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Europe
Russia
January 21, 2025 Russian drone attacks involved 131 Russian drones and four ballistic missiles. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 72 of the drones, the air force said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said today it destroyed 55 Ukrainian aerial drones - 22 over Bryansk, 12 drones over Rostov, 10 over the Smolensk region. Other intercepts took place over Voronezh, Saratov, Kursk, Smolensk and Belgorod. (Source: VoA - United States)
Ukraine
(21 January 2025) Ukraine has detained its army's chief psychiatrist for alleged 'illegal enrichment' charges related to earnings of more than $1m (£813,000) accrued since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022. In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the man sat on a commission deciding whether individuals were fit for military service. He owned three apartments in or near Kyiv, one in Odesa, two plots of land and several BMW luxury cars, and investigators searching his home also found $152,000 (£124,000) and €34,000 in cash. The man did not declare the property, which was registered in the name of his wife, daughter, sons, and other third parties. He now faces ten years in jail. Druz was implicated in a similar case in 2017, leading him to be suspended. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
January 21, 2025 Ukraine’s Security Service and State Bureau of Investigation reported the arrest of two generals and a colonel - Brigadier General Halushkin, Lieutenant General Horbenko, and Colonel Lapin, the former commanders of the “Kharkiv” operational-tactical group, the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, and the 415th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 23rd Separate Mechanized Brigade - on suspicion of negligence, which allegedly allowed Russian forces to capture strategic areas of the Kharkiv region in May 2024. (Source: Meduza - Hedquarters Riga, Latvia)
Arctic
21 January 2025 'Artic' challenge. Russia's Roskongress foundation, which gathers foreign investors, assures that more than 80 per cent of Russia's entire gas supply lies in the Arctic, and as of 2019 Russia has even expanded its coastal zone by 1.2 million square kilometres in the direction of the North Pole. The waters of the Arctic are not only used to drill surfaces for useful minerals to be extracted, but also to place military bases and control the routes of cargo ships. The Russians use these bases to test nuclear weapons of limited power and long-destination missiles, and in 2021 Putin established the Northern Fleet as an autonomous district of the Russian army. Rosatom controls the entire northern maritime corridor, where a large commercial transport plan from China to St. Petersburg is being organised, and the Russian Fesco (Far-Eastern Shipping Company) under the control of the military has already been set up. Every year, China increases the volume of its cargoes along this directive, and Russia in return builds nuclear icebreakers for the Chinese, so much so that China also calls itself the ‘superpower of the Arctic’. The Northern Sea Corridor reduces the duration of transport between China and Europe by one and a half times and avoids passing south through the Suez Canal, which is increasingly unsafe for shipping. Since 2007, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has declared, following an expert expedition, that Russia holds the rights to the ‘Lomonosov Ridge’. This is a ridge discovered by the Russians in 1948 that crosses the central part of the Arctic Ocean, passing almost under the Polar Circle for an extension of 1. 800 kilometres, from the islands of Novosibirsk to the island of Ellesmere, in the part of the Arctic archipelago on Canadian territory, for a width of between 60 and 200 km at over 3,000 metres above the ocean floor. (Source: AsiaNews, an official press agency of the Catholic Church's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME)/
by Rozanskij
Asia
Turkey
21 January 2025 At least 76 people have died and more than 50 others were injured in a fire at a ski resort after blaze broke out in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the mountain-top resort of Kartalkaya in northwestern Turkey at 3:27 a.m. local time (0027 GMT) today. The hotel was reported to be between 80-90% full due to school holidays, with over 230 guests checked in. (Source: DW - Germany)
Central America
Panama
January 21, 2025 In 1989, the United States invaded Panama aiming to depose dictator Noriega, who faced drug trafficking charges and threatened U.S. interests by not honoring the terms of the treaties and cozying up to Cuba and Nicaragua. In 2024 the canal suffered from a drought that forced limits on the number of ships transiting and affected revenues. The canal authority is contemplating construction of a $1.6 billion dam to increase water storage capacity. The Chinese presence around the canal threatens U.S. security, it is admittedly troubling. Hong Kong-based firms won bids to construct facilities adjacent to the canal, and unquestionably they are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. A Chinese firm has constructed a bridge across the canal, and there has been discussion of a possible railroad across the isthmus. Panama recognizes that China has been and may in the future be an important source of the capital needed for its infrastructure development. A global challenge of this nature is simply not amenable to the quick and easy solution of threatening or even engaging in military action against one weak country. There even have been at times discussions of potential Chinese-built alternatives to the Panama Canal (a canal in Nicaragua and a railroad in Colombia). If Trump is genuinely concerned about the Chinese