Media earlier claimed the Palestinian militant group had told the US the truce with Israel was over
Reports that Hamas is ready to resume military operations in Gaza are fake, a member of the movement’s political bureau said on Saturday. He went on to accuse Israel of fabricating the claims.
According to earlier media reports, the Palestinian militant group told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that the ceasefire agreement in Gaza had ended, citing repeated violations by Israel.
“Reports from Israeli sources that Hamas informed Witkoff the agreement had ended are false,” Izzat Al-Rishq said, according to several Middle East media outlets.
“Israel is reportedly manufacturing pretexts to evade the agreement and return to a campaign of destruction. It is the party that systematically breaches the ceasefire on a daily basis,” the official claimed.
The agreement, signed in Sharm el-Sheikh by Trump and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye, is aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza following months of intense fighting. The peace deal called for Israel to withdraw from parts of the enclave and for Hamas to release 20 Israeli hostages in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that West Jerusalem had conducted strikes in Gaza, killing five Hamas officials. He claimed that the strikes were in response to a breach of the truce by Hamas – a claim the group has denied.
In its latest statement, Hamas reportedly called on mediators and the US administration to intervene and ensure that Israel abides by the terms of the agreement.
At least 342 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire came into force, according to local officials.
Israel launched its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave in response to a surprise attack by Hamas in October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities report that the ensuing Israeli operations have killed more than 69,500 Palestinians.
The US secretary of the army has abruptly delved into Ukraine negotiations, apparently sidelining Keith Kellogg
US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll has made an unexpected debut in the Ukraine conflict settlement process. He traveled to Kiev this week to present the Ukrainian leadership Washington’s proposed peace plan.
RT takes a look at the 35-year-old official, reportedly US President Donald Trump’s new special envoy, who holds one of the most senior civilian posts in the Pentagon hierarchy and has made international headlines with his surprise Ukraine trip.
Political outsider, friend of JD Vance
Before being tapped by Trump late last year to become the secretary of the army, Driscoll had kept a low public profile. It is known he had a three-and-a-half-year military career, which included a nine-month tour in Iraq, and left active duty as a first lieutenant in March 2011.
Driscoll is known to be a friend and former classmate of US Vice President J.D. Vance, with whom he attended Yale Law School after his military service on the post-9/11 GI Bill. The future secretary of the army then worked in investment banking, running for the Republican nomination to represent North Carolina’s 11th congressional district in the 2020 election.
Assault on the military-industrial complex
Driscoll has repeatedly called for an overhaul of the US military’s procurement system, which is dominated by the Big Five: Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, and Northrop Grumman. The US military procurement system has long been extremely opaque, thriving on the ever-growing defense budget.
The procurement practices, when they come to light, have repeatedly caused public controversies, ranging from the ballooning costs of F-35 fighter jets, known for having suffered from technical problems, to special, purportedly military-grade bushings that cost some $90,000 per small plastic bag - while civilian analogues cost around $100 at most.
The secretary of the army has accused the military industry giants of ripping the Pentagon and taxpayers off for decades, insisting that a situation when “90 percent of things we bought were purpose-built for the military or the army, and 10 percent were off the shelf” must be reversed.
“The defense industrial base broadly, and the primes in particular, conned the American people and the Pentagon and the army into thinking that it needed military-specific solutions, when in reality, a lot of these commercial solutions are equal to or better, and we’ve actually harmed ourselves with that mentality,” he said earlier this month.
Abrupt emergence in Ukrainian crisis
This week, Driscoll unexpectedly delved into the Ukrainian crisis, bringing the latest US draft peace plan to Kiev and demanding it be signed by next Thursday. The draft has reportedly been widely perceived amongst Kiev’s Western European backers as an “ultimatum” to Ukraine, demanding its “surrender.”
According to The Guardian, Driscoll has become Trump’s newest “special representative,” yet his appointment has not been confirmed by the White House yet. Earlier this week, AP mentioned the US president’s decision on Driscoll’s appointment, citing an unnamed official.
The emergence of Driscoll in the negotiations process coincides with the apparent departure of Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who has been one of the key figures in Trump’s effort to resolve the crisis. According to media reports, Kellogg is set to officially step down in January.
Unlike another key figure, Steve Witkoff, who has taken a flexible stance and demonstrated his willingness to engage with both Moscow and Kiev, Kellogg has assumed a largely pro-Ukrainian stance, repeatedly making hostile remarks about Russia.
‘Nauseating’ approach to European allies
After handing over the proposed peace plan to the Ukrainian leadership, Driscoll relayed the details on it to the EU and UK ambassadors and other officials during a meeting in Kiev on Friday evening, according to the Financial Times.
