President Trump has said that negotiations with Moscow over a US-proposed Ukraine ceasefirehave been “going reasonably well” so far Read Full Article at RT.com
The US president has said he “knows” his Russian counterpart and talks are “going reasonably well”
President Donald Trump has said that Washington’s negotiations with Moscow over a US-proposed temporary ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict have been going “okay” so far, and he expects “good” news soon.
Earlier this week, Washington and Kiev put forward a 30-day truce proposal, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivering the details of the initiative to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Putin said Moscow was open to the idea but stressed that many issues needed to be addressed beforehand, including the fate of Ukrainian incursion forces currently surrounded in Russia’s Kursk Region.
In a sit-down interview with Sharyl Attkisson for Full Measure, published on Friday, Trump neither confirmed nor denied having direct communication with Putin regarding the initiative, calling it a “very complex situation.”
Fitness tracking platform Strava has terminated user accounts for uploading running activities recorded in North Korea, citing U.S. sanctions that prohibit offering online services to the country. A doctoral student researching North Korea had her account deleted after uploading a run recorded during a visit to the country. Another user was banned for a virtual treadmill workout set in North Korea, though their account was later reinstated.
"In accordance with mandatory U.S. sanctions and export controls, Strava does not allow users to post activities occurring there," the company told technology blogger Ray Maker in a statement. Unlike Strava, other major tech platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Apple do not appear to restrict content created in North Korea from being uploaded once users return home.
way2trivial shares a report: Microsoft is testing AI-powered summaries in Notepad. In an update rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels, you'll be able to summarize information in Notepad by highlighting a chunk of text, right-clicking it, and selecting Summarize.
Notepad will then generate a summary of the text, as well as provide an option to change its length. You can also generate summaries by selecting text and using the Ctrl + M shortcut or choosing Summarize from the Copilot menu.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Donald Trump’s administration “is doing everything” to mend relations with Moscow Read Full Article at RT.com
Donald Trump’ administration “is doing everything” to repair what had been destroyed, according to the Russian president
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the new US administration’s efforts to rebuild ties between Moscow and Washington but said the process remains challenging.
“We know the new administration, headed by President [Donald] Trump, is doing everything to restore at least part of what was practically reduced to zero, destroyed by the previous American administration,” Putin said on Friday during a meeting with Russia’s Security Council.
However, he noted that the “process is not easy, if not to say complicated,” adding “let’s see what comes of it.”
Communication between Russia and the US effectively broke down under former US President Joe Biden, with both countries imposing various restrictions on each other, including reducing diplomatic staff, limiting banking access, and seizing diplomatic properties. Moscow maintains its measures were in direct response to actions taken by Washington.
The new US administration has signaled its intent to normalize relations. Trump held a long phone call with Putin on February 12, while Russian and US delegations later held high-level meetings in Saudi Arabia and Türkiye to discuss reestablishing dialogue.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington and Moscow could restore economic ties once the Ukraine conflict is resolved. Trump has also suggested that sanctions on Russia could be lifted “at some point” as part of a negotiated settlement on Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, Putin met on Thursday with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who arrived in the Russian capital to convey more detailed information about Tuesday's US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
Following the discussions in Jeddah, Washington and Kiev published a joint statement in which Ukraine agreed to a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia, while the US announced the resumption of military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev.
During a press conference on Thursday, Putin said that Russia “absolutely supports” the idea of resolving the Ukraine conflict through peaceful means and is ready to discuss Trump’s ceasefire proposal. The Russian president suggested that this could include a personal conversation with the US leader.
However, Putin stressed that all the details of a ceasefire must first be clarified, noting that Moscow is not interested in a short-term solution but instead seeks a lasting resolution to the conflict.
Tens of thousands of JPMorgan Chase software engineers increased their productivity 10% to 20% by using a coding assistant tool developed by the bank, its global chief information officer Lori Beer said. From a report: The gains present "a great opportunity" for the lender to assign its engineers to other projects, Beer told Reuters ahead of DevUp, an internal conference hosted by JPMorgan, bringing together its top engineers in India this year. The largest lender in the U.S. had a technology budget of $17 billion for 2024. Its tech workforce of 63,000 employees, with a third of them based in India, represents about 21% of its global headcount. The efficiency gains from the coding assistant will also allow JPMorgan's engineers to devote more time to high-value projects focusing on artificial intelligence and data, Beer said.
The US president’s plans to annex Greenland could lead to a war with Denmark, Danish Defense Committee Chair Rasmus Jarlov has warned Read Full Article at RT.com
The US president has reiterated his intention to annex the Arctic island from Denmark
US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Greenland could lead to a war between the US and Denmark, Danish MP and Defense Committee Chairman Rasmus Jarlov has warned. The lawmaker insisted that ceding the Arctic island to the US remains out of the question for Copenhagen.
Jarlov’s remarks came after Thursday’s meeting between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where the former reaffirmed his intention for Greenland to become part of the US. Asked about his “vision on the potential annexation of Greenland,” Trump responded, “I think it will happen,” suggesting NATO could “be instrumental” in the process.
While Rutte stopped short of endorsing the idea, he acknowledged that Trump was “totally right” to raise concerns about security in the Arctic, citing the growing presence of Russia and China in the region.
In a post on X on Friday, Jarlov said Denmark does not “appreciate the Secr. Gen. of NATO joking with Trump about Greenland like this.”
“It would mean war between two NATO countries,” he warned, reiterating that Denmark has repeatedly refused to consider relinquishing control of Greenland. In a separate post, he wrote that “joining the US remains completely out of the question” for Greenland and that such a scenario “can only be achieved if the USA invades militarily.”
“Greenland has just voted against immediate independence from Denmark and does not want to be American ever,” Jarlov added, referring to the center-right Democrats victory in Greenland’s parliamentary elections this week. The party has sharply criticized Trump’s ambitions, favoring economic expansion and a gradual approach to independence.
Greenland has long been of strategic interest due to its location and untapped mineral resources. The former Danish colony was granted self-rule in 1979 but remains under Copenhagen’s control in matters of foreign policy, defense, and monetary policy. Trump first proposed buying Greenland in 2019, but the idea was swiftly rejected by both Denmark and Greenland’s government. Since returning to office, he has reignited discussions on US ownership, calling the island crucial to American security and economic interests.
While the election results suggest Greenland remains opposed to Trump’s plans, experts warn the situation could change. Although the Democrats won the most seats, they did not secure a majority and will need to form a coalition. The second-largest party, Naleraq, has signaled openness to closer ties with the US. However, some analysts believe that the Democrats may seek alliances with smaller parties that also advocate a gradual path to independence.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s extradition contravened the country’s laws, his former legal counsel Salvador Panelo has said Read Full Article at RT.com
The former Philippines president’s extradition contravened both domestic law and the ICC’s own rules, Salvador Panelo has said
The detention and extradition of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte flouted the country’s laws, his former chief presidential legal counsel and spokesperson, Salvador Panelo has told RT.
Duterte was arrested at Manila’s international airport, detained and flown to The Hague, to be placed in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday. The former president is accused of crimes against humanity committed during his war on drugs over 2016-2022.
The former president was “arrested without a warrant,” taken to Villamor Air Base in the Philippines and “detained there illegally,” Panelo said in an interview with RT on Friday.
“From our point of view, that was an illegal arrest, that was an illegal detention, and that was kidnapping,” the former presidential legal aide stressed.
The arrest warrant came from a “spurious” source that “as far as this country is concerned…has no jurisdiction,” Panelo added.
The Philippines has not been a member of the ICC since 2019, following then-President Duterte’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the institution’s founding treaty.
Under Filipino law, any foreign arrest warrant has to pass through a local court, Panelo emphasized.
Similarly, from the perspective of the Rome Statute, when the ICC seeks a warrant of arrest, it “has to be referred to the state member and it has to pass through a judicial authority, and that was not done,” he said.
Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, could be targeted by a similar warrant in the future to stop her from running in the 2028 presidential election, Panelo believes.
Last month, an escalating feud between Sara Duterte and incumbent President Bongbong Marcos led to impeachment proceedings against the former.
Rodrigo Duterte’s actions against illegal drug trafficking “stopped criminality, reduced it to the barest minimum,” leaving him with “astronomical” good ratings with the people of the Philippines, Panelo said.
The former president’s guilt or innocence should be settled in the Filipino courts, he stressed.
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers have held the second Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, despite stringent Israeli restrictions on the Palestinians’ access to the holy site.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers, escorted by the regime troops, have stormed villages and set fire to a number of Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank.
The Palestine Prisoners Studies Center says Israel has escalated its “aggressive” policies against female Palestinian abductees, urging the international community to break their silence and take an action on the regime’s crimes.
President Putin met with Donald Trump's envoy to deliver a message to Washington and receive "additional details" regarding the Jeddah talks between the US and Ukraine, the Kremlin has said.
Hamas has expressed its readiness to release an Israeli-American captive and the bodies of four others, after the group and the Israeli regime resumed indirect Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Russia says all sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear energy program are illegal, emphasizing that Tehran has never expressed any intention to develop nuclear weapons.
Voislav Torden was convicted of ‘war crimes’ in Donbass fighting against Ukrainian troops Read Full Article at RT.com
Voislav Torden was convicted of “war crimes” while fighting against Ukraine in Donbass
The Russian embassy in Finland has condemned a life sentence issued by a Helsinki court to Russian national Voislav Torden over his alleged involvement in fighting against Ukrainian forces in Donbass in 2014, labeling the verdict “biased” and “politically motivated.”
Prosecutors sought the maximum penalty for Torden, alleging he committed five war crimes as deputy commander of the Rusich volunteer sabotage and reconnaissance unit, which fought alongside the Donetsk and Lugansk militias.
Torden has denied any wrongdoing.