presence, options exist. The United States, Panama, or the two countries together could offer to buy the facilities from their owners. If this is rejected, Panama could consider nationalizing them, while paying appropriate compensation. Under these circumstances Panama might well need significant U.S. political and economic support in the face of Chinese displeasure. But if the facilities are to remain in Chinese hands, Panama, with U.S. support, could implement additional security measures such as doing background checks on those working in them, electronically monitoring the sites, etc. An invasion to secure the canal is well within U.S. capabilities, and could be accomplished quickly. An airport - perhaps the former Howard Air Force Base, now Panama Pacific International Airport - would have to be seized and combat troops funneled through it, or a Marine expeditionary unit could make an amphibious landing. Carrier-based aviation could assure that Panama’s tiny police helicopter fleet is unable to interfere with operations. Panama City, with a population of over one million people, lies at the canal’s Pacific entrance. The invading force might have to deal with protests, potentially violent, both initially and for an indefinite time thereafter, forcing it to become becoming a permanent occupation force. Such an action now would likely be universally and ferociously negative. It would also have to address the risk of easily mounted drone attacks that could damage the locks or simply threaten vessels passing through the canal to the point where they would be uninsurable. And after the seizure of the canal, there would probably be an end to current cooperation from the Panamanian government on migration pouring north from the Darien Gap. Thus, U.S. forces would need to take on the additional burden of serving as a forward-deployed border patrol. The United States could cancel its free trade agreement, isolate its banking sector, and deny Panamanians visas. Perhaps an exhausted, browbeaten Panamanian government would then return the canal to the United States. But an occupying force would still be needed to protect the canal from riots, drone attacks, or other responses from an irate people. Any sanctions against Panama would almost certainly be unilateral, with no other country joining in the effort. If Trump wants the canal back during his upcoming term, he will probably have to send in the troops. (Source: War on the Rocks)
by Sanders, a senior fellow on the Western Hemisphere at the Center for the National Interest and a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; a former member of the senior foreign service of the U.S. Department of State, assigned to posts throughout Latin America and to positions in Washington dealing with the region. He also served at the Department of Defense as foreign policy advisor to the chief of staff of the U.S. Army.
North America
United States
1/21/25 President Trump has ended the Secret Service protection assigned to former national security hawk adviser Bolton. Former President Biden reinstated the protection upon taking office in 2021, after Bolton was fired by president Trump, who terminated his security detail. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in January 2023: "I found Bolton to be one of the dumbest people in Government but, I am proud to say, I used him well." Trump also used an executive order to revoke "any active or current security clearances" held by 51 former intelligence officials, including Bolton, who signed a letter in 2020 casting doubt on the provenance of the Biden laptop story. Included in the list are former National Intelligence Director Clapper Jr., former Central Intelligence Agency Directors Hayden and Brennan and former Defense Secretary Panetta. (Source: Newsweek - United States)
January 21, 2025, Tuesday President Trump has issued an executive order rolling back policies aimed at supporting transgender rights and gender-identity protections, as well as addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” mandates that all federal government agencies remove “radical gender ideology” from their guidance and policies. Trump’s directive also establishes that the U.S. government will officially recognize only two genders, male and female, and that passports, visas, and other official documents will reflect this binary classification. Additionally, the order prohibits federal agencies from promoting gender transition or funding gender transition services for prisoners. Trump's new order declares that it is government policy that biological sex is immutable and that agencies should cease any efforts that suggest otherwise. The administration will also conduct a review of diversity-related programs, including environmental justice grants and diversity training, with the aim of eliminating those deemed discriminatory. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)
2025.01.21 U.S. President Trump described North Korea as a “nuclear power,” raising the prospect of a change in the long-held U.S. policy of denying North Korea recognition as a nuclear weapons state and insisting that it abandon its weapons program. The term “nuclear power” is normally taken to refer to five nuclear-weapon states – U.S., China, Britain, France and Russia – that are officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, otherwise known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT. During a Senate confirmation hearing last week, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Hegseth, also called the North a “nuclear power.” South Korea rejected the term, stressing that North Korea could never be recognized as a nuclear power because to do so would imply abandoning the goal of denuclearization. (Source: Radio Free Asia - Headquarters Washington D.C., U.S.)
