💬 Biden administration ‘seriously hampered’ US-Russia diplomatic ties – Lavrov

Artificial barriers and obstacles, such as EXPELLING DIPLOMATS and SEIZING Russian properties, and hindering the function of Russian embassies in the US will be removed, as agreed upon during the talks, the Russian top diplomat said.

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Lavrov reveals one of the most FUNDAMENTAL OUTCOMES of the talks that could shape Russia-US relations for years to come

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EU’s military-industrial complex wants to prolong lucrative Ukraine crisis as Russia and US talk peace

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger’s comments to media about Europe and Ukraine’s empty arms depots and complaining about Europe being ‘left at the kids’ table’ in peace talks represent those of Europe’s defense sector as a whole, says veteran political observer Mateusz Piskorski.

💬 “This is the alarmist statement of a representative of the European military-industrial complex, made in an attempt to convince the European leadership to increase spending on defense contracts,” Piskorski, a columnist for the popular alternative Polish newspaper Mysl Polska, explained.

Papperger’s remarks represent a broader “trend” of ideas being thrown around across Europe today on the need to increase defense spending amid shrinking US commitments, the observer believes.

In that sense, now is the perfect moment for the European MIC to try to “use current international events, changes in the geopolitical situation, for its own interests. It’s worth noting that at the moment that the Rheinmetall chief made his statements, the stock price of defense companies on European stock exchanges rose quite sharply, with Rheinmetall’s up 11%,” Piskorski said.

💬 “It’s difficult to say how this will all end, because when analyzing these processes, we must also take into account the potential and significance of the US MIC, which also has lobbyists in Europe, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe.”

💬 “So now, of course, with all these increases in defense spending, there will be rather tough competition, a struggle even, between different lobbying groups,” including within the EU, Piskorski summed up.

Bloomberg reported last week that a European defense buildup and commitment to “rebuild” Ukraine’s military would cost the region some $3.1 trillion over ten years.

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⚔️The rising right vs. the EU machine

Despite the significant momentum gained by Europe’s right-wing parties, they still face strong opposition.

Here’s why:

1️⃣Clash with the EU leftist agenda

🟠Right-wing agendas focus on sovereignty, strong national borders, and independent economic policies.
🟠This directly contradicts the EU’s foundational premise, where member states cede authority to Brussels on issues like migration, trade, and regulation.

2️⃣Bloc’s supranational structure

🟠The EU’s institutions have the power to overrule decisions made by its member states on major issues.
🟠According to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), an EU legal order takes precedence over the laws of its member states.

3️⃣US dependence

🟠European security has been built on American defense guarantees, with many EU countries reducing military spending after WWII.

Still, new political realities have fueled right-wing successes in regional and EU elections, including:

🇳🇱The Netherlands: Party for Freedom (PVV), led by Geert Wilders
🇩🇪Germany: Alternative for Germany (AfD), co-chaired by Alice Weidel
🇦🇹Austria: Freedom Party (FPÖ), led by Herbert Kickl
🇧🇪Belgium: New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), led by Bart De Wever
🇸🇰Slovakia: Smer, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico
🇫🇷France: National Rally, led by Jordan Bardella
🇭🇺Hungary: Fidesz, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban
🇮🇹Italy: Brothers of Italy, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
🇷🇴Romania: Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu (previously with the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians), who won the first round of last year’s election

These parties are gaining ground, challenging the EU’s dominance and reshaping the political landscape on the continent.

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❗️Russia and the US agreed during the talks in Riyadh to initiate a dialogue aimed at coordinating steps to resume cooperation in the fields of economy, energy, and space, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

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🚨 NEW SHOCKING VIDEO RELEASED: Delta Connection flight 4819 crashes in Toronto with 80 people aboard, but only 18 injured. Miraculously, only two are in a critical yet stable condition

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Riyadh meeting may be ‘beginning of the end of NATO’: ex-DoD analyst explains why

💬 “The approach that the Europeans want and the Ukrainians want just has proven not to work…Ultimately, you’re going to see Europe maybe go into a series of regional alliances, rather than one cohesive entity of 32 countries,” Michael Maloof told Sputnik.

