💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement of Figolevka in the Kharkov region, the country’s MoD reports
⭕❗️Sergey Lavrov is leaving for Riyadh on Putin’s instructions for a meeting with US officials on Tuesday, the Kremlin says
⭕ ❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement of Sverdlikovo in the Kursk region, the country’s MoD reports
[so this closes the trap on the NATO safari mice that wandered in from Sumi into Kursk. What a historic disaster]
⭕ 🇵🇸🇪🇬 The Gaza reconstruction plan is being drafted in coordination with Palestinian, Arab and the international community, Egypt’s foreign minister says

Egypt is developing a comprehensive, multi-phase plan for early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza, ensuring Palestinians remain on their land, said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, speaking during a Cairo meeting with a US Congressional delegation led by Darrell Issa.

Abdelatty highlighted the need for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advocating for a unified Palestinian state based on the two-state solution.

The minister called for the sustained and accelerated delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, highlighting the dire humanitarian situation.
[OK. If the zionazi freaks can be leashed, this plan may provide for Gaza until they’re evacuated to resettle in historic Palestine. They remain in a holding pattern until the messianic invaders are dealt with]

💠 🌎🛡GEOPOL360🕊🌍:
⭕ Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, bursts into tears after JD Vance’s speech criticizing European leaders.

“We must fear that our common value base is not so common anymore. |media|
[Patience, Cristophe. What can one say to the Wretched of the Earth that hitched their wagons to the Anglo-Saxons?? The Trail of Tears is only starting for the dancers of Vampire Balls]

💠 @Middle East Spectator:
⭕❗️Israeli officials announce that the IDF will fully withdraw from Lebanon tomorrow, except for ‘five key points’, where it will remain ‘indefinitely’

This was unilaterally decided by Israel with US-backing, and the Lebanese state rejects it. Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, stresses that Israel must withdraw from every inch of Lebanese territory, and is taking diplomatic action to ensure this.

Hezbollah’s Secretary General also stated that any IDF forces remaining in Lebanon past the February 18th deadline would be another flagrant violation of the ceasefire.
[The 18th deadline is tomorrow. Hezbollah’s new SG made clear an insurgency, and bloodletting, of zionazis is in the offing after that date. Zionazis were bombing deep into Lebanon alot recently – signs of impotency before another withdrawal??]
⭕ MAP: The five ‘strategic points’ where the IDF will remain in Lebanon – notably in the Metula-Litani bottleneck

Map Credit: https://t.me/rnintel
⭕ — We could see an ‘undeclared insurgency’, where we see sporadic attacks against IDF positions, only inside Lebanon, until they are forced to leave.

The nature of these attacks could be such that Hezbollah could maintain a level of ambiguity, and they may not officially take response for the attacks.

But at this point, who knows what’s going to happen. They could also just declare it openly & continue the campaign. But if they do, like I said, it’s likely Hezbollah will focus on expelling the IDF from Lebanon, and it won’t target Israel internally.
⭕ Al Mayadeen: The Lebanese government decides to extend suspension of flights to and from Iran
[this crazed sectarian regime in Lebanon is not for long on earth..]

💠@imetatronink:
⭕🔻 DataRepublican (small r): McFaul sits on the board of the National Democratic Institute, one of eight core Uniparty NGOs founded to fight communism but now rebranded as “democracy.”

Nearly all of its $171 million annual budget comes from taxpayers, and I flagged them yesterday as a top spender of public funds on travel. The National Democratic Institute also admits to providing housing allowances for its members.

Always follow the money. |link|
🔻 WS: McFoul has always been on the take.
⭕THIS is funny. 🤣 |media|
🔻 C1: This has got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard of it’s real……..and not bad even if it’s not 😂
🔻 WS: As I recall, it was a joke some Spaniards did back in 2003. But yeah, it’s funny for the simple reason that it rings true to form.
🔻 Source Code: Here’s an English version from 16 years ago: |media|
⭕🔻 Maimunka News: ‼️🇺🇲🇪🇺🇺🇦 NATO criticises #Ukraine for misusing Western weapons – Telegraph.

Ukrainian troops are misusing expensive NLAW missiles (£20,000 each) by treating them like cheap RPGs – firing salvos worth more than £100,000 instead of using #NATO’s precision tactics. The Ukrainian army is also reported to have abandoned Javelin launchers, with some falling into #Russian hands.

“The Russian army now has more Javelins than the British,” a British source told the Telegraph.
🔻 WS: The Ukrainians fired NLAWs in salvos and abandoned Javelins for the simple reason that they are so ineffective against Russian armor.

Most NATO weaponry is all blow and no show.
🔻 WS: From early on in the war, significant numbers of the NATO ATGMs sent to Ukraine malfunctioned in one way or another — the Ukrainians just stopped using them because they were so undependable.
🔻 MAKE LOVE AND NOT WAR: It is important to say that the AFU fights according to the doctrine of the former USSR. The Soviet approach considers weapons to be a disposable, mass-produced instrument that can be used in any quantities against targets of any importance or simply abandoned during withdrawal.
🔻 WS: The AFU only reverted to Soviet doctrine when on the defensive. The “counter-offensives” in Kherson, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, and Kursk were, for the most part, executed according to NATO doctrine. And, consequently, the AFU suffered catastrophic losses in every instance.
🔻 Rural Left Americans First: Why are NLAWS more effective than Javelins?
🔻 WS: Is there evidence indicating that they ARE more effective than Javelins?

(On another note, I’ve been in Melissa, WV. I’ve traveled through a lot of WV over the years.)
🔻 MAKE LOVE AND NOT WAR: Sorry, I’m asking WHY they are judged as more effective. Like, they don’t jam as much, or they are more precise, etc.
🔻 WS: I don’t know.
🔻 Konstantin Trubilin: I personally beat the tank with RPG-7) correctly, reliably and reusable) greetings from Russia
🔻 Renier P. du Plessis: Drones proved to be the most lethal and easy to produce. What is the next revolution in warfare Will?
🔻 WS: I suspect the next “revolution in warfare” will be more effective counter-drone measures.
🔻 Brandon: TBF to the Javelins, etc., you have to know how to use them. And the Ukrainians DO NOT know how to use these systems. There’s a reason that ancient Soviet tanks, like the T-64 and T-84 Oplot built in Ukraine and upon which UKR’s military has extensive training and maintenance history with have fared better than the blessed tanks the West plied the Ukrainians with: Ukraine knows these systems well. Anyway, yes, the NATO systems have not put on a good display overall in the UKR war.
🔻 WS: Internal US Army testing of the Javelin showed it to be effective only ~18% of the time. That study was distributed widely on Twitter in 2022 when the first reports began to circulate that they were being cast off by the AFU because they sucked.
🔻 Brandon: Yeah, but the US military has used them effectively in the past. It’s about the mission set and the user.
🔻 WS: Refresh my memory as to the “mission set” that obtained when the Javelin was used effectively in the past.
🔻 Brandon: In instances such as this: |link|
🔻 WS: Brandon, seriously?

First of all, this account makes one mention only of the successful use of Javelin ATGMs — against “trucks and nontactical vehicles”.

Their only use against antique Iraqi T-55 tanks was indecisive.