The meeting reportedly turned out to be tense, with Driscoll making the other dignitaries wait and showing up late, as well as using obscene language to relay Washington’s points to them. “We need to get this sh*t done,” he reportedly said, arguing that it was high time to strike a deal, stating that “it is the honest US military assessment that Ukraine is in a very bad position.”
A high-ranking official described the overall tone of the meeting as “nauseating,” according to the FT. Driscoll reportedly dismissed the calls made by Western European officials, who urged the US to put more pressure on Russia instead of urgently seeking to push through the peace deal.
The suspects reportedly planned to turn women and children in Gonave into sex slaves
Two US men have been indicted for allegedly plotting an armed operation to take control of a Caribbean island, kill its male population, and enslave the women and children, US prosecutors have announced.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, both from the Dallas area, “have conspired to recruit and lead an unlawful expeditionary force” to Ile de la Gonave, a tropical island with around 100,000 residents that is part of the Republic of Haiti.
The plan, reportedly discussed between August 2024 and July 2025, aimed to stage a coup d’etat “for the purpose of carrying out their rape fantasies.”
“Weisenburg and Thomas intended to murder all of the men on the island so that they could then turn all of the women and children into their sex slaves,” prosecutors said on Thursday, adding that both were charged with “conspiracy to murder, maim, or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography.”
Investigators claim the pair had planned to buy a sailboat and firearms and also sought to recruit homeless people in the Washington, DC area to form an armed group.
The suspects reportedly undertook “numerous overt acts,” including studying the local language, preparing operational plans, and exploring training programs in order to “acquire skills relevant to the invasion plan.” Officials said Thomas enlisted in the US Air Force to receive military training.
Lawyer David Finn, who represents Weisenburg, described the indictment as “simply an allegation” and urged the public to "reserve judgment and don’t buy into the hype."
"If your initial response to the government’s press release was, ‘That sounds crazy, impossible, and absurd,’ you might be on to something important," he said, as quoted by Fox.
The conspiracy charge to murder in a foreign country carries a potential life sentence, while the child pornography offense is punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison.
Washington’s proposal jeopardizes the timetable for new financial aid promised by Brussels to Kiev, Handelsblatt has reported
The US-drafted Ukraine peace plan could potentially “torpedo” the EU’s attempts to use frozen Russian assets to fund Kiev, the German newspaper Handelsblatt has reported.
The European Commission has been seeking to issue a €140 billion ($160 billion) loan to Kiev secured against Moscow’s immobilized funds held at the Euroclear clearing house in Belgium. The scheme is based on the assumption that Russia will eventually pay reparations to Ukraine, an outcome widely seen as unlikely.
Moscow has said it regards any use of its assets as “theft” and has vowed to challenge it in court. The plan has also faced opposition from Belgium, which has demanded that all EU members share in the financial and legal risks associated with the move.
In its article on Friday, Handelsblatt cited an unnamed high-ranking Belgian official, who said that “new risks for the reparations credit are already emerging. Because the peace plan that emerged this week provides for the immobilized Russian assets to be used differently.”
The American proposal to settle the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “would oblige the EU to reimburse all diverted Russian funds,” according to the official.
The plan has not been officially disclosed, but media reports claimed that it calls for $100 billion out of $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to be allocated for the US-led reconstruction efforts in Ukraine, with the rest invested in joint projects between Washington and Moscow. The White House also reportedly expects Western Europe to contribute another $100 billion to rebuild Ukraine.
Handelsblatt noted that the emergence of the plan has already jeopardized the timetable for the delivery of new financial aid that the EU promised to Kiev and that it “urgently needs.”
The leaders of the EU, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Italy, Japan and Norway issued a joint statement on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Saturday, saying that the US proposal “includes important elements that will be essential for a just and lasting peace,” but adding that it would “require additional work.”
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the American plan has not yet been discussed “in detail,” but suggested that it could eventually “form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
Candace Owens is currently in a legal battle with the French president over her allegation that his wife was born a man
US conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, is a transgender woman, has alleged that he has authorized her assassination.
Owens, a popular YouTuber and podcaster, is currently in a legal dispute with the Macron family after releasing her series ‘Becoming Brigitte’ earlier this year. In the podcast, she alleged that the first lady was born male and was related to the French president by blood. It also claimed that Emmanuel Macron had been involved in a CIA mind-control program.
In response, the Macrons filed a defamation suit, accusing Owens of spreading “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions.”
