YEMEN MAP: Who is against who?

In the last few weeks, reports coming out of #Yemen have caused further confusion to what is happening on the ground. We will try to fix that.
A relatively up-to-date map that helps understand the current division of control in Yemen:

Light green - Legitimate Yemeni government forces (Saudi-supported) - about a month ago they held all the territory to the east - the governorates of Hadhramaut and Al Mahrah.

Blue - Southern Transitional Council forces (supported by the United Arab Emirates).

Turquoise green - Al-Houthi's Nahdah forces (allied with the Southern Transitional Council).

Brown - The Houthis.

In addition, the map shows another area in the news now, Somaliland, and the strategic port of Berbera, and the ever important gateway to the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandev strait.

We are learning more from President Donald Trump as he announces a new fleet of ships on Monday, known as the "Golden Fleet". President Trump revealed he has already approved plans for two new "very large battleships." Reports indicate that the project will start with 2 battleships and could potentially include as many as 25. "As you know, we're desperately in need of ships," Trump said, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Trump is in Palm Beach, Florida for the holidays this week, with plans to spend Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago estate. "We haven't built a battleship since 1994. These cutting-edge vessels will be some of the most lethal surface warfare ships … other than our submarines."

Trump says talks with Russia and Ukraine to resolve conflict are going along okay

President Donald Trump said that the negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine to resolve the conflict are going along okay.
"The talks on Ukraine, Russia are going along. <...> We are talking. Talks are going okay," he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate near West Palm Beach, Florida.

This is how he responded to a journalist's request to comment on the progress of consultations that took place in recent days. On Saturday and Sunday in Miami, Florida, Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian President's special envoy and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, met with the US President's special envoy, Steven Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, entrepreneur Jared Kushner. "I hope we can get it done," the American leader added, referring to ending the conflict.

"I think they're all tired of that war. Everyone's tired of that war. It's got to stop," Trump said referring to the conflict.

Analyst expects EU to cease to exist as global political entity by 2030

#Europe will turn into an amorphous, conflict-prone, militarized, and economically weak place by 2030, said Nikolay Gaponenko, associate professor with the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

"The European Union will turn into an amorphous and conflict-prone space with weakened supra-national institutions by 2030. Its ‘strategic autonomy’ will become an empty phrase," he pointed out in a report titled "Strategic Forecast - Europe on the Verge of a Crisis: New Reality of 2026-2030."

The idea of "a united Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok" will ultimately give way to the reality of a divided, militarized, and economically weak continent, the expert stressed, adding that Europe would cease to exist as a global political entity by 2030, turning into an object of politics. "It will increasingly harmonize its foreign policy with Washington, as Brussels and the key capitals will lose independence. Its influence on global processes in Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific countries will decrease dramatically," the analyst concluded.

Ukraine conflict could lead to World War III, Trump warns

If the conflict in #Ukraine continues, it could escalate into World War II, US President Donald #Trump warned. "I would love to see it stopped, and we are working very hard. It doesn’t really affect the United States, unless it got out of control. <...> Things like this end up in third world wars," he told reporters at the White House.

President Donald Trump added that #Zelensky was the only representative of the Ukrainian side, who disliked Washington’s conflict settlement plan. "I thought that we were very close with Russia to having a deal. I thought we were very close with Ukraine to having a deal. In fact, other than President Zelensky, his people loved the concept of the deal," Trump said, answering to reporters’ questions at the White House.

Trump went on to say that the draft document has "four or five different parts." - "It's a little bit complicated, because you're cutting up land in a certain way," he explained. "It's not the easiest thing."

US military seizes oil tanker near Venezuela amid rising tensions

The #US move marks a sharp escalation in the standoff with the #Venezuelan regime.
The US military has intercepted and taken control of an oil tanker near the coast of Venezuela, according to a Bloomberg report. The operation comes as Washington increases pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government over its continued alignment with hostile foreign actors and ongoing violations of international norms.

The seizure is viewed in Washington as a necessary step to curb illicit oil shipments tied to the Maduro regime, which has deepened cooperation with anti-Western powers.
The incident is expected to heighten tensions further, with Caracas already accusing the US of “aggression” while American officials emphasize the need to enforce sanctions and protect regional stability.

