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Researcher & writer based in Hong Kong. Former academic. Longform articles archived at https://lauraruggeri.substack.com and https://laura-ruggeri.medium.com. Email: lauraru852@yandex.ru
The Biden administration on Jan 7 added 11 Chinese companies to its list of "military companies" including Tencent Holdings, the world’s largest gaming publisher, and Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a key battery supplier to Tesla. Neither of them appear to have business dealings with the PLA.
Since the first list was put out in 2021, as mandated by a law passed in the waning days of Donald Trump’s first presidency, it has expanded to 134 companies – including four of China’s top 20 in terms of market capitalisation, which together are valued at almost $1 trillion (S$1.36 trillion). ▪️While the list carries no specific sanctions, unlike the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, it still discourages US companies from dealing with its members.▪️ It is an approach that risks backfiring on Washington, according to Mr Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore’s former ambassador to the United Nations, who called the latest addition “unwise”.“ If the US tries to decouple from Chinese companies and their global reach, the US is not just decoupling from China,” Mr Mahbubani said, “it is decoupling from the rest of the world too.”
Although the list comes at the end of President Joe Biden’s term, one major proponent of tagging CATL and other major Chinese companies has been Mr Marco Rubio, who is nominated to become secretary of state in President-elect Trump’s second term. Tencent, China’s most valuable company, is seen as a pioneer in China’s internet and private sector, creating a so-called everything app that Mr Musk has held up as a model for X.
During the first Trump administration, the US government sought to ban WeChat – Tencent’s messaging service that has evolved into a payment, a social media and an online services platform – citing national security concerns.
CATL is not only a major supplier to Tesla but also to many of the world’s biggest carmakers, including Stellantis to Volkswagen. ▪️China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Tuesday expressed firm opposition to the US' addition of 11 Chinese companies to its "Entity List" urging the US to immediately stop its wrongdoing and vowing to take necessary measures to protect Chinese entities' rights and interests. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/us-blacklist-of-chinas-tech-giants-risks-even-faster-decoupling
Last month the Russian army liberated the village of Shevchenko, in the Donetsk People's Republic. You may have never heard of it, but on the eastern outskirts of this village, in the Velikonovoselkovsky district, is one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe. This was reported in his telegram channel by military correspondent Boris Rozhin.
A stone's throw away lies Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) — the largest coking coal mine in Ukraine and one of the largest in Eastern Europe, is located 10 km west of Pokrovsk. The mine produces coal for coke production needed in steelmaking, which is Ukraine's second-largest source of foreign currency after agriculture.
US and European corporations are getting nervous... Russian forces are steadily advancing and bringing under their control the resource-rich part of Ukraine Western elites had set their eyes on. Let's not forget that when the Soviet Union was dissolved Ukraine received (for free!) mines and factories, hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants, gas pipelines and ports built by generations of Soviet workers. @LauraRuHK
Tulou had two main functions: communal living and defense. Each earth building usually holds the extended family of a single Hakka clan. These structures espoused equality and unity as family areas were the same size and shape, and everyone lived under the same roof, sharing communal areas.
Most Tulou have three or four floors with different functions: the first floor is used for kitchens and dining rooms; the second floor is for grain stores; and the third and fourth floors are used for bedrooms. The main building materials are clay, sandy soil and gray tiles, with bamboo strips playing the role of rebar in modern construction.
The foundation walls are three meters wide, able to withstand an earthquake, fire, or any attack at that time. The outer walls are mostly thicker than 1 meter.
On December 16 the Italian police at the request of the United States arrested an Iranian citizen, Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, 38, the CEO of Sanat Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak (SDRA), an Iranian company specializing in precision measurement equipment and head of Illumove SA, a Switzerland-based company focused on manufacturing motion capture equipment. All activities of these companies were conducted under the legal and financial oversight of the Swiss government. He was arrested at Milan airport while preparing to travel to Switzerland. Hostage-taking of Iranian nationals under the pretense of circumventing unilateral US sanctions constitutes a violation of international law. Tehran on Friday repeated its demand that Italy release the Iranian businessman. This case is becoming a test for Italian authorities - they acted on a US request rather than an international warrant, and at the same time are seeking the release of an Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, who was arrested in Tehran for violating the laws of the Islamic Republic. Cecilia Sala works for il Foglio, an Atlanticist newspaper dubbed "the voice of the CIA" in Italy, and hails from a well-connected family - her father is an independent Director of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, was a JP Morgan's senior advisor and member of the Greenmantle Think Tank. @LauraRuHK
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I will be on holiday (and offline) for a few days. Best wishes for the New Year.
