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Europe
January 25, 2025 Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany's AfD (Alternative fuer Deutschland) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany today, speaking publicly in support of the 'far right' party for the second time in as many weeks. Addressing a hall of 4,500 people alongside party leader Weidel, Musk spoke live via video link about preserving German culture and protecting the German people. Anti-far right campaigners were out in force today, with around 100,000 gathering around Berlin's Brandenburg gate and up to 20,000 in Cologne, including people of all ages carrying colourful umbrellas. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)
Slovakia
/25/01/2025 On Thursday, January 23, President Pellegrini convened a meeting of the state's Security Council, claiming he had been given serious information about a threat to the state's security. "The establishment of our constitution is being threatened; there are groups of people who want to escalate tension within the country and attack the institutions of government," said Pellegrini, adding that these groups are being coordinated from abroad. PM Fico made very similar claims, saying that some groups were allegedly planning a coup. "It is an attempt to organize a typical coup in Slovakia so that the government falls and those who cannot get into power through democratic parliamentary elections come to power," he said. After Prime Minister Robert Fico alleged there were plans to escalate anti-government protests into an attempted coup, Slovaks took the streets in over 20 cities to peacefully protest 'the government's pro-Russia policy'. (Source: DW - Germany)
Russia
January 25, 2025 The S-500 regiment has already been deployed to safeguard the strategically critical Kerch Bridge. The Prometheus radar complex reportedly allows the S-500 to detect ballistic and airborne targets at up to 2,000 and 800 km, respectively. (Source: The National Interest – U.S.)
by Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel.
Ukraine
January 25, 2025 Ukraine’s military, which has depended on the M777 155mm howitzer, has once again been burning through the barrels due to constant firing as Kyiv’s forces remain engaged in artillery duels with the Russian military. The sole U.S.-government-owned and operated arsenal has been unable to meet the “unprecedented demand” of more than 30 new barrels per month. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Suciu
North America
United States
(Saturday), January 25, 2025 US military planes carrying dozens of expelled migrants arrived in Guatemala. A total of 265 Guatemalans arrived on three flights - two operated by the military, and one a charter. Washington also sent four deportation flights to Mexico on Thursday, the White House press secretary said on X, despite multiple US media reports that authorities there had turned at least one plane back. Mexico’s foreign ministry said yesterday it was ready to work with Washington over the deportation of its citizens. The White House press secretary, Leavitt, said yesterday on X that Mexico had deployed some 30,000 National Guard troops to its border. 538 illegal immigrant “criminals” were arrested Thursday, followed by another 593 yesterday. A Pentagon source told that “overnight, two DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft conducted repatriation flights from the US to Guatemala.” Yesterday’s deportees were taken to a reception center at an air force base in Guatemala’s capital, away from the media. Under Trump’s predecessor Biden deportation flights were carried out regularly, with a total of 270,000 deportations in 2024 - a 10-year record - and 113,400 arrests, making an average of 310 per day. (Source: Digital Journal - Canada)
25.01.25 Trump's administration fired the independent inspectors general of more than a dozen major government agencies late yesterday. The agencies include the departments of defense, state, transportation, veterans affairs, housing and urban development, interior, and energy. The purge affected 17 agencies but spared the Department of Justice inspector general Horowitz. Federal law requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire the inspectors general. An inspector general is an independent position that conducts audits, investigations and inspectors into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse. They can be removed by the president or the agency head, depending on who nominated or appointed them. Most of those dismissed were appointees from Trump's 2017-2021 first term. (Source: Telegraph India)
January 25, 2025 Hegseth - a 44-year-old former Fox TV host, who served in the Army National Guard in Iraq and Afghanistan - will become the next secretary of defense after a Senate majority confirmed President Trump’s choice. Hegseth has vowed to rid the military of what he and Trump have called “woke” policies. “The US military needs to confront the reality and perception that it has become too focused on political issues of social justice, political correctness, critical race theory, climate change, etc.,” Hegseth wrote in response to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. In his confirmation hearing, Hegseth pledged his priorities would include reviving the US defense industrial base, overhauling the acquisition process to open up more opportunities for defense startups and rapidly adopting emerging technologies. Some Democratic lawmakers questioned his ability, given his relatively limited high-level management experience. Hegseth said he would surround himself with people who are “smarter and more capable than me.” That will include billionaire financier Feinberg, co-founder and majority owner of Cerberus Capital Management LP, who Trump has nominated to serve as Hegseth’s deputy. Hegseth will also have to navigate Trump’s close ties with billionaire Musk, whose SpaceX has become a vital partner for the Pentagon, with contracts valued in billions of dollars. At the same time, Musk is leading cost-cutting efforts across federal agencies in what Trump has dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Three Republicans - McConnell of Kentucky, Murkowski of Alaska and Collins of Maine - joined Democrats in opposing his confirmation. McConnell, the former Republican leader who has frequently sparred with Trump, questioned Hegseth’s readiness to lead the Pentagon. “Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests,” McConnell, who leads the panel that oversees Pentagon spending, said in a yesterday statement. ’Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test.’ Murkowski and Collins also raised concerns about his earlier opposition to women in combat and allegations about his past behavior. dismissed by Hegseth as “anonymous smears.” Lawmakers voted 51-50 to back Hegseth largely along party lines as Vice President Vance cast his first tie-breaking vote. Hegseth and his deputies will be expected to deliver on Trump’s pledge to end US involvement in existing wars while deterring future aggression. An early test will come in deciding whether to continue providing US weapons to Ukraine as Trump pushes for a rapid end to the war that began with Russia’s fullscale invasion of its neighbor almost three years ago. Hegseth also is likely to press Trump’s case that allies and partners in Europe and Asia ’should spend more on their own defense’ so the US can spend less protecting them. He takes control of a budget of more than $840 billion. (Source: Gulf News - United Arab Emirates / Bloomberg - U.S.)
(January 25, 2025) The US provided foreign aid globally budgeting about $US60 billion in 2023, about 1 percent of the US budget. The State Department has ordered a sweeping freeze on new funding for almost all US foreign assistance. Secretary of State Rubio's order, sent by cable to US embassies worldwide, specifically exempted emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt. The freeze includes funding for anti-HIV program, the President's Emergency Relief Plan for AIDS Relief, and does not appear to allow for assistance to Ukraine to continue. (Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation "with AP" - U.S.)
South America
Argentina
January 25, 2025 Argentinian President Milei rallied against "the mental virus of woke ideology" during a fiery speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, January 23. Milei credited the fundamental values of Western civilization, like respect for life and liberty, free speech and freedom of religion, for enabling the Industrial Revolution that lifted "90% of the global population out of poverty." He then slammed wokeism as the disease that will destroy everything dear to the West. "This is the great epidemic of our time that must be cured. This is the cancer we need to get rid of. This ideology has colonized the world's most important institutions – from the political parties and governments of leading Western nations to global governance organizations, even NGOs, universities and media outlets," said Milei, adding, "Western civilization – and even the human species – will not be able to return to the path of progress demanded by our pioneering spirit. It is essential to break these ideological chains if we want to usher in a new golden age." Milei did not hold back talking about gender ideology and criticized the left for their radically liberal policies. He castigated those leaders who are "attempting to impose the idea that women are men and men are women simply based on self-perception. And they say nothing about when a man dresses as a woman and kills his opponent in a boxing ring, or when a male prison inmate claims to be a woman and ends up sexually assaulting women in prison." Milei used an example of a same-sex couple in Georgia who were jailed last month for abusing and pimping their adopted boys to a pedophile ring. The Argentine leader said, "I want to be clear when I say abuse. This is no euphemism, because in its most extreme forms, gender ideology is outright child abuse. They are pedophiles," Milei declared. Calling Musk a dear friend, Milei put up a furious defense of children against the dangers of transgenderism. "Healthy children are being irreversibly harmed through hormone treatments and mutilation, as if a 5-year-old child could possibly consent to such things, and should their family not agree to this, there will always be state agents ready to step in in favour of what they call the best interests of the child." Musk’s biological son transitioned into a girl a few years ago, which led the billionaire to remark that his child was figuratively "killed" by the "woke mind virus." Milei added, "Only now are we beginning to see the effects of an entire generation that has mutilated their bodies, encouraged by a culture of sexual relativism, and these people will have to spend their entire lives in psychiatric treatment to cope with what they have done to themselves. Yet no one dares to speak about these issues. Not only that, but the vast majority have also been subjected to the misguided self-perceptions of a tiny minority." The libertarian Milei became president in 2023, and the chaotic economy of Argentina has stabilized under his leadership. He was optimistic about his country's future, calling it a "new Argentina," but not so much about the state of the world unless wokeism is reversed. "Believe me, the scandalous experiments in the name of this criminal ideology will be condemned and likened to those committed in the darkest periods in our history," Milei ended. (Source: Fox News / The Associated Press = U.S.)
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