The US is trying to establish a ‘multinational stabilization force’ to decide who will handle the Middle East’s hottest potato In Doha on December 16, behind closed doors and without the usual diplomatic fanfare, the US – via CENTCOM – convened representatives of around 45 Arab, Muslim, and Western states to discuss what official language renders blandly as an International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza, but what in practice is an attempt to work out who will assume responsibility for the combustible ‘day after tomorrow’ in the Middle East – and how. Israel was neither invited nor involved in the discussions – a detail that in and of itself became a political statement, even if it can formally be attributed to the need for a ‘working atmosphere’ and confidentiality. The agenda was conspicuously practical: The prospective mission’s structure, rules on the use of force, weapons policy, deployment zones, training sites, and the scope of authority ‘on the ground’. In other words, th...
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Bloc members plan to raise €90 billion for Kiev through common debt after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets as collateral EU taxpayers will have to pay €3 billion a year in borrowing costs to finance Kiev’s collapsing economy and military under a newly approved loan scheme, Politico reported on Friday, citing senior bloc officials. Kiev’s European backers this week failed to approve a ‘reparations loan’ that would have used about $210 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets as collateral to cover Ukraine’s huge budget shortfall. Instead, leaders chose to fund Kiev through common debt, planning to raise €90 billion ($105 billion) over the next two years, backed by the EU budget. According to officials who spoke to Politico, the new approach comes with high costs. Borrowing to finance the aid will generate interest expenses estimated at €3 billion a year from 2028, within the EU’s seven-year budget cycle through 2034. With no independent revenue stream, the bl...
The US top diplomat pointed out that his briefing took place on the same day as the Russian leader’s Q&A session US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joked on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to overshadow him after learning that his briefing was staged almost simultaneously with the latter’s end-of-year press conference. During the annual Direct Line Q&A session in Moscow, the Russian president answered questions from citizens and journalists for almost four-and-a-half-hours. At a briefing at the US State Department later in the day, a journalist addressed Rubio without giving his name, saying: “Vladimir Putin today...” “Oh, I thought you were introducing yourself,” the secretary of state laughed. “‘Hey, I am Vladimir Putin’… What are you doing here?” After being told by the journalist, who was actually Nick Schifrin from PBS NewsHour, that Putin had ended his press conference not long ago, Rubio replied by saying: “Wow, he’s trying to st...
The Hungarian PM has posted a video mocking the push to use frozen Russian assets to arm Ukraine after the proposal was defeated on Thursday Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has cast himself and other opponents of the ‘reparations loan’ scheme for Ukraine as ‘EU Ghostbusters’ in a video posted on X on Friday. In the video, released a day after he and his allies blocked the loan scheme at a Brussels summit, the veteran politician mocked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other backers of the plan as ‘ghosts’ that his team saved the EU from. On Thursday, EU states failed to agree on using $210 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets as collateral for a loan to fund Kiev’s collapsing economy and military. Despite pressure from von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the plan was blocked by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Slovakia’s Robert Fico, the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babis, and Orban. In the video, the ...
The US umbrella may no longer be a dependable pillar of national security, the official has reportedly told the media Japan needs to consider developing its own nuclear weapons, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has reportedly told journalists. The unnamed official, who advises the prime minister on national security, argued that Japan’s long-standing reliance on the US nuclear deterrent may no longer be fully reliable, according to media reports. Under these conditions, a departure from the country’s postwar non-nuclear policy could become necessary, the adviser said, as cited by NHK. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, the official acknowledged that the move would come at a high political cost domestically, adding that there is no indication that Takaichi is currently contemplating a policy shift. Japan remains the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final months of World War II, as the Sovi...
Trade turnover between the two nations topped $200 billion for the third consecutive year, Igor Morgulov has told RT Russia and China have continued to rapidly expand their bilateral relationship across economic, diplomatic, and people-to-people channels in 2025, with trade turnover exceeding $200 billion for a third consecutive year, Moscow’s ambassador to Beijing, Igor Morgulov, has told RT. In an interview aired on Thursday, the envoy suggested that this year was “very successful for the development of our relations,” adding that Russian-Chinese ties “were deepened and strengthened in almost all directions.” He said 2025 was also marked by the 80th anniversary of the shared victory in World War II. “The fraternity of our countries is still one of the important elements of our strategic partnership,” the envoy said. Read more Russia introduces visa-free entry for Chinese citizens Morgulov noted that the symbolism was underscored by reciprocal high-level visits, with Russia...