Reply With Quote
"Dim Philby"
(a sharp businessman)
"Dim Philby"
I dunno
I think Trump is in his own category now, comparing him to Hitler is passé
(there's never been a US president who hated other Americans and the rest of the world more)
Trump says Witkoff was engaged in normal deal making
doing a deal to benefit Trump donors and favorites, bypassing diplomacy and the national interest
https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/rus...b290?st=zCAXtfthree powerful businessmen—two Americans and a Russian—hunched over a laptop in Miami Beach last month, ostensibly to draw up a plan to end Russia’s long and deadly war with Ukraine.
But the full scope of their project went much further, according to people familiar with the talks. They were privately charting a path to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy in from the cold—with American businesses first in line to beat European compe ors to the dividends.
At his waterfront estate, billionaire developer-turned-special envoy Steve Witkoff was hosting Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund and Vladimir Putin’s handpicked negotiator, who had largely shaped the do ent they were revising on the screen. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had arrived from his nearby home on an island known as the “Billionaire Bunker.”
Dmitriev was pushing a plan for U.S. companies to tap the roughly $300 billion of Russian central bank assets, frozen in Europe, for U.S.-Russian investment projects and a U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine. U.S. and Russian companies could join to exploit the vast mineral wealth in the Arctic. There were no limits to what two longtime adversaries could achieve, Dmitriev had argued for months: Their rival space industries, which raced one another during the Cold War, could even pursue a joint mission to Mars with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
For the Kremlin, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration, to bypass the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat but as a land of bountiful opportunity, according to Western security officials. By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies.
Dmitriev, a Goldman Sachs alumnus, had found receptive partners in Witkoff—Trump’s longtime golfing partner—and Kushner, whose investment fund, Affinity Partners, drew billion-dollar investments from the Arab monarchies whose conflict with Israel he had helped mediate.
The two businessmen shared President Trump’s long-held approach to geopolitics. If generations of diplomats viewed the post-Soviet challenges of Eastern Europe as a Gordian knot to be painstakingly unraveled, the president envisioned an easy fix: The borders matter less than the business. In the 1980s, he had offered to personally negotiate a swift end to the Cold War while building what he told Soviet diplomats would be a Trump Tower across the street from the Kremlin, with their Communist regime as a business partner.
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,” Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal, describing at length his hopes that Russia, Ukraine and America would all become business partners. “If we do all that, and everybody’s prospering and they’re all a part of it, and there’s upside for everybody, that’s going to naturally be a bulwark against future conflicts there. Because everybody’s thriving.”
When a version of the 28-point plan leaked earlier this month, it drew immediate protests. Leaders in Europe and Ukraine complained it reflected mostly Russian talking points and bulldozed through nearly all of Kyiv’s red lines. They weren’t assuaged even after administration officials assured them that the plan wasn’t set in stone, worried that Russia—after violently redrawing European borders—was being rewarded with commercial opportunities.
As Western leaders convened this week to digest the plan, Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk offered a pithy summary: “We know this is not about peace. It’s about business.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves the podium during an ill-fated summit with President Trump in Alaska. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Underrated factor in the Trump-Witkoff-Kushner embarrassing Ukraine “peace” plan flop is the flood of praise they got for a Gaza plan that was also mostly “just tell everyone it’s over then think of how much money we’ll make.”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ukr...46aa0bf3338b43Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump
LOL Ukraine!
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/starme...ine-5HjdP7d_2/Ukraine peace talks 'at critical stage' as Zelenskyy nears £100bn deal to fund two more years of war
The Prime Minister hosted the Ukrainian president at Downing Street on Monday, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, for private talks as efforts continue to find a way to end the war with Russia.
Mr Zelenskyy said his nation "can’t manage without Americans" and "can’t manage without Europe" as peace negotiations continued.
The discussions came as Donald Trump accused Mr Zelenskyy of having failed to read the latest peace plan, saying he was "a little disappointed" in the Ukrainian leader, while insisting Russia’s Vladimir Putin was "fine with it."
Alongside negotiations to end the war, The Times reports that around £100bn in frozen assets will be made available to Ukraine within days as European leaders seek to grant Zelenskyy leverage in negotiations.
The funds, which are frozen in European bank accounts, could be used to allow Ukraine to continue the fight against Putin for up to two more years or to fund reconstruction if a peace deal is agreed.
