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Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trying to sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection bid? It’s quite possible. The Saudi leader, known as MBS, has made clear his disdain for President Biden, and his fury over insults lobbed at him by this White House. He is a powerful force behind the current surge in oil prices, which could — if sustained — contribute to Biden’s defeat. Oil prices are soaring — up 19 percent since the start of the year. Since they lag behind crude oil, gasoline prices have only jumped 14 percent so far. But, unless oil markets take a...

U.S. and European diplomats went on a flurry of calls in the hours after U.S. President Donald Trump offered on Monday to join prospective Ukraine-Russia talks later this week, trying to find a path that would bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump's surprise offer to join the talks on Thursday in Istanbul came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel Turkey and wait to meet President Vladimir Putin there. -snip- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks late on Monday with his Turkish...

-snip- "There are things that wouldn't be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do that because I want to get peace," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "In a financial sense, yes, we could do things that would be very bad for Russia, that would be devastating for Russia. But I don't want to do that because I want to see peace. And we’re getting close to maybe getting something done. We got Ukraine done. And, as you know, Ukraine might have been the...

On Feb. 25, a flurry of accurate Russian drone strikes knocked out dozens of Ukrainian vehicles along the main road to Sudzha, the town that is—or was—the main base for the 10,000-strong Ukrainian force occupying a significant, but quickly shrinking, salient in Kursk Oblast in western Russia. That was “the day you started worrying about Kursk,” wrote independent analyst Andrew Perpetua. Two weeks later, it seems the bulk of the Ukrainian force—Ukrainian army’s heaviest brigades—has evacuated Kursk and repositioned on the Ukrainian side of the border. “My friends managed to leave Kursk, avoiding encirclement,” one Ukrainian source claimed Monday. “It’s...

Posted in response to the thread NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte threatens US and expanding on my comment on that thread. This story is fake. How do we know? By reading and asking if it makes any sense and searching for the original sources and checking if they are legitimate. Then asking what are the target audiences and intended effects. Processes that one side of the Ukraine conflict are particular resistant to carrying out.Does the story even make sense? No. First and so obviously it should not require explaining, if Rutte said that he would instantly lose his job. The...

Planetary main focus of money laundering and other major forms of transnational gangsterism aced, laced, re-aced, debased, defaced, disgraced, and erased....

However, the recent reports alleging that Olena Zelensky purchased a Bugatti Tourbillon have been debunked. The claims, which included a fake purchase bill and an AI-generated video, were found to be false.Several reports on social media claimed Olena Zelensky, the wife of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, purchased a Bugatti Tourbillon worth 4.5 million euros in Paris. However, the recent reports alleging that Olena Zelensky purchased a Bugatti Tourbillon have been debunked. The claims, which included a fake purchase bill and an AI-generated video, were found to be false. It was found that the "Bugatti dealer" video is an AI deepfake....

Economics professor and author Jeffrey Sachs has spent too long in the geo-political arena to take the official US policy on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at face value. He calls for negotiations in regards to Vladimir Putin’s recent ‘peace’ deal, which demands that Ukraine hand over large swathes of land to Russia. Although Jeffrey comes armed with a litany of crimes to lay at the doorstep of the collective west, Piers Morgan presses him on the central issues. Isn’t it strange that Putin hasn’t invaded a NATO member? And why doesn’t Sachs hold Putin to the same standard of conduct...

The head of Russia's mercenary outfit Wagner said it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow's "monstrous bureaucracy" for slowing military gains. Russia has been trying to encircle the battered industrial city and wrest it ahead of Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what it terms its "special military operation" in Ukraine. "I think it's (going to be in) March or in April," Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in one of several messages posted online overnight. "To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It's a significant task," he said, adding:...

BREAKING-Ukraine's President Zelenskiy says Russia approved offensive against Ukraine, Putin did not reply to invitation for talks