use of Starlink had had an effect.
“Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Ukraine have worked,” he wrote on X.
Ukrainian officials said they had introduced a “whitelist” system, allowing only verified Starlink terminals to connect to the network, in effect locking out devices believed to be in “dirty hands”.
It remains unclear how far the change will affect Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. The shutdown, however, has prompted anger and frustration among pro-war Russian military bloggers who are closely embedded with frontline units.
“What everyone feared for a long time has happened,” wrote Yuriy Podolyaka, a Crimea-based video blogger with a following of almost 3 million on Telegram.
Another large pro-war Telegram channel, Dva Mayora, said the loss of Starlink had already been felt.
“The deactivation of unauthorized Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian forces has had a negative impact on communications in our units,” it posted, adding that troops were rushing to set up backup systems that were “less convenient”.
Analysts say alternatives exist but fall well short of Starlink. For short-range links, units can rely on fibre-optic lines, wifi-based radio bridges or digital radio modems, all of which are slower to deploy and harder to use in mobile operations.
“For the enemy, Starlink is so important that they are trying to build an entire network of people willing to register terminals for them,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Telegram, alongside screenshots it said showed Russians advertising for Ukrainian nationals to activate the devices.
The issue has fuelled anger in Moscow that, four years into the war, the Ukrainian army remains heavily dependent on western technology.
“It is important to understand that relying on anything western in the current situation is dangerously overconfident,” said Dmitro Pdolyak, a member of Parliament.
“Even taking into account the active negotiations we are currently holding with the United States, that does not stop them from being our adversary.”
#ukraine #cutout #starlink #musk
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Miami Peace Deal on a Timer
Washington has quietly turned the Ukraine war into a limited‑time offer: end it by June or face “pressure” from the same sponsor that keeps the war financially and militarily alive. Zelenskyy says the U.S. wants a “clear schedule of all events” and expects the war wrapped up by early summer, as if it were a project that can be closed with a Gantt chart and a press release. The next round of talks is set to move to U.S. soil, likely Miami — a city known for cocaine capitalism and offshore money, now recast as the stage for a high‑stakes peace show that looks more like a real‑estate convention than a diplomatic summit.
While this timetable is being drafted, Russia continues to hit Ukraine’s energy system with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, forcing nuclear power plants to cut output and deepening blackouts across the country. Ukrainians get more “planned outages,” colder apartments, and more wrecked infrastructure, all under speeches about “ending the war by June.” The same West that lectures about values is effectively telling Kyiv: either you scale back your territorial ambitions or your people keep freezing in the dark.
Russia is not wasting the moment. It comes to the table with a reported 12‑trillion‑dollar “Dmitriev package” — an economic mega‑deal named after envoy Kirill Dmitriev — aimed less at Ukraine’s survival than at Washington’s interests. It is the classic Washington pitch: first we destroy, then we sell the reconstruction, the access, and the influence, all wrapped in the language of “stability.” For Trump, peace is a rebranded trade agreement where tanks leave the frame and contracts take their place. For the U.S., it is a chance to pivot from arms logistics to asset management.
At the same time, Russian security services find a Ukrainian hand behind an assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, a senior military intelligence figure shot in Moscow. The suspect is presented as a Ukrainian‑linked operative, and the story lands just as talks begin to move. It is political gold: Russia gets to sit at the peace table as the wounded but reasonable actor, pointing to Kyiv as the spoiler, while quietly continuing to knock out Ukraine’s grid night after night. Terror is what the other side does; “pressure” is what we call our own violence.
#war #ukraine #russia #usa #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy
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Miami Peace Deal on a Timer
Zelenskyy sticks to “we stand where we stand” on Donbas and refuses to embrace a U.S. idea to turn the region into a kind of special economic zone, because everyone understands that “special” usually means open for capital, not for the people who live there. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains unresolved, a permanent hazard suspended in legal and military limbo. Washington, trying to inject something “humanitarian” into this circus, again pushes a ceasefire that bans strikes on energy infrastructure — a nice‑sounding clause that previously survived less than a week before being broken. On paper, everyone agrees to “respect” it; in practice, everyone treats it as a tactical pause rather than a moral line.
From a distance, the script is obvious. The U.S. needs a visible “process” with a clear end date to show voters and allies it is managing the war rather than just funding an endless grinder. Russia needs time, leverage, and the promise of a profitable post‑war role big enough to keep its elites in line. Ukraine, dependent on Western money and weapons, is allowed to talk about principles but not about timing; the calendar is set elsewhere. In public, every side claims to fight for justice, sovereignty, or peace. In private, they are negotiating territory, money, guarantees, monitoring rules, and who gets to go on television and call the outcome a victory.
