RT =/= Agree I fully support pro-democracy forces in #Belarus and whole of Post Soviet Space. But - sorry! - I oppose EU/NATO enlargement into Former EastBloc.
Joined March 2014
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I am not against EU. Far from it. But it should never had expanded into Post Soviet Space. Same for NATO. EU needs deep reform: must return many powers to memberstates. Less money, less competences, less powers. Must be a Union of Nation States. And a Community of Western Values.
RJ retweeted
Axios reports that the US has asked Russia to prepare proposals for a new European security agreement as part of efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.
Washington wants Moscow to outline its security demands and propose reciprocal measures to reduce tensions and reassure Western European countries that Russia won't attack them.
According to two unnamed sources, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are expected to discuss the initiative with Putin in Moscow on Thursday.
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BREAKING:
🇺🇸🇷🇺 The US has asked Russia to propose how far it wants NATO to extend, per Axios
The U.S. has asked Russia to propose a new European security agreement as part of efforts to end the Ukraine war, potentially addressing Moscow's longstanding demands to limit NATO expansion and reduce its military presence in Eastern Europe.
Washington wants Russia to outline measures to ease tensions and reassure European countries against future attacks.
Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the proposal and push for European participation in peace talks, despite Russian opposition and European skepticism.
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One visible clue is the Angel of Independence, a column put up in 1910. Fourteen steps have been added to its base as the land around it has sunk.
The lake isn't coming back, though. The city still floods in the wet season and runs short of water in the dry, and the sinking makes both worse.
/END
ALT The Angel of Independence in Mexico City on 9 April 2017, with a broad flight of steps at its base and the surrounding plaza. Credit: Carlos Valenzuela, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angel_de_la_independencia170409.jpg
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Grace O’Malley-Kumar grabbed a knife attacker to protect her friend. When he turned on her, she held on.
On 13 June 2023, during the Nottingham attacks, Grace was walking back to student accommodation with her friend Barnaby Webber when a man with a large knife attacked Barnaby and brought him to the ground.
Grace grabbed the attacker and tried to hold him back. The man turned the knife on her, but she kept her grip and kicked out even after he had stabbed her several times.
When she fell, she tried more than once to get back up and reach him again.
Grace and Barnaby both died from their injuries, aged 19.
Grace had just finished her first year of medicine at the University of Nottingham, where she played hockey after representing England at under-16 and under-18 level.
In October 2025, Grace was awarded the George Medal for trying to save Barnaby.
That July, her name had already been on a different kind of award, the Grace O’Malley-Kumar Cup.
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D66 en CDA blijven achter deal met oppositie staan -
#kabinetscrisis nos.nl/l/2639007#UPDATE-9855…
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De Russ. delegatieleider Medinski wil een 'nieuw Jalta en Potsdam' voor Europa. Daar beslisten de overwinnaars in 1945 over de naoorlogse orde, ook over 🇵🇱, zonder 🇵🇱 aan tafel. Moskou wil dus een orde waarin grootmachten beslissen en 🇺🇦 geen stem heeft.
rtvi.com/news/novaya-yalta-i…
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The Prime Minister of Slovakia stated that he had a private conversation with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Shmygal, which left him shocked.
"I am not at liberty to disclose behind-the-scenes details—and I never do—but I had a private conversation with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, and I was shocked by it. Truly shocked—regarding the war and how things might unfold in the future. I will not, and cannot, say anything more, as I must respect the nature of that conversation," the Slovak Prime Minister said.
Like I said earlier, the situation for Ukraine is really bad.
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‼️King’s College London War Studies PhD Alexander Grable just published a paper that directly challenges the core Western claim about the Ukraine war: that Russia is taking multiples of Ukrainian casualties and is being steadily attrited.
The article appears in the official 2026 Russia Seminar proceedings of the Finnish National Defence University.
Using open-source data only, Grable argues the opposite is true - Ukrainian irretrievable losses are substantially higher, both absolutely and relatively.
The most striking indicators:
➡️ Ukrainian Ministry of Health / National Institute of Strategic Studies amputee figures, even when deliberately adjusted downward to match the best U.S. medical performance in the War on Terror, imply 400,000–520,000 Ukrainian KIA by late 2024.
➡️ Parallel Russian military-hospital data (obtained via a defector) shows far fewer amputees relative to admissions.
➡️ Body exchanges across the war average roughly 12.5 Ukrainian dead returned for every 1 Russian.
➡️ Open-source Russian death tallies (Mediazona and similar) show serious inflation when cross-checked against obituaries and probate records. A 2025 prisoner cohort of ~4,000 produced only ~112 corroborated deaths by late summer — incompatible with claims of 30–50k Russian dead per month.
