▶️#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

▶️#NOW

🇵🇪📈Following the Sismo 6.0 earthquake recorded in Chimbote, the Peruvian Navy ruled out a tsunami alert.

The temblor was felt in several coastal regions of the country.

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — Video shared by Ukrainian Armed Forces shows an F-16 fighter jet operated by the Ukrainian Air Force intercepts a Russian Shahed/Geran-type long-range OWA-UAV with an air-to-air missile.

As seen through the thermal sight of a Ukrainian ground-based anti-aircraft gun.

🇵🇱🇪🇺 ⚡️Poland to build major anti‑drone fortifications along its eastern border amid Russian threat

Poland has announced plans to construct a €2 billion anti‑drone defence network along its eastern border with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region in response to what officials describe as increased security risks following significant incursions of unmanned aerial vehicles into Polish airspace this year.

Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said the project, backed by the EU’s SAFE defence programme and Poland’s national budget, aims to have initial capabilities operational within about six months, with full deployment targeted within the next 24 months. The system will incorporate multiple layers of defence, including drone jamming technology, machine guns, cannons and surface‑to‑air missiles, integrated into existing border defences.

Officials have framed the initiative as part of wider efforts to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and deter future unmanned threats, while also increasing defence spending and expanding training programmes for citizens.

🔗Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/27/poland-anti-drone-fortifications-eastern-borders-cezary-tomczyk