On Friday, the Helsinki District Court convicted him on four of five charges, the outlet Yle reported. The judges ruled that it was “indisputable” that on September 5, 2014, Torden, then known as Yan Petrovsky, and his unit ambushed fighters of the Ukrainian Aidar battalion in the Lugansk region, resulting in 22 Ukrainian soldiers killed and five wounded.
The Russian embassy described the trial as a “shameful” proceeding that fits into Finland’s participation in the “hybrid war” against Russia and reflects an “atmosphere of Russophobia” and “war hysteria” in the country.
“The verdict of the Finnish justice system causes nothing but deep indignation. The bias of the Helsinki District Court, which issued an openly politicized sentence to a Russian citizen, is obvious,” it said in a statement.
Aidar was one of several volunteer formations, mainly composed of members of right-wing groups, which had been deployed to Donbass earlier that year. This followed after the local population refused to recognize the Western-backed violent coup in Kiev that led to the overthrow of the country’s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych.
The Russian authorities and international human rights groups have accused members of the battalion of committing numerous war crimes. Amnesty International said in 2014 that Aidar fighters were “involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.”
According to the court, Torden participated in the killing of one Aidar soldier and later posted photos of the incident on social media, warning that Rusich would show no mercy to the Ukrainian attackers.
Torden’s lawyers said they will appeal the decision. Heikki Lampela told Yle that the verdict left his client “shocked.”“My client does not want to serve a life sentence for acts that he has not committed,” she stressed.
Another lawyer, Natalia Malgina told RIA Novosti that the sentence was handed down solely on the basis that Torden was considered the deputy head of Rusich, “although in fact at the time of the commission of the incriminated actions he was not one.”
Finland, which joined NATO in 2022 and had been a strong backer of Ukraine throughout the conflict, refused to extradite Torden to Kiev after he was arrested for violating migration rules in 2023. The Supreme Court ruled that he would not get a fair trial in Ukraine. Torden had been released but arrested again shortly afterwards and charged with war crimes.
Writes Greg Privette: Hi Lew, Maybe Rep. Massie has done this already. I am not sure as I don’t follow any social media. If I were him I would just continually make the point to Trump, what is the purpose of all the DOGE efforts if you aren’t going to actually cut the budget?
Maybe Rep. Massie has done this already. I am not sure as I don’t follow any social media. If I were him I would just continually make the point to Trump, what is the purpose of all the DOGE efforts if you aren’t going to actually cut the budget?
A controversial VAR (Video Assistant Referee) decision helped eliminate Atletico Madrid from the Champions League after Julian Alvarez's penalty was disallowed for a near-microscopic double touch. Despite referee Szymon Marciniak standing just feet away and missing the infraction, VAR officials intervened without the typically required "clear and obvious error" standard.
This incident has exemplified the paradox of video review technology in football: introduced to reduce controversies, VAR has instead multiplied them. Technical implementation varies significantly across competitions -- some MLS stadiums have fewer cameras available for review than others -- creating inconsistent application. The Premier League claims VAR increased correct decisions from 82% to 96%, yet the remaining errors dominate match-day discourse. The Guardian adds: VAR incidents are now so endemic that Norway's clubs were compelled to vote on whether use of the technology should be scrapped two weeks ago. Ultimately, they decided to stick with VAR, even though most of the country's professional clubs want rid of it.
In the Norwegian league, the use of VAR has become so unpopular that fans felt they had no choice but to pelt the field with fishcakes in protest, which may or may not be A Norwegian Thing. Ultimately, the decision on whether to keep or scrap VAR devolved into a power struggle of a sort between Norway's 32 top professional clubs and the federation. Whereas the vote to introduce VAR -- which Norway didn't adopt until 2023, years later than most European countries -- was conducted by those pro teams alone, the decision to scrap it was voted on by every club in the country.
Several amateur clubs told the Guardian they felt conflicted about being dragged into a fight about a technology not in use at their level. Had it been left up to the pros, VAR would have been scrapped, by a 19-13 margin. Instead, the federation orchestrated a vote among all the country's clubs to force the retention of VAR -- and avoid becoming the first nation to scrap it -- prevailing by 321 votes to 129.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk must give records to attorneys general that sued them, in addition to answering written questions, a federal judge ruled on March 12.
The U.S. government must give New Mexico’s attorney general and 12 other state prosecutors who sued it numerous documents, including those that DOGE and Musk created or edited regarding the termination of federal workers, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled.
Chutkan largely granted discovery requests from the attorneys general, who say that the actions by Musk as DOGE’s public face are unconstitutional in part because he was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
After the judge in February turned down their bid to block DOGE from accessing government data, the attorneys general said Chutkan should grant expedited discovery so they could confirm that Musk and DOGE “are directing actions within federal agencies that have profoundly harmed the States and will continue to harm them” as they prepare a motion for a preliminary injunction.
Government lawyers opposed the motion. “The material the States seek is not relevant to their claims; nor should the Court require such discovery on an expedited timeframe before it has even had a chance to adjudicate the Government’s motion to dismiss,” the lawyers said.
Chutkan said she was granting expedited discovery because it was “reasonable and necessary to evaluate Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief.”
She turned aside government arguments that expediting discovery to support the forthcoming injunction motion was not a sufficient reason to speed up discovery.
“Courts in this jurisdiction ... have consistently found that preliminary injunction proceedings are exactly the kind of circumstance warranting expedited discovery,” Chutkan said.
The case centers on DOGE’s authority or purported lack thereof, and whether it has been working with or directing agencies to cut personnel and agreements.
In one filing in the case, a White House official said that Musk, a special adviser to President Donald Trump, was not a DOGE employee and did not have the authority to make decisions. Trump later said that Musk was in charge of DOGE, while former consultant Amy Gleason was named as its acting administrator.
DOGE has been assisting various agencies that have terminated tens of thousands of workers since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, according to Trump, Musk, and agency officials.
Under the new order, which does not apply to Trump, the government must hand over documents on obtaining access to and making changes to federal databases, lists, and summaries regarding the cancellation of federal agreements, as well as documents created or edited in relation to the termination of federal workers.
The deadline for discovery is 21 days.
DOGE must also identify every individual who has served as the administrator of DOGE, or the functional head of DOGE since Trump took office; every person who is part of DOGE; and all agencies for which DOGE or Musk canceled or directed the cancellation of grants and contracts or the termination of employees, the judge ruled.
Chutkan denied the plaintiffs’ request for two depositions, which the attorneys general said would be planned based on the government’s discovery production.
“[E]ven though Plaintiffs agree not to seek to depose President Trump or Musk, the court recognizes that depositions impose a heavier burden than written discovery,” the judge said. “If Defendants fail to adequately respond to Plaintiffs’ written discovery, Plaintiffs may renew their requests for depositions.”
This is the second order this week requiring DOGE to produce records. A different federal judge on March 10 ordered DOGE to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, finding that it has been acting independently from the president.
A third U.S. judge in February ordered a DOGE worker to sit for a deposition in a separate case that also seeks to block DOGE from accessing some government systems.
China has introduced regulations requiring service providers to label AI-generated content, joining similar efforts by the European Union and United States to combat disinformation. The Cyberspace Administration of China and three other agencies announced Friday that AI-generated material must be labeled explicitly or via metadata, with implementation beginning September 1.
"The Labeling Law will help users identify disinformation and hold service suppliers responsible for labeling their content," the CAC said. App store operators must verify whether applications provide AI-generated content and review their labeling mechanisms. Platforms can still offer unlabeled AI content if they comply with relevant regulations and respond to user demand.
FBI Investigating "Alarming Rise In 'Swatting' Incidents" Targeting Conservative Influencers
FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday responded to a string of 'swatting' incidents targeting conservative media figures in recent days, which came on the heels of the Monday morning murder of InfoWars reporter Jamie White.
Multiple conservative content creators, including InfoWars host Chase Geiser, Nick Sotor, Gunther Eagleman, 'Catturd,' and Trump impersonator Shawn Farash, have been targeted in swatting incidents, which typically entail fake or prank phone calls to emergency services that trigger an armed response from police officers to a particular address.
"I want to address the alarming rise in ‘swatting’ incidents targeting media figures. The FBI is aware of this dangerous trend, and my team and I are already taking action to investigate and hold those responsible accountable," Patel wrote on X Friday morning.
I want to address the alarming rise in ‘Swatting’ incidents targeting media figures. The FBI is aware of this dangerous trend, and my team and I are already taking action to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
This isn’t about politics—weaponizing law enforcement…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) March 14, 2025
On Wednesday, Geiser posted on X that he was "was just swatted again moments ago, just before 2AM," and that police officers "used a PA system to call me by name and order me to walk out of my house."
Geiser was swatted twice within a twelve hour period, the first time Tuesday afternoon and again early Wednesday morning just before 2AM. He described the first incident on the Alex Jones Show, noting that he and his family weren’t at home when the police showed up at his house. Geiser said when he met the police in his driveway, they were still receiving 311 messages about his property. “So there was a campaign of swatting my property,” he told Jones.
After the second incident, the Info Wars reporter posted on X that “6 to 8 police officers used a PA system to call me by name and order me to walk out of my house.”
I was handcuffed in the middle of the street, presumably at gunpoint though I couldn’t tell because of the light being shined on my face.
I was then led into the house where my wife was woken up and we were informed that they received a call from someone pretending to be me and threatening to kill my family. -American Greatness
"I was handcuffed in the middle of the street, presumably at gunpoint though I couldn’t tell because of the light being shined on my face. I was then led into the house where my wife was woken up and we were informed that they received a call from someone pretending to be me and threatening to kill my family."
Swatted for a second time in 12 hours. Here’s the video.
Nick Sortor, another conservative influencer with over 900,000 followers on X, wrote on Thursday that his family members were swatted.