Five T-55 tanks were reported disabled during the entire battle, but it is not indicated how and by what munition.

The lopsided battle was won by virtue of MASSIVE air support, from CAS to B-52s carpet-bombing positions.

One F-14 dropped a 2000 lb. bomb on friendly forces, killing at least a dozen and destroying several vehicles.

The account goes on to note:

“Before departing the crossroads, ODAs 391 and 392 each attempted to engage an armored personnel carrier with Javelin antitank missiles, but the weapon’s tracker took too long to warm up and they left without firing.”

Oops.

Bottom line:

This account does NOT support your argument. Not even remotely.
[crickets]
🔻 C7: Alastair Crooke has mentioned several times on the Judge Napolitano show how ineffective the javelins were in Afghanistan. He was there, he should know.
🔻 Battery Boy: Ok but have you considered that they were reaaally good in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?
🔻 ZzzBotzzZ: Why do people insist on making infantry anti-tank weapons seem omnipotent?
In every war they account for less than 10% of all armored vehicles kills.
Infantry a-t weapons are for small group ambushes & mainly so infantry don’t run at the sight of a single vehicle rolling up.
🔻 Naji El: Care to elaborate how they only account for 10% in all wars? Atgms are extremely potent and for example in Ukraine the Ukrainians account 30% to 40% of Russian armour losses to them
🔻 WS: ATGMs used by the AFU have virtually disappeared from the battlefield. Who is claiming 30% – 40% Russian armor losses against AFU ATGMs?
⭕ 🤔 I’ll bet the Chinese can produce at least three destroyers in less time and for less money than it will take to repair the USS Harry S. Truman.
🔻 C1: Or 300,000 drones
🔻 WS: I’ll bet, in a war-time scenario, the Chinese could churn out a MILLION autonomous AI-enabled drones per month. 12 million per annum.
🔻 C1: That or more yes…

Did you see Musk’s recent West Point War College speech?

Eye opening.

Also all of ex military pilots POD’s are acknowledging human occupied aircraft (at or near the front) will soon be a thing of the past.

Navy always reacts the slowest, but it is coming there as well.
🔻 WS: As I wrote in my recent blog article Dictating Terms:
🔻 Big Picture Entropist: Just matching the paint with ferrous oxide highlights is going to take a few months.
🔻 C3: If there was a war on this damage wouldn’t stop the carrier from operating. Right? Looks non essential.
🔻 WS: Maybe. Probably. But I’ve heard speculation that damage may have been done to the aft elevator. A significant collision like this could very well knock things “off square” enough to compromise their functionality.
🔻 C3: Thanks. During WW2, they got the Lexington up and running in record time.
🔻 WS: If only it were still 1942 …

(And I think you mean the Yorktown. The Lexington was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea.)
⭕🔻 Hanjo Girke:
Pragmatists want to maximize the good they can do while keeping emotions out of it.
How is it morally condemnable if the actual objective was to mininize suffering for Palestinians without sparking a rebellion on Capitol Hill?
That is the best they can do. A government gridlock helps noone. Then the deep state would definitely win like in 2016, and they couldn’t even shut down the other center of human suffering that is happening Ukraine, there would be no DOGE and 4 years later, the structure of US governance would remain the same
🔻 Caitlin Johnstone: “the actual objective was to mininize suffering for Palestinians”

This is an article of blind faith. You believe it for no other reason than because you want to. There is no evidence for it whatsoever. And yet your whole entire position is premised upon it.
🔻 Hanjo Girke: I just see no evidence so far that contradicts this theory because in that premise, some suffering is unavoidable because the Israeli insist on it.
If the US actually went into Gaza and cleansed the Palestinians, obviously this theory would be falsified. But that did not happen yet. Polymarket considers the odds at around 15% that this will happen.
🔻 Caitlin Johnstone: I see no evidence that contradicts the theory that the White House has been in contact with extraterrestrials, but that doesn’t mean we assume it’s true. That’s not how the burden of proof works. You’ve espoused what amounts to a blind faith religious belief, about a politician.
🔻 Hanjo Girke: All i’m saying you should give room for the possibility before passing judgement.
You wouldn’t claim with certainty that the White Hous e has not been in contact with extraterrestials either. At best you could say that the odds are very low.
🔻 Caitlin Johnstone: “Give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt when he appears be be doing evil things” is a position that is too stupid for me to respond to.
🔻 Hanjo Girke: It’s not stupid because you said it yourself it only “appears” so far. Huge difference than to what Biden “did” when he provoked Russia to invade. You assume the worst. I chose to preserve some hope.
🔻 Caitlin Johnstone: Already laid out evidence that he is presently doing evil things. You said he has to because blah blah blah. You’re not actually defending principles and values, you’re just making up excuses for your bootlicking.
🔻 Hanjo Girke: My guts and the things i observed just tell me that Trump and his inner circle, Musk, Tucker, Kennedy, Gabbard are not bad human beings. They do care more than they let on.
🔻 Caitlin Johnstone: Do you know what the difference is between the experience of talking to Biden supporters about Biden’s Israel sycophancy and the experience of talking to Trump supporters about Trump’s Israel sycophancy?

Zero. Experientially there is zero difference. It’s exactly the same.
🔻 WS: Yes, and when I extrapolate from the reality you describe, I conclude it will not be hard at all to sell the vast majority of the American people on the idea of making war against Iran.
📜‼️ At Least the Persians Don’t Have Nukes

💠@ejmalrai:
⭕ Israel continues to violate the ceasefire on the eve of the agreed date to stop all military activity and withdraw from Lebanon by drone-targeting and burning a car in the heart of Sidone, north of the Litani, south of Lebanon.

Israel is doing its best to provoke a response from Hezbollah.
⭕ Since the ceasefire, this is the first time Israel target-assassinate a Hamas official in Lebanon: Netanyahu’s style to sabotage any deal or ceasefire.
🔻 C1: I am not an expert but I think hizb and Iran should have an answer to these nonstop atrocities. What do you think is their strategy?
🔻 EM: No retaliation is expected to avoid falling in Israel’s plans.
🔻 C2: What’s Israel’s plan? If they want war why can’t hezbollah deter them by hitting them much harder? They have the ability.
🔻 EM: and the refugees? the reconstruction?

“western values” were expressed and spread to this man from Jabalia city of Gaza

The criminals CANNOT to long delay the resumption of the Mutually Assured Annihilation. They’ve made themselves marked Palestine-wide. For life. When the full extent of the extermination and bestiality sinks in, they will be hunted. So they need to continue and stay ahead of the arrived storm..

the very streets are dug up by Caterpillar bulldozers custom-made in Illinois for the scum!

💠@Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺Russia must make territorial concessions, reduce its army and renounce the use of force in the future – Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg.

Kellogg also stated that it is important for the United States to prevent the formation of alliances between Russia and China, North Korea and Iran. |media|
[OK. I am the local representative of the Tooth Fairy. What other wishes does General Lucky Charms need fulfilled??]

