🔸 Syrian Army strikes terrorists near Aleppo

🔸 Trump threatens BRICS with ‘100% tariffs’ unless members abandon de-dollarization plans

🔸 Norway establishes NATO amphibious assault training center in Arctic – reports

🔸 Freudian slip? ‘EU is a bulwark against the Kremlin’ – US State Department

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⛔️Ukraine’s NATO aspirations grow dim as Russia steadily advances - reports

The Kiev regime’s prospects of joining NATO “seem even dimmer” with President-elect Donald Trump about to take office, The New York Times speculated.

Trump and his team have reportedly signaled reluctance to support Ukraine’s membership in the bloc. Throughout his campaign, the Republican repeatedly vowed to settle the Ukraine conflict if reelected and threatened to cut aid to the Volodymyr Zelensky regime.

NATO members have been wary of extending an invitation to Kiev amid concerns that the bloc would become an “active participant in the fighting,” the publication noted.

Zelensky recently floated the idea that the “hot phase” of the conflict could end if Ukraine were taken “under the NATO umbrella.” His remarks, made in an interview with British media, are seen as an indication that Kiev is “warming up” to the possibility of peace talks with Moscow, the outlet said.

As Zelensky continues his unrequited pining for NATO membership, Russia’s Armed Forces are pressing ahead with steady advances, inflicting catastrophic losses on the enemy. The situation is “precarious” for the Ukrainian troops in Donetsk and on the approaches to the strategic city of Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the article also said.

Ukraine’s military, plagued by severe lack of personnel, ammunition, and plummeting morale, has been retreating from Kurakhovo, which served as a critical logistical hub for Ukrainian defenses in the region. Russia’s liberation of Kurakhovo would open the way towards the Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) rail hub and facilitate further gains.

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❗️Russian troops liberated the settlements of Petrovka and Ilyinka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🔸 Russian forces hit the infrastructure of Ukrainian military airfields, drone production workshops and drone storage depots.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 500 soldiers in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Zapad.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 100 troops in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Vostok.

🔸 Russian aviation shot down 55 Ukrainian drones.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 115 soldiers in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroups Dnepr and Sever.

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💵US’ trillion-dollar nuclear spending spree signals ‘current capabilities falling behind perceived adversaries’

“The US has fallen significantly behind Russia and even China for that matter in terms of delivery systems including both intermediate range ballistic missiles as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles,” former US Marine-turned geopolitical analyst Brian Berletic told Sputnik, commenting on the Pentagon’s trillion dollar plus push to modernize its nuclear arsenal, details on which were broken down by a recent Roscongress Foundation report.

“Of course, existing US nuclear arms are more than capable of deterring any attack on the US itself, and instead, the US seeks to enhance its ability to menace other nations with nuclear weapons within their own borders and within their respective region of the world,” Berletic suggested, adding that the move “represents the strategic pivot” by the Pentagon in its “desire to pivot back toward ‘great power’ competition” after “decades of ‘small wars’.”

“It is unlikely the US will catch up to either Russia or China in many areas of nuclear or even conventional weaponry,” the observer believes, arguing that “the US has confined itself both to an irrational geostrategic doctrine and a dysfunctional economic system incapable of prioritizing purpose over profit even in terms of supposed national security imperatives.”

💬 “The same sort of limitations the US faces in ramping up the production of munitions as simple as artillery shells will avail themselves as the US pursues large-scale modernization of its nuclear arsenal,” Berletic said.

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🐧 Which countries have territorial claims to Antarctica?

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959 by the 12 countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-1958. The treaty bans “all activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research.” The total number of parties to the treaty is now 57.

Nations with historical claims to the southernmost land mass:

🔸 UK: The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is the oldest territorial claim, dating back to 1908 via the Falkland Island Dependencies Letters of Patent. The claim partially overlaps with those of Argentina and Chile.

🔸 Argentina: Its claim dates to 1946 and is founded on its presence at a base on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands since 1904.

🔸 Chile: The Chilean Antarctic Territory (CAT) was established in in November 1940. Its claim is based on historical documents dating back to the Spanish Empire.

🔸 France: The historical claim from 1938 was made on the basis of 1840 discoveries made by French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville.

🔸 New Zealand: Its area was originally part of the UK's claims in the Antarctic and was formalized in 1923 following a British Order-in-Council providing for the government of the Ross Dependency sector.

🔸 Norway: The 1939 claim to Dronning Maud Land was based on early exploration of the coastal area.

🔸 Australia: The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is the largest claim, which was formalized by the Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act in 1933.

What about Russia and US?

🔸 The United States and Russia (then Soviet Union) each reserved the right to make claims in the future, without recognizing the claims of others.

🔸 Washington has three year-round research stations.

🔸 Moscow operates 10 research stations at the South Pole: Five year-round facilities and five seasonal stations. They are used for environmental and climate observations, coastal water and sea ice studies, research covering the intensity of cosmic radiation, seismic fluctuations of the lithosphere, and biodiversity.

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🇸🇾 President Bashar al-Assad promised to defeat terrorism in Syria regardless of who its sponsors are, saying these people do not represent the nation or state institutions.

"Terrorism understands only the language of force, and this is the language we will use to crush and destroy it, regardless of its supporters and sponsors," state news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

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📑Who is Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to head the FBI?

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Kash Patel for the position of director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As the current chief of the FBI, Christopher A. Wray, still has three years of his 10-year term left, he will either have to resign or Trump will have to fire him for the nomination to happen.

What to know about Kash Patel:

⚪️Kashyap Patel, a former public defender and federal prosecutor, was a national security aide during Trump’s first term.

