European states skimping on NATO dues shows they do not believe in ‘Russian menace’

US presidential candidate and former POTUS Donald Trump did not really suggest that the United States would leave NATO members who are not paying their dues to fend for themselves if they come under attack, says Earl Rasmussen, retired US Army lieutenant colonel and international consultant.

“He's sending a message that he has concerns as far as people not providing them. The last time he was in office, he was able to get a lot of countries to actually increase their contributions. And he does not feel that the United States should carry the bulk of the burden for NATO, and I would agree with him on that,” he explains.

As Rasmussen points out, the fact that some NATO countries in Europe skimp on their defensive spending basically suggests they do not believe they are facing a threat that requires the protection provided by the military bloc.

“President Putin pointed out recently in his interview with Tucker Carlson, no, it would be insane to attack a NATO country unless they attack them. That's another story. So most countries realize that their security really is not threatened, no matter what they're telling their public, no matter what the politicians are saying,” Rasmussen notes.

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🇷🇺📈 The Russian economy is on a positive growth trajectory and is developing better than expected, the IMF said.

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Western drug trials in Ukraine: bioweapon research in bed with 'Big Pharma'

The Donbass city of Mariupol, where evidence of Western pharmaceutical companies testing drugs on psychiatric ward patients was recently found, was the perfect place to conduct such activities while under Ukraine’s jurisdiction, says Jeff J. Brown, co-founder and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission and author of The China Trilogy.

“This city was under Ukrainian, meaning NATO control, and had over 400,000 inhabitants, so it offered a concentration of hospitals, laboratories and convenient regional flight connections, to more easily coordinate the West’s bioweapon programs across Europe,” Brown notes.

According to him, the “West’s bioweapon development and use around the world is intimately interconnected with Big Pharma, vaccines and the military,” and Ukraine since 2005 “has become a hub for these four facets to merge.”

“Since the destruction of the USSR by the West starting in 1990, Ukraine has become ground central for the West’s global crime cartels: organ harvesting, arms and child/human trafficking, money laundering, prostitution, torture, illegal drug experiments and neo-Nazism. They are all part of a seamless whole and with Ukraine being one of the most corrupt places on earth, there is plenty of local collusion,” Brown notes.

As such, he argues that the West is “committing bioweapons-Big Pharma-vaccine-military crimes against humanity since the end of WWII, and continues to do so with impunity.” Nonetheless, no legal repercussions await the culprits “until the collapse of the West, when the global majority can finally have truth and reconciliation tribunals and a Nuremberg 2.0,” Brown warns.

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President Joe Biden is not mentally fit to serve as US president and his reelection may put US national security at risk through the weaponization of the justice system and engagement of the US in multiple wars, US Senate candidate Michael Hoover's spokesperson told Sputnik.

"American sovereignty, independence and national security is at stake," Hoover campaign spokesperson Hannah Ellithorpe said about the upcoming presidential election. "We have an invasion occurring across our borders, the weaponization of our justice system, and Biden has us engaged in multiple wars."

Ellithorpe added that Biden is "mentally not fit" to serve as US president.

Last week, US Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report on his investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, in which he cited several instances of Biden forgetting key dates in his life and career, including his time serving as US vice president and the date of the death of his son Beau Biden.

Following the release of the report, Biden delivered a speech defending his memory, but subsequently mixed up Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as the leader of Mexico and became upset after reporters questioned whether his memory had gotten worse with age.

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US President Joe Biden told reporters that the US is working on an Israel-Hamas hostage deal that would include up to six weeks of calm in Gaza.

“As the King [Abdullah II of Jordan] and I discussed today, the United States is working on a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, which would bring an immediate and sustained period of calm to Gaza for at least six weeks, which we could then take the time to build something more enduring,” Biden said on Monday during a joint press conference with the monarch.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said that the separation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank cannot be accepted.

“The separation of the West Bank and Gaza can not be accepted,” the King told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Previously, Biden cautioned PM Benjamin Netanyahu against a military operation in the city of Rafah if that operation did not include the evacuation of civilians in the area.

