Rembrandt van Rijn Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer 1653
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_This_(novel)
YMCA
https://twitter.com/i/status/1874474889199210840
Homan
WATCH: Border Czar Tom Homan Unleashes on Biden Administration for Emboldening Islamist Terrorists | @RealTomHoman
"You can't have national security if you don't have border security."
This needed to be said on behalf of all Americans who have been watching what's been… pic.twitter.com/XH5Hul5ahy
— Overton (@overton_news) January 2, 2025
“..the legacy media completely and willfully failed to cover one of the biggest stories of this decade, that the president of the United States was unfit for office from Day 1 and his entire staff was hiding it..”
• Journos Who Hid Biden’s Decline Should Never Live It Down (NYPost)
President-elect Donald Trump is forcing the Democratic politicians who spent years lying about President Biden’s senility to take their bitter medicine, but we’re more concerned about the toady media who played along. Trump on Monday posted a video showing clip after cringe-worthy clip of Democratic leaders from Rep. Nancy Pelosi to Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas denying again and again that Biden was mentally and physically deteriorating, claiming he was “sharp,” “on his game,” “focused” and that “his age is an asset.” Every last one deserves scorn, but so do the journalists who not only let these fantastical fibs go unchallenged, but even parroted the lies: Biden was showing no signs of mental decline, they insisted — and it was offensive, ignorant and borderline bigoted to even suggest otherwise.
The entire idea that Biden was anything but healthy — virile, even — was treated as a right-wing, tin-foil-hat talking point. The public wasn’t buying it: Back in February, 86% of Americans thought Biden was too old to serve a second term because they had watched his decline happen in real time, and over the course of several years. Way back in 2022, some 75% of Democratic voters wanted someone other than Biden to run in 2024. But the “Biden is fine” charade continued even after special counsel Robert Hur said a jury would see Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” and Biden himself began repeatedly calling world leaders by the names of their dead predecessors. The White House smeared all video proof of Biden’s decline as “cheap fakes” and edited transcripts to erase signs of his constant memory issues.
And at every turn, spineless, in-the-tank journos obediently did Team Biden’s propagandistic dirty work — right up until the debate, when Biden’s senility became too unmistakable to continue denying. Now they’re acting bashful, but it’s far too late to salvage their shredded credibility. Ex-MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan says he was “embarrassingly wrong” to say “Republicans will regret … helping spread the distorted image of [Biden] as a guy who is totally out of it” leading up to the debate. Progressive journalist Matt Yglesias said he “thought Joe Biden was going to prove his doubters wrong.” Is it better or worse if they actually believed it?
Dem-friendly journalists saw the same evidence as the rest of us that Biden was compromised, and instead of being skeptical, asking questions and putting the White House’s feet to the fire — doing their jobs — they joined the crusade to gaslight America. Incoming Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt says she intends to change up who gets preferred access to White House briefings — allowing in non-traditional voices like podcasters. Since the legacy media completely and willfully failed to cover one of the biggest stories of this decade, that the president of the United States was unfit for office from Day 1 and his entire staff was hiding it, that seems like a fair shake. No one who perpetuated, concealed or ignored this grotesque scandal should ever live it down.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack.”
• Musk Says Cybertruck That Exploded in Las Vegas Contained Blast (Sp.)
Late on Wednesday, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded near the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. One person died and seven others were injured in the explosion, the Las Vegas Police Department said, adding that an investigation was underway. US billionaire Elon Musk said on Thursday that the Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas was able to contain the explosion and limit the damage. Shortly after the incident was reported late Wednesday, Musk announced that a top Tesla team was investigating the explosion. Tesla’s investigation found that the explosion was caused by “very large fireworks and/or a bomb” stored in the rented vehicle, not a malfunction in the car itself.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken,” Musk said on X. During the investigation, Las Vegas police discovered gas tanks and large fireworks mortars in the bed of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded near the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Sheriff Kevin McMahil said later in the day, also thanking Musk for all the information he and his team provided.
This could be Trump’s ticket out of Ukraine. DOGE.
• Ukraine Must Be Held Accountable For ‘Stealing’ US Aid (Durso)
The shame of American military assistance in Iraq and Afghanistan is that while our troops and their local allies were fighting bravely, the leaders of our so-called allies were getting rich. We have seen something even worse in Ukraine: While Ukrainian military personnel and civilians fight valiantly in a fierce contest for independence, Ukrainian leaders have gotten fabulously wealthy. The American shame is that the U.S. heedlessly expanded NATO to the borders of Russia, and then, after Russia pushed back, enabled and funded the cynical maladministration by the Zelensky government, which will go down in history as one of the greatest examples of waste and theft of Western aid. What’s more, Ukraine’s casualties have permanently altered the country’s demography and will limit its prospects for economic recovery, leaving the country “wrecked” and the scene of a future “frozen conflict,” per Professor John Mearsheimer.
