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Independent researcher/writer based in Hong Kong since 1997. Reformed academic. My long-form, analytical articles are collected here https://laura-ruggeri.medium.com/ email: lauraru852@yandex.ru
🇸🇾 It's too early to say the Syria crisis is close to an end – pundit
"Chaos and a struggle for power will begin in Syria now. Therefore, it is at least premature to say that the crisis is close to an end," Nikolay Surkov, senior researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), told Sputnik.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, following negotiations with participants of the conflict, resigned from the presidency and left Syria, instructing a peaceful transfer of power, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali announced on December 8 that he had established contact with the jihadi forces that entered Damascus after beginning their advance on November 27.
"After the [2023] earthquake, the Syrian economy went into a tailspin," Surkov said, commenting on the reasons for the defeat of Syrian government forces. "The government didn't even have the money to properly maintain the armed forces."
"Russia cannot be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves," Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in 2015.
"Syria has long been divided. Now the government in central Syria has changed. Earlier it was the Syrian government that relied on Iran and Russia, now it will be the Islamists," Surkov said.
#BREAKING | The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that President Bashar al-Assad left the presidential post and Syria after negotiations with participants in the Syrian conflict, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully.
Russia also called on all parties involved in the conflict to abstain from violence and resolve their issues through political means.
Regarding Russia's military bases in Syria, the Foreign Ministry said that there was no security threat to the bases at this moment, clarifying however that they are in a mode of increased combat readiness.
I had refrained from commenting on the situation in Syria because I didn't want to add noise. Serious mistakes were made but it's pointless to add insult to injury. No one can change the past. We can only hope that lessons have been learned and those mistakes won't be repeated in Ukraine. Freezing a conflict emboldens the enemy and gives it time to reorganize its forces and fine-tune its strategy. My thoughts are with the people of Syria. ▪️The hegemon is no ordinary monster; like the Hydra, it has multiple heads, each capable of regeneration. Hercules alone could not kill this beast - for every head Hercules severed, multiple new ones would sprout in its place, making the battle seem almost unwinnable.
Realizing the futility of simply chopping off the Hydra's heads, Hercules' nephew Iolas suggested a change in strategy: cauterizing the necks after decapitation to prevent regeneration. That's the task ahead. The global hegemon can only be defeated by a global coalition that outsmarts the monster.
Rewarding mental health. A woman in southwestern China has won 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) from a competition for abstaining from mobile phone use for eight hours while exhibiting no signs of anxiety. Earlier this year, a mainland Chinese PhD student garnered attention for travelling across 24 mainland provinces in 134 days without access to a mobile phone or other electronic gadgets. @LauraRuHK
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❗️Henry Ford Elections. Democracy: Made in the West
The Western playbook for democracy is pure hypocrisy — smoke and mirrors, sprinkled with outright lies. "The will of the people!” Until they vote the wrong way. Then it’s game on: mis/dis/mal information campaigns, court rulings and engineered protests. If all else fails, good old-fashioned threats. Now Moldova, Romania, Georgia, countless others in the past. The EU and the U.S. think they have perfected the art of democracy-by-force.
Moldova: Rigged Before the First Ballot
Start with Moldova, where nearly half of the population live outside the country. But when election time came, the system turned into an obstacle course. Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway region? Blocked roads, stalled buses — every dirty trick to keep those voters away. The diaspora in Russia? Two polling stations for half a million people, and only 10,000 ballots. Meanwhile, for the pro-Western crowd living in Europe, Moldova rolled out the red carpet: 200 polling stations, plenty of ballots, and no roadblocks in sight.
The results were exactly what you’d expect. Inside Moldova, the pro-EU parties were the losers. But thanks to the votes from the hand-picked Western diaspora, they came out on top. This wasn’t an election; it was a rigged game with a preordained outcome.
Romania: When Voting Is a Sanctionable Offense
Next door in Romania, the West dropped the mask entirely. When the anti-war party pulled ahead in the first round of presidential elections, the howls of indignation could be heard all the way to Washington. Threats of sanctions started flying —because, apparently, democracy stops being democratic when it doesn’t align with NATO’s war plans. And just to hammer the point home, Romania’s constitutional court swooped in two days before the second round, declaring the process invalid and calling for a redo. You can practically hear the State Department’s champagne corks popping.
