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Category: World
February 12, 2025
News
War
World

U.S. Will Not Send Troops to Ukraine to Enforce Ceasefire: Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth, the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Donald J. Trump, has confirmed that American forces will not be part of any potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine following a ceasefire agreement. Addressing allied representatives in Brussels, Belgium, he suggested that European nations should lead in securing the continent.

During the NATO and allied meeting, Hegseth also stated that expecting Ukraine to revert to its pre-2014 territorial boundaries is “unrealistic.” He dismissed the notion of Ukraine joining NATO as a means of ensuring its security, advising against NATO involvement in a peacekeeping role. Instead, he proposed that European and non-NATO troops might deploy as part of a non-NATO mission, stressing the importance of international oversight on any line of contact.

Hegseth also highlighted that all NATO allies should raise their defense spending to five percent of GDP. He emphasized the need for Europe to assume greater responsibility for its own security.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded entry into NATO, threatening to acquire nuclear weapons if not allowed into the alliance.

The comments from Hegseth came after Zelensky called for NATO member states, including the United States, to deploy troops to Ukraine to deter any future Russian action against his country. “It can’t be without the United States… Nobody will risk without the United States,” Zelensky complained at a meeting of the globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) last month.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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Pete Hegseth, the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Donald J. Trump, has confirmed that American forces will not be part of any potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine following a ceasefire agreement. Addressing allied representatives in Brussels, Belgium, he suggested that European nations should lead in securing the continent. show more
February 11, 2025
War
World

Trump Dispatches Treasury Secretary Bessent to Ukraine for Zelensky Meeting on Critical Minerals.

President Donald J. Trump has announced plans to send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine, aiming to secure a mineral trade arrangement as part of U.S. aid efforts amid Ukraine’s ongoing military conflict with Russia. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.

“I am sending Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet President Zelensky,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This War MUST and WILL END SOON—Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show. WHEN AMERICA IS STRONG, THE WORLD IS AT PEACE.”

The special envoy assigned by Trump for Ukraine and Russia matters, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, mentioned that the Treasury Department is evaluating ways to secure a contract bringing rare-earth minerals into the U.S. The potential agreement would make U.S. aid contingent on the acquisition of these minerals.

Ukraine is a major supplier of rare-earth minerals in Europe, possessing significant deposits of lithium, titanium, uranium, and iron. President Zelensky has shown an openness to discussing mineral agreements, as noted in recent comments made by Trump during a recent interview, indicating Ukraine’s willingness to proceed with such a deal in return for sustained U.S. support.

Trump has expressed a commitment to ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, highlighting plans for negotiations involving Zelensky and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Discussions between Trump and Putin have been reported, though specific timelines for formal talks remain undisclosed.

Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to meet with Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, along with Lt. Gen. Kellogg. This meeting may offer further opportunities to facilitate progress toward peace in the region.

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President Donald J. Trump has announced plans to send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine, aiming to secure a mineral trade arrangement as part of U.S. aid efforts amid Ukraine's ongoing military conflict with Russia. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. show more
February 11, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
War
World

Netanyahu Threatens to Resume War If Hostages Not Returned By Trump’s Deadline.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the terrorist group Hamas that his country will resume its war against the Islamist organization if hostages captured on October 7, 2023, are not released by a deadline set by President Donald J. Trump for Saturday at noon. “If Hamas does not return our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated,” Netanyahu said following a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, February 11.

Initially, Israel did not expect all nine remaining hostages to be released at noon on Saturday. However, they are now backing demands from President Donald J. Trump, who called on all nine to be freed by the noon deadline.

“In light of Hamas’s announcement of its decision to violate the agreement and not release our hostages, I instructed the IDF last night to amass forces inside and around the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said. Israeli media reports that reservists have also been called up and deployed.

The move comes after Hamas claimed that Israel was violating the ceasefire deal, which President Trump helped to broker. As a result, the terror group stated it would postpone the release of hostages.

The initial ceasefire agreement called on Hamas to release all hostages in a three-phase plan. Hamas has already released some hostages who were held for over 500 days.

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the terrorist group Hamas that his country will resume its war against the Islamist organization if hostages captured on October 7, 2023, are not released by a deadline set by President Donald J. Trump for Saturday at noon. "If Hamas does not return our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated," Netanyahu said following a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, February 11. show more
February 11, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
War
World

Zelensky Offers Russia Territory Swap After Lacklustre Kursk Offensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is reportedly open to exchanging territory with Russia after an attempted Ukrainian military offensive in Russia’s Kursk region. The Ukrainian leader has offered to return the land Ukrainian forces now occupy in Kursk in exchange for land Russia occupies. Zelensky was not specific about what territory he wished to regain in the trade.

“I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” Zelensky told the Guardian newspaper in an interview on Tuesday, February 11.