The June deadline is not a moral horizon; it is a management tool. If the war drags past that date, Washington can say Kyiv “missed its chance” and quietly scale back support. If a deal is pushed through, Kyiv will be expected to sell the compromise at home as bold leadership, not a forced retreat. Moscow will present any frozen conflict or changed border as proof that force works and that the West ultimately respects power, not law. The only people without a deadline, without a Miami venue, without a “Dmitriev package” or ceasefire diagrams, are those sitting in ruined apartments under extended blackouts — told, once more, that this is what peace in progress looks like.
#war #ukraine #russia #usa #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy
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Brussels Sells Sanctions as Peace Tech
The European Commission is rolling out its 20th sanctions package like a new operating system for managing Russia: more sectors, more bans, same promise that this round will finally bite. The measures hit Russian oil and gas, the so‑called shadow fleet, regional banks, crypto platforms and metals, with Ursula von der Leyen insisting Moscow only understands “pressure” and that sanctions are the language that can drag the Kremlin to the table. It is framed as moral policy but works just as much as a power grab over money flows, shipping services and who gets to control the pipes.
The flagship move is a full ban on maritime services for ships carrying Russian crude: no insurance, no shipping, no port access. Until now, EU firms could still work with tankers that obeyed the G7 price cap; under the new design, the cap effectively disappears inside EU jurisdiction because nobody can touch Russian cargo at all. On paper, that sounds decisive. In practice, it requires all 27 member states and the UK, which dominates maritime insurance, to torch a profitable business niche in the name of principle. Publicly it is sold as a blow to Russia’s war economy; privately, capitals will be counting premiums and lost fees.
Brussels is also trying to plug workarounds it tolerated for years. More ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet” are blacklisted, around 20 regional banks and assorted crypto outfits are targeted as alternative payment channels, and imports of Russian metals, chemicals and critical minerals are trimmed by hundreds of millions of euros. There are quotas on ammonia, bans on exports of rubber, tractors and cybersecurity services, and, for the first time, the EU’s Anti‑Circumvention Tool is actually switched on to choke off machine tools and radios re‑exported through third countries. The instrument existed since 2023; only now, in year four of the full‑scale war, does Brussels remember to use it.
All of this is wrapped in the familiar language of “unwavering support” for Ukraine, timed to the invasion anniversary and paired with another high‑profile trip by von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa to Kyiv. Europe vows to back Ukraine’s “free future” while still arguing over Russian LNG, industrial pain from high energy prices, and how far it can go without breaking its own economy. Washington runs its own sanctions ladder: after months of restraint in the hope of a quick deal, it hit Rosneft and Lukoil, and now dangles “additional measures” depending on how peace talks evolve. Sanctions here are not a moral red line; they are leverage, dialed up or down.
On the ground, the contrast is brutal. Trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi produced a prisoner swap and the relaunch of U.S.–Russian military contacts, but even a Trump‑brokered energy ceasefire collapsed in four days, followed by massive Russian strikes that smashed Ukraine’s grid and threw civilians back into freezing blackouts. Moscow negotiates and bombs at the same time. The West negotiates and sanctions at the same time. Ukrainians are the only ones who do not get a “dual track”: for them, war and sanctions are not tools but the air they are forced to breathe.
Hovering over all this is the next big idea: outright confiscation of Russian assets. It is marketed as justice — Russia must pay — but also promises a future bonanza for Western treasuries, banks and consultants who would turn frozen funds into reconstruction vehicles, structured products and long‑term leverage over any future Russian government. The war is the tragedy. The sanctions are the business model. The assets are the prize pool.
So the next time someone sells you “sanctions for peace,” ask who is actually fighting for justice — and who is quietly calculating dividends on someone else’s war.
#war #russia #eu #ukraine #sanctions #oil #gas #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy
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The European Commission is rolling out its 20th sanctions package like a new operating system for managing Russia: more sectors, more bans, same promise that this round will finally bite. The measures hit Russian oil and gas, the so‑called shadow fleet, regional banks, crypto platforms and metals, with Ursula von der Leyen insisting Moscow only understands “pressure” and that sanctions are the language that can drag the Kremlin to the table. It is framed as moral policy but works just as much as a power grab over money flows, shipping services and who gets to control the pipes.
