🚨 US wants to ‘take back’ ‘energy rights’ over Venezuela’s oil — Trump

💬 “You remember, they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back,” President Donald Trump said about Venezuela.

Yesterday, he announced a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, accusing Caracas of using oil revenues to finance crime and terrorism.

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🇻🇪🚢 Venezuelan Navy escorts oil-related vessels after Trump blockade threat — reports

The Venezuelan government has ordered its Navy to escort ships carrying petroleum-related products from port, following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a planned “blockade” targeting sanctioned oil tankers, The New York Times reported.

According to the report, several vessels departed Venezuela’s east coast between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning with naval escorts, just hours after Trump said he intended to block tankers that violate US trade sanctions. The ships were transporting urea, petroleum coke and other oil-based products from the Port of José to Asian markets.

The New York Times noted that the escorted vessels do not appear on the current US sanctions list, making it unclear whether they would fall under the proposed blockade. Trump has said the measure is aimed at tankers that have violated US sanctions.

Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA said ships linked to its operations are continuing to sail “with full security, technical support and operational guarantees in legitimate exercise of their right to free navigation,” according to a statement cited by the newspaper.

A US official told The New York Times that Washington is aware of the naval escorts and is considering possible responses, while declining to provide details.

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🚨🇻🇪 Venezuela requests UN Security Council meeting over ‘ongoing US aggression’ – reports

A UN diplomat told Reuters the meeting is likely to be held next Tuesday.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that he had designated the Venezuelan government as “a foreign terrorist organization” and demanded the return of what he described as US “Oil, Land, and other Assets.” He also announced a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” traveling to and from Venezuela.

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🚨❌ House rejects bid to block military action against Venezuela

The US House of Representatives has voted down the Venezuela War Powers Resolution by 211–213, with nine lawmakers not voting.

The measure would have required congressional authorization for US military actions against Venezuela, amid recent escalatory steps such as a “total and complete blockade” announcement by President Donald Trump.

Rep. Thomas Massie, who supported the resolution, said it was intended to reaffirm Congress’s constitutional role in deciding questions of war, warning that military action should not proceed without legislative approval.

🏳️ With the resolution’s failure, no new restrictions were placed on the executive branch regarding potential military actions against Venezuela.

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🚨🇻🇪 'We will defend our people, because our people have a right to their land, their wealth, and their homeland’ – Maduro

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro told members of his government that the country is a “humble” and “battle-hardened” people who “we cannot fail.”

His remarks come after US President Donald Trump designated Nicolás Maduro’s government as a “foreign terrorist organization,” ordering a “total and complete blockade” of all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering and leaving Venezuela.

Caracas repudiated Washington’s “grotesque threat” and said it will never again be a colony of any empire. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry warned that Washington’s “true intention” has been to seize the country’s oil, land and minerals “through gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation.”

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💣 US forces launch another strike on boat, killing four

The US Southern Command said it carried out a new strike on a vessel it described as "operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization" in international waters in the Eastern Pacific.

The command claimed the four men killed were involved in “narco-trafficking" and were "transiting along a known narco-trafficking route."

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🚨💰 Trump announces ‘warrior dividend’ payments for US service members

US President Donald Trump said more than 1.45 million active-duty military personnel will receive a one-time payment of $1,776 before Christmas.

Trump said the payment — which he described as a “warrior dividend” — was approved alongside what he called a recently passed major spending bill. He added that the amount was chosen in reference to the year 1776, marking the founding of the United States.

💬 “The checks are already on the way,” Trump said.

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🚨💵 'I've secured a record-breaking $18 trillion of investment into the United States' - Trump

Speaking during his address to the nation, President Donald Trump said the investments would translate into “jobs, wage increases, growth, factory openings, and far greater national security.” He attributed much of the inflow to his economic policies, including tariffs.

Trump also said that wages are now rising faster than inflation and that all jobs created since he took office have been in the private sector, contrasting the current situation with economic trends under the previous administration.

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📹 ‘I’ve settled 8 wars in 10 months’ – Trump

Speaking during his address to the nation, President Donald Trump said he “ended the war in Gaza,” which he described as “bringing for the first time in 3,000 years peace to the Middle East.”

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📹💰 Trump calls tariffs his 'favorite word'

US President Donald Trump said tariffs have played a key role in recent economic gains, describing them as his “favorite word.”

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💰 US State Department approves possible arms sales to Taiwan worth over $11B – DSCA

The combined estimated value of multiple US arms, equipment, and services packages cleared for possible sale to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) totals about $11.1 billion, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The packages include HIMARS systems ($4.05B), self-propelled howitzers ($4.03B), ALTIUS-700M/600 UAV systems ($1.1B), Javelin systems ($375M), TOW systems ($353M), support for Harpoon missiles ($91.4M), AH-1W helicopter parts ($96M), and Tactical Mission Network software/equipment/services ($1.01B).

⚠️ China has repeatedly stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and has consistently opposed US arms sales to the island, warning such actions violate the one-China principle and contribute to regional destabilization.

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🇻🇪🇺🇳 Maduro raises US 'direct threat' to Venezuela with UN chief

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has raised a “direct threat” from the United States in a conversation with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, following recent remarks by President Donald Trump in which he said Venezuela’s oil belonged to Washington.

