The Trump administration has repeatedly condemned curbs targeting online speech US Undersecretary of State Sarah Rogers has defended Washington’s decision to sanction several Europeans, saying that “extraterritorial censorship of Americans” undermines free speech and innovation. Last week, the US State Department imposed sanctions on five individuals, including British nationals Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford, German citizens Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, and former EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said those targeted had “led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.” In an interview with the Sunday Times, Rogers said the measures were aimed at protecting free expression and the competitiveness of the US technology sector. “These are people who, in many cases, took government money to destroy American businesses for the purpose of suppressing American speech,” s...
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Shifting its focus away from global leadership, the United States is now claiming special rights in neighboring regions If there was a single theme tying American foreign policy together in 2025, it would be a decisive shift away from the rhetoric of ‘ global leadership’ toward an unapologetic assertion of privilege within its own geopolitical neighborhood. Donald Trump is ending the year much as he began it, signalling that Washington intends to redefine the way power is organized across regions. The latest move came with the appointment of Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana and a loyal Trump ally, as US Special Envoy for Greenland. His mandate is explicit: find a way to bring this autonomous Danish territory into the United States. Trump floated this idea well before returning to the White House and has not retreated from it since. How such an ambition sits with international law is, from Trump’s perspective, beside the point. The practical obstacles are immense: Denmark ...
The Russian company warns that, with depleted reserves, stocks may run out before heating season ends The EU withdrew a record quantity of gas from underground storage facilities on Christmas Day, Gazprom has reported, warning that low reserves mean supplies could prematurely run out. As of December 25, Europe had 66.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in storage, down 9.9 bcm year-on-year, the company said in a Telegram post on Saturday, citing calculations based on Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data. Withdrawals this season are proceeding faster than during the previous heating period, it noted. Despite the holiday lull, when demand typically eases, withdrawals on December 24 and 25 were the highest ever recorded for those dates. German storage sites were at only 59.8% of capacity by Christmas Day, a level reached only at the end of January last season. In the Netherlands, reserves fell to 52.5%. The two countries are Europe’s first- and third-largest consumers by storage capaci...
Washington as mediator, not belligerent: the US strategy upended the Western bloc If there were a competition for “Breaking the Mould of the Year,” the United States would be the runaway winner in 2025. At the start of the year, few expected Donald Trump’s return to the White House to trigger such sharp shifts. Yet one of the biggest surprises has been Washington’s change of course on Ukraine. The US has moved from being Kiev’s closest political patron to a calculating actor focused squarely on its own interests. The rhetoric of Russia’s “unconditional defeat” has been discarded in favour of negotiations and compromise. If Ukraine has become a loss-making asset in America’s geopolitical portfolio, Trump has signalled, then the loss must be recognised. This has produced a series of gestures that shocked many Western observers: the public humiliation of the Ukrainian leader in Washington, demands that Kiev pay for military aid, a slowdown in sanctions policy, and the much-discussed ...
Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of any NATO troop deployment to the country’s territory Berlin must send troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peace settlement, according to Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) – a political group with the biggest faction in the EU Parliament. Brussels cannot rely on Washington to secure peace between Moscow and Kiev, the politician told Funke Media Group in an interview published this week. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea of any NATO presence in Ukraine. It also named the US-led bloc’s expansion to the East one of the root causes of the conflict. Kiev’s Western backers, including France and the UK have occasionally raised the issue of NATO troop deployment to Ukraine throughout the conflict. The plan was given another impetus earlier this month at the talks in Berlin, where US officials met with the Ukrainian delegation, the leaders of Germany, France, the UK, and eight other European countries. Read mo...
The Asian country’s leader has praised the “genuine alliance” between Pyongyang and Moscow in a New Year message to Vladimir Putin North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent New Year greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling the past year “truly meaningful” for Moscow–Pyongyang ties. In a statement carried by KCNA on Saturday, Kim said the relationship was further strengthened by “sharing blood” on the Ukraine conflict frontline. Earlier this year, North Korean troops, acting under the June 2024 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, helped Russian forces repel a large-scale Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk Region. While troop numbers were not disclosed, Russian authorities praised their role and said a monument in Moscow will honor those killed defending the country’s territory. “The year 2025, filled with immortal scenes that will be etched forever in the history of relations between our two countries, was truly meaningful,” Kim was cited as saying, praising th...