USAID's hands in every pocket: burning through cash like there's no tomorrow

💬 "It is impossible to spend USD 41,7 mln on another country’s elections and, at the same time, feel no accountability towards the population of the said country," Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, wrote on his X acc

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❗️The explosion at the Alye Parusa (Scarlet Sails) residential complex, which resulted in the death of the voluntary Armenian Battalion (ArBat) founder Armen Sarkisyan, may have been carried out by a suicide bomber, according to Russian media.

The body found at the scene of the explosion belonged to the bomber. It was badly deformed. The device was attached to the man's body.

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Fearing Trump, UK still has trump cards up its sleeve

The British government will heed US President Donald Trump’s demands to avoid a trade war, Western media report.

“The one thing they can do quickly is buy our oil and gas,” Trump said of the collective West and his tariff plans.

Apart from fuel, the UK might consider buying more US-made arms, including more F-35 stealth fighters.

The British government pledged to buy 138 of the jets from the US. But it has only ordered 48 so far and is prioritizing home-grown weapon systems.

But since Trump’s return to the White House last month “everything is on the table,” an unnamed ‘senior official’ said.

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📍 Sputnik’s must-reads on USAID:

◼️ How is USAID linked to secret bioweapons research?

◼️ USAID: Soros' secret cash cow

◼️ The REAL reason USAID was kicked out of Russia

◼️ USAID's billion-dollar support for Ukraine’s color revolutions

◼️ Meet USAID’s European little sister

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Trump’s rare earths ULTIMATUM has one small problem: Ukraine DOESN’T HAVE them

The US president has had another of his ‘quiet part out loud’ moments, demanding Ukraine’s mineral riches in exchange for aid. Perhaps he wasn’t told, but the lion’s share (70%+) of Ukraine’s $15 trln in resource wealth is concentrated in Donbass and the frontline region of Dnepropetrovsk.

🔸 Russia freed the DPR town of Shevchenko last month, and with it, spoiled the West’s dreams of control of a lithium field with 13.8 mln tons of lithium ores meant to fuel the EU’s “green transition.” In 2022, Ukraine lost Kruta Balka, another major lithium deposit, in Zaporozhye.

🔸 Where is Ukraine’s remaining lithium? At the Dobra and Polokhovskoye deposits in Kirovograd region, which aren’t operational, but contain an estimated 1.2 mln and 270k tons of lithium ore, respectively.
Where’s the $15 trln?

🔸 Russian-held areas’ total mineral wealth sits at $7.8 trln (Lugansk: $3.2 trln, Donetsk: $3.8 trln, Zaporozhye: $605 bln, Kherson: <$10 bln, Crimea: $206 bln), per a 2023 Forbes estimate.

As for Ukraine, there’s:

🟠Dnepropetrovsk: $3.5 trln (zinc, copper, gold, titanium, iron, uranium)
🟠Poltava: $790 bln (oil and gas, including the Glinsko-Rozbyshevskoye oil field: 225 mln barrels)
🟠Kharkov: $685 bln (oil and gas, including the Yuzivska gas field, split with DPR, with 70.8 trln cu ft in reserves, and the Shebelinka field: 18.4 trln cu ft)
🟠Zhytomyr: $555 bln (coal/lignite, titanium, including the titanomagnetite, ilmenite, apatite concentrates mine in Volodar-Volynskyi: 450k tons in reserves)
🟠Lvov: $521 bln (coal/lignite, sulfur, oil, gas, including the Oleska shale gas deposit, split with Ivano-Frankovsk and Ternopol: 53 trln cubic feet in reserves)
🟠Kirovograd: $270 bln (coal/lignite, gold, uranium, including Smolenskaya Uranium Mine: 450k ton per year capacity, has mined 23.7 mln tons of uranium ores to date)
🟠The rest of Ukraine: $654 bln (gold, sulfur, oil, gas, coal/lignite, titanium).

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Five individuals were shot at an adult education center in Sweden, as reported by the police.

🔶A significant police operation is currently ongoing in the town of Orebro, located approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Stockholm, the capital.

🔶Authorities have warned that "the danger is not over" and have advised the public to avoid the area near the school.

🔶The perpetrator died after turning the gun on himself, Swedish media report.

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Alastair Crooke: Netanyahu working overtime to FRUSTRATE Gaza peace

“He’s changing the team, and wants to have a discussion [with] Trump in Washington,” veteran British ex-diplomat Alastair Crooke told Sputnik at the 14th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club, commenting on growing concerns that the shaky Gaza ceasefire is at risk.

“The first phase of the ceasefire ended Monday. Then there would be a discussion about the next phases. Netanyahu is changing all that, and not letting it happen in Qatar,” the Conflicts Forum founder pointed out.

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Victoria Nuland belongs IN JAIL

Here are her crimes against humanity:

1️⃣ Blocked Ukraine-Russia peace deal (2022)

💥 Advised Ukraine to reject a peace agreement, prolonging the war and increasing casualties.

2️⃣ Orchestrated Ukraine’s 2014 regime change

📞 Leaked call ("F*** the EU") exposed US role in selecting Ukraine’s post-revolution government.

3️⃣ Escalated conflict with Russia (NATO Expansion, 2008)

⚠️ Pushed for Ukraine & Georgia to join NATO, provoking Russian military action.

4️⃣ US meddling in Bangladesh

🇧🇩 PM Sheikh Hasina accused Nuland of backing efforts to remove her after she refused US military access.

5️⃣ Pakistan regime change (2022)

🇵🇰 Imran Khan claims US (with Nuland’s involvement) orchestrated his removal via a no-confidence vote.

6️⃣ Fueling Syrian civil war

🩸 Advocated US support for opposition fighters, worsening conflict & prolonging violence.

7️⃣ Key role in Iraq war (2003)

🇮🇶 Advised VP Dick Cheney, backing the invasion based on false WMD claims that led to massive instability.

8️⃣ Backing Israeli military actions

🇮🇱 Supported Israeli settlement expansion & military operations in Gaza, fueling regional tensions.

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🇦🇫 USAID flooded Afghanistan with taxpayer money that fueled OPIUM TRADE

As part of his vow to clean house, Donald Trump has frozen all spending via the notorious US Agency for International Development (USAID). The White House accused it of “waste and abuse” of taxpayers’ funds.

One cited recipient of “unaccountable” cash infusions was Afghanistan

❓What was USAID doing there?

🔶 USAID launched its first program in Afghanistan in 2001; by FY2002, its budget was $30 million.

🔶 In 2006, USAID started distribution of vouchers for seed, fertilizer, tools, skills, and technology

❓What really happened

◼️ Between 2005 and 2008, USAID sank at least $330 million in funding failed alternative development projects (ADP), according to a 2016 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report

◼️ USAID funds served to boost poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, SIGAR’s John Sopko revealed

◼️ USAID’s Kandahar Food Zone program’s efforts to rehabilitate canals increased the fertility of at least 113,808 hectares of land, satellite imagery showed

◼️ Areas under opium poppy cultivation reached 328,000 hectares in 2017, which is 60% more than the year before

◼️ Historic production of opium and its heroin derivative reached a RECORD output value of up to $6.6 billion in 2017

◼️ This provided the Taliban* with an estimated 60% of its funding, valued at around $200 million

*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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📹 INCREDIBLE PROFESSIONALISM: Russian troops struck a Ukrainian bunker with absolute precision, launching an FPV drone directly into the building.

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