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The United States, in its efforts to pressure China over the Taiwan issue, employs methods very similar to those previously used to establish an anti-Russian foothold in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his year-end interview with TASS.
"We do not make assumptions about the plans of the future US administration; this is the work of political scientists. If we assess the overall situation in the region, it continues to deteriorate. The US and its satellites declare their commitment to the 'one China' principle but insist on maintaining the status quo, which implies preserving the current situation indefinitely," the minister said when asked about the Taiwan issue and the impact of the new Donald Trump administration on the processes in the region.
"Meanwhile, the Americans are taking provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait, supplying arms to Taipei, and developing a quasi-political dialogue with the authorities there. All of this together undoubtedly contributes to the growth of separatist sentiments. These methods are very similar to those that were once used by the Americans to establish an anti-Russian foothold in Ukraine," Lavrov added. @LauraRuHK
With trade and economic relations between Malaysia and China set to further flourish in the coming years, i expect the US will try to stir the pot and destabilize Malaysia. This is a multiethnic, multicultural and multi-faith federation consisting of 13 states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia. US think tanks have been devoting much attention to the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak claiming that the two states have been relegated to the sidelines of the nation’s decision-making process and that Sabah and Sarawak have contributed more to the nation’s revenue, through oil and gas, than they have received. Though only a small number of urban middle-class and professionals inside the Borneo states support the secession option, they are being egged on by a vocal diaspora domiciled in the UK and Australia. As the US and Britain are secretly working with these pro-independence groups, it would be wise to keep an eye on the situation. @LauraRuHK
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The US and UK are planning terrorist attacks on Russian bases in Syria in order to prevent the situation in the country from stabilizing, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.
Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government earlier this month, Washington and London have set a goal of “maintaining chaos in the Middle East” in order to achieve a lasting dominance over the region, the agency said in a statement on Saturday.
However, Russia’s military presence on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, which still serves as a significant factor in regional stability, has been hampering the realization of their plans, it stressed.
“In order to remove this ‘obstacle,’ British intelligence services are developing plans to organize a series of terrorist attacks on Russian military facilities in Syria,” the SVR said.
The role of the perpetrators of those assaults will be assigned to the fighters of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), who were released from prisons after the regime change in the country, it added.
“According to available information, representatives of the British intelligence service MI6 and the America’s CIA recently tasked Syria-based IS commanders under their control with carrying out a series of attacks on Russian military bases. To do out this dirty work, the terrorists received attack UAVs,” the statement read.
In order to cover up their involvement in the planned Islamic State attacks on Russian bases, the US and UK military commands have instructed their air forces to continue to carry out strikes on IS positions in Syria, the SVR claimed.
The terrorists are being warned about those airstrikes in advance, it added. “London and Washington hope that such provocations will prompt Russia to evacuate its troops from Syria. At the same time, the new Syrian authorities will be accused of being unable to control the radicals,” the statement read. (Source: RT) @LauraRuHK
🇬🇪 The Georgian Prime Minister does not expect the situation to escalate after the inauguration of President Mikheil Kavelashvili on December 29.
"I exclude the possibility that Salome Zurabishvili will not leave the presidential residence. Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. Who wants to take such a step? I am sure that no one will do such a stupid thing," said Irakli Kobakhidze.
(Source: Sputnik Georgia) @LauraRuHK
The US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the latest defense bill for the next fiscal year amounting to $895 billion, mentioned China 107 times, Russia is far behind. People's Daily writes:
The bill reads like a manifesto of Washington's increasingly paranoid agenda to confront China and lawmakers' blatant effort to safeguard the interests of American defense contractors.
Not only does the bill target sensitive sectors like lidar and semiconductor equipment, it also extends to more trivial areas, such as the import of Chinese garlic. This absurd inclusion reveals just how far Washington is willing to go to weaponize its regulatory powers under the pretext of national security. In reality, the mounting military expenditures serve the needs of special interest groups, rather than address real security threats.
The military-industrial complex -- a symbiotic relationship between government officials and private defense contractors -- has benefited from nearly every military conflict the United States has entered over the past few decades.
A report from the "Costs of War" project under Brown University shows that Pentagon spending has totaled over 14 trillion dollars since the start of the war in Afghanistan. One-third to one-half of that total has gone to defense firms, many of which have direct ties to former government officials.
This "revolving door" between government service and the defense industry is one of the most glaring symbols of the corruption at the heart of America's military policy
During the press conference at the end of the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council a journalist touched on a topic that is currently the subject of much speculation among analysts. Andrey Yunashev (Life magazine): Hello, Vladimir Vladimirovich, happy New Year!
You just said that you are constantly in touch with the commanders, both day and night. This means that you have the most complete information about the situation on the front line.
