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.

NATO base in Romania to be used for war against Russia, says presidential candidate #Romania's independent presidential candidate Calin Georgescu believes that the Mihail #Kogalniceanu military base located in the southeast of the country, which will become the largest #NATO defense facility in Europe, will be used as a springboard to start a war against Russia. "We cannot accept this," he said in an interview with former US Navy Seal Shawn #Ryan. Georgescu posted a video of the conversation on Facebook (banned in Russia; owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia). The recording is also available on the Romanian Digi 24 TV channel's website. "What is happening now in Romania gains no reaction abroad, no reaction from the United States. They don’t understand what is going on here, because if they use Romania as a door for a war, what to be next? We don’t need war; this is my point," Georgescu said. "What will the implications [be] <...> if the NATO base is going to be constructive to conduct a major offensive into Russia?" Ryan asked. "Exactly this word - ‘offensive,’ which is a wrong way. And we cannot accept this, <…> because this is not our business, not our war, again," responded Georgescu. This is not the first time that Georgescu has hypothesized a war against Russia that would be launched from Romania, Digi 24 notes. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79swOPxvPNI

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.

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.

BREAKING: MASS SHOOTING IN NEW YORK CITY At least 11 people have been shot in Queens, NY at Amazura Night Club - This is still an ACTIVE situation.

#Russia deploys its forces for operations in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to the Al-Khadim base in #Libya The Russians have supplied mercenaries and weapons to General Khalifa Haftar's forces in al-Khadim for years. Since mid-December, following the fall of the #Assad regime on the 8th of December, Moscow's Antonov AN-124 and Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft have been flying daily from Khmeimim to al-Khadim in eastern Libya, near Haftar-held Benghazi. The Russians have supplied mercenaries and weapons to General Khalifa Haftar's forces in al-Khadim for years. Earlier this year, All Eyes on Wagner reported that Russian personnel are now being accommodated in a secure compound near the base.

[Report] Fighting erupts on border between Afghanistan, Pakistan The Afghan television channel Ariana News reported that fighting broke out on the border between Afghanistan and #Pakistan. "Some points <...> including centers and shelters of criminals and their supporters, from which attacked were made on #Afghanistan, were attacked in retaliation from the country’s southeast," said a statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry controlled by the #Taliban. According to sources, light and heavy weapons were employed in the skirmishes, Ariana News reported. On December 24, the Taliban Defense Ministry announced that Pakistan struck an area in the Paktika province of Afghanistan. The ministry condemned the attack, saying it violated international law. The ministry warned that the incident will not go unanswered. At least 50 people were killed and 40 others injured in the Paktika bombing. That was the second time that Pakistan carried out airstrikes on targets in Afghanistan after a similar attack on terrorist bases in March. The latest strikes came hours after Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq held a meeting in Kabul with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Relations between the countries took a turn for the worse amid increased clashes along the border and ongoing terrorist attacks in Pakistan by Afghanistan-based militants. #AfghanistanPakistan

[BREAKING] Massive Taliban deployment and declaration of war on Pakistan Has a war just started and no one reported it? Well, of course, Israel is not involved... Here are some of the reports coming in now! #Pakistani airstrikes on #Afghanistan kill 46 people, #Taliban official says. Tensions in Pakistan-Taliban relations; Taliban deployment on Pakistani border. As per reports Taliban has mobilized forces against Pakistan after Pakistani airstrikes targeted seven villages in eastern Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of 46 people, mostly women and children! #AfghanistanPakistan

Israeli Air Force fighter jets taking off to strike #Houthi military targets in #Yemen. Well done! The more the better. Israel is making the Middle East a better place!

Expansion of the ISIS Threat in Syria In addition to the factors already mentioned that prompted the US to increase its grouping in #Syria, the activation of ISIS should also be noted. Until mid-December, there were isolated mentions of an increase in the militants' capabilities, but now their potential is beginning to take shape. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein stated that ISIS militants have seized Syrian army weapons and are now reorganizing their units, expanding control in eastern and central Syria. ❗️ In reality, the situation with ISIS has become threatening. So far, these are isolated sorties or shelling, but the terrorist group's militants are penetrating deeper not only into the Syrian Desert, but also into the Raqqa province - a significant region for #ISIS. Over the past few days, shelling of SDF positions has been recorded in Marrat near Deir ez-Zor, in Dabib in the south of Raqqa province, and crucially in Abu Khashab at the junction of the Deir ez-Zor, Hasakah and Raqqa provinces. The militants have not attacked so deeply for a long time. And this time they managed to kill three SDF members, confirming the concerns of the Iraqi Foreign Minister. The latter, by the way, also reported the escape of some ISIS prisoners from the largest prison for ISIS militants, Al-Hol on the border with Iraq, and ISIS plans to organize an attack on the facility. 🔻Against this background, French servicemen have arrived in the border areas with Iraq from the vicinity of Khan al-Jabal (the Kurds call it Khana-Sere). They were present in the northeast of Hasakah province, as some oil fields were under their control.