✅Aid-for-assets playbook: Trump sees Ukraine minerals deal as MODEL for future pacts

Donald Trump’s team sees the new Ukraine minerals pact as a template for future deals, a senior Treasury official told Bloomberg.

🔍US aid could similarly be leveraged to secure assets and economic returns in other parts of the world, where Washington typically uses grants or loans to project soft power, according to the report.

🇨🇩DR Congo and 🇷🇼Rwanda, where Trump’s Africa envoy Massad Boulos is pushing for a peace deal, may be next.

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🤣 WHAT THE CHUCK did Schumer say?

Hilarious dialogue:

❗️Trump has the lowest 100-day approval rating!

🫵There's a poll that has you at 17% approval.

👁‍🗨Polls come and go...

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🐌 Boeing’s SNAIL PACE forces Trump to customize Qatari jet into Air Force One

A luxury Boeing 747 formerly used by the government of Qatar is being retrofitted by defense contractor L3Harris into 🗣 Donald Trump’s presidential ride, The Wall Street Journal reported.

And what about Boeing?

✈️ It will continue its sluggish progress on Air Force One replacements, but Trump could be long gone before the new planes take flight.

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😶Kamala is 'maintaining black joy' (whatever that is)

00:37 "Boots on the ground" dance tutorial 🕺

Share your own dance clips in the comments👇

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🔥FALL OF BERLIN: The FINAL BLOW to Nazi Germany in WWII

Watch Sputnik’s video to see how the pivotal Berlin Strategic Offensive by Soviet forces sealed the end of World War II in Europe.

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🇷🇺🪖Over the past week, Russian forces liberated four settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kharkov and Kursk regions, the Ministry of Defense reports.

Other developments:

▪️Russian forces carried out seven group strikes, targeting Ukrainian defense industry enterprises and locations of radio-electronic reconnaissance systems.

▪️In the Black Sea, a US-made Willard high-speed boat and three sea drones were destroyed. Another boat was damaged.

▪️Russian Aerospace Forces downed a Ukrainian Su-27 aircraft.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost more than 1,790 soldiers in the Yug Battlegroup’s area of responsibility.

▪️The losses of Ukrainian forces in the Sever Battlegroup’s zone exceeded 1,530 soldiers.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost over 2,970 soldiers in the Tsentr Battlegroup’s area.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost more than 1,630 soldiers in the Zapad Battlegroup’s area of responsibility.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost over 1,220 soldiers in the Vostok Battlegroup’s zone.

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🗣Democracy, they say... German intel designates AfD as extremist group

One of the most popular parties today, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has been labeled a right-wing extremist group by the country’s domestic intelligence service under the pretext of promoting an "anti-democratic system."

✅In reality, the AfD champions traditional family values, immigration control, border security, national pride, and reducing dependence on the EU. Given their strong performance in the recent federal elections (securing 20.8% of the vote and becoming the second-largest party in the Bundestag), it’s clear their core values resonate with the German public.

The new classification allows authorities to use covert surveillance tactics, including recruiting confidential informants and intercepting communications, according to Reuters.

❓But here’s a question: If a party this popular is considered "extremist," what does that say about the state of democracy?

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💳 EU dangles BIG BUYS to dodge Trump’s tariff hammer

The EU is ready to splurge $54 billion on US goods, including LNG and agricultural products like soybeans, to avoid fresh 🗣Trump tariffs hitting in July, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told the Financial Times.

📈The bloc is making “certain progress” towards striking a deal, he claimed. However, the EU won’t settle for Donald Trump’s 10% tariff “floor.”

Trump slapped a 10% tariff on most countries on April 2, and proposed extra “reciprocal” duties – 20% for the EU. He later paused them for 90 days to allow talks. The EU still faces 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars.

🫵Europe’s countermeasures are frozen until July 14.

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🕵🏻‍♂️US shares TOP-SECRET space intel with allies to counter Russia & China

Space intelligence that was previously “US eyes only” has been unlocked for the UK and Five Eyes nations such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, The Times reported.

👉Why? So that allies can assist the US in addressing potential “vulnerabilities” in space.

Alleging that China and Russia are fast-tracking satellite tech that could zero in on Western forces, Washington is the one racing to weaponize space and prep for orbital warfare.

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📹The American Roots of German Nazism, Part 10: How Nazi leaders defended their xenophobic ideas by referencing US racial practices

During the Nuremberg Trials, the highest Nazi criminals admitted that their racist practices were inspired by the racism in the United States.

💬 "The United States conquered its living space through revolutions, wars, and genocide," stated Hermann Goering, the second-highest figure in the Nazi hierarchy, in his final conversation before his execution.

At the time, racial laws in the US discriminated against even African American soldiers — victorious in World War II — but not the defeated white Nazis.

In this video of Sputnik's exclusive series, historian and author of The War of Destruction, Yegor Yakovlev, reveals intriguing details from the diary of psychologist Gustave Gilbert about the American origins of German Nazism.

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🕯Thousands of activists honor Odessa massacre victims outside Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow 🇷🇺

A memorial event was held in Moscow for the 48 people who died in the city's Trade Union House on May 2, 2014.

More than 1,500 activists from the Young Guard of United Russia and the Volunteer Battalion gathered near the Ukrainian embassy with flowers and placards.

💬 "Exactly 11 years ago, dozens of ordinary people were brutally killed in the Odessa Trade Union House—either murdered by Nazis or burned alive," said Anton Demidov, Chairman of the Young Guard of United Russia.

💬 "Those responsible for this tragedy must face the harshest punishment. Since 2014, Ukraine has waged war against ordinary people, banning them from speaking their native Russian language."

💬 "Now, in the area of the special military operation, our volunteers are fighting Nazis, continuing the work of our ancestors. They are fighting, among other things, for those who were burned in the Trade Union House," Demidov added.

