🇫🇷🇷🇺 French President Emmanuel Macron said he is ready to resume dialogue with Vladimir Putin

"If President Putin has serious proposals and is ready to resume a dialogue that will allow for a peaceful settlement while respecting international law, France will always be a power that will provide support and will spare no effort to achieve a result," Macron said. - “My phone number has not changed.”

Earlier, Putin said that Russia is ready to continue to cooperate with France, adding that there were good working relations with Macron, but he ended them.

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😏 What flies at 6,100 kilometers per hour, can twist and turn in flight, and is very difficult to catch?

It's the latest development in military technology: hypersonic missiles.

🎞 Watch the video with our AI-presenter Nika to learn more about hypersonic missiles, their capabilities, and whether it is possible to stop those deadly birds.

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🏦 Hersh: West Bank crisis is fraught with risk of new regional war

The biggest dispute between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government is not Tel Aviv's Gaza War and mounting civilian casualties in the strip, but the emerging West Bank crisis, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has written on his Substack blog.

Quoting a US official familiar with the matter, Hersh noted that hardliners in the Netanyahu government are cracking down on the Palestinian Authority (PA), which still governs the West Bank where Israeli settlers – "openly supported by the IDF" – are clashing with the Palestinian population.

Israeli officials are said to be irritated by Biden's warnings over the West Bank and want carte blanche to do whatever they want in the region. These clashes are complicating Israel’s efforts to create favorable conditions in the post-war Gaza Strip and risk a wider regional war, according to Hersh's source.

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🇭🇺🇪🇺 Hungary’s Orban has plenty of reasons to reject Ukraine’s geopolitical EU membership push

“In the first category, [Hungary holds] the European Commission to its own ‘rules driven order.’ Namely, Ukraine was already given seven requirements of things to fix in its government and society, such as fighting corruption. Viktor Orban points out that the country has fixed only 3 of the 7 essential tasks, so it is appropriate to postpone consideration of its membership until all EU demands are met,” international affairs observer Gilbert Doctorow told Sputnik.

💬 “The unofficial reasons lie elsewhere,” Doctorow said. “Among them are Hungary's anger over the mistreatment of the Magyar-speaking minority in the West of Ukraine in what were once Hungarian territories; also the threat of economic damage to Hungary from Ukraine's much cheaper agricultural produce.”

As for Ukraine’s EU candidate status, it “does not really mean anything serious,” according to Mysl Polska newspaper columnist Mateusz Piskorski. “Turkiye’s prime minister has said as much, and as everyone knows, that country has been negotiating accession to the EU for more than 40 years, but still has no prospect to join,” Piskorski pointed out. In Ukraine’s case, talk of membership amounts to a “beautiful promise” instead of the money Kiev wants, the journalist said.

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❓Have you seen our fresh episode of the New Rules podcast?

👆Here is a quick peek on what our host Dimitri Simes Jr. discussed with Scott Ritter.

Make sure to subscribe on our X official page to follow our work and watch exclusive content!

🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin says the 2024 presidential campaign in Russia must take place in accordance with the law, and that any outside interference must be suppressed.

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

▪️EU leaders have failed to agree on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at the European Council meeting in Brussels, European Council President Charles Michel said.

▪️Israel has temporarily allowed trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and their unloading on the territory of the enclave due to the limited capacity of the Rafah checkpoint, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister said.

▪️The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is tracking Hamas leaders outside of Gaza and will assassinate all of them once the last hostage held in the Palestinian enclave is back on Israeli soil, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported citing a US official.

▪️Israel has told the US that the current phase of its military operation against Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip should be completed in the coming two to three weeks, CBS News reported, citing US officials.

▪️The US does not believe it makes sense for Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip for the long term, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

▪️The US believes the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) needs to be revamped and revitalized to better represent the Palestinian people, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

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🪖 The number of Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered in the special military operation zone has increased considerably recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“Work is underway on the exchange of prisoners. By the way, I want to inform you that recently the number of Ukrainian troops surrendering as prisoners of war has sharply increased,” Putin said during a meeting with leaders of parliamentary factions.

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💸 The West is making new attempts to strangle the Russian economy: the US and EU are introducing new sanctions one package after another, and Japan is not lagging behind them, expanding its sanctions policy towards Moscow. However, the Russian economy is not falling apart, but growing. Why is this happening?

🎞 Watch our video to find out

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🇨🇳⚓️ China launches fourth Type 075 amphibious assault ship

China unveiled on December 14 its fourth Type 075 universal amphibious assault ship, boosting naval capabilities amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Yet to be officially named, the ship with a length of up to 250 meters and a displacement of 36,000 tons — rivalling US counterparts — has been moved out of dry dock and is now on the outfitting quay for remaining work. The unexpected addition to the Type 075 calss, despite initial reports suggesting a three-ship limit, hints at the possibility of more units in the future.