"A dozen cops attempted to kick my dad’s door in at gunpoint,” he said Thursday, adding that “This is literal ... terrorism. And the FBI should treat it as such."
"In my dad’s case, the caller told police my dad was killing my entire family, requiring them to intervene with deadly force. This is nothing short of attempted murder. They wanted the police to kill my father."
Both my dad and my sister were swatted tonight.
A dozen cops attempted to kick my dad’s door in at gunpoint.
This is literal fucking terrorism. And the FBI should treat it as such.
Before calling in the swat, this dumbshit sent my sister an email calling me a Nazi, of course.… pic.twitter.com/LVNgXZ16Im
Also Thursday, conservative influencer Gunther Eagleman wrote on X that "my house was just swatted," and that someone had "called in a fake hostage situation."
"Fortunately, I have good relations with law enforcement, and extra patrols will be added. I don’t tolerate threats and will find the culprit."
The gloves are off. First off, my family is safe.
My house was just swatted. Some ignorant fuck called in a fake hostage situation.
Fortunately, I have good relations with law enforcement, and extra patrols will be added. I don’t tolerate threats and will find the culprit.…
Putin Calls For All Ukrainians In Kursk To Surrender, 'Sympathetic' To Trump's Request To Spare Lives
Update(1358ET): The Kremlin has responded to President Donald Trump’s request that the lives of the Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia’s Kursk Region be spared, which was conveyed in a Friday Truth Social post by the president. Moscow says it is "sympathetic" to this request, and the pattern in the battle to retake Kursk has been to take POWs if weapons are laid down.
At the same time President Putin has called immediate surrender of all Ukrainian troops remaining on Russian soil. Trump had acknowledged that “thousands of Ukrainian troops" are "completely surrounded by the Russian military” in the southwest Kursk region.
Putin said during a National Security Council meeting on Friday that Russian forces guarantee their lives if they lay down their arms, according to state media translation:
Putin responded that he was aware of Trump’s request, adding that Russia was willing to consider it.“If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,”the president said.
But Putin also emphasized the “numerous crimes against civilians” in the region, also has hundreds of thousands of citizens have fled over the last six months of the Kursk occupation on risky operation ordered by Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader has meanwhile rejected that he will cede territory in Ukraine for the sake of peace, and is demanding a 'strong response' from the US. But clearly Trump's own words suggest he's not ready to order some kind of greater intervention on Kiev's behalf.
* * *
President Trump has revealed Friday that he has held the second phone call of his current administration with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the prospect of ending the Ukraine war. The call, held Thursday, included a plea by Trump for Russia to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers currently surrounded in the Kursk region. Such a direct appeal like this by Trump is unprecedented.
"We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday" - Trump began a statement on Truth Social, before continuing, "and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end..."
That's when he stated in all caps, "But, at this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position."
"I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!" - Trump ended with.
Aside from the rare or even unprecedented nature of such a direct appeal from a sitting US President for Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, this a first top-level US acknowledgement that Ukraine is rapidly losing in its cross-border Kursk operation.
Already as of Wednesday there were widespread reports that a Ukrainian withdrawal from Kursk is underway, and it's been confirmed that the key town of Sudzha has been taken back by Russian forces, along with well over a dozen towns and settlements in rapid fashion.
The amount of Russian territory the Ukrainians still hold there has suddenly shrunk at least four-fold, and by many accounts Russian operatives continue closing in. Even the Financial Times has admitted that the writing is on the wall:
Kyiv’s forces managed at one point to seize some 1,300 sq km of Russian territory. But over the first few weeks the area they were able to hold became a narrow wedge.
“It is no secret that the zone of our incursion, it should have been wider,” Kariakin said. “A wide area along the border would have been much more comfortable.” Instead, Russian troops surrounded Ukraine’s occupying forces on three sides. It was a precarious position and became increasingly difficult to hold.
War analysts consider it highly debatable and uncertain whether the risky cross-border gambit which started in August actually translated to any strategic advantage across the broader war theater:
For Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defense minister of Ukraine, the Kursk operation “served its purpose”: it diverted elite Russian forces and prevented them from opening up another front, he said. Others question whether the benefits outweighed costs to Ukraine’s defense effort on the eastern front.
The tragic 'cost' has been tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops lost to an operation which had little to no chance of success in the first place.
"High chance" of peace, Trump said...
❗️Trump stated that he spoke with Putin on Thursday
Trump asked Putin to SPARE the surrounded Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.
Trump also noted that there are HIGH CHANCES of resolving the situation around Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/bI2aTGBfYz
Sending masses of troops to invade and occupy Russian territory was essentially a suicide operation to begin with, for which Zelensky has come under intense internal and international criticism. Kiev has had to take more extreme measures to round up men to send to the front lines of late, and there have been reports of a lot of resistance and conscription officers roam the streets.
It would be “normal” for relations to be resumed once the Ukraine conflict is over, the bloc’s chief has argued Read Full Article at RT.com
It would be “normal” for relations to be resumed once the Ukraine conflict is over, Mark Rutte has suggested
Europe and the United States should gradually normalize relations with Russia once the Ukraine conflict is over, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said.
The statement comes a day after the head of the US-led military bloc met President Donald Trump at the White House and amid ongoing efforts by Washington to establish a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
Trump has also expressed interest in restoring economic ties with Russia, an idea that was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Friday, Rutte recalled that he had “many dealings” and “many negotiations” with Putin while prime minister of the Netherlands.
“Long-term, Russia is there, Russia will not go away,” he said. “It’s normal if the war would have stopped for Europe somehow, step by step, and also for the US, step by step, to restore normal relations with Russia,” he argued.
Ukraine’s possible membership of the bloc is off the table in the current peace process, Rutte confirmed, a point Moscow has insisted upon.
Most EU leaders, with the notable exceptions of Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, have advocated for continued confrontation with Russia, despite the ongoing peace process.
European NATO countries have been supplying weapons to Kiev since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Some bloc members, such as France, have floated the idea of deploying troops in Ukraine to monitor a truce. Russia has denounced the idea and insisted that any NATO contingent in Ukraine deployed without a UN mandate will be considered a legitimate target.
Moscow has accused the EU of militarizing against Russia, after the bloc’s leaders backed €800 billion ($860 bn) in debt and tax-breaks for its military industrial complex.
As NATO’s biggest financial contributor, Trump has consistently criticized the bloc’s European members for not meeting the defense expenditure targets.
NATO has maintained a hostile position towards Moscow since Crimea joined the Russian Federation in 2014 and the subsequent escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The developments led to the suspension of practical cooperation and a significant military buildup in NATO countries on Russia’s borders.
Human stupidity is the one thing you can rely on in financial markets.
I recently read a great piece by Joe Wiggins at Behavioral Investment, which discusses why “Investing is hard.” The entire article is worth reading, but here are the five key reasons investors often fail at investing:
Sensible decisions will frequently make us look stupid,
Crystal balls aren’t enough,
Sentiment can overwhelm everything,
A longer time horizon doesn’t guarantee success, and;
Extremes matter.
These are great points, particularly now that there is ample evidence that investors’ “crystal balls” have failed, with markets continuing to trade at extremes. Last week’s #BullBearReport made such a point.
“At our 2025 Economic and Investment Summit, we discussed the exceedingly high valuations investors pay to own assets. The chart below shows the S&P 500’s current deviation from its long-term, exponential growth trend. At 147%, that deviation is among the highest levels on record and surpasses that of both the “Dot.com” and “Financial Crisis” peaks. Unsurprisingly, investors’ overpayment of future earnings has also pushed current valuations to some of the highest levels on record.”
Rationalizing Exuberance
Of course, as prices rise, investors must avoid “sensible decisions.” Instead, they rationalize current extremes and how they can become more “extreme-ier.“ As noted in that report, the following is a list of the most common rationalizations used over the last decade.
Corporate managers have become so adept at their jobs that profit margins and equity valuations will remain at or rise from current nearly unprecedented levels.
The Fed will always bail out the market.
Technology companies are the best place to invest now and in the future, as they can continue to grow their earnings.
Corporations, via stock buybacks, will continue to be the predominant purchaser of U.S. stocks.
Liquidity flows to the financial markets are never going to stop.
Central Banks can permanently prop up asset prices.
Valuations don’t matter. Just the Fed.
The stock market is a situation where you can’t lose. Buy stocks as they always go up.
This time is different.
“The following chart best encapsulates the last point. At no point in previous history have consumers been this confident about higher stock prices in the next year. Of course, that optimism is encapsulated by the rise in trailing one-year valuations.”
That analysis got me thinking about an article I wrote in 2019 entitled “The 5 Laws of Human Stupidity” and how they apply to investing. The background was a study done in 1976 by Carol M. Cipolla, a professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley. The professor published an essay outlining the fundamental laws of a force perceived as humanity’s greatest existential threat: stupidity.
Stupid people, according to Cipolla, share several identifying traits:
they are abundant,
they are irrational, and;
they cause problems for others without apparent benefit to themselves
According to Cipolla, the result is that “human stupidity” lowers society’s total well-being and there are no defenses against stupidity.
“The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.”
While we can’t do much about the seemingly rising level of “human stupidity,” we can apply Cipolla’s five basic laws to investing and the mistakes investors repeatedly make over time.
Law 1: Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
“No matter how many idiots you suspect yourself surrounded by you are invariably low-balling the total.” – Cipolla
In investing, the problem of investor “stupidity” is compounded by a variety of biased assumptions. Individuals assume that when the media publishes something, superficial factors like the commentator’s job, education level, or other traits suggest they can’t possibly be stupid. We, therefore, attach credibility to their opinions as long as they confirm our own.
This is called “confirmation bias.”
