NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the US-led military bloc would deal a crushing blow to Moscow if it attacks any of its member states.

In recent years, senior officials from European NATO member states, including Rutte, have alleged that Russia is harboring aggressive plans toward the military bloc. Putin has repeatedly dismissed this speculation, calling it “nonsense” and a ruse to justify increased military spending.

Keith Kellogg, the US presidential envoy for the Ukraine conflict, will meet with European officials in the coming weeks to advance President Donald Trump’s objectives, according to Bloomberg and The Telegraph.

The diplomatic campaign will reportedly kick off at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Friday, as the new US administration aims to recoup funds expended on the conflict in recent years.

On Monday, the outlets cited insider sources outlining Kellogg’s plans to gather feedback from trans-Atlantic partners before finalizing a strategy for achieving a truce with Russia. He is interested in Europeans’ “willingness to take the lead on providing deterrent forces to ensure that any peace settlement holds,” a source reportedly told Bloomberg.

What’s happening right now is that Democrats, having been thrown out of power by American voters in a landslide victory for Trump, have decided they’re going to deploy a widely-used tactic from Trump’s first term to thwart the president’s agenda: use the federal judiciary. Under the false pretext that the lower federal courts are part of a “coequal branch of government” with the executive, they’re aiming to shut down Trump’s reform efforts with a fusillade of preliminary injunctions.

The recent revelations about the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) links to extremist groups and shady projects validate concerns long expressed by Russia, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council on Monday.

In one of his first executive orders after taking office on January 20, US President Donald Trump suspended all US foreign aid, pending a three-month review. The decision is part of a broader plan to significantly reduce government spending. USAID is Washington’s primary agency for administering foreign aid and political projects abroad.

State capture was on display last week, with the contrasting treatment of two very different issues in the Federal and NSW parliaments. Andrew Gardiner reports.

A Sydney synagogue was defaced with red swastikas last month. Proposed NSW laws would raise the penalties for that amid rising political concern about antisemitism.

Compare the pair. While mandatory prison time for antisemitism sailed into law in Canberra, draft laws dealing with a bigger issue for battlers – ‘fat cat’ salaries – remain stuck in the Senate.  

On Wednesday, LNP ‘mandatory sentencing’ amendments were tabled in the lower house. By Friday, they and the rest of Labor’s hate crimes package were law.

From the moment Israel accepted the ceasefire deal, its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides have characterized it as a limited agreement aimed at securing the release of as many Israeli captives as possible and not a comprehensive plan to end the war. Now, emboldened by his recent meetings at the White House and riding a tsunami of giddiness over President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to seize control of Gaza, Netanyahu returned to Israel on Sunday ready to sabotage the already frangible agreement and expand his forces’ siege of the West Bank.

 

BY JEREMY SCAHILL

 

US President Donald Trump has reposted a CNBC article citing Russian President Vladimir Putin on his social media account. The piece quoted the Russian leader as predicting that the Trump administration would soon “restore order” in Europe, as Washington’s allies would quickly “stand at the feet” of their “master.”

The post with the link appeared on Trump’s official Truth Social account on Sunday in a series of similar posts linking to media reports that appear to be complimentary of his administration’s policies. None of the posts included any comments.

US President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to Hamas, demanding the release of all remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza by midday Saturday, and warning that failure to comply would result in “all hell”breaking out.

On Monday, Hamas threatened to halt the release of additional hostages, accusing Israel of violating the terms of the fragile ceasefire agreement by preventing displaced Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid, and delaying negotiations for the second phase of the deal.

The Trump administration is turning up the heat on George Soros’ soft power empire amid revelations of his Open Society Foundations’ close-knit links to and alleged profiteering off USAID. Is there a case for convicting the 94-year-old benefactor and beneficiary of the US imperial project? If so, where does it lie?

 

Financial Crimes

Soros was found guilty of insider trading in France in 2002 for profiteering off the privatization of state-owned companies in the late 80s.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to secure a deal with Kiev to ensure Washington gets its money back by trading aid for Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals – regardless of whether “they may be Russian someday.”

In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump claimed that “the United States is in for more than $300 billion, probably 350” in various forms of aid to Ukraine, adding that it would be “stupid” for Washington to continue bankrolling Kiev without receiving anything in return.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), and his main rival, Friedrich Merz, of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), have faced off in the first major debate in the lead-up to Germany's federal election.

About 59.2 million people are eligible to vote on February 23, with migration and economic stability among the key issues. 

The standoff at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue was not much of a spectacle. On the first day of February, a handful of men working for Elon Musk had come to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a few blocks from the White House, demanding full access to its headquarters. The agency’s staff refused. No guns were drawn. No punches thrown. Nobody involved the police. But in these early days of the Trump Administration, perhaps no other scene revealed more clearly the forces reshaping America’s government. 

 

Last Friday 79 nations signed a statement condemning the announcement 24 hours earlier by genocide enabler US President Donald Trump, that he was imposing sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court because they had issued a warrant for the arrest of architect of genocide of the Palestinian people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Australia’s silence on Trump’s ICC sanctions is nothing but shameful    By Greg Barns

 

According to George Bernard Shaw, the most popular method of distributing wealth is the method of the roulette table.

As a result of rapid deregulation and mesmerizing technological change, such a spinning round of fortunes has recently reached epic proportions in the US, where revenues from gambling (which is euphemistically called “gaming” by its respective lobbying associations) has exploded in a short span of time. Bearing in mind that the Irish playwright’s aphorism constitutes one of his “Maxims for Revolutionists,” considerable upheaval and possibly a powerful backlash, too, may thus well be in store for the so-called land of opportunities. 

 

Rise up people and fast. Tyrant Trump and his Musk-driven gangsters are launching a fascistic coup d’état. Much of everything you like about federal/civil service for your health, safety, and economic well-being and protections is being targeted.

 

We Must Rise Up to Stop This Corporate Coup—and Fast

 

By Ralph Nader / Nader.org