💩 US-Ukraine minerals deal ‘ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S PRINTED ON’

The new minerals deal is unlikely to yield any payoff for Ukraine, according to Matthew Crosston, professor of national security and director of academic transformation at Bowie State University.

💬 “Zelensky will clearly hope it means a return to his normal where America continues to endlessly finance the Ukrainian side,” he said.

🗣 Shifting narrative:

Donald Trump will point to the agreement as evidence that he no longer lets the US be seen as the sole party responsible for allowing Ukraine to continue the conflict "at no expense and with no costs."

But here’s the catch👇

Almost three-quarters of Ukraine’s mineral reserves are in Russian new territories, raising serious doubts about the deal’s viability and long-term payoff – a key detail Western media prefers to ignore.

❓Political payoff?

In terms of what America gains in return for its support of Ukraine, there may be political benefit – especially among conservative circles in the US, Crosston notes.

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⛔️ Houthis officially ban US from shipping oil through Red Sea

The restrictions, which go into effect May 17, are a response to the April 17 US strikes on the Ras Issa oil port, Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC) said.

😮 Violators will be added to the list of aggressors, their vessels denied passage and sanctions issued. Humanitarian exemptions can be requested by contacting the HOCC.

📊 Until recently, up to 10% of US crude imports came from the Middle East, with a significance portion transiting through the Red Sea.

📦 Shipments were largely diverted to the US West Coast after the Houthis started their Red Sea missile and drone campaign in solidarity with Palestine.

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🤡 Ukraine CRACKS DOWN on language use in schools – Ukrainian only, EVERYWHERE!

💬 "The Ukrainian language should be spoken not only during lessons but also during breaks, at parent meetings, in libraries, gyms, and even in bomb shelters," Ukraine’s language ombudsman Taras Kremin said.

Language checks have been in place at Ukrainian schools since April 28.

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🇭🇺🇩🇪 Hungarian PM Orban lends support to AfD leader after party dubbed extremist by German intelligence

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🇷🇺 Putin’s V-Day ceasefire could mark the start of peace negotiations – Slovak MP

💬 “It is quite clear to me that Putin and the Russian Federation are trying to achieve an absolute ceasefire for at least three days. The 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War is such an important holiday that…the guns should be silenced and the Ukrainians themselves should celebrate this holiday because they too were hit by fascism,” Slovakia's Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Tibor Gaspar, told Sputnik.

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🇩🇪 Germany’s crackdown on AfD is more evidence of Europe’s slide into ‘much more authoritarian period’

Besides trying to stigmatize the conservative populist party among voters, the German intelligence agency’s move to slap AfD with an “extremism” label carries a more sinister motive, depriving the party of its privileges and funding and undercutting its ability to campaign, renowned German lawyer and academic Gunnar Beck told Sputnik.

💬 “Germany is not alone in cracking down on political criticism against the establishment,” Beck, a former AfD MEP, said, recalling the recently canceled presidential elections in Romania after the first-round victory by a populist anti-establishment candidate, and the legal attack on Marine Le Pen in France.

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🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷Waltz, Netanyahu quietly PLANNED IRAN STRIKES behind Trump’s back: report 💥

🗣The former national security advisor engaged in ‘intense coordination’ with Israel’s prime minister on ‘military options’ against Iran ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump in February, White House insiders have told US media.

💬 Waltz “wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution,” and when news of his activities got back to the president, he “wasn’t happy with it,” a source told WaPo.

The incident should have been a fireable offense, one Trump aide said. “You can’t do that. You work for the president of your country, not the [leader] of another country.”

The report appears to corroborate earlier reporting by US media that Trump nixed Israel’s strike plans, and pushed for talks with Iran on its nuclear program instead.

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🔸 Zelensky’s veiled threat against foreign leaders attending Victory Day in Moscow signals his derangement – expert

🔸 Russian MFA spox: Zelensky’s ceasefire rejection is a terrorist threat on global scale

🔸 Putin on the urge to PUNCH someone: ‘I fight it’

🔸 Germany’s crackdown on AfD is more evidence of Europe’s slide into ‘much more authoritarian period’

🔸 US-Ukraine minerals deal ‘ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S PRINTED ON’

🔸 Disgraced former Trump NSA Waltz caught using Israeli knockoff of Signal app

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📹Zelensky’s draft squad SNATCHES delivery guy in broad daylight 🪖

Another case of forced mobilization as Ukraine ramps up its draft campaign.