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕❗️Ukrainian military losses in Russia’s Kursk region exceeded 61,000 servicemen, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports

💠@imetatronink:
⭕ an exchange machine translated from Italian:
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini:
<<It is a mistaken belief that the current vitality of the Russian economy is only due to the massive increase in armaments production. The production for internal consumption is grown in recent years and the pace is not decreased in the course of the war 1/
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: Agricultural production has exploded. Technological innovation and high-tech production have made giant steps. Especially the military-industrial complex Russian is not only very advanced, but it remained in the hands of the State at the service of defense 2/
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: and not focused on profit as the western. Russia has the largest deposit of natural resources of the planet – a giant production-not only in terms of energy, but of all the types of strategic assets. Russia is also the less debt 3/
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: between all the great powers, by a huge margin: this is a key advantage that has enabled it to overcome the expulsion from the western banking system. The western powers hyper-finanziarizzate could suffer a severe economic recession powered 4/
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: from the debt in the next few years, while Russia is well placed to avoid the mess. And although, as all the major powers on the planet, is facing demographic challenges are significant, it also focuses on these issues and now offers incentives 5/
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: extremely generous to address the problem.>> Continue on amazon. … 6/6 |link|
🔻 WS: Analysis of the first order. Reminds me of an old favorite song. throw away the bushes, burn my sleeves |media|
🔻 Francesco Sylos Labini: Thanks Will and I take the opportunity to tell you that your posts are always interesting
⭕🔻 Levan Gudadze:
Trump envoy will try to ‘FORCE’ Putin to break alliances with North Korea, China, Iran as part of Ukraine ceasefire deal

‘What concessions will Putin have to make?’

‘Force him into actions he won’t want to do…break his alliance with North Korea, Iran, China’ — Trump Envoy Kellogg

P.s. Either this guy is engaged in high-level trolling, or he has no idea what he is talking about, being very mistaken that anyone or anything will force Russia to turn its back on those who stood side by side with her in difficult times.

One way or another, the sooner Russia’s enemies realize that they have lost and it is time for them to kneel, ask for forgiveness and pray, the better, for themselves and for the whole world, which is very tired of the disgusting so-called elite of the West and their puppets and is ready to tear them all to shreds.. |media|
[a good PoV on Gen Lucky Charms. The collective derangement is advanced]
🔻 WS: 📜 All for One and One for All
⭕ retweet:
🔻 scientism: Elon should build a Forbidden City style compound and then stream a reality show to choose new concubines on X every year.
🔻 HilltopFool: He doesn’t want sex with concubines, only kids.
⭕ ‼️ I have watched and/or read the transcript to this speech at least ten times over the past several years.

I have cringed every time the cameraman pans over the faces of John McCain and Joe Lieberman, as they smirk and snarl and roll their eyes.

Those who sincerely desire to understand how we got to where we are today in terms of international relations must avail themselves of the opportunity to listen carefully to what Putin said in this speech.

I will also post a link to a thread in a follow-up reply to this post — a thread that contains links to an essential collection of other important speeches and documents related to the course of events that has conducted us to the tension-filled present.
[we reposted it here last year around the 17th anniversary: https://sovereignista.com/2024/02/11/putin-2007-munich-security-conference/ ]
🔻 RC: Joe Lieberman will go down in world history as one of the greatest fifth columns ever unleashed upon a people.
[it’s a Big Club..]
🔻 Renier P. du Plessis: the day the world changed – few understood the magnitude of the speech
⭕🔻 Michael Guimarin:
ATN: Corrupt insiders attacking our team (outsiders)

Something significant is going on with @johnkonrad

Recently John was retweeted by @elonmusk and then his troubles intensified.

John is a maritime outsider who writes things critical of, and often time embarrassing about our maritime establishment.

As an outsider John has suffered years of abuse from the establishment.

The reason why is because he’s embarrassed them by bringing true stories (some of which I’ve personally verified) to the forefront.

Now that “our side” has won the election and the Buddy in Chief has elevated John to a very public position, the institutional creatures are leveling personal attacks against John. The goal is to bury his legitimate criticism and “whistleblowing” with spurious ad hominems.

I’ll be blunt, personal cancellations don’t do anything for me.

The situation in US Maritime is dire. In need of urgent once in a century reform.

John is an outsider and has a colorful personality. I’m sure like all of us he’s made mistakes, acted an asshole, and done things he’s not proud of.

So long as he hasn’t committed a crime or treason against the United States, which by all accounts he has not, I don’t care what he’s done.

We need the outsiders who spoke truth to power before to be central in advisory roles as we retake and reform institutions.

I will continue to support John in this capacity. I suggest you do too. Especially Lurkers.

The people who stood tall with the truth while it was unpopular must be supported as this transition continues.

This is how we know we are on the right track.

John, keep being a disagreeable mf’er as we continue to push the Naval/Maritime establishment for reform.

Abolish the Jones Act!
🔻 WS: John and I have divergent views on some topics, but his is an important and well-informed voice to follow on maritime issues.
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Olga Bazova:
If this is on the table, it’s indicative of two things:

1. They are scared shitless of this alliance, because this is an actual mutually beneficial alliance, rather than a vassal-master relationship.

2. It’s a non-starter, Putin has turned Russia firmly to the East, and the Biden admin and their obedient Eurocrat puppies are to blame for it.
[this is regarding Gen Lucky Charms above at Munich — “Kellogg reveals that they will attempt to pressure Putin into breaking alliances with North Korea, China, and Iran as part of a Ukraine deal.”]
🔻 WS: For several years, the narrative was to simply dismiss the viability of a Russia, China, Iran, DPRK axis. Now that it has coalesced into a solid reality, the Masters of Empire think they can just command them to cease and desist. Clueless fools.
📜 All for One and One for All 
🔻 Olga Bazova: As always, an excellent analysis Will.
🔻 Perdido na Bagaçeira: How many millenniums of civilization these 3 countries have «combined»?

Against an hegemon of ~250 years.

The math ain’t mathing.
🔻 GulagInmate #475: As well, Russia, Iran, & India have formed The International North–South Transport Corridor. INSTC is a shipping route that connects Russia, Iran, and India through a 7,200 km network of roads, rails, & ships.
🔻Disasterpus: one manifestations of this alliance is how DPRK has toned down the hostilities while ROK has ramped it up.
[Yup. And that’s another major reason Satanyahoo is always screeching “Iran”.. the strong and secure do not need to screech. The cornered weak who were suddenly demoted do]
🔻 NeoOldster 🇺🇸: That’s fine. Let them be the global police for a while and let the Russians buy all the cheap plastic poison crap from China and that we’ve been duped into buying. How about America gets back to worrying about our own.
🔻 Capt #NotSure~ Abolish NATO ~ End Sanctions: China actually makes a lot of really great stuff…the Huawei phone being just 1. But the US won’t let the amazing stuff in because it’ll ruin their narrative China makes crappy stuff. Hense the tariffs, to discourage you guys ordering those things. But yes, just worry bout 🇺🇸.
🔻 WS: ‼️ Few people understand that much of the perception Americans have of Chinese manufacturing is shaped by the fact that American middlemen design cheap stuff, contract with Chinese manufacturers to build it, and then sell it for a big profit to American consumers.

If a first-rate Chinese manufacturer is contracted to produce a well-designed widget, constructed of quality materials, and built to high engineering standards — that is exactly what you get.

