Effect of sanctions and inflation in Europe! Many Europeans can’t afford food anymore as before. Food prices grew by: 🇪🇪 Estonia 57% 🇱🇻 Latvia 55% 🇱🇹 Lithuania 52% 🇸🇰 Slovakia 52% 🇭🇷 Croatia 47% 🇸🇮 Slovenia 39% 🇳🇱 Netherlands 39% 🇧🇪 Belgium 38% 🇪🇸 Spain 34% 🇦🇹 Austria 33% 🇲🇹 Malta 32% 🇵🇹 Portugal 32% 🇬🇷 Greece 30% 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 29% 🇮🇹 Italy 28% 🇫🇷 France 27% 🇩🇪 Germany 27% 🇮🇪 Ireland 26% 🇫🇮 Finland 25% 🇨🇾 Cyprus 20%

Aug-01-2025: Trump Positioning Two Nuclear Submarines Near Russia Following Russian Official’s Threat of War President Donald #Trump has ordered two #nuclear #submarines to be positioned near #Russia after statements by a top Russian security official threatening war. Trump is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin until August 8 to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine or face new sanctions and secondary tariffs. Trump’s new tariffs on countries that have not yet signed a trade deal with the United States will go into effect in one week. Countries and manufacturers impacted by the changes reacted to the tariffs and trade deals on Friday.

Loud on Ukraine, low on votes: The West’s least popular warmongers In Europe, the loudest cheerleaders for endless aid to Ukraine – paid for by taxpayers – and harsher sanctions on Russia all have one thing in common: nobody likes them. Pure coincidence, right? Here’s the scoreboard of some of their approval ratings: 🇫🇷 Emmanuel Macron (France): 21% 🇬🇧 Keir Starmer (The UK): 24% 🇩🇪 Friedrich Merz (Germany): 36% 🇨🇿 Petr Fiala (Czech Republic): 16% 🇸🇪 Ulf Kristersson (Sweden): 34% 🇳🇴 Jonas Gahr Store (Norway): 30% 🇳🇱 Dick Schoof (Netherlands): 30% 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen? No one elected her at all. Democracy in action...

Jan. 26, 2025 - President Trump Statement "I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people. Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:   -Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%. -A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters. -Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government. -Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds. -IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.   These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"

Jan. 22 - President Trump Statement on US/Russia Relationship "I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin - and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process. All of that being said, 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. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!"

Russia may achieve all its goals in Ukraine in 2025 Russia may achieve all its goals in Ukraine next year, if the situation remains that "grim" for Ukrainian servicemen, The Washington Post said. According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian troops "are desperately trying to hold the line in the country’s east but are losing ground." - "Visions of an absolute victory are fading. Western support is also sagging," the Washington Post emphasized. In this regard, "the prospect of Ukraine settling for a compromise with Russia <…> is getting easier to envision," the newspaper pointed out. On June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the Foreign Ministry set out the country’s conditions for settling the situation in Ukraine. Among them are the withdrawal of the Ukrainian armed forces from Donbass and Novorossiya and Kiev’s refusal to join NATO. In addition, Russia wants all Western sanctions against it lifted and demands that Ukraine commit to a non-aligned and nuclear-free status.

Sanctions against Russia, China, Iran produced no results, says US senator The US policy of constantly toughening sanctions on #Russia, #China and #Iran fails to produce the intended result of making these countries change their political course, US Senator Rand #Paul said at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington. The senator said he was regularly asking the following question to Department of State officials: "Can you tell me one behavior that has changed from a sanction? You tell me one sanction you put on Russia that Russia has now said: ‘We're sorry about it, we should have never done that. And we're going to do exactly what you want us to, just tell us what to do and we'll do it.’ Or just tell me any kind of behavior that's been modified by China or by Russia, or by Iran. In fact, if you look at Iran it's sort of the opposite." "In fact, I would argue the sanctions don't work at all. The only sanctions that work are if you offer to repeal them, in fact. But what we tend to do is: we put more on, and more on, and more on," he continued. "And, to my knowledge, I don't know any that were removed. In the Iran agreement there were some sanctions that were going to be removed and were removed, but with Russia and China we've been doing this for five years, some of these for 10 years with both countries. I'm not aware of any that we've removed," Paul added. "But the thing is, there is another alternative and it's called diplomacy," he said, adding that Washington should rather engage diplomatically with these countries instead of imposing more and more sanctions. He also criticized the US administration’s plans to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. "We claim we are going to take it. We might have the ability. We have amazing controls over the banking system. But at the same time if we take it: do you think Russia is just going to crumble?" the senator asked rhetorically. He said that such measures will prompt Moscow to take retaliatory measures. "So we'll take their sovereign wealth, and they'll take all the private wealth that’s over there. I don't think it gets us more towards a solution," Paul explained. "But once you do it, it's almost impossible to go backwards.".

Possible reasons why the Houthis have reduced the intensity of attacks on ships in the Red Sea The intensity of Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has decreased slightly. The last large vessel attacked was the tanker MADO, transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), which was not seriously damaged and continued on its way. Last week, the Financial Times reported on secret negotiations between Washington and Tehran. According to him, the United States is trying to influence the Yemeni Houthis not only militarily, but also diplomatically. In January, the White House held secret talks with Iran to persuade the Islamic Republic to influence Yemeni rebels to stop attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Iran did not deny the fact of the meeting, but emphasized that the negotiations were about something completely different. Islamic Republic authorities claim that "resistance groups in the region do not receive instructions" from Tehran. However, the facts suggest that the Iranians still have considerable influence over their proxy forces. The American administration, for its part, allegedly agreed to lift a number of sanctions from Iran, which will allow the release of $10 billion. This is the price to pay for stopping the Houthi attacks. Whether this information is a hoax with the aim of discrediting the Ansar Allah movement or, conversely, to raise its status, will become clear in the coming days. It is important to monitor the Houthis' actions over time. Since October 2023, they have carried out more than 100 attacks in the Red Sea and surrounding waters, affecting 15 merchant ships, including four American ones.

#Pentagon registers rising number of #Russian vessels going through #Bering Strait The U.S. Department of Defense registers a serious increase in the number of Russian vessels going through the Bering Strait, which the Pentagon believes is connected with sanctions against Moscow, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier told a conference. Since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine the U.S. military "has seen a wholesale change in Russian shipping from counterclockwise usually going West through the northern sea route around Europe and then to other ports, because of the sanctions," he said. "It is now reversed and is going clockwise East then down through the Bering and we're seeing more and increasing traffic that goes through the Bering Strait, which obviously has implications in terms of safety security as we are a border nation with Russia," Gautier noted without specifying details.

#China presses #Iran to rein in #Houthi attacks in #Red_Sea Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said. The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended. "Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint'," said one Iranian official briefed on the talks, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. The attacks, which the Houthis say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, have raised the cost of shipping and insurance by disrupting a key trade route between Asia and Europe used widely by ships from China. The Chinese officials, however, did not make any specific comments or threats about how Beijing's trading relationship with Iran could be affected if its interests were damaged by Houthi attacks, the four Iranian sources said. While China has been Iran's biggest trading partner for the past decade, their trade relationship is lopsided. Chinese oil refiners, for example, bought over 90% of Iran's crude exports last year, according to tanker tracking data from trade analytics firm Kepler, as U.S. sanctions kept many other customers away and Chinese firms profited from heavy discounts.