Sunday, November 30, 2025
World of Trouble: Putin Is Manipulating Trump and Doesn’t Want Peace, Ex-US Aide Warns
US-Gesandter auf Putins Seite? | DW Nachrichten
Was passiert, wenn Putin stirbt? | Michael Thumann
Thom Hartmann: Are We Watching Democracy Collapse?
Venezuela Denounces Trump’s Airspace Remarks as ‘Colonialist Threat’
Nov 30, 2025 | Venezuela is accusing US President Donald Trump of making colonialist threats, after he declared that its airspace was “closed”.
Tension between Washington and Caracas has been escalating for weeks. The US has been gathering its largest military presence in the Caribbean in decades.
Al Jazeera’s chief US correspondent Alan Fisher reports from Washington, DC.
Tension between Washington and Caracas has been escalating for weeks. The US has been gathering its largest military presence in the Caribbean in decades.
Al Jazeera’s chief US correspondent Alan Fisher reports from Washington, DC.
Donald Trump: "President for Life. That Sounds Good."
Many a true word spoken in jest! — © Mark Alexander
What Venezuelans Think of Trump's Attempt to Close Venezuelan Airspace | DW News
London in 1943 - Restored Footage
Saturday, November 29, 2025
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump’s statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
President Trump and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate them from the Western Hemisphere.
As part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr. Trump had announced on social media that he was granting a full pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United States of drug trafficking charges in what was seen as a major victory for authorities in a case against a former head of state. That pardon has not yet been officially granted.
The two posts displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken “cocaine-fueled bribes” from cartels and “protected their drugs with the full power and strength of the state — military, police and justice system.” In fact, prosecutors said that Mr. Hernández, for years, allowed bricks of cocaine from Venezuela to flow through Honduras en route to the United States.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, called the pardon “unconscionable” and said that Mr. Trump’s actions were more evidence of a “bogus narrative” around his strategy to counter illicit drugs.
“It completely undercuts the administration’s claim that they really care about narco-trafficking, and that raises the question of what is really going on with the Venezuela operation,” he said. » | Tyler Pager | Reporting from New York | Saturday, November 29, 2025
President Trump and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate them from the Western Hemisphere.
As part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr. Trump had announced on social media that he was granting a full pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United States of drug trafficking charges in what was seen as a major victory for authorities in a case against a former head of state. That pardon has not yet been officially granted.
The two posts displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken “cocaine-fueled bribes” from cartels and “protected their drugs with the full power and strength of the state — military, police and justice system.” In fact, prosecutors said that Mr. Hernández, for years, allowed bricks of cocaine from Venezuela to flow through Honduras en route to the United States.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, called the pardon “unconscionable” and said that Mr. Trump’s actions were more evidence of a “bogus narrative” around his strategy to counter illicit drugs.
“It completely undercuts the administration’s claim that they really care about narco-trafficking, and that raises the question of what is really going on with the Venezuela operation,” he said. » | Tyler Pager | Reporting from New York | Saturday, November 29, 2025
Trump Says His Invasion of Venezuela Starting ‘Very Soon’
Trump Is On Course to Spend $300 Million of US Tax-payer Money on Golf Trips
Nov 29, 2025 | “More important is the cost and how much time he spends at the golf course.”
Trump is spending "significantly more" of the US tax payers money on his golf trips in his second term than he did in his first, says US reporter, Harriet Alexander.
Trump is spending "significantly more" of the US tax payers money on his golf trips in his second term than he did in his first, says US reporter, Harriet Alexander.
La Russie sur le point d'interdire WhatsApp au profit d'une nouvelle application russe
LE FIGARO : Il s’agit d’une super-application donnant accès autant à des services de l’administration qu’à la possibilité de commander une pizza, à l’image de WeChat ou Alipay en Chine.
La Russie envisage d'interdire WhatsApp et ses millions d'utilisateurs locaux pourraient avoir à se rabattre sur Max, une nouvelle messagerie locale promue par les autorités, dénoncée comme un possible outil de surveillance par des avocats.