The announcement by Zelensky comes after Ukraine attempted a new offensive in the Kursk region earlier this month. Russian Defense Ministry sources claim that Russian military forces repelled the attack, while Ukrainian sources claim their forces had made some advances in the area.

President Zelensky recently expressed a desire to meet with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for face-to-face talks. Putin and the Kremlin, meanwhile, refuse to recognize Zelensky as the legitimate leader of Ukraine, arguing that his term as president ended last year in May. Under Ukraine’s current martial law status, no new elections have been held.

President Donald J. Trump has stated that he spoke with President Putin this week on ending the conflict, but he did not go into detail on what was said. President Trump has vowed to end the war and negotiate a ceasefire.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is reportedly open to exchanging territory with Russia after an attempted Ukrainian military offensive in Russia's Kursk region. The Ukrainian leader has offered to return the land Ukrainian forces now occupy in Kursk in exchange for land Russia occupies. Zelensky was not specific about what territory he wished to regain in the trade. show more
February 11, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
Crime
War
World

Woman Sentenced to 12 Years for Enslaving Children with ISIS.

A woman has sentenced a woman to 12 years in prison for taking part in the enslavement of children and women in Syria when she was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group. Lina Ishaq, 52, was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by a Stockholm court and was sentenced on Tuesday, February 11.

Ishaq was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group and lived in Raqqa, Syria, in 2015, when the group controlled that area of the country. During that time, she enslaved at least three women and six children belonging to the Yazidi minority.

The victims, who all appeared as plaintiffs in the case, stated they were all held for at least five months by the terrorist group after Islamic State fighters had initially captured them during a series of attacks on their villages in Iraq in August of 2014.

Ishaq is said to have forcibly converted the victims to Islam and made them recite the Quran and pray five times a day. The victims were also forced to do household chores, and some were held for years by human traffickers.

While the Islamic State no longer holds vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, and several of its leaders have been killed, the group remains a threat. Several recent terror attacks have seen perpetrators pledge allegiance to the group, including the New Orleans New Year’s Day terrorist.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

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A woman has sentenced a woman to 12 years in prison for taking part in the enslavement of children and women in Syria when she was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group. Lina Ishaq, 52, was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by a Stockholm court and was sentenced on Tuesday, February 11. show more
February 11, 2025
William Upton
Economy
World

Trump Reinstates Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, Closing Loopholes that Benefited China.

Late Monday night, President Donald J. Trump announced he has reinstated 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from a handful of countries previously exempt from the tariffs. According to the President, the move is necessary to close loopholes used by the People’s Republic of China to continue dumping their cheap steel on American markets.

“The countries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom had received exemptions, which prevented the tariffs from being effective,” the Trump White House explains, adding: “By granting exemptions to certain countries, the United States inadvertently created loopholes that were exploited by China and others with excess steel and aluminum capacity, undermining the purpose of these exemptions.”

According to President Trump, the 25 percent steel and aluminum tariffs are derived from his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the White House to unilaterally adjust certain tariff rates in the name of national security. This authority was used by Trump in 2018 to institute a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The White House has indicated that the tariffs will remain in place until America’s domestic steel and aluminum industries “achieve[e] sustainable capacity utilization of at least 80 [percent].”

During Trump’s first term in office, domestic capacity utilization for steel reached 81 percent but fell under the Biden government to just 75.3 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, aluminum jumped from 40 percent to 61 percent under Trump, again falling to 55 percent in 2023.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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Late Monday night, President Donald J. Trump announced he has reinstated 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from a handful of countries previously exempt from the tariffs. According to the President, the move is necessary to close loopholes used by the People's Republic of China to continue dumping their cheap steel on American markets. show more
February 11, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
Politics
World

European President in Country Where Courts Canceled Elections Quits After Populists Move to Impeach Him.

The president of a European Union (EU) country that saw its top court overturn the last presidential election has decided to resign rather than face impeachment led by populist parties. Romania‘s President Klaus Iohannis announced his resignation on Monday, February 10, stating that he wished to avoid a crisis.

Last month, three populist and conservative opposition parties filed a motion to impeach Iohannis. The Romanian parliament was set to vote on the issue, and there is speculation that other parties may support the motion and grant it a majority vote due to Iohannis’s unpopularity.

Senate speaker Ilie Bolojan, leader of the Romanian Liberal Party, will serve as interim president until the presidential election is rerun in May.

The resignation and threats of impeachment come after the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled last year’s presidential election, which saw populist Călin Georgescu, a critic of NATO, advance toward a second-round victory. Romanian intelligence claimed that Georgescu had benefitted from an influence campaign on the social media platform TikTok, leaving speculation that the campaign may have been linked to Russia.

Romania’s new presidential elections will be held on May 4 and May 18, and polling shows Georgescu leading with 37 percent of the votes in the first round—far ahead of the 22.94 percent he won in the first round of the annulled election.

Image by European Union 2018 – European Parliament.

