🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦Putin comments on military progress in Zaporizhia region

➡️Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a visit to a command post of the Joint Forces Group, spoke about recent advances in the areas of Dimitrov and Gulyaypole. He stated that the progress achieved by the units of the “East” Forces Group is occurring at the expense of the opposing side, according to his remarks.

➡️Putin asked the commanders present to convey his acknowledgment to the personnel involved in the operations in these locations. Earlier, Russian military sources released footage showing the Russian national flag in Dimitrov after its capture.

🇮🇱❌🇶🇦 — Israel Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, calls Qatar a "Mafia State" after it rejected the recognition of Somaliland by Israel

I categorically reject the recognition of Qatar as a state.

Qatar is not a state.

It is a family business,
a mafia state whose every so-called achievement is the result of despicable bribery and corruption.

It finances terror and bloodshed and exports Islamist indoctrination across the west.

🇪🇹🇸🇴❌🇸🇴 — Al-Arabiya (Saudi Media) suggesting that Ethiopia might be the next country to recognize Somaliland as an independent country in exchange for the Port of Berbera is not something that should be highlighted in a minor light

📝 It should be noted that until November of this year, Ethiopia was preparing for a large-scale invasion against Eritrea to seize Assab (a port region that belonged to Ethiopia during the Monarchy of the Solomonic Dynasty) and install a friendly government in power in Asmara

➡️ If such indeed becomes reality, Israel may have prevented the greatest war of all recent wars (a possible second Ethiopian-Eritrean War that at very least would have spreaded to Sudan and the Red Sea as a whole) in the Horn of Africa in exchange for a deal that could pave the way for a complete legal precedent for change with regard to the borders established at the Berlin Conference

Win-win for Ethiopia and all non-Islamist countries in East Africa

🇪🇺🇺🇦⚡️EU leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine following the meeting between Trump and Zelensky, according to Polish Prime Minister Tusk.

🇸🇴❌🇮🇱🇸🇴 — In face of the coalition gathering in favor of Somaliland, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Somalia in Belgrade published a message on its X account:

One Somalia, One people, One culture, One language, One religion, One country

📝 It should be noted that Somalia officially recognized the independence of Kosovo, the Albanian-controlled province of Serbia, on May 19, 2010, becoming the 69th country to do so

▶️#BREAKING

🇺🇦🇺🇸⚡️Ukrainian media report that President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Florida for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

▶️#NOW

🇮🇶💥⁉️An explosion has just been reported in Iraq’s Basra province, according to initial local accounts.

▶️#NOW

🇷🇺✈️🚫Temporary restrictions have been imposed on aircraft arrivals and departures at Kaluga Airport, according to Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia.

🇫🇷⚡️A Malian man who stabbed three women in the Paris metro has been transferred to a psychiatric facility, according to Le Parisien, citing a police source.

🇨🇳🪖China conducts large-scale military mobilization drills using civilian transport

⚡️China is carrying out extensive exercises involving active-duty troops and reservists moved through civilian transportation networks.
The drills are intended to test and practice the People’s Liberation Army’s mass mobilization doctrine under real-world conditions.

🇺🇸🇺🇸❌🇺🇸— Thousands of people in Minnesota are calling for Governor Tim Walz to resign, accusing him of incompetence and alleging misconduct.

🔗 https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/2005064856265978345?s=46

▶️#BREAKING

🇺🇸🇺🇸⚡️Evacuation and shelter-in-place orders were issued in Castaic, California, following reports of a gas line explosion near the I-5 freeway.

🔗Source: NBC Los Angeles (X)

▶️🇺🇸🇺🇸⚡️This video circulating on social media is reportedly linked to the incident in Castaic, according to preliminary information.

🇺🇸🇷🇺Le Monde: Trump and Putin have a common enemy - liberal Europe, but two completely different strategic projects.

➡️Political scientist and historian Marlene Laruelle, from the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Washington, examines how arguments promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump and his inner circle about Europe’s alleged decline echo long-standing narratives advanced by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the loss of power and identity of the Old Continent.

➡️European concerns about a potential U.S. retreat into isolationism are, according to Laruelle, largely misplaced. The new U.S. National Security Strategy explicitly states that Europe remains “strategically and culturally important for the United States.” However, this renewed interest comes with a cost: Europe increasingly becomes a battleground and export market for American cultural wars, leading to deeper political and ideological interference.