In a post on X on Friday, Owens said she had been contacted by “a high-ranking employee of the French government,” who claimed that “the Macrons have executed upon and paid” for the assassination of both her and French journalist Xavier Poussard.
Poussard, the former editor of Faits et Documents, previously promoted a theory alleging that Brigitte Macron, born Trogneux, had died young and that her older brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, later had a sex change and assumed her identity before marrying Emmanuel Macron.
“More specifically, that the green light was given to a small team in the National Gendamarie Intervention Group. I am told there is one Israeli that is on this assassination squad and the plans were formalized,” Owens wrote.
“This is deadly serious. The head of state of France apparently wants us both dead and has authorized professional units to carry this out,” she said.
The identity controversy surrounding the French first lady first surfaced in 2021, when Amandine Roy and journalist Natacha Rey claimed she had been born a man. A French court initially ruled in Macron’s favor in 2024 before an appeals court overturned the verdict in July 2025.
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, labeled “a traitor” by President Donald Trump, has recently said she will resign
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing Georgia Republican, has privately told her allies that she is considering running for president in 2028, TIME wrote on Saturday, citing two people who have spoken with her.
Earlier this week, she said she would resign from Congress in January, days after US President Donald Trump branded her a “traitor” for breaking with him and helping compel the Justice Department to release files related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the newsweekly, Greene refused to respond to multiple calls and text messages from TIME. A spokesperson for the congresswoman also did not reply to requests.
Greene, who built her name as one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, has become an unexpected critic of the president in recent months. Apart from forcing the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, she has challenged Trump’s insistence that prices are falling and has criticized his handling of US-Israel relations.
After Trump accused her of veering to the “far left,” she said she wants to “end the fighting in politics.”
“The most hurtful thing Trump said, which is absolutely untrue, is he called me a traitor,” she said, warning that this type of language can “radicalize people” and put her life at risk.
Greene said she will continue to fight for the release of all remaining unredacted files related to Epstein. Trump has urged Republicans not to aid the Democrats in spreading what he has called “the Epstein hoax,” arguing that his opponents are seeking to use the issue to undermine his presidency.
Keir Starmer apparently tripped as he approached a group of business representatives in Johannesburg, South Africa
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has gotten off to a somewhat inauspicious start at the G20 summit in South Africa, almost tumbling face first into the floor.
The gathering of leaders representing the world’s largest economies is taking place in Johannesburg on November 22-23. South Africa assumed the rotating presidency of the group in December 2024, becoming the first African nation to lead the forum.
No sooner had Starmer set foot on South African soil than he nearly faceplanted into the ground as he walked toward a group of business leaders ahead of the main gathering. Footage of the meeting shows the prime minister apparently stumble over his own feet while he reaches out for a handshake, with no obstacle in sight.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stumbled over his own feet as he arrived to meet with senior business leaders in Johannesburg ahead of the G20 summit on Friday (21 November).
It came ahead of Starmer and other international leaders issuing a joint statement after a meeting at the… pic.twitter.com/amXfyUUwe5
He threw out his hands, only just regaining his balance at the last moment.
Starmer had a similar awkward moment earlier this month after arriving in Brazil for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30).
As the UK prime minister disembarked from his aircraft, he stumbled on the metal staircase, almost tumbling down onto the tarmac. However, Starmer managed to regain his balance that time as well.
The lawmakers have cited a need to “secure the area around the Ministry of National Defense”
The Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, has adopted a resolution calling for the Russian embassy in Warsaw to be relocated further away from the seat of the Defense Ministry, citing security concerns.
The resolution passed on Friday was supported by 439 lawmakers, with one abstaining. It cites the “urgent need to secure the area around the Ministry of National Defense.”
The document is not legally binding but carries symbolic weight.
The compound housing the Russian diplomatic mission in Warsaw is located right beside the Polish Defense Ministry headquarters and is also in close proximity to Belweder Palace, one of the residences of the Polish president, as well as the prime minister’s office.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced in an address to parliament that Poland would close the last remaining Russian consulate in the country, in the city of Gdansk.
Responding to Warsaw’s decision, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow would mirror the step, reducing “Poland’s diplomatic-consular presence in Russia.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “relations with Poland have completely deteriorated.” He said Warsaw’s apparent intention to “reduce to zero any possibility of consular or diplomatic relations” with Moscow underscores the state of bilateral ties.
Poland currently has an embassy with a consular section in Moscow and a consulate in Irkutsk in Siberia.
In May, Poland closed the Russian consulate in Krakow, citing Moscow’s alleged involvement in a May 2024 fire at a Warsaw mall.
Russia responded in July by ordering the closure of Poland’s consulate in Kaliningrad.