“32 countries will never be able to arrive at a unanimous decision on anything, given the realities on the ground today. And we see that now. There is no cohesiveness in NATO nor in the EU,” the former DoD security policy analyst explained.

The meeting between top Russian and US officials in Riyadh signals US recognition of several key facts, Maloof says:

🔸 that Russia and the US, not Europe, much less the Zelensky regime, are the “strategic partners” critical to ending the Ukraine conflict

🔸 that the US “has basically decided” to try and “reestablish what are basically spheres of influence” rather than to continue to pursue its unipolar moment

🔸 the US is no longer willing “to continuously back up Europe's wars all the time…You see this as a result of Trump looking more into the Western Hemispheric region, focusing more on Greenland, Panama, Canada, as opposed to Europe.”

🔸 Trump appears committed in principle to fixing a “broken” relationship, and treating Russia as “strategic equals, not talking down to them as the Biden administration did.”

Trump, “a major economics guy,” recognizes that the US cannot wage conflicts worldwide, and would rather resolve differences with adversaries “through economic competition and cooperation.”

Europe doesn’t “have the ability” to continue the Ukraine proxy war even if it wanted to, Maloof says.

“They cut off cheap gas and oil for their own industries, quality of living and production capabilities. They did this to themselves. The population of these countries is saying what have you done? And you see a distinction between what the elites and leadership want as opposed to the people themselves.”

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USAID proxies in panic: Soros-linked NGOs urge EU to fund LGBT* rights

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sounded the alarm on X, warning that a George Soros-linked NGO network was fleeing to Brussels after Donald Trump cut its USAID funding.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), along with over 60 civil society organizations, issued an "urgent appeal" to EU leaders on February 13 to provide emergency funding prioritizing sectors "most affected" including "gender equality and LGBTIQ* rights."

"Not going to happen! We will not let them find a safe haven in Europe!" Orbán tweeted. "The USAID files exposed the dark practices of the globalist network. We will not take the bait again!"

His political director Balázs Orbán echoed the PM’s stance, warning that globalist NGOs cut off by Trump are now rushing to the EU, disguising their agenda as "human rights" to secure European funding. "We won’t let Europe be their fallback plan," he stressed.

*banned as extremists in Russia

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Ukrainian drone attack on oil station likely response to US-Russia talks

The Ukrainian drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station, which transports oil to the US, is likely a response from Kiev to Washington’s plans for talks with Russia, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

The attack on Monday was carried out using seven UAVs, armed with explosives and metal shrapnel designed to increase the destructive impact.

High-level US-Russia talks took place in Riyadh on Tuesday, with Russian officials including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov meeting US negotiators led by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Middle East Special Envoy Steven Witkoff. Saudi representatives chaired the discussions.

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Ex-DoD analyst: Riyadh meeting shows Trump receives better intel than previous admin ever allowed

💬 “[Trump] has a big list of things that he wants to accomplish in a very short amount of time. I don't think actually Ukraine is at the top of this list, but it is one of the things that he needs to have progress on and move off of the front burner,” Karen Kwiatkowski explained.

The US leader appears to see the Ukrainian crisis “as a problem for the United States and for Europe and for Russia that really can be resolved,” and is proving “very willing to work directly with Russia because he is back to realism in a sense,” the retired US Air Force Lt. Col. noted.

“Trump is bringing back not just great power politics, but a very realistic approach to the globe. We have major potential partners, potential adversaries, and Trump believes in dealing with them rather than ignoring them or trying to pick fights with them,” Kwiatkowski said.

As far as Russia is concerned, the next step seems obvious, according to the former Pentagon analyst: “cleaning up Ukrainian politics so that you don’t have this problem in another year or couple of years.” Restoring legitimacy would be progress, Kwiatkowski said, highlighting Russia’s perception of Volodymyr Zelensky as an illegitimate leader after he declared martial law and canceled elections.