The sheer scale of waste and fraud will only be revealed by independent investigations after the war’s end. The Zelensky government uses the war to quash media stories that dare to question Ukrainian spending of our taxpayer dollars. Still, many brave Ukrainian journalists and officers have exposed scandals of overpricing, shoddy equipment and embezzlement at the highest levels of Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration. They have risked being labeled as Russian saboteurs or sent to certain death at the front lines for reporting the truth. The real crime of the Zelensky administration, however, began in late 2023. In a November 2023 article for The Economist, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, then commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said that without a substantial technological edge, Ukraine would face a stalemate. He said traditional attritional strategies were insufficient to overcome the numerical advantage of the Russian forces.
Zaluzhnyi emphasized several key points: • Stalemate on the front lines: The war had reached a deadlock, with both Ukrainian and Russian forces locked into positions reminiscent of World War I trench warfare. He noted, “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.” • Need for technological advancement: To break this stalemate, Ukraine required significant technological innovations. He highlighted the importance of drones, electronic warfare, anti-artillery capabilities, demining equipment and robotics. Zaluzhnyi stated, “In order for us to break this deadlock, we need something new—like gunpowder once was, which the Chinese invented and which we are still using to kill each other.” • Limitations of attritional strategies: Zaluzhnyi acknowledged Ukraine had miscalculated by assuming that inflicting heavy casualties on Russian forces would stop them. He noted that Russia had suffered at least 150,000 dead yet continued its aggression, indicating that such losses did not deter Russian leadership.
In other words, it was time to focus on diplomacy. But Zelensky had no interest in diplomacy, because ending the war would mean ending the state of emergency, new elections and a change in the structure of international assistance. In his own political interest, he ousted Zaluzhnyi and continued a war he was warned would waste lives and money without result. In the end, Zaluzhnyi was too optimistic; lives and money were indeed wasted, but they did not achieve a stalemate. Russia regrouped and gained territory. Zaluzhnyi was not the only one warning about dynamics on the battlefield. In April 2024, the leadership of Ukraine’s military intelligence participated in a series of roundtable discussions at Washington think tanks and policymakers.
A former American diplomat familiar with the visit told this author, “They expressed their reservations about continuing full scale conventional warfare. They were concerned that Ukraine had lost momentum and would be overwhelmed. They advocated instead for increased asymmetric warfare inside Russia to gain an upper hand in negotiations to end the war.” The result of this engagement was that the chief of military of intelligence, Kyril Budanov, was muzzled by Team Zelensky in a series of media attacks in pro-government websites. His key deputies were fired without his consent, weakening his agency. The waste and corruption only spread from there. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala championed a European munitions initiative that wasted billions more dollars.
Zelensky and his ambassador to the Czech Republic infamously praised Fiala even as the Czech munitions initiative procured overpriced and faulty shells that resulted in the maiming of Ukrainian soldiers and destruction of battlefield equipment. More scandals arose, involving Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustam Umerov and Ministry of Defense procurement official Oleksii Petrov buying faulty equipment for astronomical prices. These have been extensively reported by Ukrainian media. While Zelensky prevented his military commanders from openly speaking the truth about Ukraine’s chances to break through the stalemate, his loyalists at the Defense Ministry misspent record amounts of money in record time. They also tapped into assistance in kind, another lucrative source of enrichment.
And in a case where corruption has merged with treason, weapons sent to Ukraine for its defense were diverted to Nigeria’s Lake Chad region, “bolstering the strength of terrorist groups.” There are also unconfirmed reports that weapons donated to Ukraine have wound up in the hands of criminal gangs in Sweden. Zelensky and his administration should answer to the Ukrainian people for lives and territory lost because he silenced his military commanders. And they should also be held accountable by the U.S. Congress for the lost billions of American taxpayer dollars. (Total aid from the U.S. and its Western allies totals $260 billion.) It’s past time Washington stopped letting corrupt foreign officials steal American aid.
(James Durso is a regular commentator on foreign policy and national security matters at The Hill. Mr. Durso served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years.)
How did we ever get used to this?
• Ukraine Lost Nearly 600,000 Troops in 2024 (Sp.)
Ukrainian forces have lost around 593,410 troops over 2024, according to Sputnik calculations of the Russian Defense Ministry’s data. The ministry’s weekly briefs over the year indicate that Kiev lost around 4,000 soldiers weekly in early 2024. By March, this figure increased to 7,000, before it experienced a slight decrease. Besides, in March, Ukrainian forces attempted to cross the Russian border in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, which resulted in losing around 3,000 troops more, Sputnik calculated on Wednesday.
