🇺🇦🗣🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 — 🇬🇧 The Guardian | With US leadership and European support we Ukrainians may at last have peace. But don’t let Russia off the hook | Andriy Yermak | Today’s Jeddah summit will be crucial. But so too is the need for European unity to counter Russian aggression now, and deter it in the future | Andriy Yermak is head of the Ukrainian presidential office | Zelenskyy’s chief of staff urges Europe to keep financial pressure on Russia | March 11, 2025:

"As I arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a ceasefire in the three-year war the Russian Federation has waged on my country has never seemed closer. Recent talks between Ukraine and its partners have given rise to great hope that the Ukrainian people will very soon return to the peaceful lives that they enjoyed before the war began in 2014 or the extreme escalation since 2022.

I believe that together with strong American leadership we can reach this goal. The prospect of peace – long hoped for – forces every Ukrainian to reflect on our shared gratitude, concern and determination. Gratitude for the support and confidence that we have received in recent years, concern for the future of Europe and determination to reaffirm Ukraine’s democratic, European convictions. No one wants the war to end more than our people – but a peace must be found that is both just and sustainable.

A ceasefire in Ukraine will not come through diplomatic gestures alone. A number of conditions are crucial beforehand in order to ensure that peace – when it comes – is lasting. This includes putting political and financial pressure on Russia to raise the cost of renewed conflict.

First, Ukraine must be given security guarantees that lend credibility to a future ceasefire agreement. Second, Europe must act decisively to strengthen and increase the sanctions against Russia. And third, Europe should take control of the frozen Russian assets to enable continued and increased support for Ukraine. Last week’s European Council session proves that Europe – when united – can take control of its own security and destiny. It is our concern for lasting European security that drives Ukraine’s insistence on these conditions. Moscow’s decade-long aggression against Ukraine cannot be taken lightly – the leaders of Europe recognise this and we call on them at this critical time to deliver on the promising discussions in Brussels last Thursday.

The growing recognition of the need to enhance European strategic autonomy on defence, backed up by fiscal flexibility on defence spending, is an important step. Europe’s decision to jointly borrow up to €150bn for member-state defence spending is critical. This – combined with a potential €20bn for Ukraine’s defence – will make a tangible contribution to establishing a robust defence architecture for the whole of Europe."

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⚰️🇷🇴🗳 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Democracy Dies In Romania... After 'Winning' In December, Georgescu Now Banned From May Presidential Election | March 9, 2025:

"Is Romania the canary in the 'death of democracy' coalmine?

After today's news, that canary - along with 'democracy' - is well and truly dead.

In a stunning turn of events - that we have a feeling could backfire disastrously on the elite establishment - Romania has barred far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election, in a move that could worsen the country’s political turmoil.

The Bucharest-based electoral bureau invalidated Georgescu’s candidacy, a spokesman from the bureau said on Sunday.

“Everyone is watching Romania and how the corrupt system acted,” said Georgescu on Friday, adding that he thought it’s impossible for his name not to be on the ballot’s list of candidates.

“They can’t afford to repeat the mistake."

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🇷🇴🪧⚡️ Călin Georgescu’s supporters have gathered outside of the Constitutional Court (CCR) as the judges are deciding whether to validate or invalide the decision to disqualify him from the May 2025 presidential elections.

The National Gendarmerie tripled the amount of personnel guarding the Court, likely expecting another violent reaction from the crowd when the CCR disqualifies Georgescu.

@Wallachian_Gazette

🇺🇸/🇺🇦 Zelensky personally apologized to Trump for the incident at the White House with a letter — Witkoff

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 China Could Attack Pearl Harbor—and the West Coast

Chinese cruisers and destroyers have many VLS tubes. Type 055 guided-missile cruisers have 112 tubes, and Type 052D air-defense destroyers have 64. Surface ships would have the advantage of being able to routinely access China’s extensive network of satellites for up-to-the-minute targeting information—the modern equivalent of Japan’s “bomb plot” in 1941, which is described in the book At Dawn We Slept by Gordon Prange et al.

These include the extensive Yaogan military satellite constellation, as well as the nominally civilian Jilin constellation, with 300 satellites planned by 2025. Another constellation of more than 300 satellites, the Chutian system of optical, radar, hyperspectral, and infrared satellites, is planned for launch by 2030, along with a variety of other remote-sensing satellites.

