🗣 ‘Terrible idea' – Matt Gaetz on Ukraine joining NATO

Former US Congressman Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name from consideration for the position of attorney general, commented on a statement by Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview in which the latter said that in order to end the "hot phase of the conflict" in Ukraine, it is necessary to include the country in the bloc.

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🤝 Trudeau didn't take long to show up for talks with Trump after promised tariff hikes

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump to negotiate a proposed tariff on goods imported from Canada.

💬 “One of the things that’s really important to understand is that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said to reporters.

Donald Trump has threatened to slap a 25% tariff on all products coming from Canada on January 20, unless illegal immigration and drug trafficking across its border to the US is stopped by Ottawa.

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🔸 Russia and Syria continue anti-terrorist offensive in Aleppo and Idlib

🔸 Zelensky suggests ceasefire with temporary territorial concessions to Russia

🔸 Kim Jong-un: Ignoring Russia's warnings will not help

🔸 US-supported terror in Syria is tied to Israeli defeat in Lebanon – Iranian FM

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❗️Russian forces struck railroad train carrying ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles, which arrived from Romania, near the port of Chernomorsk in Ukraine, the pro-Russian underground told Sputnik

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📹100,000 people evacuated in Malaysia due to severe flooding

More than 82,000 emergency personnel have been deployed to deal with the effects of the worst flooding since 1997.

Footage from social media

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🇷🇺🇰🇵Russian defense minister’s visit to North Korea: key statements

Andrei Belousov, Russia’s defense chief, arrived in Pyongyang on an official visit on November 29, where he held a number of bilateral meetings with the country’s military and political leadership. Here’s what you need to know.

Highlights from Belousov’s meeting with the North Korean defense minister:

⚪️North Korea supports Russia's military operation in Ukraine which is a “just struggle to protect the country's sovereign rights and security interests,” the North Korean Defense Minister said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

⚪️“Currently, the military departments of both countries are actively engaging in exchanges and cooperation, including high-level delegation visits,” North Korea’s defense minister said, adding that the bilateral cooperation between the militaries is a top priority.

Highlights from Belousov’s meeting with Kim Jong-un:

⚪️Ratification of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between Russia and North Korea reaffirms their commitment to the extensive development of allied relations, Belousov said.

⚪️Kim Jong-un denounced Ukraine’s strikes inside Russian territory using Western long-range weapons as “direct military intervention in the conflict.”

⚪️Russia’s recent retaliatory strike on Ukraine was described as a “timely and effective measure” to warn the US, West, and Ukraine of “the seriousness of the situation and Russia's willingness for harsh countermeasures," KCNA reported.

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❗️The Russian Armed Forces struck the infrastructure of military airfields and energy facilities ensuring the work of the Ukrainian military, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🗣 THROWBACK: Starmer has officially recognized the failure of ‘Global Britain’

Western leaders have been conducting an "open borders experiment," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer admitted.

💬 "This [experiment] happened by design, not accident. Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalize immigration," Starmer stated.

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🇬🇪 There will be no Ukrainian Maidan scenario in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said

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🔸 Ukraine lost up to 345 servicemen in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Yug.

🔸 Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr repelled 11 counterattacks, enemy lost up to 510 militants.

🔸 Ukraine lost over 505 soldiers in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Zapad.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 50 troops in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Vostok.

🔸 Russian aviation shot down a Neptun-MD missile, a Hammer guided bomb and 45 Ukrainian drones.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 70 soldiers in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 30 troops in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Sever.

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🎯 Oreshnik vs. nuclear weapons: What’s the difference?

The Oreshnik, an advanced Russian missile, offers a force comparable to a nuclear weapon, but without the devastating consequences.

Igor Korotchenko, military analyst and editor-in-chief of National Defense magazine, explains how the Oreshnik missile differs from nuclear weapons:

🔸 The Oreshnik is a high-precision missile system that can achieve kinetic impact with immense force, comparable to a large meteorite strike.

🔸 Unlike nuclear weapons, the Oreshnik carries no nuclear charge, yet its impact is powerful enough to match the energy output of a 150 kiloton nuclear blast.

