Iran connects to Russia's Mir payment system: Why it matters

Russia's Mir and Iran's Shetab payment systems have officially been linked at a ceremony in Tehran, enabling Iranians to use their Shetab cards in Russia now, while Russian citizens will soon be able to use their Mir cards at ATMs in Iran.

Russia's financial system, touted by President Vladimir Putin as "absolutely healthy," now spans the globe. Which countries support it?

▪️Today, Mir cards can be used in 12 countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, as well as Cuba, Laos, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

▪️Eight other countries are considering joining the payment system: Indonesia, Egypt, Thailand, India, Nicaragua, Mauritius, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

When it comes to Iran becoming another country where the use of the Mir platform is allowed, “it will make financial cooperation between Russia and Iran smoother and more efficient through the instant conversion and transfer of their currencies,” Paul Goncharoff, veteran financial analyst and general director of consulting firm Goncharoff LCC, tells Sputnik.

Globally, there are other countries that “want the freedom to choose their own path to economic development and find themselves in close cooperation to develop and then integrate usable payment systems using their national currencies,” he adds.

“There is still ‘the Global South’, and a host of countries such as those participating in BRICS, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), and MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) [among others], with plans to connect financially to one or another degree over the coming few years,” Goncharoff concludes.

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Is Trump on the same page as BlackRock and other Wall Street behemoths?

Wall Street appears to be eager to capitalize on Donald Trump’s win: the Big Three - BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street - were unfazed by the possibility of his victory and remain optimistic post-election, forecasting market growth, a tech and crypto surge, and a stronger dollar under Trump.

Moreover, Trump appears to be on the same page as BlackRock with regard to crypto-currency even though he was previously skeptical about it. While on the campaign trail, Trump promised to turn the US into "the crypto capital of the world". He also announced changes in government with regard to crypto and suggested creating a strategic Bitcoin stockpile.

Coincidentally, BlackRock launched its iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) on January 11, whose trust quickly grew into the world's largest fund. The firm has been making headlines this year for its aggressive accumulation of crypto-currency assets.

Crypto-currencies, especially Bitcoin, shot up in value on the news that Trump won. Needless to say, BlackRock benefitted from the development.

In October, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink signaled to investors that Trump would be fine for Wall Street. "I’m tired of hearing this is the biggest election in your lifetime," Fink stated at an October 21 conference, as quoted by The Financial Times. "The reality is over time it doesn’t matter." He stressed that the world's largest asset management firm "work[s] with both administrations and are having conversations with both candidates."

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THROWBACK: Donald Trump called Marco Rubio a “perfect little puppet” of pro-Israel mega donor Sheldon Adelson back in 2015.

Nine years later, Rubio is reportedly the front runner to become Trump’s Secretary of State. Sheldon Adelson’s widow, Miriam, was one of Trump’s biggest donors during the 2024 election.

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What do Trump's foreign policy picks mean for Ukraine and Israel? Part 1 👉 Part 2

US President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Mike Waltz as national security advisor, two top foreign policy positions.

What is known about the candidates and what's their stance on ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East?

Marco Rubio, 53, is a Republican senator and lawyer. He is called a "hawk" by US media.

▪️The politician says that Ukraine should focus on a peace settlement rather than gaining back land, or the country will be "set back 100 years" if the military actions continue. “I'm not on Russia’s side – but unfortunately, the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement," Rubio told NBC in September.

▪️His stance has changed over the years: in 2022, he called for support for the Kiev regime in the US: "I think it’s important just to rally support for Ukraine here in America," he told journalists. He lambasted those American politicians who doubted Ukraine's readiness to join NATO, saying in March 2022 that they "either don’t know what they are talking about or are lying."

▪️Rubio has long been a strong Israel supporter. He opposed a ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel needs to "destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on". In October, he called for "the reimposition of a maximum pressure campaign against Iran" and supported Tel Aviv's strikes against Iran. "[I] fully support Israel’s right to respond disproportionately to stop this threat. The United States will continue to stand with Israel," he stated on October 1.