After that, Kiev’s combat losses started increasing, reaching over 10,000 people per week in late May, after which the number did not go lower than that. Following the Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk Region in August, the losses further escalated, the calculations revealed. The most significant weekly losses for Kiev’s troops occurred from October 26 to November 1, with approximately 17,000 Ukrainian fighters being lost.
“..described the incident as “the first joke of 2025” and speculated that the video editor responsible might face a harsh punishment, such as being sent to the front line.”
• Zelensky Accused of Lying In New Year’s Address (RT)
Vladimir Zelensky has been accused by several media outlets of presenting South Korean missiles as Ukrainian-made in his New Year’s address for 2025. In the 20-minute speech released on Tuesday, Zelensky touted what he described as the country’s success in developing a variety of weapons, calling them “arguments for a just peace” with Russia. ”Ukraine is once again building its own, its own missiles. And for the first time, it produces over a million drones in a year. Forcing the enemy to learn Ukrainian. Palianytsia, Peklo, Ruta. Making them tremble at the words Neptune and Sapsan. All these are our missiles. Ukrainian.” he said.
As he was naming the types of weapons, his address featured footage of drones and missiles in action, either during testing or combat scenarios. When he mentioned the Sapsan missile, the video showed the projectile launch. However, the Ukrainian outlet Strana, as well as Russian media outlets, pointed out that the clip shown in Zelensky’s address was suspiciously similar to footage of the South Korean military launching a Hyunmoo-2A cruise missile in 2017. In light of this, the Russian Telegram channel ‘Operation Z: War reporters of Russian Spring’ accused Zelensky of “blatant lies.” Another Telegram channel, ‘Voyenny Osvedomitel’, described the incident as “the first joke of 2025” and speculated that the video editor responsible might face a harsh punishment, such as being sent to the front line.
Sapsan has been under development since 2006, but the process has been hampered by delays and funding shortfalls. In 2018, Ukraine unveiled a mock-up of the system during a military parade. The complex is said to have an intended range of 500km, which is more than the ATACMS supplied to Kiev by the US, and Ukrainian experts have touted it as a potential game-changer in the conflict with Russia. However, there are no credible reports that it has ever been used on the battlefield.
“Sikorski should be “locked up in a mental institution” for “celebrating cutting Europe off gas in the middle of winter..”
• Polish FM Slammed For Celebrating Gas Cutoff (RT)
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has celebrated Ukraine’s decision to halt the flow of Russian gas to the EU as a victory for the West, despite the cutoff leading to higher prices and shortages in some countries. Russia stopped gas transit through Ukraine early on Wednesday morning, after Kiev refused to extend an agreement under which it collected transit fees to move the gas through its own pipeline network and into Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, and then on to Austria and Italy. Sikorski took to X to celebrate. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin spent billions building Nordstream to circumvent Ukraine and blackmail Eastern Europe with the threat of cutting off gas supplies,” he wrote, referring to two pipelines that linked Russia with Germany until they were destroyed in an act of sabotage in 2022.
“Today Ukraine cut off his ability to export gas direct to the EU,” Sikorski continued, hailing the decision as “another victory after the enlargement of NATO by Finland and Sweden.” Kiev’s decision caused EU gas prices to spike to €50 per megawatt hour, a figure unseen since October 2023. Slovakia, which relied heavily on Russian gas imports via Ukraine, will be severely affected, as will EU candidate state Moldova, which used Russian gas to generate much of its electricity. Sikorski should be “locked up in a mental institution” for “celebrating cutting Europe off gas in the middle of winter,” wrote journalist Thomas Fazi responded to Sikorski’s post. “Russia was clearly trying to blackmail Europe by supplying even more gas to them. Thankfully, Ukraine heroically ‘saved’ Europe by cutting off the gas,” another commenter wrote. “The absurdity of this logic is mind-blowing.”
“People like Sikorski who want to destroy European economies by cutting them off from global resources and markets should not be allowed to live in Europe,” another comment read. “Go to the USA where your loyalties lie.” Sikorski was similarly ridiculed back in 2022, when he responded to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines by posting – and then deleting – an image of the blast site along with the caption: “Thank you, USA.” While German investigators have reportedly settled on the theory that the pipelines were destroyed by Ukrainian saboteurs, American journalist Seymour Hersh maintains that they were blown up by the CIA and US Navy. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, has blamed “professional saboteurs from the Anglo-American security services,” referring to the US and UK.
10 years ago Germany was fine. It went fast. Merkel deserves much of the blame. But she left before the walls started coming down.