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The president of a European Union (EU) country that saw its top court overturn the last presidential election has decided to resign rather than face impeachment led by populist parties. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis announced his resignation on Monday, February 10, stating that he wished to avoid a crisis. show more
February 11, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
Immigration
World

Record Low Asylum Claims in European Country with ‘Zero Refugee’ Policy.

Asylum seeker admissions have been reduced to historic lows in Denmark after it implemented a “zero refugee” policy, despite the country being ruled by a government of social democrats. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen has supported a tougher asylum seeker policy since coming into power in 2019, and has now managed to reduce approved asylum applications to just 860 last year.

Kaare Dybvad Bek, Denmark’s immigration minister, called the figure “historic,” making Denmark one of the countries that approved the fewest asylum seekers in the European Union in 2024. The EU member received a total of 2,500 asylum requests last year, while neighboring Germany received over 213,000 applications.

Denmark has also been at the forefront of European countries pushing for better migrant integration. In 2023, the country began destroying migrant no-go zones in an effort to stop the growth of parallel societies.

Vollsmose, a suburb of the city of Odense, was destroyed, with the migration-background residents later relocated to different parts of the city with lower populations of people from non-Danish backgrounds.

Other countries have also begun adopting policies similar to Denmark’s to reduce immigration and asylum claims. In Sweden, for instance, a right-wing government backed by populists claimed last year that more migrants had left Sweden than entered.

However, some noted that the Swedish claim may have been exaggerated, with the statistics possibly a result of the Swedish Tax Registry clearing its books of people who had already left Sweden.

Image by Joachim Seidler.

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Asylum seeker admissions have been reduced to historic lows in Denmark after it implemented a "zero refugee" policy, despite the country being ruled by a government of social democrats. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen has supported a tougher asylum seeker policy since coming into power in 2019, and has now managed to reduce approved asylum applications to just 860 last year. show more
February 10, 2025
NatSec
News
World

Trump Says Canada Will Be ‘Much Better Off’ as 51st State, Doubles Down on Gaza.

President Donald J. Trump has reiterated his ambition of bringing both Canada and Gaza under U.S. control. The comments emerged during an exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to attend Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 9.

Trump suggested again that Canada could become America’s 51st state, saying, “I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state. Because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada, and I’m not going to let that happen, it’s too much. Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now if they are a 51st state, I don’t mind doing it.”

Trump justified his stance by citing Canada’s $200 billion annual economic loss, stating that the U.S. “subsidizes” its northern neighbor.

On the Middle East, Trump alluded to potential U.S. control over Gaza amid ongoing conflict negotiations involving Israel and Hamas. Reporting to correspondents on Air Force One, he expressed commitment to “owning” Gaza, proposing reconstruction could be shared with Middle Eastern countries.

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President Donald J. Trump has reiterated his ambition of bringing both Canada and Gaza under U.S. control. The comments emerged during an exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to attend Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 9. show more
February 10, 2025
Politics
World

Greenland’s Mineral Riches Will Elude EU Without U.S. Influence.

President Donald J. Trump’s push for the United States to purchase Greenland will likely have the added benefit of forcing the Arctic island’s socialist government to relax its resistance to American and European mineral exploration. Beneath the island’s icy surface lies an array of valuable rare earth minerals considered essential for artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation technology, and renewable energy projects.

Trump’s recent overtures regarding an American purchase of Greenland have sparked renewed discussions about mineral exploitation rights, especially the entrance of U.S.-based mining and extraction firms. Meanwhile, the American leader continues to assert his interest in Denmark transferring control of the island to the United States—an action Trump has floated since his first term in office.

Despite being a dominion of Denmark, Greenland maintains authority over its mineral resources. Since 2009, when the island obtained self-rule, its government has managed everything beneath its surface, once actively issuing permits to foster a mining industry and diversify its economy, which currently leans on fishing, tourism, and construction. At the time, a Memorandum of Understanding, signed with the first Trump administration, opened Greenland to U.S. investment opportunities.

However, mining activity has recently been scarce—with only one U.S. firm currently operating on the Arctic island. This is partly due to Greenland’s current socialist government being hostile to mining operations, with Premier Múte B. Egede halting many projects, notably uranium mining. Additionally, the harsh Arctic environment is challenging for even the most well-funded minting outfits, and the operation of a new mine involves extensive infrastructure development, which can take up to 16 years, adding significant risk for investors.

Despite the obstacles, the United States is best positioned to provide the investment capital to access Greenland’s extensive mineral wealth. Additionally, a large American presence would benefit Europe, allowing their mining firms to piggyback on the work of U.S. companies.

Image by NordForsk/Terje Heiestad.

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President Donald J. Trump's push for the United States to purchase Greenland will likely have the added benefit of forcing the Arctic island's socialist government to relax its resistance to American and European mineral exploration. Beneath the island's icy surface lies an array of valuable rare earth minerals considered essential for artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation technology, and renewable energy projects. show more