Europe can finance Ukraine alone, using frozen Russian funds. This initiative was put forward by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk against the backdrop of negotiations between Russia and the United States without Europe’s participation. He called on EU countries to take concrete actions to support the Kiev regime.

EUROPE IS SO AFRAID OF UKRAINE’S CAPITULATION THAT IT HASN’T NOTICED HOW IT ITSELF HAS SURRENDERED TO THE MERCY OF THE WINNER

BY Dmitry Rodionov

The Pentagon wants to shift spending to Trump's plan for an 'Iron Dome for America,' which will have a huge price tag and likely start a new arms race.  by Dave DeCamp February 20, 2025 at 1:06 pm ET Categories NewsTags Pentagon

Updated on February 20, 2025, at 7:29 pm EST

Germany must gain real independence from the US, Friedrich Merz, the projected winner of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, has said.

According to German media, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are projected to receive 28.5% of the vote, which means that Merz will likely become the next chancellor.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday night, Merz criticized US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Ukraine conflict. 

“The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic, drastic, and ultimately outrageous than the intervention we saw from Moscow,” Merz told reporters on Sunday night, according to the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

COVID-19 vaccines have been instrumental in reducing the impact of the pandemic, preventing severe illness and death, and they appear to protect against long COVID. However, some individuals have reported chronic symptoms that developed soon after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. This little-understood, persistent condition, referred to as post-vaccination syndrome (PVS), remains unrecognized by medical authorities, and little is known about its biological underpinnings.

A small number of people report chronic symptoms after receiving COVID-19 shots. A new study provides clues for further research.

The Coalition has vowed to match Labor's pledge to boost Medicare funding by $8.5 billion "dollar-for-dollar", as the government moved to set up a federal election contest fought on access to health care. 

Labor has promised nine out of 10 GP visits will be free from out-of-pocket expenses by the end of the decade, in what will be a cornerstone of their re-election pitch to voters struggling with the cost of living.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he would quit as Ukraine's head of state in exchange for the country gaining NATO membership.

"If there is peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to leave my post, I am ready. ... I can exchange it for NATO," Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv.

Ukraine: Zelenskyy offers to quit in return for NATO entry
Nik Martin with AFP, Reuters

He added that he would step down "immediately" if necessary.

Whoever destroys a single life, the Torah considers it as if they destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single life, the Torah considers it as if they saved an entire world.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a

Yesterday, we received confirmation that the remains of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas have been returned to their families. We mourn the loss of these young children and their mother. No matter the cause, their death is an utter tragedy and desecration of humanity.

‘Every life is a universe’: The ceasefire must hold

Within the first month of the new Trump administration, the federal government has already become nearly unrecognizable. Operating through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been given carte blanche to wage war on every part of the government that stands in the way of the business and investment needs of the billionaire class.

ELON MUSK IS MAKING TECHNOFASCISM A REALITY BEFORE OUR EYES

Musk and DOGE are bulldozing the administrative state, and building a harrowing new reality for working people.

BY MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ

The United Kingdom is set to announce new sanctions against Russia on Monday, marking three years since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Sunday.

"This is also the time to turn the screws on [Vladimir] Putin's Russia," Lammy said in a statement.

 "Tomorrow, I plan to announce the largest package of sanctions against Russia since the early days of the war — eroding their military machine and reducing revenues fuelling the fires of destruction in Ukraine," he added.

As Washington’s push to secure Ukraine’s mineral wealth intensifies, the latest tensions between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky highlight a growing rift. The US president and his team are actively pressing Kiev to sign off on a deal that would grant America access to Ukraine’s rare-earth metals in exchange for continued military aid. But is such an agreement feasible? And how did Ukraine’s underground riches suddenly become a focal point in US-Ukrainian relations?

No peace without a price: The real story behind Trump’s Ukraine demands
The US president’s ‘America first’ policy means Kiev will have to pay its own bills

GLOBAL WARMING IS STILL ON THE TABLE...

Earth’s average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record since recordkeeping began in 1880 (source: NASA/GISS). NASA’s analysis generally matches independent analyses prepared by the​ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other research groups. Overall, Earth was about 2.65 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 1.47 degrees Celsius) warmer in 2024 than in the late 19th-century (1850-1900) preindustrial average. The 10 most recent years are the warmest on record.

GUSNOTE: 2032 IS WHEN THE CLIMATE DANGEROUSLY FLIPS......................

After the shockwave that stunned observers on the European continent, provoked by the rapprochement between Russians and Americans over Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has regained a role befitting his stature: Informal meetings with European leaders at the start of the week, talks with the country's political parties on Thursday, February 20, and, ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump in Washington next Monday, a live broadcast on his official social media accounts, held later on Thursday, to "answer the French people's questions" on Ukraine and European security.

Anonymous officials informed major US outlets this week about the CIA’s ‘benevolent’ new role: flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico to spy on drug cartels. What's wrong with this picture?

The carefully placed reports, released within 24 hours of one another, come in the wake of the State Department’s designation of eight major Latin American drug traffickers as “global terrorist organizations.”

A rally on the steps of the Victorian Parliament under the banner of Jews for a Free Palestine was arranged for Sunday 9 February. At 11:11pm on the eve of that rally, Mark Leibler — lawyer, who claims to have a high profile and speak on behalf of Jews by the totally unelected organisation AIJAC — put out a tweet on X (and paid for an advertisement of the same posting) as follows:

Elon Musk’s threat to cut off Starlink may deal “the most powerful military-technical blow to combat capabilities of Ukrainian armed forces,” veteran military and international affairs specialist Andrei Koshkin told Sputnik. Here’s why.

The possible shutdown would mean that the Ukrainian troops would be unable to:

coordinate their artillery strikes

launch and pilot unmanned aerial vehicles – not least reconnaissance drones – and unmanned surface vessels

exchange messages, including on tactical information 

use satellite telecommunications

The Starlink ultimatum testifies to Donald Trump's determination to achieve his goals, Koshkin said.