But the middleman profit margins are much thinner on high-grade Chinese manufactures. Therefore we in America do not often see such products available for purchase in our markets.
🔻 Johanna deMartin: I imagine there has to be a meme or phrasing in China that goes something like “Contracted by Americans” which means a shit idea is asked of the contractors, who do their best to fulfill the contract as they would any other.

One of the later eye openers for me was the fidget spinner. At that time I was already convinced of the charlatan’s trap you describe, Will.
Production quality that could have been used in actually useful projects, rather than some random high school physics project. Like a charlatan selling snake oil that could have driven an empire to the stars, instead of being sold off as a nightcap panacea.
🔻 Yaroslav: Of course. They build anything you want to the budget that you want.
⭕ retweet of his old:
📜 Magazine Depth and Shields
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Brian Berletic: No America cannot do it.

America’s problems are many. Here are a few:

• Insufficient education to support the human resources required to make this happen;
• Insufficient infrastructure including efficient transportation for raw materials or cheap, plentiful electricity;
• An overall cost of living crisis and inflation that makes it impossible to do any of this for the same cost or cheaper than China;
• No one willing to do it for the same cost or cheaper in the US – a system that prioritizes profit over purpose;

If America could do this already, they’d have done it.

Obviously they cannot, and no one is even seriously talking about making the changes to the factors listed above.

But even if they did, it would take a decade or more to achieve.

I think America should do these things, but they’d have to give up their pursuit of global profit/power/primacy over achieving this actual purpose.

And they won’t.
⭕ 📜 First Generation “Precision-guided Missiles”
1944 — The Kamikaze

This vulnerability is more acute now because antiship missile technologies have advanced further in the post-WW2 era than has the capability of the targeted ships to defeat them.
⭕🔻 Ian Ellis: Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group (CSG) sails in formation with French CSG & Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

Exercise Pacific Steller 2025 is a multi-large deck event (MLDE) hosted by the French Navy in the Philippine Sea

Participating big-deck ships include USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), French carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91), & Japan’s multi-functional destroyer JS Kaga (DDH 184)

Source: U.S. Navy
🔻 Good Shepherd: 🇺🇸 is powerful.

Alongside Allies, it is EXTREMELY powerful.

Remember this fact.

And remember the role our Atlantic & pacific Allies have played in building, protecting & maintaining the world order of the past 80 years.
🔻 WS: The myth of American military supremacy still persists in the minds of a great many in the hyper-propagandized populace of the so-called “western democracies”.
📜 Staggering Towards the Abyss
⭕🔻 Zichen Wang: Nobody seems to have come up with a full transcript of Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, at the Munich Security Conference so I have made one |link| |nice excerpt|
🔻 Arnaud Bertrand: Extremely interesting proposal by Wang Yi in his speech that I haven’t seen anyone talk about yet: he proposed to merge the Belt and Road Initiative with Europe’s own version of it.

That’s the quote: “China is willing to synergize high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy, so as to empower each other and empower the entire world.”

Europe should really consider it. Unbeknownst to most, China made the same proposal to the US at the start of the BRI (which goes to show it wasn’t done in the spirit of undermining the US as many claim) and the US flatly rejected the offer. Later, John Kerry (Secretary of State at the time) said this was one of the biggest mistakes of his career. Maybe Europe should not make the same mistake…
🔻 hem day: Something tells me the EU will say no. 🤔
🔻 MacroTourist: beware of blondes carrying bayonets
🔻 WS: It’s easy to imagine these two conducting a torture / interrogation session while wielding a riding crop.
⭕ 🐶 USS Trembling Puppy Update

Well … it turns out there was more damage than we were initially led to believe. There is a significant gash in the hull. CVN-75 is likely to be out of the big game and on the injured list for quite a while. |gash|
🔻 C1: So, of 11 Carrier Groups in theory, how many could be fully armed and equipped, and deployed to the Taiwan Straits if called on tomorrow?
🔻 WS: 2

💠@ejmalrai:
⭕ Restricting Lebanese Shiites from Traveling to Iran: A Direct Attack on Belief and a Dangerous Precedent

The move to prevent Lebanese Shiites from traveling to Iran is not merely a political restriction—it is a direct assault on their religious identity, ideological beliefs, and geopolitical affiliations. This decision carries serious implications, as it specifically targets a sectarian community, effectively severing their spiritual, educational, and political ties with Iran, a key religious and geopolitical pillar for them.

For many Lebanese Shiites, Iran is more than just a country; it is the spiritual and ideological epicenter of their faith. The city of Mashhad, home to the holy shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite Imam, is a major pilgrimage destination for Lebanese Shiites, much like Mecca, Medina (Al Baqi Cemetery), Karbalaa, Najaf, Baghdad and Samarra. Preventing access to these sacred site is perceived as a direct infringement on religious freedom and an attempt to isolate Shiites from their spiritual and cultural roots.

Beyond its religious significance, Iranian seminaries in Qom have long been an educational hub for Lebanese Shiite clerics, shaping generations of scholars and religious leaders. Additionally, Iran’s political and military support for Hezbollah has cemented its role as a crucial ally for many within the Lebanese Shiite community.

By restricting travel to Iran, Lebanese authorities—or external forces influencing them—are making a bold and inflammatory move. This raises several key questions:

Is this restriction imposed under pressure from Western governments, particularly the US and Israel, as part of a broader effort to curb Iranian influence in Lebanon?

Is Lebanon setting a dangerous precedent by selectively restricting travel based on sectarian identity?

How will Hezbollah and its supporters respond to what they see as an attack on their fundamental rights and religious freedoms?

Lebanon has always balanced sectarian tensions delicately, and any move that targets one group’s religious and geopolitical affiliations risks igniting wider political and security consequences. Marginalising Lebanese Shiites by cutting them off from Iran and its religious sites could fuel resentment against the Lebanese government, further alienating Shiites from the state. It can deepen sectarian divides, pushing Hezbollah and its supporters toward a more defiant stance. It also creates a backlash that leads to civil unrest, as Shiite religious and political figures call for defiance against what they perceive as a blatantly discriminatory move.

This restriction also raises concerns about Lebanon’s sovereignty when it is a policy dictated by external pressures. The ability of Lebanese citizens to freely practice their religion and maintain cultural ties with their spiritual homeland should not be subject to foreign political agendas.

Ultimately, restricting Lebanese Shiites from traveling to Iran and the shrine of Imam Reza and to Qom is not just an administrative decision—it is a direct attack on their faith, identity, and freedoms. If Lebanon hopes to maintain internal stability, it cannot afford to alienate or suppress one of its largest communities in such a provocative and politically motivated manner.
[the bastards aim to detonate civil war again in Lebanon. And they may get it if the stupid compradores do not wise up quickly]
⭕ retweet:
Ryan Rozbiani: This is a dark day to be an American

The Trump Administration has released a shipment of 1800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, which have arrived in Israel.

We should not arm countries that kill civilians |media|

Pakistan has four neighbors. That makes it skirmishes on borders with three of them in less than a year! And even with the fourth China – relations are going south as Chinese engineers and technicians and businessmen working on the CPEC node keep getting killed.

