📹 South Korean troops are leaving the Parliament building in Seoul

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🪖 South Korea under martial law: what we know right now

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law at 11 pm Tuesday amid opposition attempts to impeach senior officials and legislative battles over the budget. Here are the details.

The move was aimed at “protecting” South Korea “from North Korean communist and anti-state forces” and preserving “the free constitutional order,” Yoon said.

🔸 ROK Army Chief-of-Staff Gen. Park An-su was tapped to implement the decision, suspending parliament and political parties, taking control over all media and banning the spread of so-called “fake news,” on penalty on arrest without warrant.

🔸 The army deployed to the streets of Seoul, while small groups of protesters seen scuffling with police outside the National Assembly Proceeding Hall parliament building, shouting “End martial law!”

🔸 As troops arrived, protesters chided security forces and warned they would “regret” the “sin that will go down in history” of complying with orders from their superiors.

🔸 South Korea’s ruling People Power leader Han Dong-hoon slammed Yoon’s decision, vowing to end the crackdown “together with the people.” The party is known to be divided between pro-Yoon and Yoon-neutral factions.

🔸 Opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called the martial law announcement “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” accused Yoon of “betraying the people” and said the president had lost his legitimacy.

🔸 Addressing soldiers, Lee said “the guns and bayonets you have, the power you have, comes from the people.”

🔸 Democratic Party Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik urged his fellow lawmakers to try to gather in parliament building.

🔸 The White House said it’s “in contact” with ROK authorities and “monitoring the situation closely.”

🔸 North Korea has yet to officially react.

🔸 This is the first time martial law has been declared since 1980. South Korea hasn’t been under military rule since 1987.

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📞 A phone conversation between Putin and Erdogan took place at the initiative of the Turkish side, the Kremlin says.

During the call, Putin and Erdogan discussed in detail the sharply escalating situation in Syria.

Putin stressed the need for a prompt end to the terrorist aggression against Syria.

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Reporters: "Why did you pardon your son!?"

Biden (in Africa): "Welcome to America."

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Joe Biden, during his visit to Angola:

"We Bidens are like poor relatives. We show up when we're invited, we stay longer when we should, eat all your food, and don't know when to go home."

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Birds of a feather: how are HTS terrorists in Syria linked to the Ukrainian regime?

Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS), known until 2016 as the al-Qaeda*-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, has managed to seize Aleppo due to the support of Ukrainian advisers, a source close to the Syrian special services told Sputnik.

What's known about HTS cooperation with the Kiev regime?

🔸 In mid-September, a Syrian source revealed to Sputnik that HTS terrorists in Idlib had received components for hundreds of drones disguised as civilian goods from the Ukrainian military.

🔸 The source noted that Ukrainian instructors had arrived in Idlib to train the terrorists to produce, modernize and use the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

🔸 The Syrian newspaper Al Watan and the Turkish newspaper Aydinlik reported the same month that Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR), had been in contact with the head of HTS Abu Mohammad al-Julani, attempting to recruit fighters for joint operations against Russia.

🔸 Abu Mohammad al-Julani fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)*– a terror organization ISIS emerged from - and founded Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

🔸 Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova drew attention to Ukraine-HTS cooperation on September 20: the Kiev regime "has long been betting on terrorism, threatening the entire world with unpredictable and extremely dangerous consequences," she said.

🔸 On December 1, the Ukrainian press reported that HTS "had received operational training from special forces troops from the Khimik group of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate"

🔸 In 2023 the Russian Investigative Committee indicted Budanov of committing over 100 acts of terrorism on the territory of Russia.

*banned in Russia

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The South Korean Armed Forces reportedly broke into the office of the opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, attempting to arrest him, the news agency Yonhap says

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📹 THROWBACK: In 2023, Joe Biden sent US nuclear-armed submarines to South Korea for the first time in four decades. This move came after the wanna-be dictator President Yoon visited Washington, DC, where he entertained distinguished guests by performing the song "American Pie."

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🔸 South Korea under martial law: what we know right now

🔸 Crisis in Syria: who controls what?

🔸 How are HTS terrorists in Syria linked to the Ukrainian regime?

🔸 What’s behind Scholz’s visit to Ukraine?

🔸 Is West about to get another ‘lame duck’ president as French gov’t faces collapse?

🔸 Germany’s FM and her cringe diplomacy during China trip

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Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal: Expectations vs. reality

Israel and the Shiite Lebanese movement of Hezbollah reached a ceasefire deal on November 27.

What are both sides expecting?