⚪️Patel “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a social media post Saturday night.

⚪️He is an ardent advocate of “housecleaning" in the Justice Department and FBI. The Bureau’s headquarters in Washington, DC, should be dismantled and turned into a “museum of the deep state,” he said in a podcast interview in September.

⚪️Patel denounced the FBI for its 2022 search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which resulted in charges being brought against the former president for retaining classified documents.

⚪️Patel has accused the “the deep state” of being “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” He applied the term to political leaders, Big Tech tycoons, media, and “members of the unelected bureaucracy.”

⚪️Appearing on the “War Room” podcast hosted by Steve Bannon last year, Patel vowed to “go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media” who “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections” in 2020.

Kash Patel’s appointment would be subject to Senate confirmation. The announced pick sparked mixed reactions from lawmakers.

💬 Patel “needs to prove to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has the right qualifications and […] will put our nation’s public safety over a political agenda focused on retribution,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons wrote on X.

💬 “He’s been on side against some of the worst abuses of the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] system. Kash Patel can help clean up all the things that we’ve seen that are wrong,” ex-Congressman Matt Gaetz said in a video message on X, adding that “Kash has guts!”

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🌍🌍🌍 Slapping 100% tariffs on BRICS bloc would trigger a trade war US ‘will lose’: economist

💬 “Trump thinks he can target BRICS countries individually but doing this will cause BRICS to act collectively in response and then the situation is about who has the bigger overall trade, population and resources,” renowned British economist Dr. Rodney Shakespeare told Sputnik, commenting on the president-elect’s threat to slap 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they attempted to ditch the dollar.

“Trump's thinking is fundamentally based upon a situation of past hegemony whose time is rapidly passing,” Shakespeare stressed, pointing out that while tariffs would be grossly illegal, perhaps the president-elect “thinks rules are meant for others and not for the USA.”

If Trump made good on the threats, there would also be “huge increases on American-imported consumer products,” the economist said.

“Trump hopes that American industry would then revive sufficiently to produce the same products at cheaper cost. That could happen, except that the new factories will not produce large numbers of jobs (they will be near-automated),” the professor added.

In other words, Trump’s proposed slap-on-tariffs-first-and-ask-questions-later approach to trade carries grave risks for Washington, according to Dr. Shakespeare. “Since economic power is shifting away from the USA,” a new trade war “could be a war which the US will lose,” he summed up.

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Biden’s lame-duck trip to Angola ‘symptomatic of US’ persistent misreading of what Africa is’: economist

💬 “Biden’s visit is…intended to counter the growing influence of China on the continent, but it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that it’s too late for anyone to weaken, let alone break the bond between China and Africa,” Prof. Alexis Habiyaremye, South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, told Sputnik, commenting on Joe Biden’s upcoming trip to Angola December 2-4 for his first-ever visit to Africa as president.

“Coming in his lame-duck period, while he is also physically diminished, is symptomatic of US persistent misreading of what Africa is and what the relationship between China and Africa is,” Habiyaremye stressed.

Biden may hope “to convince Angola and other African countries that US is a better investment partner than either China, Russia or India.

However, Africans know from experience that US investors don’t bring any developmental benefits to the continent since their primary goal is making profits at any cost,” the academic said.

On Angola specifically, the US may be looking to sway the country away from China on energy (China accounts for nearly 3/4 of Angola’s oil exports).

“Russia is the main competitor in terms of security, and Angola still suffers from the trauma of past US support to its destabilization by UNITA rebels,” Habiyaremye said, recalling the 70s-80s CIA proxy war against Angola, which left up to 800,000 dead and the country in ruins.

Ultimately, the same lifeless approach to Africa can be expected from Biden’s successor, Habiyaremye believes, recalling the “disdain” Donald Trump showed toward Sub-Saharan Africa in his first term.

“Without any long-term vision for cooperation, it is unlikely that Biden plans to lay any groundwork, since the US only sees Africa as a space for geopolitical confrontation. The main aim is countering China rather than building anything of their own,” Habiyaremye summed up.

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❗️The Houthis claimed to have attacked a US destroyer and three supply vessels with 16 ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

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◻️ Trump's 100% tariff threat against BRICS could backfire on the US: here’s why

◻️ Slapping 100% tariffs on BRICS bloc would trigger a trade war US ‘will lose’: economist

◻️ US’ trillion-dollar nuclear spending spree signals ‘current capabilities falling behind perceived adversaries’

◻️ Who is Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to head the FBI?

◻️ Biden’s lame-duck trip to Angola ‘symptomatic of US’ persistent misreading of what Africa is’: economist

◻️ Which countries have territorial claims to Antarctica?

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📹 Joint Syrian-Russian forces wipe out terrorist convoy in eastern Idlib – Syrian Defense Ministry

The Syrian Ministry of Defense has released a video showing joint Syrian-Russian airstrikes targeting a terrorist convoy in eastern Idlib. The convoy, which included dozens of vehicles loaded with ammunition, equipment, and militants, was completely destroyed.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Syrian forces, with Russian support, are repelling terrorist attacks in the provinces of Idlib, Hama, and Aleppo. Over the past 24 hours, at least 320 militants and 63 pieces of equipment were destroyed.

The Russian Ministry further detailed that airstrikes targeted concentrations of militants and equipment, as well as ammunition depots, MLRS and artillery positions, and command posts.

Earlier reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that militants affiliated with the Jabhat al-Nusra* terrorist organization have been launching attacks on Syrian-controlled territories in Aleppo and Idlib since November 27.

*Terrorist organization banned in Russia

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