The flagship move is a full ban on maritime services for ships carrying Russian crude: no insurance, no shipping, no port access. Until now, EU firms could still work with tankers that obeyed the G7 price cap; under the new design, the cap effectively disappears inside EU jurisdiction because nobody can touch Russian cargo at all. On paper, that sounds decisive. In practice, it requires all 27 member states and the UK, which dominates maritime insurance, to torch a profitable business niche in the name of principle. Publicly it is sold as a blow to Russia’s war economy; privately, capitals will be counting premiums and lost fees.
Brussels is also trying to plug workarounds it tolerated for years. More ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet” are blacklisted, around 20 regional banks and assorted crypto outfits are targeted as alternative payment channels, and imports of Russian metals, chemicals and critical minerals are trimmed by hundreds of millions of euros. There are quotas on ammonia, bans on exports of rubber, tractors and cybersecurity services, and, for the first time, the EU’s Anti‑Circumvention Tool is actually switched on to choke off machine tools and radios re‑exported through third countries. The instrument existed since 2023; only now, in year four of the full‑scale war, does Brussels remember to use it.
All of this is wrapped in the familiar language of “unwavering support” for Ukraine, timed to the invasion anniversary and paired with another high‑profile trip by von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa to Kyiv. Europe vows to back Ukraine’s “free future” while still arguing over Russian LNG, industrial pain from high energy prices, and how far it can go without breaking its own economy. Washington runs its own sanctions ladder: after months of restraint in the hope of a quick deal, it hit Rosneft and Lukoil, and now dangles “additional measures” depending on how peace talks evolve. Sanctions here are not a moral red line; they are leverage, dialed up or down.
On the ground, the contrast is brutal. Trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi produced a prisoner swap and the relaunch of U.S.–Russian military contacts, but even a Trump‑brokered energy ceasefire collapsed in four days, followed by massive Russian strikes that smashed Ukraine’s grid and threw civilians back into freezing blackouts. Moscow negotiates and bombs at the same time. The West negotiates and sanctions at the same time. Ukrainians are the only ones who do not get a “dual track”: for them, war and sanctions are not tools but the air they are forced to breathe.
Hovering over all this is the next big idea: outright confiscation of Russian assets. It is marketed as justice — Russia must pay — but also promises a future bonanza for Western treasuries, banks and consultants who would turn frozen funds into reconstruction vehicles, structured products and long‑term leverage over any future Russian government. The war is the tragedy. The sanctions are the business model. The assets are the prize pool.
So the next time someone sells you “sanctions for peace,” ask who is actually fighting for justice — and who is quietly calculating dividends on someone else’s war.
#war #russia #eu #ukraine #sanctions #oil #gas #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy
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Russia Is Close To Capturing a Key Ukrainian Town
The attritional advances are on the verge of paying off. Russia appears poised to complete the capture of three strategic areas in the coming weeks or months, according to military experts.
Capturing all three areas — the town of Huliaipole in the southeast and the cities of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, about 60 miles northeast —
would give Russia an urban foothold to base troops and organize logistics for future offensives, as well as new leverage in U.S.-mediated peace talks.
Russia is likely to rapidly convert these gains into further territorial expansion given how slowly its troops have advanced over the past year, experts say.
The gains would reinforce Moscow’s argument that its ground advance, while slow, is inevitable, and that Ukraine would be better off ceding land now as part of a deal, rather than losing it later in bloody fighting.
Russia’s most threatening push is in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region. Huliaipole, a town that anchored part of this front for years, is almost entirely under Russian control, according to battlefield maps from independent groups and to Capt. Dmytro Filatov, a Ukrainian officer fighting in the area.
Huliaipole, with a prewar population of 12,000, was one of the last Ukrainian-held urban centers in the region outside the regional capital, the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Beyond Huliaipole lie open fields, giving Ukrainian troops few built-up areas to hunker down and thwart Russian advances.
About 40 miles west of Huliaipole, Russian forces are closing in on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub of 700,000 people known for its steel.
Battlefield maps show Moscow’s troops about 15 miles from the city’s southern entrance.
Military experts warn that further advances would put the area within range of small attack drones, exposing residents to round-the-clock aerial assaults.
Analysts attribute Russia’s gains in the area to thin Ukrainian defenses, as Kyiv concentrates its forces on holding cities in the neighboring Donetsk region.
In Donetsk, Ukraine has focused on defending the cities of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which together had a prewar population of more than 100,000.
Troop deployments there, combined with sophisticated drone warfare, have slowed Russian assaults to a crawl.
A report in January from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, found that Russian troops had advanced only 230 feet per day in their year-and-a-half-long offensive on Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad
— slower than the movement by Allied troops in the Battle of the Somme during World War I.