🔸 It delivers six independent warheads, each capable of independently striking targets, without the aftereffects of radiation, light emissions, or electromagnetic pulses associated with nuclear explosions.

🔸 While a nuclear explosion contaminates large areas with radioactive fallout, the Oreshnik leaves no lasting environmental damage or irreparable consequences.

🔸 Korotchenko points out that the Oreshnik is a “humane” weapon, offering precision strike capabilities with minimal ecological impact – far more focused and controlled than nuclear options.

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🇷🇺🇰🇵 Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov in North Korean Pyongyang paid tribute to the memory of Soviet soldiers who fell during the liberation of Korea in 1945.

Belousov and members of the Russian military delegation laid flowers at the Liberation Monument in Pyongyang.

The Liberation Monument was erected in the North Korean capital on August 15, 1946 as a sign of gratitude of the Korean people to the Soviet soldiers who died during Korea’s liberation in 1945.

On the eve of the event, a festive concert was given in honor of the Russian military delegation that was attended by the DPRK’s chairman of state affairs, Kim Jong-un, as well as the country’s military and military-political leadership.

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Northern Sea Route: Harder, better, faster, stronger

Russia's Northern Sea Route (NSR) is gaining momentum with new satellite capabilities and expanding cargo traffic. Russia recently launched its second Kondor-FKA radar observation satellite from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The satellite system, launched in 2023, is designed for round-the-clock, all-weather monitoring of the Arctic, helping create ice maps and optimize shipping routes along the NSR.

What is the NSR?

It stretches 5,600 km (approx. 3,480 miles) and runs along Russia's northern shores, from the Kara Gates to Provideniya Bay, and through key Arctic seas: Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Bering.

What makes it unique?

⚪️Shorter transit times between Europe and Asia compared to traditional routes like the Suez Canal.

⚪️Reduced shipping costs and an alternative to congested maritime passages.

⚪️Strategic importance for global trade resilience amid Western sanctions and tensions in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden.

⚪️Viable year-round navigation due to climate change.

NSR growth:

⚪️Cargo traffic hit a record 36.2 million tons in 2023, with transit volumes up 40% in 2024. The goal is to reach 110 million tons by 2030.

⚪️Key cargoes include liquefied natural gas (LNG), coal, oil, and other bulk goods.

⚪️The development plan includes new icebreakers, ice-class vessels, and expanded satellite infrastructure.

Global outreach:

⚪️China is collaborating with Russia on NSR development as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, with faster transport from Shanghai to Moscow.

⚪️Russia and India are discussing oil, coal, and LNG shipments to the latter via the NSR as part of the Eurasian Container Transit project.

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⚔️Aleppo crisis: what’s going on in Syria? (Part 1 👉 Part 2)

The conflict in Syria has returned to the frontpages after years of media obliviousness due to a lightning jihadist offensive on the strategic city of Aleppo.

What happened there?

⚪️Militants from al-Qaeda*-linked terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham* and the so-called ‘Syrian National Army’ began an offensive toward Aleppo on November 27.

⚪️The jihadists were able to stage their forces for the operation in Idlib – a terrorist-controlled province of northwestern Syria outside government control since 2015.

⚪️Militants advanced through villages west of Aleppo, capturing key settlements and reportedly cutting the M5 motorway linking Aleppo to Damascus.

⚪️The Syrian army launched air and artillery strikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, including the city of Idlib and towns like Ariha and Sarmada. Russian jets targeted terrorist positions in Atarib, Darat Izza, and Mare, while Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces joined the defense of Aleppo.

⚪️Stikes reportedly killed two senior jihadist commanders.

⚪️Iran announced that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen Kioumars Pourhashemi, an advisor to Syrian forces, had been killed on the first day of the terrorists’ assault.

⚪️Terrorist forces penetrated defenses in Aleppo proper on Friday, carrying out suicide bombing attacks, clashing with defenders, and reportedly occupying the city’s world-famous Citadel Saturday morning.

⚪️Syrian forces began a counterattack on Friday. The army reported the destruction of dozens of armored vehicles and the liquidation of hundreds of fighters in Idlib and Aleppo, including what it said were foreign mercs.