🔸 Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon and not carry out any offensive operations against Lebanese targets

🔸 Hezbollah was to relocate its forces north of the Litani River and refrain from operations against Israel

🔸 The 60-day cessation of hostilities was lauded as a basis for a lasting truce

What's the reality?

◾️ Israel and Lebanon traded accusations of truce violations the following day after the truce

◾️ The Israeli military fired on people in southern Lebanon who it alleged were violating the ceasefire terms on November 28

◾️ The IDF attacked a Hezbollah facility in southern Lebanon, also on November 28

◾️ On the same day, Israel’s air strike targeted an area near Baysariyah, north of the Litani River, claimed Lebanese security sources

◾️ Hezbollah launched two mortar shells at the Mount Dov area in response to Israel’s “repeated violations” of the ceasefire and as an “initial warning” on December 2

◾️ IDF fighter jets targeted Hezbollah operatives, rocket launchers, and facilities across Lebanon on December 2, the military said in a statement

◾️ Israeli airstrikes targeted border crossings between Lebanon and Syria in the al-Qusayr area on December 2, according to Syria’s Sham FM radio

◾️ The Israeli military has been fortifying military bases and demolishing Palestinian buildings in central Gaza in recent months in likely preparation for long-term control over the area, according to Israeli officials and a New York Times analysis of satellite images and video footage

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❗️ South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol says he will lift martial law at the Cabinet meeting

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🇸🇾 Syrian army eliminates up to 100 terrorists in 24 hours – Russian Military

The Syrian armed forces have successfully eliminated up to 100 terrorists and destroyed significant military targets over the past day in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Hama, and Idlib, according to the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria.

Destroyed targets:

🔻100 terrorists

🔻 12 tanks

🔻 27 vehicles

🔻 3 mortars

🔻 A command post

🔻 An ammunition depot

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‘You’re not considered human’: Ukraine doesn't care about its own POWs

Ukrainian POWs continue to remain abandoned in Russian captivity since the Kiev regime is refusing to take them back, Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said, releasing a list of the prisoners.

Ukraine is only concerned about Azov* combatants on any and all exchange lists, since Zelensky is not interested in the rest of the soldiers, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, earlier said.

Ukrainian POWs share their harrowing stories with Sputnik.

◾️"We were simply sent off to get slaughtered!" Andrey Kurishko said.

◾️"Mobilized soldiers are treated like second-class citizens. You are not regarded as a human being," another POW, a captured military medic from the Ukrainian 59th Brigade, revealed.

◾️"They started dropping shells on us so that we wouldn't surrender!" captured Ukrainian soldier Yuriy Menzata told Sputnik.

◾️“They don’t even retrieve [the corpses] of our soldiers,” Vasily Mashiko, Deputy Commander of a Ukrainian platoon, in Russian captivity revealed.

*Azov regiment is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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South Korean martial law command disbanded – reports

Earlier in the day, the South Korean Ministry of Defense canceled the previously announced emergency gathering of military personnel, those who arrived for this call are already returning, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

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Why didn’t Canada become the 51st state? Part 1 👉🏻 Part 2

President-elect Trump reportedly joked about annexing Canada during last week’s talks with Justin Trudeau, citing the looming impact of a potential trade war on Canada’s economy. Why isn’t Canada already the 51st state, anyway?

🔸 The 8,891 km US-Canadian border, long hailed as the “longest peaceful border” in the world, hasn’t always been so peaceful, with the US invading twice – in 1775 and 1812, respectively.

Invasions realized, invasions planned

🔸 The first invasion targeted Quebec, seeking to seize the mostly French-speaking province 16 years after its 1759 British conquest from France. The invasion failed due to poor organization, and the surprise decision by residents and Native tribesmen to side with the British.

🔸 The second invasion was launched in 1812, with the Americans trying to take advantage of a Britain busy with a war against Napoleon in Europe. The invasion faltered, with the Royal Navy blockading the east coast, capturing Washington and burning down the White House in 1814. The war was declared a draw.

🔸 The US didn’t give up on its plans. In 1845, an influential US columnist coined the term “Manifest destiny” – envisioning the US conquest of all of North America. Up to the start of WWII, the Pentagon had a plan, known as ‘War Plan Red’, to invade Canada as part of a broader conflict with the British Empire. Canada had its own plan - ‘Defense Scheme No. 1’, to repulse such an attack.

👉🏻 Part 2

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Why didn’t Canada become the 51st state? Part 2 👉🏻 Part 1

Living next to US is ‘like sleeping with an elephant’: Is Canada already the 51st state?