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🇮🇷🇮🇱 Iran, Hezbollah accuse Israel of seeking to break Syria apart with constant strikes

💬 “It is clear to everyone that the main goal of the occupying regime is to destroy and eliminate the defensive, economic, and infrastructural capabilities of Syria as an independent country, so that [Israel] can pursue its malicious interests in this country and the region,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

The attacks also facilitate Israel’s ongoing “genocide” in Palestine, and aggression against Lebanon, Baghaei added.

Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah issued a similar statement, saying Israeli bombings are a part of a broader Israeli strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria, inciting sectarian violence and breaking the country apart.

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🇦🇺 Australia’s Labor snags victory as Dutton’s hawkish strategy FALLS FLAT

Anthony Albanese and his Labor party have pulled off a comeback win in Australia’s federal election, beating the right-wing Coalition to keep the PM seat.

Back in January, polls had Labor sinking - trailing 47% to 53% per a Roy Morgan poll.

❓So, what happened?

🔸 Peter Dutton tried to channel Donald Trump with a “Make Australia Great Again” slogan, but it fell flat, especially as the US president unleashed his tariff war

🔸 Labor gained ground by framing him as “DOGE-y Dutton,” and warning of economic instability under a Coalition government

🔸 By late April polls showed Labor leading by up to nine points

🔸 Dutton faced the ultimate humiliation - losing his own long-held seat in Dickson

🗣Dutton’s TOUGH TALK

◻️ The hardliner pushed for ramped-up military aid to Ukraine

◻️ Vowed as PM to “lobby the President of the United States to reconsider his position in relation to Ukraine because I think it is in all of our collective best interest if we are able to provide support to Ukraine.”

◻️ Singled out China as the biggest threat to Australia's national security at the final leaders’ debate.

◻️ Claimed: “The only way that you can preserve peace is to prepare for war.”

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🇸🇰 Russia's 'Night Wolves' motorcycle club visits the 'Slavin' memorial in Slovakia

The event was held to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the European phase of World War II.

This memorial is home to a military cemetery with the graves of Red Army soldiers who participated in the liberation of Bratislava.

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❌✈️ Netanyahu delays Azerbaijan trip after Turkiye allegedly blocks airspace – reports

Netanyahu’s team reportedly explored alternative routes, but these would have significantly extended the flight time—forcing a change of plans, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Publicly, the Prime Minister’s Office attributed the delay to urgent developments in Gaza and Syria and a “tight political-security schedule.”

Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry denied any approval for Netanyahu’s flight, stating that no such request had been received, according to the report.

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Cracks in transatlantic alliance nudge Europe to find alternatives to F-35, F-47

💬 “If an F-35 user wanted to use the jets in a way that the United States was not happy with, then that would be a limited capability, because Lockheed Martin would be very soon able to turn off the support tap to the particular nation in question,” retired RAF Air Commodore Andrew Curtis told Newsweek.

With the F-35 the only 5th-gen game in town for NATO, there’s a “bigger incentive” for European allies to join sixth-gen projects planned for the mid-2030s onward, a European defense planning official said.

The UK-Italy-Japan Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) launched in late 2022 is one such program, merging previous 6th gen work (BAE’s Tempest and Mitsubishi’s F-X) and designed to enable users to make military decisions without interference, and equip and modify jets however they see fit.

It doesn’t help that Donald Trump has promised to “tone down” the capabilities of the US’s F-47 6th-gen offering for allies. “This is not a great selling point for the F-47. The risk that I see with the F-35, I see a lot more clearly with the F-47,” fmr Royal Canadian Air Force commander Yvan Blondin said.

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🪖 IDF to call up TENS OF THOUSANDS of reservists as Gaza operation expands – reports

The Israeli military will begin mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists starting Sunday, ramping up preparations for the next stage of its Gaza campaign, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The move—approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pending final sign-off by the security cabinet—is expected to unfold in phases, potentially taking days or weeks before a clear picture of the strategy emerges.

Despite its scale, the call-up remains far smaller than the mass mobilization that followed the October 7 Hamas attack, the outlet noted.

So far, the IDF claims it controls roughly 40% of Gaza since resuming the offensive in March, The Jerusalem Post added.

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