Last October, Warsaw shut the Russian consulate in Poznan, followed by Moscow’s closure of the Polish mission in St. Petersburg in December.
The Sejm resolution came on the heels of two railway sabotage incidents on Sunday and Monday targeting lines used to transport Western military aid through Poland to Ukraine. The local authorities later identified two Ukrainians as suspects, alleging both worked for Russian intelligence and fled to Belarus after the attacks.
The Kremlin denied any Russian role in the incidents.
The US president has indicated the Ukrainian leader will be on his own if he rejects the peace plan currently being discussed
US President Donald Trump has said Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky can “continue to fight his little heart out” should he refuse the proposed peace plan to settle the conflict with Russia.
Washington presented Kiev this week with a new draft proposal for ending the conflict, pressing the Ukrainian leadership to accept it by next Thursday. According to media reports, the proposed 28-point plan includes multiple clauses repeatedly refused by Kiev and its Western European backers, such as Ukraine giving up on its NATO aspirations and downsizing its military.
Trump made the remark while speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday. The US president was asked what would happen if Zelensky refused to accept the proposed plan.
“Then he can continue. Then he can continue to fight his little heart out,” Trump said.
Trump’s latest statement echoed remarks he made on Friday, when he said that Zelensky “is going to have to accept something” at some point. Trump warned that Ukraine is now heading into a “cold winter” while its energy infrastructure sites “have been under attack, to put it mildly.”
“He will have to like [the plan] and if he does not like it then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” he said.
According to media reports, Washington has already threatened Kiev with cutting off military aid and intelligence sharing should it reject the draft peace proposal. Earlier this year, the US used the same leverage to press Ukraine into accepting Trump’s rare earths deal.
European war hawks are to blame for the situation Kiev ended up in, Slovakia’s Robert Fico has said
Russia is bound to emerge the “absolute winner” in the Ukraine conflict should US President Donald Trump’s peace plan be adopted, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.
The US presented Ukraine with its latest draft plan to end hostilities with Russia this week. According to media reports, the 28-point document includes many provisions consistently refused by Kiev and its Western European backers in the past, including Ukraine giving up on joining NATO, downsizing of the country’s military, and the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the parts of Russia’s Donbass it still controls.
At press conference in Bratislava on Friday, Fico proclaimed support for the proposed deal, describing it as a “sensational” plan. He lashed out at Kiev’s supporters in the EU, arguing that it was the “zero” foreign policy of the bloc that brought Ukraine to its current position.
“In this agreement, the position of Ukraine is a hundred times worse than it was in April 2022,” Fico stated, referring to the preliminary deal reached during the Istanbul talks early in the conflict. Kiev unilaterally walked away from those negotiations.
“Who among those war hawks will acknowledge it in the EU, when they supported the war so much? When were they sending those weapons there so relentlessly? When were they forbidding any truce? Who today will admit their mistakes?” Fico added.
While the plans to destroy Russia have evidently failed, Moscow is bound to emerge victorious from the hostilities, he declared.
“If this plan is signed, Russia will emerge from this war as an absolute winner. And Russia will emerge from this war, of course, extraordinarily strengthened, both morally and economically,” he asserted.
The proposed plan is reportedly being viewed by Kiev’s Western European backers as a Ukrainian “capitulation.” Pro-war EU leaders are now said to be scrambling to rewrite the draft under the guise of making “constructive updates” to it.
Moscow has confirmed it received the American plan, stressing that the proposal has not yet been discussed “in detail.” It could become “the basis of a final peace settlement,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has said any attempt by the ex-presidential couple to avoid subpoenas will constitute contempt of Congress
US House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has demanded that former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State , testify before lawmakers about the late convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. He warned that failing to comply with subpoenas issued earlier this year would mean serious consequences for both.
Epstein, convicted of sex offenses in 2008, was charged again in 2019 with trafficking minors and running an underage sex ring. He was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell later that year.
According to a press release from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Friday, Comer “sent a letter to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall [saying that they]… are required to comply with lawful subpoenas and appear for scheduled in-person depositions.” He noted that both Republicans and Democrats on the committee “approved a motion to issue subpoenas to Bill and Hillary Clinton” in July.
“Given their history with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, any attempt by the Clintons to avoid sitting for a deposition would be… grounds to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings,” Comer said.
The document states that Bill Clinton had been summoned to appear on December 17, and Hillary the following day.
The ex-president previously admitted he had traveled on a jet with Epstein, but insisted that he had never visited the financier’s infamous island.
In July, the Wall Street Journal claimed that Clinton had once written a personal note to Epstein, that reportedly read: “It’s reassuring isn’t it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible word], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends.”
