🤝 Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand become BRICS partners - Russian Foreign Ministry.

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💬 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will speak by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years, Bloomberg reports, quoting sources.

Meanwhile, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung said Scholz and Putin have already held a call.

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RFK Jr.’s daunting task: What will ‘Make America Healthy Again’ pledge mean in practice? (Part 1 👉 Part 2)

Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) – the top advisor to the president on health-related matters, and watchdog and administrator overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Medicare and Medicaid.

⚪️ US health crisis in numbers:

▫️obesity epidemic - over 70% of American adults are obese or overweight;

▫️addiction scourge - 15% use illicit drugs, 20% suffer from alcohol dependency;

▫️prenoscription drug crisis - 66% use at least one prenoscription medication;

▫️contaminated drinking water - a concern for nearly half of the population;

▫️skyrocketing autism - affecting 1 in 36 children, compared to about 1 per 1,000 in the 1980s.

Kennedy has recognized the gargantuan scope of the challenge before him, saying in a recent interview that the US health care system as it’s presently set up means there’s “nothing more profitable” than keeping Americans sick “for life,” with chronic disease a big business he estimates to be worth some $4.3 trln (i.e. about five times the size of the US’s 2024 defense budget).

⚪️ Kennedy has yet to lay out the details of his agenda, but has dropped hints in recent interviews and speeches about:

▫️negotiating with drug companies on medication costs;

▫️barring Big Pharma from spending billions on advertising, which he has characterized as disguised lobbying;

▫️ending vaccine mandates for federal agencies and the military, while preserving Americans’ rights to an informed choice;

▫️reforming vaccine research standards. Kennedy has been outspoken in his criticism of former chief presidential medical advisor Anthony Fauci and others at the NIH over US-funded gain of function research thought to have ultimately given rise to Covid.

👉 Part 2

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RFK Jr. vs. Big Food, conflicts of interests, and looming confirmation battle (Part 2 👉 Part 1)

The HSS Secretary job requires Senate approval, meaning Kennedy’s selection could be an uphill battle, especially if Big Pharma and Big Food use their lobbying muscle. Battlelines are already being drawn, with GOP senators promising to give him a shot, calling his selection “a bad day for Big Pharma.”

⚪️On the food safety front, Kennedy may:

▫️encourage municipalities to get rid of fluoride in tap water, citing its long-suspected impact IQ levels in children;

▫️push to ban artificial food coloring, additives and chemicals;

▫️restrict processed foods in school lunches, and roll back subsidies for corn and soy;

▫️end FDA overregulation on “stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma,” as he suggested in a recent X post.

⚪️What are his other plans?

▫️federally-funded medical schools to focus more on nutrition, and to create a national fitness standard like the one promoted by his uncle – President John F. Kennedy;

▫️taking on conflicts of interest between regulators and the entities they’re meant to be regulating – citing money given to the FDA by Big Pharma, and corporate links to health and dietary advisories.

Senior officials from agencies Kennedy would be tasked with overseeing have already called him out, with Clinton-era HHS chief Donna Shalala saying he’s “totally unqualified” and “dangerous” to America and the world.

Kennedy preempted the latter kind of criticism in an X post last month, writing “if you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”

👉 Part 1

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❗️The German cabinet confirms that Scholz held a phone conversation with Putin.

Scholz told Putin that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved, the German government says.

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THROWBACK TO 2023: It would be better to invite Russia to join NATO than Ukraine, said Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump's pick for US Attorney General.

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The Russian government has introduced temporary restrictions on the export of enriched uranium to the United States, with exceptions for shipments under one-time licenses issued by the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control.

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☢️ Ukraine can’t build a nuke without Russia catching them – MIT physicist and nuclear expert

Ukraine’s military is trying to pressure its Western patrons “into thinking that they might have to expand the war against Russia in order to deal with an escalation brought about by Ukrainian use of nuclear weapons against Russia,” but the chance of Kiev actually obtaining a bona fide nuclear device are minimal, says Dr. Theodore Postol, a veteran MIT physicist, nuclear engineer and ex-advisor to the US Navy on strategic nuclear weapons, told Sputnik.

Possible scenarios for Ukraine:

🔸 “In order to produce the necessary plutonium for nuclear weapons Ukraine would have basically two choices to make – to try to produce a nuclear weapon using weapons grade plutonium or to try to use reactor grade plutonium.”

🔸 “Both approaches require extremely sophisticated chemical facilities to dissolve highly radioactive spent fuel from a nuclear reactor. This fuel would have to be obtained from a nuclear reactor after it was irradiated within the reactor.”

🔸 The resulting plutonium isotopes are highly unstable, as they tend to “disintegrate due to defects in their internal structure in a process known as spontaneous fission, which could cause a weapon to pre-detonate before it can be fully assembled.”

Why can’t Ukraine actually make a nuke?

🔸 Ukraine simply does not have the ability to manufacture weapons grade plutonium.

🔸 “If they tried to produce the industrial capacity to produce plutonium of any quality, they would engage in a highly visible process that would be immediately detected by the entire world, let alone the Russians.”

🔸 Simply obtaining irradiated fuel rods from nuclear reactors is also a no-go, due to the IAEA Safeguards Program monitoring the burn-up and cooling of fuel in the course of reactor operations.

