Musk questions Zelensky’s legitimacy, calls for freedom of press and elections in Ukraine.
🔗 Musk’s post on X
Syria’s new leadership is open to Russia keeping its bases along the Mediterranean.
🔗 Washington Post
Politico: EU’s relations with the Trump administration are so bad, they’re virtually non-existent.
🔗 Politico
Putin and Trump hold phone call, discuss Ukraine, the Middle East, and bilateral economic relations.
🔗 Readout from the Kremlin
🔗 realDonaldTrump/posts/113991956474899296">Readout from Donald Trump
Ukraine would benefit from a direct U.S.-Russia war, says top Zelensky adviser Podolyak.
🔗 Full video
Trump vows maximum pressure and ‘most aggressive possible sanctions’ against Iran.
🔗 Full video
UN chief warns against ethnic cleansing in Gaza, reaffirms need for a two-state solution.
🔗 Statement 1
🔗 Statement 2
Trump proposes permanent resettlement of Palestinians and a U.S. takeover of Gaza during meeting with Netanyahu.
🔗 Full video 1
🔗 Full video 2
Kellogg: Trump is driving the world to “a new golden age of Pax Americana.”
🔗 Keith Kellogg
Russia sees no signs that Ukraine and the West are ready for serious peace talks.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov:
Despite the increasingly loud talk about the need for peace talks, there are objectively no practical actions indicating that Kiev and the West are really ready for them. On the contrary, Western military supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces are continuing, ultimatums to Russia are being worked out, there is a (Ukrainian) legal ban on negotiations, and the issue of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian authorities is not being resolved.
Saudi Arabia, which declined a BRICS membership invitation last year, plans to invest $600bn in the U.S.
In a phone call with Trump, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that Saudi Arabia aims to invest at least $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, as the kingdom seeks to strengthen ties with its most important Western ally.
🔗 Financial Times
Trump’s UN ambassador pick Elise Stefanik denies self-determination for Palestinians, says Israel has ‘biblical right’ to West Bank.
🔗 Full video
Russia and China are working to ensure indivisible security across Eurasia and the world, Putin says during talks with Xi.
🔗 Full transcript
Trump: The war in Ukraine has not gone well for Putin, and it’s destroying Russia’s economy.
🔗 The White House
The Great Degeneration: Historian Niall Ferguson on four signs of America’s decline.
Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and author of The Great Degeneration, Niall Ferguson, argues that the United States is in decline. In a recent interview with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit, he outlined four major factors driving this downturn:
1. Generational Contract Breach: Unsustainable public finances have led to a growing national debt.
2. Overregulation: Increasingly complex rules stifle motivation, innovation and growth.
3. Erosion of the Rule of Law: A politically weaponized legal system fosters mistrust among citizens.
4. Decline in Education: Monopolies, unions, and falling standards, especially in math and science, have weakened U.S. education, as seen in poor international test scores.
Ferguson warns that these issues threaten America’s global leadership but expresses optimism that the incoming Trump administration can effectively address them.
🔗 Real Talk with Marissa Streit
Trump slams Zelensky as unpopular dictator whose leadership has shattered Ukraine.
🔗 realDonaldTrump/114031332924234939">Trump’s post on Truth Social
Trump refrains from recognizing Ukraine as an equal party in the peace process.
🔗 Full video
Trump says Ukraine may one day become Russian, demands repayment of American aid.
🔗 Full video
Hegseth shuts down Ukraine’s path to NATO and signals U.S. priority shift away from Europe.
🔗 Full video
Trudeau: Trump is after Canada’s critical minerals and his annexation threat is real.
🔗 The Associated Press
U.S. suspends aid to South Africa, citing, among other reasons, the country’s role in the ICJ genocide case against Israel.
🔗 The White House
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan swiftly denounce Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
🔗 The Associated Press
Trump renews talk of annexing Canada as he initiates economic war on top U.S. trading partners.
Canada should become part of the U.S. or risk ‘ceasing to exist as a viable country,’ wrote Trump in a post on Truth Social a day after announcing sweeping tariffs against Canada and Mexico, America’s top two trading partners.
🔗 realDonaldTrump/113934520197790682">Donald Trump
Panama announces exit from China’s Belt and Road Initiative amid U.S. pressure.
Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino said his country would not renew its agreement with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) following a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Panama was the first Latin American country to join BRI in 2017. To date, the Belt and Road Initiative is comprised of 149 participating countries, including 22 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
🔗 PanAm Post
Trump on Latin America: They need us. We don’t need them. Everybody needs us.
🔗 Full video
Resistance to Israeli occupation will continue until a viable Palestinian state is established, says Iran’s Vice President Zarif.
🔗 Full video
Trump wants Saudi Arabia, OPEC to reduce oil prices to undercut Russia’s war efforts.
🔗 Full video
Trump issues ultimatum to Putin: End the war in Ukraine or face crippling sanctions.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better.
Trump invokes Manifest Destiny in inaugural address, promises U.S. expansionism and exceptionalism.
🔗 NBC News
Rutte: Russia is massively outproducing NATO, despite its far smaller economy.
Speaking to members of the European Parliament, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte emphasized the growing partnership between NATO and the European Union, calling for even closer collaboration and complementarity between the two organizations.
He outlined NATO’s key priorities, including increased defense spending and production, stressing that the current 2% target is insufficient. Rutte argued that alliance members must aim to spend more than 3% of GDP to “stay safe.”
Rutte also highlighted a striking disparity in military production, noting that despite Russia’s relatively small economy, it is managing to outproduce NATO by a factor of four—producing in just three months what takes NATO an entire year.
🔗 NATO News
