👤📞👤 — 🇺🇸 President of United States Donald J. Trump on Truth Social:

"I just spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!

Donald Trump Truth Social Post 01:11 PM EST 02/12/25"

🔗 Via Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social on 𝕏

🏳🤝👤 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr:

"Meeting with Scott of the Bessent and his first foreign visit to Ukraine. We appreciate partnerships with the United States, grateful for help in protecting our independence and striving to make our common opportunities, especially security.

Safety matters. It is impossible to give Moscow and its accomplices control of Ukraine, which means that we need to work together — everyone in the free world.

We received an American vision of deepening our work, discussed the content of these proposals today, and we work for the sake of a strong agreement. We expect progress already during the Munich Security Conference.‌‌"

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🇺🇸🤝🇷🇺❗️🇺🇦🇪🇺 — 🇬🇧 Financial Times | Europe left reeling by Trump over Ukraine peace talks with Russia | EU allies fear having to pay for postwar security despite being cut out of negotiations as officials head for Munich Security Conference | February 13, 2025:

"European officials fear they will have to bear the cost of postwar security and reconstruction as they reel from being cut out of US-Russia peace negotiations on Ukraine.

Donald Trump said on Wednesday, after talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that their delegations would “start negotiations immediately” to end the war, blindsiding European capitals who had failed to make their case for being included in the process.

More than half a dozen senior European officials told the Financial Times they expected the US president to tell them they must pay for Ukrainian reconstruction and deploy troops there to maintain a peace deal in which they would not be involved.

“The Americans don’t see a role for Europe in the big geopolitical questions related to the war. It’s going to be a real test of unity,” said one senior EU official.

“Trump sees us as money. And frankly we haven’t been clear on what our seat at the table would look like in exchange for that money.”

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📰🗯🗣🤝🗣 — 🇬🇧 Financial Times | Trump opens the door to Putin’s grandest ambitions | Russian leader wants a new security architecture to give his country a sphere of influence in Europe | February 13, 2025:

"Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster. But after Donald Trump bypassed Kyiv and European allies to set up direct peace talks with Moscow, the Russian president is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted from his three-year-long invasion.

Putin’s main ambition, said people who have spoken to him during the war, is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe — much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war.

Now, the US may be open to letting him have it. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join Nato and reclaim its territory from Russia. Putin and Trump discussed “bilateral economic co-operation”, suggesting that the US was prepared to roll back its sanctions against Moscow.

And Trump appears intent on rolling back the US’s commitment to Nato and leaving the job of sustaining a peace to European countries.

“The situation looks much more favourable for Putin than at any point during the entire war over the last three years,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. “If the US just unilaterally ends its military and diplomatic support, as well as intelligence sharing, then Ukraine will be in a very tough position. And it’ll be hard to get out of it even if the Europeans get more involved.”

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🗣🎤🗣🤝🗣 — 🟩 RT | Putin-Trump summit on the way – Kremlin | Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has welcomed the US administration’s desire to reach peace in Ukraine | February 13, 2025:

"It is hard to overestimate the significance of the recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He also noted that the presidents have instructed their teams to lay the groundwork for the summit.

The call on Wednesday marked the first known conversation between the US and Russian leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Trump has since signaled that he is “okay” with keeping Ukraine out of NATO and suggested that it is “unlikely” that Kiev could regain all of the territory it has lost to Russia over the past decade. Trump also noted that the presidents had exchanged invitations to visit each other’s countries.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Peskov described the phone call as “a very important conversation.” “Against the backdrop of what has been happening for several years, there have been no contacts at the highest level between Moscow and Washington,” he said, noting that this landscape did not contribute to solving the Ukraine crisis."

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👔🤝👔🤝👔 — 🇺🇸 President of United States Donald J. Trump on Truth Social:

"GREAT TALKS WITH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE YESTERDAY. GOOD POSSIBILITY OF ENDING THAT HORRIBLE, VERY BLOODY WAR!!!

Donald Trump Truth Social Post 06:52 AM EST 02/13/25"

🔗 Via Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social on 𝕏:

🇪🇺🗯🗣🤝🗣❗️🇺🇦 — 📰 Reuters | Europeans warn US against Ukraine deal 'behind our backs' | February 13, 2025:

"BRUSSELS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - European leaders warned the United States on Thursday against sealing a Ukraine peace deal with Russia behind their backs as they scrambled for a seat at the table after Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin and announced the start of negotiations.

U.S. President Trump's move sent shockwaves through European capitals, which want a central role in peace talks because any settlement in Ukraine, hit by a full-scale Russian invasion three years ago, will have ramifications for their own security.

"It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. Any agreement will need also Ukraine and Europe being part of it," European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

"Why are we giving them (Russia) everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started?" said Kallas, speaking before a meeting of NATO defence ministers with their Ukrainian counterpart in Brussels.