“There is no way the Ukrainians could obtain the necessary irradiated fuel without first expelling the IAEA inspectors,” Postol underscored.

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❗️Putin held a phone call with Scholz, initiated by the German side, according to the Kremlin.

During the conversation, the two leaders had a detailed and candid exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin reported.

Putin stressed that the current crisis was a direct result of years of aggressive NATO policies.

The Russian president also stated that Russia has never refused peace talks and remains open to resuming negotiations, which were ended by the Kiev regime.

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Greenland 2029? Congressman’s map sparks Trump’s real estate dreams again

The idea of the US purchasing Greenland resurfaced after Republican Congressman Mike Collins shared an image of Donald Trump's 2024 Electoral College map with the Danish territory included and colored red. Captioned "Project 2029," it appeared to suggest Greenland could one day join the US and vote Republican.

▫️ During his first tenure in the White House, Donald Trump eagerly floated the possibility of such a purchase as “essentially a large real estate deal”. “Denmark essentially owns it… We’re very good allies with Denmark, we protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world… Strategically it’s interesting and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to them a little bit,” Trump said in 2019.

▫️ Trump’s public offer to purchase Greenland reportedly included taking over Denmark’s annual $600 million subsidy to the island.

▫️ During discussions about a prospective offer, Trump jokingly suggested trading Greenland for the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, The New York Times reported.

▫️ NATO-member Denmark was quick to shoot down the idea, with then-Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen ridiculing it as "absurd," adding that "Greenland is not for sale. That's where the conversation ends."

The US has eyed the possibility of Greenland’s purchase or annexation at various points in the island’s history, including in 1867, 1910, and 1946.

What’s special about Greenland?

🔹 The island is speculated to be rich in substantial offshore oil and gas resources that have yet to be tapped.

🔹 It contains confirmed depositions of zinc, gold, iron ore, uranium, and various other metals.

🔹 Vast deposits of rare earth elements that are used in electric vehicles and wind turbines have been discovered here.

🔹 Greenland could serve as a springboard for control of the Arctic amid increasing competition for use of its sea lanes and potential trillions of dollars’ worth of resources.

🔹 The island houses multiple monitoring systems, including components of the US ballistic missile warning system and phased array radar equipment at Thule Air Base, ensuring NATO's control of the North Atlantic.

🔹 Greenland could potentially be used to deploy US intermediate-range ground-based missiles.

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Why Trump's nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary scares Big Pharma

Drug companies share prices have fallen on the news that President-elect Donald Trump has picked vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary in his incoming cabinet. Moderna stock fell by 5% on Thursday, shares of Novavax slumped by over 7%, Pfizer 2%, Germany’s BioNTech lost 6% and Britain’s GSK 2%.

Big Pharma has long been criticized for the high cost of prenoscription drugs, the opioid addiction epidemic in the US and vaccine safety concerns. After the COVID pandemic, The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in patients who received mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.

⚪️ Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are still recovering from the plummeting demand for COVID vaccines, and Kennedy's stance could persuade more Americans to reject the jabs, according to CNBC.

⚪️Kennedy has promoted the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) slogan, encouraging citizens to make their own health decisions including about vaccinations, and called for more transparency and data on vaccines.

⚪️"The science on vaccine safety particularly has huge deficits, and we’re going to make sure those scientific studies are done and that people can make informed choices about their vaccinations and their children’s vaccinations," RFK Jr. told NPR on November 6.

⚪️According to Kennedy, Big Food and Big Pharma are making money at the expense of people’s health, aided by their political allies.

⚪️But Kennedy made it clear that he does not plan to restrict access to vaccines.

⚪️Axios quoted health entrepreneur Calley Means, a "close confidant" of the incoming health secretary, as saying that Kennedy would focus on two objectives: To find out why American get sick and to make Medicare and Medicaid cover alternative therapies including "visits to functional medicine doctors, who focus on nutrition and exercise over pharmaceuticals".

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❓ Who is Steve Witkoff, Trump's pick for Middle East special envoy?

President-elect Donald Trump nominated real estate executive Steven Witkoff as his special envoy to the Middle East.

Who is Witkoff and is he the right man for the job?

🔸 The founder of the Witkoff Group appears to have zero expertise in diplomacy or the Middle East. But Trump insists his appointee will be "an unrelenting voice for peace" in the troublesome region.

🔸 Witkoff is Jewish and staunchly pro-Israel, and rallied support for Trump in the Jewish-American business community, Axios reports. A source close to the president-elect told the website Witkoff has a direct line to Trump which could improve his chances of being accepted by Middle Eastern regional players.

🔸 The businessman praised Trump's Middle East policies during his first term, including his controversial recognition of Israel's sovereignty over Eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, major cuts to US aid to Palestinians and "maximum pressure sanctions" against Iran. "With President Trump, the Middle East experienced historic levels of peace and stability. Strength prevents wars. Iran’s money was cut off which prevented their funding of global terror," Witkoff told reporters in July.

🔸 Witkoff's tasks will include brokering a peace deal in Gaza and normalizing Israel-Saudi relations, Axios writes. The two goals are deeply intertwined. In October, the Times of Israel quoted sources saying that Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the Gaza war by the time he returns to office. But late last month Netanyahu signaled that Israel is not ready to wind down the conflict. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia seems reluctant to open diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman condemned Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and attacks against Iran earlier this week.

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