⚪️In a statement Saturday, the Syrian army acknowledged the advance of terrorists into “many areas of the city of Aleppo,” but said fighting was continuing to prevent them from gaining a foothold.

⚪️The army said “dozens” of Syrian servicemen had been killed or injured in the course of defensive operations against “thousands of foreign terrorists” armed with “heavy weapons and a large number of drones.”

* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

👉 Part 2

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⚔️Aleppo crisis: what’s going on in Syria? (Part 2 👉 Part 1)

Why here, why now?

⚪️The terrorist offensive on Aleppo began the same day the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon entered into force, although the jihadists claim it was tied to recent Syrian strikes targeting terrorist commanders in Idlib – where a shaky Russia and Turkiye-mediated ceasefire had been in place since 2020.

⚪️Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi assured his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh Friday that Iran would continue to support Damascus’ fight against the jihadists.

⚪️Araghchi characterized the resurgence of terrorism in northern Syria as a US-Israeli plot aimed at destabilizing West Asia after the IDF “failures” confronting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Veteran international affairs observer Seyed Mohammad Marandi echoed this sentiment in an interview with Sputnik.

⚪️The terrorist advance on Aleppo puts additional pressure on the Syrian government as it combats a long-term foreign-backed jihadist proxy war aimed at overthrowing President Assad, illegal US bases on Syrian soil in the country’s east and south, and a decades-old conflict with Israel.

👉 Part 1

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👮‍♀️'Two suspects identified' – Jens Rommel on Nord Stream investigation

Two suspects in the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines have been identified, German Prosecutor General Jens Rommel said on Saturday.

💬 "Yes, we are making progress in the investigation. We have managed to identify two suspects. In my opinion, this is a success that we did not initially expect," Rommel told German media.

The German prosecutor general's office still has a lot of work to determine the remaining suspects and their motives for committing the crime, Rommel said. The issue of possible state control over the operation is the subject of the ongoing investigation, he added.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian-Chinese air patrol

The Russian Aerospace Forces and the Chinese Air Force conducted another joint air patrol in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tu-95ms strategic missile carriers and H-6K strategic bombers made an 8-hour flight over the waters of the Japanese and East China Seas and the western Pacific Ocean, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said Russian Su-30SM and MiG-31 and Chinese J-16 jet fighters escorted the bombers along the entire route. The Russian aircraft made a landing a Chinese airfield before taking off again to resume the patrol.

The strategic missile carriers were escorted by fighter aircraft from other countries at points along the route.

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How Oreshnik could become even more powerful: better range, bigger warheads

There’s several “different ways to make the Oreshnik even more powerful,” retired Russian army colonel and veteran military observer Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik, doing a bit of brainstorming after President Putin's remarks on making the missile even more dangerous.

1️⃣ “First of all, it can be made as an intercontinental ballistic missile, not necessarily a medium-range one, by adding another rocket stage,” Litovkin said, recalling that in its present form, Oreshnik reportedly has two stages.

2️⃣ Second, the power of its nuclear-capable warheads could be increased, the observer said, citing reports of an existing yield between 450 and 900 kilotons total for the missile and its six MIRV warheads.

In Soviet days, Litovkin recalled, the R-36 Voevoda ICBM had up to 10 MIRVs, each with a 750-kiloton strike potential. Nowadays, when newer missiles are far more accurate, landing meters or tens of meters rather than hundreds of meters from their targets, it’s unclear whether such modifications are necessary. It’s up to engineers and the Russian political and military leadership to decide, Litovkin said.

3️⃣ “The power of the missile’s conventional charge can also be increased,” the observer pointed out, saying it remains unclear whether the Oreshnik that struck the defense enterprise in Dnepropetrovsk was carrying any charge at all, or relied solely on kinetic force to destroy the factory and burrow tens of meters deep into the ground.

Finally, when discussing any potential modifications to a weapon like the Oreshnik, “it’s always important to remember the concept that the target must be more expensive than the projectile used against it. That is, you don’t shoot sparrows with a cannon,” Litovkin emphasized. Therefore, it’s not really clear whether Oreshnik is in need of any modifications at all. Perhaps it’s already good enough in its present form.

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