I think it is nonsense. “Negotiations” are already a poisoned pill. To accept ANY terms acceptable to Russkie = public acknowledgement of defeat and end of western hegemony.

And even in Anglo-Saxon “tradition”, possession is 9/10th of the law. And Russkie already owns most the desired minerals. And cannot lose it..

So there will likely not be any publicly settled “deal.”

Just more bloviation, and posturing, and the Russkie will allow them that as the monkeys own very big grenades. They’d allow it regardless, just to see the last of Yanqui boots on the continent..

So this insistence on minerals appears targeted as either justification “to walk away” from 404, or to humiliate the Europeans on way out — demonstrating utter contempt and irrelevance, by stealing residual “benefits” whilst foisting all subsequent costs on them. And there will be considerable costs for many generations to come…

Orange is seriously weird. All threats and proclamations directed at one party really are targeted at another. A true joker

💠 🌎🛡GEOPOL360🕊🌍:
⭕ 🇮🇷 G7 statement against Iran

G7 foreign ministers issued a statement on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, sharply criticizing Iran’s nuclear program, interference in regional issues, the war in Ukraine and human rights.

The statement said Iran was fueling regional instability through “rapid progress in uranium enrichment without credible civilian justification,” “supporting armed groups in the Middle East” and “developing missiles and drones.”

💠 @Hamas/Tsahal:
⭕ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel yesterday for his first visit to the Middle East as secretary of state.
[So same old, same old by the deranged messianic West? If yes, as in 404, they’re gonna have to be attrited outta existence]

💠 @DDGeopolitics:
[Sikorski said it in front of General Lucky Charms at Munich coven]
⭕ Marco Rubio arrived in Israel  |media|
[He arrived on official plane, not slinking in on anonymous military cargo plane like Lil Blinkie. This is another positive sign from Orange Camacho Gang]
⭕ A batch of MK-84 heavy bombs, the ban on the supply of which to Israel was lifted by Trump, was delivered to Israel by sea and unloaded at the port of Ashdod, the press service of the Israeli Defense Ministry reported.
[Spoken too soon?! But it may be one of the last batches. A way to further pressurize the zionazis]

💠 @ejmalrai:
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Arnaud Bertrand:
This is so important for the West to understand. India’s foreign minister explains that liberalism doesn’t equate democracy and that, on the contrary, when applied internationally it’s fundamentally antidemocratic

As he explains, “different societies have their own culture, their own values, their own ways of doing things” and liberalism on the contrary takes the view that there’s “one truth, one judgement and one norm” that should be “preached, propagated, evaluated.”

He says that this preaching and propagation is made by “think tanks, people who do ratings, by newspapers” who he describes as “self-appointed custodians” who have zero democratic legitimacy yet are “telling the rest of the world what is right and what is wrong” in their countries.

He also says that Western governments routinely attempt to subvert democracy in other countries by “reaching out to outliers” (i.e. opposition groups), adding that if Indian ambassadors “did a fraction of that, you would all be up in arms”.

This I think is undoubtedly the most important mindset shift that the West needs to undertake as we move to multipolarity. Moving from a mindset of “we need to shape others in our image” to “we need to understand others and respect them for who they are.” We could do it when the power differential was large and the West was the only game in town but in a world where different centers of power exist with increasingly comparable strength, if one center adopts a neocolonial paternalistic approach to its foreign relations they’ll get increasingly isolated and shunned. No-one likes a preacher who insists their way is the only way, especially when they no longer have the power to enforce their sermon.

I actually think the issue runs deeper than liberalism, in fact if we ask the chicken and egg question I think that liberalism is such a good match for the West BECAUSE it has this universalist and preaching aspect. We didn’t get preachy because of liberalism. You can trace this pattern through centuries of Western history: from religious missionaries convinced they were saving souls, to colonial administrators bringing “civilization”, to our government-funded NGOs (😏) promoting “good governance”.
You can see this with Vance’s speech at the same Munich Security Forum yesterday. No-one can claim that he’s even remotely a liberal, yet there’s no arguing that he delivered a sermon to Europeans, enticing them to reform their societies within. Granted, for once the preaching wasn’t directed at the Global South, which is somewhat refreshing, but the principle is the same: we see a Western leader positioning himself as a moral arbiter of other societies’ internal affairs. The content of the sermon changes, but the underlying impulse to lecture others about how to run their societies remains constant.

It goes to show that the challenge of adapting to a multipolar world runs much deeper than just rethinking liberal internationalism, or setting it aside. It requires confronting a civilizational habit of mind that goes beyond our current ideological divisions – a tendency to view our own preferences, whatever they may be, as universal truths that others must be made to accept. Changing a prevailing ideology is already hard, but this is much harder: we need to change our very civilizational DNA to be at peace with coexisting with others. That is the fundamental lesson we need to learn: the West’s future influence in a multipolar world no longer depends on our ability to shape others, but on our ability to shed our compulsion to do so.  |media|
⭕ Lebanon is heading for a disastrous future (read carefully the sentiments expressed [above]) unless Prime Minister @nawafasalam realises how serious and dangerous it can be.
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Arnaud Bertrand:
This is beyond insane: Keith Kellog, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, confirms that Europe will NOT have a seat at the table in the negotiations to end the war.

When asked at the Munich Security Conference “Can you assure this audience that Ukrainians will be at the table and Europeans will be at the table?”, his response was: “the answer to that last question is no.” By “last question”, he meant whether Europeans will be at the table.

Later on in the conversation, he was asked to confirm this: “So the Europeans […] you don’t think should be at the table directly?”. His answer again was “I’m from the school of realism, I think that’s not going to happen”, and that he understood hearing this might be “like fingers on a chalkboard, may grate a little bit but I’m telling you something that’s really quite honest.”

He was very clear though that he still expected Europeans to provide security guarantees and abide by the deal: “you have to understand, when you sign up for these security guarantees, that is an obligation and the reason I say that and I challenge many people that are out there, right now, 2014 Wales declaration, all the NATO allies, 2% of GDP, 20% of that was modernization, there are still 8 nations who’ve not even gotten to that number, okay? So when we get to it make sure you check your 6 as they say that the obligation is upon YOU when WE make these commitments.”

So to sum up, the US position is that Europe should stay out of negotiations that will fundamentally affect their security architecture – yet bear the primary responsibility and cost for the negotiations’ outcome.

And on top of that, it’s quite clear from previous Trump declarations (like here: https://nypost.com/2025/02/10/us-news/trump-says-ukraine-has-essentially-agreed-to-allow-the-us-access-to-500b-in-rare-earth-minerals/) that the U.S. will be looking in the deal to take control of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as payment for the military aid it has provided, leaving presumably nothing to Europe.

I’ve repeatedly warned that Europe was fast walking towards its own century of humiliation if it continued on its current path. I think it’s now pretty damn clear that we’re very much there already.

If this goes through, this would possibly be unprecedented in European history – never before, to my knowledge, has Europe’s security architecture been redrawn without any European power at the table. Even during Europe’s darkest moments – including the Mongol invasions, the Ottoman expansions, or the Yalta Conference – European powers always had some voice in negotiations affecting their future.