• German Energy Official Asks Citizens To Save Gas (RT)
Households and businesses in Germany should save gas to avoid shortages, Die Welt reported on Wednesday, citing the country’s energy regulator, the Federal Network Agency. According to an analysis by the agency, the country has been consuming significantly more gas this heating season than last year. The agency said total gas consumption in Germany rose by 5.8% from October to December 2024 against the same period the previous year, to 246 terawatt-hours (TWh). Industries recorded an increase in consumption of 9.1% compared to 2023, while the increase in households and businesses was more modest at 1.9%, the report noted.
The agency attributed the spike in gas consumption to colder weather. However, the head of the energy regulator, Klaus Muller, told the news outlet that, given the trend, consumers would be wise to be more frugal with gas use to avoid shortages, and consequently, a rise in prices. “It is definitely still worth saving gas and thus easing the burden on your wallet,” he was cited as saying. According to Muller, however, the country’s gas supply is not in jeopardy yet, as storage facilities are still 80% full. “This means we are well prepared for the next three months,” he said, adding that Germany has “come through the first half of the winter well so far.”
When it comes to heating, natural gas is still the most important energy source in Germany, with roughly half of all apartments and single-family homes nationwide heated with gas, Die Welt reports. Germany relied on Russia for more than half of its gas demand before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Deliveries were either significantly curtailed or entirely halted after the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow, and the Nord Stream pipelines delivering Russian gas directly to Germany were destroyed by blasts at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Long considered the EU’s industrial powerhouse, Germany was among the hardest hit by the reduction of Russian energy supplies, with its economy plunging into a recession in 2023.
The German government in October revised down its GDP forecast for this year to a further contraction of 0.2%. The loss of cheap Russian gas and reliance on the far more costly liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US has also pushed energy prices in Germany beyond what a lot of industrial enterprises can afford, triggering a wave of shutdowns and bankruptcies. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently criticized her successors for abandoning Russian gas. In an interview with France 2 TV released in early December, she said buying gas from Russia “was a win-win situation” for both states, as Berlin was able to obtain the much-needed commodity “at a favorable cost,” while “prices exploded” after Germany abandoned Russian supplies.
How to divert attention away from your failures.
• Scholz Ally Warns US Of Strained Relations Over Musk’s Germany Jabs (RT)
Elon Musk’s verbal attacks on German leaders risk straining relations between Berlin and Washington, Rolf Mutzenich, the head of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group, has warned. In an interview with Spiegel on Wednesday, Mutzenich blasted the US billionaire over his jabs at German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Musk had referred to Steinmeier as an “anti-democratic tyrant” and predicted Scholz’s – who he labeled a “fool” and “Oaf Schitz” – election defeat – while also voicing support for Germany’s far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, calling it “the last spark of hope for this country.”
Mutzenich accused Musk, one of the most prominent allies of US President-elect Donald Trump, of “crossing a line between friendly states” while defending Steinmeier. He argued that Steinmeier is Germany’s head of state under international law, meaning that “the verbal attacks on the Federal President are therefore aimed at all citizens.” Mutzenich went on to urge Berlin to clarify whether Musk’s repeated “disrespect, defamation, and interference” align with the stance of the incoming Trump administration. German officials earlier suggested that Musk’s comments could be a potential attempt to influence Germany’s snap parliamentary elections in February. Scholz’s coalition government recently collapsed due to disagreements over Ukraine aid, economic reforms, and climate policy, leading to a vote of no confidence and parliamentary dissolution in December.
During Trump’s first term, US-German relations were strained over several key issues. Trump criticized Germany’s significant trade surplus with the US while threatening tariffs on German cars. He repeatedly accused Berlin of failing to meet NATO’s 2% GDP defense spending target, calling Germany overly reliant on US military support. Trump also opposed Germany’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which was sabotaged in 2022 after the start of the Ukraine conflict, arguing that it would increase the EU’s energy dependence on Moscow.
Johnson’s far from perfect, but “He’s The One That Can Win Right Now”. Trump needs the House.
• Trump Says Mike Johnson Will Secure Enough Votes To Remain Speaker (ZH)
While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has a growing coalition of opponents within his own party who are ‘keeping their options open’ when it comes to Friday’s vote to decide his fate, President-elect Donald Trump says he thinks Johnson has enough votes to secure a second term. Speaking with reporters outside Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve, Trump described Johnson as a “good man” and “a wonderful person” who will ultimately gain enough support during this week’s vote. “We are going to have a great time in Washington, I think we are going to get great support,” Trump said, adding that he would call lawmakers personally to drum up support “if necessary.” “He’s the one that can win right now, people like him, almost everybody likes him,” Trump continued.