"It's appeasement. It has never worked."

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared on Wednesday it was unrealistic for Ukraine to return to pre-2014 borders and that NATO membership for Kyiv would not be part of a peace deal. Russia seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also said it would have been better if Washington had not given what he called concessions to Moscow before peace talks even started."

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🇮🇱👃💥👑 — 📰 The Wall Street Journal | Israel Sees Opening for Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites, U.S. Intelligence Finds | Assessment near end of Biden’s term concluded risks have increased as Tehran has been weakened | February 12, 2025:

"U.S. intelligence agencies concluded during the final days of the Biden administration that Israel is considering significant strikes on Iranian nuclear sites this year, aiming to take advantage of Iran’s weakness, officials familiar with the report said.

The finding was included in an analytical assessment produced around the new year as the Biden administration wound down. The analysis highlighted the risks of further high-stakes military activity in the Middle East after the degradation of Iran’s capabilities over the past year.

The intelligence analysis concluded Israel would push the Trump administration to back the strikes, viewing him as more likely to join an attack than former President Joe Biden and fearing the window for halting Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon was closing, two of the people familiar with the intelligence said."

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🇦🇪🪽👎📝🇵🇸 — 📰 ZeroHedge | UAE Ambassador Says Arab World Has 'No Alternative' To Trump's Gaza Plan | February 13, 2025:

"In an extraordinarily surprising development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE has signaled the possibility of removing all Palestinians from Gaza, in accordance with Trump's controversial Gaza plan.

UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba in a fresh interview called the plan "difficult but inevitable" and said he's sees "no alternative" but Trump's plan to expel Gaza's population and undertake massive economic redevelopment of the Strip. He had been asked by a reporter whether the UAE is working on a separate plan, to which he responded no, there's no other plan.

It was in September 2020 that the UAE announced the Trump-sponsored Abraham Accords for normalization with Israel. UAE has long been a close regional US-ally, but the ambassador's words are still deeply surprising and might actually contradict the UAE's official stance.

For example, regional media just yesterday reported:

The UAE, a key ally of both Israel and the United States in the Muslim world, has taken a firm stance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported plan for Gaza. In a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan strongly rejected any attempt to displace Palestinians or deny them their “inalienable rights.” 

The country's leadership has just this week called for a two-state solution. And per Reuters:

It said the UAE, one of the few Arab countries that normalised relations with Israel, categorically rejected any attempt to displace the Palestinians and deny them "inalienable rights".

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👤💬🙎‍♂️👔📉💣🔫 — 📰 Associated Press | Trump wants denuclearization talks with Russia and China, hopes for defense spending cuts | February 13, 2025:

"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their own spending.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump said.

While the U.S. and Russia hold massive stockpiles of weapons since the Cold War, Trump predicted that China would catch up in their capability to exact nuclear devastation “within five or six years.”

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🇸🇦👏👔🤝👤 — 🇸🇦 Saudi Foreign Ministry on 𝕏:

"#Statement | The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia commends the phone call that took place between President Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America and President Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation on 12 February 2025, and the announcement regarding the possibility of holding a summit attended by their excellencies the two Presidents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia commends the phone call that took place between President Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America and President Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation on 12 February 2025, and the announcement regarding the possibility of holding a summit attended by their excellencies the two Presidents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom expresses its welcome to hosting the summit in Saudi Arabia, and reaffirms its ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine, which began with the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis where His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, expressed in his calls on 3 March 2022 with both President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Kingdom's readiness to provide its good offices to reach a political solution to the crisis. Over the past three years, the Kingdom continued these efforts, which included hosting numerous meetings on this matter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 14 February 2025 / 15 Sha'aban 1446"

🔗 Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN)

🇩🇪🇺🇸J.D. Vance will deliver a "tough message" for Europe in Munich, CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz said.

As reported by n-tv, Merz said that US Vice President J.D. Vance will make a “tough and stern statement” on behalf of the US to Europe at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"The turning point that the German Chancellor spoke about in his government speech on February 27, 2022, will come this weekend," Merz said on ZDF television.

He noted that he already has preliminary information about the content of Vance's speech.

"His speech will be confrontational," Merz said.

Let us recall that Vance is also scheduled to meet with Zelensky in Munich.

🇺🇸📞🇪🇺❗️ — At the Munich Security Conference, United States Vice President JD Vance says Europe and the European Union has essentially given up the values that won the Cold War over the Soviet Union

🔗 The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial)

🇺🇸📞🇪🇺🇬🇧 — "Free speech, I fear, is in retreat in Europe" JD Vance says, discussing the outlawing of private prayer near abortion clinics in the UK.