To be clear, the primary culprit here isn’t the U.S. or Trump: any student of history knows that we live in a deeply unfair world where, as ancient Greek historian Thucydides wrote 2,500 years ago, “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” As such the blame lies almost entirely on us Europeans, or more precisely on our immensely incompetent leaders. And I want to stress this last point: they are literally incompetent on a millennia scale, given that they’ve managed to reduce Europe to a position that lacks any historical parallel, where it’s expected to simply accept and implement whatever security arrangements others decide for it.

Trump himself does what’s best for the U.S. – “America first”, remember? – and to be fair to him the Biden administration left him with a pretty bad hand. It’s crystal clear that Russia won in Ukraine, despite all of NATO’s efforts, and as such the U.S. very much risked coming out of it looking like the loser that it objectively is.

Faced with this, Trump’s strategy clearly is to reframe this defeat into an “art of the deal” victory by securing U.S. access to Ukraine’s natural resources while offloading the costs and responsibilities of the post-war security arrangement onto Europe. Meanwhile Europe, which has failed to develop any meaningful strategic autonomy over the past decades (in fact it’s moved in the opposite direction), finds itself with little leverage to prevent this.

In fact, European “leaders”, in their treasonous meekness, are already signaling that they’ll resign themselves to their fate. Mark Rutte, NATO’s Secretary General, for instance enticed Europeans not to complain about the situation (“to my European friends, I would say, get into the debate, not by complaining that you might, yes or no, be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals, ideas, ramp up (defense) spending”, https://www.voanews.com/a/europe-will-not-be-part-of-ukraine-peace-talks-us-envoy-says-/7976497.html).

And Keir Starmer, invited by Macron at a “crisis summit” in Paris to discuss the situation, said that his primary goal in the meeting would be “to ensure we keep the US and Europe together. We cannot allow any divisions in the alliance to distract from the external enemies we face.” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/15/europe-will-not-take-part-in-us-russia-talks-ukraine-kellogg).

I let you appreciate the perfect illustration this provides of the very mindset that has led Europe to this unprecedented position of weakness – responding to diplomatic humiliation with calls for even more subservience.

So what could Europe do? After all, it is true that they have very little leverage, mainly due to the fact that they are “protected” by the very power that decided to put them on the menu instead of at the table.

One idea could be to out-Trump Trump, and to angle for a deal where the U.S., not Europe, ends up the loser. They could for instance finally tell the truth about what led to the war in the first place, namely NATO expansion pushed by the U.S., as well as the U.S.-led coup in Ukraine in 2014, and dissociate themselves from this, just the way Trump is very conveniently trying to dissociate himself from his own country’s previous policies.

They could make it clear that they reject any deal that gives the U.S. access to any of Ukraine’s resources, and signal to Russia that they’re open to a different kind of security architecture in Europe – one that doesn’t rely on U.S. leadership or NATO. After all, if Trump can say he’ll make deals with Putin, why couldn’t Europe do the same?

They could also reach out to China, which has already made it very clear that it opposed a deal in Ukraine without Europe at the table (https://www.reuters.com/world/china-calls-all-stakeholders-ukraine-war-be-peace-process-2025-02-15/) and which is anyhow much better positioned to negotiate with Russia than Trump is.

We could end up with a Europe freed from American tutelage for the first time since 1945, establishing a new multipolar equilibrium with China and Russia – turning Trump’s attempt to exclude Europe into the very catalyst that finally enables European strategic autonomy.

But this would require a level of strategic thinking that current European leaders have consistently shown themselves incapable of. Instead I’m afraid they’ll continue their current path of attempting to maintain the façade of transatlantic unity even as they’re being openly humiliated.  |media|
[Well put. The Garden became the Full Menu]

💠@Middle East Spectator:
⭕ Netanyahu is set to hold a security meeting today evening about the negotiations with Hamas for the second phase of the hostage deal
[LOL. The real Flood (of zionazi emotions) about to burst…]
⭕ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov: Moscow welcomes the release of Alexander Trufanov and expresses its gratitude to Hamas leadership for making this decision.

💠@DDGeopolitics:
⭕ Zelensky says Ukraine has not been invited to the US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia next week.

💠@imetatronink:
⭕ cont. thread:
Putin’s definition of terms in relation to these “root causes” (and the requisites of their resolution) are contained in the 12/2021 “Draft Treaty” (delivered to the NATO bloc), and Putin’s landmark speeches of February 21/24, 2022.

The Trump regime will choke on those terms.
🔻 C1: Something is not real with this war, Ukraine’s bridges over Dnepr river are intact( rail+road). Logistics goes full speed. When Nato bombed Yugoslavia one of main targets were bridges for rail transport. We know that Russians have capacity to hit them but they are not…
🔻 WS: It is obviously because the Russians WANT the bridges intact for their own purposes.
[posts leading map by Sergei Witte]
🔻 C1: So exchanging tens of thousands of Russian lives (having to fight against western armor) and engaging in a 3 year struggle for minimal territorial gains is because they want the road/bridge infrastructure in place? We are pro Russian here, but we have to think critically.
[i certainly agree with latter point. Is the point of war to take land?]
⭕ cont. thread:
I am not at all persuaded these bilateral US/Russia negotiations will proceed as smoothly as many seem inclined to believe.

In fact, I think it likely these talks will result in the most dramatic and tension-packed escalation of the US/Russia standoff we have yet seen.
🔻 Keith Jones: I don’t think Trump expects this Kellogg deal to be accepted. His political opposition in the U.S. would like him to get bogged down in Ukraine to the point where he owns the mess. At present it’s still Biden’s mess. Now if the deal is not accepted, Trump can walk away and leave it to Starmer, Vonderleyen & Kaya Callous etc, who seem very keen to take it on.
🔻 Elydia35: Trump has already excluded Kellogg from any talks with Russia. Kellogg is no longer a part of this bec the Russians made it known that he’s a cold war dinosaur & none of his proposals (they included bribery & threats) will work
🔻 Keith Jones: It could have been a Trump master stroke to throw Kellogg in as a decoy. UK and EU thought that Kellogg was the man to scupper any deal, Boris Johnson style. They were played by Trump.
🔻 Elydia35: I think this is the right analysis, Alexander Mercouris said the same. It’s telling how the UK press & govt were shocked at Hegseth’s statements, they thought Kellogg was the guy crafting policy toward Russia when it was Witkoff who Trump sent to Moscow
🔻 WS: I think Mercouris has a pronounced and inexplicably naive blind spot when it comes to his views of Trump and the governing / foreign policy entourage he has thrown together. Mercouris will eventually come to grips with the reality of the situation, but it may take a while yet.
🔻Dr. Anton: Paraphrasing, Mercouris said that Kellogg is not and has not been the negotiator/deal maker, in fact it all started to happen only once Witkoff arrived in Russia and so on.
He said that Witkoff is the real ‘envoy’.
What is your view, if I may?
🔻 WS: My view is that Trump’s entire approach to dealing with Putin and Russia consists of ad hoc improvisation, and will continue to do so until he is persuaded to do something egregiously ill-advised.
🔻 C4: What a pessimist you are, Mr Schryver
🔻 WS: Optimism and pessimism are irrelevant.