If we believe the stock market will rise, we tend only to seek out news and information supporting our view. This confirmation bias is a primary driver of individuals’ psychological investing cycles, as shown below. I discussed this previously in “Bob Farrell’s 10 Illustrated Rules.”
“As a contrarian investor, along with several of the points already made within Farrell’s rule set, excesses are built by everyone on the same side of the trade. Ultimately, when the shift in sentiment occurs – the reversion is exacerbated by the stampede going in the opposite direction.”
As individuals, we want “affirmation” that our current thought processes are correct. Human beings hate being told they are wrong, so we tend to seek out sources that tell us we are “right.”
This is why “social media” has become such a pervasive problem in the spread of misinformation. Individuals huddle into their own “echo chambers,” which exclude intelligent debates and, in many cases, actual facts. It is always important to consider both sides of every debate equally and analyze the data accordingly.
Being right and making money are not mutually exclusive.
Law 2: The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
Cipolla posits that stupidity is a variable that remains constant across all populations. Every category one can imagine—gender, race, nationality, education level, income—has a fixed percentage of stupid people.
When investing, ALL investors, individuals, and professionals are subject to making “stupid” decisions. As we have shown previously, professional investors are just as subject to “buying high and selling low” as retail investors.
Though we are often unconscious of the action, humans tend to “go with the crowd.” Much of this behavior relates to “confirmation” of our decisions and the need for acceptance. The thought process is rooted in the belief that if “everyone else” is doing something, then if I want to be accepted, I need to do it, too.
In life, “conforming” to the norm is socially accepted and, in many ways, expected. However, “herding” behavior drives market excesses during advances and declines in the financial markets.
As Howard Marks once stated:
“Resisting – and thereby achieving success as a contrarian – isn’t easy. Things combine to make it difficult; including natural herd tendencies and the pain imposed by being out of step, since momentum invariably makes pro-cyclical actions look correct for a while. (That’s why it’s essential to remember that ‘being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.’
Given the uncertain nature of the future, and thus the difficulty of being confident your position is the right one – especially as price moves against you – it’s challenging to be a lonely contrarian.”
Investors generate the most profits in the long term by moving against the “herd.” Unfortunately, most individuals have difficulty knowing when to “bet” against those who are “stupid.”
Law 3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or a group of persons while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
Consistent stupidity is the only consistent thing about the stupid. This is what makes stupid people so dangerous. As Cipolla explains:
“Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behavior.“
Throughout history, investors have been constantly drawn into investment strategies promoted by various “industry professionals,” ultimately leading to losses. Many of these professionals are generally “YouTubers” or media writers looking for clicks and views with sensational headlines. However, they don’t manage money or have real “skin in the game.” Others are trying to sell products like gold or annuities. However, if their predictions are wrong, no one holds them accountable, yet the damage they inflict on others can be significant. Despite the historical realities of investing, investors can suffer losses from being consistently told the “market is going to crash.”
However, there is also the flip side, where retail investors are told to expect above-average market returns in the future consistently. Such has led to a surge in speculative trading in leveraged ETFs, options, and even “meme coins.” Unfortunately, there is no evidence that markets can compound high growth rates from current valuation levels. There is a difference between average and actual returns on invested capital. The impact of losses in any given year destroys the annualized “compounding” effect of money.
“Unless you have contracted ‘vampirism,’ then you do NOT have 90, 100, or more, years to invest to gain “average historical returns.” Given that most investors do not start seriously saving for retirement until the age of 35, or older, they have about 30-35 years to reach their goals. If that period happens to include a 12-15 year period in which returns are flat, as history tells us is probable, then the odds of achieving their goals are severely diminished.
What drives those 12-15 year periods of flat to little return? Valuations.
Just remember, a 20-year period of one-percent returns is indistinguishable from ZERO with respect to meeting savings goals.”
Individuals who experienced either one or both of the last two major bear markets now understand the importance of “time” in relation to their investment goals. Individuals who were close to retirement in either 2000 or 2007 and failed to navigate the subsequent market drawdowns have had to postpone their retirement plans, potentially indefinitely.
Yet despite the losses incurred by both professionals and individuals, just a decade after the largest financial crisis since the “Great Depression,” individuals are piling on excessive risk once again under the guise that “this time is different.”
Talk about stupid.
You should turn off the media when it comes to your investing because investors “buy high and sell low” for a reason.
“Greed” and “Fear” are far more powerful in driving our investment decisions versus “Logic” and “Discipline.”
As Jason Zweig previously wrote:
“The traditional explanations for believing in an investing tooth fairy who will leave money under your pillow are optimism and overconfidence: Hope springs eternal, and each of us thinks we’re better than the other investors out there.
There’s another reason so many investors believe in magic: We can’t handle the truth.”
All of which leads us to:
Law 4: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, dealing with and/or interactingwith stupid people is a costly mistake.
There is a rising course of commentary that major bear markets and recessions are now a thing of the past. The Federal Reserve and central banks globally will quickly meet any significant event that will rescue a failing market. There is certainly reason for that expectation after the last 15 years of the Federal Reserve doing exactly that. Such is why today, more than ever, there is a palatable “fear of missing out” by investors.
However, as we have seen throughout history, “stupid” people tend to do exactly the opposite during a crisis, unlike what “non-stupid” people expect.
There are the “perennial bears” that keep investors out of rising bull markets with tales of “horror and destruction.” Then there are the “perennial bulls” who keep telling investors to “hang on, keep putting money in. You’re a long-term investor, right?” These are the ones who never see the bear market destruction until well after the fact and then simply say, “Well, no one could have seen that coming.”
Non-stupid people, however, are conservative. They work to participate in rising markets but analyze the risk of loss and conserve capital during declines. As such, you can improve your outcomes by surrounding yourself with those who understand “risk and reward” and the “math of loss.”
As Howard Marks stated above, sometimes being a contrarian is lonely.
When we underestimate the stupid, we do so at our peril.
This brings us to the fifth and final law:
Law 5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
Following the “herd” has always ended badly for investors. In every full-market cycle, there is an inevitable belief that “this time is different” for one reason or another.
It isn’t. It has never been. And this time, it will not be different either.
However, what has always separated the great investors from everyone else is their ability to ac
The US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would not entail martial law being lifted, Mikhail Podoliak has said Read Full Article at RT.com
The US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would not entail martial law being lifted, Mikhail Podoliak has said
Ukraine will maintain martial law and will not hold a presidential election even if a ceasefire with Russia is established, Mikhail Podoliak, adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, told the Italian newspaper la Repubblica on Friday.
Martial law has been in place in Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. Zelensky’s presidential term officially expired in May 2024, and he has refused to hold a new election, leading to debates about the legitimacy of his administration.
Since US President Donald Trump assumed office in January, the US has been attempting to mediate peace in the conflict. Earlier this week, it proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine claimed it was ready to implement, contingent upon Russia’s agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the idea of a ceasefire “a good one” but pointed to a number of issues that would have to be addressed beforehand. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the issues would likely be discussed with Washington during future contacts.
According to Podoliak, however, a temporary ceasefire does not equate to the end of the conflict.
“We must maintain the ability to fight until the situation is regulated,” Zelensky’s aide said in an interview with la Repubblica.
“The 30-day ceasefire will not unblock the elections,” he added.
In January, Putin stated that Zelensky is illegitimate, a circumstance that could invalidate any agreements that are reached with his involvement. Zelensky had previously enacted legislation prohibiting negotiations with Russia’s current leadership.
The Trump administration has begun reestablishing contacts with Russia and has attempted to push Kiev toward seeking a resolution to the hostilities. In February, the Kremlin said that Putin was ready to negotiate with Zelensky, but pointed out the need to address the legal aspects related to the latter’s legitimacy as head of state.
The US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would not entail martial law being lifted, Mikhail Podoliak has said Read Full Article at RT.com
The US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would not entail martial law being lifted, Mikhail Podoliak has said
Ukraine will maintain martial law and will not hold a presidential election even if a ceasefire with Russia is established, Mikhail Podoliak, adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, told the Italian newspaper la Repubblica on Friday.
Martial law has been in place in Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. Zelensky’s presidential term officially expired in May 2024, and he has refused to hold a new election, leading to debates about the legitimacy of his administration.
Since US President Donald Trump assumed office in January, the US has been attempting to mediate peace in the conflict. Earlier this week, it proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine claimed it was ready to implement, contingent upon Russia’s agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the idea of a ceasefire “a good one” but pointed to a number of issues that would have to be addressed beforehand. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the issues would likely be discussed with Washington during future contacts.
According to Podoliak, however, a temporary ceasefire does not equate to the end of the conflict.
“We must maintain the ability to fight until the situation is regulated,” Zelensky’s aide said in an interview with la Repubblica.
“The 30-day ceasefire will not unblock the elections,” he added.
In January, Putin stated that Zelensky is illegitimate, a circumstance that could invalidate any agreements that are reached with his involvement. Zelensky had previously enacted legislation prohibiting negotiations with Russia’s current leadership.
The Trump administration has begun reestablishing contacts with Russia and has attempted to push Kiev toward seeking a resolution to the hostilities. In February, the Kremlin said that Putin was ready to negotiate with Zelensky, but pointed out the need to address the legal aspects related to the latter’s legitimacy as head of state.
The bloc has allowed its most war-crazed members to dictate its Russia policies – and now they want to attack Moscow first Read Full Article at RT.com
The bloc has allowed its most war-crazed members to dictate its Russia policies – and now they want to attack Moscow first
We have reached a point where, with regard to Russia, the US is more reasonable and less bellicose than its currently semi-rebellious European vassals.
Washington is trying to end the senseless proxy war against Russia via Ukraine and also to facilitate a broader détente with Moscow. The NATO-EU European elites are desperate to keep the war going and to build their own countries’ whole futures on confronting Russia – forever.
