Link: https://tass.com/politics/1556211

The United States and its NATO allies are seeking to win a victory over Russia on the `battlefield’ to destroy our country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS in an interview. 💬 "The actions by the collective West and their puppet [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky confirm the global nature of the Ukrainian crisis. It is no secret that the strategic goal of the US and its NATO allies is to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield as a mechanism of weakening or even destroying our country," Lavrov said. "Our opponents will just do about anything to achieve this goal," he added. ● According to Russia’s top diplomat, the beneficiary of a ‘hot conflict’ is the United States who has been seeking to get the most out of it both economically and strategically. "Washington has also been solving a key geopolitical goal of breaking the traditional bonds between Russia and Europe and making their European satellites even more dependent on them," Lavrov emphasized.
■ US should think twice before contemplating ‘decapitation strike’ – Lavrov
■ Ex-Russian president issues ‘nuclear catastrophe’ warning (12/26/22)
■ The Risk of Nuclear Armageddon (Stephen Lendman)

Link: https://legitgov.org/cia-behind-spate-explosions-russia-us-army-special-ops-veteran-claims-intelligence-agency-and-nato

The CIA is working with an unnamed "NATO ally," according to Jack Murphy --Murphy was a former senior trainer and adviser to an Iraqi SWAT team --He said the CIA and Joe Biden are personally authorising missions | The CIA is combining with the spy service of a NATO ally in Europe to conduct covert sabotage operations inside Russia, according to new claims. The clandestine campaign is behind many unexplained explosions and fires that have hit strategic or prominent facilities in recent months, says US expert Jack Murphy, an eight-year Army Special Operations veteran. Separately other European intelligence services have allegedly been "running operatives into Russia to create chaos without CIA help," as has Ukraine. His claims follow as a new fire struck a shopping mall in Krasnodar region, in southern Russia, the latest in dozens of such incidents... Oil and gas facilities, railways, fuel depots, power plants and shopping malls have been hit across Russia by mysterious explosions, with rumours of sabotage.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/20221227/epic-thread-elon-musk-responds-with-open-mouth-emoji-to-dmitry-medvedevs-2023-predictions--1105810791.html

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev posted on social media several "predictions" about 2023, with his "futuristic hypotheses" suggesting that "civil war will break out in the US," and Elon Musk would "win the presidential election in a number of states which, after the new Civil War’s end, will have been given to the GOP." 💬 "Epic thread!" was the succinct response from Tesla founder and Twitter CEO Elon Musk to some "futuristic" predictions for 2023 by Russia's Dmitry Medvedev.

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/27/jewish-leaders-israel-netanyahu-right-wing-warning

Several U.S. Jewish leaders during a meeting with Israeli officials earlier this month warned that racist and extremist moves by the new Israeli government could seriously hamper support for Israel among Jews in the U.S., six sources who either attended the meeting at the Israeli embassy in Washington or were briefed on it told Axios. | Why it matters: The incoming Israeli government is expected to be the country's most right-wing ever. A senior Israeli official said the meeting at the embassy represented the anxiety the organized U.S. Jewish community has about the incoming Israeli government over its expected policies towards Jews in the diaspora and against democratic values. ● The Dec. 7 meeting was attended by representatives of several mainstream U.S. Jewish organizations that are the backbone of the pro-Israel community in the U.S. They are all regular interlocutors of the Israeli embassy. ● Driving the news: The representatives of the Jewish organizations were invited for a meeting with Shuli Davidovich, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry bureau for the diaspora, who asked to hear their thoughts about the political situation in Israel, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about what was discussed in the meeting. The meeting took place against the backdrop of the negotiations between Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the radical right-wing and ultra-orthodox parties. According to sources who attended the meeting, the atmosphere was very difficult and almost all of the attendees raised concerns about the policies of the incoming Israeli government.