President-elect Trump on House Speaker Mike Johnson: "He's the one that can win right now. People like him. Almost everybody likes him." pic.twitter.com/j9hCy9T7DU
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 1, 2025
The day before, Trump posted to Truth Social that Johnson was a “good, hard-working, religious man,” who will “do the right thing.” “Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Johnson thanked Trump on X, saying that he was “honored and humbled” by the support. “Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America,” he wrote, adding “The American people demand and deserve that we waste no time. Let’s get to work!” That said, several House GOP members have suggested they’re no so hot for Johnson – with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) saying he plans to vote for an alternative, and that Johnson “gave the Democrats the billions of dollars they wanted for Ukraine.”
Meanwhile in a Fox News interview last week, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) said that Republicans “need to consider, if we’re going to advance Trump’s agenda, whether the current leadership is what we need,” while Rep. Scott Perry said last Thursday that he’s “going to keep my options open,” adding “I want to have a conversation with Mike.” Other Republicans who are a “no” for Johnson include Andy Biggs (AZ), Victoria Spartz (IN) and Chip Roy (TX). And while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) hasn’t publicly commented on how she will vote, she’s previously clashed with Johnson – having unsuccessfully attempted to unseat him in May over his support for a $1.2 trillion minibus spending bill, as well as his passage of a $95 billion foreign aid package which failed to include border provisions.
“We’re going to do fantastic as a country..”
• Trump Rings In 2025 With Vow To Restore Respect For America (JTN)
President-elect Donald Trump rang in the New Year with close friends and family at his Mar-a-Lago resort, promising his return to the White House in 2025 will raise America’s standing across the globe. “We’re going to do fantastic as a country,” a tuxedo-clad Trump told reporters Tuesday night during a brief gaggle. “People aren’t respecting us as much, and they will be.” Trump also addressed matters across a turbulent world, saying he’d wait to see if Hamas would reach a ceasefire with Israel and reiterating his demand that the terrorist group release all remaining hostages.
“I’ll put it this way: They better let the hostages come back soon,” he said. The President-elect also revealed he plans to attend the late Jimmy Carter‘s state funeral in Washington on January 9. Trump hosted a New Year’s Eve bash at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, that included luminaries like Elon Musk and family members like his wife Melania and daughter Tiffany.
25 years ago Russia was nowhere land.
• Putin’s New Year’s Speech Marks Exactly 25 Years In Power (ZH)
President Vladimir Putin has issued a traditional New Year’s Eve speech on Tuesday, which marks exactly 25 years of the Russian leader in power. There was a brief few year period when he was Prime Minister under President Dmitry Medvedev based on constitutional term limits. He said that Russians should be “proud” of what Russia had done during his quarter century ruling the country. He issued the expected well wishes for the year ahead, but interestingly did not expressly mention the ongoing Ukraine war, which has resulted in far-reaching US and European sanctions on Moscow. “Dear friends, in just a few minutes 2025 will be ushered in, completing the first quarter of the 21st century,” Putin began in the televised remarks.
“Yes, we still have a lot to decide but we can be rightfully proud of what has already been done,” he added, saying his 25 years as president led to the “further development” of the country and its economy and defense. He heaped praise on Russian soldiers defending the nation, at a time that Ukrainian forces still occupy hundreds of square kilometers of the southern border region of Kursk. “On this New Year’s Eve, the thoughts, hopes of relatives and friends, millions of people across Russia are together with our fighters and commanders,” Putin said. “Now, on the threshold of a new year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be all right. We will only go forward.” Putin first took power after having been named acting president on New Year’s Eve in 1999 when predecessor Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned amid post-Soviet economic collapse and turmoil.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev started the tradition of a New Year’s Eve speech, and is watched by millions of Russian households. It typically involves a summary of major events of the past year, and general well wishes for the year to come. “Now, on the threshold of a new year, we are thinking about the future. We are sure that everything will be all right. We will only go forward,” Putin said. AFP noted that the address “aired on state TV just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones” – and it was also likely closely watched by analysts at Western intelligence agencies and the Pentagon.
The Trump administration enters the White House in less than three weeks, and all eyes will be on the question of how quickly Trump will push Kiev toward the negotiating table. The Kremlin has been cautiously optimistic, but feels in control of the war in the Donbas. President Zelensky has meanwhile balked at the possibility of ceding territory, though the Crimea question has remained open from the Ukrainians’ perspective. Russia is going to settle on nothing less than total and permanent control over the four territories in the east, and a permanent ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO. Trump is reportedly mulling a minimum 20-year waiting period for Ukraine, however. Moscow says even this long delay is not acceptable.
The US still officially supports the One China policy.
