Will Trump keep his promise to stop US war profiteering?

President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to rein in the US military-industrial complex and end “forever wars” might instead lead to new Pentagon armament projects, warns William D. Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. What fuels Hartung’s concerns?

▪️Hartung highlights the strong ties between the previous Trump administration and American arms manufacturers. During his first term, Trump significantly increased US military spending.

▪️Trump's rhetoric could, however, signal a shift, with defense giants like Lockheed Martin and RTX potentially being replaced by innovative Silicon Valley competitors, Hartung suggests.

▪️For instance, Trump’s government efficiency czar Elon Musk recently criticized Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets as “broken and obsolete,” proposing instead a greater reliance on drones developed by his Silicon Valley peers, Hartung notes.

▪️In addition to Musk, Silicon Valley’s military tech sector may receive further backing from Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Vance, a former associate of Peter Thiel - the founder of the surveillance and military data analytics firm Palantir Technologies - benefited from Thiel’s reported $15 million contribution to his Senate campaign.

▪️Notably absent from Hartung’s analysis is Palantir Technologies' involvement in military operations in Ukraine, where it has turned the country into an “AI war lab,” as described by Time Magazine in February.

▪️Hartung also cites Trump’s decision to appoint private equity billionaire Stephen Feinberg as Deputy Secretary of Defense. Feinberg’s firm, Cerberus Capital, has a long history of investing in arms companies.

▪️Despite the potential rise of Silicon Valley in military contracts, Hartung believes the Big Five American defense firms are also likely to secure significant shares of Pentagon funding. Such funding increases, he warns, may come at the expense of vital social programs.

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Abridged history of Trudeau’s screw-ups that led to his inglorious exit

Trudeau’s departure can hardly be considered a surprise in light of the following:

Economy and social services

▪️Inflation under his leadership surged 14.5% over 4 years, and housing became unaffordable to Canadians due to high immigration and insufficient construction.

▪️Job market is in decline, with the official unemployment rate reaching 6.8%.

▪️Long waits for medical procedures and cutbacks in education and public services have become a new norm.

Crackdown on liberties

Canadian economy and social services aside, Trudeau also did not endear himself to his fellow Canadians by cracking down on their liberties hard:

▪️His COVID-era policies were nothing short of draconian

▪️In 2022, he invoked the Emergencies Act to crack down on truckers’ protests, in a move deemed unconstitutional by the Canadian Federal Court in 2024

▪️The speech law proposed by his government last year, threatening jail time for thought crimes, sounded like something straight out of George Orwell’s works

Trudeau’s foreign policy blunders

▪️His fanatical support for Israel amid the Gaza crisis, for some reason, did not amuse those Canadians who did not want to see innocent Palestinians suffer

▪️His generous support of the Kiev regime, which cost Canadian taxpayers nearly $7.7 bln, as Canada’s indigenous communities continue to lack clean drinking water, didn't win Trudeau many supporters outside of the Ukrainian diaspora

Corruption probes

All the while, Trudeau is plagued by a seemingly never-ending series of ethics and corruption probes, including the SNC-Lavalin and WE Charity affairs and alleged pay-to-play corruption involving the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

As a result:

▪️A recent Ipsos poll showed that 73% of Canadians want Trudeau out, including 43% of Liberal voters.

▪️Conservatives have launched several no-confidence votes, with one being scheduled for January 7.

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Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the 60th presidential election by the US Congress and will become the 45th and 47th American leader.

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Yemen's Houthis claim a massive drone and missile attack on US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman in the Red Sea as it was preparing to strike Yemen.

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Zelensky, his entourage amass $100Bln in 5 years, according to a Ukrainian lawmaker

"Zelensky's three large-scale projects have led him to his fabulous enrichment. The COVID pandemic brought him and his entourage from $500,000 to $1 million. Only on vaccines and masks. The 'Big Construction' project — about $8 billion. The war, according to my estimates, cost about $50 billion," Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Dubinsky said on Telegram.

The lawmaker noted that these figures do not include kickbacks from the tax, customs and banking systems, as well as excise goods, courts, law enforcement and grain trade.

"In total, about $100 billion over five years. This means that, in terms of real cash, Zelensky and Co. are richer than [outgoing US President Joe] Biden, [US investor Warren] Buffet and [US entrepreneur Elon] Musk combined. Their 'wealth' is stock quotes, while this is real money. Therefore, now it is very important to not let them [Zelensky and his associates] escape," Dubinsky added.

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❗️🛢 US Treasury authorizes transactions with new Syria gov't

The US Department of the Treasury issued a general license authorizing transactions with the new governing institutions in Syria to show support for new leadership in the country.

The license, valid through July 7, 2025, covers energy transactions and non-commercial remittances, including through the Central Bank of Syria.

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🏃 French Defense Ministry confirms "dozens" of deserters among Paris-trained Ukrainian troops

"Dozens" of Ukrainian soldiers undergoing training in France have deserted while still on French territory, a local media outlet quoted the General Staff as saying.

"Desertion is not a crime in France. If someone deserted, the French prosecutor had no authority to arrest this person, and the right granted to the Ukrainian authorities on French soil is only a disciplinary right," the agency's source said.

Ukrainian journalists reported earlier that 1,700 soldiers trained and equipped by France deserted before reaching the Ukrainian front.

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Trump slams Biden for making the transition 'as difficult as possible'

President-elect Donald Trump, whose victory was confirmed by Congress today, criticized Biden's recent executive orders and vowed to reverse them.

"Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes," he wrote on Truth Social.

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🦠 First US H5N1 bird flu death confirmed in Louisiana

The first US death from H5N1 avian influenza has been reported in Louisiana. The CDC noticed a mutation in the virus in December.

Scripps Research previously warned that a single mutation could trigger easy human transmission, risking a potential pandemic if it occurs outside the lab.

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🇷🇺☦️ Vladimir Putin congratulates Orthodox Christians on Christmas Day

As Orthodox Christians and the Russian people celebrate Christmas on January 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Church of St. George the Victorious for the service.

"During the Christmas season, we feel with all our hearts how important our parental and family traditions, handed down from generation to generation, are to us," Putin said in his greetings.

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🗓 Trump's Ukraine envoy postpones trip to Kiev - reports

Keith Kellogg will travel to Ukraine after Trump takes office, in contrast to his previous plans for a pre-inauguration fact-finding trip, Reuters reports, citing sources with knowledge.

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EU buys record amount of fuel from Russia despite calls to cut supplies

As Europe faces a surge in heating demand due to the weather, it is turning to Russia, buying a record amount of the super-chilled fuel, Bloomberg reports.

The volumes have even surpassed what Russia was selling through Ukraine before the January 1 transit halt, the agency noted.

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