Besides armed invasion, numerous scenarios have been floated by anti-Loyalist forces to break off from Canada and join the US.

🔸 In 1980, the Unionist Party was formed to advocate for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba joining the US. The party was dissolved after being denied official party status. In 1989, Parti 51, hailing from Quebec and seeking a similar result, took part in provincial elections, but got less than 4,000 votes.

🔸 Oil-rich Alberta has experienced its own strong pro-independence and pro-US sentiments in recent years, linked largely to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2015 election victory and his agenda, from a proposed “phase out” of the oilsands production, to resentment over the province’s status as a donor to the federal budget, and social conservative reaction to Trudeau’s “woke” and globalist policies.

🔸 In 2020, a poll found that 41% of Albertans supported independence, with 50% were opposed. How many would support joining the US is unclear, however.

Is Canada really independent today?

🔸 Some observers fear Canada is already a “51st state” of sorts, given the US’s immense political, economic and security influence on the country from the 1920s onward.

🔸 From the 1950s through the 1970s, Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker and Pierre Trudeau (Justin’s father) attempted to weaken American control of Canada, with Trudeau, who once described living next to the US like “sleeping with an elephant,” even partially pulling troops out of the NATO contingent in Europe, and significantly warming ties with the USSR and China.

🔸 Such policies are long gone, however. From the 1990s onward, Canada has fully embraced its economic dependence on the US via the NAFTA trade pact, and cheerled NATO warmongering around the world – from Yugoslavia and Afghanistan to Ukraine.

👉🏻 Part 1

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South Korean opposition party insists on punishment for president – spokesman

South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party continues to insist on punishing President Yoon Suk Yeol despite his promise to lift martial law, the Democratic Party spokesman, Park Chan-dae, said on Tuesday.

"Even if the president lifts martial law, he will not be able to avoid civil disobedience," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The president can no longer run the state normally and should be suspended from his duties and arrested, the spokesman added.

The South Korean president announced martial law late on Tuesday, claiming that the opposition was sympathizing with North Korea and plotting a "rebellion." The parliament defied the presidential declaration and voted to lift martial law. The office of the speaker of the parliament, Woo Won-shik, said that the president's declaration of martial law was invalid following the lawmakers' vote.

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HTS terror record speaks louder than words

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has captured Syria's second city Aleppo and several other territories, traces its origins to al-Qaeda* and was designated as a terror group by Russia in 2020. Its predecessor Jabhat al-Nusra* was banned by Moscow in 2014.

Origins of HTS

➖ HTS is led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who previously held a prominent role in al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the terrorist organization from which ISIS* emerged.

➖ In 2012, al-Julani founded Jabhat al-Nusra (the al-Nusra Front), al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, and collaborated with ISIS' founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi until 2013.

➖ In 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra rebranded itself as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and in 2017 tit merged with other groups to form HTS.

Crimes against religious minorities and civilians

➖ Adra Massacre (December 2013): Dozens of civilians belonging to religious minorities—Alawi, Christians, Druze, and Shia—were killed.

➖ Khan al-Assal Massacre (July 2013): At least 123 civilians and captured Syrian army troops were slaughtered.

➖ Qalb Loze Massacre (June 2015): At least 24 Druze civilians were killed.

Al-Nusra and HTS terrorist activities

The UN documents at least 13 attacks claimed by the group, including:

➖ January 2012: A terrorist attack in the Maydan quarter of Damascus killed 24 soldiers and civilians and injured 140.

➖ May 2012: A bombing in Qazaz killed 55 people and wounded 372, mostly civilians.

➖ March 2017: A twin bombing in Damascus killed at least 40 people, the majority of them Iraqi Shia pilgrims.

How does HTS survive?

➖ In September 2016, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted the West's attempts to shield al-Nusra and use it for the regime change in Syria.

➖ In February 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew attention to the fact that only the Syrian and Russian armed forces were trying to suppress HTS.

➖ The Russian Ministry of Defense repeatedly stressed the need to eliminate the al-Nusra terror threat.

*banned for terrorism in Russia and many other countries

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🇸🇾 Syrian army fully controls city of Hama, sweeps number of settlements – Defense Ministry

The Syrian Armed Forces fully control the city of Hama, the Syrian Defense Ministry said. The ministry dismissed reports of terrorist infiltration into several urban neighborhoods, stating they are inaccurate.

The Syrian army is currently clearing several settlements in the province, the ministry added.

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