🔗 The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial)

🇺🇸🗯🇪🇺 — 🇩🇪 BILD:

""European leaders are afraid of their own people." US Vice President Vance threatened Putin and criticized Europe

US Vice President J.D. Vance made several bold statements in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, including threatening Russia with possible sanctions and even military action if the Kremlin does not agree to a peace deal that guarantees Ukraine's independence.

"There are economic means of pressure, and of course there are military means of pressure"

— Vance emphasized.

The US vice president also lashed out at European politicians, saying they “sound like Soviet leaders” when they talk about disinformation to discredit other opinions. He called on European governments to acknowledge the rise in protest sentiment and change their migration policies.

Vance paid special attention to Germany and the Alternative for Germany party. He called on German parties to cooperate with it, as well as with other right-wing forces that criticize migration policy.

"European leaders are somehow afraid of their own people. Unfortunately, I think the will of the voters has been ignored by many of our European friends"

— the politician noted.

Vance plans to repeat his statements at the Munich Security Conference, where he plans to deliver a tough speech to European leaders."

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🇺🇸🔫🛫🗺 — 🇩🇪 BILD:

"US Vice President J.D. Vance may announce withdrawal of US troops from Europe at Munich Security Conference

At the Munich Security Conference, which began today, US Vice President J.D. Vance may announce a massive withdrawal of American troops from Europe. This was stated by the head of the conference, Christoph Heusgen, noting that Washington expects Europe to contribute more to its defense capability.

Before the conference, CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz also expressed the expectation that Vance would make a "tough statement" about Germany and European countries.

"This conference will be remembered for a long time"

— he told reporters.

Vance himself confirmed that he intends to touch upon the topic of a negotiated settlement of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. He also stressed that the United States is interested in the North Atlantic Alliance being prepared for future challenges.

Before the conference, Vance met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. According to Baerbock, the current conference is “more important than ever” because Europe faces “existential choices” on security issues amid the US president’s planned talks with Russia."

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🇺🇸🤝🇩🇪 — 🇩🇪 BILD:

""Germany is a great ally of the US." How the Munich Security Conference is going

The International Security Conference continues in Munich. At the same time, the planned meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President J.D. Vance was postponed to a later date. In Moscow, in turn, it was officially confirmed that there is no Russian delegation at the Munich Conference.

US officials at the conference reaffirm their support for European allies but insist on a greater role for them in ensuring security.

"Germany is a great ally of the United States"

— Vance said after meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, but stressed that Europe must take on more defense responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the EU and the US are discussing trade issues. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed readiness to find a mutually beneficial solution on customs duties, but said that the introduction of new US tariffs is a step in the wrong direction.

Security in Munich remains under special scrutiny after the recent attack that left 36 people injured. Munich police have stepped up security measures and organisers of demonstrations have been asked to hold their actions in one specific location instead of marching to better protect them."

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🏦🇺🇸👍🚤🇵🇦 Bank of America Report Highlights Panama Canal’s Autonomy, Efficiency, and Financial Strength

The Bank of America (BofA) Global Research team, this week, released an independent report noscriptd, “Strong, efficient & profitable – who wouldn’t want to own the Panama Canal?” Their findings emphasized the operational independence, neutrality, as well as the financial resilience and critical role the Panama Canal plays in global commerce and reviewed some of the challenges faced in the region the past few years.

BofA stressed that the waterway was owned by the Government of Panama, but managed by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which the report says has consistently invested in enhancing the capacity and operational efficiency of the waterway since Panama took full operational control in 1999. According to BofA, “[T]he Panama Canal Authority has doubled the capacity with a $5.25 billion USD expansion launched in 2008 and completed when Neo Panamax locks were inaugurated in 2016. Investments have totaled $15 billion USD over the past 25 years including $10 billion USD in capital expenditures and $5 billion USD in operational and maintenance expenses.”

The report continues to say that the ACP’s commitment to operational efficiency and strategic investment is evidenced by its ability to adapt to ever evolving challenges. For instance, in response to the drought that impacted the canal’s water levels, the report states that, “To safeguard against future water shortages, the Indio River project is advancing with expectations that it will match Alhajuela Lake in capacity. This initiative is part of a broader effort to restore and optimize the Panama Canal watershed, providing a more sustainable approach to water management. A community census is currently underway to assess resettlement needs, and the relocation process is expected to begin by the end of 2025.”

In addition to its infrastructure investments, the ACP also maintains a transparent and market-driven toll system, according to the report. Using data from the ACP, BofA’s analysts explain that the tolls are determined by vessel type and industry segment, independent of nationality. The report also cited the ACP Administrator, Dr. Ricaurte Vásquez, indicating that his team had found that total transit fees are less than 1% of the value transiting the canal estimated at $581 billion USD.

https://pancanal.com/en/bank-of-america-report-highlights-panama-canals-autonomy-efficiency-and-financial-strength/

@FelipeChannel