Georgia: The Color Revolution Starter Pack
Then there’s Georgia, where the Georgian Dream Party won in a landslide — 54% to 34%, no contest. International observers called it fair, but the West called it unacceptable. Neutrality on Russia? No way. Cue the protests, led by the outgoing president — a French-born, NATO-connected expat who refused to leave office and started crying fraud. It’s a color revolution in real time, a tired rerun of every coup attempt since the Cold War ended. Even her family history screams “Western asset” — the kind of anti-Russian fanaticism you’d expect from someone raised on Cold War propaganda.
Democracy for Show, Control for Real
Moldova. Romania. Georgia. It’s the same script, rewritten for different stages. The West loves democracy, but only when it delivers the goods. When the people vote against the approved narrative? The masks come off, and the machinery of coercion kicks in: roadblocks, courts, protests, sanctions. It’s not about the will of the people; it’s about the will of Brussels and Washington.
This is democracy, Western-style — a rigged roulette wheel where the house always wins. Moldova, Romania, and Georgia are just the latest at the table, their sovereignty sold off for the illusion of choice. The message is clear: vote however you like, but if you don’t choose correctly, they’ll choose for you.
✨ Henry Ford, who lets not forget, was a big supporter of Hitler, would definitely have approved.
⚡️ Two Majors
Donald Trump has named former senator David Perdue to serve as ambassador to Beijing in one of the most critical US diplomatic roles given the prospect for rising tensions with China.
Trump said Perdue, a former Fortune 500 chief executive who has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore and previously represented Georgia in the Senate, was a “loyal supporter and friend”.
“He will be instrumental in implementing my strategy to maintain Peace in the region, and a productive working relationship with China’s leaders,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump said Perdue’s four-decade international business career provided “valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China”.
The choice stood in contrast to some of Trump’s other picks for national security roles that will be critical for relations with China. He has chosen Florida senator Marco Rubio, a vocal China hawk, for secretary of state, and Mike Waltz, a congressman and China critic, for national security adviser.
One former US official said the choice of Perdue “underscores a growing trend where diplomacy is a function of corporate influence”. It suggested Trump might prefer someone who could facilitate economic deals rather than more traditional diplomacy, the former official said.
“His deep ties to the business world and wealth that was generated from companies that outsourced manufacturing to China and elsewhere in Asia appear to contradict . . . Trump’s stated China priorities and goals,” he added.
Perdue, 74, has held a number of senior US corporate roles. He was chief executive of the sports footwear brand Reebok and later of Dollar General, a national chain of discount stores.
The question is how influential he will be with Waltz and Rubio and the decision-making process on China, on tariffs, sanctions and Taiwan.
Perdue has also taken positions on trade that run counter to Trump. He was an early supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed multilateral trade deal, but changed his position when Trump pulled the US out of the agreement.
In 2014, Perdue portrayed himself as a business “outsider” in his first Senate race. He won the seat during a good year for Republicans, despite comments that surfaced from 2005 in which he said he “spent most of my career outsourcing” jobs to Asia. (Source: Financial Times) @LauraRuHK https://www.ft.com/content/1f683a80-3967-45ac-a829-d1e5707b7d3f
🇨🇳🇷🇺Russia is holding talks with a Chinese car company on production localization in its territory, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov told TASS.
"Negotiations are being held proactively, yes; counterparts are coming to us, we are holding talks," Alikhanov said. "This is a multi-brand company," he noted. ▪️Several Chinese brands are producing cars in Russia, including Great Wall and Haval, Geely and Chery. Car plants bought from departing Western companies such as Volkswagen have been converted for the production of Chinese and Russian cars. ▪️Western car makers shot themselves in the foot by exiting the lucrative Russian market and are now laying off workers at home. The epitome of stupidity. @LauraRuHK
The interview everyone is talking about. In English with Russian subtitles. ▪️A peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is possible only if Kiev abandons its plans to join NATO, closes Western military bases on the country's territory and cancels exercises involving foreign troops, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson.
"No NATO. Absolutely. No military bases, no military exercises on Ukrainian soil with the participation of foreign troops. And this is something that Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated. But of course, he said it in April 2022, now some time has passed and the realities on the ground have to be taken into account and accepted. The realities on the ground are not only the line of contact, but also the changes in the Russian Constitution after referendums were held in the Donetsk, Lugansk Republics and the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions. And they are now part of the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution. And this is a reality."
The foreign minister emphasized that Russia cannot tolerate the situation "when the [Ukrainian] legislation prohibits the Russian language, the Russian media, the Russian culture, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church." "This is a violation of the obligations of Ukraine under the UN Charter, and something must be done about it. And since this Russophobic legislative offensive started in 2017, the West has been completely silent, and it is silent until now, of course, we would have to pay attention to this in a very special way." ▪️Russia and the United States are not officially at war, but a hybrid war is being waged against Moscow.