January 21, 2025 US prez says a thousand Biden appointees will be ousted. He warned that his Presidential Personnel Office will vet remaining appointees of Biden and remove more than a thousand of them if they are against his administration's policies. Declaring "You're fired", Trump named four officials, including Andres (President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition), (General) Milley (National Infrastructure Advisory Council), Hook (Wilson Centre for Scholars) and Bottoms (President's Export Council). Trump also ordered a regulatory freeze, stopping officials from bringing up regulations until the new administration takes assumes full control Trump also rolled back Work from Home options, ordering federal officials to come back to office full-time. (Source: The Week - India)
21 January 2025 Among the first executive orders signed yesterday by new US President Trump was the lifting of sanctions imposed by Biden against Israeli settlers and extreme right-wing groups involved in violence against Palestinians or in the occupation of land in the West Bank. The White House tenant also said he was ‘not confident’ in the holding of the truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. (Source: AsiaNews, an official press agency of the Catholic Church's PIME)
21 January 2025, Tuesday On first day in office, hours after being sworn in as 47th president of US, President Trump signed several executive orders yesterday. The first item was the rescission of 78 Biden-era executive actions, executive orders, presidential memoranda and others. Trump signed executive orders restoring free speech protection, ending the weaponization of government, a regulatory and hiring freeze for government agencies, the return to in-person work, and a cost of living crisis directive. Returning to the White House after his address, Trump signed an executive order to pardon nearly 1,500 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol; Declaring national emergency at southern US border paves the way to deploy American troops there: "All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came," said the president; Ending birthright citizenship: "This next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States. That's a good one. Birthright. That's a big one," he said. Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, any person born within the territory of the US is an American citizen; An executive order designating cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations: "Mexico probably doesn't want that. We have to do what's right. They're killing our people. They're killing 250,000-300,000 American people a year," he said. He also said he wanted to work with countries from South America to coordinate immigration in general. I'm fine with legal immigration. I like it. We need people, and I'm absolutely fine with it," said the president; An executive order to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement. He also signed a letter that will be transmitted to the UN explaining the withdrawal from the treaty; Trump also ordered the US to leave the World Health Organization (WHO). "World Health ripped us off. Everybody rips off the United States, and that's it. It's not going to happen anymore," he told reporters. Trump said the US paid $500 million to the UN body. "Seemed a little unfair to me, so that wasn't the reason, but I dropped out...China pays $39 million and we pay $500 million, and China's a bigger country," he said; Trump has suspended all US foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews of consistency with his policy. "All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries," said the executive order. It did not explicitly put forward how much assistance would initially be affected by the move. It said the US foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases are antithetical to American values, adding: "They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries;" Reinstatement of Cuba on state sponsors of terrorism list, reversing an executive order issued by Presiden Biden just days earlier. Biden had removed the designation under a plan negotiated by the Vatican to secure the release of political prisoners in Cuba. In response, Cuban authorities had begun releasing detainees. The Trump administration's move complicates Cuba's pledge to release more than 500 prisoners under the agreement. It remains unclear how many additional detainees will be freed following Trump's decision. Cuban President Diaz-Canel condemned the reversal, describing it on social media as an “act of mockery and abuse.” Cuba has consistently denied allegations of supporting terrorism; Trump signed an executive order in an attempt to delay a ban of the popular short-video app TikTok for 75 days. According to the order, Trump is pursuing a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans. "I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok," he told reporters while signing executive orders at the Oval Office. He said TikTok could be worth a trillion dollars. "Essentially with TikTok, I have the right to sell it or close it, and we'll make that determination, and we may have to get an approval from China too. I'm not sure, but I'm sure they'll approve it," he said. He also said his administration will work on "a joint venture" between the US and undisclosed other entities. "I think you have a lot of people that would be interested in TikTok with the United States as a partner," he added. On Friday, (January 17), the US Supreme Court upheld a law that would ban TikTok unless its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, divests from the app. After going offline earlier Sunday, TikTok announced that it was in the process of restoring services to its US users following assurances from Trump. (Source: Yeni Safaq / Anadolu Agency = Turkey)
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