Syria's oil and gas comes with strategic potential

#Syria has the potential to significantly increase its #oil and natural #gas production, which can provide energy and government revenue critical to the country's stability and reconstruction. Syria was an oil exporter in the decades prior to its civil war, and its natural gas production started to increase on the eve of the war. The country was self-sufficient in terms of energy supplies. Sales of oil and gas provided 20% of the government’s revenue. Most of Syria’s oil and natural gas fields are located in eastern Syria, in areas that are currently largely under the control of the predominately Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and where US forces are deployed. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated in 2015 that Syria possessed 2.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. In 2010, Syria produced 383,000 barrels per day of oil.

Estimates of Syria’s oil output on the eve of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster range between 40,000–80,000 barrels per day, while Iran was providing the bulk of Syria’s oil supplies, up to 100,000 barrels a day.

In 2015, the EIA estimated Syria’s natural gas reserves to be 240 billion cubic meters (bcm). Syria’s natural gas is used for power production. According to British Petroleum (BP), Syria produced 8.7 bcm of natural gas in 2011, which fell to 3 bcm annually by 2024. According to International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, natural gas provided one-quarter of Syria’s electricity supplies in 2022.

President Trump signs order announcing 90-day pause in foreign assistance

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reevaluating and realigning foreign #aid, which announces a 90-day pause in #foreign assistance. "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered <...> 90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy," reads the document published on the White House website.

According to the order, "disbursements of foreign development assistance funds may resume for a program prior to the end of the 90-day period if a review is conducted." The document points out that "the United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values." "They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries," the order adds.

Joe Biden on Monday, just hours before he leaves office and Donald Trump becomes president, pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the Jan. 6 #committee.

None of those pardoned are known to have been found guilty of any pardonabe crimes, but Trump has vowed to take “revenge” on certain political rivals in his next administration, according to The Associated Press.

#Milley was the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who called Trump a fascist and criticized Trump's behavior during the Jan. 6 2021 riot.
#Fauci was the leader in coordinating the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has come under scrutiny for how he handled the role

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfvsQr-iFSM

Jan. 17th, 2025 - President Trump Statement

"January 20th cannot come fast enough! Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen. It is my obligation to protect the People of our Country but, before we even begin, we have to think of the Inauguration itself. The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!).
 
Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather. The various Dignitaries and Guests will be brought into the Capitol. This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!
 
We will open Capital One Arena on Monday for LIVE viewing of this Historic event, and to host the Presidential Parade. I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my Swearing In. All other events will remain the same, including the Victory Rally at Capital One Arena, on Sunday at 3 P.M. (Doors open at 1 P.M.—Please arrive early!), and all three Inaugural Balls on Monday evening.
 
Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Over half of Greenlanders support joining the US, survey shows

More than half of #Greenland’s residents are for joining the US, according to a poll conducted on January 6-11 by the Patriot Polling NGO.
The majority of respondents (57.3%) approved the idea of joining the US, while 37.4% spoke out against it. Out of those surveyed, 5.3% remained undecided. "During the time that this poll was conducted, Donald Trump Jr. made a visit to Greenland," pollsters noted, specifying that the survey was taken among 416 Greenlanders.

About #France 'withdrawal' from #Africa

The year began with news of the closure of French military bases in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. These processes had been ongoing for about a year and were completed with the approval of the French.

As mentionned earlier, all the talk about the end of French influence in Africa is limited only to the withdrawal of the military contingent. Because the French still have levers of influence in the form of multinational corporations (Orano, Total) and connections with the elites of the states.

But in any case, this shows the inability of the French authorities to maintain all spheres of African politics under their control (which the USA has already taken advantage of). Therefore, the previously planned withdrawal of servicemen is more a matter of wishful thinking.

The French military budget is facing serious problems, and the prospects of maintaining bases in West Africa are not entirely clear. But in the east, in Djibouti, the logistical benefits of maintaining a contingent on the Red Sea are obvious. Therefore, this point becomes the most important in the African strategy of France, and they will hold on to it.

Cybertruck Bomber Sends Mysterious Email

An email that appears to be time-stamped December 31, 2024 — ONE DAY before the Las Vegas attack — citing "Matt Berg" or "Matthew Livelsberger" has been obtained by former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Sam Shoemate and aired on the show hosted by Shawn #Ryan. The email purports that there are "drones" that are powered by "gravitic propulsion" that are an alleged threat to national security.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believes that the suspected driver of the Tesla #Cybertruck that exploded near President-elect Donald Trump's hotel in Las Vegas (Nevada) did not harbor animosity towards him, Reuters reported, citing an FBI spokesman. According to him, Matthew #Livelsberger, the suspect in the bombing, probably suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, he had "no animosity" toward Trump. An FBI spokesman also confirmed that investigators have no indication of a link between the terrorist attacks in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Las Vegas.

French military expert says NATO may repeat Soviet Union’s fate

#NATO, despite all odds, did not disappear after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but this fate still awaits the North Atlantic Alliance in the coming years due to the lack of a geopolitical potential, Regis Chamagne, a French Air Force colonel, Commander of the Legion of Honor and holder of the National Order of Merit, has told Stratpol. "The way I see it, NATO will disappear soon. NATO should have disappeared after the collapse of the #USSR. But it didn't for existential reasons. NATO was looking for new missions," the expert said. "My forecast is that in five years’ time there may be neither NATO nor the EU. True, NATO will be trying to weaken Russia on its periphery and to harm it in the Middle East, but globally the North Atlantic Alliance has no potential".

#Chamagne described NATO and the EU as "two sides of the same coin." - "Given the way elections are held today, we can say that the EU in its current shape is a dictatorship. The whole world has already seen this. The EU will end up just like the Soviet Union," he believes.

The military expert explained that a system "based on permanent lies," like the current EU is unlivable. "The US policy towards the EU is aimed at weakening it. The core of the Western economy is the dollar," Chamagne added, noting that the hostilities in Ukraine have "opened the world's eyes to the fact that Russia's army is superior to the US one," which has accelerated the process of de-dollarization.

Houthis declare missile strike against Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv

Yemen’s #Houthis from the rebel Ansar Allah movement delivered a "hypersonic ballistic #missile" strike against the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, said Yahya Saree, the organization’s military spokesperson. "The rocket troops of the Yemeni armed forces staged a military operation, attacking the Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied district of Jaffa (Tel Aviv)]," the spokesman said, streamed by Al Masirah television. The movement also attacked a power plant located in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Saree added.

Tom Homan: Trump will immediately bring back ICE worksite raids
Incoming #Border Czar Thomas #Homan says President-elect Donald #Trump will restore Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (#ICE) authority to protect American workers by conducting worksite enforcement raids and reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” border policy.

BREITBART - “We haven’t really worked out the plan for worksite enforcement,” Homan told the Washington Post about allowing ICE agents to conduct such immigration enforcement. “We know that employers are going to be upset.”

In February 2021, Biden stripped ICE of its ability to conduct worksite enforcement raids. At the time, an agency official told the Post that the administration had “abolished ICE without abolishing ICE.” In addition to protecting American workers from illegal employment, Homan said the incoming Trump administration will reinstate the Remain in #Mexico policy at the southern border, which Biden ended on his first day in office. Remain in Mexico was created and imposed by the first Trump administration, helping to drastically cut asylum fraud by ensuring migrants are not released into the U.S. interior while awaiting their immigration hearings.

Homan said the next administration will similarly construct soft-sided facilities that will hold migrant adults with the children they arrive at the border with. “We need to show the American people we can do this and not be inhumane about it,” Homan told the Post. “We can’t lose the faith of the American people.”