#BREAKING
🇺🇸🛂❗️ — New York Post reports that ICE officers are prepping for a ‘big f–king operation’ across sanctuary cities immediately after Trump inauguration

➡️ The ICE man cometh | Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to launch a “big f–king operation” across sanctuary cities — including Chicago and New York — immediately after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, multiple sources told The Post.

➡️ Starting Jan. 21, multi-day “ground operations” will be launched across cities that have served as safe havens for migrants because the local authorities do not cooperate with the federal government when it comes to immigration issues, sources said.

➡️ While it’s not clear who exactly will be targeted, Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan has vowed that the mass deportations will begin on Day 1 to focus on illegal immigrants who pose threats to the country.

🇺🇸💰 Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial to Acquire TRX for its Treasury

World Liberty Financial, the crypto project backed by the family of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, plans to acquire tron (TRX) tokens for its treasury, according to a person familiar with the matter.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/01/18/trump-backed-world-liberty-financial-to-acquire-trx-for-its-treasury-source

@FelipeChannel

🇺🇸📈 Looks like the creator of the Trump memecoin was seeded by deposits from Gate and Binance. These two exchanges do not allow US residents.

https://x.com/jconorgrogan/status/1880446986295603648

@FelipeChannel

🇺🇸🛳 U.S. Navy force posture ahead of the presidential transition of power

8 of America’s 11 aircraft carriers are active or working up, and 3 are currently deployed: Truman in the Middle East (5th Fleet), Vinson + Washington in the Indo-Pacific (7th Fleet)

📎 Ian Ellis

🇨🇳🇮🇳🛢 China and India Scramble for Crude as Sanctioned Russian Tankers Turn Back

The most aggressive Western sanctions imposed on Russia’s oil sector since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine threaten to disrupt global supply as buyers — led by China and India — scour the Middle East for alternative suppliers. Some estimates suggest the measures could halve Russian oil exports and their introduction has driven up Brent futures by as much as $5 a barrel in recent days.

Buyers in both Asian nations have been asking producers in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to provide more oil, according to officials in those countries. But finding additional barrels would be difficult given that these countries have made commitments to OPEC+ — in which Moscow is a leading force — to keep supply restrained.

In a sign of a more-urgent need for barrels, China’s state owned refiners and larger independents have been frantically seeking out crude and selected so-called prompt barrels for more-immediate loading, according to traders. It’s been a similar picture for India’s state-owned plants, a critical source of buying of seaborne Russian cargoes, they said.

Sanctioned tankers were still delivering to ports in both China and India this week but New Delhi has warned that any designated vessels will only be allowed to deliver cargoes if they were loaded before Jan. 10 and discharged no later than March 12. After that, the ships will be off limits.

Some vessels heading to collect fresh loads are starting to abandon their voyages. At least five of the 77 ocean-going crude carriers — excluding the shuttle tankers tied to specific projects — sanctioned by OFAC have abandoned the journeys they were on at the time. The Atlas, Heng Tai and Venture were all heading to the Baltic when they made U-turns off the western coast of Europe and headed toward the Mediterranean.

In the Pacific, the Himalayan and the Salty Wolf both stopped journeys to the Russian port of Kozmino on Jan. 12. The Himalayan moved to waters off China’s Shandong province where it anchored. The Salty Wolf was last seen on Wednesday heading toward Singapore.

The measures have also made tankers not targeted by OFAC wary: two unsanctioned vessels heading toward the Arctic port of Murmansk — where both storage ships and all the shuttle tankers that fill them have been designated — turned round close to the Norwegian city of Tromso shortly after the measures were announced. They are now heading for the Baltic.

https://gcaptain.com/china-and-india-scramble-for-crude-as-sanctioned-russian-tankers-turn-back/

🇲🇱🇨🇦🇷🇺 Canadian gold mining company Barrick Gold temporarily suspended mining operations in Mali, and Russia is poised to fill any potential void.

Barrick’s decision is the result of a multiyear Russian-supported campaign to extract more money from Western mining companies and possibly pressure them out of Mali entirely.