The deranged European “elites” will fail, one way or the other. Their perception of reality is distorted by delusions, their resources – military and also intellectual – are far too small, and their aims make no sense. But the problem for the rest of us is that they may yet cause enormous damage on their way down the rubbish chute of history. And while they are all fairly insane – minus exceptional cases, such as Slovakia and Hungary – there still are important differences: they tend to get even more bonkers the farther east you move on the map. Call it the West-East NATO-EU Insanity Gradient, if you wish.
That’s what a recent Western mainstream media specimen brought out with beautiful clarity if unwittingly. Its lede was buried so far down that most readers probably never got to it: “I put it to a major eastern European politician that western European states care little about wars in eastern Europe. He replied, ‘We know. That’s why some of our countries are asking, ‘Why don’t we attack Russia now, instead of sitting waiting for it to attack us?’” So writes Simon Kuper in the Financial Times, under the heading “Return of the Two Europes.”
A “major eastern European politician” … Come on, who was it this time: The Estonian wonder brain Kaja “Let’s Break Up Russia” Kallas, again? Or Poland’s current viceroy from Brussels Donald “I want some nukes, too” Tusk? Clearly in any case, this one was not from Ukraine but from somewhere (officially) inside NATO and the EU. And he or she has told us that they – “some” others are involved as well – are thinking about launching a preventive war against Russia.
Based not on anything that you could conceivably call self-defense – not among the moderately sane, in any case – but only their own hysterical delusions. That, in and of itself, is sensational, though not really surprising. Even more exciting: It’s also sensationally awful since it’s really about some all too well-connected idiots – that NATO-EU expansion thing, again – in possession of very moderate militaries seriously thinking about starting World War III for the rest of us with a great power that has a large, very efficient, battle-hardened, and motivated conventional military and almost 5,000 nuclear weapons. Surely, that’s a page-one first-order scoop! Right?
Nope, it’s not. Not at the Financial Times, in any case. Maybe that’s because Kuper – former sportswriter, now all-purpose deep-thought ruminator and clearly confidant of at least one absolute nutcase in high office in the NATO-EU East – chose to end his piece on that bang instead of making it its actual topic from the get-go. Even more intriguingly, everything that happens in his article before we get to that wallop of an ending about ending us all, seems to imply that we are supposed to find that idea rather understandable if not, perhaps, really quite attractive. Because, you see, it’s from the NATO-EU East.
For here is what Kuper feels we need to think about: Milan Kundera. Yes, really, Kundera. I know… Because that effective novelist and once fashionable essayist had an idea once. An idea hitting it off with the eternally fresh Zeitgeist of – drum roll – 1983. Yes, that would be that 1983, the year of America’s Ronald Reagan at his most gung-ho and the Soviets’ Yury Andropov at his most paranoid; one of the very worst of the many, many bad years of the Cold War, one when we did almost manage to trigger the big one, nukes and all and then nothing). Obviously, that idea is now officially enshrined, rather like a relic, on the European Parliament’s website.
And Kuper just can’t forget it either: Namely Kundera’s notion that what, during the Cold War, used to be Soviet Eastern Europe wasn’t really Eastern Europe but, actually, you see, Western Europe, only better: namely with Kafka, rainy cobblestones, Habsburg gilt and schmalz, and, of course, “YALTA!”
“YALTA!” (meaning the 1945 Yalta conference where the post-World War II reorganization of Germany and Europe was arranged) – always to be pronounced in an aggrieved, resentful voice, please, preferably with a Polish accent – meaning this particularly precious part of Europe had been “kidnapped” by the big bad Russian bear and sold out by the mean West, that is, the rest of the West, as it were. You get the idea.
And therefore, the politicos, intellectuals, and future grant entrepreneurs of not-really-Eastern-Europe had some very decent victimhood capital to work with in the ongoing age of competitive victimhood discrimination: a lot of oomph for, say, former picturesque Polish dissidents (and some informers, too, of course), but not the gum under the West’s shoes for today’s massacred Palestinian children.
Indeed back then, in – checks notes: yes, really, 1983 – that slightly displaced West in the claws of that rudely overreaching Russian bear was such a touching sight, so cute yet unlucky, so brave yet suppressed that it needed an old new name all of its own: Central Europe. (No, translation into German strictly VERBOTEN! Because that would be “Mitteleuropa” and then… please, just don’t ask. And don’t mention the war! Come to think of it, either of the two, really.)
Polite Westerners raised on Kundera, Havel, and Garton-Ash learned that: 1) Central Europe is sad, because it’s between Germans (no sense of humor, occasional fits of ultra-violent world conquest) and Russians (did defeat those Germans and have a sense of humor but never do as we tell them). 2) Central Europe is often Slavic, but nice Slavic. Not like, again, those terrifying Russians who every hundred years or so whip our armies’ behinds (Hintern, postérieur, ända, tyłek – in reverse chronological order) when we try to invade them, 3) Central Europe belongs in NATO and the EU – again unlike Russia – because, remember, Central Europe is really Western Europe and definitely not Eastern Europe. Because Eastern Europe, you see, is only Russia now, and, ironically, everyone still agreed that Eastern Europe could not ever possibly belong to us.
In the meantime, a miracle occurred: as “Central Europe” had always really been an extension of the West, the two “good” post-Cold War Europes, West and Center or NATO-EU and Soon-NATO-EU, fused rapidly. Sounds not very likely? No, but don’t blame me. That’s what the FT is telling us, as joining NATO was the same as joining the “transatlantic West.”
And now, there is the rub: That West’s imperial capital in Washington has been taken over by a weird reformer with outlandish ideas about making peace with the other side, who is dissolving the whole Pact, pardon Alliance. Sort of like good old Gorbachev c. 1989, when he tore down and buried the Cold War East from its center in Moscow. The name of this distant (admittedly, very distant) revenant of “Perestroika” and heir to the Gorbachevian tradition of Cold War empire disruption from the very top: Donald Trump. (Didn’t see that one coming, Donald, right?)
And that’s why, Kuper believes with an incredibly deep sense of history (not), the Europes are now drifting apart again. It’s all Trump’s fault! Again! Kuper does not know this, of course, but he rather resembles a post-Soviet nostalgic in Russia who would also be blaming the end of the Soviet empire on one guy alone. Great Men do make history, it turns out. At least when small minds need a scapegoat.
Where to even begin? The two Europes, East and West, have never been one. And NATO didn’t make them so, either. What did happen was that the European NATO-EU bloc ended up permitting the newcomers from the East to shape, even dominate its policy toward Russia. Clueless Kallas is merely the logical if imbecile outcome of that decision.
The reasons for that non-sensical permission are manifold, but the key point is that this pathology must end: there is no sound reason why everyone in NATO-EU Europe should agree to war with Russia just because Madame Kallas and company can’t get over their Kundera. Or you, for that matter, Simon. Indeed, it was a mistake not only to expand NATO but to expand the EU.
And for those who think the “elite” nutcases in the NATO-EU East cannot do too much harm because NATO’s infamous Article 5 is only about “defense”: First, NATO has found ways to go on the attack several times already, ask the Afghans and Libyans, for instance. Second, a pretext can always be found or made. Rely on it: If we, the West, ever launch a direct, open attack on Russia – indirectly and by proxy, we have already done so, of course – our media will lie us into the ground with tales of how “they started it all” – and our intellectuals and experts will eat it all up and drone on about it on our talk shows as long as TV will still be working. Third, the EU itself is now planning to massively militarize. If it “succeeds,” there will be yet another tail with which an idiot from, say, Estonia can wag us all into oblivion – for the greater glory of Kundera and 1983.
The bloc has allowed its most war-crazed members to dictate its Russia policies – and now they want to attack Moscow first Read Full Article at RT.com
The bloc has allowed its most war-crazed members to dictate its Russia policies – and now they want to attack Moscow first
We have reached a point where, with regard to Russia, the US is more reasonable and less bellicose than its currently semi-rebellious European vassals.
Washington is trying to end the senseless proxy war against Russia via Ukraine and also to facilitate a broader détente with Moscow. The NATO-EU European elites are desperate to keep the war going and to build their own countries’ whole futures on confronting Russia – forever.
The deranged European “elites” will fail, one way or the other. Their perception of reality is distorted by delusions, their resources – military and also intellectual – are far too small, and their aims make no sense. But the problem for the rest of us is that they may yet cause enormous damage on their way down the rubbish chute of history. And while they are all fairly insane – minus exceptional cases, such as Slovakia and Hungary – there still are important differences: they tend to get even more bonkers the farther east you move on the map. Call it the West-East NATO-EU Insanity Gradient, if you wish.
That’s what a recent Western mainstream media specimen brought out with beautiful clarity if unwittingly. Its lede was buried so far down that most readers probably never got to it: “I put it to a major eastern European politician that western European states care little about wars in eastern Europe. He replied, ‘We know. That’s why some of our countries are asking, ‘Why don’t we attack Russia now, instead of sitting waiting for it to attack us?’” So writes Simon Kuper in the Financial Times, under the heading “Return of the Two Europes.”
A “major eastern European politician” … Come on, who was it this time: The Estonian wonder brain Kaja “Let’s Break Up Russia” Kallas, again? Or Poland’s current viceroy from Brussels Donald “I want some nukes, too” Tusk? Clearly in any case, this one was not from Ukraine but from somewhere (officially) inside NATO and the EU. And he or she has told us that they – “some” others are involved as well – are thinking about launching a preventive war against Russia.
Based not on anything that you could conceivably call self-defense – not among the moderately sane, in any case – but only their own hysterical delusions. That, in and of itself, is sensational, though not really surprising. Even more exciting: It’s also sensationally awful since it’s really about some all too well-connected idiots – that NATO-EU expansion thing, again – in possession of very moderate militaries seriously thinking about starting World War III for the rest of us with a great power that has a large, very efficient, battle-hardened, and motivated conventional military and almost 5,000 nuclear weapons. Surely, that’s a page-one first-order scoop! Right?