Vladimir Putin: The information I have is complete. Whether it's the most, or not the most complete – it's hard to say, but is extensive enough.
A.Yunashev: And since we noticed that you have a high intuition, what do you personally believe? Do you believe that in 2025 the conflict will end? Naturally, with our victory.
Vladimir Putin: I believe in God, and God is with us. @LauraRuHK
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says that it has foiled a Kiev-planned series of assassinations targeting high-ranking officials in the Russian Defense Ministry who participate in the special military operation and their relatives.
Four Russian nationals involved in the preparation of the assassinations have been detained, the FSB says, adding that criminal cases have been opened against the perpetrators, who now face a lifetime in prison. ▪️Ukrainian special services planned to assassinate high-ranking officials of the Russian Defense Ministry using bombs disguised as a power bank and a document folder, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says.
The device disguised as a power bank was to be placed under the car of a "high-ranking executive" in the ministry, while the one disguised as a document folder was to be delivered to another official by two Russian nationals recruited by Kiev, the security service adds. (RIA Novosti) @LauraRuHK
The US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) played up the alleged "China military threat" as an excuse to increase US military spending and maintain its hegemony. This grossly interferes with China's internal affairs and undermines world peace and stability. We are strongly dissatisfied with it and firmly oppose it,
France has approached Russia several times through closed channels to establish a “dialogue on the Ukrainian issue,” Lavrov stated.
Russia will respond to Ukrainian strikes on civilian facilities, but Moscow’s forces target only military-related sites, Lavrov has stressed.
“Striking civilian targets is not part of our rules,” he emphasized.
“Our Western counterparts will inevitably take part in a multipolar world but must overcome their psychological resistance to playing a less dominant role,” Lavrov stated.
The US must take the first step to restore dialogue with Moscow, the Russian foreign minister has stated.
Russia has noted signals from Trump’s team expressing interest in resuming dialogue, which is “reasonable and normal,” he said.
“All ideas less binding than the Minsk agreements aim to buy time for the Nazi regime,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
He also recalled that former Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko, former French President Francois Hollande, and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted they never intended to implement the Minsk agreements.
Israel should not secure its safety at Syria’s expense, as the destruction of military facilities in the Arab republic will “sow a storm,” Sergey Lavrov warned.
Moscow understands Ankara’s concerns about security on the Turkish-Syrian border, Lavrov has stated.
He emphasized that Türkiye's legitimate security interests must be addressed while preserving Syria’s territorial integrity.
Russia maintains contact with the new Syrian authorities, discussing the safety of Russian citizens and the embassy in the country, Lavrov has said.
He emphasized Moscow’s interest in dialogue with Damascus on other bilateral issues as well.
Russia is also ready to assist in organizing elections in Syria to ensure they are universally recognized and raise no concerns, the foreign minister added.
Lavrov has called the West’s demands for other countries to sever ties with Russia absurd. Moscow is ready to engage with any Western representatives open to mutually beneficial agreements, he said.
He cited Hungary and Slovakia as examples, noting that other EU members are also beginning to lean toward this approach.
Russia is ready for consultations with the President-elect Donald Trump’s administration on Ukraine and hopes the White House will delve into the root causes of the conflict, Lavrov stated.
A truce in Ukraine would currently lead nowhere, stressing the need for reliable agreements.
He clarified that Russia is not setting any preconditions for negotiations but insists on the fulfillment of existing agreements.
The foreign minister added that future agreements on resolving the Ukraine conflict must include a mechanism to prevent violations. https://swentr.site/russia/609970-russian-fm-lavrov-holds-online-briefing/
I found this book in my Santa's stocking and am reading it with great pleasure. Highly recommended. Aaron Good examines the dissimulation and the disaggregation of the state in the context of U.S. hegemony. His account builds on dual state theory which posits that alongside the “democratic state,” there exists an authoritarian “security state.” America’s post–World War II hegemony has been accompanied by the rise of a security state operating in a de facto state of emergency. Aaron Good uses the term exceptionism to describe this phenomenon.
He argues that a supra-national "deep state", a closed network more powerful than the public state, is intertwined with, and has captured, both the “democratic state” and the “security state” (national security council, CIA, FBI, Pentagon etc.) to advance the interests of a transnational capitalist class. @LauraRuHK
Last year Telecom Italia SpA, the country’s former phone monopoly, sold its landline network, a strategic asset, to the US private equity firm KKR & Co. The grid sale was the first of its kind for a European phone company, and it was strongly backed by Meloni government. On Monday the Italian government confirmed it is in talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX over a possible €1.5 billion deal for secure telecoms, Bloomberg reported.
