❗️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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🇷🇺 Russia enters race for rare earth dominance – Part 1 👉 Part 2

Resource-wise, Russia’s been endowed with the entire Periodic Table of Elements. Amid the growing global competition for resources, these are Russia’s prospects for becoming a rare earths superpower.

What reserves of rare earth metals does Russia have?

Russia has up to 28.7 million tons of rare earths, including 18 major deposits, second only to China (44 million tons) and accounting for over 20% of the world’s 130-million-ton stockpile, the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency (Rosnedr) estimated in 2024.

Why does Russia need rare earth metals?

Russia needs rare earths for its nuclear industry and defense sectors, the oil and gas industry (which consumed 830 tons of lanthanum, yttrium, and other minerals in 2023), renewables (200 tons), the glass and optics industries (100 tons) and electronics (100 tons).

What does Russia do to increase production of rare earths?

🔸 With the global rare earths market likely more than double in value to nearly $11 billion by 2030, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade expects rare earths production and consumption to more than double in 2030, in accordance with a state-backed strategy to achieve critical mineral self-sufficiency.

🔸 To boost production, measures were approved in 2020 to slash taxes on rare earths mining from 8 to 4.8%, even bigger tax breaks on new production for the first 10 years, and soft loans at state-subsidized interest rates.

👉 Part 2

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🇷🇺 Russia enters race for rare earth dominance – Part 2 👉 Part 1

Where are the Russian deposits of rare earths?

🔸 Rosatom is the leader in the Russian rare earths sector. Its production is expected to reach 2,700 tons in 2025, and 7,500 tons by 2030. Until recently, the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant in Perm, built in the 1930s, accounted for nearly 100% of Russia’s rare earths output.

🔸 Other major fields of rare and strategic minerals include the Tomtorskoye deposit in Yakutia, discovered in 1977 and endowed with some of 3.2 million tons of oxides, and the Kolmozerskoye deposit in Murmansk region, found in the 1950s and containing up to 844,000 tons of lithium oxide and other ores.

🔸 Additional sites include Zashikhinskoye mine, the untapped Kovytka gas field, and the Yaraktinskoye oil field, all in Irkutsk region, the Polmostundrovskoye lithium deposit in Murmansk, the Zavitinskoye deposit in Transbaikal, the Tyrnyauz mining project in Kabardino-Balkaria, the Kongor-Chrome project in Yamalia, and the Saranovskoye deposit in Perm.

🔸 These sites are presently focused on other tech metals, like niobium, chromium, manganese, titanium, molybdenum and tungsten (whose combined production is expected to reach 70,000+ tons in 2030), but also have rare earths potential.

However, Russia faces some challenges as the country's share of global rare earths output is minimal, at around 1%, due to low processing.

Other obstacles include rebuilding supply chains lost after the USSR’s demise, which left Russia without large-scale refining capacity. Major Soviet processing plants were built in Kazakhstan (production stopped), Kyrgyzstan, and Estonia (now owned by a Canadian company). China’s technological lead and market dominance (60% of production, 90% of processing) could also make exports difficult.

👉 Part 1

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News of Putin-Trump meeting has countries bickering over who should host talks

👉 Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that he is offering Serbia as a potential venue for a meeting between Putin and Trump.

👉 Switzerland has expressed its readiness to host a possible meeting between Trump and Putin.

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🇮🇱 Old conflicts, new crises, Trump’s return and Netanyahu’s fate: what awaits Israel in 2025?

2024 proved a difficult year for Israel, with the country bogged down in Gaza and Lebanon, and humbled by Houthi and Iranian missile strikes, while adding hundreds of sq. km of additional Syrian land to its ledger of occupied territories.

🕊 Peace?

“The opening of new conflict fronts is unlikely in 2025,” says Beirut-based observer Dr. Imad Salamey, pointing out that the Lebanon ceasefire is holding, a Gaza ceasefire nears, and “the Syrian-Israeli conflict is de-escalating under the new Syrian regime seeking international legitimacy.”

“Most regional tensions are moving toward resolution as the balance of power shifts decisively in favor of the US-Israeli-Turkish alliance,” Salamey believes.

