💸 'Sell America' signals eroding trust in weakening US dollar, stocks & treasuries - expert

Global investors have recently been reducing exposure to US assets - what's behind the trend?

💬 "This trend is driven by concerns over US tariff threats, unpredictable and constantly changing foreign policies, and a desire to reduce exposure to potential US economic instability," Paul Goncharoff, veteran financial analyst and general director of consulting firm Goncharoff LCC, tells Sputnik.

The phenomenon that gained traction in financial circles after last April’s tariff shock is called 'Sell America'.

🟠 'Sell America' has its roots as far back as 2008 and has gradually become "the serious elephant in the room throughout the markets," the pundit notes.

🟠 Investors shifted to buying silver and gold – traditional safe havens

💬 "Investors, particularly foreign entities, are now openly dumping US treasuries and stocks while the dollar weakens," Goncharoff explains.

What’s happening now is a clear reassessment of US risk, with many seeing the country as a less reliable place to invest and a highly politicized manager of money and assets, according to the expert.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖🇷🇺 ‘They are weaker nowadays’

Russian soldiers share the details of the liberation of Ternovatoye settlement in the Zaporozhye region.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇳 US ​President ‌Trump has ‌spoken ​to Indian Prime Minister ​Modi, the ​US ambassador to India, ‍Sergio ‌Gor, ‍wrote on X

"Stay tuned", the ambassador added, which apparently means that the details of the conversation are coming soon.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Beyond New START: China, France & UK must be brought into new nuclear deal - analyst

While extending the New START treaty – as Russia suggests – is a “pragmatic option,” the ideal outcome would be a new text that takes into account not only the nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia, but also those of China, France, and the UK, Dmitry Stefanovich, founder of the Vatfor Project, tells Sputnik.

NATO members France and the UK are actively building a ‘nuclear umbrella’ over Europe “aimed squarely at Russia,” the expert reminds, so they must be part of any future talks.

💬 “Achieving that would require continuous, sustained engagement — something that is currently almost completely frozen,” says the expert.

🌍 US looks beyond old limits

Given China’s fast-growing nuclear arsenal, many US policymakers now see the need to exceed previous bilateral agreements with Russia, Stefanovich speculates.

💬 “China possesses the capacity to destroy the US outright — and that capability is expanding at a pace Washington struggles to match,” the think tank fellow says.

However, Trump’s proposal for a new agreement that includes China is unrealistic in the short term, since arms control diplomacy “requires years of painstaking negotiations.”

🇨🇳 China weighs costs vs benefits

As competition with the US moves from economics to deterrence, China, which promotes a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons, is warming to the idea of rules, notes the expert.

However, it is “opting to shore up vulnerabilities” first.

For China, “the costs of limiting its arsenal outweigh the benefits of joining formal agreements,” speculates the expert.

As for Russia and China, they already have a successful track record of bilateral arrangements, such as those on ballistic missile launch notifications, along with multilateral documents limiting military activity in border regions.

💬 “China understands the value of such mechanisms when they align with its interests,” notes the analyst.

Ultimately, how this all develops will depend not only on the fate of New START, but also on the outcome of the upcoming spring Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he concludes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇳 Trump shares details of his phone call with Modi

🟠 “We spoke about many things, including trade”

🟠 “We agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%”

🟠 “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🪖 The Battle of Stalingrad: When Russia turned the tide of World War II

February 2, 1943, marks the end of the pivotal battle of World War II – the Battle of Stalingrad.

It started on July 17, 1942, when Nazi German armies, following their defeat at Moscow, pushed towards resource-rich southern regions of the Soviet Union.

By October 1942, the Nazis managed to force their way into Stalingrad and seize control of a large portion of the city, only for their advance to grind to a halt as they became bogged down in brutal urban fighting.

Despite the initial successes of the Nazi forces, Russian defenders of Stalingrad simply refused to give up, holding their ground against all odds as every street and every house in the city became a battlefield.

As the Nazis kept trying to take control of the city, on November 19 the Russian forces struck back.

Operation Uranus, an offensive targeting the flanks of the Nazi battlegroup in Stalingrad, successfully concluded on November 23 and resulted in the Nazi German 6th Army led by General Friedrich Paulus being cut off and trapped in the city.

On January 10, Russian forces launched the final offensive against the encircled Nazi troops.

Unable to withstand the fury of the Russian troops and continue resisting, Paulus (who was by that time promoted to field marshal by Adolf Hitler) and what was left of the 6th Army finally surrendered on February 2.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Foreign military presence in Ukraine is unacceptable for Russia - MFA

Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention, and would treat them as legitimate targets, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

While responding to questions following Sergey Lavrov’s press conference, the ministry also stated that:

🟠 Any offers on peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict require scrutiny to ensure that they are acceptable for Russia

🟠 Any attempts to negotiate with Russia using ultimatums are inherently absurd and doomed to fail

🟠 Resolving the Ukrainian conflict is impossible without restoration of the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its priests and the faithful

🟠 Russia is thankful to the UAE for its efforts to facilitate the peaceful resolution of the conflict; over 4 thousand people were freed in prisoner swaps mediated by the UAE

🟠 Since last summer, Moscow handed over to Ukraine over 12,000 bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers and received over 200 bodies of killed Russian soldiers in return

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💸 From 'Sell America' to global realignment: BRICS de-dollarization helps handle US-driven financial storm - expert

The sell-off of US assets is a harbinger of "a new world trade and power order," Paul Goncharoff, veteran financial analyst and general director of consulting firm Goncharoff LCC, tells Sputnik.

