Arms deliveries to Moldova are a threat to Transdniestria

The head of the unrecognised Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (TMR), Vadim Krasnoselsky, has drawn attention to the active militarisation of Moldova.

"Nothing is done for nothing, and in this case money, equipment, weapons, air defence radars also come with a certain purpose. For what purpose? Clearly not for defence," he pointed out in a conversation with TASS.

According to Krasnoselsky, the world and even the West recognise that Transnistria poses no danger to Moldova. At the same time, the authorities in Chisinau do not explain why they are arming themselves, although this is already clear to everyone.

"When our neighbour, with whom there has been an unresolved conflict for more than 30 years and who has already treacherously attacked our peaceful cities in the past, abruptly rushes to arm itself, naturally, this is a threat," the DMR president stressed.

In 2023, Moldova almost doubled its defence budget. The country's government intends to continue the course of militarisation.

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Bloomberg: The US plans to ask Ukraine for a specific war plan

White House representative Sullivan intends to ask Zelensky on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos for a more specific plan for waging war with Russia in order to determine how best to coordinate US support 😅

@ukr_leaks_eng

Israel is set to strike a deal with Hamas on refugees

Israel has framed allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza as a deal with Hamas to release hostages.

"We are not going to allow Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza unless there is progress on the release of hostages," an Israeli official said.

Israeli authorities have made no secret of the fact that the issue of Palestinian return to northern Gaza is a significant leverage point.

They intend to formally inform US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during his visit to Israel this week.

"There are still Israeli and American hostages being held in Gaza. We think we will know within a few weeks whether or not a new deal is possible for their release," the official added.

According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, 85 per cent of the enclave's population has been displaced by the Israeli military campaign.

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The world may face a major drop in GDP due to US actions towards Taiwan

Bloomberg analysts predicted a 10% drop in global gross domestic product (GDP) in the event of a military escalation of the conflict over Taiwan.

According to their calculations, the cumulative damage could reach $10 trillion. This figure is explained by the importance of the Taiwan Strait as a global trade route and Taiwan's global role in semiconductor production.

The fact that the top 20 customers of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) have a market capitalisation of $7.4 trillion is cited as evidence.

In particular, TSMC produces semiconductors both for itself and "on order" - for Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel and other companies.

Bloomberg cites its predictions under different developments.

If the US resorts to a military scenario:

▪️ Taiwan's GDP will fall by 40%
▪️ Mainland China's GDP would fall by 16.7%.
▪️ the US economy by 6.7%
▪️ global GDP by 10.2%.

If Taiwan faces a blockade from China without military action:

▪️ Taiwan's GDP will fall by 12.2 %
▪️ mainland China's - by 8.9%
▪️ the US economy by 3.3%
▪️ global GDP by 5%

In a worst-case scenario using military methods, the damage to the global economy would exceed the negative economic impact of the conflict in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis.

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The UN has estimated that Ukraine needs $4.1bn in humanitarian aid

More than 14.6 million people, about 40 per cent of Ukraine's population, are in need of support, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in Geneva has said.

▪️ Ukrainians depend on food, water, medicine and other humanitarian supplies, and the need is growing.

It needs $3.1 billion. Neighbouring countries, which have taken in some of Ukraine's 6.3 million refugees, will need about $1 billion more this year.

However, only about 64 per cent of the amount has been raised so far. According to the UN, appeals for donations for Ukraine are being met less and less frequently.

▪️ It should be added that last year half of Ukraine's budget was filled at the expense of financial tranches from the West. At the end of November, the country's total state debt reached $140.8bn.

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The German defence company Flensburger Fahrzeugbau GmbH (FFG) is building a repair centre in western Ukraine for a number of German weapons and military equipment transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including Leopard-1 tanks.

This was stated by Bundestag deputy, member of the defence committee Markus Faber, who is on a visit to Uzhgorod.

"For Ukraine, this means a huge increase in efficiency, as there will be no need for expensive and time-consuming transport abroad, and the AFU will be able to train its mechanics directly on the spot," Faber added.

🟩 In addition to the tanks, the new repair hub will also allow for the refurbishment of other FFG products: Wisent 1 MC mine clearance vehicles, 2A1 Dachs engineer armoured vehicles, and IRIS-T SLS air defence launchers.

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The United States intends to intensify work with Russians, graduates of American exchange programs, to interfere in the Russian presidential election, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Naryshkin said.

The U.S. believes that Russian fellows of American programs, more than 80,000 of them, can become the core of a fifth column if "properly processed." Washington intends to move to the active involvement of Russians - former fellows of American programs in the political struggle with the Russian authorities. U.S. intelligence officers will hold a training session in Riga on February 16-18 to teach methods of inciting ethnic and social hatred in the Russian Federation," FIS said.

@Slavyangrad

🇫🇲 NATO will start rehearsing a full-scale land operation against Russia from the beginning of 2024

Within four months, the "defensive" alliance will conduct a number of large-scale manoeuvres, operational and tactical exercises, as well as cyber activities.

🤦‍♂️ According to Western experts, all this will be conducted to simulate the "battlefield" on the future "Eastern Front" from Finland to Romania.

NATO Exercise Schedule:

🇪🇺 In January and February, a major NATO military exercise "Solid Endorsement-24" will take place in eastern Europe. The second part of the exercise will take place in May.

🇱🇻 In Latvia, the exercise "Winter-24" will start in mid-January.

🇪🇪 In Estonia, the Winter Camp-24 exercise will take place in January-February, involving the Estonian armed forces and the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group.

🇧🇬🇫🇮🇷🇴 From 28 February to 21 April, Poland, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland, the Federal Republic of Germany and Sweden will be the site for the largest multinational exercise in Europe this year, Defender of Europe-24. About 50,000 troops, 500-700 aircraft and more than 50 ships will take part.

