🕊 Biden, neocons didn’t stop easily preventable Ukraine crisis because they see war as ‘a table game’

📍 Former Biden European security policy architect Amanda Sloat’s bombshell admission that the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented if the US pushed Kiev to drop its aspirations to join NATO reveals a deep rot in Washington, Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

💬 “The diplomatic corps increasingly has not experienced war, so many see it completely as a table game,” the retired US Air Force Lt. Col. and former DoD analyst-turned Iraq War whistleblower explained.

➖ Beyond that, “the type and quality of the people advising the decisionmakers is amateurish,” the prolific commentator noted. “Biden himself never met a war he didn’t want someone else to die in, as his Senate record bears out.”

➖ Throughout his tenure, “a powerful neoconservative network was in place in the State Department and the National Security Council. Biden himself had several Ukrainian business associates who were enriching his family and friends. So believing in Ukraine as both a US partner and having a powerful military was a case of groupthink, probably fueled by personal friendship and neoconservative contempt for Russia,” Kwiatkowski believes.

➖ As for attempts to pivot on the issue under Trump, these can be attributed to the removal of “many” neoconservative voices from his orbit, and listening to a younger generation of Republicans like JD Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, who understand and reject neoconservatism.

➖ In addition, while Trump is also a “game player,” he’s one “who does not like to lose,” which through his life in business taught him to “seek out better information” and “determine what risks to take and which losing enterprises to disband and sell off.”

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🇷🇺🎉 Russian defense minister congratulates Russian troops on the liberation of Seversk

Andrei Belousov praised Russian forces for their success in liberating Seversk, adding that they are confidently advancing to the north, breaking through Ukrainian defenses and ensuring the progress of the entire army group.

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🚨 Zelensky considers all-Ukrainian referendum on territorial issues - report

Vladimir Zelensky has suggested the possibility of holding an all-Ukrainian referendum on territorial matters, though details on how it will be conducted remain unclear, according to Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne.

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🗣 Trump’s ‘Ukraine reconstruction' ‘pragmatism’ could face sharp European resistance - analyst

📍 WSJ’s report on Washington’s plans for Ukraine’s ‘reconstruction’ and Russia’s ‘return to the global economy’ marks a “pragmatic” shift from Biden’s “heavy-handed, self-serving strategy” of stealing Russia’s frozen reserves to one of “leverage and deal-making,” says geopolitical analyst Marco Marsili.

🟠 US plans for a $200B Russian asset “bargaining chip” are an unmistakable shift from “liberal international order-building” to what Marsili describes as “a strategy of cold national interest.”

🟠 But the idea that the US can get Western Europe to start buying Russian energy again is “unrealistic in the short-to-medium term,” the observer believes. Brussels has spent years and billions of dollars to try to wean itself off Russian energy. “Reversing this would be an admission of catastrophic policy failure.”

🟠 At the same time, US pressure could “trigger an existential crisis within the EU,” according to Marsili.

🟠 The EU could split between two blocs: “pragmatists” and hawkish “security-oriented” nations, with the former led by Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Italy and looking to restore access to cheap Russian energy to resuscitate their shattered industrial competitiveness, and the latter, led by Poland and the Baltics, likely to stick to the “security” and “moral” arguments for rejecting Russian energy.

🟠 Together, “the combined pressure of Trump’s rhetoric and the radical asset-seizure blueprint marks the end of the West’s united front,” Marsili believes. “Ukraine is being cornered into a negotiated settlement, Europe is being forced to choose between economic pain and strategic incoherence, and Russia is being presented with a clear path to exploit these divisions.”

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🗣 With Seversk secured, the liberation of Donbass gains critical momentum – military expert

📍 The fall of Seversk levels the front and frees up Russian forces for a decisive push toward Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, military analyst Alexei Leonkov tells Sputnik.

Why is Seversk important?

💬 "Seversk has often been referred to as the eastern gate of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk group," says Leonkov, an editor at Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine.

