JUST IN - NATO plans to mobilize 90,000 soldiers for biggest military exercise since the end of the Cold War — dpa

@disclosetv

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russia may emerge from the war in Ukraine as a hyper-mobilized, hyper-illiberal revisionist power with a deep pool of trained military manpower and a deep sense of grievance toward the West.

Western sanctions no longer look like wonder weapons. The Russian economy contracted by just 2.2 percent in 2022, and resumed growing in 2023. Russian trade has been rerouted to Asia; financial, technological and commercial relations with China are flourishing. Geopolitically ambivalent swing states, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, are helping Moscow mitigate its economic isolation. Granted, the costs of conflict have exacerbated economic imbalances in Russia. But there is no near-term prospect of the economy, or the war machine it supports, falling apart.

Nor is it clear that the West will soon face a weakened, humbled Russia, incapable of seriously menacing its neighbors. Sure, Putin’s country has suffered grievous losses of men and materiel. But the government has mobilized hundreds of thousands of new soldiers and put the economy on a war footing. With the Kremlin pouring money into the defense sector, military production is soaring: Russia will pump out more artillery shells in 2024 than the US and Europe combined.

Putin has squeezed most remaining moderates out of the political system and weathered internal challenges to his power. He has doubled down on partnerships with Iran, China and North Korea, fellow autocracies that are now providing Russia with military and economic sustenance.

The Russia that emerges from this war may be a hyper-mobilized, hyper-illiberal revisionist power with a deep pool of trained military manpower and a deep sense of grievance toward the West. That’s a recipe for trouble on NATO’s Eastern front — and for increased global demands on American military power.

Finally, the democratic community no longer looks so committed, so unified. For months, political dysfunction has prevented the US from replenishing the level of support Ukraine needs to fight its war. The European Union has been momentarily stymied in its own bid to ramp up Ukraine assistance by the resistance of the pro-Putin government in Hungary. “Ukraine fatigue” is rising in much of the West.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency this November, democratic solidarity could devolve into transatlantic rancor. And if the US ends up abandoning Ukraine, that country could still go down to a military defeat that would have global consequences, by demonstrating that democracies lack the stamina to prevent expansionist autocracies –- whether Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China, Kim’s North Korea, or Khamenei’s Iran -- from imposing their will on the world.

🔗 Bloomberg | 🗄 Archive

— 🇮🇷/🇮🇶/🇺🇸 BREAKING: Suicide drone attack against the U.S. base in Erbil International Airport – Al Arabiya

@Middle_East_Spectator

⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan, including X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube; the incident comes as persecuted opposition leader Imran Khan's political party, PTI, launches its second virtual gathering

NEW - Hungary's Viktor Orbán: "Hungary cannot be blackmailed! There is not enough money in the world to force us to accept mass migration and to put our children in the hands of LGBTQ activists. This is impossible!"

https://x.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1748348230557937854

@disclosetv

🇵🇦 Panama Canal traffic cut by more than a third because of drought

A severe drought that began last year has forced authorities to slash ship crossings by 36% in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important trade routes.

The new cuts announced Wednesday by authorities in Panama are set to deal an even greater economic blow than previously expected.

Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez now estimates that dipping water levels could cost them between $500 million and $700 million in 2024, compared to previous estimates of $200 million.

On Wednesday, Vásquez said the canal authorities would cut daily ship crossings to 24, down from 38 a day in normal times last year. Vásquez added that in the first quarter of the fiscal year the passageway saw 20% less cargo and 791 fewer ships than the same period the year before.

🔎 Source
#Panama

☠️ Blood Meridian

JUST IN: X launches new payments account.

@WatcherGuru

#Colombia 🇨🇴: #ELN & #FARC - "Segunda Marquetalia" fighters announced that they have joined forces together.

The fighters are armed with ex-military Galil AR assault rifles, 5.56x45mm #NATO AR-15 rifles/carbines and 7.62x39mm Kalashnikov rifles including Century Arms VSKA rifle.

https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1747426244176531557

Colombian Armed Forces deny alleged plot to attack Maduro https://bit.ly/3tZLxMv

JUST IN - EU member states agree on military campaign to secure merchant shipping in the Red Sea — n-tv

https://www.n-tv.de/newsletter/breakingnews/EU-Staaten-einigen-sich-auf-Militaereinsatz-im-Roten-Meer-article24680894.html

@disclosetv

FTX Sold About $1B of Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF, Explaining Much of Outflow.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/01/22/ftx-sold-about-1b-of-grayscales-bitcoin-etf-explaining-much-of-outflow-sources/