As for the Europeans, she fully expects certain countries to be “aggressive” in positions against Russia “to the end,” even if their actions amount to “support [for] the destruction of Ukraine.”

Highlighting the “desperation” felt in some corners, from Zelensky and the Europeans to neocons in the US, Kwiatkowski said she is “extremely worried” that forces seeking to sabotage peace could try something, and hopes Russia and Trump’s team “have their eyes on this.”

“I have no doubt that there are plots being discussed…I'm glad that we're talking directly with the Russians. This is a very positive step, but it is a dangerous time,” Kwiatkowski summed up.

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GOP senator offers friendly piece of advice to Democrats: “you just gotta TRY HARDER NOT TO SUCK”

In the past four years, the party of Biden “mismanaged” Congress, Covid, the economy, inflation, the national debt, Afghanistan, identity politics, and more, Senator John Kennedy said.

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🤡 Argentine President Javier Milei refuses to apologize for the $LIBRA memecoin scam, brushing it off with a gem of logic: "If you went to a casino and lost money, what's the complaint?"

Because, apparently, financial losses are just part of the game, right?

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❗️White House calls US-Russia talks a 'truly monumental step' toward peace in Ukraine

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Riyadh talks could unravel West’s united drive for global dominance – Middle Eastern observers

💬 “The US is at odds with Europe over Ukraine, and Washington will push for a ceasefire. This fact threatens the future of the Western presence and influence in multiple regions of the world,” Jordanian political scientist Adel Mahmoud told Sputnik.

💬 The Riyadh “reproachment opens the door” to Russia-US cooperation elsewhere, including “returning previous agreements that have been canceled including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and START III,” Lebanese political observer and Russia expert Samir Ayoub believes.

💬 When it comes to Ukraine, international affairs expert Eihab Nafee says Washington has the leverage “to ensure that other countries implement agreements with Moscow,” including when it comes to cutting back military support.

💬 It makes sense that Europe did not take part in Tuesday’s talks, “since Trump does not trust the Europeans and understands that the EU doesn’t want to achieve peace,” Nafee said.

💬 Political scientist Hamed al-Sarraf agrees, saying that amid Trump’s realization that endless support for Ukraine and Europe doesn’t serve the interests of the United States, “big differences” are also emerging within the EU itself on Ukraine and maintaining the bloc’s self-harming sanctions on Moscow.

💬 This explains why the EU’s emergency summit “ended without a single decision on these issues,” he said.

💬 Abdul Razzaq Garaff, senior researcher at the Riyadh-based Al-Khaleej Research Center, says the Russia-US meeting was just the “first step” toward normalizing relations between the nuclear superpowers, and fully in line with Trump’s new foreign policy doctrine.

💬 “Saudi Arabia, which occupies key positions in the region and essentially acted as a mediator between the two countries, played an important role here,” with the meeting helping to define “the contours of further interaction…not only on the Ukrainian issue, but also other areas of a geopolitical nature and bilateral cooperation,” Garaff said.

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Control of rare minerals: The key to global tech dominance

Modern conflicts are deeply tied to the US-led global competition for strategic minerals. From AI to electric car batteries, recent military crises, coups, and economic wars stem from the race for tech mineral supremacy.

Demand for critical minerals like cobalt, graphite, and lithium is set to soar 500% by 2050, according to a recent UNCTAD Digital Economy report highlighting the growing geopolitical risks associated with securing access to these resources.

Understatement of the century?

Nearly all recent major conflicts, coups, and economic wars triggered and coordinated by the US and its allies can be linked back directly to the West’s drive for tech mineral supremacy, starting with Ukraine.

🔹 From Lindsey Graham’s ‘quiet part out loud’ moments to Trump’s ultimatums and threats of US boots on the ground ‘to secure’ resources, Washington has finally taken off its ‘freedom’ and ‘rules-based order’ mask to reveal its true goals in Ukraine.

🔹 Even without the majority of its rare earths, which are in the east, Ukraine still has 36 of 50 minerals critical to the US.