▪️Nonetheless, in February and April, Rubio voted against a $95 billion foreign aid package to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, arguing that the US southern border should be secured first.

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What do Trump's foreign policy picks mean for Ukraine and Israel? Part 2 👉 Part 1

Mike Waltz, 50, is a Republican congressman, former Green Beret, former policy adviser in the George W. Bush administration and ex-CEO of defense contractor Metis Solutions that earned millions during the US occupation of Afghanistan. Commenting on Waltz's possible appointment, CNN drew attention to his similarity with Mike Pompeo in terms of his foreign policy stance.

▪️Waltz currently supports a negotiated conflict settlement in Ukraine by twisting Moscow's arm and enforcing new energy sanctions against Russia in a bid to undermine its economy. "We have leverage, like taking the handcuffs off of the long-range weapons we provided Ukraine as well," Waltz told the US press last week.

▪️At the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Waltz advocated for Ukraine's militarization. "Zelensky needs more ammo NOW!" he tweeted at the time, chastising the Biden administration for delays. In September 2023, he stated in his op-ed that the era of Ukraine’s blank check from Congress was over: "Stopping Russia before it draws NATO and therefore the US into war is the right thing to do. But the burden cannot continue to be solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a pass."

▪️Waltz has repeatedly expressed skepticism about Israel-Hamas ceasefire plans and advocated for cracking down on Iran and its so-called Axis of Resistance, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and Shia militias. "Biden and Harris have sold themselves is that once we get to a cease-fire and the hostages are released, which we all want, that everything will be fine. Iran will continue to stoke unrest," Waltz claimed while speaking to Fox News in September.

▪️In October, he proposed that Israel should attack Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz in response to Tehran's strike.

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Threats to provide Ukraine with German cruise missiles are merely ‘paper tiger' moves Germany's

CDU party leader Friedrich Merz, who seeks to become the country's new chancellor, has boasted that, if he gets the job, he would present Russia with an ultimatum: cease all combat operations in the Ukrainian conflict zone in 24 hours or Kiev gets German Taurus cruise missiles along with permission to use them to strike deep into Russian territory.

Merz’s bellicose rhetoric seems to be a product of the current political instability in Germany where the ruling coalition collapsed amid a “deep economic recession” and the loss of “residual hopes of good transatlantic relations” due to Donald Trump’s victory in the US election, says Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels.

“Merz understands that the heavyweights of Germany are the financial-industrial conglomerates who are openly against the war against Russia in Ukraine and the crazy sanctions against Russia and China. However, Merz must appease the war-minded Green [Party] who are also ideologically anti-Russian and anti-Chinese, to embark them in a possible government coalition,” he explains.

However, forming a new government might necessitate forming a coalition with the SPD, who, Raffone points out, “would not support Merz’s intent to lift restrictions on long-range armaments supplied to Ukraine and even less the idea of issuing an ultimatum to Russia.”

“Merz’s harsh rhetoric is a paper tiger – a desperate attempt to have a role in Ukraine after Trump’s win - that would probably also irritate the new US administration that has signaled the intention to de-escalate the confrontation,” the analyst remarks.

NATO support of Merz’s ultimatum initiative also seems unlikely as it would require unanimous approval of the military bloc’s members who would probably first wait for the United States, their “real ‘tutor’,” to weigh in on the matter.

“Trump (as also his predecessors and some EU leaders) is not a fan of NATO playing any direct concrete role in the war or post-war in Ukraine. Even Poland, that is genetically anti-Russian, would be very careful to support any Ukrainian capacity to strike inside Russia with West-provided missiles,” Raffone suggests.

He also warns that, with all the serious “domestic confusion” in Germany, “anything that any German leader says may just be reversed in the blink of an eye.”

“Moreover, the US, that is still occupying Germany with military bases and personnel and nuclear capacities, would not like to be dragged in any direct military confrontation with Russia,” Raffone adds. “None of the EU countries can be taken seriously without the consent of the US.”