The next option would be an attack by cruise missiles launched from cargo containers on the decks of container ships or other vessels. The Chinese are developing such systems for launching YJ-18s, with the containers each evidently holding at least two missiles. China has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world (5,997 ships under Chinese registry as of 1 January 2023, along with several hundred other ships sailing under other registries), which means their ships can be spotted just about everywhere.

Another threat would see China take a page from the war in Ukraine: drones, most likely launched from the decks of container ships. While usually slower than cruise missiles, depending on the drone they have the advantage of being much cheaper, with longer range—the Sunflower 200 has a reported range up to 2,000 kilometers—and they can be used in swarms. Their warheads may be smaller than those of cruise missiles. For example, the Sunflower 200’s warhead is no heavier than 40 kilograms, while the warhead of the YJ-18 weighs up to 300 kg. But if one detonates near or on the VLS section of a warship, or near another magazine, the results would likely be catastrophic.

Beetle bombs can be launched in a variety of ways, including from ships in port or close offshore, from containers prepositioned near targets, or from individual people. They are likely to be especially effective against aircraft, air bases, and personnel. They can collide with aircraft to deliver undetonated explosives that would need to be disarmed. They can also crash or scatter scrap on runways to disrupt operations. They can be used against ships even unarmed, but if armed, depending on the amount and type of explosives they carry, these attacks could devastate.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/march/china-could-attack-pearl-harbor-and-west-coast

🇦🇷❌🇩🇪 — Argentine President Javier Milei has decided to open the state's secret archives containing documents about Nazi officials and employees who fled to Argentina after World War II

➡️ During a meeting at the Casa Rosada, Milei promised full cooperation from the Argentine government with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization founded by the renowned "Nazi hunter" that tracks individuals linked to Adolf Hitler's regime worldwide.

📝 The documents reportedly reveal the financing of the so-called "escape routes" used by Nazis to flee Europe after the Holocaust. Thousands of Nazis avoided justice after 1945 by using these routes. It is estimated that up to 10,000 war criminals found refuge in Argentina and other South American countries.

💥 Argentina sheltered around 5,000 Nazis, including one of the Holocaust’s masterminds, Adolf Eichmann, and the Auschwitz doctor, Josef Mengele. In 1948, Mengele escaped Europe with a false passport under the name Helmut Gregor.

⌛ Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, highlighted the speed with which Milei acted compared to previous governments. According to Cooper, the Argentine president is the first to move decisively to clarify the country’s relationship with the Nazis before, during, and after the Holocaust.

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🇨🇴🌿🇺🇳— Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia has requested that the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs remove the coca leaf from its list of prohibited substances.

➡️ The request was made during the 68th session of the commission in Vienna, Austria, where Sarabia argued that criminalizing the plant has been "ineffective" in combating drug trafficking and eradicating cocaine production.

➡️ Sarabia defended the coca leaf, the primary raw material for cocaine production, stating that it is "not harmful to health by itself" and that its removal from the list "would help promote the industrial use of the plant," allowing the Colombian government to "offer economic alternatives to farmers involved in growing the raw material for cocaine."

💥 The foreign minister also criticized the current approach to the war on drugs, arguing that despite billions being invested in repressive policies, drug trafficking continues to "finance criminal organizations and terrorist groups."

"Science will show that the coca leaf itself is not harmful to health. We will only be able to take it away from traffickers if we harness its potential for industrial uses, such as fertilizers and beverages.

The evidence is clear: drug trafficking has hindered our country's development, victimized millions of farmers, financed terrorist groups, and devastated essential ecosystems such as the Amazon."

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🇪🇺🇹🇷🇮🇱 - Turkey will block any new cooperation, including military drills, between Israel and NATO until a permanent ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

- Middle East Eye citing Turkish officials

🇵🇰❌🇵🇰❗️ — Iran-based & India-backed group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has hijacked an entire train from Jaffar Express in Pakistan's Balochistan province and has taken hundreds of passengers hostages.

At least 450 people are now under the Baloch insurgents hands

The baloch group is threatening to start executing hostages if Pakistani security forces launch an operation.

🇵🇭 Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested today by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police, who were serving an Interpol arrest warrant.

The warrant, handed down by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was issued for the actions taken by Duterte in back during his term that reportedly saw thousands of drug suspects killed with little to no due process.

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