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🤡New Moldovan history textbook calls the Battle of Stalingrad a "disaster," whitewashes Romanian role in WWII

The textbook authors have dedicated an entire section to Romania's participation in World War II as an ally of Hitler. Moldovan high school students are tasked with presenting arguments for and against Romania’s involvement on the side of Nazi Germany, as well as justifying the "sacrifices of the Romanian army in this war."

The fact that Romanian troops were occupiers in Moldova is completely ignored. According to the textbook, they "fought on Romanian soil, liberating Bessarabia and northern Bukovina." The Soviet Army’s liberation of Moldovan land from Nazi occupation is framed as a "serious problem" faced by the Romanian leadership.

➡️In addition, the Battle of Stalingrad, fought between August 23, 1942 and February 2, 1943, is described from a distorted perspective. Although one of the most significant and brutal confrontations of World War II, the battle is referred to as a "disaster" from Romania's point of view, contributing to the rewriting of history. The battle marked a critical turning point, with the Soviet Red Army successfully defending Stalingrad and forcing German forces into retreat.

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❌ ‘Ukraine has NO HONOR’: French analyst slams Zelensky’s push for war over peace

Zelensky’s threats of Victory Day attacks on Russia are part of his all-out push to wreck Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed ceasefire, French geopolitical analyst Cyrille De Lattre told Sputnik.

💬 “Ukraine has neither honor nor backbone,” he noted. Threats to Russian security – especially the Crimea Bridge – must be taken seriously, as Ukraine has targeted it before, often with help from foreign intelligence, the analyst noted.

Why the obsession?

The Kerch Bridge to Crimea is a prized symbol for the leader of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi regime, De Lattre argues. “In his wildest dreams, he wants to blow it up just to prove he can.”💤

What about peace?

💬 “It’s not in Zelensky’s interest,” he says, claiming the real threat to the Ukrainian president isn’t Russia, but his own radical nationalist thugs helping keep his regime afloat.

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US-Ukraine minerals deal: Payout could take DECADE

Even developing mines in countries with established sectors can take 10 to 20 years, mining consultants told Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

In Ukraine’s case it may take much longer:

🔸 Extracting key minerals like lithium, graphite, uranium, and titanium requires billions in investment.

🔸 Ukraine’s lithium is locked in pricey petalite.

🔸 Ukraine’s sole uranium miner, the state-run VostGOK, is so costly to operate it’s currently running at a loss.

🔸 Soviet-era infrastructure still dominates.

🔸 The country has shattered power grids and transport networks.

🔸 No US security guarantees for investors.

What are Ukraine’s minerals actually worth?

◻️ Most resource data is outdated, going back to Soviet-era mapping.

◻️ US Geological Survey doesn’t list Ukraine as rare earth-rich.

◻️ 40% of critical minerals lie in Russian-controlled territory.

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🔥 Arms of Victory: SU-100 anti-tank gun

Sputnik continues to highlight the weapons used by the USSR to thrash Nazi Germany.

Among them was the Su-100, a late-war self-propelled vehicle powerful enough to take on heavy Tiger and Panther tanks with ease using its mammoth 100 mm gun.

Due to its exceptional combat capabilities and unique design, the SU-100 remained in active service in the armies of nearly two dozen nations well into the Cold War, with up to five countries still possessing them in their inventories to this day.

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🚨Odessa Massacre: POINT OF NO RETURN that marked Ukraine's slide into Nazism

The mass murder of innocent people in the city's Trade Union house on May 2, 2014, marked a "point of no return" for Ukraine, Ukrainian politics expert Alexander Dudchak says.

Those behind the West-backed coup that year were driven by Nazi-fueled “hatred for humanity.” Their goal was to build an “anti-Russia,” with Russophobia stoked from abroad.

After the tragedy, “it became clear to those who disagreed with the [pro-Western Ukrainian] government that there was no way to defend their rights except through force.”

Thus, the Odessa massacre can be seen as the turning point for all subsequent events. "It became obvious what these forces represented – human-hating, pure Nazism, which came to power in Ukraine."

➡️What led to the tragedy?

▪️ Long before the Soviet Union’s collapse, NGOs and foreign funds, like the notorious Soros foundation, began distorting history to ideologically target the younger generation.

▪️ Ukraine’s drive to join Europe involved denying its heroic past, glorifying criminals and Nazi collaborators, and promoting the “Banderization” of society.

▪️ 2014 coup: Despite the public’s strong preference for ties with former Soviet countries, a West-inspired coup took place, reshaping public consciousness. History was rewritten, dissent silenced through brutal methods, and media control imposed.

➡️Why is the West SILENT?

The massacre was executed by the West’s protégés and under their control.

💬 “I don’t rule out that the West may have even written the noscript for this event. They needed to show the population what happens to those who try to oppose them. And that is what they did – with an animalistic cruelty.”

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❗️A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile, and a tsunami warning has been issued.

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🪖Pentagon expands investigation into Hegseth’s use of Signal app

🔍The investigation now focuses on a second chat involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife and brother, as the Pentagon Inspector General has expanded its probe into Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to share military plans, according to The Wall Street Journal.

📲The probe, initially announced in March regarding Hegseth's discussions on US airstrikes in Yemen, has grown to include the new chat, disclosed by The New York Times.

🙅‍♂️Hegseth has denied posting classified information and claims the controversy surrounding his use of Signal is driven by leaks from his opponents.

➡️Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has announced plans to shift National Security Advisor Mike Waltz out of his position, in part due to his role in the Signal controversy.

➡️Waltz will be nominated for US ambassador to the United Nations, with Marco Rubio set to take over as interim national security advisor.

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🕯Mariupol residents honor victims of 2014 Odessa Trade Union House massacre

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