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EU now has two choices: New arms race or mend fences with Russia – Swedish military veteran

"After Trump's victory, European leaders no longer can rely on a secure US backing and only have two choices, either rapprochement and resumption of good neighborly towards Russia or continued belligerence with its following an arms race and risk for escalation," Mikael Valtersson, former Swedish military officer and ex-chief of staff with the Sweden Democrats, tells Sputnik.

"Unfortunately most of the European leaders are supporting the second alternative."

The European Commission may redirect some €392 billion ($416 billion) from the 2021-2027 cohesion funds to support their defense industries and military mobility projects, The Financial Times reported on November 11. The reason behind that is that the Ukraine conflict and Trump's return to the White House are likely to impose pressure on the EU to boost defense investments, according to the newspaper.

Many in the bloc would love to become more independent from the US in terms of defense, but it would require gargantuan military budgets which European countries are unable to afford, Valtersson argues.

"Without the US the EU has very limited power projection capabilities and even less nuclear deterrence capability," he explains. "Building and keeping a strong nuclear capability will be extremely expensive for the limited European defense budgets."

A possible way out is a shift from the expensive militarization and growing dependence on the US to resuming working relations with Russia, the pundit alleges. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called for discussing common European security for all.

"A wise European policy in this environment would be to seek better relations with Russia," Valtersson says. "Better relations with Russia is also a sentiment with growing support among the European population. It's not improbable that several new governments will be elected in the next years that will share the will of a rapprochement with Russia."

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Houthis say they attacked US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, from which a presumed attack on Yemen was being planned

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West forces ‘green agenda’ upon developing countries for own political and economic gain – analyst

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) announced that it had reached an agreement on the standards for the UN-led carbon credit market that essentially amounts to buying and selling permissions for carbon emissions this November 12.

While this initiative is touted as an effort to stave off the threat of climate change and to tackle the issue of carbon emissions, not all environmental initiatives championed by the West are as benign as they may seem at first glance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that Western powers that long have polluted Earth’s atmosphere with their industries are now trying to force their so-called green agenda on Russia, effectively trying to wield said agenda as an instrument of neocolonialism.

Putin’s concerns were echoed by Come Carpentier de Gourdon, a geopolitical analyst and the convener of the editorial board of World Affairs journal, who observed that “most countries, particularly developing countries, do face increasing pressure from the more influential powers in the name of making the world a better place by cutting down on pollution.”

While calls to cut down carbon emissions and the like may seem reasonable in principle, de Gourdon notes, they are often being used by the West in pursuit of “economic and strategic” goals such as stymying the “growth rate of countries that need to improve their living standards.”

Western powers, who “for very long used methods for acquiring wealth, which where only in their own interest,” often do not provide “viable alternatives” to countries that are supposed to adhere to the green agenda, de Gourdon laments.

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THROWBACK: Putin says developed countries conjures green agenda to retard progress of emerging economies

"These so-called green barriers that some countries have rolled out for developing states and emerging markets are just a new tool they conjured up to hold back the progress [of these countries]," Vladimir Putin stressed.

Russia's President added that developed economies introduce new regulations that developing states cannot comply with; as a result, they cannot compete with these economies.

"After all, the responsibility for the accumulated emissions in the atmosphere lies with industrially developed countries. They should take on the greatest burden to solve this problem. There’s just no other way," he concluded.

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THROWBACK: Trump calls Dems' green agenda ‘scam’

"They want our army tanks to be all electric so that when we go into enemy territory, blasting the hell out of everybody, we do it in an environmentally friendly way," the US president-elect said.

Trump is a known fierce opponent of the green agenda pushed by the Democrats, especially Kamala Harris, who just lost the US presidential election.

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Donald Trump has appointed Rep. Mike Waltz as national security advisor in his cabinet.