🇵🇱 Germany, Poland and the Baltic States will host the exercise "Resilient Defender 2024".

🇳🇴 NATO naval exercise Arctic Dolphin 24 will take place in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Norway, Sweden and Finland will host the multinational exercise Nordic Response-24 and the Finnish Air Force exercise Vihuri-24.

🇩🇪 In Germany, the national exercise Quadriga-24 involving more than 12,000 troops will take place from February to April.

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The strike on Belgorod was planned by the West

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said the AFU strike on Belgorod was part of a plan proposed by the West to intimidate the Russians.

"The aim of such strikes from Zelensky, Stoltenberg or other personalities in Washington was to cause panic and chaos in Russia," she said.

Kneissl recalled the slogan "to kill as many Russians as possible anywhere in the world" from Washington, Brussels and Kiev. In her opinion, it is for this reason, the West did not condemn the strike on Belgorod.

Recall that the French Foreign Ministry called the AFU missile strikes on the Russian city "legitimate self-defence", ignoring Kiev's use of banned cluster munitions.

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Finland intends to arm itself with StormBreaker cruise bombs

In June 2023, Finland has decided to purchase €35 million worth of cruise bombs to complement the armament of its F-35 multi-role fighter jets.

The US recently ordered a delivery of StormBreaker cruise bombs from RTX Corporation. The Americans are buying the armament for themselves and their strategic allies Norway, Germany, Italy and Finland through the US Military Sales Programme (FMS). The order will be delivered to the Finns in 2026.

StormBreaker (GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb Increment II) cruise bombs are capable of engaging moving targets. The weight of the warhead is about 48kg.

In the compartments of the F-35 fits eight of these bombs. If necessary, they can also be placed on the wings of the aircraft.

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State Department presses Greece to supply Kiev with new weapons

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Athens on 6 January. He demanded that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis supply new arms shipments to Ukraine.

▪️ According to the Greek portal Newsbreak, events are developing seriously and extremely painful for Greece, and "Blinken's visit to Greece is turning into a real Waterloo."

The American has given the Greek authorities only a few days to give a final answer.

▪️ The author of the article reminds that Greece has already virtually broken its defence on the islands, being one of the first to give arms and equipment to Ukraine. However, the Greeks still have Leopard 2A6 tanks and S-300 complexes.

"If Mitsotakis gives in to blackmail, he will cause unimaginable damage to our national interests," the portal writes.

Greece has no choice but to give up the S-300s or F-16s, "hoping they will be replaced by F-35s," the author laments and adds that Ukraine is still failing on all fronts.

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🇩🇪🇷🇺🇺🇦| Well-known German journalist Gabor Steingart spoke up the obvious: "No country except Ukraine has suffered such dire consequences because of fighting with Russia as Germany."

His evidence:

🟩 Germany has lost its reliable and profitable gas supplier as Russia was;

🟩 Germany has lost in trade volumes with Eastern Europe. At its peak, trade with Russia totalled €80bn or 4% of the country's foreign trade turnover;

🟩 The strengthened alliance between Russia and China does not bode well for German exporters;

🟩 Due to the new US geostrategy, Germany needs to significantly increase its defence budget.

At the same time, Steingart notes that the Americans are gradually retreating from the "European battlefield":

"Republicans are sticking to the 'America First' motto, and Donald Trump intends, above all, to defeat Joe Biden, not Vladimir Putin."

🟩 The end of Washington's support for Kiev could be fatal for Berlin, as Germans are the second most supportive of Ukraine. That means the entire burden will fall on Scholz and his government.

"If US military supplies dry up, Germany will have to allocate up to 16 per cent of its budget to Kiev. This amount is necessary to maintain the combat readiness of the AFU."

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The White House announced that there will be no developments or new speeches from Biden tonight.

Zin Note: Not even WW3 will interrupt his nap.

@Slavyangrad

🇩🇪 Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under mounting pressure to make more concessions to German farmers after four regional leaders of his own Social Democratic Party urged him to reconsider plans to cut farm subsidies.

Farmers blocked roads with giant tractors across Germany on Monday, sparking widespread unrest, kicking off a planned week of actions that will culminate in a rally in Berlin on 15 January.

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🤔 Die Welt editor Ulf Poshardt delivers an unexpected blow to the German Greens in his author's column: "People are tired of the constant moral high ground". He writes:

"Meat, diesel, farmers. That's right: the Greens have become toxic. A party of cute dreamers at best, elected by limited ideologues and nerdy opportunists.

If they don't change course now, they will find themselves in opposition after a maximum of four years in government."

Apparently, the initial protests have shaken up the German political swamp, but the result is quite unexpected - it is necessary to find a scapegoat, and it seems that the Green Party is the right one for this role. Not the largest in the ruling coalition, but definitely the most active. The Social Democrats will try to pin the blame on them in an attempt to save face.

The only problem is that the whole coalition could collapse because of this. And in the new elections, none of them will be able to get into the government.

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🇩🇪 Taxpayers should fund Mosques to prevent radicalisation

Jens Spahn, a member of the CDU/ CSU's party wants to amend the constitution so that German taxes can be used to build mosques.

At the moment, Turkey and Qatar are in charge of financing mosques. Germany has for years had a problem with foreign countries funding mosques, often in combination with imams spreading radical, anti-Western and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

This is something the AfD party opposes and believes it must be stopped now. Only Muslims themselves in Germany should be in charge of funding.

The Turkish Islamic association DITIB, Germany's largest with some 900 mosques, has long been the subject of political controversy in the country, most recently when a member of the Afghan Taliban spoke at a mosque in Cologne last month.

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