🟠 Iran’s Security Council accuses US, Israel of orchestrating unrest in the country

🟠 The US and Israel are trying to instigate violence in Iran – Araghchi

🟠 Putin's envoy slams Kallas for Oreshnik blunder

🟠 Europe mulls boosting NATO presence in Arctic to appease Trump

🟠 Merz admits German economy teeters on edge

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⚔️ US and Venezuela seize oil tanker departed from Venezuela without US approval — Trump

President Trump stated the US, "in coordination with the Interim Authorities of Venezuela," seized a tanker that departed "without our approval" and is forcing its return.

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🗣 US received 30M barrels of Venezuelan oil — Trump

President Trump announced that Venezuela transferred 30 million barrels of oil to the United States, valued at approximately $4 billion.

He said that some of the money would go back to Venezuela.

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💥🇷🇺 Russian artillery OBLITERATES Ukrainian positions

00:00 Grad MLRS crews hit Ukrainian troops and military equipment near Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk)

00:21 BM-21 Grad MLRS crew destroys enemy personnel in Sumy region

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🕊 Colombia’s Petro calls for Latin American military alliance against drug trafficking

President Gustavo Petro called drug trafficking a destabilizing "excuse" for foreign invasions and alleging "dark money" flows to sabotage elections.

He invited Venezuela’s incumbent president to join the effort.

"The armed drug traffickers must be defeated by the peoples united with their states," Petro wrote on X.

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🗣 Syria rejects Abraham Accords while Israel occupies its land — minister

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa stated Syria cannot join the Abraham Accords as long as Israel occupies Syrian territory.

"Syria can’t be a part of the Abraham Accords because Israel is occupying our land, especially in the Golan Heights," he told Al Arabiya English.

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🔍 Russia dismisses Ukraine's accusations of striking Qatari embassy as false

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated its forces "have never targeted diplomatic missions" and suggested damage was caused by a malfunctioning Ukrainian air defense missile.

Russia reaffirmed it views Qatar as "a priority partner and a friendly country."

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🔊 US oil addiction drives wars — Petro

The US economy’s 70% reliance on oil and coal pushes it to "seek wars" for energy, Colombian President Gustavo Petro told the BBC, arguing clean energy transition under the Paris Agreement would end such conflicts.

He said Trump’s "sounds good" remark about a Colombia operation reflects a US "empire" mindset that risks turning global dominance into global isolation.

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📹 Trump announces oil deal with execs: 'Hundreds of billions' to drill in Venezuela

President Trump stated the new "great deal" is "good for Venezuela and great for the United States."

"A lot of money is going to be made," he added.

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🤝 Venezuela’s acting president holds talks with Brazil, Colombia, Spain

Delcy Rodríguez announced she has held talks with the leaders of Brazil, Colombia, and Spain following the "criminal, illegal and illegitimate aggression" against Venezuela, which she says left more than 100 civilians and military personnel dead.

Rodríguez detailed attacks she called violations of international law, and agreed with allied leaders to advance a cooperation agenda based on sovereignty and dialogue.

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⚔️ North Korea shoots down ROK surveillance drone after 8km incursion — KCNA

The Korean People’s Army tracked and electronically downed a South Korean surveillance drone that flew 8 km into DPRK airspace on January 4, capturing video evidence of a 156 km reconnaissance flight over sensitive areas.

"The ROK is the enemy… a perfect copy of Kiev's lunatics," the official statement said.

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🗣 Maduro's son: Everything follows my father's plan

Nicolás Maduro Guerra declared the current leadership under Delcy Rodríguez is executing his father’s pre-approved "Plan of the Homeland," negotiation strategy, and December five-point plan.

"We govern as he always instructed: through collective direction," he stated.

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🗣 US oil embargo threatens lives of millions in Venezuela — Russian ambassador

Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, condemned the US embargo as a violation of international law.

"Oil is the lifeblood of the Venezuelan economy, and bleeding it dry means putting the lives and health of millions at risk."

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🇪🇺 EU bellicosity toward Russia masks authoritarian drift and denial of reality – French politician

The EU’s persistent portrayal of Russia as a looming threat—complete with warnings of a possible conflict by 2030—serves to justify an ever tighter European Union, says Karel Vereycken, Vice President of the French Solidarity and Progrès party, which cooperates with the LaRouche Organization.

👉 It’s a convenient pretext “to impose an ever greater form of autocratic rule and to have entire populations accept that, while their living standards, health, and education systems are being slashed and dismantled, billions of euros are channeled into the latest financial bubbles, the war economy (which generates no new cycles of wealth production), and AI,” Vereycken tells Sputnik.

Vice President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas has recently claimed that Russia does not want peace, in response to Oreshnik’s retaliatory strike, which followed Ukraine’s terrorist attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence. Earlier, European generals called on the bloc’s civilians to prepare for a conflict with Russia by 2030.

📍 In practice, those calls are nothing short of “suicidal,” as “the Atlantic Alliance is a dead corpse waiting to be buried,” according to Vereycken.