Link: https://ground.news/article/new-york-rep-elect-george-santos-admits-fabricating-college-work-details_1e21e4

Democrats are calling for incoming Republican House representative George Santos to resign after he admitted to "embellishing" his resume during the recent election cycle. | Santos, who was elected in November to represent New York's third district, has been under scrutiny since The New York Times earlier this month reported a number of inconsistencies concerning his background, education and work history. ● On Monday, the 34-year-old admitted to the New York Post that he never graduated from university, let alone from New York's Baruch College as he claimed, nor did he work for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he said he had. 💬 "I am not a criminal," he told the Post, while vowing to continue to serve his two-year term in the House of Representatives. "This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective."
■ New York Rep.-elect Santos admits fabricating college, work details (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://sputniknews.com/20221227/us-remains-in-grips-of-blizzard-of-the-century-with-nine-inches-of-snow-expected-1105808035.html

What has already been dubbed the "blizzard of the century” claimed an estimated 55 lives and created scenes like out of a war zone across eastern areas in the US, bringing with it power outages and travel chaos over the Christmas holidays. | The "once-in-a-generation" snow storm that has battered some parts of the Unites States over Christmas is not about to relent yet, with from nine to sixteen inches (22.8 - 40 cm) of snow expected on Tuesday, the US National Weather Service (NWS) warned. ● Thus, in New York state the winter storm warnings remain in effect for Jefferson and Lewis counties, while a winter weather advisory cautions residents of Erie County to expect from 4 to 8 inches of snow. People are being strongly advised to stay indoors to avoid getting trapped in the inclement weather conditions.
■ Biden approves New York emergency declaration over "blizzard of the century"
■ Winter storm death toll rises to 27 in western New York, 57 across U.S.
■ Transportation Department to review Southwest's mass flight cancellations

Link: https://sputniknews.com/20221227/all-you-need-to-know-about-brain-eating-amoeba-as-first-death-confirmed-in-south-korea-1105812680.html

On December 26, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported its first case of infection with Naegleria fowleri, colloquially referred to as the “brain-eating amoeba.” | Naegleria fowleri, known as the “brain-eating amoeba," which can be found in soil and warm fresh water, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs, has claimed its first victim in South Korea. ● The man - a Korean national said to be in his 50s - died after returning to the country on December 10 from Thailand, where he had spent four months, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The man was admitted to a hospital the day after his return, experiencing symptoms that included a headache, fever, vomiting, speech dysfunction, and others. He died on December 21.

Link: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/12/13/space-exploration-2023-Artemis-Webb-telescope/3671670537041/

NASA will end 2022 with several back-to-back achievements for the history books, from breathtaking images taken by the James Webb telescope to further demonstrations of flight on Mars with the Ingenuity helicopter. | This year also marked the launch and return of the unmanned Artemis I mission, with later flights planned to take humans back to the moon by 2025. The James Webb Space Telescope, which provided humanity with a glimpse at distant galaxies in stunning images released in this year, will continue to serve as a trove of scientific knowledge in the upcoming year, space agency officials said. Many developments in 2023 will come in the form of the release of research and images from the telescope, which still is in the first year of operation.

Link: https://www.rt.com/russia/568912-medvedev-russia-nuclear-catastrophe/

The world will continue to teeter on the brink of disaster until Moscow receives the security guarantees it demands, Dmitry Medvedev believes | Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia and current deputy chair of the country's Security Council, has issued a reminder of the dangers of nuclear brinkmanship amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In a lengthy article in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, he summarized his thoughts on how the year 2022 has changed the world order forever. 💬 “The only thing that stops our enemies today is the understanding that Russia will be guided by [the doctrine] on nuclear deterrence. And if there is a real threat, we will act,” Medvedev wrote in the article published on Sunday night. In such a grim scenario there will be nobody left to argue about whether that was “a retaliatory strike or a preventive one.” “Therefore, the Western world is balancing between a burning desire to maximally humiliate, dismember and destroy Russia, on the one hand, and the desire to avoid a nuclear apocalypse, on the other,” he explained. Until Russia receives the security guarantees it has demanded, the world “will continue to teeter on the brink of World War III and nuclear catastrophe,” Medvedev wrote, noting that Moscow is doing “everything we can to prevent it.” ● Russia presented a list of security proposals to the US and NATO last December, including urging the West to impose a ban on Ukraine entering the military bloc, while insisting that NATO should retreat to its borders of 1997. After the US and NATO flatly refused, saying they would only be interested in limited strategic arms control talks, it became obvious that Moscow had “no one to talk and nothing to negotiate about” Medvedev argued. And when in February “Ukrainian junkies announced their desire to revive their nuclear arsenal,” Moscow had no other choice but to act, he claimed. 💬 “Our world has changed, forever. And the main question remains… what kind of future begins today?” he wrote. “New disarmament agreements are currently unrealistic and unnecessary,” Medvedev reiterated. “The sooner the guarantees of maximum security that suit our country are received, the sooner the situation will normalize.”

