📹 The first video from the liberated Sudzha, shot from a drone

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✍️ The White House clarified that it was US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, not Donald Trump.

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🔍 Somaliland: what to know about strategic breakaway as US mulls recognition

The Trump administration is “having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition,” an official involved in negotiations told US media.

🔸 Located in northern Somalia, Somaliland lies near the Gulf of Aden, a key maritime chokepoint between Europe and Asia. Up to 10% of global trade passes through its waters.

🔸 Declaring independence in 1991 amid the US-backed Somalian state’s collapse following a costly war with Ethiopia, Somaliland is not recognized by any country. Somalia views it as part of its territory.

🔸 Ethiopia maintains unofficial ties with Somaliland, seeing it as its gateway to the sea. This has strained relations with Somalia, although both countries have committed to work to resolve tensions.

🔸 Turkiye has sought to act as a mediator, having previously fostered a maritime security partnership with Somalia.

🔸 The US, with a military base in Somalia, has rejected Somaliland’s independence bid up to now.

🔸 China’s influence in the Horn of Africa may make Somaliland crucial for US strategic leverage.

🔸 New Somaliland president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi aims for international recognition.

🔸 The Trump administration has considered relocating Gazans to Somaliland, a plan supported by Israel but rejected by Arab nations.

🔸 The Horn of Africa, including Somaliland, is also rich in resources, including farming, fishing, livestock, gold, oil, gas, gemstones, and potential geothermal energy.

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📉 Americans’ health at HISTORIC LOW – reports

Only 31% of US adults rate their mental health as "excellent," according to a Gallup poll cited by the Washington Times. The figures for physical health are even lower, with just 24% of adults rating it as such.

Overall, the percentage of adults rating their mental health as excellent or good has dropped from a record high of 89% in 2012 to 75% last year. Similarly, the share of adults rating their physical health positively fell from a 24-year peak of 82% in 2012 to 76% in 2024.

Experts point to a “significant increase” in self-reported obesity as a factor behind the decline in physical health, while a rise in young women reporting emotional problems since 2020 is contributing to the drop in mental health ratings.

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🔍 A new US invasion of Panama in motion?

The Trump administration has reportedly asked the Pentagon for "credible military options" to secure access to the Panama Canal, aiming to strengthen the US presence and limit China's access.

🔸 US Southern Command is drafting strategies ranging from partnering with Panama’s security forces to seizing the canal by force, NBC News reports.

🔸 The decision to use military force would depend on whether Panama cooperates with the US or not.

🔸 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already reviewed the plans and is expected to visit Panama in April.

Déjà vu: Operation Just Cause

When US-Panama relations soured in the late 1980s, president George Bush senior, defense secretary Dick Cheney and general Colin Powell launched a military operation to overthrow Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.

🔹 Noriega, once a close US ally and CIA asset under Bush’s directorship at the agency, fell out of favor when Washington pressured him to step down. In response, he shifted allegiance to the Soviet bloc.

🔹 The regime change plan for Panama was authorized in 1988, starting with a gradual increase in the US military presence in the Central American region.

🔹 In May 1989, Bush accused Noriega of election fraud and approved a blitzkrieg invasion to remove him.

🔹 On December 15, 1989, the Panamanian National Assembly passed a resolution declaring a state of war with the US. A clash between US and Panamanian forces soon triggered an invasion.

🔹 On December 20, 1989, over 27,680 US troops and 300 aircraft were deployed to Panama. Bush claimed democracy, human rights, US lives, drug trafficking and maintaining the canal’s neutrality as justifications.

🔹 US forces seized key locations, including land approaches to Panama City, Punta Paitilla Airport and the Rio Hato airfield.

🔹 Task Force Bayonet stormed Panama Defense Forces (PDF) headquarters, leading to the PDF's collapse and Noriega’s surrender two weeks later.

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How BlackRock stole Schwab’s globalist thunder

Klaus Schwab, who founded the World Economic Forum in the 1970s and shaped globalist discourse for decades, has been swept away by the Trump Revolution, Professor Felipe J. Cuello, a member of Donald Trump’s 2016-17 transition team’s Foreign Policy Implementation unit, tells Sputnik.

In fact, Schwab’s descent into irrelevance began more than a decade ago amid “the rise of the big conglomerates like BlackRock” that “made Davos-type coordination much less necessary,” says the professor.

BlackRock and two other Wall Street behemoths—Vanguard and State Street—benefited greatly from former president Barack Obama’s 2008 “helicopter money” scheme, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which allowed them to buy AAA-rated US companies and properties at a huge discount.

💬 “What those companies have done with that money, however, is most certainly ideological—the conglomerates were the main force behind DEI, mainstreaming the climate agenda throughout society, also the main funders of Black Lives Matter and the LGBT* movement," Cuello notes.

As a result, Davos paled in comparison to the Wall Street giants, who were actively promoting woke ideology.

💬 “Insofar as these were present at Davos, it was them bringing Davos along for the ride, not the other way around,” Cuello points out.

*banned as an extremist organization

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❗️The US interaction with Russia on Ukraine can be assessed as CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

He added that the US will evaluate Russia's position on a ceasefire, and the administration will hold a meeting upon Witkoff’s return from Moscow. Donald Trump will make decisions on further steps.

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❗️Trump, his administration doing everything to restore Russia-US relations - Putin.

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❗️Putin stated that he has reviewed Trump’s call to spare Ukrainian soldiers.

The Russian president said he understood the US president's appeal to adhere to humanitarian principles regarding Ukrainian military personnel.

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⚡️ Ukrainian soldiers who lay down their weapons and surrender will be guaranteed their lives and dignified treatment - Putin

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BlackRock shuns Schwab and jumps on Trump’s bandwagon

BlackRock has recently shifted its stance, leaving the Davos elite behind and eyeing a potential financial windfall from Trump’s America First policies.

💬 “[BlackRock CEO Larry] Fink’s late-coming onto the Trump train was deference to a political change he couldn’t control: Trump would win without him and his business depends on a friendly government, especially in [the] US,” says Professor Felipe J. Cuello.

BlackRock and Trump appear to have a shared interest in cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin.

After Trump voiced concerns over China’s apparent control over the Panama Canal, BlackRock quickly struck a deal with the Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to buy the Balboa and Cristobal ports in the canal, as well as 43 other strategic harbors, and briefed the White House on the development.

Western industrial giants are increasingly flocking to the US.

💬 “Economically this can be read as a signal, not just of private sector confidence but of future growth, which is more than can be said for the humble conference in the mountains of Switzerland,” the analyst points out.

As the icing on the cake, Trump used the Davos platform following his inauguration in January 2025 to lambast the forum’s long-standing globalist “scam” and show Europe it would no longer be “business as usual.”

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📹 WATCH Putin’s COMPLETE comments to Russia's Security Council on Ukrainian troops trapped in Kursk region, Trump’s efforts to improve ties

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Ukrainian officer arrested for murder of Odessa massacre organizer

The suspect in the murder of Demyan Ganul has been identified as Sergei Shalaev, a senior lieutenant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian media reported.

Reports say he deserted a month ago and now faces between 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Ukrainian national police said they seized of weapons including a grenade during Shalaev’s arrest.

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