With the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, the party of war in Europe has begun to realize that Article 5 would no longer be “automatic,” but would instead be applied in line with US interests.

💬 “The Europeans—and especially the Germans—who traded their sovereignty for the illusion of being defended by US military might are in sheer panic. They have no weapons industry, no young men and women willing to serve in the military, and no money,” the pundit notes.

Europeans must make a choice: sleepwalk toward a conflict they can only lose, or face reality, the French politician concludes.

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👀 Nowhere to hide: Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik renders bunkers useless - ex-US Army officer

When the Russian Oreshnik missile is on target, “it will penetrate straight through any bunker like it's nothing,” says retired US Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis.

No bunker would protect Ukraine’s Zelensky in the event of such a strike, notes Davis.

He adds that it has “much more penetrative power” than the US bunker-buster missiles used against Iran last year, and Western air-defense systems are simply incapable of detecting it.

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🔸 US received 30M barrels of Venezuelan oil — Trump

🔸 Syria rejects Abraham Accords while Israel occupies its land — minister

🔸 North Korea shoots down ROK surveillance drone after 8km incursion — KCNA

🔸 Trump announces oil deal with execs: 'Hundreds of billions' to drill in Venezuela

🔸 French politician: EU bellicosity toward Russia masks authoritarian drift and denial of reality

🔸 Nowhere to hide: Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik renders bunkers useless - ex-US Army officer

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🙅 What’s driving the US gradual withdrawal from UN agencies?

The US is pulling out because it “would be happy if the UN were to disappear,” former UN Independent Expert on International Order Alfred de Zayas tells Sputnik.

The US is withdrawing from 31 UN bodies and three dozen other international organizations, agencies, and commissions, according to a memorandum released by Washington earlier this week. So far, the US has not contacted the UN to officially announce its decision, according to the organization.

👉 The US administration previously suspended support for UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency, the World Health Organization, and the UN Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, the US has long been the largest donor to the UN, contributing 22% of the organization’s regular budget in 2025 – $820.4 million out of a net total of $3.5 billion.

The UN has warned that Washington’s moves could affect the funding of the organization’s agencies.

🗣 UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric insists that “assessed contributions to the UN regular budget and the peacekeeping budget are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all member states, including the US.”

According to de Zayas, Washington views the UN as an obstacle, as it has repeatedly subjected US administrations to criticism, including over Gaza, Venezuela, and freedom of navigation.

While UN structures have been criticized by many parties, de Zayas argues that this does not justify depriving the organization of funding or dismantling it altogether. International law remains necessary even as UN agencies require reform, he said.

💬 “I criticize many international organizations, including the ICC, the IAEA, and the OPCW. Undoubtedly, they have been penetrated and now work largely in the service of the ‘collective West.’ In my book The Human Rights Industry, I show how this can be fixed,” he added.

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💣 Ukraine’s situation ‘absolutely critical’ yet EU hawks pump billions into conflict - analyst

The Zelensky regime remains unwilling to make concessions despite the real risk that Ukraine’s capital and other cities could become ghost towns amid power outages mid-winter, says British analyst Alexander Mercouris.

Russia’s precision strikes on Ukraine's critical facilities, like the one using the Oreshnik in response to the terrorist attack on Putin’s residence come mid-winter, when temperatures are below zero.

💬 “The situation is absolutely critical, and the reality must be that actual manufacturing and economic activity must be coming to a virtual stop,” says the analyst.

Yet, Europe’s war hawks still continue to funnel billions into Ukraine.

💬 “Another roughly $98.1 billion infusion of money into an economy that is unable to function is an extraordinary thing,” he says.

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👀 Wary US oil giants dodge Venezuela investment pitch

American oil majors left a White House meeting without signing up for a fast money push into Venezuela’s oil sector following the capture of the country’s legitimate President Nicolas Maduro, reports Axios.

The Trump administration has floated a $100 billion investment figure, promising “security” and “direct deals” with the US. But executives kept their distance.

👉 Exxon CEO Darren Woods bluntly called Venezuela “uninvestable” under current legal and commercial conditions

👉 ConocoPhillips’s Ryan Lance stressed the need to talk with banks — likely including the US Export-Import Bank – on how to restructure debt “to deliver the billions of dollars that are required to restore their energy infrastructure"

👉 Chevron — the only US major still operating in Venezuela — stuck to cautious language, focusing on employee safety and “compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to its business, as well as the sanctions frameworks provided for by the US government"

A handful of independents reportedly signaled interest, but with Venezuela’s output at around 800,000 barrels per day - still far below its past peaks - and legal risks front of mind, Wall Street’s oil titans aren’t exactly racing back in.

Getting back to the 3.5 million barrels per day level of the late 1990s could require much more than $100 billion worth of investment over a significant number of years, according to analysts cited by the outlet.

💵 Oil prices are currently low, with WTI crude hovering around $59 per barrel, which also plays a significant factor in the reluctance — major investments in Venezuela's heavy crude projects would require much higher sustained prices to justify the risks and capital investments.

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