• Xi Uses New Year’s Speech To Call Anew For Reunification With Taiwan (JTN)
Chinese President Xi Jinping used a New Year’s Eve address to call anew for Taiwan to be reunited with his communist country, setting the stage for a tougher era of U.S. diplomatic relations as Donald Trump prepares to return to office. “The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family,” Xi said Tuesday, hitting the theme for a second straight holiday address broadcast on the state-controlled CCTV. “No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification.” Beijing has ramped up military activity around Taiwan, including large-scale exercises shortly before Christmas. Those menacing operations included Chinese aircraft entering the island nation’s air defense identification zone shortly beore Xi spoke on Tuesday.
In October, Xi told the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that he preferred a peaceful reunification with Taiwan but added that China “will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures.” Taiwan’s new president responded Wednesday to Xi’ address, saying his island wishes to have peaceful relations with China but questioning why Beijing has blocked tourism between the two. “Is this really showing goodwill towards Taiwan? Can’t they treat everyone equally?” President President Lai Ching-te told reporters. “But I still want to stress this: Taiwan hopes to have healthy and orderly exchanges with China under the principles of reciprocity and dignity,” Lai added.
As Trump prepares to return to office, Taiwan dispatched two senior members of it National Security Council to meet with his team in the United States. The president-elect has urged Taiwan to spend more on its defense security in the face of Chinese provocation.
Negotiating. It’s still just round 1.
• Russian Rejection Of Trump Proposals Puts Wrinkle In Pursuit For Peace (JTN)
President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised while on the campaign trail that he would end the Russia-Ukraine War “within 24 hours”, but Moscow’s recent rejection of terms from the Trump team has suggested that winding down the conflict may be more complicated. Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 after diplomatic talks broke down. It subsequently annexed four provinces in the country’s southern region after holding referendums the international community condemned as fraudulent. At present, it does not fully control any of those four provinces, but Moscow has made modest progress in the Donetsk Oblast this year since the fall of the fortress city of Avdiivka. In a recent interview with Russian state-aligned media outlet TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addressed leaks of the Trump team’s reported plans and public statements the president-elect has made on the conflict.
Trump’s team has yet to formally release any peace plans and Lavrov confirmed that Moscow had not received “official signals” about an agreement. He did, however, specifically reject delaying Ukraine’s NATO accession by 20 years and deploying European peacekeepers to patrol the ceasefire line. “Judging from numerous leaks and Donald Trump’s interview with Time Magazine on December 12, their idea is to suspend hostilities along the line of contact and transfer responsibility for confrontation with Russia to the Europeans,” he said. “We are not happy, of course, with the proposals made by members of the Trump team to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years and to station British and European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.”
Both Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have called for shifting the responsibility for Ukraine’s security toward NATO’s European members in light of their geographic proximity. Some nations, such as France, have openly floated the idea of deploying their own troops to help Ukraine stabilize the front. That has not occurred, at least officially. Lavrov, however, noted that “NATO military and mercenaries openly participate in the planning of combat operations and fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. He categorically denied claims that North Korean troops were fighting on the Russian side.
Russia’s own rejection of Trump’s reported proposals, however, presents only one of the obstacles to a Trump-led peace plan, with Ukraine and Europe presenting two more. After Trump appointed retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg to serve as his special envoy to Ukraine, Lavrov expressed an interest in working with Washington, saying “If the signals that are coming from the new team in Washington to restore the dialogue… are serious, of course, we will respond to them.” Kellogg himself has suggested that “both sides are ready” for negotiations, highlighting the reported death tolls on both sides as motivating a desire for peace. Willingness to negotiate, however, does not indicate a willingness to concede on key points and the distinction could prove the difference between successful dialogue and further escalations.
[..] “We will continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership. We will continue to support Ukraine on its path towards accession to the European Union,” wrote the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom in mid-December. “We reiterate our firm support for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter with full respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” they continued. Though Germany is slated to face an election in February and the recent ouster of the French prime minister has left the character of Paris somewhat unclear, most of the signatory nations are not expected to face a meaningful realignment in their foreign policy for the foreseeable future.
[..] Lieven highlighted that many points of contention between Russia and Ukraine’s western backers were not matters over which Ukraine would have much say. Among those were proposals for Europe and America to provide security guarantees to an unofficially unaligned Ukraine and promise to intervene as though they were a NATO member should Russia attack again. “However, everything that I have heard from Russians tells me that this is just as unacceptable to Moscow as NATO membership itself and would therefore make agreement impossible,” he added. “Moreover, European countries would agree to send their troops only if they had an ironclad guarantee from Washington that the United States would intervene if they were attacked. This, in effect, punts the decision back to Washington: not Kyiv, and not Brussels, Warsaw or Paris.”
“Politics is a dirty and dangerous business, and it is not the environment in which good people thrive.”