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https://apnews.com/article/mali-russ...68f69e1dde61f2As Russia’s Africa Corps fights in Mali, witnesses describe atrocities from beheadings to rapes
DOUANKARA, Mauritania (AP) — A new Russian military unit that replaced the Wagner mercenary group is carrying out abuses including rapes and beheadings as it teams up with Mali ‘s military to hunt down extremists, dozens of civilians who fled the fighting have told The Associated Press.
The Africa Corps is using the same tactics as Wagner, the refugees said, in accounts not reported by international media until now. Two refugees showed videos of villages burned by the “white men.” Two others said they found bodies of loved ones with liver and kidneys missing, an abuse the AP previously reported around Wagner.
“It’s a scorched-earth policy,” said a Malian village chief who fled. “The soldiers speak to no one. Anyone they see, they shoot. No questions, no warning. People don’t even know why they are being killed.”
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https://militarnyi.com/en/news/russi...a-from-europe/Russians Planned Explosions on Planes Flying to the USA from Europe
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The key element of the scheme was the explosions at DHL logistics centers in Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The parcels with magnesium fuses were sent from Lithuania.
European services found out that this was only the first stage. The next step was to blow up airplanes on routes to the United States, which would have caused mass casualties and global shock.
In Lithuania and Poland, at least 20 people are accused in the case. The organizer fled to Azerbaijan, and the FSB, SVR, and GRU publicly interceded for his release.
Intelligence also records the activities of Russian agents studying bridges and railroad infrastructure in Europe. In Poland, an explosion on the Warsaw-Lublin railroad was prevented.
Experts emphasize that intelligence services have foiled several other sabotage acts, including arson, attempts to destroy dams, and interference with water supply. The known cases are only part of the threat.
Moscow is actively recruiting Eastern European citizens and local criminals, managing operations remotely through messengers and cryptocurrency.
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https://united24media.com/latest-new...-instead-14230Putin Invites Journalists to “Surrounded” Ukrainian Forces in Kupiansk—Zelenskyy Shows Up Instead
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, contradicting Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s claims that the city is surrounded by Russian forces.
In a video address released on December 12, Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Kupiansk direction and stressed the importance of the results they have achieved for Ukraine.
“Today, it is extremely important to achieve results on the front lines so that Ukraine can achieve results in diplomacy. That’s how it works: all our strong positions within the country are strong positions in the talks on ending the war,” Zelenskyy stated.
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https://rubryka.com/en/2025/12/11/oo...la-ukrayinsku/UN General Assembly backs Ukraine’s resolution on strengthening global cooperation to address Chernobyl’s consequences
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The resolution, led "Strengthening of international cooperation and coordination of efforts to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster," was supported by 97 countries.
Eight countries voted against the resolution:
Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, and the United States.
Another 39 countries abstained.
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https://www.kyivpost.com/post/66281Russia Loses Submarine to Ukrainian Underwater Drone in Unprecedented Attack
Ukraine has launched a new, previously unreported “Sub Sea Baby” underwater drone and sank a Russian Kilo-class submarine in the Novorossiysk port, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The SBU did not specify the date and time of the attack.
In a Monday press release, the SBU said “a Russian submarine of the class 636.3 ‘Varshavyanka’” was struck and “suffered critical damage and was actually put out of action.”
Footage released with the announcement shows multiple Russian warships docked at Novorossiysk, with the surfaced submarine at the pier as an explosion sends up splashes nearby.
The SBU estimated the submarine’s cost at about $400 million, rising to as much as $500 million to replace due to sanctions, and said it can carry up to four Kalibr cruise missiles used in attacks on Ukrainian cities.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...d-starmer-saysUK gives Abramovich final warning to transfer £2.5bn to Ukraine fund
The UK has given its final warning to Roman Abramovich to release £2.5bn from the oligarch’s sale of Chelsea FC to give to Ukraine, telling the billionaire to release the funds within 90 days or face court action.
Keir Starmer told the House of Commons the funds from Abramovich, who is subject to UK sanctions, would be converted into a new foundation for humanitarian causes in Ukraine and that the issuing of a licence for the transfer was the last chance Abramovich would have to comply.
The move comes on the eve of a crucial EU summit, where leaders will be urged to agree to use Russia’s frozen assets to provide Ukraine with a €90bn loan.
“The clock is ticking on Roman Abramovich to honour the commitment he made when Chelsea FC was sold and transfer the £2.5bn to a humanitarian cause for Ukraine,” Starmer said. “This government is prepared to enforce it through the courts so that every penny reaches those whose lives have been torn apart by Putin’s illegal war.”
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