➡️A key concept emerging from the most ideological wing of Trumpism — closely associated with Vice President J.D. Vance — is the so-called New Social Mission (NSM). This vision portrays Europe as undergoing a profound “civilizational collapse,” described as demographic, political, cultural, and geopolitical in nature. According to this narrative, Europe’s decline stems from the rejection of its own identity and from the European Union’s subordination to supranational structures.

➡️The U.S. strategy document references ideas such as the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and accusations of censorship allegedly imposed by proponents of “wokeism.” These themes closely resemble rhetoric long used by Moscow. Russia, for its part, presents itself as the “true Europe” — heir to Byzantium, untainted by what it calls Anglo-Saxon liberalism, and faithful to Christian roots and ancient European heritage.

➡️The Kremlin increasingly frames itself as a katechon — a biblical concept meaning a force that restrains chaos — portraying Russia as the last barrier against liberal decadence and moral collapse. In this vision, Russia claims to hold the key to Europe’s eventual rebirth from decline.

➡️Despite these parallels, Laruelle cautions against viewing the American NSM as a simple replication of Russian discourse. The U.S. conservative argument about defending Western civilization has its own national genealogy, rooted in American intellectual traditions rather than Russian influence.

➡️These traditions have converged since Trump’s first term through figures such as Steve Bannon, conservative think tanks like the Claremont Institute, and Catholic integralist thinkers including Adrian Vermeule and Patrick Deneen, who are influential among Vance’s intellectual circle. During Trump’s second term, this rhetoric became more doctrinal, drawing on the U.S. Founding Fathers, natural law, and the concept of “ordered liberty,” portraying conservatism as the last defense of the West against China, globalism, and internal progressive forces.

➡️While these debates are rooted in American traditions, Laruelle notes that ideological similarities with certain Russian narratives are increasingly visible.

—part 2:

➡️Beyond shared rhetoric, the strategic projects of Washington and Moscow ultimately diverge. Both the United States and Russia claim to seek the “salvation” of Europe from decline, and both rely on similar local partners — what the U.S. National Security Strategy describes as patriotic European parties and “allied countries seeking to restore their former greatness.”

➡️As a result, a transnational network of non-liberal actors has emerged, intersecting in some cases with Russia’s own network of allies. However, Russia is not formally defined in U.S. strategy documents as a partner equal to European patriots. Instead, Washington envisages a restoration of “strategic stability” with Moscow.

➡️In this framework, Russia is no longer described as a global systemic rival, but rather as a regional military challenge linked primarily to the war in Ukraine. This issue, from the Trump camp’s perspective, could potentially be resolved through great-power dialogue and pragmatic economic cooperation, particularly around strategic resources such as rare earth elements.

➡️From the Russian side, the approach is more ambiguous. Moscow signals willingness to re-engage in dialogue and even explore a non-liberal partnership with Washington, while remaining skeptical about its long-term sustainability.

➡️Both regimes employ similar civilizational language, grounded in conservative and non-liberal values, and depict liberal Europe as a “sick” component of Western civilization in need of reform — even against its own will — to restore lost greatness.

➡️However, their broader geopolitical ambitions diverge sharply. The American project envisions Europe uniting with the United States to confront China or radical Islam and preserve Western global leadership. The Russian project, by contrast, advocates a multipolar world, where power is shared among distinct civilizational centers, reducing the global influence of the West.

➡️Laruelle summarizes this contrast succinctly: American anti-liberals are fundamentally optimistic, believing their project can succeed, while Russian anti-liberals are pessimistic, doubting the long-term viability of their own vision.

➡️From a European perspective, American and Russian rhetoric may appear coordinated, supported by overlapping networks and a shared enemy — liberal Europe. Yet this impression can be misleading. Beneath similar language lies a fundamental divide: not one unified strategy, but two distinct and often conflicting geopolitical projects.

🔗https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2025/12/26/marlene-laruelle-politiste-trump-et-poutine-ont-un-ennemi-commun-l-europe-liberale-mais-deux-projets-strategiques-divergents_6659499_3232.html

▶️#NOW

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the Zelenskyy government is showing no readiness to enter what Moscow describes as meaningful or constructive peace talks. According to Lavrov, current signals from Kyiv do not indicate openness to negotiations.

▶️#BREAKING

🇵🇪📈M6.0 Earthquake off Northern Peru Coast

🔗https://x.com/global_quake/status/2005111887323971644?s=46