• President Jimmy Carter (Paul Craig Roberts)
President Jimmy Carter departed this world with 2024. He was a good man outfoxed by Washington. A populist, he was not the establishment’s choice for president which set about weakening him by framing his Director of the Office of Management and Budget and then turning on his chief of staff. President Carter intended to continue President Nixon’s policy of defusing tensions with the Soviet Union. He and Soviet leader Brezhnev agreed to limit the buildup of nuclear weapons by signing a second Strategic Arms Limitation agreement, but the US Senate under the influence of the military/security complex refused to ratify the treaty. Carter came under the influence of Zbigniew Brzezinski who had the idea of involving the Soviet Union in a Vietnam of its own in Afghanistan. Thus began Washington’s affair with Muslims which developed into the proxy forces Washington used against Libya and Syria.
Carter’s good intentions often had undesirable consequences. His effort to reduce conflict between Israel and Middle Eastern governments produced with the Camp David Accords Egypt’s official recognition of Israel. This resulted in Israel’s legitimization and strengthened Israel at the expense of the Muslim Middle East. Later in life Carter tried again to restrain Israel with his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Jews turned on Carter, called him an anti-semite, and resigned from the Carter Center. Jimmy Carter, like other genuine peacemakers, was too good of a person to understand the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. The “Two-State” solution was used for years to cover up Israel’s gradual absorption of Palestine into Israel. Today Palestine is no more and Israel is expanding into Syria and soon Lebanon. Another of Carter’s good intentions that went wrong was the creation of the Department of Education. This completed federal control over education.
President Carter was hurt politically by the failure of his attempted military rescue of US embassy personnel in Iran who were being held hostages by the new revolutionary Islamist government. This dramatic failure of American arms was a boost to Ronald Reagan’s election. I have always wondered if the military accident in the Iranian desert that destroyed the operation was contrived. The military/security complex does not favor men of peace. Carter also hurt himself by turning the Panama Canal over to Panama. Americans saw this as giving away America’s accomplishment as a pointless good will gesture. Today Trump is talking about taking it back. Jimmy Carter’s presidency raises the question of how good a person can be and still be a successful president. Politics is a dirty and dangerous business, and it is not the environment in which good people thrive.
“He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”
• Trump Says He Is Planning To Attend Jimmy Carter’s Funeral (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s planning to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. Asked about it as he walked into a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump responded, “I’ll be there.” Pressed on whether he’d spoken to members of Carter’s family, Trump said he’d rather not say. Funeral services honoring Carter, who died Sunday at 100, will be held in Georgia and Washington, beginning Jan. 4 and concluding Jan. 9. Trump was a frequent and fierce critic of Carter on the campaign trail ahead of November’s election, using the rising inflation rates of the 1970s to unfavorably compare President Joe Biden to Carter and his administration. But the president-elect was gracious about the former president in posts on his social media site after Carter’s death Sunday, writing that the nation “owed him a debt of gratitude.”
“While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for,” Trump wrote of Carter. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.” Wearing a tuxedo as he entered the festivities, Trump took a few minutes of questions from reporters on various topics. He was asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, but said only, “We’re going to see what happens.” The president-elect added of hostages seized more than a year ago by Hamas, “I’ll put it this way: They better let the hostages come back soon.”
Trump also said he thought 2025 would be a “great year” and “we’re going to do fantastically well as a country.” “There’s a whole light over the whole world, not just our country. They’re a lot of happy people,” Trump said of recent weeks. Asked about his resolutions for the new year, Trump said, “I just want everybody to be happy, healthy and well.” Trump later took the stage to briefly address the crowd ringing in the new year at Mar-a-Lago and promised “to do a great job as your president.” Biden, for his part, spent New Year’s Eve celebrating the wedding of his niece Missy Owens in Greenville, Delaware, followed by the reception in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Biden and first lady Jill Biden cut short their traditional holiday trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to attend the ceremony.
“..Assad’s denial mindset and the consequent speed of the military dénouement was the surprise. That was the true ‘black swan’.”
• Imperial Hubris -And Its Consequences- In Syria (Alastair Cooke)
The Syria story, it seems, is not so simple as ‘President Assad fell’ and the ‘technocratic Salafists’ rose to power. At one level, the collapse was predictable. Assad was known to have been influenced by Egypt and UAE for some years past. They had been urging him to break with Iran and Russia, and to shift to the West. For some 3-4 years he had been incrementally signalling and implementing such a move. Iran especially faced increasing obstacles over operational matters in which they were co-operating with Syrian forces. His shift was meant as a message to Iran. The financial situation of Syria – after years of U.S. Caesar sanctions, plus the loss of all agricultural and energy revenues seized by the U.S. in occupied north-east Syria – was catastrophic. Syria simply had no economy.