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/26/china-taiwan-incursions-planes-ships

China's military deployed to areas around Taiwan 71 planes and seven ships in 24 hours, according to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry. | Driving the news: The Chinese military's biggest incursion into Taiwan's air defense zone since Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-governing island in August occurred as Beijing denounced the U.S. over President Joe Biden signing into law Friday a defense spending bill that included provisions for Taiwan. ● The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement it detected 47 Chinese aircrafts cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am Sunday and 6am Monday local time. ● The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese Army said in a statement it conducted "joint combat readiness patrols and joint firepower strike drills" around Taiwan in a "resolute response to the current escalation of collusion and provocation from the United States and Taiwan."

Link: https://ground.news/article/ukraine-war-drone-attack-on-russian-bomber-base-leaves-three-dead_dd8227

A Ukrainian drone attack on Engels bomber base in south Russia has left three people dead, Moscow says. Air defences reportedly shot down the drone but falling debris caused the casualties in the overnight attack. (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/568905-israel-ground-us-fighter-jets/

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has decided to ground 11 of its F-35A fighter jets on Sunday, following an incident in Texas last week that saw a US Air Force F-35B Lightning II crash during an attempted landing. | The planes appear to have similar deficiencies to the one that crashed in Texas last week. "From the findings and the information transmitted, it was found that these planes require a dedicated inspection in order to rule out the possibility of a repeated malfunction in the Israeli system," an IDF spokesperson told the media. An initial review showed that the US-supplied aircraft might have similar defects that led to the Texas crash, IDF said.

Link: https://legitgov.org/us-spies-pushed-twitter-censor-anti-ukraine-narratives-files-show%EF%BB%BF

New batch of Twitter Files exposes collusion with 'other government agencies' | The CIA, Pentagon and other US intelligence and law enforcement agencies, referred internally as OGA, were getting increasingly "more aggressive" with their takedown requests, effectively pushing the platform to engage in censorship of foreign policy stories that ran against the Washington-approved narrative, the latest trove of Twitter documents reveals. "The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government - from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA," journalist Matt Taibbi wrote in the Christmas Eve edition of the Twitter Files, released with a blessing from the company's owner Elon Musk. Among thousands of censorship requests flowing to Twitter from "Other Government Organizations" through the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, many had nothing to do with purported "foreign meddling" and were linked to purely domestic issues. But when they had, Twitter executives often struggled to validate government claims, and were under constant pressure - but unable to find evidence to blame a foreign actor, Russia in particular.

Link: https://ground.news/article/over-1k-flights-canceled-as-winter-storm-sweeps-toward-midwest_a8c6b2

More than 1,400 flights were canceled in the U.S. as of Sunday morning, with a winter storm battering several parts of the country. (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://sputniknews.com/20221226/at-least-17-people-reported-dead-110-injured-in-heavy-snowfall-in-japan-1105792561.html

At least 17 people have died and 110 more have been injured as a result of heavy snowfall in Japan, the national TV reported on Monday, citing sources in the country's disaster management. | Severe snowfall has been hitting northern and western Japan since December 17. Many people have died or got injured after falling from the roof, while removing snow, or getting buried underneath snow sliding off rooftops. ● Winter storm has continued through Monday, with snow piling up higher than 160 centimeters (5.2 feet) in some areas.Heavy snow has led to power outages across the country, leaving around 1,000 households in the prefecture of Niigata alone without power for over a week.