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Democratic congressmen want to fight Russia to 'the last Ukrainian drop of blood', US Senator J.D. Vance said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

“Everyone knows that this war will lead to the destruction of Ukraine,” Vance said on Monday. “I’ve had conversations with Democratic colleagues where they get this sort of dark look in their eyes, and they say, effectively, that they want to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian drop of blood.”

Later on Monday, the US Senate will consider further measures to advance a $95 billion supplemental funding bill, which includes approximately $60 billion in aid for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.

Now is the best opportunity for senators to block the bill, Vance said. The US House of Representatives will also have an opportunity to improve or block the legislation, Vance said.

Earlier on Monday, Vance sent a memo to Senate Republicans, contending that the legislation could allow Democrats to attempt to impeach Donald Trump if he is reelected in 2024 and tries to end the conflict in Ukraine.

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A group of Republican US Senators began filibustering on the Senate floor on Monday, amid disagreements over a $95 billion supplemental funding bill with aid for Ukraine and Israel.

"Talking filibuster begins in earnest this afternoon," Paul said in a statement via social media platform X.

Later on Monday, the US Senate will consider further procedural motions to advance the legislation, which includes approximately $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.

Senators were able to speak for one hour each on the floor, delaying consideration of the bill. Senators Paul, Mike Lee, and J.D. Vance have delivered remarks in opposition to the legislation. Senator Thom Tillis also delivered a speech blaming his Republican colleagues for holding up an agreement to unlock amendment votes.

Earlier on Monday, Vance sent a memo to Senate Republicans, contending that the bill could allow Democrats to attempt to impeach Donald Trump in 2024, if he is reelected and attempts to end the conflict in Ukraine.

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❗️ LIVE: Russian Progress MS-24 cargo ship departs from International Space Station

The Progress MS-24 is scheduled to be deorbited after undocking from the ISSC, causing it to enter the atmosphere and disintegrate. Its place on the station will be taken by Progress MS-26, which is scheduled for launch on February 15.

WATCH the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website for more details

Israel’s actions in Rafah will “complicate the situation for Israel enormously” while even its staunchest ally, the United States, has expressed concerns publicly about the operation, Dr. Hasan Unal, a professor of political science and international relations at Baskent University in Turkiye, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

“In Bosnia [...] when the Western channels [started] broadcasting all the ugly pictures coming, streaming out of Bosnia, which in the end was recognized [...] by the international court as genocide. [...] the public began to clamor for action by their governments.

“There's a growing risk [that Biden could pay] quite a big price for [his] unconditional support to Israel,” he added.

Unal said the situation requires a cease-fire and a two state solution, but said that will be difficult under Netanyahu’s government and with the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

“[Israel] would have to take out many of the settler groups that have been, basically, sprawled around the West Bank and so forth. How are they going to create [a] viable corridor between Gaza and the West Bank territories in another question.”

While the prospects for peace are “quite bleak,” Unal noted that the October 7 attack put the conflict “onto the world radar quite firmly” and that the situation is “not sustainable” for Israel.

Read more in the full article

The US Senate moved closer to the final passage of a $95 billion supplemental funding bill with aid for Ukraine and Israel after officially attaching the foreign aid to a legislative vehicle and ending debate on the bill.

Senators on Monday night adopted the foreign aid package as an amendment to an unrelated bill in a vote of 66-33. The legislation includes approximately $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.

The Senate then invoked cloture on the bill, which limits debate, in another vote of 66-33, setting up the legislation for a possible final vote as early as Wednesday.
Earlier on Monday, US Senator J.D. Vance sent a memo to fellow Senate Republicans, contending that the legislation could allow Democrats to attempt to impeach Donald Trump if he is reelected in 2024 and attempts to end the conflict in Ukraine.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he will not bring the Senate's $95 billion foreign aid bill to the House floor for consideration if it reaches the lower chamber.

"In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters," Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said the Senate's foreign aid bill fails to address the United States' most pressing issue: border security. The House Speaker added that the Senate should have pushed to include meaningful border security measures in the $95 billion foreign aid bill, which includes approximately $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel and additional funding to address US national security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Senate could pass the foreign aid bill as early as Wednesday.