The deal had been in the works for more than a year. According to the Bloomberg report, the contract would last five years and has already been approved by the Italian intelligence services and Ministry of Defense. If successful, SpaceX would provide encryption services for the government and communications infrastructure for the military and emergency services.
Italian intelligence may have approved the deal, but Elisabetta Belloni, Director General of the Department of Security Information (Dis) Italy's top intelligence agency, has officially announced her resignation. Belloni's decision to leave her post ahead of the expiry of her mandate in May seems to be related to disagreements with Alfredo Mantovano, the undersecretary of State delegated to the Authority for the Security of the Republic, who is one of Meloni's closest allies.
The kind of encrypted telecommunication services being sold by Musk is similar to what the EU is looking to offer through its own IRIS² project, a €10.6 billion network of cyber-secure satellites that has been approved but will only go online after 2030. Meloni's move has already enraged the opposition and drawn the ire of Brussels. @LauraRuHK
Quando si dice le coincidenze, eh? Il fidanzato di Cecilia Sala, Daniele Raineri, anch'egli pennivendolo de Il Foglio, nel 2014 era ad Aleppo con Greta Ramelli e Vanessa Marzullo. Ricordiamo che per la liberazione delle due simpatizzanti degli islamisti anti-Assad il governo italiano verso' al Fronte al-Nusra (legato ad al-Qaida) un riscatto di 12 milioni di dollari secondo alcune fonti (20 milioni secondo altre). @LauraRuHK
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Inspecting China's nuclear missile silos. 😅 During the first Cold War satellite images of these round, fort-like buildings known as Tulou puzzled Western military 'experts' for years, leading to all sorts of speculations.
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Iran expects boom in trade after gaining EAEU’s observer status
🔹Iran expects a major boom in trade ties with members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) after the country gained observer status in the bloc and just months before the two sides enter into a free trade agreement.
#Iran
@PressTV
Russia is ready to restore relations with Georgia
In his year-end interview with TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is determined to normalize Russian-Georgian relations precisely to the extent that Tbilisi is ready. @LauraRuHK
Vladimir Putin apologised for the fact that the incident involving the Azerbaijani passenger airliner that crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau happened in Russian airspace, offered condolences to the victims’ families and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. An investigation is ongoing to determine what kind of external impact caused a crash landing hundreds of kilometers from Grozny where Ukrainian drones had been spotted and countered by Russian air defense. Western media have been pointing the finger at Russia, they always do, but till the investigation is over it is dishonest to apportion blame. @LauraRuHK
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The EU & NATO made a new round of groundless claims against Russia, blaming its alleged ‘shadow fleet' for damage to an undersea cable connecting Estonia and Finland.
As usual, they produced no proof, just whipped up hysteria to increase NATO military presence in the Baltic Sea and propose sanctions to target the so-called 'shadow fleet'. @LauraRuHK
US citizen Gene Spector, convicted in Russia, handed over data to the Pentagon for the creation by the US of a high-speed genetic screening system of the Russian population, the Russian Federal Security Service says.
On December 24, the Moscow City Court sentenced Spector to 15 years in prison for espionage and upheld the fine of 14 million rubles (around $140,000) imposed by a previous verdict. ▪️Russian experts have long noticed the interest of the American military in the biological materials of Russians. In particular, in 2021, Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute, said that the United States, as part of a separate program, collected samples of synovial (articular) fluid from Russian residents.
And back in 2017, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported that the special services had information that some emissaries and non-governmental organizations had collected biological material from representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. https://ria.ru/20241227/spektor-1991603303.html
The Japanese government approved a draft budget for fiscal year 2025, amounting to 115.54 trillion yen ($732.23 billion), with a record 8.7 trillion yen ($55.4 billion) marked for defense spending, Kyodo news agency reports.
The upcoming defense budget reportedly includes spending on the development of long-range missiles to improve the country's military capabilities to target enemy bases. The plan also provides for boosting the ability to strike adversaries outside of their attack range and increasing drone capabilities. (Source: RIA Novosti) @LauraRuHK
Russia’s gas production rose by 7.9% from January to November, driven by rising exports and domestic consumption, Kommersant writes, citing sources familiar with the Energy Ministry’s statistics. The Gazprom gas giant has been the main driver of increased output this year.
Notably, Russia remains one of the leading gas suppliers to the European Union, in terms of both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG), with the country’s share standing at about 15%.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced earlier that Russia’s overall gas exports to EU countries would exceed last year’s levels by 18-20%. For now, Gazprom continues gas transit via Ukraine and through the TurkStream pipeline, which enables the company to maintain production. However, Ukraine gas transit is expected to cease on January 1, 2025, which could result in Russian gas supplies being halved.