The move comes amidst increased US military activity in the region, including deploying drone ships and military spending hikes under the Pentagon's "Pacific Deterrence Initiative" — prompting China to enhance military spending.

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According to a poll by the Rand Corporation, 54.4% of Americans would discourage a young person they're close to from joining the US military.

The poll comes as most branches, including the Army, Navy and Air Force, failed to meet their recruiting goals in 2023, and after instituting a large number of reforms in an attempt to raise their numbers.

The study also showed that despite their hesitancy to recommend military service, most Americans still hold overwhelmingly positive views of veterans.

Additionally, a large majority, 61.2%, said they would recommend a young person close to them join an officer program, either through a military academy or the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

🇺🇸🇫🇮 Why US troops in Finland will make Nordic nation less safe

“Mutual deterrence is fraught with the constant underestimation or overestimation of threats, requires a huge infusion of resources into the military sphere that could be useful in other places, and most importantly, creates conditions for escalation, including unintentional escalation, simply by virtue of very powerful armed forces saturated with various weapons being mobilized and standing opposite one another,” Institute of World Economy and International relations security analyst and researcher Dmitry Stefanovich told Sputnik, referring to the new theater of tensions between Russia and NATO in Europe.

The Finnish-US Defense Cooperation Agreement, expected to be formally signed on December 18 by Finland’s cabinet, sparked alarm in the Kremlin on Friday, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it “will certainly lead” to increased tensions and “pose a threat” to Moscow.

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🌐 Non-Western countries, representing the world's majority, support Russia's intention as BRICS chair to work on a just world, Chinese expert says

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country's work under its BRICS presidency will be devoted to fair world order.

Reflecting on this statement, Wan Qingsun, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at East China Pedagogical University, said that it "means that Russia not only intends to move firmly towards building a just world order, but it has also become an expression of the general opinion of non-Western countries that make up the majority on the planet."

"From a realistic point of view, the rise of the group of new economic powers and emerging economies represented by the BRICS has already become an irreversible trend, despite periodic setbacks and difficulties," he added.

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🇺🇸 The US Air Force's Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, initially estimated to cost $96 billion, is now facing significant potential cuts

Cost overruns could see the cost of each missile rise by up to 50 percent from the 2020 estimate of $118 million, not adjusted for inflation.

That may trigger an official review under a 41-year-old law, potentially leading to the program's termination. The revised total cost for the planned 659 missiles could approach nearly $117 billion.

The Sentinel program, managed by aerospace firm Northrop Grumman, is designed to modernize the US nuclear triad by replacing the old Minuteman III missiles first deployed in the 1970s. The program enjoys broad support from Congress — but there are concerns about rising costs.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

🇵🇸 Al Jazeera has reported the death of its cameraman Samer Abu Dhaki as a result of an IDF air strike on a school in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Abu Dhaki died five hours after from loss of blood being wounded, as the Israeli military did not allow doctors to reach him, the channel said in a statement.

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🇬🇧 UK official humiliates Ukraine, rejects plea for scrapheap-destined vehicles

London’s mayor has rejected a request from his Ukrainian counterpart to have cars destined for the scrapheap under ULEZ sent to the Kiev regime.

Sadiq Khan cited a legal quirk in his letter to Vitali Klitschko when explaining why he would not let Ukraine have the pick-up trucks and 4x4s, as per The Telegraph.

Khan said the proposal did not comply with a “legal threshold” that requires the ULEZ scheme to benefit London's residents from an “economic, social and environmental perspective.”

Under ULEZ, London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone, vehicle owners can claim a one-off payment to a tune of £2,000 ($2,537) if they scrap a car failing to comply with the pollution levy.

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🇭🇺 Hungary will be able to veto accession talks between the EU and Ukraine when they are real and not hypothetical, as now, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

“I think we made the best decision. We do not take part in this decision, we are not responsible for it and we also free ourselves from the consequences,” Szijjarto said in an interview with the Mandiner portal.

He said resorting to veto would be expedient “if, during preparation for real, and not hypothetical, as now, talks, Brussels wants to impose something unfavorable for us.”

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Lotus blooming: Russian Airborne Troops to receive new self-propelled artillery 

The development of Russia's new Lotus self-propelled artillery system for the airborne troops has reached the finish line, and state tests are pending, after which it will be put into service.

In the conditions of active use of drones and anti-battery radars, the mobility of artillery equipment is of paramount importance. Its survival depends on how fast the self-propelled artillery can leave its position. The Lotus is fast, with its 2B-06-2 diesel engine producing 450 hp, which accelerates the self-propelled vehicle to 70 km/h on roads and up to 40 km/h on rough terrain. The range is 500 kilometers, which is very good for a vehicle of that weight. 

The conversion time from marching to combat position is 30 seconds, its range is 13 kilometers, and its rate of fire ranges from six to eight rounds per minute.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

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