Realism is the only thing that matters at the present time.
⭕🔻 Daniel Davis Deep Dive: JD Vance Playing ‘Bad Cop’ with PUTIN
🔻 WS: Meanwhile Putin et al. are shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

I look forward to Medvedev’s next poetic missive which mocks western delusions and reiterates Russia’s inviolable objectives.
📜 Dictating Terms
⭕🔻 zerohedge:
GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR VP VANCE TO COMPARE GERMANY’S DEMOCRACY TO AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME

SAYS FRAGILE PEACE IN UKRAINE THAT ONLY POSTPONES WAR IS NOT AN OPTION
🔻 John Ʌ Konrad V:
The German Defense Minister could end the Ukraine war tomorrow by sinking Russian oil tankers bound for China.

Not saying they should—but they refused to join the US mission in the Red Sea to prevent tankers from being sunk.

Either support our efforts or go stop Russia yourself
🔻 WS: This is delusional #BatshitCrazy silly talk, John.

“Sinking Russian oil tankers bound for China” is utter madness that would produce highly undesirable consequences, starting with the sinking of NATO warships and western tankers.
🔻 No Filter Thoughts: Yup. And if that doesn’t get the message across, all oil & gas terminals, pipeline hubs, and storage will also get a friendly visit from various Russian missiles. And then the EU gets to starve in the dark.
🔻 Goran Karaman: I recently started following this guy ( john konrad), amongst others, to get a sense of new prevailing winds in USA…i am starting to think American is beyond repair…
⭕🐶 USS Trembling Puppy Update

Looks like a sufficient excuse to head home.

Maybe the USS Brave Sir Robin can hurry back to take its place.
🔻 thequestioner: They literally ran an Aircraft Carrier into something? 🤣

Can’t make this shit up.
🔻 WS: Just a 600′-long ship. At noon, in broad daylight.

Maybe the sun was in their eyes.
[my bad. I thought I read midnight. This is worse]
⭕ CSG-8 Scorecard: 1 F/A-18 shot down; 1 F/A-18 almost shot down; 1 CVN collision with a merchant ship.

👏👏👏

(L) Rear Admiral Sean R. Bailey, Commander of Carrier Strike Group 8

(R) Captain Dave Snowden, USS Trembling Puppy

These two intrepid naval officers deserve medals. |media|
🔻 Dawa🦝🐼🐨: So, basically they hit everything but things they targeted? 🤭
🔻 C1: They also executed multiple impressive high-speed U-turns in the Red Sea, and found a very cozy anchorage near the mouth of the Gulf of Suez, where the crew could calm its shaken nerves.
🔻 Bernhard Riemann: I understand your point, but I think they deserve medals for maintaining the appearance of the US Navy and the survival of their carriers and personnel in the Red Sea.

I should also mention that the Houthis have shown remarkable kindness towards the US Navy.
[both good points]
🔻 Holger Lehmann: Just like the guy that ordered to shot down an Iranian airliner in Iranian airspace.
[For which Bush the Elder the Mad said, “I will never apologize for being an American…” (!!)]
⭕ Arnaud, as always, provides insightful observations.
🔻 Arnaud Bertrand:
Really hard not to make the parallel between JD Vance’s speech right now at the Munich Security Conference and Putin’s 2007 speech at the very same podium.

Both were watershed moments that fundamentally transformed the existing consensus. Putin at the time delivered the speech that marked the beginning of the end of the unipolar moment. JD Vance’s speech will probably be remembered as the speech that marked the beginning of the end of the post-WW2 Western alliance.

As a European, I’m in two minds about what Vance said about Europe.

He is of course right about many things. For instance Europe’s attitude with respect to Romania’s elections was beyond appalling and unequivocally antidemocratic. I myself called it out repeatedly on this platform.

But – and this is a very big BUT – on Romania and much of Vance’s criticism directed at Europe, the U.S. was right there alongside Europe acting jointly, and often even guiding Europe’s actions. Specifically on Romania for instance, I believe that the US State Department was first in issuing a statement on December 4th (2021-2025.state.gov/statemen…) expressing its concern about “Russian involvement in malign cyber activity designed to influence the integrity of the Romanian electoral process” which led to the elections being cancelled two days later (and which, it was later proven, was completely false: it turned out that this “malign cyber activity” were paid for by the very Romanian party in power that cancelled the elections!). It’s only after that State Department statement that the Europeans followed the U.S.’s lead.

So it’s a bit rich, even very rich, for Vance, less than 2 months afterwards, to lecture Europeans on this without as much as acknowledging the U.S.’s own role in a lot of it.

Same could be said about European content moderation and “censorship.” He conveniently forgets that much of Europe’s current approach was developed in close coordination with American agencies and tech companies. The EU’s content moderation framework didn’t emerge in a vacuum – it was heavily influenced by American practices and pressures.

Or take Vance’s criticism of European mass migration policies. He spent a big part of his speech lamenting over the attack in Munich yesterday by (apparently) a young Afghan asylum seeker, describing it as a direct “result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the [European] continent”. But he conveniently fails to mention why Afghans migrated en-masse out of their country, which might have a little something to do with a certain great power that decided to wage a 20-year long war over there and completely wrecked the country… Same story for many migrants in Europe, a huge share of them being a direct result of disastrous US foreign policy decisions.

I’m also extremely uncomfortable with Vance’s stated intentions to meddle in European politics. He calls out – rightly – Europe for not living up to its democratic values, yet in the same breath he’s explicitly announcing America’s intention to intervene in European politics by supporting certain movements against established institutions. He criticizes European elites for not respecting democratic choices while simultaneously suggesting that a Trump administration would actively work to influence those choices. How is this any different from the kind of interference he hypocritically condemns?

Perhaps most worrying of all, Vance’s vision seems to completely disregard why the post-WW2 European architecture was built in the first place. Europe is the place where both world wars started, 100% of them. The past 80 years were a uniquely peaceful time in European history: due to the high density of states in a relatively small geography and the somewhat disagreeable character of many European nations (the French very much included), the continent had been in almost constant conflict for the previous millennium. I really dislike European institutions as much as the next guy but I don’t forget the original spirit with which they were built: to put an end to endless war in Europe.

By positioning America as an ally of nationalist forces against these institutions, Vance isn’t just ending an alliance – he’s actively working to unwind the entire post-war European peace architecture, which could have immense ramifications. In fact I think we can even legitimately ask ourselves if the U.S. doesn’t now have war in Europe as one of its strategic objectives. Given the U.S.’s history in triggering wars left, right and center when it believes they’re in their interests, and given Vance’s speech, I think the question has merits.

All in all, I’m not ashamed to say that I much prefer Putin’s 2007 speech to Vance’s. Whatever you may think, Putin remained within the confines of what he thought were challenges to Russia’s national interests, issues like NATO expansion or American attempt at global hegemony. He didn’t try to meddle in intra-Western politics or position Russia as an active force for undermining Western institutions from within. His vision was about creating a multipolar world where Russia would be one independent pole – not about dismantling the internal architecture of other poles.

Where Putin wanted to limit Western power globally, Vance seems to want to fracture the European order locally. That’s a far more dangerous proposition.