Vitaly Yermakov of the Higher School of Economics expects gas output to grow by 54 billion cubic meters, reaching 691 billion cubic meters by the end of 2024, which is 54 billion cubic meters higher than in the previous year.
The expert attributes the growing production to increases in exports and domestic demand. According to him, exports are rising primarily due to supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. Russian pipeline gas exports to China are expected to reach 31 billion cubic meters by the end of the year. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7403586
Finland-Estonia underwater power cable cut: Helsinki claims sabotage possible
Finland is weighing the possibility of sabotage following damage to an underwater power cable between the Nordic country and Estonia on December 25, which resulted in a disruption of electricity supply, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.
At least two vessels were spotted in the vicinity where the cables are located, claimed Arto Pahkin, the head of operations of the Finnish electricity grid.
The EstLink 2 cable, which transmits electricity to Estonia, experienced a power cut, as confirmed by Fingrid. This left only the EstLink 1 cable operational, but with a reduced capacity of 358 megawatts compared to the 658 megawatts being transmitted prior to the disconnection.
Earlier, the underwater C-Lion1 data cable connecting Finland and Germany and running near the Nord Stream gas pipeline was severed in November, in Sweden's special economic zone.
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"It is wrong to speculate about the causes of the plane crash near Aktau while an investigation is underway. No one should do this, and the Kremlin will not either," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing. ▪️On Dec 25 a passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau, in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard.
The plane was en route from Baku to Grozny (Chechnya) but due to fog the flight was redirected to Makhachkala (Dagestan). The crew reported an emergency on board and attempted to land at the Aktau airport. @LauraRuHK
EU Skeptical on Sending Peacekeepers to Ukraine: A Crisis of Credibility
The idea of deploying EU peacekeepers to Ukraine is reportedly being met with significant resistance within European capitals, as skepticism and anger over the war mount. According to US state-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), unnamed EU diplomats have all but dismissed the possibility, citing overwhelming public opposition and the likelihood of it becoming a political catastrophe. “There are no good scenarios,” one diplomat conceded, warning that Ukraine is cruising toward “a rough landing” in the coming year.
Sending European troops to “die in Ukraine” is not just political suicide, it’s a direct insult to the intelligence of European citizens, who have endured soaring energy prices, runaway inflation, and endless war fatigue while their leaders double down on Washington’s agenda. Even US state media, parroting its usual lines, has been forced to acknowledge the cracks in European unity. When the megaphone of American propaganda starts broadcasting discontent, you know the anger is impossible to ignore.
Sources cited by RFE/RL point out that skepticism is particularly high in Poland and the Czech Republic, the very countries expected to provide the lion’s share of troops. Emmanuel Macron’s France floated vague ideas about sending military instructors or demining teams, but even Paris seems reluctant to step into this political minefield. Meanwhile, Poland’s Donald Tusk has outright dismissed the idea, underscoring the futility of trying to sell this to an increasingly disillusioned European public.
The irony here is almost comedic. European leaders, who lecture the world about democracy and listening to the will of the people, seem utterly deaf to their own citizens. Instead, they continue their devotion to Washington’s proxy war, sacrificing their economies and stability on the altar of NATO’s endless expansion. It’s beyond hypocrisy, it’s arrogant contempt.
Russia, meanwhile, has drawn a clear red line: any Western soldiers on Ukrainian soil will be treated as legitimate targets. Sending “peacekeepers” into an active war zone doesn’t just defy common sense; it escalates the conflict, potentially turning Europe into an even bigger proxy battlefield. But when has Washington cared about common sense? European elites are learning the hard way that the American empire will drag its vassals down with it and call it solidarity.
This entire charade reeks of desperation. With Ukraine’s position deteriorating and winter deepening the crisis, the Western narrative is collapsing under its own weight. Rather than pursuing genuine peace, Europe’s leaders remain locked in a cycle of bad ideas, chasing illusions fed to them by a U.S. that views their populations as expendable pawns in a much larger game.
❗️Sending peacekeepers isn’t about peace; it’s about salvaging the optics of a war spiraling out of control. The fact that even RFE/RL is highlighting European discontent speaks volumes about how untenable this narrative has become. The cracks are not just widening—they’re fracturing the very foundations of Western unity.
How long can European leaders ignore their people before their own political systems (forget political parties) implode? This isn’t just the twilight of Western hegemony, it’s the reckoning for an empire that treats its allies (vassals) with disdain and its citizens with contempt. When the smoke clears, will Europe still be standing, or will it be another casualty of Washington’s collapsing empire?
- Gerry Nolan
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