A spokesman for Clinton declined to comment on the note at the time, stating that the former president had severed ties with Epstein long before his 2019 arrest and was unaware of his alleged crimes.
In a post on his Truth Social platform last Friday, US President Donald Trump said he had directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department to investigate “Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship” with Bill Clinton and several other prominent Democrats.
On Wednesday, Trump signed a bill requiring the Justice Department to release files related to the Epstein case.
In his post, Trump suggested that “perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed,” mentioning Bill Clinton among several others.
Trump’s move marked a shift from his earlier position. For months, he had urged House Republicans to block the release of the files, arguing that Democrats wanted to use the materials to damage his presidency.
Kiev’s European backers are reportedly trying to disguise major changes to the plan as “constructive updates”
Kiev’s backers in the EU are seeking to rewrite most of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The US presented Ukraine with its new framework for ending the conflict against Russia this week and is now pressing Kiev to accept it by Thursday.
The 28-point plan includes various provisions which have long been opposed by Kiev and its Western European backers. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from the parts of the Donbass region it still controls, downsize its military, and give up its NATO aspirations.
The EU nations are currently trying to “buy Ukraine more time” and postpone the US-outlined deadline, according to Bloomberg. The approach taken by Kiev’s Western European backers essentially amounts to trying to rewrite much of the proposed document while concealing the changes as “constructive updates,” sources familiar with the matter told the outlet.
Washington, however, has signaled it was not ready to drastically amend the peace plan it had drafted. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on Friday said the country was facing “one of the most difficult moments in our history,” facing a choice between accepting “28 difficult points” or risking losing its “key partner.” According to media reports, Washington has already threatened to cut Kiev off from military aid and intelligence sharing should the plan end up rejected.
Asked about Zelensky’s take on the situation, Trump said the Ukrainian leader “is going to have to accept something.” Ukraine now faces “a cold winter,” while its energy infrastructure sites “have been under attack, to put it mildly,” he pointed out.
“He will have to like it, and if he does not like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” the US president said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow has received the American plan, adding that the proposal has not yet been discussed “in detail.” The draft proposal could become “the basis of a final peace settlement,” he stated.
Only “smart people living in the real world” could stop the fighting between Moscow and Kiev, the US vice president has said
US Vice President J.D. Vance has defended Washington’s plan for settling the Ukraine conflict, arguing that its opponents are wrong to think that increasing pressure on Russia could change the situation on the battlefield.
On Friday, former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell claimed on X that the proposal, which the administration of US President Donald Trump submitted to both Moscow and Kiev earlier this week, was a “capitulation” and “disastrous” to American interests.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told CNN that “this is a [Russian President Vladimir] Putin plan for Ukraine,” insisting that the White House should instead ramp up secondary sanctions against Russia’s trading partners and supply Ukraine with long-range weapons.
Vance wrote in a post on X on Saturday that “every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground.”
“There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand,” he wrote.
According to the vice president, peace between Moscow and Kiev could be achieved by “smart people living in the real world,” but not by “failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land.”
The US plan has not been officially disclosed, but media reports have claimed that, among other things, it calls upon Kiev to withdraw troops from the parts of Russia’s Donbass it still controls, downsize its military, and give up on NATO aspirations in exchange for Western security guarantees.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed on Friday that his country is now forced to choose between accepting the “28 difficult points” in the proposal or the risk of losing its key backer, the US.
Trump insisted later that the Ukrainian leader “will have to like” the US plan or face the prospect of fighting Russia through the “cold winter.” According to Financial Times, Washington has issued an ultimatum to Kiev to accept its roadmap by Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the US plan has not yet been discussed “in detail,” but suggested that it could eventually “form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
That’s because Zelensky’s speech was clearly designed to allow for several mutually contradictory interpretations: Was it an attempt to prepare the ground for, in essence, accepting the plan, even though its opponents caricature it as Ukraine’s de facto capitulation? Is the real message, on the contrary, that Zelensky will try to persuade Washington to add conditions that will sink the plan, while blaming Russia? Or is the beleaguered Ukrainian leader really just playing for time and desperately casting about for options, testing the public mood at home and reactions abroad?
Yet one thing is certain, although it was hidden in plain sight: Zelensky’s address was sensational – and that is no hyperbole – because of what he chose not to say. Namely, “no.”
Zelensky could easily have reiterated Kiev’s traditional “red lines.” Indeed, Ukraine’s UN representative has just done so. But, as the important Ukrainian publication Strana.ua noted, Zelensky did not say a word about, for instance, joining NATO. He also did not reiterate the usual refusal to surrender territory that Russia has not yet occupied.