Russia has captured than 10.5 percent of Ukrainian territory since 2024, according to the report.
The think tank also estimated that Russian forces suffered about 415,000 dead, wounded and missing last year in battles that were largely focused on the two cities.
Should Russia fully capture those cities, it could use them to conceal drone operators and exploit roads and railways to streamline logistics.
A Ukrainian brigade commander recently said that approaching Kostyantynivka had become so dangerous that most supply missions into the city were entrusted to robot-like remotely operated vehicles.
If Russian troops advance on the battlefield, Ukraine is likely to face more pressure on the diplomatic front — including from Trump, who has echoed Moscow’s argument that Ukraine should cede land in a peace deal to avoid more fighting.
#russia #capture #key #ukrainian #town #kostyantynivka #myrnohrad
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The attritional advances are on the verge of paying off. Russia appears poised to complete the capture of three strategic areas in the coming weeks or months, according to military experts.
Capturing all three areas — the town of Huliaipole in the southeast and the cities of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, about 60 miles northeast —
would give Russia an urban foothold to base troops and organize logistics for future offensives, as well as new leverage in U.S.-mediated peace talks.
Russia is likely to rapidly convert these gains into further territorial expansion given how slowly its troops have advanced over the past year, experts say.
The gains would reinforce Moscow’s argument that its ground advance, while slow, is inevitable, and that Ukraine would be better off ceding land now as part of a deal, rather than losing it later in bloody fighting.
Russia’s most threatening push is in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region. Huliaipole, a town that anchored part of this front for years, is almost entirely under Russian control, according to battlefield maps from independent groups and to Capt. Dmytro Filatov, a Ukrainian officer fighting in the area.
Huliaipole, with a prewar population of 12,000, was one of the last Ukrainian-held urban centers in the region outside the regional capital, the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Beyond Huliaipole lie open fields, giving Ukrainian troops few built-up areas to hunker down and thwart Russian advances.
About 40 miles west of Huliaipole, Russian forces are closing in on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub of 700,000 people known for its steel.
Battlefield maps show Moscow’s troops about 15 miles from the city’s southern entrance.
Military experts warn that further advances would put the area within range of small attack drones, exposing residents to round-the-clock aerial assaults.
Analysts attribute Russia’s gains in the area to thin Ukrainian defenses, as Kyiv concentrates its forces on holding cities in the neighboring Donetsk region.
In Donetsk, Ukraine has focused on defending the cities of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which together had a prewar population of more than 100,000.
Troop deployments there, combined with sophisticated drone warfare, have slowed Russian assaults to a crawl.
A report in January from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, found that Russian troops had advanced only 230 feet per day in their year-and-a-half-long offensive on Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad
— slower than the movement by Allied troops in the Battle of the Somme during World War I.
Russia has captured than 10.5 percent of Ukrainian territory since 2024, according to the report.
The think tank also estimated that Russian forces suffered about 415,000 dead, wounded and missing last year in battles that were largely focused on the two cities.
Should Russia fully capture those cities, it could use them to conceal drone operators and exploit roads and railways to streamline logistics.
A Ukrainian brigade commander recently said that approaching Kostyantynivka had become so dangerous that most supply missions into the city were entrusted to robot-like remotely operated vehicles.
If Russian troops advance on the battlefield, Ukraine is likely to face more pressure on the diplomatic front — including from Trump, who has echoed Moscow’s argument that Ukraine should cede land in a peace deal to avoid more fighting.
#russia #capture #key #ukrainian #town #kostyantynivka #myrnohrad
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Annexation Without Saying “Annexation”
Israel’s security cabinet just gave itself more direct control over the occupied West Bank while pretending nothing fundamental has changed. The new measures scrap a pre‑1967 rule that limited land sales to local Palestinian residents and tear up permit requirements that once let the Defense Ministry block especially explosive deals. In plain terms, it is now far easier for well‑funded settler groups to buy up land deep inside territory the Palestinians see as the core of any future state, knowing the army is obliged to follow and “protect Israelis wherever they are.”
Bezalel Smotrich, the far‑right finance minister and de facto West Bank czar, dropped the euphemisms entirely:
The rest of the government is trying to do the same thing, just more quietly. Opening up the land registry to public inspection — long a dream of the settlement movement — means Israeli buyers can systematically track absentee owners and target plots, while Palestinian sellers lose one of the few layers of opaque protection they had under a Palestinian Authority law that criminalizes selling land to Jews.