Nope, it’s not. Not at the Financial Times, in any case. Maybe that’s because Kuper – former sportswriter, now all-purpose deep-thought ruminator and clearly confidant of at least one absolute nutcase in high office in the NATO-EU East – chose to end his piece on that bang instead of making it its actual topic from the get-go. Even more intriguingly, everything that happens in his article before we get to that wallop of an ending about ending us all, seems to imply that we are supposed to find that idea rather understandable if not, perhaps, really quite attractive. Because, you see, it’s from the NATO-EU East.
For here is what Kuper feels we need to think about: Milan Kundera. Yes, really, Kundera. I know… Because that effective novelist and once fashionable essayist had an idea once. An idea hitting it off with the eternally fresh Zeitgeist of – drum roll – 1983. Yes, that would be that 1983, the year of America’s Ronald Reagan at his most gung-ho and the Soviets’ Yury Andropov at his most paranoid; one of the very worst of the many, many bad years of the Cold War, one when we did almost manage to trigger the big one, nukes and all and then nothing). Obviously, that idea is now officially enshrined, rather like a relic, on the European Parliament’s website.
And Kuper just can’t forget it either: Namely Kundera’s notion that what, during the Cold War, used to be Soviet Eastern Europe wasn’t really Eastern Europe but, actually, you see, Western Europe, only better: namely with Kafka, rainy cobblestones, Habsburg gilt and schmalz, and, of course, “YALTA!”
“YALTA!” (meaning the 1945 Yalta conference where the post-World War II reorganization of Germany and Europe was arranged) – always to be pronounced in an aggrieved, resentful voice, please, preferably with a Polish accent – meaning this particularly precious part of Europe had been “kidnapped” by the big bad Russian bear and sold out by the mean West, that is, the rest of the West, as it were. You get the idea.
And therefore, the politicos, intellectuals, and future grant entrepreneurs of not-really-Eastern-Europe had some very decent victimhood capital to work with in the ongoing age of competitive victimhood discrimination: a lot of oomph for, say, former picturesque Polish dissidents (and some informers, too, of course), but not the gum under the West’s shoes for today’s massacred Palestinian children.
Indeed back then, in – checks notes: yes, really, 1983 – that slightly displaced West in the claws of that rudely overreaching Russian bear was such a touching sight, so cute yet unlucky, so brave yet suppressed that it needed an old new name all of its own: Central Europe. (No, translation into German strictly VERBOTEN! Because that would be “Mitteleuropa” and then… please, just don’t ask. And don’t mention the war! Come to think of it, either of the two, really.)
Polite Westerners raised on Kundera, Havel, and Garton-Ash learned that: 1) Central Europe is sad, because it’s between Germans (no sense of humor, occasional fits of ultra-violent world conquest) and Russians (did defeat those Germans and have a sense of humor but never do as we tell them). 2) Central Europe is often Slavic, but nice Slavic. Not like, again, those terrifying Russians who every hundred years or so whip our armies’ behinds (Hintern, postérieur, ända, tyłek – in reverse chronological order) when we try to invade them, 3) Central Europe belongs in NATO and the EU – again unlike Russia – because, remember, Central Europe is really Western Europe and definitely not Eastern Europe. Because Eastern Europe, you see, is only Russia now, and, ironically, everyone still agreed that Eastern Europe could not ever possibly belong to us.
In the meantime, a miracle occurred: as “Central Europe” had always really been an extension of the West, the two “good” post-Cold War Europes, West and Center or NATO-EU and Soon-NATO-EU, fused rapidly. Sounds not very likely? No, but don’t blame me. That’s what the FT is telling us, as joining NATO was the same as joining the “transatlantic West.”
And now, there is the rub: That West’s imperial capital in Washington has been taken over by a weird reformer with outlandish ideas about making peace with the other side, who is dissolving the whole Pact, pardon Alliance. Sort of like good old Gorbachev c. 1989, when he tore down and buried the Cold War East from its center in Moscow. The name of this distant (admittedly, very distant) revenant of “Perestroika” and heir to the Gorbachevian tradition of Cold War empire disruption from the very top: Donald Trump. (Didn’t see that one coming, Donald, right?)
And that’s why, Kuper believes with an incredibly deep sense of history (not), the Europes are now drifting apart again. It’s all Trump’s fault! Again! Kuper does not know this, of course, but he rather resembles a post-Soviet nostalgic in Russia who would also be blaming the end of the Soviet empire on one guy alone. Great Men do make history, it turns out. At least when small minds need a scapegoat.
Where to even begin? The two Europes, East and West, have never been one. And NATO didn’t make them so, either. What did happen was that the European NATO-EU bloc ended up permitting the newcomers from the East to shape, even dominate its policy toward Russia. Clueless Kallas is merely the logical if imbecile outcome of that decision.
The reasons for that non-sensical permission are manifold, but the key point is that this pathology must end: there is no sound reason why everyone in NATO-EU Europe should agree to war with Russia just because Madame Kallas and company can’t get over their Kundera. Or you, for that matter, Simon. Indeed, it was a mistake not only to expand NATO but to expand the EU.
And for those who think the “elite” nutcases in the NATO-EU East cannot do too much harm because NATO’s infamous Article 5 is only about “defense”: First, NATO has found ways to go on the attack several times already, ask the Afghans and Libyans, for instance. Second, a pretext can always be found or made. Rely on it: If we, the West, ever launch a direct, open attack on Russia – indirectly and by proxy, we have already done so, of course – our media will lie us into the ground with tales of how “they started it all” – and our intellectuals and experts will eat it all up and drone on about it on our talk shows as long as TV will still be working. Third, the EU itself is now planning to massively militarize. If it “succeeds,” there will be yet another tail with which an idiot from, say, Estonia can wag us all into oblivion – for the greater glory of Kundera and 1983.
Writes Gail Appel: Remember what Huxley said about overpopulation in third world countries and transhumanism? Larry Fink, Bill Gates, Schwab, Kissinger, Gergen, Rockefeller, Soros, Bloomberg have all parroted these exact same talking points. They are using Brave New World and Huxley’s warnings as a play book. There is no alternative explanation.
Major technology companies are heavily promoting AI agents as transformative tools for work, but industry insiders say no one can agree on what these systems actually are, according to TechCrunch. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said agents will "join the workforce" this year, while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted they will replace certain knowledge work. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared his company's goal to become "the number one provider of digital labor in the world."
The definition problem has worsened recently. OpenAI published a blog post defining agents as "automated systems that can independently accomplish tasks," but its developer documentation described them as "LLMs equipped with instructions and tools." Microsoft distinguishes between agents and AI assistants, while Salesforce lists six different categories of agents.
"I think that our industry overuses the term 'agent' to the point where it is almost nonsensical," Ryan Salva, senior director of product at Google, told TechCrunch. Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.ai, blamed marketing: "The concepts of AI 'agents' and 'agentic' workflows used to have a technical meaning, but about a year ago, marketers and a few big companies got a hold of them." Analysts say this ambiguity threatens to create misaligned expectations as companies build product lineups around agents.
Gabbard Nixes Choice Of Israel Critic For Key Post After Pro-Israel Voices Object
For anyone desperate to see the Trump administration's hawkish and intensely pro-Israel element offset by bona fide America First voices in key intelligence positions, the selection of retired US Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis to oversee the production of the President's Daily Brief seemed almost too good to be true. Alas, that has proven to be the case, as an eruption of objections and smears from Israel-supporters killed his job offer in a matter of hours.
Davis is a senior fellow at Defense Priorities, one of few Washington think tanks that are skeptical of foreign interventionism and militarism. He first rose to national attention in 2011 when, as an Army officer, he blew the whistle on the jarring difference between the real-life situation in Afghanistan and the fraudulently false characterizations being voiced by top military officials.
Fast-foward to March 2025: Trump Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was poised to appoint Davis to serve as the Deputy Director for Mission Integration. One of his chief responsibilities would have been compiling the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a highly-classified digest of intelligence assessments that's written for the president and distributed to a small group of senior-most officials, such as the vice president, national security advisor, and the secretaries of Defense and State. The role does not require Senate confirmation.
If the US truly wants to avert a full-on war in the Middle East, we have to identify and resolve the underlying causes of the war, not just take out the leader of the side we dislike the most - and that means significantly curtailing Israeli actions that make war more likely,
In addition to being a skeptic of the US proxy war in Ukraine and calling for the withdrawal of American forces from Syria, Davis has pointedly criticized US backing of the Israeli war in Gaza, and has argued that America's confrontationalist approach to Iran only serves to incentivize the country to begin developing a nuclear weapon. Those latter sentiments are anathema to Israel and its backers inside the United States.
--and let me say before anyone else brings it up: to those who would scream "October 7th!" let me reply. The history of this conflict did not begin on that day. In the summer PRIOR to 10/7, the IDF was on a brutal fight against Palestinians. https://t.co/TLFzIunGGJ
On Wednesday, the knives came out, with Jewish Insidersounding an alarm about the imminent ascension of the "anti-Israel" Davis to the critical post.From the Jewish Insider article, here a partial list of Davis's purported sins that made him intolerable to those who seek to perpetuate America's status quo, Israel-catering policies:
He's criticized America's backing of Israel's war on Gaza. In a commentary on the ghastly civilian toll, Davistweeted, "On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of wanton violence, bc we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more. On a moral level, this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away."
He's quite reasonably asserted that Israel-Gaza hostilities didn't commence with the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel. "This goes back *decades* of repression and the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip being effectively incarcerated, with limited or no freedoms, and no path to a future and a hope," Davis said on X.