According to a statement released by Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry, Maduro stressed that such comments “must be categorically rejected by the United Nations system, as they constitute a direct threat to sovereignty, international law and peace.”

Maduro also denounced political, economic and diplomatic pressure against Venezuela, and called the US seizure of a vessel carrying Venezuelan oil “a diplomacy of barbarism.”

Guterres, for his part, expressed solidarity with Venezuela and “highlighted the need to avoid any escalation or confrontation,” Caracas said. He also committed to follow the situation, which Venezuela said would be addressed at the UN Security Council with an emphasis on de-escalation and diplomacy.

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🔥FSB thwarts terrorist attack planned by Ukraine

The terror attack in Volgodonsk, in south Russia's Rostov Region, was foiled after security forces detained a female student suicide bomber half an hour before she was to hand over a backpack with a bomb to an official inside the city administration building, Russia’s FSB said.

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🔸 US wants to ‘take back’ ‘energy rights’ over Venezuela’s oil — Trump

🔸 House rejects bid to block military action against Venezuela

🔸 'We will defend our people, because our people have a right to their land, their wealth, and their homeland’ – Maduro

🔸 Venezuela requests UN Security Council meeting over ‘ongoing US aggression’ – reports

🔸 US State Department approves possible arms sales to Taiwan worth over $11B – DSCA

🔸 Venezuelan Navy escorts oil-related vessels after Trump blockade threat — reports

🔸 Russia and Iran to enable North-South corridor & boost de-dollarization – political analyst

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⚔️ EU troops in Ukraine would meet tough response from Russia—expert

The EU proposals to send multinational forces to Ukraine that were published following December 14-15 talks between Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Volodymyr Zelensky are a provocation, Turkish political scientist Aytekin Dumrul said in an interview.

👉 The plan does not facilitate peace talks, he added, as it means prolonging the conflict in Ukraine and possibly leading to further escalation, prompting a response from Russia.

Russia has repeatedly stated any NATO member's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict would be totally unacceptable, and any foreign troops would be legitimate targets.

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🇹🇭⚔️🇰🇭 Thai-Cambodian conflict may evolve into US-China confrontation—expert

The hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia should not be viewed as merely a local conflict, as it can spill out to many other countries, political expert Ibrahim Karagul said.

With Thailand being pro-US and Cambodia oriented towards China, their fight can lead to a much greater involvement of these great powers, prompting direct rivalry and potentially triggering other hotspots like the Taiwan issue, he added.

👉 Other regional players may be drawn into the conflict too, Karagul said, specifically Laos, Myanmar, and Malaysia, with the latter needing to boost its defensive potential given the situation.

The recent Thailand-Cambodia clashes began on December 7, just months after another armed conflict between them that ended with a ceasefire on July 28.

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Western embassies in Kiev report deepening crisis from Mindich-Zelensky affair - Russian Intel

According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claims of Western assessments:

🔸 Rapid decline in the authority of Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky

🔸 The Mindich-Zelensky case is destroying Ukraine

🔸 The scandal has caused a sharp drop in frontline morale among Ukrainian troops

🔸 Western diplomats allegedly do not rule out the possibility of retribution against Ukrainian elites by an enraged populace

🔸 Over half of Ukrainians are now reportedly ready to recognize Russian sovereignty over territories under Russian control for a ceasefire, with the number growing

🔸 Ukrainians increasingly understand that, for the Kiev leadership, the conflict has become a tool for unrestrained theft of Western financial aid.

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🇺🇸👉 🇻🇪 US may turn Venezuela into a powder keg—expert

Declaring the government of Venezuela a terrorist organization would allow the US to conduct targeted attacks on this nation’s soil to eliminate its leaders, which would be "crossing the Rubicon," Argentine international relations expert Tadeo Casteglione told Sputnik.

Escalation around Venezuela is a very serious matter that may affect the entire continent and even the US itself, he warned.

💬 "I believe no one fully grasps the scale of the situation: attempting to ignite conflict in Venezuela is akin to detonating a powder keg," Casteglione said.

Given the possible dire consequences, the Global South, including Russia, China, and Iran, tried to mitigate the US statements’ effect, he added.

The threat of a naval blockade against Venezuela aligns with the US's internal economic interests and its strategy to pressure China, the expert concluded.

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🤥 🇬🇧‘Flimsy & unreliable’: Trump deals might leave UK in the lurch

UK ministers and MPs are worried that the government’s deals with Donald Trump are “built on sand,” reports The Guardian.

🔹 The “milestone” US-UK pharmaceutical deal, touted as a milestone for zero tariffs on Britain’s drugs, still lacks a legal footing, says the outlet

🔹 NHS could be forced to pay 25% more for new medicines with nothing but a verbal US promise in return

🔹 The US paused the ~$39.68 billion “tech prosperity deal,” meant to lock in massive American investment—reportedly over Britain’s slow pace in wider trade negotiations

🔹 Concessions to British farmers in the initial Trump tariff deal—hailed as “historic” by PM Keir Starmer in May—still await US approval, even as a January deadline looms.

Ministers are reportedly warning that Britain risks committing billions in public money for little guarantee, and the UK-US deals feel “flimsy and unreliable.”

This instability was the “new normal now in our relationship across the pond,” one official is cited as saying.

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