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FBI and DoJ staff anticipate shake-up following Trump's comeback

US Justice Department and FBI employees fear widespread "housecleaning" as Donald Trump’s White House return looms, with the agency brass reportedly "stunned" and "shell-shocked," CNN and The Washington Times have reported.

"Thankfully, 2024 isn't 2016," Techno Fog, a nom de plume for a lawyer, blogger and popular legal observer on X, tells Sputnik.

"Trump won't be caught off-guard this time by a secret operation targeting his administration - the illegal wiretaps, the lies to the FISA court - that we saw in Trump's first term. And FBI leadership, by now, hopefully knows better. [FBI Director Christopher] Wray isn't perfect, and he has made plenty of mistakes, but he is not as deceitful and prone to abuse his power as former FBI Director James Comey."

The lawyer hopes the long overdue overhaul in the FBI will start after Trump's inauguration.

Similarly, there won’t be the weaponization of the Justice Department that one saw in 2016, the pundit continued.

"Special Counsel Jack Smith's 'election interference' case against Trump, which is pending in Washington, DC, will likely be dismissed," Techno Fog says.

"Last week, after Trump's election, Smith asked the court to vacate the briefing schedule so that the Department of Justice could 'determine the appropriate course going forward' given the DoJ's policy to not seek to continue the criminal case against a president. The court granted that request and vacated the briefing schedule and all deadlines in the pretrial schedule."

That doesn't mean, however, that Trump has become immune to deep state interference, according to the lawyer.

"The deep state may push back on parts of Trump's policies that it finds disagreeable, especially when it comes to foreign policy," the pundit concludes.

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🤡 UK could deploy troops to Ukraine if US reduces support – Boris Johnson

The United Kingdom might send troops to Ukraine if US President-elect Donald Trump reduces funding for Kiev, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated in an interview with GB News.

Johnson proclaimed that supporting Kiev is a 'worthwhile investment,' insisting that Europe would otherwise face an inflated threat, particularly to Georgia and the Baltic states. He suggested that Ukraine’s defeat would reverberate in the Pacific region, including the South China Sea.

“What I’m saying is for people watching, thinking ‘why are we supporting the Ukrainians? It’s because otherwise our collective security will be really degraded by a resurgent Russia threatening all sorts of parts of Europe, and we will then have to pay to send British troops to help defend Ukraine,” Johnson claimed.

Russia has repeatedly emphasized that any foreign nationals fighting on behalf of the Kiev regime in the special operation zone are legitimate targets for the Russian military.

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“Johnson continues to provoke and incite” – Russian Foreign Ministry

"Having relinquished power, Johnson continues to provoke and incite — he cannot do anything else," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the former British Prime Minister’s statement about potentially sending troops to support Ukraine.

According to the spokeswoman, the UK “blocks any attempts to find diplomatic solutions to the conflict” and openly opposes Russia, including in the field of terrorism.

"For years, Britain has been involved in anti-Russian activities: complicit in terrorist attacks, providing the Kiev regime with data for targeting strikes, sending intelligence officers to coordinate combat and terrorist operations against Russia, and supplying arms," Zakharova added.

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📹 Biden lashes out at reporter during meeting with Israeli president

“Do you think that you can get hit in the head by the camera behind you?” the US president said, refusing to respond to a question about securing a hostage deal by the end of his term.

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Teixeira sentenced to 15 Years for Leak of Pentagon secrets - attorney's office

A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday sentenced former Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira to 15 years in prison for illegally posting sensitive military information on Discord in what became a major leak of US government secrets in years, US Attorney Massachusetts said on Wednesday.

"Court sentences former Air National Guardsman Jack Douglas Teixeira to 15 years in prison," a statement read on X.

US authorities arrested Teixeira in April 2023 and indicted him on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense. The documents purportedly contained information regarding the conflict in Ukraine, US espionage activities, and other national security matters.

Prosecutors asked a federal judge to sentence Teixeira to 200 months in prison, or almost 17 years.

Teixeira's attorneys asked for an 11-year sentence.

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