On free speech grounds, Davis criticized Sen. Ted Cruz for supporting policies that would cut off federal funds to universities that allow pointed criticism of Israel. "I’m sorry, Senator, but that is as unAmerican as anything has ever been done. You violate the very spirit of our constitution you claim to defend."
He shared an article about the medical journal Lancet estimating that the death toll in Gaza was well above the count of casualties that had thus far been reported by Gaza's health ministry.
He's stated that Iran is merely a "marginal regional power," and stridently opposes a US attack on the country's nuclear facilities. “I don’t know who Trump has hired for his advisor, who’s giving him such absurd advice, but hitting the nuclear facilities of Iran is far more dangerous and difficult than what he believes,” wrote Davis.
On his YouTube show, "Daniel Davis Deep Dive,"he hosted a guest who has rightly questioned Western claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its civilian population, and has hosted UK MP George Galloway and retired Col Douglas MacGregor who've been "accused of antisemitism" -- a smear that's routinely wielded against people who merely criticize the actions of the State of Israel and the nature of the US-Israel relationship.
Jewish Insider's flimsy indictment was immediately amplified by an assortment of neocons, including radio host Mark Levin, who insinuated that Davis is antisemitic. The Israel-backing Anti-Defamation League followed suit, saying "it would be extremely dangerous" for Davis to be named Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Florida Sen. Rick Scott piled on, telling Jewish Insider he was "absolutely shocked by [Davis'] comments: "President Trump is the most pro-Israel president in our nation's history, and I fully expect every member of the administration to enact his agenda and stand strong with our great ally, Israel."
Davis was already undergoing the background check required for the job. However, within hours of the Jewish Insider article, he was told he wouldn't be coming on board. Citing a senior Trump administration official, the Times said Gabbard "reconsidered her choice given the criticism, and other officials confirmed the decision." Neocons quickly took to social media to spike the football. Laura Loomer expressed relief, saying that Davis "would be a national security nightmare." Levin credited Trump for barring Davis from the White House:
According to news reports, Mr. Davis
will not be assuming the role of Tulsi Gabbard's Deputy DNI Director. Thanks goes to President Trump!
On the other hand, writing at Responsible Statecraft, Kelley Beaucar Vlahos lamented the killing of Davis' appointment:
It is not surprising that the most strident voices in the War Party, particularly pro-Israel hawks trying desperately to manage the remembered history of the 9/11 wars, had it in for him. He is an anathema to everything they have stood for over the last two decades: he is against the U.S. trying to impose its interests and values on the world via foreign regime change, he believes the military is overextended and needlessly placed in harm's way overseas, and he has criticized the military industrial complex for risking troop readiness and basic conventional warfighting capabilities by deferring to the war profiteers in the industry. He has also echoed George Washington's warning about entangling alliances in his own warnings about unconditional aid to Israel and Ukraine.
As the old adage goes, "personnel is policy." From the exclusion of the non-interventionist, America-first Daniel Davis to calling for Rep. Thomas Massie to be ousted from Congress, the Trump White House is plotting a course that diverges from the principles it supposedly espouses.
Russia’s Federal Security Service has declassified documents on the Latvian Legion’s mass executions and Nazi collaboration Read Full Article at RT.com
Declassified FSB documents detail war crimes, mass executions, and Nazi collaboration
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has released declassified documents detailing mass atrocities committed by Latvian members of Waffen-SS units during World War II.
The Latvian Legion, a combat branch of the Nazi German Waffen-SS, was formed in 1943 primarily of ethnic Latvians on the orders of Adolf Hitler.
The documents were published on Friday ahead of the EU country’s ‘Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires’, and as Russia prepares to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in May.
According to the FSB, the records are based on intelligence gathered by the Soviet counterintelligence service (SMERSH) on SS units formed from Latvian volunteers. The material includes reports by Soviet partisans, intelligence officers, and prisoners of war, later compiled and shared with the Red Army command.
The report highlighted the Latvian Auxiliary Security Police, also known as the Arajs Kommando, named after its leader, Viktors Arajs. The SS unit, notorious for its brutality, consisted entirely of volunteers, including former Latvian army officers. It was responsible for the murder of at least 30,000 people.
The declassified files include interrogation records of Arajs Kommando members arrested by SMERSH in 1945, revealing detailed accounts of war crimes.
One of the legionnaires is documented as having “systematically executed” Jews – including women, children, and the elderly – in Bikernieki Forest near Riga. He reportedly took part in the killing of over 10,000 people, while investigators estimated the total number of victims there at 46,500.
Members of Arajs Kommando “destroyed everything on their way,” burning entire villages, looting, and killing women and children without exception. According to the documents, they also carried out raids in Belarus and Poland. One member boasted about personally “hanging two women,” as revealed in the declassified records.
The FSB noted that as the Arajs Kommando proved its loyalty to the Nazis through “unprecedented brutality,” they were soon equipped in the style of SS units.
On March 16, hundreds are expected to march in the Latvian capital, Riga to honor their compatriots who fought alongside the Nazis during World War II. Despite the outcry from many countries, the Baltic nation continues to permit the annual parade dedicated to Latvian Waffen-SS legionnaires. Moscow has repeatedly accused Latvia – a member of NATO and the EU – of trying to whitewash war criminals by allowing the controversial event.
Reflecting on the upcoming march, the FSB noted that the event celebrates SS legionnaires who openly display awards from Nazi Germany. Latvian neo-Nazis even chose the date to coincide with the Nazi ‘Day of Commemoration of Heroes’, reinforcing a shared “pantheon of heroes” with the 20th-century Nazis, many of whom were convicted of crimes against humanity, the FSB said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a complete overhaul of a Pentagon think tank that infamously gifted lucrative contracts to a key player in the Russia collusion hoax, the Defense Department revealed on Thursday. “As part of the Department’s ongoing commitment to strengthening our national defense, the Secretary of Defense has directed the disestablishment of […]
There are five compelling arguments for either scenario.
Ukraine just agreed to a month-long ceasefire after talks with the US in Jeddah, but it’s conditional on Russia agreeing to the same, which remains uncertain. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to pay his second trip to Moscow in just as many months later this week, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz plans to speak to Russian officials soon, while Trump said that he hopes to talk to Putin by Friday. All three will try to convince Putin to silence the guns.
Here’s why he might not agree to do that:
1. Russia Wants To Liberate All The Occupied Territories
Putin declared last June that he’d only agree to a ceasefire if Ukraine withdrew from the entirety of the four regions that voted to join Russia in September 2022 and publicly abandoned its plans to join NATO. That was shortly before Ukraine invaded Russia’s universally recognized Kursk Region. Agreeing to a ceasefire now with no guarantee that it’ll lead to the liberation of those five regions could result in the indefinite occupation of at least some of them if the front lines harden into a Korean-DMZ.
2. The Front Lines Might Soon Collapse To Russia’s Benefit
It’s obvious that one of the primary reasons why Ukraine agreed to a month-long ceasefire conditional on Russia agreeing to the same, apart from resuming the US’ previously cut military and intelligence aid, is to prevent the front lines from soon collapsing to Russia’s benefit. Aware of this, Russia might decide to carry on – perhaps advancing while negotiating additional terms to the proposed ceasefire – in order to take full advantage of this, thus raising the chances of speedily liberating all the occupied territories.
3. Russia Wants To Scare Away Western Peacekeepers
European peacekeepers might enter Ukraine during the month-long ceasefire, or some of their “mercenaries” who are already there might simply switch uniforms to then take on this role instead, which Russia already said would be absolutely unacceptable and make them legitimate targets. Keeping the conflict going might therefore scare them away from this and thus ensure that de facto NATO forces are kept as far away from Russia’s western border as possible.
4. Some Of The Russian Public Don’t Want A Ceasefire
A significant share of the Russian public, including veterans of the specialoperation, are thought to be against any ceasefire since they’d consider it to be stopping halfway instead of finishing the job after all the sacrifices that were paid to get this far. The authorities are sensitive to public opinion on the conflict, especially from veterans, so their opposition to this might be taken into consideration more than outside observers expect and could thus push Putin a lot closer to rejecting a ceasefire than most other factors.
5. Putin Might Really Believe That Trump Is Bluffing
And finally, the most decisive factor might be that Putin truly believes that Trump is bluffing about “escalating to de-escalate”, whether economically-financially through the strict enforcement of secondary sanctions against India, China, etc., and/or militarily by going all-in backing Ukraine. If that’s the case, then it follows that Putin only entertained negotiations to see whether he could achieve his maximum goals through diplomatic means, absent which he’d continue pursuing them militarily.
There’s also the chance that Putin agrees to a ceasefire, which could be explained in the following ways:
1. Russia Wants To Avert Disproportionate Dependence On China
Trump’s tweet last Friday suggested that he plans strict secondary sanctions enforcement against India and China if Putin rejects a ceasefire, which could lead to the first complying and thus placing Russia in the position where it would become much more dependent on the second. Russia has thus far relied on India as its friendly counterbalance vis-a-vis China, but if Putin is informed that this might no longer be the case if Russia keeps fighting, then he might opt for peace to avoid becoming China’s junior partner.
2. It Also Wants To Beat China To The Chase With The “New Détente”
Putin wouldn’t just be rejecting a ceasefire, but also a “NewDétente” with the US, which could lead to China replacing Russia in this arrangement if Trump travels to China next month like the latest reports claim and then negotiates a deal for ending their trade war. The recalibrated triangulation that might follow wouldn’t be in Russia’s interests, especially if the US gets China to comply with sanctions in order to coerce Russia into peace, so Putin might agree to a ceasefire in order to avert this scenario as well.