The Malian government and Barrick had been at odds after both parties failed to agree on a restructured contract after Mali reformed its mining code in 2023 to secure a bigger share of mining revenue.

Russia had lobbied Mali to evict Western gold mining companies and reallot Western-owned contracts to Russian companies since the arrival of the Wagner Group in 2021.

Russia has increased cooperation on natural resource exploitation in Mali since March 2024 and used the same strategy that it has in Mali to secure access to uranium sites in neighboring Niger after the Nigerien junta pressured Western mining companies to halt operations.

Increased Russian access to mining in the Sahel will boost the Russian economy & mitigate Western efforts to isolate Russia.

📎 criticalthreats

#BREAKING

💰🚀📈 Solana hit a new All-Time-High over $270!!

@FelipeChannel

👔🗯🚫🇺🇦🤝🇺🇸 — B Bloomberg | Putin Would Demand Ukraine Never Join NATO in Any Trump Talks | January 15, 2025:

"Russia will demand Ukraine drastically cut back military ties with the NATO alliance and become a neutral state with a limited army in any talks with incoming US President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

Increasingly confident he has the advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to achieve his goal that Kyiv never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and that limits are placed on its military capacity, said the people with knowledge of Kremlin thinking who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information.

The Kremlin’s position is that while individual NATO members may continue to send arms to Ukraine under bilateral security agreements, any such weapons should not be used against Russia or to recapture territory, said one of the people, who is familiar with Moscow’s preparations for possible negotiations."

🗄 Archive

🔗 Source:

🇬🇧🤝🇺🇦1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ — 🇩🇪 BILD:

"Ukraine and Great Britain signed a 100-year partnership agreement

Amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, Britain and Ukraine have signed a partnership agreement with a symbolic duration of 100 years.
"Today we have reached a new level of relations, and this is even more than a strategic partnership," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kyiv. Ukraine is determined to defend its independence, he noted. Starmer called the agreement "historic."

The document does not contain any guarantees or commitments regarding the alliance. However, the UK has committed to providing Kyiv with military aid in the amount of more than 3.5 billion euros annually until at least the 2030/31 financial year and “for as long as required”.

In addition, it was agreed that the UK would increase its contribution to training specialists on Western combat aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force. The navies of both countries will also cooperate more closely, especially in the Black Sea region. The partnership agreement envisages, in addition to defence cooperation, deepening cooperation in areas such as science, energy and trade."

🔗 Source:

🇬🇧🤝🇺🇦1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ — 🇬🇧 The Guardian | UK to back Ukraine ‘beyond this terrible war’ with 100-year pact, says Starmer | PM visits Kyiv to agree partnership and says Putin shows no signs of wanting to stop ‘unrelenting aggression’ | January 16, 2025:

"Keir Starmer has announced a “historic” 100-year partnership with Ukraine, saying the UK would support the country “beyond this terrible war” and into a future where it is “free and thriving again”.

Speaking during his first trip to Kyiv as prime minister, Starmer said the unprecedented agreement reflected the “huge affection between our two nations”. He added that “right now Putin shows no signs of wanting to stop” his “unrelenting aggression”.

The point was dramatically underscored by a Russian drone flying over Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv while the two leaders were in the middle of talks. Anti-aircraft fire erupted as the drone buzzed overhead."

🗄 Archive

🔗 Source:

#BREAKING

🇺🇸❌🇻🇪🇻🇪 — Trump's team says it wants Chavista Dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro to go the way of recently toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, reports Axios

➡️ Trump’s incoming administration wants regime change in Venezuela, calling Maduro a “criminal who stole his election, jailed his rivals, and even threatened to invade Puerto Rico.”

➡️ A Trump adviser made it clear: “We wouldn’t mind one bit seeing Maduro being neighbors with Assad in Moscow.”

➡️ Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, warned that Venezuela is a narco-state run by criminals, aligned with China, Russia, Cuba, and Iran.

➡️ In other words, unlike Biden, Trump isn’t interested in oil deals or negotiations — he wants Maduro and his criminal clique out, forever