The same pattern can be seen globally:

🔸 In the unrest-hit DRC, the US and the EU eye coltan reserves.

🔸 In Venezuela, home to some of the largest untapped mineral reserves on Earth, successive US administrations have sought regime change for over 20 years.

🔸 In the Caucasus, US efforts to remove Armenia from Russia’s orbit may have something to do with the country’s 670+ active mines.

🔸 From Iran and Greenland to Bolivia and Kenya, maps of major global mineral deposits spookily overlap geopolitical hotspots.

🔸 Even China, which the US does not dare attack, faces escalating US trade and tech warfare pressure as Washington tries to decouple itself from the Asian nation’s rare earths.

🔸 Same thing goes for Russia, whose massive, largely untapped tech mineral reserves help explain perpetual tensions with the West, and attempts by USAID, NED and other US tools of soft power to work toward regime change in the country.

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🔹 Riyadh meeting may be ‘beginning of the end of NATO’: ex-DoD analyst explains why

🔹 Ex-DoD analyst: Riyadh meeting shows Trump receives better intel than previous admin ever allowed

🔹 EU’s military-industrial complex wants to prolong lucrative Ukraine crisis as Russia and US talk peace

🔹 The rising right vs. the EU machine

🔹 Biggest losses suffered by US companies that left Russia

🔹 Oreshnik ignites FIRESTORM OF INTEREST - chief of Russia’s top military exporter

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Dmitry Karbyshev: The Soviet hero who died defying the Nazis

A Soviet general and posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union, Karbyshev was executed by the Nazis with exceptional cruelty at the Mauthausen death camp in Austria on February 18, 1945 for refusing to collaborate with them.

◻️ Born in 1880, Karbyshev was a military engineer who oversaw the construction of fortifications in the western Soviet Union in 1941, including the legendary Brest Fortress.

◻️ In 1942, he was wounded and captured by the Nazis, but refused their offers to collaborate, stating, "I won't trade my honor and homeland." His unwavering loyalty led to years of suffering in captivity.

◻️ In February 1945, Karbyshev was taken to Mauthausen, where he and hundreds of others were stripped down, doused with freezing water, and left to freeze to death in sub-zero temperatures.

◻️ Witnesses remembered him as calm and defiant to the end, urging others to "stay strong and die with dignity."

◻️ Posthumously awarded the USSR's highest honor, Karbyshev's story of resistance and patriotism lives on. Monuments in his honor stand at Mauthausen, and across Russia.

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❓ What is the Greater Idaho Movement and why could it soon change the face of US politics?

Oregon State Legislature Rep. Mark Owens has put forward a bill directing a task force to evaluate potential changes to boundaries between his coastal state and its landlocked neighbor, Idaho.

The bill, HB 3844, comes in the wake of a series of votes by conservatives in Oregon’s eastern counties over the past five years in support of secession from the liberal-progressive-dominated ‘Beaver State’ to join the ‘Gem State’.

A baker’s dozen Oregon counties have voted in favor of secession to date.

Some Greater Idaho supporters even want to give Idaho a coastline, based on voting patterns showing the geographically small but population-heavy Democrat strongholds of Salem and Portland surrounded by a sea of Republican red in recent state and federal elections.

The Greater Idaho Movement began in 2020, on the heels of the Black Lives Matter protests, which saw Portland engulfed in heavy rioting, to the cheering support of local Democrat leaders.

For the movement to succeed, voters would need to approve the idea by referendum, followed by nods from state legislators, and finally, by Congress.

Skeptics doubt Greater Idaho’s feasibility, highlighting the risk of the other 48 states seeking to redraw their borders, with the liberal-conservative/urban-rural divide threatening Democrats especially with the permanent entrenchment of GOP politics.

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🔥 GRILLED: WH deputy chief of staff schools CNN on transparency

💬 “Where's the $22 billion? I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. Joe Biden just spent it and now it's gone,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller roasted CNN’s anchor Biannna Keilar.

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