Instead, Zelensky belabored generalities which were wide open to divergent readings and even more divergent practical applications, such as the terms of his official oath of office and the notion that Ukraine’s national interest must be taken into account. Spin 101, really.
Above all, Zelensky belabored the conveniently vague and elastic idea of “dignity.” Again and again, he reassured his audience that, no matter what happens, Ukraine and Ukrainians will preserve their dignity.
Zelensky is currently deeply embroiled in the nauseatingly sordid Energoatom corruption scandal, and this is sure to be just the tip of an iceberg of sleaze in wartime. Therefore, his invocation of a virtue he cannot possibly claim for himself and his revolting friends must have felt appallingly creepy to many of his compatriots.
But the rationale of Zelensky’s spin seems obvious enough: It is a shameless attempt to tap into the rhetoric of “dignity” traditionally deployed to re-frame the ugly combination of regime change subversion and false-flag murders that toppled the corrupt, oppressive, and unpopular yet ultimately properly elected Yanukovich regime in 2014. As we've moved from the so-called “revolution of dignity” to the “diplomacy of dignity,” is Ukraine finally making the compromises it needs to stop bleeding?
If so, the analogy is truer than Zelensky and his speech writers would be ready to admit: In the events of 2013/2014, there were many genuine idealists who believed they were fighting for Ukraine when challenging Yanukovich’s Ancien Regime. They were betrayed. Not by Moscow, but by the US, which incited and used their rebellion to wield it as a geopolitical weapon in a global power game.
They were also betrayed by the same pro-Western “elites” and nationalists who massacred some their own foot soldiers to create political leverage, as the Ukrainian-Canadian political scientist Ivan Katchanovsky has shown compellingly in his “The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: The Mass Killing that Changed the World.”
In a similar vein, there can be no doubt that, during the unnecessary and easily avoidable war that has now devastated Ukraine for years, many more decent men and women have been cynically sacrificed to lies told by Kiev and its Western backers: The lie that their country would join NATO; the lie that the war had not been provoked, whereas, in reality, the West had provoked Russia for two decades by breaking its word and expanding NATO, exposing Ukraine specifically by the empty yet explosive promises of the 2008 Bucharest summit; the lie that to kill and die in this war for misconceived, hubristic Western interests meant killing and dying for moral, even civilizational “values” (call that the Snyder-Applebaum Con); and the lie, last but not least, that the West would be with Ukraine “whatever it takes.”
It’s no wonder Zelensky is now seeking to distract Ukrainians with solemn phrases praising their courage and steadfastness. He can do so only because so many really have been courageous and steadfast. Yet Zelensky’s fiendish ruse consists of seeking to hide the obscene corruption of his de facto authoritarian regime behind their valor and sacrifices.
He is also desperately trying to make everyone forget one simple question: What for? Once Ukrainians lose all fear of asking that question and face its true, bitter answer, it will first stun them and then sweep Zelensky and his cronies away. Because it has all been for nothing, except the absolutely callous strategies of the West and yet more corruption and oppression at home.
Zelensky’s ambiguous speech, though, also may – may! – offer some hope. For, despite his worst intentions, his gargantuan narcissism, his profound dishonesty, his fear and greed, Ukraine’s still-leader has shown signs of perhaps finally being prepared to allow his people to escape from the meatgrinder of a war that their country very predicably could not win.
Zelensky made, for instances, references to “very hard” choices between, in effect, the plan and a terrible winter, and to steely resolve, that nonetheless has its limits, too. There even was a barely concealed rebuke of NATO-EU Europeans always baying for more Ukrainian blood while not having to send their own to die. Zelensky also pointedly declared that everything must be done to reach an end to the war and not an end to Ukraine. Under the 28-point plan, or a successor based on it, Ukraine would not cease to exist, of course. But, as Zelensky clearly, if implicitly, admitted, such an end is conceivable if peace is not made.
Zelensky also made a point of two other facts that, perhaps, point to him finally getting ready to release Ukrainians from his regime’s death grip: He insisted that Kiev will engage constructively and won’t let Moscow claim that Ukraine doesn’t want diplomacy. In other words, Zelensky promises to at least sincerely try to find peace this time. Will he keep that promise? That’s a different question again, of course. Secondly, Zelensky admitted that time is scarce and announced that Kiev will work fast. That is a clear reference to the fact that Washington has threatened to withdraw all support, including arms – even indirectly via the war-besotted EU-NATO Europeans – and (vital) intelligence within less than a week if there’s no movement. Stalling time is over, or so it seems at least.
