[HotAir] BREAKING NEWS: US Attorney General @PamBondi says we can expect brand new Jeffrey Epstein details TOMORROW. Expect flight logs and names… pic.twitter.com/dMn4nkKefV
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) February 27, 2025
Well, it's now mid-afternoon on Thursday, and after all the hype, there's no list. And here's where the story gets really interesting. Attorney General Pam Bondi is pissed, and she wants answers.
Bondi learned yesterday that the New York City field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations was in possession of thousands of pages of records pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein case, and is just refusing to turn it over to both FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C, and to the Department of Justice.
Bondi discussed this with Director Kash Patel, who was literally sworn in to run the Bureau two days ago. He had no idea the New York City office had gone rogue. Regardless, Bondi is not messing around here. She has given a hard redline. Compile the files and turn them over to DOJ by 8AM tomorrow, the 28th. She does not spell out the "or else", nor should she have to. She is also going to take possession of an after-action report in two weeks as to who in the New York office did not comply and why it was not done, and what heads have been rolled as a result. It's not a request.
A couple of things to note here. Number one, for all the talk on the left about how the government has become a dictatorship, Toure' being just the most recent example on CNN last night...
...what is happening within the Bureau is police state stuff, not a democratic republic. The FBI field offices answer directly to the D.C. office and its director. Period. The entire Bureau answers to the Attorney General. She is the boss. Bondi reports to and is held accountable to the president of the United States. The New York office does not have the ability to decide what gets turned out and what doesn't.
What is not known at this time is whether Patel has flooded the zone in New York. Are documents being destroyed right now? Are they finally cooperating? We don't know. All we do know is the rot at the Bureau is not just the 7th floor of the Hoover Building. It apparently is spread far and wide.
Watch this space, because events unfolding now are very fluid. If we're told in the morning that all of the documents are destroyed, and all that remains are a couple hundred pages of redacted material protecting the guilty, you're going to see the first crisis of confidence for Trump's new team.
Bondi and Patel seem to be on the same page. But right now, the seem to be the only two people in the Justice Department who are on that page, and that's not healthy for the republic.
John Podhoretz of Commentary recalls a period in time that is eerily similar to what's going on now - Troopergate.
This saga, of course, goes back to Former President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, using state troopers to procure many of the women who would become notches in Clinton's belt of sexual conquests. It wasn't a good look on Arkansas state law enforcement then, and it's not a good look for the Bureau now.
#1
When a person is rich, famous and screwing little kids.
Dumping $$$$$ in to certain persons laps to eliminate threats to that Rich and Famous, perverted status flows quickly and quietly.
What If? Say the person is given a quick and Tax-free hidden income, equal to 10 years of their working income.
Example given: Thomas Crooks and his still unexplained offshore funds.
#5
It amazes me that Comey’s daughter continues to draw a DIJ salary.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:58 Comments ||
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#6
He had no idea the New York City office had gone rogue.
He's pretty damn naive if that's the case.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:28 Comments ||
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#7
Open a second front with P Diddy, use it to correlate the corruption.
As far as the someone you like may be on it, I say so what?
The entertainment industry died in 2020 when every single entertainer got on board with covid, no curiosity or questions asked. They are now either paid shills of interest groups, or auditioning to be. And if on the guest list, awful people anyways.
Ask yourself why Clooney's organization rushed to the defense of man-boy love after Indonesia criminalized it.
Tom Hanks on the list would make Forrest Gump a bit awkward, but then so is him and Obama spending the Greek nights away on Hanks' yacht.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The pogroms in Sumgait became the starting point for Azerbaijan's actions against the residents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Armenian authorities are not taking measures to draw the attention of the world community to the topic of genocide, refugees from Sumgait indicated.
As the Caucasian Knot" wrote, the commemoration of the victims of the pogroms in Sumgait serves to understand that it is necessary to overcome hostility and prevent the repetition of such events in the future, the Armenian Foreign Ministry indicated.
The Sumgait pogrom was an ethnic riot in the city of Sumgait in the Azerbaijan SSR that lasted from the evening of February 26 to 29, 1988.
According to the USSR Prosecutor General's Office, 26 Armenians and six Azerbaijanis were killed in the riots, more than 100 people were injured, more than 200 apartments were looted, and dozens of cars were burned or smashed. Many workshops, stores, kiosks, and other public facilities were also destroyed. According to various later sources based on eyewitness accounts and death certificate analysis, the death toll was in the hundreds, according to the Caucasian Knot article "Sumgait Pogroms" published in the "Reference" section.
Refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh, NGO representatives and members of the Armenian parliament gathered at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan near the monument to the victims of the Sumgait tragedy.
The action was held at the initiative of the public organizations "Congress of Armenians - refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR" and "Against legal arbitrariness". Those gathered laid flowers and wreaths. About 200 people gathered for the action, representatives of about 10 local media outlets were present, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" reported.
"What is happening to the Armenian people today is a direct continuation of what happened to the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Ganja and other populated areas," Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan said at the rally.