"Well, we officially are not at war. But what is going on in Ukraine is that some people call it hybrid war. I would call it hybrid war as well, but it is obvious that the Ukrainians would not be able to do what they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. And this is dangerous, no doubt about this. Moscow would like to have normal relations with Washington and sees no reasons why the countries cannot cooperate. We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors, of course, but generally with all countries. " ▪️The West is making a big mistake by believing that Russia's "red lines" are flexible.
Russia does not want a nuclear war with the United States and is doing everything to prevent it.
The Oreshnik missile strike showed that Russia is ready to use any means to prevent the West from achieving its goal of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on the country and is ready to send additional messages if the West does not draw the necessary conclusions after the use of the Oreshnik missile. https://rutube.ru/video/cdd919a7f938536b985dd6f6b5d5c796/
After a heated debate in the National Assembly 331 of France’s 577 lawmakers voted to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a vote of no confidence after he tried to force through a 'shock therapy' budget that combined tax hikes and social spending cuts to fix the country’s deficit, currently projected at 6.1 percent of gross domestic product. The EU’s second-largest economy will almost certainly enter the new year without a budget and rocked by a political crisis. Germany, the EU's largest economy, is also in distress and the country's ruling coalition has fallen apart. This is what happens when you neglect your national interests to bolster US ones. Supporting US proxy war against Russia and engaging in a trade war with China to please the decrepit hegemon comes at a cost that Europe cannot sustain without buckling. @LauraRuHK
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FIY. Despite having been married to a Korean man and being knowledgeable about Korean food, traditional music and culture, i am no expert on Korean politics. For this reason i declined an interview about the shortest self-coup in history.
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South Korea’s President reversed martial law after lawmakers defied him and thousands of citizens took to the streets to demand his resignation and arrest. Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law, aimed at his political foes, was voted down by 190 lawmakers in parliament. His own party urged him to lift the decree. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. ▪️The main opposition Democratic Party called for Yoon to resign or face impeachment.
“Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid treason charges. It was clearly revealed to the entire nation that President Yoon could no longer run the country normally. He should step down,” senior DP member of parliament Park Chan-dae said in a statement. The Democratic Party, which holds a majority in Parliament, had recently announced its intention to investigate corruption scandals involving both the president and his wife. ▪️In South Korea the career of a president usually ends in disgrace (jail or suicide). This is a feature of the political landscape of a country under US military occupation - puppets are discarded when no longer useful or just to keep up the pretence of "democracy". In Seoul no regime change happens without the CIA benediction. There is no reason to believe that this tradition will be violated now. @LauraRuHK
China bans exports to US of gallium, germanium, antimony in response to chip sanctions. China announced the decision to tighten export controls on specific dual-use minerals and materials to the United States to safeguard its national security and interests, according to information released by the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.
Effective immediately, China has prohibited the export of gallium, germanium, and antimony, along with superhard materials. The directive also subjects graphite shipments to the US to stricter scrutiny, particularly regarding end-use and final recipients. China accounts for an overwhelming share of the global production of these minerals. For instance, it provides 94% of the world’s gallium and 83% of germanium, both crucial for semiconductors, fibre optics, and solar technology. The ministry of commerce stated the restrictions aim to safeguard national security and meet non-proliferation commitments since these items also have military application.
Any organization or individual in any country or region found violating relevant regulations will be held accountable under the law, said a spokesperson from the ministry in an online statement.
The commerce official said that the US has overgeneralized the concept of national security, politicized and weaponized economic, trade and technological issues, abused export control measures, and imposed unwarranted restrictions on the export of certain products to China in recent years. China’s latest measure came a day after the United States announced sweeping export restrictions targeting 140 Chinese companies, including leading chipmakers like Naura Technology Group and Piotech. @LauraRuHK
Rioters damaged 48 rooms of the Georgian parliament. Almost all the windows on the side of Chichinadze Street and Rustaveli Avenue were smashed, office equipment was destroyed, the wooden door of the parliament from the side of Chichinadze Street was burned. Rioters broke the heating and cooling units of the central building of the parliament, destroyed the computer laboratory of the training center and the parliament cafeteria.