Grable’s conclusion: Russian KIA/MIA are very probably lower than most Western estimates, Ukrainian losses are very probably higher, and Ukraine is on the wrong side of the attritional gradient. Russia has used superior firepower, training, and its reconnaissance-strike complex to impose highly unfavorable ratios.
Full paper (free PDF): doria.fi/handle/10024/195520
This is not a fringe blog or a politicised claim. It is a published contribution to a major military university’s research series.
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Yesilgoz is woedend: 'We zijn overvallen door de coalitiepartijen'. Het amendement van PRO en Volt is 'inhoudelijk slecht voor Nederland'. 'Het is tegen het coalitieakkoord in.' Als D66 en CDA voor amendement stemmen is er 'fundamentele reset' nodig', aldus @DilanYesilgoz
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Yesilgöz kraakt de actie van CDA en D66 en de inhoud van de deal volledig af.
'We zullen zien hoe de coalitie morgen zal stemmen"
"Als ze dat daadwerkelijk zullen doen, is er een fundamentele reset nodig"
Ze legt volledig uit hoe de VVD buiten spel is gezet. 'We zijn overvallen'. Door de uitgebreide manier waarop ze deze naaiactie beschrijft, kan ik me niet voorstellen dat er na morgen nog een samenwerking mogelijk is.
#KabinetJetten #VVD #Belastingplan
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VVD lijkt schaakmat te zijn gezet, met zulke vrienden (D66 en CDA) heb je geen vijanden nodig. #kabinetscrisis
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Ukraine has a population of between 20 and 25 million remaining.
There is no scenario where a country of Ukraine's size, let alone with such a devastated economy and massive post-war costs, is maintaining an army anywhere near 800,000 in peacetime.
This is just complete fantasy.
Ukraine wants to maintain an 800,000-strong military after the war and is seeking at least 10 years of financial support to sustain it, AFP reports. The proposal is being discussed at the Abu Dhabi talks alongside Kyiv's demands for a ceasefire and security guarantees. #Ukraine
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Helemaal eens. Uitstekende serie met een ex-GooiseVrouw in een zeer goede rol als de baas van een #ProDeo advocaten kantoor. De moeilijke positie van advocaten die voor het minvermogrnde deel van Nederland het recht moet halen volkskrant.nl/nieuwe-series/…
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Russia's most prominent foreign policy analyst, Fyodor Lukyanov, senses a shift in the Ukraine peace process, writing that Washington is finally prepared to discuss the European security guarantees Moscow demanded before the war.
“The current meeting in Abu Dhabi could prove to be a milestone, it's not just a matter of broadening the scope of discussion, rather the situation as a whole is changing.”
Lukyanov believes Western Europe risks being sidelined as the US changes course, warning that “world affairs are increasingly bypassing the Old World.”
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Rubio: Russia should also agree to security guarantees for Ukraine.
The American delegation in Abu Dhabi is led by Witcoff and Kushner, the Russian delegation by Medinsky, and the Ukrainian delegation by Umerov.
The U.S. Secretary of State confirmed that the West is considering providing Ukraine with security guarantees similar to those contained in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. He promised that Washington would continue to generate ideas for negotiations, but could not guarantee success.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey LAVROV: "The talks will be focused on reaching an agreement on principles that will be approved at the end of negotiations on a comprehensive solution."
Before the trilateral meeting, the American delegation intends to hold consultations with representatives of the EU, NATO, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
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In Abu Dhabi nehmen die USA wieder Friedensverhandlungen mit Russland und der Ukraine auf. t-online.de/nachrichten/ausl…
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Een draadje over Abu Dhabi:
De Trump-regering wil de onderhandelingen over een bestand in Oekraïne verbreden. Volgens Amerikaanse functionarissen moet een staakt-het-vuren samengaan met gesprekken over de toekomstige veiligheidsorde in Europa.
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Voor de 'voor het slapen gaan nog een podcast luisteren' mensen:
Ik mocht aanschuiven bij BNRs 'Het Grote Plaatje' met Rens de Jong en macro-economen Edin Mujagic en Han de Jong. Een eer! Hier terug te luisteren op Apple podcasts bijvoorbeeld:
podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcas…
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🇵🇱 Das Verfassungsgericht in Warschau hat zwei Chefs, und keiner gibt nach. Bogdan Święczkowski stand nach dem Ende der Staatstrauer wieder vor dem Tor und wurde nicht eingelassen.
Richterin Anna Korwin-Piotrowska hat ihn Ende Oktober von den Amtsgeschäften entbunden. Er erkennt das nicht an und wirft den Polizisten vor dem Gebäude einen Staatsstreich vor, den wohl Donald Tusk organisiert habe.
Die Polizei sagt, sie stehe nur draußen und sei von einer berechtigten Person gerufen worden.