Just business: US military-industrial complex wants Ukraine bloodbath to continue even if it means drafting 18-year-olds Part 2 👉 Part 1

The mass desertion of troops from the “elite” NATO-trained 155th Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade is a sign that the Ukrainian Army is out of “fighting spirit,” retired Russian Army colonel and military observer Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik, commenting on the news that over 1,700 of the brigade’s 5,800 recruits fled during training in France and Poland before their deployment in the fierce battles in the Donbass.

“Victory in every war is determined by the fighting spirit of those masses who shed blood on the battlefield,” Litovkin explained, noting that the incident shows that “coercion,” not fighting spirit, are the main remaining motivator in the Ukrainian Army, hence the regular mass desertions, mass surrenders, etc.

“If it weren’t for the Banderites standing behind them, threatening to shoot them in the back or executing those who surrender or desert, the front line would have disappeared a long time ago,” the observer suggested.

The shortfalls of the NATO equipment sent to the front along with the brigade’s troops didn’t help matters, Litovkin said, pointing out that the CAESAR wheeled artillery is underpowered and unsuitable for use in Ukraine during the muddy seasons, and that the Leopard 2 tanks the brigade was equipped with weighing 10-20 tons more than Russian ones, meaning inferior maneuverability and effectiveness.

Ultimately, the brigade’s training was just a bureaucratic exercise, Litovkin said, with the money doled out and spent, and the French side especially not particularly concerned about the unit’s fate.

👉 Part 1

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US arming of Ukraine justifies Russia’s special military op aims

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admission that Washington had been supplying weapons to Kiev long before the start of the special military operation.

She told Sputnik that was why one of the goals of the operation was the demilitarization of Ukraine.

"Russia has been saying this for many years," Zakharova said. "About the weapons supplies to Ukraine by the US and the UK, about the endless NATO exercises in the Black Sea region violating Russian borders, and about the dangerous proximity of Western military aircraft to civilian airliners in our country's airspace."

"This is why one of the tasks of the special military operation is the demilitarization of Ukraine and ensuring the security of our country," she added.

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Do US arms sales to Tel Aviv undermine Trump's hopes for Saudi-Israel normalization?

The US State Department "informally" notified Congress of a proposed $8 billion arms deal with Tel Aviv, described as supporting Israel's long-term security through the resupply of critical munitions and air defense capabilities, Axios reported.

The proposed arms package includes:

🔸 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for fighter jets.

🔸 Hellfire AGM-114 missiles for attack helicopters.

🔸 155mm artillery shells.

🔸 Small diameter bombs, JDAM tail kits, 500-lb warheads and bomb fuzes.

The arms deal follows Israeli military operations in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen, which have depleted its weapon stockpiles.

The military campaign continues despite the Gaza ceasefire talks resuming in Doha, Qatar, on January 3.

At least 65 people, including children, were killed in recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Friday and Saturday, according to Palestinian sources.

Impact on US-Saudi-Israel relations

US arms support for Israel's military campaigns is likely to complicate Donald Trump's plan to expand the Abraham Accords with a deal to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

🔹 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) reaffirmed in September 2024 that normalization depends on Palestinian statehood, which the current Israeli government opposes.

🔹 In November 2024, MBS condemned Israeli military aggression in Gaza and Lebanon during the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit.

🔹 Reports of a "breakthrough" in normalization talks were denied by both Tel Aviv and Riyadh in December 2024.

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Danish police are investigating after 20 drones were reportedly spotted over the port of Køge, southwest of Copenhagen, the Associated Press reported quoting local authorities.

A witness called the police, claiming to have seen about 20 drones which then rapidly disappeared into the Køge Bay, the agency said. The police stated that they are trying to determine the total number of drones and their owners, as no drone flight permits had been issued for the area at the time of the sighting.

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Baerbock’s Syria trip focused on energy, support for Kurdish separatists: analyst

Berlin’s modern-day foreign policy is focused on two things: antagonizing Russia and a search for energy, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s Syria trip was aimed primarily at “trying to secure relations with parties that hold a good grasp on energy resources,” Sakarya University security policy expert and researcher Furkan Halit Yolcu told Sputnik.

Pointing to long-standing German support for Kurdish separatist movements across the region, from Syria and Iraq to Turkiye, Yolcu pointed out with the YPG militias controlling “a good amount of energy reserves” in Syria, Germany is looking to avoid losing “its leverage on that side,” while trying to get a sense of where Transitional Government head Abu Mohammad al-Julani stands, and convince him of Germany’s potential support in the coming years.

Accordingly, whether the trip has a positive or negative outcome depends whether or not Berlin can convince Damascus not to attack YPG positions, the observer said.

As for Baerbock’s comments about keeping Syria “out of the hands” of Russia and China, Yolcu said that in his estimation, German foreign policy simply doesn’t have “such a macro level understanding of the international system,” or ability to influence it, with the country focused on saving its economy and maintaining its top spot among European economic powers amid the ongoing crisis facing the EU.

Ultimately, Yolcu doesn’t expect Berlin to give up on its support for Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq or Turkiye, with such support giving them the means to pressure all three countries, as “leverage for them, mainly against Turkiye.” Accordingly, as far as Syria is concerned, the Kurds are what’s most important for Berlin, the analyst said.

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❗️A Ukrainian drone attacked a car on a highway in the Zaporozhye region, killing a 10-year-old child and injuring the child's parents, said the region's governor, Yevgeniy Balitsky.

"The Kiev terrorists intentionally directed the UAV at a civilian vehicle. The vehicle was carrying a family — parents and a child," said the governor.