The opponents of peace in Ukraine and the West and especially in NATO-EU Europe, the false “friends” from hell who cannot get enough of Ukrainians dying for broken Western promises and a daft attempt to cut down Russia that has already failed, are mobilizing to prevent peace. Déjà vu all over again, as a great American sage might have said.
But it is obvious that true friendship for Ukraine, the real Ukraine, with actual living human beings who should stay alive for a better future, means finally ending this catastrophe. Yes, on terms that will – to one extent or the other – reflect that Russia has the upper hand. That is the only way forward, and it is not the same as “capitulation.” It is a compromise based on reality, not on the silly dreams of vain US academics in Ukrainian embroidered shirts or German “military experts” whose link to reality seems to be about as robust as that of the German leadership huddling in a Berlin bunker in early 1945.
It’s time to stop sacrificing human beings to perverse fantasies. If – if! – Ukraine’s Zelensky has finally been compelled to accept this, then there is a chance for peace.
The country’s former leader had been under house arrest in Brasilia appealing a conviction for plotting a coup
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who had been under house arrest in the country’s capital, Brasilia, has been detained by police officers, his lawyer has confirmed.
In September, the Brazilian Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison after he was found guilty of attempting to overturn the results of the country’s 2022 presidential election. The 70-year-old, who denies any wrongdoing, had been under house arrest since early August, appealing the ruling.
Bolsonaro’s attorney Celso Vilardi did not provide the reason for his client’s detention, but it happened shortly before the former president’s supporters had planned to hold a vigil near his home.
According to Reuters, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to be taken into custody, citing the risk of the activists hampering the police monitoring of his house arrest. The judge also pointed to evidence of tampering with the politician’s ankle monitor the night before, the agency said.
Moraes also argued in his order that the gathering near Bolsonaro’s home could pave the way for his “eventual escape,” saying that the former president had previously considered seeking asylum in the Argentine embassy in Brasilia.
A federal police representative told the media that Bolsonaro has already undergone the custody intake process in the capital.
In July, US President Donald Trump, who established close relations with Bolsonaro during his first term, called the former president’s persecution by the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and a “witch hunt” and slapped 50% tariffs on certain Brazilian goods. However, earlier this month Washington began rolling back some of the levies.
The US president has reiterated his earlier claim that Ukraine does “not have the cards” in the conflict with Russia
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky will have to agree to a Washington-drafted peace plan otherwise his country will have to keep fighting Russia through the “cold winter,” US President Donald Trump has said.
Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine was facing “one of the most difficult moments in our history,” being forced to choose between “28 difficult points” in the American proposal or risk losing its key backer, the US. According to Financial Times, Washington has issued an ultimatum to Kiev to accept the plan by Thursday.
Asked by journalists about the Ukrainian leader’s stance later in the day, Trump asked: “You mean, he does not like it?”
“He will have to like it and if he does not like it then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess,” he said.
Reuters reported earlier that Washington has threatened to cut Ukraine off from intelligence and military aid if it rejects its proposal.
“Well, at some point he [Zelensky] is going to have to accept something,” the US president insisted.
Trump explained that Ukraine faces “a cold winter... but a lot of the big energy producing plants have been under attack, to put it mildly.”
“You remember, right, in the Oval Office not so long ago, I said: ‘You don’t have the cards’,” he recalled.
The US president was referring to his meeting with Zelensky in February, also attended by Vice President J.D. Vance, which escalated in front of the cameras. It resulted in the Ukrainian leader’s visit being cut short, with Trump and Vance accusing him of ingratitude for American aid and not wanting peace.
The US push to persuade Ukraine to agree to its road-map comes amid a corruption scandal in Kiev that according to analysts has significantly weakened Zelensky’s political position.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow received the American plan, but added that it has not yet been discussed “in detail.” According to Putin, the proposal could “form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
Users have noted that in numerous now-deleted posts, the chatbot frequently hailed the billionaire as top in any given field
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has been telling users that its owner is smarter and more physically fit than anyone in the world, according to media reports. Many of the posts were later deleted, renewing questions about the bot’s objectivity.
Musk’s social network X on Thursday was reportedly flooded with examples of Grok praising the billionaire, calling him “strikingly handsome,” lauding his “lean, athletic physique” and describing his intellect as “genius-level.” The bot also claimed Musk could beat Mike Tyson in a boxing match, ranked him above Leonardo da Vinci, said he was funnier than Jerry Seinfeld and even suggested he would rise from the dead faster than Jesus.
Musk addressed the issue on X on Thursday, saying Grok had been “manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly positive things” about him. “For the record, I am a fat retard,” he added.