3. The “New Détente” Could Geopolitically Revolutionize The World
Putin might calculate that beating China to the chase with the “New Détente” and becoming more of a strategic partner to the US than the EU are worth pragmatic compromises on Ukraine since these two outcomes could geopolitically revolutionize the world to Russia’s grand strategic advantage. If that’s what he’s thinking, then he might defy popular expectations to boldly agree to a ceasefire, after which publicly financed media would explain the rationale to Russia’s supporters at home and abroad.
4. Additional (& Even Secret) Terms Might Be Attached To The Ceasefire
Building upon the above, additional (and even secret) terms might be attached to the ceasefire for guaranteeing that Western peacekeepers won’t enter Ukraine and that the US won’t maximally rearm it during that period, which Russia could get the US to agree to via creative resource diplomacy. Giving the US privileged access to Russian energy and minerals, especially the rare earth ones that it needs for competing with China, might be all that it takes for Trump to put the kibosh on those two aforesaid fears.
5. Putin Might Really Believe That Trump Is Serious
And finally, the most decisive factor might be that Putin truly believes that Trump is serious about “escalating to de-escalate”, in which case he might prefer not to risk a Cuban-like brinksmanship crisis that could hypothetically end with Russia compromising on much more than if it agreed to a ceasefire. Putin is a pragmatist who prefers managing tensions instead of exacerbating them, with the only recent exception being the decision to use the Oreshniks as explained here, so he might take Trump up on this.
Everyone will soon find out whether or not Putin agrees to a ceasefire, but whichever decision he makes, the five reasons that were shared for each scenario would compellingly explain his choice. It’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do since each scenario’s arguments are persuasive and he knows that this is his most fateful decision since the special operation. Putin might therefore ask their respective Kremlin proponents to debate amongst themselves in front of him one last time before making up his mind.
Writes Gail Appel: Lew, it is literally EXACTLY what Huxley laid out in the 1958 Mike Wallace interview and in greater detail, the 1961 French interview. In that one, he told the journalist he was certain Brave New World had been used as a playbook. We were right, though I never doubted it.
Lew, it is literally EXACTLY what Huxley laid out in the 1958 Mike Wallace interview and in greater detail, the 1961 French interview. In that one, he told the journalist he was certain Brave New World had been used as a playbook.
Apple is planning a new AirPods feature that allows the earbuds to live-translate an in-person conversation into another language, Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: The capability will be offered as part of an AirPods software upgrade due later this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort is private. It will be tied to iOS 19, the upcoming update to Apple's mobile-device operating system.
US Vice President J.D. Vance has insinuated that former president, Joe Biden, allowed his wife to lead his cabinet while he slept Read Full Article at RT.com
US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly mocked his predecessor, calling him “Sleepy Joe”
US Vice President J.D. Vance has insinuated that former president Joe Biden’s wife Jill ran his cabinet meetings in his stead while he slept.
Since assuming office in January, US President Donald Trump has repealed a number of his predecessor’s policies and repeatedly branded the octogenarian as incompetent.
In a Fox News interview on Thursday, Vance was asked about alleged tensions in Trump’s cabinet, following media reports of a row between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s government efficiency czar, Elon Musk.
Vance confirmed that parts of the rumor were true but denied that there was any “misalignment” in the cabinet.
The cabinet will need to “solve” issues “without some random staffer leaking it,” the vice president added, admitting he was “annoyed” by the leak.
“We're not going to have an administration where you have a president who sits there at cabinet meetings asleep while his wife runs the cabinet meeting and nobody's doing anything,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly mocked his predecessor as “Sleepy Joe” in reference to Biden’s multiple public gaffes during his term.
Biden’s mental state became a major topic during the 2024 presidential campaign, and Republicans have often claimed that the octogenarian lacked the mental faculties to be able to run the country.
Yet, it was Biden’s disastrous performance in last June’s CNN-hosted debate with Trump that revealed his mental state to the public. Biden repeatedly lost his train of thought, made multiple verbal slips and struggled to finish sentences.
Under mounting pressure, he withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed his then-Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee last July.
A few months after the infamous debate, the former president’s 73-year-old first lady Jill appeared at the head of a cabinet meeting instead of her husband, leading some Republicans to questions who was really in charge of the US at the time.
Well, well, well... look what crawled out of a time capsule.
In a now viral clip, dating from 2011, Barack Obama is pimping his very own “Campaign to Cut Waste,” a quaint little crusade to stop taxpayers from funding crap like a website for forest rangers who apparently moonlight as SoundCloud rappers.
“I’ll put their jams on my iPod,” Obama smirks, “but I’m not paying for their bandwidth.”
Joe Biden, then just Obama’s loyal sidekick, got saddled with the gig, which is probably why nothing ever came of it.
Indeed, in June 2011 Obama signed Executive Order 13576 aiming to streamline government operations and save billions, including through selling excess federal property.
Does this sound familiar? Obama announces his own 'DOGE' in 2011. Making the government more efficient is a bad thing now though. Got it? pic.twitter.com/oXpPjd8AQc
Obama noted at the time “From the day I took office, I said that we would go through the federal budget line by line to cut out waste and make government more efficient. That’s what this executive order is about. We can’t wait for Congress to do this work. We can’t wait for them to get our fiscal house in order and make the investments we need to keep America great.”
Keep America what now?
He continued,”So today, I’m signing an executive order that will cut waste and promote more efficient spending across government agencies. We’re cutting what we don’t need so we can invest in what we do need.”
Obama added, “I asked all of my Cabinet Secretaries to take a hard look at their budgets and report back on wasteful and inefficient spending at their agencies. And what they found was that certain spending—like buying promotional water bottles, paying for unused cell phones, booking unnecessary travel—is unacceptable.”
So exactly what Trump and Musk are doing now then.
“We’re on track to save billions by selling off excess federal property,” Obama further urged, adding “the Vice President and I launched the Campaign to Cut Waste to root out misspent tax dollars across every agency and department… this order is one more step to make sure we’re delivering a government that’s efficient, effective, and accountable to the American people.”
Trump is preparing for negotiations with Putin over Ukraine as well as with Xi over trade and likely also Taiwan, so he’d appear weak in their eyes if he let a middling leader like Petro publicly defy and even insult …
The US government's tariff announcements have become a "big headache" for technology companies such as iPhone maker Apple and cloud service provider Amazon, their manufacturing partner Foxconn said on Friday, in a rare public admission of the disruption caused by President Donald Trump's erratic trade policy. Financial Times: "The issue of tariffs is something that is giving the CEOs of our customers a big headache now," chief executive Young Liu told investors on an earnings call. "Judging by the attitude and the approach we see the US government taking towards tariffs, it is very, very hard to predict how things will develop over the next year. So we can only concentrate on doing well what we can control."
Liu said the company's customers were "one after another" hatching plans for co-operating with Foxconn on manufacturing in the US. He declined to give details as those plans were not yet finalised, but said there should be "more and more" manufacturing in the US.
Beijing Fumes Over BlackRock's Panama Port Deal With CK Hutchison
China's top office on Hong Kong affairs reposted sharp criticism of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.'s deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to purchase Panama Canal ports. The commentary from the local paper Ta Kung Pao cited netizens who called the billionaire founder of the holdings company "spineless" and questioned which "side he should stand on," according to Bloomberg.
It said that social media users have accused the conglomerate founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing of "spineless groveling," ignoring China's interests and "selling out all Chinese people" in the quick deal announced last week.
...
Faced with such a major event and a matter of great justice, the relevant companies should think twice, think carefully about the nature and crux of the issue, and think carefully about what position and side they should stand on," the commentary said. -BBG
Last week, the BlackRock-led consortium agreed to purchase a controlling stake in CK Hutchison's Panama ports for $19 billion. The Trump administration had highly publicized the Chinese-owned ports as a national security risk to US supply chains and the US military. Additionally, Panama holds a strategic position for Trump as he begins to revive hemispheric defense across the Americas.
David Blennerhassett, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors, noted that the BlackRock deal with CK Hutchison is a "massive complex deal, one that may take the better part of 2025 to complete; therefore gyrations in the share price will occur as deal specifics and various regulatory approvals are addressed."
On Friday, CK Hutchison shares dropped 7% in Hong Kong trading.
Local paper Ta Kung Pao continued: "Faced with such a major event and a matter of great justice, the relevant companies should think twice, think carefully about the nature and crux of the issue, and think carefully about what position and side they should stand on."
Bloomberg noted the port deal "involves only overseas assets" and is "unlikely to need Beijing's sign-off."
Bloomberg Intelligence infrastructure analyst Denise Wong said the port deal is "widely perceived as commercially favorable for the company, valuing the port assets at the higher end of the industry range."
CK Hutchison's market capitalization has only increased by $5 billion following last week's initial news release—just a fraction of the $19 billion the firm is expected to receive when the port deal is completed.
President Trump has said that negotiations with Moscow over a US-proposed Ukraine ceasefirehave been “going reasonably well” so far 
It would be “normal” for relations to be resumed once the Ukraine conflict is over, the bloc’s chief has argued
Detransitioners' lawsuits against the medical systems that hurt them could finally undo the industry’s embrace of transgenderism.
The US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would not entail martial law being lifted, Mikhail Podoliak has said
The bloc has allowed its most war-crazed members to dictate its Russia policies – and now they want to attack Moscow first
Russia’s Federal Security Service has declassified documents on the Latvian Legion’s mass executions and Nazi collaboration
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a complete overhaul of a Pentagon think tank that infamously gifted lucrative contracts to a key player in the Russia collusion hoax, the Defense Department revealed on Thursday. “As part of the Department’s ongoing commitment to strengthening our national defense, the Secretary of Defense has directed the disestablishment of […]
US Vice President J.D. Vance has insinuated that former president, Joe Biden, allowed his wife to lead his cabinet while he slept