I’m all for reforming Europe and I constantly call for it. But to me by far the biggest issue for Europe is its lack of sovereignty and strategic autonomy, especially vis à vis the United States, in almost all domains. If Vance’s speech could have any silver lining, it would be to finally wake Europeans up to this reality: let’s hope that for once Europe draws the right lesson. |media|
🔻 inotherwords:
US policy in a nutshell

4 years wrecking the world (“defending”, “being dragged”, “being a victim”, lecturing/blaming others, the Dems), 4 years insulating from the consequence (lecturing/blaming others, the Reps), repeat over and over.

The 8-year cycle of US international policy.
⭕🔸 Extraordinary Popular Delusions

Among the many extraordinary popular delusions wafting across the planet at this time, one of the most absurd is the belief the EU can become a great power.

NATO and the EU may “keep up appearances” for a while, but they are dead men walking.
🔻 davidcarlosalaverry: The EU population is 449 million, total Europe 745 million. They are wealthy, educated, with a high level of tech. So they have the prerequisites of a great power.. except a reality-based political elite.

If Trump-style center right populists gain power, Europe could recover from the present madness. Not impossible.. but improbable unless the voters revolt. On the other hand, they may continue on the present course towards dozens of failed, perhaps soon warring states.
🔻 C2: Eunuchs may be a more accurate description but that may change. Europe is somewhat shell shocked realizing finally how unreliable and capricious the US is as an ally.

⭕🧵 Russia’s Peace Terms

I recommend the commentary linked below in relation to US/Russia “negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine.

In subsequent posts, I will link to the ESSENTIAL DOCUMENTATION of RUSSIA’S PEACE TERMS as clearly enunciated over the past several years.

1/ |link|
🔻 WS: Essential Documentation

First is Vladimir Putin’s landmark speech at the 2007 Munich Security Conference. I have linked below to a transcript which includes the essential Q&A session which followed the speech.

2/ |link|
🔻 WS: Next is the Security Guarantee Treaty Russia sent to the United States on December 17, 2021.

3/ |link|
🔻 WS: Next is the Agreement on Security Measures Russia sent to all NATO member states on December 17, 2021.

4/ |link|
🔻 WS: Next is the Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022.

5/ |link|
🔻 WS: Next is the Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022.

6/ |link|
🔻 WS: Finally, I link to my report and analysis of the celebrated Tucker Carlson interview of Vladimir Putin in early February 2024.

The Vladimir Putin Interview
Part Two — Is Russia Angling for an Exit?

7/ |link|
🔻 WS: I remain convinced the Russians will adamantly insist upon the terms previously and repeatedly enunciated — not only by President Vladimir Putin, but by many of the most authoritative and influential voices in Russia.

8/end
📜 Dictating Terms

“…. now he [Satanyahoo] has disappeared…” after belching fire earlier in the week.
The same deranged crap as with Orange.
Before: “Big Ask”
After: NYET!
NB – there is more confusion about what happened to the US aircraft carrier. He is saying here it was struck IN THE RED SEA. Let’s put aside whether it was struck or not, but this is second person I am hearing say it was NOT at outlet of the Suez in southern Med, but in Red Sea.
So maybe it really was a harsh message from Yemen to the messianic madmen
PPS – he makes a point I made on main site, why this mini-summit of GCC-Egypt is absolutely useless. They do not invite the more serious arabs/berbers and anti-imperialists such as Algeria. It is a coven of effeminate compradores who posture in an absolutely useless way. Another time-waster like the kept U.N. fora.
But he concludes with excellent point. The Victory of the Resistance in Gaza is imposing itself on the entire calculations of the region and its traitors, as 404 Victory is doing to Europe. They are now really terrified for their very lives, nevermind grasp on escaping power. The era of even pretenses draw to a close, as concubines change hands……

As during the first Crusades, the fighting monks (Templar Knights) couldn’t hide under the cloaks of their vestments and were targeted and disposed of as combatants, so it comes to the deranged zionazi women in this round..

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ ❗️The Russian troops liberated the settlement of Berezovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense

💠@Hamas/Tsahal:
⭕ Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad handed over the three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Younis.

They are now on their way to Israel, where they will be medically examined before being returned to their families.
[wearing captured zionazi kit to rub it in! And held in town of several of the most bitter defeats – a traditional stronghold of Hamas too. iirc hometown of Yahya Sinwar]

💠@DDGeopolitics:
⭕❗️ Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma Boris Chernyshov published one of Zhirinovsky’s notes:

“In light of recent events, I decided to publish one of Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky’s notes.

“Europe nurtured Hitler against the USSR but Hitler drenched Europe itself in blood. Now the West supports the Nazis in Ukraine to fight Russia but the revived Nazism in Ukraine will shake Europe itself”

Written in 2017 but how it sounds today. And this is not a prophecy but a harsh and truthful forecast of one of the greatest minds of our time. If the EU remains Zelensky’s advocate, then Zelensky will become the EU’s undertaker.

There will be no better commentary on the results of the Munich Conference.”
⭕ Hamas releases 3 Israeli hostages

Russian-Israeli Alexander Trufanov, American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen and Iair Horn stand with certificates and goodie bags.

Israel will be releasing the Palestine prisoners that have been held in the notorious prisons of the zionists where they are often tortured and abused. |media|

💠@ejmalrai:
⭕ In Baghdad, Iraq, the unforgettable leaders.
[from L to R: Palestine’s Haniyeh & Sinwar, Iraq’s Abu Muhandis, Iran’s Soleimani, Lebanon’s Nasrallah & his cousin Safieddine. Centered underneath them is a replica of Al Qud’s (Jerusalem’s) Dome of the Rock masjid]
⭕ Israel did not mention how it had given in to the demands of the Palestinian resistance, where Benjamin Netanyahu was careful to hide the details of the deal.

The prisoner exchange is back on track, with the release of 3 Israelis and the freedom of the Palestinians due today.
[as Abdel Bari Atwan above said, the head zionazi madman kept quiet!]

this doesn’t make sense.
It wasn’t in the narrow confines of the Red Sea.
It was in the southern Med Sea, as they were trying to transit the Suez southbound for Yemen..

granted it was near midnight and there were a bunch of ships northbound, but these tankers and cargo ships are like small islands, and gunboats have radar.

So the PoV of WS that perhaps it was intentional, to prevent re-engagement with the Yemenis is valid.

And that also begs the question – what was the mission this time?

They had just been to Greece, to pick up cargo and whatnot, as the nearest “safe” NATO base. And the new shiny POTUS likes beautiful explosions and unusual feats, whilst eating sumptuous chocolate cake.

The old Chinese adage comes to mind – “to strangle the chicken to scare the monkey” – and the exceptionalist freaks who can’t tell ayrab apart from eye-ranian do think in those terms

PS – some thoughts. Remember the rumours of China steering objects or flummoxing guidance of those US Navy ships that had a rash of collisions few years back?? Kinda reminiscent of the Russkie EW suite that shut down the US Donald Cook in the Black Sea. Is something similar at play?

And the target may have been Jordan, accessible by sea via the Gulf of Aqaba. The geniuses may really have been trying the old 19th Century trick of gunboats!

Anyway, some could be sending asymmetric messages, and sidelining big potential problems