This was stated at a briefing by the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili. ▪️Meanwhile Salome Zourabichvili, the French-born US puppet posing as Georgian President, refuses to step down from her position despite the end of her mandate in December. @LauraRuHK
NATO’s Indo-Pacific strategy is a component of NATO’s expansionist endeavors to buttress US hegemony. If we were to explain this strategy to a child, we could say its main objective is to “Keep the Americans in, the Chinese out, and the Russians down”, to paraphrase NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Hastings, who famously said that NATO was created to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
While US influence in the Asia-Pacific is rapidly waning, China’s is growing. But since the US is unable to match China’s investments, trade and economic relations with Asian countries, it’s hyping non-existing security threats to impose Cold War ‘bloc thinking’ on the states in the Asia-Pacific region, force them to take sides and coerce its allies to fork out more money for defense.
Previous attempts to damage economic relations between China and US allies had focused on ‘human rights and democracy’ but they mostly fell on deaf ears and may have actually contributed to China’s gains in political and cultural influence in the region. That’s why I fear that the US will ramp up its efforts to undermine regional security. NATO’s growing involvement is part of this strategy. https://laura-ruggeri.medium.com/is-natos-indo-pacific-strategy-in-europe-s-own-interests-04116db270c3
❗️Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepped down and left Syria after negotiations with some participants of the Syrian conflict, gave orders on peaceful transfer of power, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
Russia did not take part in the negotiations, the ministry adds. (Source: RIA Novosti)
🔴 Armed groups have entered Syrian capital Damascus
🔴Press TV correspondent says all official institutes, facilities in Damascus have been evacuated
🔴Syrian PM says ready to work with any government chosen by people
🔴 Syrian PM says believes Syria belongs to all Syrians, can establish friendly ties with all neighbors
@PressTV - #Syria
Since European interests were sacrificed at the altar of American ones, the pie has shrunk. And it’s only natural that the scramble to get a slice can only intensify. Suffice it to look at the widening rift between France and Germany, currently engaged in a tit-for-tat. The European Commission went ahead with an investigation into Chinese electric vehicles that was supported by Paris — to Berlin’s dismay. When higher tariffs were imposed, Germany found itself on the losing side while France was able to celebrate the win. Germany, increasingly frantic about industrial decline, is pushing the Mercosur agreement as an opportunity to find new growth markets in South America. France opposes the trade deal with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia because it will flood the EU with a tide of cheaper poultry and beef, and thus whip up farmers' rage. Expect more protests against the Mercosur agreement, and not only in France. @LauraRuHK
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#Romania - When the gap is so large you won't be able to fill it with dodgy ballots from abroad (Moldavia), you annul the election screaming "Russian interference". The fig leaf hiding NATO dictatorship has fallen. The EU is the prison of nations. @LauraRuHK
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Since the leading candidate, Calin Georgescu, like the majority of Romanian voters, wants to end support for Ukraine, the Constitutional court decided to annul the election 2 days before the runoff vote was due to take place. This is a coup. A NATO coup. @LauraRuHK
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In his interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, American journalist Tucker Carlson only once mentioned China.
Reacting to Lavrov's words that the West forced the people of Ukraine to choose who they are with - the EU or Russia, Carlson said: "But it is the way that big countries behave. I mean, there are certain orbits, and now it's BRICS versus NATO, U.S. versus China. And it sounds like you're saying the Russian-Chinese alliance is permanent." Responding to this question Lavrov said: "Well, we are neighbors. And, of course, geography is very important."
▪️Tucker Carlson should interview Xi Jinping and Wang Yi to give Americans a chance to hear the Chinese perspective, as China-US relations are also being affected by US propaganda. By interviewing Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov, Tucker Carlson did what the politicians and diplomats of the two nuclear powers, the United States and Russia, should do — talk to each other! ▪️It transpired that Zelensky turned down Carlson's request for an interview when the US embassy in Kiev intervened to stop it. @LauraRuHK
US personnel have been spotted training an elite coastguard squad in southern Taiwan.
United Daily News (UDN) reported on Wednesday that US personnel helped the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration’s Special Task Unit (STU) simulate a boarding exercise off the port city of Kaohsiung.
The report was based on sightings and information from military enthusiasts, with one photo showing three US personnel aboard a large assault boat alongside members of the STU, a paramilitary special police unit. (Source: SCMP) @LauraRuHK
🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 A win-win solution. Georgian protesters itching for a new Maidan should be sent to Ukraine to defend "European values" on the battlefield. @LauraRuHK
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Vladimir Putin's key statements at the VTB investment forum "Russia is calling!"
▪️Some countries sought to drastically weaken our industry, finances, the service industry in our country, to create an insurmountable deficit of goods in our market, to destabilize the labor market, to degrade living standards for our citizens.