No doubt, reaching out to Israel and Washington was presented to Assad as the only practical exit to his dilemma. ‘Normalisation’ could lead to the lifting of sanctions, they implored him. And Assad, according tothose in touch with him, (even at the eleventh hour before the HTS ‘invasion’) was believing that Arab States close to Washington would have opted for his continued leadership, rather than see Syria fall prey to Salafist zealots. To be clear: Moscow and Tehran had warned Assad that his army (as a whole) was too fragile, too underpaid, and too penetrated and bribed by foreign intelligence services, to be expected to defend the state effectively. Assad also was warned repeatedly about the threat from Idlib jihadists planning to take Aleppo, but the President not only ignored the warnings – he rebutted them.
He was offered a very large external military force not once, but twice, even in ‘the last days’, as Jolani’s militia were advancing. Assad refused. “We are strong”, he told an interlocutor on the first occasion; yet shortly afterwards, on a second occasion, he admitted: “My army is running away”. Assad was not abandoned by his allies. It was by then too late. He had flip-flopped once too often. Two of the principal actors (Russia and Iran) were frustrated and rendered unable to help – absent Assad’s consent. A Syrian who knew the Assad family, and who spoke with the President at some length just prior the Aleppo invasion, had found him surprisingly sanguine and unflustered – assuring his friend that there were forces enough (2,500) in Aleppo to deal with Jolani’s threats, and hinting that President Sissi might be ready to step in with aid for Syria. (Egypt of course feared Muslim Brotherhood Islamists taking power in a former secular Ba’athist state).
Ibrahim Al-Amine, editor of Al-Akhbar, noted a similar perception by Assad: “Assad seemed to have become more confident that Abu Dhabi was capable of resolving his problem with the Americans and some Europeans, and he heard a lot about economic temptations if he agreed to the strategy of exiting the alliance with the resistance forces. One of Assad’s workers, who stayed with him until the last hours before he left Damascus, says that the man was still hoping for something big to happen to stop the armed factions’ attack. He believed that “the Arab and international community” would prefer that he remain in power, rather than Islamists take over the administration of Syria”.
Yet, even as the Jolani forces were on the M5 highway linking to Damascus, the wider Assad family and key officials were making no efforts to prepare for a departure, or to warn close friends to think about such contingencies, the interlocutor said. Even as Assad was heading to Hmeimin en route to Moscow, no advice to ‘get out’ was sent to friends. The latter said that they did not know after Assad’s silent departure to Moscow who exactly, or when, ordered the Syria army to stand down and to prepare for transition. Assad briefly visited Moscow on 28 November – a day after the HTS attacks in Aleppo province and their swift advance south (and a day after the ceasefire in Lebanon). The Russian authorities have said nothing about the content of the President’s meetings in Moscow, and the Assad family said that the President had returned tight-lipped from Russia, too.
Subsequently, Assad departed finally to Moscow (either on 7 December, after despatching a private plane on multiple flights to Dubai, or on 8 December) – again telling virtually nobody in his immediate and family circle that he was departing for good. What caused this out-of-character mindset? No one knows; but family members have speculated that Bashar Al-Assad had been seriously disorientated emotionally by the grave illness of his wife, Asma, to whom he is devoted. Put frankly, whilst the three main players could see clearly the direction events were heading (the fragility of the state was no surprise), nevertheless, Assad’s denial mindset and the consequent speed of the military dénouement was the surprise. That was the true ‘black swan’.
Mass
“The Mass injection of over half the Worlds population with that drug, is the worst thing to ever happen in the history of our species”
Yep – it’s the greatest crime against humanity ever committed – listen. pic.twitter.com/mHdIiMHEWc
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) January 1, 2025
Majestic
I’m not gonna lie this horse just might be the most majestic creature I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/PzHSsK0AjM
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) January 1, 2025
Cat tricks
Tricks for your cats pic.twitter.com/XjcOD1twNz
— contents that ll heal your depression 🌻 (@Catshealdeprsn) January 1, 2025
Dragonfly
https://twitter.com/i/status/1874465854886474021
Cat cage
https://twitter.com/i/status/1874519939748712721
Armadillo
Man picks up a Screaming Hairy Armadillo named Rambo and knows super cool fact about it. pic.twitter.com/5iSHFml15f
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) January 1, 2025
Shadows
Every step matters! Thank you for walking with us into 2025, on our mission to save wild lives and secure habitats. Together, we can create a brighter future for wildlife.https://t.co/tjJMQ7z3GJ pic.twitter.com/FMdf5Qr79Y
— Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) December 31, 2024
Rainstorm
Shenyang, China, recently recorded one of the biggest rainstorms in 73 years.
These are the fish in the river reacting to the event.pic.twitter.com/l1ovrVhHag
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 2, 2025
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