Incoming president Donald Trump “will support ongoing ceasefire agreements, facilitate de-escalation with Syria, and push for a nuclear deal with Iran backed by Europe,” the analyst says.

⚔️ Or war?

To “change” the “existing regional system,” Israel “must weaken Iran in a very [serious] manner,” says Prof. Kobi Michael of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies.

Michael believes 2025 will bring potential Saudi-Israeli normalization under the Abraham Accords “to build an anti-Iranian axis.” Israel’s military campaigns and Trump’s return will make Iran “much more vulnerable than before,” the analyst argues.

🤝 Deal of the Century II?

On the other hand, Michael says, Trump “will not hesitate...to make some steps that Israel doesn’t like…with regard to the Palestinians, and has no doubt that he will have no mercy in this regard and push Israel into the corner” in search of a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.

🔥 Netanyahu in the hot seat

As for Netanyahu, he faces “two major challenges” domestically (apart from his corruption cases): tensions with the army and the issue of his Ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, who have been unfairly exempt from fighting in the eyes of Israeli society.

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🗣 German left-wing MP and candidate for chancellor Sahra Wagenknecht has said the sanctions imposed by the EU and the US against Russia have nothing to do with the conflict in Ukraine, but are merely intended to give US business an advantage.

“Let’s stop believing this nonsense" Wagenecht said. "It’s about the economic interests of American companies.”

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🔸 Putin-Trump meeting is being prepared, leaders could soon have a phone call

🔸 Russia enters race for rare earth dominance

🔸 Old conflicts, new crises, Trump’s return and Netanyahu’s fate: what awaits Israel in 2025?

🔸 Iran deploys air defenses at nuclear sites, unveils underground ‘dormant volcano’ missile base

🔸 Brute force, threats, and hard sell: US overseas land grabs

🔸 From New York to Reichstag: Top five fires that shook the world

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🇷🇺 Trump’s Greenland gamble aiming to “secure” its natural resources – JD Vance

💬 “I think there actually is a real opportunity here for us to take leadership to protect America's security, to ensure that those incredible natural resources are developed,” Vice President-elect JD Vance emphasized in an interview with Fox News.

💬 “The current leadership, the Danish government, has not done a good enough job of securing Greenland,” Vance declared.

“Secure Greenland” from whom?

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🗳 Incumbent Croatian President Zoran Milanovic declares victory in runoff election

Here are the key details according to the State Electoral Commission's website:

🔶 Leading Vote: Milanovic leads with three times the number of votes of his opponent, Dragan Primorac.

🔶 Vote Count:

🔸 Zoran Milanovic: 1,117,751 votes

🔸 Dragan Primorac: 379,201 votes

🔶 Polling Data: Results from 99.59% of polling stations.

🔶 Voter Turnout: 44.17% of 3,769,598 eligible voters.

🔶 Observers: 14,600 observers accredited at the polls.

Milanovic has often been labeled pro-Russian in Western media for his unwillingness to draw Croatia into NATO's proxy war with Russia.

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🤡 Jen Psaki blasts Trump and Musk for California wildfires response

💬 “Donald Trump and his allies are injecting half-truths, misinformation, and flat-out lies in some cases in order to score a version of political points,” MSNBC host Jen Psaki, former White House spokeswoman, claimed.

💬 “And so now, we're back in this vicious cycle where Trump and his new bestie push lies about a natural disaster and then right-wing media runs with them,” Psaki slandered.

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📹 ‘Anyone could beat her’ – Trump shares an AI-enhanced video of his chat with Obama

Former President Donald Trump posted an AI-enhanced, fan-made video on his Truth Social page, depicting a hypothetical conversation with former President Barack Obama at the recent funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

P.S. The video was created by social media users using AI voice-overs and such a conversation didn't happen in reality

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📹 Trump to impose ‘very aggressive sanctions’ if Hamas does not release hostages before inauguration – Vance

💬 “It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East,” US Vice President-elect JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News, explaining what measures US President-elect Donald Trump would take if the hostages were not released within the specified time frame.

Previously, Trump had warned that “there will be all hell to pay” in the Middle East if the hostages were not released before his inauguration.

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