Late on Thursday, some of Grok’s replies appeared to have been deleted, and the chatbot seemed to dial back its praise. After Musk’s statement, the bot gave a more restrained answer about him, placing Musk in its top 10 humans rather than ranking him first, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
This comes amid growing scrutiny of Musk’s AI venture, particularly the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 4, which Musk described at its July release as “the smartest AI in the world.”
Users have noted that the bot frequently echoed Musk’s public political views, prompting concerns about bias. It has referenced “white genocide,” questioned Holocaust death tolls, and reportedly made derogatory remarks about politicians. xAI, the Musk-founded startup that develops Grok, has attributed most of these outputs to “unauthorized modifications” or rogue employees.
The rollout of the new chatbot version came as the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk’s SpaceX had agreed to invest $2 billion in xAI, which is positioning itself to challenge rivals such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, systems Musk has accused of having a liberal bias.
The tone of the meeting in Kiev, during which the US detailed its peace deal, was “nauseating,” an EU official told the outlet
The administration of US President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to Ukraine, saying that Vladimir Zelensky must sign its peace plan by Thursday, the Financial Times has reported, citing Western European officials.
US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, who earlier discussed the US proposal to settle the conflict between Russia and Ukraine with Zelensky, relayed the details to the EU and UK ambassadors and other officials during a meeting in Kiev on Friday evening, according to the paper.
A high-ranking official described the tone of the gathering at the residence of the US chargé d’affaires in the Ukrainian capital as “nauseating,” it said.
According to the sources, Driscoll showed up late and used obscene language to make Washington’s point clear. “We need to get this sh*t done,” he reportedly said.
A senior official told the FT that the secretary insisted that “we have a narrow window for peace – President Trump wants peace now.”
One of the ambassadors cited Driscoll as saying that “the US Armed Forces love Ukraine... but it is the honest US military assessment that Ukraine is in a very bad position.”
Trump’s envoy added that “security guarantees” for Ukraine are part of the US plan and will be discussed with the Western Europeans and Kiev in the coming days, according to the diplomat.
The FT said that Driscoll had turned down calls by EU and UK officials to put more pressure on Russia, instead of suing for peace now. “It turns out this is even worse than we thought,” another senior EU official briefed on the meeting told the paper.
The US peace plan has not been officially disclosed, but, according to media reports, it, among other things, calls upon Ukraine to withdraw troops from the parts of Russia’s Donbass it still controls, downsize its military, and give up on NATO aspirations in exchange for Western security guarantees.
The push by Washington to persuade Ukraine to agree to its roadmap comes amid a corruption scandal in Kiev, which, according to analysts, has significantly weakened Zelensky’s political position.
Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine must brace for a tough choice between accepting the “28 difficult points” in Washington’s plan or risk losing a key backer in the face of the US.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the American proposal could “form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
Western governments continue to try and suppress the broadcaster for telling the truth about Ukraine, Margarita Simonyan has said
RT will continue its work despite attempts by the West to silence it, Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan has said. Posting on her Telegram channel on Friday, she said the European Union is continuing to extend sanctions against the Russian media for telling the truth about Ukraine. She did not clarify whether she had information about future sanctions or was simply commenting on the current measures in place.
Western countries have imposed more than 110 sanctions on the outlet, freezing accounts, surveilling staff, and introducing other restrictions. Germany blocked RT Deutsch in 2021 before it launched, allegedly violating broadcasting rules. RT France and RT UK were closed in 2022 after being banned authorities in Paris and London. In 2023, US President Joe Biden’s administration accused the network of acting on behalf of Russian intelligence and imposed further sanctions on the broadcaster and its top management.
“EU extends sanctions against RT. They complain that we continue to write about Nazism in Ukraine and the crimes of the Kiev regime,” Simonyan stated on her Telegram channel. She added, “We have written, we are writing and we will write.”
Kiev regularly glorifies WWII Nazi collaborators and attempts to obscure actions by Ukrainian soldiers that Russia describes as war crimes – conduct that, Moscow claims, the West continues to ignore.
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin praised RT, calling it Russia’s “secret strategic intercontinental weapon.””The truth” is what gives RT its power, despite what he described as relentless Western attempts to block it.
RT was launched in December 2005. It now broadcasts in several languages, offering alternative perspectives on global events to audiences in more than 100 countries.
Simonyan’s comments come as Brussels has stepped up pressure on Russian outlets. The EU adopted its 19th sanctions package in October, though that round did not include any new measures targeting Russian media. A 20th package is expected to be proposed or discussed in the months ahead.
Login