Proposée par le géant russe des réseaux sociaux VK depuis le début d'année, Max est présenté comme une super-application donnant accès autant à des services de l'administration qu'à la possibilité de commander une pizza, à l'image de WeChat ou Alipay en Chine. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 29 novembre 2025
La Russie envisage d'interdire WhatsApp et ses millions d'utilisateurs locaux pourraient avoir à se rabattre sur Max, une nouvelle messagerie locale promue par les autorités, dénoncée comme un possible outil de surveillance par des avocats.
Proposée par le géant russe des réseaux sociaux VK depuis le début d'année, Max est présenté comme une super-application donnant accès autant à des services de l'administration qu'à la possibilité de commander une pizza, à l'image de WeChat ou Alipay en Chine. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 29 novembre 2025
What Would a Reform Government Mean for Britain?
Prince Edward’s ‘Ridiculous’ Mansion Deal Overshadows Epstein Scandal
Nov 29, 2025 | “The amount of money which they take from the public purse is extraordinary.”
A Times exclusive revealing that Prince Edward pays “peppercorn rent” for his Surrey mansion shows that the bigger scandal in the Royal family isn’t Epstein, but finances, says former Lib Dem MP Norman Baker.
A Times exclusive revealing that Prince Edward pays “peppercorn rent” for his Surrey mansion shows that the bigger scandal in the Royal family isn’t Epstein, but finances, says former Lib Dem MP Norman Baker.
Trump ‘Turns Up the Dial’ on Maduro, Aiming to Force Him Out of Office: Analysis
Nov 29, 2025 | Charles Samuel Shapiro, former ambassador to Venezuela and current professor of international relations at Georgia Tech, says Trump aims to dial up pressure on Maduro and force him out of the country. “
What this does is it turns up the dial, turns up the pressure on Maduro,” Shapiro told Al Jazeera. “And clearly what the United States President Trump wants is for Maduro to leave office, and that would mean he’d have to leave the country.”
Shapiro said it’s unclear what the US endgame actually is. “Trump is increasing the pressure. Will it go to military action? I can’t answer that, and I suspect that’s why the US Southern Command and Defense Department are referring all questions to the White House.”
What this does is it turns up the dial, turns up the pressure on Maduro,” Shapiro told Al Jazeera. “And clearly what the United States President Trump wants is for Maduro to leave office, and that would mean he’d have to leave the country.”
Shapiro said it’s unclear what the US endgame actually is. “Trump is increasing the pressure. Will it go to military action? I can’t answer that, and I suspect that’s why the US Southern Command and Defense Department are referring all questions to the White House.”
Brian Klaas: “The United States Is Now a Competitive Authoritarian System”
LSE: Is the United States still a democracy? In an interview with EUROPP’s editor Stuart Brown, Brian Klaas discusses Donald Trump’s impact on American and global democracy.
I would say the United States is now a “competitive authoritarian” system. This is political science jargon for countries that have the trappings of democracy, but without a level playing field.
In other words, there is genuine competition in the United States between political parties and democratic institutions persist, but the state is able to manipulate outcomes to its advantage, disadvantage its opponents and use state power in illegitimate or undemocratic ways with little to no recourse against it.
Political scientists continue to debate this topic, but few would classify the United States as a robust democracy. It is either a democracy in crisis that is barely clinging onto the label, or one that has tipped over the edge into competitive authoritarianism – and I believe it’s the latter. » | Brian Klaas | Friday, September 19, 2025
I would say the United States is now a “competitive authoritarian” system. This is political science jargon for countries that have the trappings of democracy, but without a level playing field.
In other words, there is genuine competition in the United States between political parties and democratic institutions persist, but the state is able to manipulate outcomes to its advantage, disadvantage its opponents and use state power in illegitimate or undemocratic ways with little to no recourse against it.
Political scientists continue to debate this topic, but few would classify the United States as a robust democracy. It is either a democracy in crisis that is barely clinging onto the label, or one that has tipped over the edge into competitive authoritarianism – and I believe it’s the latter. » | Brian Klaas | Friday, September 19, 2025
The Week Europe Realised It Stands Alone against Russian Expansionism
THE GUARDIAN: Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, but many heard death knell sounded for European reliance on US protection
Kaja Kallas, the European Union foreign policy chief, asked her officials this week to dig up the number of times Russia had – in its various guises – invaded other states in the 20th and 21st centuries. The answer that came back was 19 states, on 33 occasions. Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, was not just indulging in some form of historical mathematics. She was seeking to make a point that lies at the heart of the dispute between the US and Europe over Ukraine’s future, a dispute that has again revealed the chasm across the Atlantic about the true nature of the Russian regime.
Kallas reads history books as a leisure activity and – drawing on her own country’s history of Soviet occupation – has long maintained that the Soviet Union fell, but its imperialism never did. “Russia has never truly had to come to terms with its brutal past or bear the consequences of its actions,” she has said, arguing that the nature of the Russian regime means “rewarding aggression will bring more war, not less”: Putin will come back for more.
A similar warning was made this week by the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, who said: “Our intelligence services are telling us urgently: Russia is at least creating the option of a war against Nato by 2029 at the latest.” Putin is recruiting nearly one new division a month, Wadephul said, adding: “Divisions that are undoubtedly also targeting us, at the EU, at Nato.”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has described Russia “as a constant destabilising power, trying to revise the borders to extend his power”. Putin, he said, is “a predator, an ogre at our gates who constantly needs to eat for his own survival”. In short, “he is a threat to Europeans”.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, told MPs: “We know that without that deterrence, [Putin] has the ambition to go again, and he will go again – and we must guard against that.” » | Patrick Wintour | Diplomatic editor | Saturday, November 29, 2025
Kaja Kallas, the European Union foreign policy chief, asked her officials this week to dig up the number of times Russia had – in its various guises – invaded other states in the 20th and 21st centuries. The answer that came back was 19 states, on 33 occasions. Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, was not just indulging in some form of historical mathematics. She was seeking to make a point that lies at the heart of the dispute between the US and Europe over Ukraine’s future, a dispute that has again revealed the chasm across the Atlantic about the true nature of the Russian regime.
Kallas reads history books as a leisure activity and – drawing on her own country’s history of Soviet occupation – has long maintained that the Soviet Union fell, but its imperialism never did. “Russia has never truly had to come to terms with its brutal past or bear the consequences of its actions,” she has said, arguing that the nature of the Russian regime means “rewarding aggression will bring more war, not less”: Putin will come back for more.
A similar warning was made this week by the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, who said: “Our intelligence services are telling us urgently: Russia is at least creating the option of a war against Nato by 2029 at the latest.” Putin is recruiting nearly one new division a month, Wadephul said, adding: “Divisions that are undoubtedly also targeting us, at the EU, at Nato.”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has described Russia “as a constant destabilising power, trying to revise the borders to extend his power”. Putin, he said, is “a predator, an ogre at our gates who constantly needs to eat for his own survival”. In short, “he is a threat to Europeans”.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, told MPs: “We know that without that deterrence, [Putin] has the ambition to go again, and he will go again – and we must guard against that.” » | Patrick Wintour | Diplomatic editor | Saturday, November 29, 2025
Trump Says US Will 'Permanently Pause Migration' from 'Third World Countries' | ITV News
Nov 28, 2025 | Donald Trump has said the US will "permanently pause migration" from all "third world countries". The comments come after two National Guard troops were shot near the White House on Wednesday.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her wounds the following day, and 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe remains in a critical condition.
The suspect accused of the shooting has been named as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before the American withdrawal in 2021, who drove some 2,600 miles from the state of Washington, to launch the attack.
After the shooting, Trump said his administration would review everyone who entered from Afghanistan under former President Joe Biden - a measure his administration had been planning even before the shooting.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her wounds the following day, and 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe remains in a critical condition.
The suspect accused of the shooting has been named as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before the American withdrawal in 2021, who drove some 2,600 miles from the state of Washington, to launch the attack.
After the shooting, Trump said his administration would review everyone who entered from Afghanistan under former President Joe Biden - a measure his administration had been planning even before the shooting.
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