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Lidia Trofimova, a resident of Mariupol, born in 1978, died after being treated for arthritis with untested foreign drugs at Mariupol Hospital No. 7, her son Mikhail Trofimov told Sputnik

In this hospital those drugs were tested on patients for research in the interests of Western pharmaceutical companies, revealed documents seen by Sputnik.

The “Biden administration is in real trouble,” and that “the ground is shifting beneath Biden’s feet,” following the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report and Biden’s subsequent disastrous press conference, independent journalist and author Dan Lazare told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown.

Recently, cracks have begun to show in Biden’s support structures, hinting that some may be pushing for a change.

The New York Times editorial board released its opinion that Biden “needs to do more to show the public that he is capable of holding office until age 86” when his potential second term would end. It called on him to “hold regular news conferences” and said it looks like he is hiding “or worse, being hidden.”

Lazare argued that is impossible for the Biden campaign. “Biden cannot go on that kind of tour,” he said. “He can't sit down with Hannity or go on Fox News or do anything like that because he'll only make things worse.[...] It’ll become completely clear that he doesn’t know what’s going on around him.”

Read more in the full article, including how Lazare believes Republicans should handle Biden’s condition.

Scott Ritter: Tucker-Putin interview shows Americans are ‘hungry for information’ from Russia

Despite condemnation from the mainstream media, the interview quickly gained hundreds of millions of views across multiple platforms.

“They are worried about the consequences of condemning Russia out of hand and rushing to a war based upon words Russia is not allowed to say for us to consider,” Ritter, former US Marines Corps intelligence officer and author, told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour.

“[Putin’s] words are resonating because [Americans are] going, ‘Wait a minute. I was told that this guy is the personification of evil. I was told he doesn't want a negotiated settlement. I was told that he deliberately invaded, that he wants to invade NATO,’” Ritter explained. “And [Putin is] saying that he is more than happy to sit down at the table and talk if anybody will talk, that the problem here isn't Putin, the problem is the United States [...] and the light bulb is going off around America.”

Ritter said he hopes a future US President will recognize the service Carlson did for the world and “[bring] him to the White House and put the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck.”

Read more in the full article

Tucker Carlson tried on a Buryat* "Dagel" costume at the "Russia" exhibition, said the Republic of Buryatia head Alexey Tsydenov. According to him, the journalist visited the republic's stand on February 5.

*The Buryats are an indigenous people of Eastern Siberia in Russia.

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US Senator Josh Hawley unleashes on the pro-Ukrainian political establishment:

"Tonight, the Senate gives the middle finger to Middle America: endless money for Ukraine - but nothing for Americans poisoned by their own government."

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Further support from the West for the Ukrainian military only means more dead Ukrainians, Tucker Carlson, ex-Fox News anchor, commented on the West's financial support for Ukraine and its consequences for both sides.

"Ukraine cannot win its war against Russia… Ukraine doesn’t have the industrial capacity, neither does NATO or the United States, and it doesn’t have the people," Carlson said.

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Zelensky plans to visit Germany, France to ask for more military aid. Again

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may visit Berlin, Munich and Paris later this week to lobby for additional military aid for Kiev amid the Ukraine funding fracas in the US Senate, sources told Bloomberg.

This will be the Ukrainian leader's second Western European tour since the start of Russia's special military operation, a trip aimed at begging for money from EU members currently going through economic malaise.

The sources added that with ammunition supplies dwindling, Zelensky must "needs to make the case for [the West’s] faster military aid to push back" against the advancing Russian forces.

One of the sources suggested that the Ukrainian leader is likely to push for talks on security guarantees during possible meetings with EU leaders.

Earlier this month, EU members agreed to send 50 billion more euros ($53 billion) to Ukraine, a deal that came against the backdrop of attempts by a group of Republicans in the US Senate to thwart Washington's efforts to approve an additional $60 billion in aid to Kiev.

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