The head of the NGO “Against Legal Arbitrariness” Larisa Alaverdyan recalled that “hundreds of thousands of Armenians were expelled from Azerbaijan as a result of mass killings and pogroms, and Azerbaijan’s policy of genocide continues to this day.”
"But so far Armenia has not made a single decision at the level of the National Assembly and the government to recognize Azerbaijan's actions as genocide, although this is a crime not only against Armenians, but also a crime against humanity," the human rights activist noted.
Those who think that the genocide was committed only at the beginning of the 20th century are mistaken, political scientist Edgar Elbakyan pointed out the actions. "At the end of the 20th century, there were Sumgait, Baku, Shahumyan, Maragha and many other Armenian settlements, and it continued in Artsakh ( the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh, - note of the "Caucasian Knot" ) in 2020-2023. Instead of despairing, we must learn and take action," he said.
Secretary of the opposition faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Abrahamyan noted that Armenia has been conducting the process of internationalization of the recognition of genocides for several decades, but the current Armenian government ignores this. "They limit themselves to purely symbolic statements that mean nothing, and as such, the topic of its internationalization is not put forward," Abrahamyan emphasized at a briefing with journalists in Tsitsernakaberd, pointing out that Azerbaijan's impunity has led to actions against the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Now a pensioner, Engels Grigoryan lived and worked in Sumgait until February 1988. His family fell victim to the pogroms – his mother was tortured and killed before his eyes. The man was a witness at the trial of the pogrom participants. "I was only at the first hearing, because they were not trying the real criminals, and it was clear at the hearing that the true events were being hidden," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
As the legal successor of the USSR, Russia bears responsibility for the crimes against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR, he is sure.
Karina Melzhumyan's family from Sumgait survived the pogroms and moved to Armenia in 1988. "The Sumgait pogroms lasted not two days, but four, and the Kremlin knows best how many were actually killed," she noted.
Meljumyan stated that “if the world had fairly condemned the Armenian genocide of 1915, the pogroms of Armenians since 1988,” then perhaps the events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 would not have occurred.
Alvina Avanesyan said that her family was saved miraculously, simply because the crowd was distracted by the Armenian driver, who was beaten for a long time and then burned with his car.
"We managed to leave Sumgait because we accidentally learned from our neighbors about pogroms in other neighborhoods, and that they had seen our name and address on the list of Armenians. The crowd of pogromists had lists with the addresses of apartments where Armenians lived. I told this in court. But those I had noticed during the pogroms were not in the dock - they had recruited some teenagers. We, the victims, understood that there would be no punishment, that the facts would be hidden, and that the fact that the Armenian genocide continued in Sumgait would not be recorded. But the exact number of victims was not announced, but we know that there were more than was officially stated," the refugee from Sumgait noted.
She added that all the families from Sumgait who came to Armenia in 1988 were immediately provided with housing. But after the Spitak earthquake, the blockade, the war, the social problems of refugees from Azerbaijan were no longer a priority.
According to Avanesyan, it will be difficult for refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh to survive without state support. "Many refugees from Sumgait and Baku, because they were unable to buy housing or find work here, left for other countries. As a result, the issue of our rights is not discussed, and our rights are not respected. The same awaits refugees from Artsakh if they do not more actively demand protection of their rights, legal and social," says a refugee from Sumgait.
Official Baku adheres to the version that the pogroms in Sumgait were provoked and organized by terrorist cells controlled by KGB agents. In publications on the anniversary of the tragedy, the Azerbaijani media write that hundreds of Azerbaijani families saved their Armenian neighbors from angry crowds. "The statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry is an attempt to hide acts of violence, the mass expulsion of the Azerbaijani population living in Armenia, terror against the Azerbaijani people, provocations on ethnic grounds, the use of military force by Armenia since the late 1980s," said Ayhan Hajizade, press secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, on February 27 in connection with the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry regarding the events in Sumgait.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Yaroslav Karpikov
[REGNUM] Over the past six months, Russian migration authorities have received almost 600 applications from potential migrants from a rather unusual category. We are talking about educated and often very successful Americans, Canadians and residents of the European Union who do not agree with the liberal "agenda", share traditional spiritual and moral values - and therefore are ready to come and live in our country.
Fascinating. That’s going to be a bit of culture shock for all involved. But it’s going to be interesting to see if the Americans stick once the shape and extent of the Trump changes are clear, though perhaps they’ll wait to see what the next American president does.
Data on Western “healthy person relocants” was made public on February 27 by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) during a meeting between the agency’s head Svetlana Chupsheva and Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin with people from Germany, the USA and France who decided to settle in the Volga region.
The basis for impatriation, that is, moving to a new homeland, was the decree of Vladimir Putin adopted in August 2024. According to this document, foreigners who share the values adopted by us will be able to receive a temporary residence permit (TRP) outside the quota. The decision on each valuable - without any irony - foreign specialist is made by the headquarters operating under the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It was a brilliant move. Last year there were lots of reasons for productive native Westerners to be deeply unhappy with societal trends.
So, at the current turn of its history, Russia has returned to a practice that existed under the first tsars of the Romanov dynasty. Our country accepts foreign dissidents (again, in a good sense).
If now these are people who left, among other things, because of the excessive European "tolerance", then at that time victims of religious intolerance fled to Russia. In fact, our western neighbors of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth called all non-Catholics, including Orthodox, by the word dysydent (from the Latin dissidens, "dissenting").
The departure of the Orthodox “in the name of the sovereign” was especially valued in the first half of the 17th century, since in the minds of all Orthodox Christians of the world at that time, Russia was the only country of “pious faith” among an ocean of perished people: “Luthers and Calvins,” that is, Protestants, “Papalians,” that is, Catholics, and “Mohammedans.”
An example of such an “exit” is the family of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky (1620–1631).
In the archives we find many extracts and petitions from the Discharge Prikaz, which tell about the relatives and service to the Tsar of this amazing man.
Thus, in the extract, compiled on the basis of a certificate from the Ambassadorial Office, a description of the royal favor to the son and nephew of the Kyiv Metropolitan, who left for the Russian state to serve in the year 7138 from the creation of the world (that is, in 1630), has been preserved.
"FORTY SABLES AND 50 RUBLES OF MONEY"
Andrei Boretsky, the son of Metropolitan Job, and Pavel Knyazhitsky, the Metropolitan's nephew, were honored with a reception by Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich on January 13, 1631, and were "at hand" and received refreshments from the Tsar's table. Andrei himself was granted the rank of stolnik to Patriarch Filaret Nikitich (the Tsar's father), and Pavel Knyazhitsky was granted the rank of Moscow nobleman.
They also received separate gifts from Patriarch Filaret. Thus, Andrei Boretsky will receive from Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich: "A silver-gilt cup worth 3 hryvnias, velvet worth 15 rubles... forty sables worth 30 rubles, 50 rubles in money from the Great Parish."
From Patriarch Filaret Nikitich he received: “An icon, a silver ladle worth 2 hryvnias… 40 sables worth 20 rubles, 20 rubles in money.”
Pavel Knyazhitsky also received such rich gifts. Along with the gifts to Boretsky and Knyazhitsky, they added food, drink, and feed for their horses.
15, 20, and especially 50 "rubles" were very good lifting. To understand, for a ruble in silver in the 17th century you could buy almost 220 kg of rye flour or about 30 kilograms of butter, a four-year-old bull or five or six sheep.
ROYAL GIFTS FOR THE NOBLEMAN BOYARSKY
In the summer of 1631, from the Russian border town of Putivl (now in the Sumy region of Ukraine), the governors Prince Andrei Mosalsky and Ignatius Uvarov sent a “rider” with the Putivl boyar’s son Grigory Gladky.
It turned out to be another nephew of the Kiev Metropolitan Job - Stepan Boyarsky. Arriving in Moscow, the Metropolitan's nephew told about himself:
“His father, Fyodor Boyarsky, served the king in the zhelnyr (that is, military - from the Polish żołnierz, soldier) service on five horses, and his mother, Stepanova, was the sister of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky.”
Three years earlier, Stepan was sent by his father to Vilno (modern Vilnius) to learn to read and write, after which, with his father's consent, he moved to Lvov, where he studied at the local school for two years. In Lvov, the young nobleman learned "Polish and Russian literacy," after which he went to Kyiv.
That same year, before Maslenitsa, his father died in Kiev, and his elder brother Ivan Boyarsky went to the Russian state. Stepan lived with his mother in Kiev for 20 weeks, after which he decided to go to Moscow to serve the Tsar.
His mother remained in Kiev at the Mikhailovsky Monastery. Having finally reached Moscow via Putivl, the younger nephew of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky was received by Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in the Dining Chamber and allowed to kiss his hand. Stepan also received large gifts for his departure to Russia: “a cup worth 2 hryvnias, velvet… damask, cloth… forty sables worth 20 rubles, 30 rubles in money…”
SCOUT NOVIKOV AND HIS MISSION
The same Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky was an active assistant in the matter of Orthodoxy and the emigration of Little Russians and Belarusians to Russia.
Some of his hidden contacts were through Russian spies sent by Putivl governors to Little Russia in the 1620s and 1630s. One of these spies was the boyar's son from Putivl, Vasily Novikov.
Returning to Putivl from Kiev in the autumn of 1630, Novikov told how he visited the metropolitan, who informed him of everything that was happening in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and at parting said to him: “As he… hears about all sorts of news, he will send his son Andrey Boretsky to the Tsar in Moscow.”
Which, as we see, was done later. His son would later become a city governor in Yelets in Russia.
In the person of Job Boretsky we see a man devoted to the cause of Orthodoxy, who perceived the Russian Tsar as the only savior not only of the body of Orthodox Christians from the “pope-mongers” of the Poles, but also the savior of the souls of those who came to serve him.
Not only Orthodox Christians from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth left for Russia, as a rule, the same Russians (Little Russians and Belarusians) who remained “outside their native harbor” after the Lithuanian conquests of the 12th–13th centuries, but also Orthodox Christians from the Balkans and the East.
One such case was the departure in the sovereign’s name of the prince’s son from Serbia, a representative of the Miloradovich family, whose descendants would later glorify Russia.
On November 20, 1640, from Putivl, the steward and governor Grigory Pushkin (a representative of the senior branch of the ancient family that gave Russia its greatest poet) sent a foreigner “with a formal reply,” who introduced himself as Tsvei Pavlov, a native of the Serbian land.
Arriving in Moscow, the visiting foreigner was interrogated, and this is what he said about himself: "Of the princely lineage of the Serbian land. His father, Prince Pavel Ilyin, son of Miloradov, serves the Turkish king from his estate among the Serbs. And his, the prince's, direct baptismal name is Prince Stepan."
The story of the Serbian prince Stepan Miloradovich’s departure to Russia, which he told in the Discharge Order, is also interesting.
The story begins with a family drama, when, according to Stepan, “now for the fourth year, the Turkish people deceived his brother, the younger prince Yury, and brought him from the Serbian land to Constantinople, and in Constantinople they converted him to Islam. ”
The elder brother did not accept this and moved from Serbia to Istanbul to search.
Arriving in the Ottoman capital, the prince found his "Buddhist" brother and took him away from the city. The fugitives reached the "Multean land" (the mountainous region of Muntenia in modern Romania), where the younger brother died.
Fearing pursuit and punishment from the "infidel" Turks, Stepan did not return to his father in Serbia, but took refuge on Mount Athos in the Hilandar Monastery, where he hid for six months. At the same time, the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophanes III (who in 1620 restored the Kiev Metropolitanate after the Brest Union of 1596) was passing through the Hilandar Monastery.
Prince Pavel Miloradovich, fearing for the future fate of his eldest son, turned to him with a request for protection before the Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
At that moment, Stepan had already firmly decided to leave for Moscow and went there, having received two letters - from his father and from the Jerusalem Patriarch. The young prince began his journey to the Russian state through the lands of Multyanskaya and Voloska (Wallachia), reached the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and passed the fortresses of Khotin, Kamenets-Podolsky and through all of Lithuania reached the Russian Putivl. There, the steward Pushkin had already provided him with protection.
Two “letters of recommendation” were sent to the Discharge Order, and they can now be found in the archives.
In one of them, Prince Paul calls Tsar Mikhail Romanov "the champion of the Divine churches" and "the second Constantine, the God-protected reigning city of Moscow." The old aristocrat wrote with sorrow about the apostasy from Orthodoxy of his deceased youngest son: "The wicked Hagarians brought my youngest son to Constantinople and defamed him with a wicked charm... infantile reason... they converted him to Turkey, alas, for the sake of sin."
The Patriarch, taking advantage of the opportunity, informed the Russian sovereign about church affairs in the Middle East and recommended the young Miloradovich as “a good and honest man.”
As in our time, the candidacy of the immigrant was carefully considered. A Serb who had already been naturalized in Russia, Prince Mikhail Rodionov son of Miloradov, Stepan's cousin, was summoned to the Discharge Prikaz. He informed the Duma clerks: "Serbenin Prince Stepan Miloradov is known to his father - his Prince Pavel is an honest man among the Serbs."
After which the immigrant prince was presented to the tsar, and was presented with a silver ladle weighing 2 hryvnias, expensive silk fabric - damask weighing 10 arshins, "30 rubles of money" and a local salary, that is, a plot of land of 550 quarters - approximately 280 hectares.
Subsequently, Prince Stepan Miloradovich will undergo the traditional procedure for all foreigners in Russia - “being sent to a monastery”, where his Orthodoxy will be tested once again and his loyalty to the traditional values of Russia will be finally proven.
RUSSIA WILL NEED NEW BAGRATIONS
"Relocant" Stepan gave rise to the Russian branch of the Miloradovich family, which gave the country many officers: from a colonel of the Zaporizhian Cossack army to a divisional commander during the First World War. But most of all in our history, the hero of the war of 1812 and victim of the Decembrist rebellion, the St. Petersburg Governor-General Mikhail Miloradovich, is remembered.
The family name gave Russia diplomats, scientists, and officials, primarily in the Little Russian provinces. But there would have been no Miloradovichs in Rus' if not for the intelligent policy of the first Romanovs to attract valuable personnel from abroad.
As we see, in Russia in the 17th century, all people who shared "traditional Russian values" were actively accepted, which at that time necessarily included Orthodoxy and the desire to serve the royal house. Despite their Orthodoxy and even belonging to the once united Russian people (the son and nephews of the Kyiv Metropolitan), foreigners who left for Russia lived for a long time "especially" in their own settlements in Moscow: Greek, Georgian, etc.
Marriages were also concluded among "their own" natives. However, one should not look for reasons in the desire to preserve the usual living conditions for foreigners; this was connected with obtaining a number of privileges for such "traveling foreigners".
Is the effect of the presidential decree justified in the realities of the 21st century in Russia? The answer is clear - yes, it is justified. Having such a mechanism, Russia will be able, as in the 17th century, to incorporate into its composition the faithful and devoted sons of the Fatherland (like the Miloradovichs and Bagrations ). However, it is necessary to strengthen control over the loyalty and confirmation of the fidelity of Russia of such new sons, as was done in the 17th century.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Malek Dudakov
[REGNUM] The tail can try to wag the dog for a long time. But sooner or later it ends. This is roughly how one can evaluate the surreal spectacle that took place in the White House during the visit of Vladimir Zelensky.
It is unlikely that we can recall any precedents in modern US history when an official meeting between an American president and the leader of another country turned into a public squabble and showdown.
Donald Trump has long avoided meeting with Zelensky.
During his first term, he did not invite him to the White House. The summer scandal of 2019 with Trump's call to Zelensky, the details of which the Ukrainian side leaked to the American press, had an effect. During the conversation, Trump demanded that Zelensky investigate the Biden family's corruption in Ukraine. Democrats in the US Congress later used the opportunity to try to impeach Trump for this.
Later, with the beginning of Joe Biden’s term, Zelensky was invited to the White House four times.
These meetings were quite routine - the positions of the Democrats who came to power and Ukrainian lobbyists generally converged. Although even then Zelensky often tried to behave very boldly and constantly demanded the provision of new categories of weapons. From Javelins to artillery, missile systems, Abrams tanks and, ultimately, long-range ATACMS missiles.
In September 2024, Zelensky also came to the United States to campaign for the Democrats and Kamala Harris’ campaign ; he was then taken to a shell factory in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
But there was no miracle for the Ukrainian lobbyists, and the Democrats lost the elections by a landslide. Trump did not forget all the complaints about Zelensky, so he was in no hurry to meet with him. Although after the elections, at the instigation of Emmanuel Macron, he had a short conversation with Zelensky in Paris.
Ultimately, it was the Europeans – the leaders of France and Britain – who persuaded Trump to hold a summit meeting with Zelensky at the White House.
Trump's team timed this to coincide with the signing of a long-planned deal to develop rare earth metals in Ukraine. It was supposed to grant American companies the right to 50% of all deposits in Ukraine. The revenues from production were then supposed to go to a special fund aimed at reconstructing the country.
From the very beginning, many questions arose about whether these deposits actually exist in Ukraine or not.
The Europeans also conducted their parallel negotiations with Kiev and did not want to lose the opportunity to extract something in Ukraine themselves. And the estimates of profits from the development of mineral reserves were constantly changing - from trillions to hundreds, and then tens of billions of dollars.
But for Trump's team, a deal with Kiev would in any case mean an opportunity to "recoup" at least some of the investment in the Ukrainian project. This could be called a victory for American taxpayers and used to deflect criticism from hawks demanding continued military action.
Ukrainian lobbyists demanded that Trump provide some kind of security guarantees from the United States in exchange for providing their deposits.
However, it was clear from the very beginning that Trump’s team had no intention of giving its guarantees.
Now a new budget is being adopted in Washington, within the framework of which a strict reduction in government spending is planned. And external tranches are among those that were first to go under the knife. The White House has no desire to allocate new tranches to Kyiv. The European hawks, who begged the US for logistical assistance in sending their peacekeeping mission, were also left high and dry.
There are plenty of contradictions between Trump's team and the current government in Kyiv.
But even under these conditions, it was hard to imagine that the White House talks would immediately turn into an "exchange of pleasantries." Zelensky, in his usual aggressive manner, began to demand additional arms supplies from the United States. He also called on Trump's team not to negotiate with Russia, but to leave it all to the Ukrainians themselves.
Zelensky's attitude literally drove the Republicans crazy.
Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance gave Zelensky a real dressing down, whose rudeness played a very cruel joke on him.
The negotiations broke down, the deal was not signed, and the Ukrainian delegation was required to leave the US territory as soon as possible. They were even forced to pay for their accommodation in Washington, although visits by leaders of other countries are usually paid for by the American side.
Zelensky is used to using his favorite style of aggressive and boorish diplomacy in dealing with European politicians. He probably also tried to do business with Democrats in the US. Moreover, many of them had corrupt ties to Ukraine.
So there really were opportunities for the tail to wag the big American dog. But now there are other people in power, and the situation has changed.
By the way, this is far from the first case in American history when one or another country dependent on the United States sought to obtain support from its “metropolis” in an ultimatum form.
The authorities of South Vietnam in the last years of its existence also tried to openly blackmail politicians in the USA. But at least it was done privately. In the end, the American dog got rid of that "tail".
It is quite possible that we will see a somewhat similar scenario in Ukraine.
Trump's team has already placed its loyalists in senior positions in the American intelligence agencies. For example, the FBI is now headed by Cash Patel and Don Bongino - both of whom have long advocated for opening an investigation into corruption with the allocation of Ukrainian tranches. After Zelensky's humiliating flight from the White House, the likelihood that these processes will be given the green light has increased.
In the future, Zelensky’s inner circle may well fall under personal US sanctions for fraud and corruption.
This will also be used as a lever of pressure on Kyiv - with the demand to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Washington will become even more active in seeking a change of power in Ukraine in order to replace Zelensky with someone more manageable.
In the political and military spheres, we should expect a deepening split between the US and European hawks over the issue of Ukraine.
Trump's team will certainly speed up the negotiating track with Russia, which is already bearing fruit with the restoration of diplomatic services.
What is coming may well be a softening of US sanctions in certain areas and an intensification of dialogue on the resumption of joint economic projects.
Relations with Kiev, while Zelensky is in power there, are now completely ruined by the Trump administration. Therefore, Ukrainian lobbyists and circles associated with them in Europe will not be allowed to negotiate with Russia.
The turmoil in the White House will sharply worsen the attitude towards Zelensky inside the US. Most Republicans already perceive him in a very negative light. At the same time, almost 80% of Americans support the earliest possible peace talks with Russia and de-escalation in Ukraine.
A public confrontation with Zelensky will allow Trump to show himself as a champion of US interests and someone who is ready to put pro-Ukrainian hawks in their place. For Zelensky, a conflict with Trump is unlikely to end well.
#5
Zelensky, clearly misread the room and screwed the pooch and bit the only hand feeding his war.
But then there are some DC bkgrd comments posing the What If idea. That a DC group that wanted this profitable war, for their own pockets, to continue. Expressing threats, that if Zelensky wanted a future Safe Harbor to escape/exile too, that he should follow their directions and give the attitude and performance he did.
Plus, it tossed in an opportunity for the Liberals & Democrats to try and bring Trump down a notch or 2. While using a 3rd party and not themselves directly.
#7
Z shouldn't have called Vance a "suka" under his breath while on camera in a room full of people who can lip read Russian. Since Trump's wife is Ukrainian he undoubtedly knows all the common curse words too.
#9
Zelenski ...is just a sock puppet for Ukrainian Nazis and their West European masters.
Z has been a loyal soldier and done what they asked to enable and promote the war. It is understandable that he would be a bit miffed at being cast aside at this late date.
His best move at this point is to stage a false-flag attack and nuke Kiev. Everyone will know the Russians did it because that's just how they are, and it allows Zelensky to fake his own death. Let's see Trump make a peace deal out of that!
#10
Seems like he was told not to sign the deal by his masters. Maybe Victoria Nuland will have an opinion. Let’s watch MSMBC for some people that should lose their security clearance.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 9:18 Comments ||
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#11
For the Rantburg readers, is there a specific date/event that changed your narrative from backing Ukraine/Zelensky to what it is now.
#12
I had some sympathy until Lindsey came out and said that the Ukrainian funding was the best money we ever spent. The kabuki between Rubio and Nuland was another waypoint on my journey to WTF.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 10:26 Comments ||
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#13
The KS department of education sent a speaker to our school to pump up support for war, getting an hour of assembly time and (attempting to) bully shame the kids into wearing buttons.
Ultimately though, the election of Elynskyyy itself and the rabid and vigorous shut down of anyone questioning it, including one of the first things Trump 45 did with that infamous phone call.
This is pretty much the official announcement of its death.
I'm not mourning NATO, an alliance that 'defends the Muslim faith' and betrays Western civilization does more harm than good. Interesting times are ahead and those allies that are only a 'scredriver's turn' away should turn that screwdriver now.
#16
^^^ Russia wants Europe??? How? With what??? Their non nuclear force is a joke. They’re exhausted. Europe may be weaker than in the past, but they aren’t as weak as Russia right now. The Bear needs the war to end so it can lick it’s wounds and rebuild.
#21
Contrarian view- a made for tv ‘Dear Leader’ event; legit questions were asked, DJT objected, lap dog Vance treated Zelensky like a child at the Christmas kid’s table.
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
Trump set our international relations back.
#22
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
I saw a bit somewhere that said the TASS guy snuck in uninvited and was tossed on discovery. No idea of the report's veracity. Seems like rather lax security.
#23
For the Rantburg readers, is there a specific date/event that changed your narrative from backing Ukraine/Zelensky to what it is now.
That'd be the date of the Maidan Coup back in, what was it, 2014? I just knew that Obama was somehow involved in that and it was dirty, dirty, dirty. Then there was Joe Biden and Hunter Biden laundering money and peddling influence with crooked Ukrainian oligarchs. There was the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax in 2016 and then there was Alexander Vindman screaming about Trump's phone call to Zelensky (in which Trump did absolutely nothing wrong). The final straw was in the summer of 2022 when Tony Blinken insisted that NATO would expand into Ukraine. The end game became clear: Western globalists want regime change in Moscow so they can spread their corruption all the way to Vladivostok.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:45 Comments ||
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#24
If Zelensky doesn't have his bug out bag all ready to go and a secure hidey hole in another part of the world with his ill gotten gains in a Swiss bank, he is dumber than I thought and that's dumber than dirt. It's time for him to bail.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:51 Comments ||
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#25
Meghan McCain saying we need to war with Russia because Ukraine has a street named after my daddy was pretty wild.
#26
One of my favorites was 40 kill The Ghost of Kyyyv, who was transgender, and after xer was shot down, xer's pristine recovered helmet going up for auction in London.
#29
Huh? Draft treaties are not the ones that get signed and ratified. Do you have a link to them? Why not post them here instead of making vague accusations?
Something big and bad?
Huh?
Can you be a little more specific?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 13:27 Comments ||
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#30
A lot different dealing with a man who puts America first rather than a senile sociopath war pig looking for kick backs
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/01/2025 13:58 Comments ||
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#32
The sh*tty little Taliban ruling sh*tty little Afghanistan inflicted a shameful defeat on NATO and the US.
No, in a repeat of Vietnam, the Democrats inflicted a defeat upon America, assisted this time by a military establishment more interested in managing than winning.
#33
@32 There was and is a broad consensus in the Western political class, far beyond US Democrats, that especially after being attacked we should appease Islam.
The enemy, who couldn't be called the enemy because that would have hurt his feelings couldn't even be scolded, because that would have hurt his feelings too.
#34
Mollie Hemmingway nail's it: "Yesterday, Susan Rice said of the Trump-Zelensky meeting, "There is no question this was a set up." She revealed full knowledge of the mineral agreement, complained that it didn't include "concrete" security agrees (meaning, apparently, commitment of US troops on the ground if conditions merit), and then mischaracterized Trump's behavior, counting on most Americans to not have watched what transpired over the entire hour in the Oval Office.
You can look at this and dismiss it as typical Democrat talking points, but you could also view it as almost a confession, one that includes details about the current "Get Trump" effort.
Yes, Trump won the popular vote against unbelievable odds, but if you think Team Obama is being any less involved in quiet insurrections than they were during the first Trump administration (Russia collusion, Ukraine impeachment, etc.), you're clueless. I'll remind you that Susan Rice was in the small Jan. 5, 2017 meeting in the WH with other key Russia collusion hoax perpetrators."
"...Zelensky repeatedly declined opportunities to sign the deal in Kyiv and Munich, and requested the meeting at the White House. It later came out that Rice and Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, and Alexander Vindman may have been personally advising Zelensky to do this meeting in the way he did -- that they recommended him to be hostile and to try to goad Trump into blowing up. Even though he didn't, and even though Zelensky's actions horrified many normal Americans, the Obama team went on the airwaves to falsely characterize what happened."
"Instead, Zelensky had one of the worst stage performances of his acting career, and Trump was statesmanlike (against all odds) throughout. Zelensky followed Team Obama's advice to be hostile to a tee, but it didn't land how they thought it would. Surprisingly, one of the most important aspects of it not working out might have been Lindsay Graham's reaction. Had he and other neocons thought Zelensky was being reasonable, Trump would be having to fight (even moreso) the neocon portion of the GOP in addition to Team Obama's dirty tricks. Even the "conservative" neocon pundits on TV last night were admitting Zelensky had royally messed up."
#35
The Parties shall exercise restraint in military planning and conducting exercises to reduce risks of eventual dangerous situations in accordance with their obligations under international law, including those set out in intergovernmental agreements on the prevention of incidents at sea outside territorial waters and in the airspace above, as well as in intergovernmental agreements on the prevention of dangerous military activities.
Elmerert, is this what you're on about? How do you get from "restraint" to an end to free navigation in international waters? Aren't you exaggerating just a little bit?
It sounds like Putin doesn't want NATO naval exercises in the Black Sea. Why would NATO need naval exercises in the Black Sea?
I just scanned the document at your link and saw absolutely nothing about the dissolution of NATO. Yes, it seems the Russians don't want NATO to include any more nations than it already has.
Do you really believe NATO needs Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kahzakstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijian, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Pakistan or any more than it already has? What do those countries have to do with defending Western Europe from the USSR?
Do you really believe that Putin invaded Ukraine completely out of the blue without any provocation? You don't think that maybe he was paranoid about NATO troops, tanks, drones, missiles and war planes on his border?
Besides all that, my understanding of a "draft" treaty is that it's a starting point for negotiations. Biden wouldn't even negotiate which tells me that what he really wanted was war and conquest. I'd rather have negotiations and I don't give a rat's ass what Zelensky thinks about it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 17:30 Comments ||
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#38
^#21 lap dog Vance treated Zelensky like a child at the Christmas kid’s table.
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
Trump set our international relations back.
Posted by USN, Ret
And Musk is an egomaniac, right. The TDS is strong with you USN
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2025 20:14 Comments ||
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#40
Woodrow-i voted for trump, at least he could string a sentence together. But to backstab in a what looks to me like a planned for tv hit stinks of pettiness.
Couple this with the crap musk is doing, completely off the rails ( nobody elected him to take out dog crap, much less anything else) and if that is your definition of tds, so be it.
Not reported elsewhere but it is reported that Norway told the US Navy to find someplace else to refuel.
So they must have TDS as well.
[Townhall] Since Israel’s ill-considered retreat from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the enclave has represented a source of billions of dollars for the right concessions in the Jewish state.
When Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... won the last legislative elections in 2006 and took control of Gaza, one of the first things it did was to close the border crossings with Israel. Hamas to this day refuses to have any direct contact with Jews or Israel and does all of its negotiating with intermediaries like Egypt and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... . On the day of the surprise crossing closing, I heard the hourly news broadcast. There was an interview with a very frantic head of some kibbutz organization. "I have dozens of trucks with fresh produce that will rot sitting on the Israeli side of the crossings. This is a disaster!" I thought that his concern seemed a little out of place. It reminded me of a cartoon in the Chicago Tribune during a period in the 1980s when there were several near-misses between airplanes. While all of the passengers on one plane in the comic look terrified at seeing the second plane so close, one guy asks, "Why did they get meat and we only have chicken?" It would appear that most people would be worried about a terrorist group taking over Gaza more than the fate of some turnips.
After Hamas took control of Gaza and removed the Paleostinian Authority (PA), certain Israeli companies started to make a lot of money. Whereas the PA was allowed to go a billion shekels in the hole (just now repaid through the actions of the aggressive Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich) for electricity, everything in Hamas’ Gaza had to be paid up front—oftentimes by the Europeans or NGOs. There was no good will or IOUs in Gaza. Rather it was cash on the barrelhead. I remember during one period, the local company that provided heating oil simply stopped providing the same: no payments, no deliveries. I wanted to write a book on the spectacular financial windfall for the providers of food, electricity, heating oil, gasoline, and other goods to the Jew-hating residents of Gaza. Israel would even periodically send a Brinks truck to exchange worn out Israeli currency for fresh bills. Did anyone explain to Knesset members that Hamas was Israel’s enemy? My lawyers sued to have the practice of exchanging bills stopped; the high court threw out the complaint with no hearing.
I was reminded of Gaza the Cash Cow when one of our boys asked me a question: "Why did Israel agree to release prisoners for the dead bodies of hostages?" And his question was a good one. Israel and Hamas came up with some complex formula for prisoner release based on a hostage being a man or woman, soldier or civilian, live or dead. Live male soldiers generate the most prisoners released, and so on. But his question is fair: why agree to release anybody for a dead hostage? I know that the families want closure. They want to bury their kin and begin the process of mourning and healing. I don’t want to deny them this need. But every terrorist released is potentially a ticking time bomb for the future. Why would Israel release possible killers for bodies? The families of spy Eli Cohen and airman Ron Arad have suffered decades without having received the bodies of their loved ones who were murdered in enemy territory.
After the lopsided 1,000-1 Schalit deal, there was an interesting law proposal: simply limit the number of gunnies that can be released for any one hostage. The law would have been brilliant, because it would not only have limited Israel’s options, it would have entered the minds of Hamas that there is a limit. Just as a terrorist stops at a red light, he too can be told, "We’d love to give you 500 murderers, but what can we do? The law limits us to 5, so you had better pick carefully." Even Hamas would have accepted the law and many fewer gunnies like Yahya Sinwar would be released every time there is a hostage situation. The law was dropped by the Netanyahu government of that day and never pursued again. Why? My guess is money.
During the current war, Israel took possession of thousands of Paleostinian gunnies and civilians. Many were "Nukhba" fighters who had participated in the pogrom of October 7th. Others were military-aged men scooped up by IDF forces as they made their way north to south in Gaza. There were reports in the media that there was not enough room at the inn—Israeli prisons—for the massive influx of new bad guys. As in every Western country, housing criminals—or terrorists—is expensive. Guards, food, medical, facilities—it runs in the tens or hundreds of millions of shekels per year. What’s a great way to empty out Israel’s high-security prisons? Agree with Hamas to let out thousands of prisoners for hostages, dead or alive. Israel sees the deal as an opportunity to get rid of thousands of expensive prisoners and save a lot of money. Sure, there are risks, but hey we’ll catch them before they blow up the buses...oops, three of them blew up last week, but thank God there was nobody aboard.
While the needs of families of hostages who were murdered on October 7th or during Gaza captivity are understood, the requirement to release the fewest number of prisoners should be the concern of the prime minister and his government. There are 10 million Israelis, and many of them ride buses and trains and frequent cafes and restaurants. If the government was serious about protecting these citizens, it would have told Hamas that it won’t release a single prisoner for a dead hostage. Hadar Goldin’s family has waited over a decade without receiving their son’s remains. But one thing Israelis never miss is a bargain, and rather than tell Hamas to keep the bodies, which would have zero value for them, it agreed to release potentially dangerous prisoners for the dear departed captives. The hostage issue, pushed by the media and NGOs, has taken over Israeli discussions. If you so much as want the government to think twice about the terms of the hostage release, then you hate the hostages, you want them to die in Gaza and you are a terrible person. If Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu got out every living hostage but left the dead ones in Gaza, the country would come to a standstill until he agreed to whatever Hamas demanded to get the bodies home.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