The Russian economy has not only recovered from the initial damage caused by the attacks on it, but has also undergone a structural transformation beneficial to it. The government has worked hard to improve the logistics of international trade used by Russian businesses and strengthen ties with friendly partners, which has helped the national economy to grow. ◾️ On July 1, 2025 , settlements using the digital ruble should start working nationwide (/channel/rt_russian/223050 )
▪️Russia has a record low unemployment rate of 2.3%, and GDP grew by 4.1% in January — October 2024.
◾️Inflation (/channel/rt_russian/223043 ) in Russia is still at a fairly high level — 8.8%, in the fight against it it is necessary to use all the tools of economic policy correctly and wisely.
▪️Only a quarter of Western companies actually left (/channel/rt_russian/223052 ) the Russian Federation — about half of the foreign partners are working as before. It will be difficult for companies that left to return (/channel/rt_russian/223054 ).
A pro-EU "peaceful protester" fired a makeshift rocket launcher during a riot in Tbilisi and injured a Georgian journalist. While foreign-funded thugs are seeking a violent escalation and have already injured over a hundred police officers, local authorities have been acting with much restraint to avoid casualties. They understand that the organizers of colour revolutions need victims to fuel the protest - to this purpose the French-born US puppet posing as Georgian President called on school children to join the demonstrations. Western media are itching to report on "underage victims of police brutality" while turning a blind eye to the rioters' violence. Judging by videos of ongoing clashes it is clear that these agents of chaos received military training. /channel/SputnikGeorgia/41142
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⚡️MARTIAL LAW IN SOUTH KOREA - President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law after accusing the opposition of being sympathetic to the North and engaging in “anti-state” activities. 🔺Activities by parliament and political parties will be banned, media and publishers will be under the control of the martial law command. 🔺That's how the government responded to a motion by the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, to impeach some of the country's top prosecutors and its rejection of a government budget proposal. While South Korea is facing an economic crisis Yoon Suk Yeol's unpopular government wasted hundreds of millions of dollars to support Ukraine, increased its military budget to please the US, embraced NATO's Indo-Pacific strategy, took a more hawkish stance versus North Korea and strengthened relations with Japan.
It is the first time since 1980 that martial law was declared in South Korea and doesn't bode well for the country. @LauraRuHK
The US, UK and the EU have adopted a revisionist policy vis-à-vis UN Resolution 2758 and seek Taiwan’s accession to international organizations as a separate country, which is part of the West’s salami-slicing approach to dilute the One China policy.
Some EU member states have not only been testing Beijing’s red lines, they have actually crossed them.
▪️Part 2 of my interview with Sonja Van den Ende. 👉 Medium https://medium.com/p/3b582e2c4d77 👉 Substack https://lauraruggeri.substack.com/p/us-dictates-eu-policy-on-taiwan 👉 Sonja's website https://devend.online/2024/12/03/how-will-the-relationship-with-china-nato-and-the-new-us-administration-develop-an-interview-with-laura-ruggeri-part-ii/
A democratically-elected government that refuses to be overthrown by the West's proxy army of agents of chaos and brainwashed extremists is threatened with sanctions. https://swentr.site/news/608514-eu-kallas-georgia-sanctions/
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The Syrian army has eliminated almost a thousand Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (aka Jabhat al-Nusra) terrorists while repelling their attacks.
The Syrian and Russian air forces have also eliminated dozens of terrorists in the city of Idlib as a result of strikes on their headquarters and weapons depots. "Additional military reinforcements, including personnel, heavy weapons and rocket launchers, have arrived in the north of Hama to support the offensive of our armed forces in this direction in light of the mass exodus of members of armed groups," the Syrian Armed Forces said in a statement. The Syrian army and its support forces control the entrances and exits from the settlements of Tell al-Nasiriyah, Tell al-Samman, Zor al-Jadid, Zor al-Jadid, Zor al-Mahruk, Zor al-Haysa and other areas in the northern part of the province. "Our forces also managed to take control of a number of areas, the most important of which are Qalaat al-Madiq and Maardis," the General Command said. (Source: TASS) @LauraRuHK
It was a pleasure to be interviewed by Sonja Van den Ende, a fellow writer for Strategic Culture. Her probing questions set my train of thought in motion. Here is the first one. "Is NATO’s Indo-Pacific strategy in Europe’s own interests?" https://devend.online/2024/11/29/how-will-the-relationship-with-china-nato-and-the-new-us-administration-develop-an-interview-with-laura-ruggeri-part-i/
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