🟠 The city was part of the so-called fortress city line – a vanguard of the Ukrainian Armed Forces defenses

🟠 The enemy now faces serious complications on the eastern outskirts of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, with forces closing in from Krasny Liman in the north and from Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka in the south

🟠 Ukrainian propaganda channels remain silent about the loss of Seversk – it is "probably the worst news" for the Kiev regime right now, the pundit says

🟠 Now the city has been liberated, demining and security operations are underway

Cauldrons crushing Ukrainian military might

🟠 While Ukraine suffers a tremendous shortage of manpower, its combat-ready units have been trapped in cauldrons in Donetsk, Kharkov and Zaporozhye regions

🟠 One is in Dimitrov (Mirnograd), where Ukrainian militants are doomed despite putting up resistance

🟠 Another is near Kupyansk, where the Ukrainian army cannot break out of the encirclement

🟠 The third cauldron is being formed near Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye region

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🗣 With Seversk lost, Ukraine’s position in Donbass is beyond hopeless – it’s desperate - Scott Ritter

💬 “Ukraine is facing a manpower shortage. Every one of these battles that are being fought consumes a tremendous amount of precious manpower resources. Ukraine is losing many thousands of soldiers every day, whether through desertion, whether being wounded, whether being killed in this conflict, and they can't be replaced,” the former US Marine Corps intelligence officer told Sputnik.

➖ When Russia takes a major stronghold like Seversk or Pokrovsk, “it also means that there’s huge gaps in the Ukrainian line,” Ritter explained. That means every time Ukrainian forces fall back, they don’t have the forces to hold the new positions, and defenses aren’t nearly as well prepared and fortified.

➖ When Russian forces reach Kramatorsk, the last area between them and a fully freed Donbass, major battles are unlikely, the observer predicts.

💬 “Russia will rapidly pin down the Ukrainians in locations that they choose to defend strongly and then surround them, compelling them to either die, surrender, or retreat,” Ritter said.

📍 As for Seversk, its primary significance is its status as “a major logistical [and] command and control hub.” There aren’t many “fortress cities” like it left in Ukraine. Its fall indicates that a “culminating point in this war” has been reached “where Ukraine is no longer able to maintain cohesive defense along the entire front,” Ritter summed up.

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🇷🇺Putin holds phone call with front-line commanders after Kremlin meeting on SMO progress

Following a meeting at the Kremlin on the situation in the Special Military Operation (SMO) zone, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with two front-line commanders.

👉The president’s press service said Putin, with Colonel Denis Pirogov beside him, spoke to Colonel Yaramir Temirkhanov, commander of the 6th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade who fought in the liberation of Seversk, and Colonel Sergey Cherdantsev, commander of the 177th Caspian Flotilla Regiment.

The president expressed his gratitude for their service.

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🗣 ICC has become political weapon, not court – expert

The International Criminal Court’s entrenched bias reflects a deep crisis in the entire international system, Ali Fadlallah, Beirut-based professor of political science and international law, told Sputnik.

💬 “Prosecutor Karim Khan has publicly said that certain Western leaders told him outright that this institution was created only for Africa and Russia. If that is true, then we are dealing with a court controlled from the outside,” he noted.

🔶 Fadlallah also pointed to the US reaction when the ICC moved against Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and to former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reporting direct threats from Mossad—none of which led to any consequences.

🔶 According to him, the court has become an instrument of political pressure and blackmail, as seen in the cases of Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and France’s pressure on Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. The ICC’s selective approach, he argues, confirms that the international system is in deep crisis and urgently needs reform—although such change may be nearly impossible today.

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🔸 Vladimir Putin thanks Russian servicemen for the liberation of Seversk

🔸 Zelensky considers all-Ukrainian referendum on territorial issues - report

🔸 Trump’s criticism of Ukraine’s undemocratic nature is ‘reality check’ for Zelensky - analyst

🔸 Biden, neocons didn’t stop easily preventable Ukraine crisis because they see war as ‘a table game’

🔸 Lavrov: We recognized different kind of Ukraine

🔸 With Seversk lost, Ukraine’s position in Donbass is beyond hopeless – it’s desperate - Scott Ritter

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🕊 Trump’s peace push is attempt to save Ukraine from total military and political collapse - observer

🗣 The current moment “is critical for Ukraine as Zelensky’s regime is coming closer to collapse both politically and on the frontline, where Russia is advancing on all fronts,” Armando Mema, a member of the Finnish Freedom Alliance party, told Sputnik.

