Global politics

[Psy-Fi]

India has 'good vibes' with Trump, and Modi is trying to keep it that way

[QuantumSync]

[QuantumSync]

https://ground.news/article/vance-wields-threat-of-sanctions-military-action-to-push-putin-into-ukraine-deal_39379a

Vice President JD Vance stated that the U.S. Could send troops to Ukraine if Russia does not negotiate in good faith, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia's actions, declaring them a 'terrorist threat to the entire world' following a drone attack on Chernobyl.
Russia's recent drone attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was criticized by Zelenskyy, calling Russia a terrorist threat to the world.

The left emphasizes Vice President JD Vance's readiness to pursue military action, reflecting a confrontational tone and urgency in diplomacy. 2. The right reinforces Vance's position while adding Zelenskyy's designation of Russia as a 'terrorist threat', intensifying the narrative against Russia. 3. Some sources describes Russia as a primary obstacle to peace, implying moral superiority for the U.S. Stance, while emphasizing immediate threats to Ukraine through a drone attack, further justifying Vance's military options. 4. Side 4 contrasts Vance's proactive military rhetoric with Trump's vagueness on territorial concessions, reinforcing Trump's ambiguity while stressing the need for Ukraine's agency in peace talks.

[Psy-Fi]

A drone damaged the outer shell of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant. Radiation levels are normal

CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER STATION, Ukraine (AP) — A drone armed with a warhead hit the protective outer shell of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, damaging the structure and briefly starting a fire, in an attack Kyiv blamed on Russia. The Kremlin denied it was responsible.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia was responsible. "There is no talk about strikes on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities. Any such claim isn't true. Our military doesn't do that," Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

It was not possible to independently confirm who was behind the strike. Both sides frequently trade blame when nuclear sites come under attack.

Peskov alleged that the strike was a "false flag" attack staged by Ukraine to incriminate Russia and to thwart efforts to end the war through negotiations between Trump and Putin.

"It's obvious that there are those (in the Ukrainian government) who will continue to oppose any attempts to launch a negotiation process, and it's obvious that those people will do everything to try to derail this process," Peskov said.

[Psy-Fi]

'Army of Europe' needed to challenge Russia says Zelensky

[QuantumSync]

[Psy-Fi]

US and Russia to appoint teams to negotiate end of Ukraine war in talks that excluded Kyiv

[QuantumSync]

[Psy-Fi]

"UKRAINE WILL WIN" | No Amount of Propaganda Can Hide the Fact that Ukraine is Winning this War

[Psy-Fi]

Mexico to reform constitution in wake of US terrorism designations

[QuantumSync]

Ryan McBeth
Feb 23, 2025

MICE is a term used in the intelligence community for the factors that motivate people to provide intelligence to agents. It stands for:

Money
Ideology
Compromise
and Ego

Note that these aren't mutually exclusive, a combination of factors may be used to influence someone to provide information.

The problem is that many people believe that some celebrities and Internet personalities are motivated by money or are actively being paid or "handled" by Russia.

That is typically unlikely.

The truth is that some of these people may not even believe what they are saying, but taking a contrarian point of view gets you clicks. It gets you invited onto podcasts and it gets you invited back.

If you are running for President, or you are a disgraced journalist, or a former Army officer who is facing irrelevancy after a storied career, the temptation of relevance may be too enticing to pass up.

[Guybrush]

Trump's actions regarding Russia and Ukraine seem bizarre. According to the Institute for the Study of War and other sources of information, things don't seem to be going well for Russia. I'd guess Putin would also fear the end of the war and the possibly resulting discontent in the Russian people when the war has resulted in few gains and a lot of damage.

Now it seems like Trump is working on giving Putin an easy "out" from his own mess? Why?

[Psy-Fi]

Zelensky says he is 'ready' to resign as Ukraine president if it brought peace

[Buck_Mulligan]

Trump's actions regarding Russia and Ukraine seem bizarre. According to the Institute for the Study of War and other sources of information, things don't seem to be going well for Russia. I'd guess Putin would also fear the end of the war and the possibly resulting discontent in the Russian people when the war has resulted in few gains and a lot of damage.

Now it seems like Trump is working on giving Putin an easy "out" from his own mess? Why?

Trump hates Zelensky, for a couple of reasons mostly related to the 2016 US Prez election.
1: Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort was discovered to have been on the payroll of previous Ukraine prez Poroshenko a buddy of Putin.
2: Zelensky refused to provide evidence to Trump (likely because none existed) that the conspiracy claims that Russian interference in the 2016 election was done by Ukrainians disguised as Russians.
3: Zelensky refused Trump's request to open an Investigation into claims that Joe Biden was profiting from Ukraine due to his (troublesome) son Hunter's involvement with a Ukrainian oil company.
Trump looks at this as payback time.

[Buck_Mulligan]

Apparently there's a report out there somewhere today that Putin has "secretly" sold 100 tons of Russian gold to bolster finances. That would be a little under 5% of Russia's holdings, and if sold at market price would be about $10B worth.