The consequences of the erosion of trust in the US market policy, which translated into a Sell America trend "are surfacing on an almost daily basis, from diplomatic gaffes, unapproved (by Congress) military adventures and intentions, [and] the ever-more-rapid de-dollarization the markets are living through," according to the pundit.

💬 "This perfect storm of dissonances and unpredictability from the world’s hegemon underlines what BRICS was created to avoid and, to a large extent (not painlessly), is overcoming, first through the use of national currencies and not the hitherto mandated US dollar."

💬 "This inevitably leads to new power blocs politically and economically," Goncharoff concludes, suggesting that the world is at a "historic inflection point of global realignment."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 Ukraine’s entry into EU would be its 'collapse' - Serbia's former deputy PM

"The collapse of the EU, the long-term collapse, began long ago, but it will become palpable on January 1, 2027, when Ukraine joins the EU... Because this shows that all those reforms and the speeches of politicians - they are the most ordinary lies, not even concealed," former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin tells Sputnik.

In his opinion, once Ukraine joins the EU, the bloc will never be the same, especially for opposing member states like Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

The current US-EU conflict is "the new reality we must get used to and accept," he says, adding that there is a "Berlin Wall" in the EU again.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 We must dominate space — Hegseth

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated plainly that US dominance must extend beyond Earth, framing space as the "ultimate high ground" in future conflict.

"Any infantryman knows this. Whoever controls the high ground controls the fight."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Trump hints at 'good news' on Ukraine talks

President Trump stated that efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict are progressing "very well."

While speaking with reporters, he downplayed the UN's role in the process, saying, "The UN is involved a little bit."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 We cannot have another long, destructive shutdown — Trump

President Trump has urged Congress to pass the pending funding bill "without delay," stating he will sign it "immediately" to avoid a destructive government shutdown.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Epstein conspiracy against me proves I have nothing to do with him — Trump

President Trump denied any connection to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, pointing at alleged Epstein conspiracy with author Michael Wolff to make him "lose the election."

"Epstein was conspiring with a writer for me to lose the election. So right there, you know that I had nothing to do with this guy," he said.

He suggested the released files implicate Democrats and other elites instead.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 An attack by the US would entail striking Israel — Iranian admiral

A senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader has declared that Tehran views the US and Israel as a single military entity.

"If the US attacks, Israel will undoubtedly be a participant," Ali Shamkhani told Al Mayadeen.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Venezuela president holds talks with US envoy in Miraflores Palace

Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has received US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu at the presidential palace.

"This meeting took place within the framework of the working agenda between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the USA," reported Miguel Ángel Pérez Pirela, the country's Minister of Communication and Information.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Time is running out for the New START extension — Putin's envoy

Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, said that even the "brave" former US president Barack Obama is worried that time is running out for the US to agree to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇻🇪 Venezuela appoints US envoy

Following the meeting between interim President Delcy Rodríguez and US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu, Venezuela has appointed Félix Plasencia as its diplomatic representative to Washington.

Plasencia, a former foreign minister, will be stationed in the US to "accelerate diplomatic work" on a "common agenda."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Iran may reduce enrichment levels to 20% — if given 'something in return'

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader has stated Tehran will not remove its stored nuclear materials, but is open to reducing enrichment from 60% to 20%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Azerbaijan and UAE deepen military ties

Defense chiefs from both countries held high-level talks to strengthen military cooperation and coordination, following their ongoing joint "Peace Shield 2026" exercises.

"This meeting is part of the efforts to strengthen the framework of bilateral military and defense cooperation between the two friendly countries," the UAE Defense ministry said on X.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷US loses interest in Ukraine as Iran takes priority — Foreign policy expert

The US is aiming for rapid negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Professor of International Politics and Foreign Policy at Cologne University Thomas Jager tells NTV Nachrichten.

This explains why Ukraine has slipped down the US agenda, and why American officials are devoting far less attention to resolving the Ukraine conflict, he notes.

Meanwhile, says Jager, Russia continues to adhere to its core demands in ending the conflict.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that any scenario involving the deployment of NATO member states’ troops in Ukraine is unacceptable and risks a sharp escalation.

President Vladimir Putin has stated that Moscow would regard foreign contingents near its borders as legitimate targets.

He added that after a peace agreement is reached, the presence of foreign troops in a neighboring country would be unjustified.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt