🇺🇸💸 The US Congress has adopted an $880-billion draft defense budget for the 2024 fiscal year — with $800 million earmarked for Ukraine. US President Joe Biden will quickly ratify the bill, even though the sum is much less than the Biden administration initially wanted — $61 billion. Enough legislators in the House backed the $883.7 billion defense bill for the measure to pass.

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🇫🇮🇺🇸 Finland will give the US access to 15 of its military bases under a defense cooperation pact, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen stated.

Next week, the US and Finland are expected to sign the Defence Cooperation Agreement in Washington. Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported that the bases would host US ground forces, navy and air force personnel. The Finnish cabinet clarified that the agreement will be signed on December 18.

The agreement will provide the US with the access to and use of "the agreed facilities and areas; prepositioning of defence equipment, supplies and materiel in the territory of Finland; entry and movement of US aircraft, vessels and vehicles; ensuring the protection, safety, and security of US forces and the facilities and areas they use; criminal jurisdiction; and diverse practical matters related to the activities of US forces in the territory of Finland," the cabinet said in a statement.

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Asia remembers NATO’s colonial past, doesn’t want bloc back in the region

💬 “NATO is a collection of Western powers. All of them, every single country that's ever been a colonial power in Asia is a member of NATO. And when you look at the history of colonialism, particularly in Southeast Asia, but also of course in China, you got this historical fact that all of these countries have the experience of being dominated and colonized by European powers. It has been a major force in defining their sense of history and their sense of nationalism. And they're very reluctant to have the Western countries come back,” Dr. Shaun Narine, a professor of international relations and political science at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada, told Sputnik.

“The other factor is that very few countries in the world, in the Global South, actually trust NATO,” Dr. Narine said.

“Outside of Europe…NATO's activities have been in places like Afghanistan and Africa, and particularly its involvement in the Libya intervention in 2011. And when you look at what NATO did in Libya, there's nobody in Africa who's going to refer to NATO as a primarily defensive alliance. NATO is seen in Africa as being an example, an example of Western aggression, Western destabilization in Africa. And in much of the Global South there's a similar kind of idea.”

At his year-end press conference on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked what the so-called North Atlantic Alliance was doing poking its nose around Asia.

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🇪🇺 European leaders decided to begin negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on accession to the European Union, the head of the European Council said.

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❗️"The smart Western leaders will quietly and subtly abandon Zelensky now to avoid being left "holding the baby" and cleaning up the mess once the Zelensky Regime collapses."

📹 WATCH: Full breakdown of Putin’s big press conference with Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) and Sputnik’s Dimitri Simes junior.

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🇦🇺 Veteran Aussie diplomat recalls most striking moments from Putin’s presser

“The themes that most struck me about President Putin’s highly symbolic and content-rich international press conference in Moscow [included] his clear characterization of the Ukraine conflict as a civil war in which the Kiev regime, urged on and supported financially by the US, is throwing away Ukrainian soldiers’ lives on the front. The West used Ukraine as a weapon to try to undermine and weaken Russian sovereignty: it failed. Ukrainians have been the main victims,” retired Australian diplomat and Australian National University emeritus fellow Tony Kevin told Sputnik.

💬 “That US imperial policy is at the root of all problems in east-west relations, but that Russia is ready to engage constructively with any Western leaders when the latter come to their senses. For so long as the West behaves arrogantly and imperiously, Russia can manage well in the world without them,” Kevin added.

At his marathon year-end press conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the “huge tragedy” in Ukraine to a “civil war” in which “brothers find themselves on opposite sides.”

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🎥 FULL FOOTAGE: Vladimir Putin's Q&A session 'Results of the year'

All 67 questions to the President of Russia in one video!

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 Latest updates on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️The war against Hamas will take "more than several months," and Israel will win the fight, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

▪️The death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 18,787, with the number of injured reaching 50,897 people, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said

▪️Israel's flooding of tunnels in the Gaza Strip may have a long-term humanitarian impact; military operations should be conducted based on international law - UNHRC.

▪️Only the United States stands in the way between the massacre in the Gaza Strip and the ceasefire, Washington should not interfere with the implementation of UN decisions, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

▪️Putin says the possibility of opening a Russian hospital to help victims from Gaza was discussed with the Egyptian leader and the prime minister of Israel, but it is not yet safe.

▪️Russia will increase supplies of medical equipment and drugs to the Gaza Strip at Israel's request, Putin said.

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❗️"Russian tactics during the Special Military Operation were designed on saving the lives of Ukrainian civilians.

Today Putin declared that he could launch an Israel vs Gaza style bombardment of Ukrainians cities but he restrains the true capability of Russia's military might out of humanitarian compassion."

📹 WATCH: Full breakdown of Putin’s big press conference with Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) and Sputnik’s Dimitri Simes junior.

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❗️"Today Putin confirmed that the Russian military has occasionally voluntarily withdrawn its forces from areas under its control as part of a deliberate strategy."

⚡️Putin is playing chess. Zelensky is playing checkers.

📹 WATCH: Full breakdown of Putin’s big press conference with Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) and Sputnik’s Dimitri Simes junior.

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🌬Meat-eaters and non-electric car drivers used to top the list of public enemies for environmentalists. Now everyone who BREATHES gets the blame for climate change.

A new study, led by Dr Nicholas Cowan, an atmospheric physicist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh, claims the gases in air exhaled from human lungs is fueling global warming.

And that's not even accounting for the gas we release from burps and farts, or emissions that come from our skin without us noticing.

'Exhaled human breath can contain small, elevated concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which contribute to global warming,' Dr Cowan and colleagues say.

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❗️"Shockingly, it's actually Putin who cares more for the safety & welfare of Ukrainian civilians than Zelensky does."

📹 WATCH: Full breakdown of Putin’s big press conference with Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) and Sputnik’s Dimitri Simes junior.

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US Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly pushing Biden administration officials to show more sympathy for Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.

The vice president has already used more forceful rhetoric when speaking about civilian casualties than US President Joe Biden, but according to reports, she has been pushing for more.

The administration as a whole has been more forceful in its words, imploring Israel to change its tactics to minimize civilian casualties, but some Palestinian advocates insist the words must be backed with action. “Whether that’s been translated in terms of policy – I don’t think so,” Omar Rahman of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs told Arab media.

Last week, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Unless the White House threatens to withhold substantial amounts of weapons from Israel, Jerusalem is unlikely to take the administration’s verbal beratings seriously, human rights activist, labor attorney, and author Dan Kovalik told Sputnik.

“Biden’s words seem to be just words. He tells Netanyahu ‘please stop killing so many civilians and using these heavy bombs on the population’ - meanwhile, he sends them 2,000-pound bombs to drop on Gaza … he’s pushing for $14 billion in aid to Israel at this time to help them with the war effort, and he’s been trying to get rid of all limitations on Israel’s ability to tap into US weapons and ammunition reserves so they can keep up their fight,” Kovalik said.

“If he coupled his statements to and about Netanyahu with action, that would mean something and he could force Netanyahu’s hand if he withheld military assistance, but he’s not doing that."

Chinese and Vietnamese leaders penned three dozen agreements during a recent summit, pledging to increase security and intelligence cooperation with the intent of preventing a “color revolution” in either country by “hostile forces.”

The US has inserted itself into the maritime dispute between the two socialist states, trying to pry apart three decades of healing relations of the once-Cold War rivals.

“China would like to step up multilateral cooperation with Vietnam … increase the voice and influence of developing countries in international affairs,” Xi told Nguyen Phu Trong, head of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who replied that Hanoi saw improving China-Vietnam relations as a top priority while reaffirming Hanoi would not harness its chariot to another nation’s steed.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 The US will eventually need more than 100 next-generation B-21 stealth bombers in order to deter both Russia and China, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said.

💬 "Today, we're talking about purchasing 100 of them; that's a down payment only. There is no way that we can look at challenging or at least being able to deter both Russia and China unless we substantially increase the number of B-21s that we’re looking at purchasing," Rounds said at a Hudson Institute talk.

He noted that the B-21 can be refueled, plus the bombers can loiter in the area, and carry conventional and nuclear weapons while having long-range capabilities – key features for the US to fight either "near-peer" rival in the Pacific theater. Russia and China currently do not have defensive capabilities against the B-21, the senator added.

Rounds added that the US wanted peace, but to achieve it, it needed the B-21 as a "hammer" for deterrence.

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🇷🇸 The conflict in Ukraine will be long, because no one in the world has made a peace proposal that will be acceptable for all sides, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Sputnik.

“If you look at the situation in Ukraine, it is clear that Russia cannot be defeated in the war. I think this is already clear to everyone. I'm talking about facts, and not about biases, rooting for one side or the other. Since this is the case, a solution must be found. But no one knows how to find a solution. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin doesn't know how, the Americans don't know how," Vucic said.

The sides of the conflict are trying to find a way how to stop it, according to the Serbian president.

💬 “But now this is impossible, because stakes have been raised to such a level that the slightest concession will look like a betrayal and surrender of national interests, whether we are talking about Ukrainians or Russians," Vucic said.

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🇷🇺 Putin 'Most Visible Figure in World Politics for Many Years': Experts on Russian Leader's Speech

Russian President Putin's speech at this Thursday's "Results of the Year with Vladimir Putin" Q&A session and presser aroused interest in the media around the world. The leader elaborated on numerous key issues of international relations, including dedollarization, BRICS' and Russia's role in the world arena, the Ukrainian crisis, and others.

"I think Vladimir Putin is the most visible, most famous and acclaimed figure in world politics for many years, because the world has suffered a lot. I am talking primarily about the Third World countries, Africa, the Arab-Muslim world and Latin America," Riadh Sidaoui, a Swiss writer and political scientist of Tunisian origin, told Sputnik Africa.

👉 Read the full story

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 Israel's flooding of Palestinian armed group Hamas's underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip with seawater may have long-term humanitarian consequences, UN Human Rights Council spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told Sputnik, adding that any military operation must be conducted in accordance with international law.

The spokesperson also said that any military attack "must be justified in terms of military necessity, precaution and proportionality" and should not cause excessive damage and harm to civilians or civilian objects.

"Neither may an attack render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, nor be used where widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment may be expected to be caused," Laurence added.

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