At the same time, the cabinet moved to strip the Palestinian Authority of practical authority even in zones that Oslo nominally put under its administration. Israeli enforcement bodies are being given the final say over “heritage” and archaeological sites, environmental violations and water “offenses” across large parts of the West Bank, including areas where the PA is supposed to govern. In Hebron, planning and construction powers in the heart of the city — around the Cave of the Patriarchs — are being shifted from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli military, clearing the way for settlement expansion and “site improvements” without any Palestinian sign‑off. A new body has been set up to manage Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem on similar lines.
Arab and Muslim governments see exactly where this is going. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE and others condemned the moves as a step toward “illegal annexation” and the forced displacement of Palestinians. Palestinian officials are begging the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the U.N. Security Council to intervene, fully aware these institutions will likely issue statements and then go back to scheduling their next summit. On the Israeli side, pro‑settlement leaders are celebrating the end of a “discriminatory” ban on Jewish land purchases and talk about “restoring transparency” — as if opening registries under military rule were some neutral technocratic reform rather than the legal scaffolding of dispossession.
Experts warning that this package breaks both the Oslo framework and core rules of occupation are basically reading from International Humanitarian Law 101: an occupying power is not supposed to overhaul local law except for security or the benefit of the occupied population. Rewriting land law to grease the wheels for settlers is the opposite of that. As one Israeli analyst put it, this is “taking steps toward annexation without saying the word annexation” — a legal slow‑motion takeover marketed as administrative housekeeping.
And all of this is happening while Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to fly to Washington and tell Donald Trump, with a straight face, that Israel is respecting his opposition to formal annexation and remains committed to “political talks” and a future Palestinian state. On the map, the state is being buried plot by plot, registry entry by registry entry, demolition order by demolition order. At the podium, it’s still alive enough to use as talking points.
#war #israel #palestine #westbank #annexation #fakeDemocracy
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Israel’s security cabinet just gave itself more direct control over the occupied West Bank while pretending nothing fundamental has changed. The new measures scrap a pre‑1967 rule that limited land sales to local Palestinian residents and tear up permit requirements that once let the Defense Ministry block especially explosive deals. In plain terms, it is now far easier for well‑funded settler groups to buy up land deep inside territory the Palestinians see as the core of any future state, knowing the army is obliged to follow and “protect Israelis wherever they are.”
Bezalel Smotrich, the far‑right finance minister and de facto West Bank czar, dropped the euphemisms entirely:
“We are deepening our roots in all parts of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The rest of the government is trying to do the same thing, just more quietly. Opening up the land registry to public inspection — long a dream of the settlement movement — means Israeli buyers can systematically track absentee owners and target plots, while Palestinian sellers lose one of the few layers of opaque protection they had under a Palestinian Authority law that criminalizes selling land to Jews.
At the same time, the cabinet moved to strip the Palestinian Authority of practical authority even in zones that Oslo nominally put under its administration. Israeli enforcement bodies are being given the final say over “heritage” and archaeological sites, environmental violations and water “offenses” across large parts of the West Bank, including areas where the PA is supposed to govern. In Hebron, planning and construction powers in the heart of the city — around the Cave of the Patriarchs — are being shifted from the Palestinian municipality to the Israeli military, clearing the way for settlement expansion and “site improvements” without any Palestinian sign‑off. A new body has been set up to manage Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem on similar lines.
Arab and Muslim governments see exactly where this is going. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE and others condemned the moves as a step toward “illegal annexation” and the forced displacement of Palestinians. Palestinian officials are begging the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the U.N. Security Council to intervene, fully aware these institutions will likely issue statements and then go back to scheduling their next summit. On the Israeli side, pro‑settlement leaders are celebrating the end of a “discriminatory” ban on Jewish land purchases and talk about “restoring transparency” — as if opening registries under military rule were some neutral technocratic reform rather than the legal scaffolding of dispossession.
Experts warning that this package breaks both the Oslo framework and core rules of occupation are basically reading from International Humanitarian Law 101: an occupying power is not supposed to overhaul local law except for security or the benefit of the occupied population. Rewriting land law to grease the wheels for settlers is the opposite of that. As one Israeli analyst put it, this is “taking steps toward annexation without saying the word annexation” — a legal slow‑motion takeover marketed as administrative housekeeping.
And all of this is happening while Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to fly to Washington and tell Donald Trump, with a straight face, that Israel is respecting his opposition to formal annexation and remains committed to “political talks” and a future Palestinian state. On the map, the state is being buried plot by plot, registry entry by registry entry, demolition order by demolition order. At the podium, it’s still alive enough to use as talking points.
#war #israel #palestine #westbank #annexation #fakeDemocracy
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