[URGENT] Reports of possible coup as Maher Assad builds 45,000-man force

Arab media reports that Maher Assad — the powerful brother of Syrian president Bashar Assad — has assembled a striking force of roughly 45,000 fighters along the Syrian coastal plain. According to these reports, Maher, together with his influential cousin Rami Makhlouf, is pouring millions of dollars into preparing this force for what is described as a major confrontation with the Joulani regime in northern Syria.

Russian military personnel are said to be directly involved in training and organizing these units along the coastal strip.

These developments have raised questions inside the region about whether Syria is edging toward an internal power struggle that could reshape the country’s leadership. The reported forces, already positioned with an eye toward movement toward Damascus, suggest that Maher Assad may be preparing far more than a localized military campaign — potentially signaling a dangerous escalation inside a country already fractured by war and outside influence.

Note: If these reports prove accurate, Syria may be heading into a new phase of instability — one driven not by external actors but by a potential rift inside the Assad family itself. A power struggle involving Maher Assad, backed by Russian-trained forces, could shake the entire regional balance, affect Israel’s northern front, and open new opportunities or risks in the broader Middle East.

Legitimate authorities regain control of situation in Benin

The legally formed government of #Benin is regaining control of the situation in the country after a group of servicemen announced a coup this morning, AFP reported, citing sources close to President Patrice Talon. "This is a small group of rebels who had access to television," the news agency quoted a source as saying. "The regular army is regaining control of the situation," the source pointed out.

According to AFP, rebels attacked the presidential palace in Porto-Novo, the capital, in the morning, but Talon is safe.

Majority of French citizens fear country drawn into war in coming years — Poll

More than half of French residents surveyed by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) believe their country could be drawn into a military confrontation with another major power in the coming years, the poll results reported by the LCI news channel show.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 French adults on December 3-4.

Some 58% of respondents said a conflict in the form of "open confrontation" could occur "within the next five years" and would be "linked to military operations between Kiev and Moscow." Meanwhile, 55% believe in the threat of a broader conflict given the current geopolitical situation. Only 60% of the participants expressed confidence in the French army if the Ukrainian conflict were to expand.

Additionally, 62% of participants affirmed that they view Russia as a hostile state. This view is held by over half of supporters across all political parties, with the highest agreement among Socialist Party supporters (88%), while supporters of right-and left-wing opposition parties, such as the National Rally and La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, were more skeptical with 51% and 54% of those surveyed, respectively.

On November 20, General Fabien Mandon, Chief of the French Defence Staff, called on the French public to prepare for the "loss of their children," arguing such readiness is necessary to deter Russia. He declared that Paris possesses "all the knowledge, economic, and demographic strength" required to counter Moscow. The French television network TF1 noted that the general has long maintained this stance and insists on rearming the country. Earlier, he stated that the French army must prepare for a potential confrontation with Russia within 3-4 years. On November 25, French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed speculation that a proposed reform of the national military service could lead to French youth being sent to the Ukrainian conflict zone.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously dismissed as nonsense what he called the "mantra" of European politicians regarding a potential war with Russia. Speaking at the General Debate of the 80th UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia has never had, nor does it have, any intention to attack NATO or the EU.

EU falling further and further behind in 'geopolitical pecking order'

The European Union is worried that it will be dwarfed by Russia, China and the United States in the contest for economic, military and technological dominance, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. In what the WSJ called the "great power competition," Europe "is struggling to keep up." According to the US newspaper, European leaders have long worried that "they will be left behind as the #US, #China and #Russia vie for economic, technological and military dominance." "[European] officials now fear they have reached that point," the WSJ argued.

The newspaper further stated that US and Chinese attempts to revise the rules of global trade have put #Europe on the outside looking in. Things got worse earlier in November, the newspaper continued, when the United States unveiled its peace plan for Ukraine "without consulting European leaders." Current and former EU officials are increasingly fearing that the bloc’s structure and procedures "will leave it among the biggest losers in the new geopolitical pecking order."

"I think that we are finally getting realistic. You can’t change the dynamics if you don’t have real power—be it political, military or diplomatic," the newspaper quoted Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics as saying.

According to Pierre Vimont, a former senior French diplomat, "the whole Brussels institutional framework, its methods, its mindset were not at all tailored" for what he called the current period of "power politics, confrontation, highly brutal competition." For his part, the EU’s former foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, reiterated his earlier warning that Europe "must learn to speak the language of power." "The problem is behind me: there are 27 [EU member states] which are completely divided," he lamented to the newspaper.