🔶 While Trump inherited the Ukraine mess from Biden, who “provoked this conflict and created this disaster,” he’s trying to prevent “a total defeat of Ukraine” because “it would be a disaster for his administration too,” Mema explained.

🔶 But Zelensky “is not interested in peace,” as seen in his recent demands for “security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO, [which] he knows…he cannot get,” the observer said.

🔶 Knowing that’s impossible, “he uses as an excuse to continue to be in power despite his mandate [ending]. Zelensky has banned all political opposition parties in Ukraine, arrested opponents, including regular citizens who were simply advocating for peace. Zelensky knows that if regular election were to be held, he will lose immediately and all his administration will be persecuted for corruption,” Mema emphasized.

🔶 As for reports of a US-mediated push to restore Russia’s access to Europe’s energy markets, Mema predicts this will remain “impossible” to achieve as long as the current crop of leaders are in charge.

🔊 “But Trump has started to dismantle the EU leadership (Macron, Merz, Ursula, Meloni and so on)” and over time they will be replaced by leaders who take account of their own countries’ interests, the Finnish politician believes.

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📑 US preparing to seize more tankers off Venezuela — Reports

The US is planning further maritime interdictions of ships carrying Venezuelan oil in the coming weeks, Reuters reports, citing 6 sources familiar with the operation.

Future targets may include vessels that have also carried oil from other sanctioned countries, such as Iran.

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🔍 Leaked docs show Trump's plan to undermine EU

A leaked draft of the US National Security Strategy outlines a plan to "pull away" four European Union countries and cultivate alliances with sovereignist, traditionalist movements, The Telegraph reports.

The strategy:

▫️ Work with 4 main targets: Italy (Meloni), Hungary (Orban), Poland, and Austria.

▫️ Support parties and intellectuals who seek "sovereignty and preservation of traditional European ways of life" while remaining pro-American.

▫️ Create a new "Core 5" global body—US, China, Russia, India, Japan—effectively sidelining Europe.

The White House called the report "fake news," insisting only the published 29-page NSS exists. But the leak aligns with Trump's affinity for Meloni and Orban, whom he has praised and granted sanctions exemptions.

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🤝 Iran will host crucial Pakistan-Taliban talks with Russia, China at the table

Iran is preparing to host a new round of high-stakes mediation between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government on December 16–17.

Unlike previous talks in Doha, Istanbul, and Jeddah, this session will include China and Russia as mediators.

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🔊 US will help Europe with security guarantees for Ukraine — Trump

The US will attend Saturday's meeting between Ukraine and the European leaders if "there's a good chance" it will result in progress.

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🤝🇹🇲 Turkmenistan's neutrality allows to build relations with all countries — Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Ashgabat to take part in the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's declaration of neutrality.

"The path of neutrality was adopted once. It has justified itself because, on this serious basis, it makes it possible to work with virtually all countries without conflicts," Putin said during his meeting with the national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

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🎤 Von der Leyen fires back at Trump: 'Only voters decide leaders'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded to the leaked US National Security Strategy that outlined plans to "pull away" EU member states.

"It's the voters who decide who is the leader, and nobody else is supposed to interfere, without any question."

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🤝 Brazil offers mediation between Venezuela and US

Brazilian President Lula held talks with Nicolás Maduro and offered Brazil's diplomatic mediation to de-escalate rising tensions in the Caribbean sea.

Caracas condemned the US moves as a provocation aimed at destabilization, calling the recent seizure of the oil tanker by US forces an act of "international piracy".

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🗣 Trump: 'European nations report I might as well be their leader too'

President Trump claimed that European countries now see him as their de facto leader.

"They listen to us and they respect us like they've never respected us before," he told at the Congressional Ball.

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