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⚡️A Sputnik correspondent and four other media employees were injured in a Ukrainian strike on a civilian vehicle on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.

The second journalist from Sputnik, Mikhail Kevkhiev, was also injured in the strike.

Freelance correspondent of Izvestia Alexander Martemyanov was killed in the attack.

Ukrainian forces intentionally targeted a civilian car, which was far from the frontline.

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How the US dollar could be dethroned by BRICS national currencies

Critics of de-dollarization argue that no viable alternative to the greenback has emerged as a major reserve currency. They insist that the dominance of the US dollar will persist for the foreseeable future. But are they right?

Former Ronald Reagan official and renowned US economist Dr Paul Craig Roberts believes that ending dollar hegemony does not require a single competing currency but rather several national ones.

"The dollar as a reserve currency is the main basis of US power," Roberts wrote. "It means the US can always finance its debt."

Other countries strive to export goods to the US to obtain dollars for their central bank reserves, he noted. The foreign exchange earned from exports is then invested into US treasury bonds, which pay interest while also serving as reserves for central banks.

"Today, there is no need for a reserve currency," argues Roberts. "Countries should trade in their own currencies. This gives every country an incentive to maintain a strong currency."

The economist explained that the US dollar became the global reserve currency after the Second World War not because it was inherently indispensable, but because all other industrialized nations had been devastated by the war.

Roberts suggests it is time to move on and explore new alternatives, especially given that the dollar has been weaponized by the US.
The BRICS+ bloc is increasingly using national currencies for trade and investments within its framework.

The group "should develop trade relations among BRICS members, which have the potential to expand into Asia, Africa and South America. The world is ready for a non-weaponized system," Roberts advised.

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🔸 Blinken admits US was pumping Ukraine with arms long before conflict with Russia escalated

🔸 That’s why US military-industrial complex wants Ukraine bloodbath to continue

🔸 Baerbock’s Syria trip: focus on energy and support for Kurdish separatists

🔸 Seriously? Biden awards Medal of Freedom to Hillary Clinton and George Soros

🔸 Who are CEOs donating millions to Trump’s inauguration after snubbing his campaign?

🔸 How the US dollar could be dethroned by BRICS national currencies

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Austria’s Nehammer steps down as chancellor, leader of People’s Party as coalition talks crumble

“We have negotiated long and hard. Agreement with the SPOe (Social Democrats) is not possible on key issues. The People’s Party stands by its promises: we will not agree to measures that are anti-performance or anti-business, or new taxes. We are therefore ending negotiations with the SPOe,” embattled Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced Saturday.

Nehammer said he would resign as head of the government, and as leader of the People’s Party, in the wake of the negotiations’ failure.

Austria’s political future has been in limbo since September’s parliamentary elections, where the populist anti-mass immigration, anti-Brussels, pro-neutrality, anti-Ukraine conflict Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) nearly doubled its standing, garnering over 29% of the vote and causing Nehammer’s ruling People’s Party/Green coalition to lose its parliamentary majority.

Nehammer refused to form a coalition with the Freedom Party, and has sought to cobble together a new government with the New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) and the SPOe, respectively, with both attempts ending in failure.

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Italian PM Meloni will travel to US to meet Trump — reports

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to meet President-elect Donald Trump in Mar-a-lago, European media reported.

On Jan. 9, President Joe Biden scheduled his final presidential trip overseas to meet with Meloni in Rome.

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🇹🇷☢️ Rosatom will sue Siemens over Akkuyu NPP equipment delay

Rosatom plans to sue Siemens for "demonstratively refusing" to deliver prepaid equipment for Turkiye's Akkuyu nuclear power plant, CEO Alexey Likhachev said.

"There will be a court case, of course. The prepaid equipment has not been delivered. This resulted in additional costs for us, as we had to buy the equipment elsewhere and adjust the installation deadlines. These claims will be filed," the Rosatom CEO said.

The replacement was quickly found and ordered from friendly countries. The launch of the first unit is planned for 2025.

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⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry comments on the killing and wounding of journalists in the Donetsk Republic:

🔶 Media representatives were consciously chosen as targets for a deadly attack by the Ukrainian military.

🔶 The incident is yet another brutal crime by the Zelensky regime, which openly resorts to terrorist methods to eliminate its ideological opponents.

🔶 Russian foreign ministry calls on UNESCO and other international bodies to respond to the attack by the Ukrainian military.

🔶 All those responsible for the attack on Russian journalists in the DPR will be identified and inevitably punished.


📹 The video was filmed at the scene of the Ukrainian attack on a car carrying journalists.

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✋ China calls on US to stop cyber attacks around the world

The United States is an "initiator and master of cyber attacks" worldwide, said a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.

"We urge the United States to stop engaging in cyber theft and attacks around the world and stop using cyber security issues to smear other countries," he said.

Liu also denied accusations of Chinese government involvement in hacking attacks on the Treasury Department, saying the US is using cybersecurity to "smear" other countries.

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🐦 Sourced locally: NYC food truck worker filmed catching pigeons

Social media footage shows a Queens food truck worker using a plastic bag to catch a pigeon.

Coworkers claim he was rescuing a bird with tied legs, and the Health Department reported no evidence of pigeons after an inspection, the NY Post reported.

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Biden will deliver two major speeches before leaving office - reports

President Biden plans to deliver two major speeches in his final days in office to outline his legacy, NBC reports, citing sources familiar with the plans.

Biden also is expected to issue additional pardons before January 20.

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