🗣US energy sanctions threaten Europe with hike in fuel prices - Hungarian FM

The outgoing US administration's new sanctions against the energy sector of Russia and Serbia put Europe at risk of a serious hike in fuel prices, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday.

The inclusion of the Russian-Serbian oil company NIS, where Russian energy giant Gazprom Neft holds 56.15%, will cause a shortage of oil on the European market and, as a consequence, an increase in demand for oil products amid a lack of growth in supply, the minister said.

Hungary will work intensively with regional partners to minimize the damage from the US sanctions, Szijjarto also said.

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❗️The future US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg may have canceled his visit to Kiev following a series of statements by Zelensky regarding the conditions for ending the conflict, which reportedly do not align with the vision of Trump's transition team, Ukrainian media report.

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❗️Preparations for the Trump and Putin meeting are underway, Trump's national security advisor says.

Trump believes that a deal on Ukraine is impossible without dialogue with Russia and plans to work on it in the coming months, the advisor to the president-elect says.

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❗️The US believes that the agreement on Ukraine should provide “security guarantees” to prevent a repeat of the conflict - the White house

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❗️The parties to the negotiations on the release of the hostages in Gaza are “very close” to an agreement and may reach it before Trump takes office - the White house

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❗️A phone call between Trump and Putin could take place "in the coming days or weeks," Trump's national security advisor says.

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🔫 Brute force, threats, and hard sell: US overseas land grabs – Part 1 👉 Part 2

As Donald Trump mulls claims to Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada, let’s recall how America’s insatiable hunger for power drove its overseas expansion.

🔊 United States Minor Outlying Islands

The US expansion beyond North America started with the 1856 Guano Islands Act. It laid claim to uninhabited islands containing guano fertilizer.

Remaining claims, including Baker Island and Jarvis Island (unincorporated territories) in the Pacific Ocean and Palmyra Atoll (an incorporated unorganized territory) in the Caribbean Sea, are collectively known as the USMOI.

🤝 Transacted territories

🔸 Panama Canal

A US contrived coup forced Panama to break away from Colombia and accept a payoff for a strip of land to build the strategic canal, jurisdiction over which was restored to the Republic of Panama in 1999.

🔸 Corn Islands (Caribbean Sea)

Cash-strapped Nicaragua was swayed to lease the islands in 1914 so the US could build an alternative to the Panama Canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but the project was dead in the water and the deal scrapped in 1971.

🔸 Philippines

Spain sold its colony the Philippines to the US for $20 million after its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Jones Act of 1916 promised Manila eventual independence, which it had to wait 30 years to get.

🔸 Unincorporated American territory Virgin Islands (Atlantic Ocean)

The US pressured Denmark to sell the islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix for $25 million in gold coin by threatening a military attack on the neutral nation during World War I.

👉 Part 2

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🔫 Brute force, threats, and hard sell: US overseas land grabs – Part 2 👉 Part 1

👊 Land grabs by force

🔸 Hawaii (Pacific Ocean)

The lucrative sugar cane trade whetted the appetites of a bunch of US businessmen in Hawaii, who staged a coup in 1893, deposing Queen Liliuokalani with US Navy support. Hawaii went from annexation as a US territory to America’s 50th state.

🔸 Cuba

The US nabbed Cuba, coveted for its sugar, tobacco, rice, and coffee, after Spain renounced its rights to the colony under the Treaty of Paris. Despite the 1901 Platt Amendment granting it formal independence, a corrupt rule catering to US interests continued until Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

🔸 Guantanamo

In 1903, Washington leased land surrounding Guantanamo Bay from the US-installed Cuban puppet government in perpetuity for its naval stations, with the Guantanamo base prison spawning a dark legacy of abuse and unlawful detention.

🔸 US territory Guam (Pacific Ocean)

The US annexed the strategically located Spanish colony of Guam during the Spanish-American War in 1898, with the island’s governor surrendering in less than 30 minutes, according to historical docs.

🔸 American Samoa (unincorporated US territory, Pacific Ocean)

American Samoa is the result of the Second Samoan Civil War and dealmaking between the US, UK, and Germany in 1899 to settle rivalries by splitting the archipelago between them.

🔸 Puerto Rico (unincorporated US territory, Caribbean Sea)

US victory in its war with Spain compelled Madrid to relinquish claims on Puerto Rico, of value to Washington both as a manufacturing hub and as a key naval station. The territory has a strong political movement advocating integration as the 51st US state.

👉 Part 1

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'We were waiting for Russia to bring us peace' - residents of liberated Kurakhovo

A Sputnik correspondent spoke with elated residents of the strategic city of Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), liberated by Russian forces.

💬 “Hello to everyone... We're very happy that you've come, that you've liberated us!” The words come tumbling out as teary-eyed residents greet Russian soldiers.

Defying threats and destruction by Ukrainian Army thugs, these people refused to budge, saying:

“We were not going to leave… We were waiting for Russia to bring us peace!”

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💬 President-elect Donald Trump considers it unrealistic to "expel" Russia from all former Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz stated.

"I just don't think it's realistic to say we're going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality. And I think it's been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality," he said.

"We would like to see a ceasefire any minute, any day. I think that would be an incredibly positive first step on both sides," he added.

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💬 Trump's admin will establish "some sort of relationship and dialogue" with Russia in the coming months, Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz says

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