Link: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/12/in_many_ways_ukraine_and_the_us_are_becoming_melding_into_one_country.html

Ukraine’s hot war requires that it get $100 billion in American aid, which includes an extraordinary amount of American weaponry to which Biden has now added the Patriot missile system, a weapon that is a red line for Putin. Despite this, Ukraine’s government has had the time to focus on what’s really important: LGBTQ+ rights. That’s just part of a symbiotic relationship that sees the U.S. and Ukraine looking more alike every day.
■ Украину и США роднит продвижение ЛГБТ и борьба с церковью

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/568880-china-military-us-direct-threat/

Washington is making up excuses to preserve its “hegemony,” Beijing said | Washington intentionally hypes up the “China threat” as an excuse to boost its military spending, all in an effort to maintain its global dominance, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, after President Joe Biden signed the 2023 US National Defense Authorization Act into law. 💬 “Facts have proved more than once that the US is the direct threat to the international order and the culprit of the regional turbulence,” said the ministry’s spokesman, Colonel Tan Kefei. The statement went on to claim that, in pursuit of its own interests, 💬 the US on multiple occasions has “either waged wars against other countries or created conflicts, causing massive casualties and displacement of innocent civilians.”

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/24/buffalo-blizzard-snow-totals-power-outages

The city of Buffalo is seeing one of the most extreme blizzards in its history, bringing dangerous winter weather to upstate New York amid the holiday weekend. | The extreme winter storm that's plagued much of the country this week brought blizzard warnings and "very heavy lake effect snow" to the Buffalo area, spawning deadly conditions amid the busy holiday travel period. The blizzard has left people stranded on the road with zero visibility and led to thousands of power outages in the area. The storm has already shattered the area's daily snowfall record, with 22.3 inches on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The old record for the date was 12.6 inches in 1976. The latest: Another band of heavy snow is set to slam the Buffalo area Saturday afternoon, heightening fears about drivers stranded on impassable roads with zero invisibility.

■ Blizzard conditions are expected to descend on the city of Buffalo around 4pm and will last into the evening, the NWS warned.

■ Freezing weather hammers US gas output – Bloomberg (RT.com)
■ Arctic Blast Kills at Least 28 in US, Stunting Travel and Causing Blackouts
■ Frigid weather doesn't stop Santas surfing off Florida coast: Freeze warnings are in place for at least half of Florida. Parts of the Florida Panhandle had wind chills that dipped into the single digits. South Floridians were on the watch for falling iguanas. The 14th annual Christmas Eve Surfing Santas festival was held Saturday. (Ground News // Articles)(VIDEO)

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/568848-snowden-covid-spying-normalized/

The whistleblower pointed at an AP investigation on how the Covid-19 pandemic has “normalized” spying on citizens | Former CIA and National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed vindication after a media report exposed how surveillance tools deployed to fight Covid-19 are now being abused by law enforcement and other authorities – as he predicted over two years ago. 💬 “I talked about this back in early 2020 and was dismissed as paranoid, as is our tradition when someone points to the predictable outcome of a dangerous but popular new trend,” Snowden said in a Twitter post on Friday. The former US intelligence contractor cited this week’s Associated Press article on how Covid-19 had “accelerated and normalized” use of state surveillance and tracking tools against ordinary citizens and activists. Snowden linked to an April 2020 interview with Vice founder Shane Smith in which he predicted that emergency measures used to deal with the Covid-19 crisis would become permanent and be used to infringe civil liberties.

Link: https://ground.news/article/el-paso-housed-more-than-300-migrants-friday-overnight_0448b3

More than 300 people stayed overnight at the El Paso Convention Center in Texas, as the community works to accommodate a growing number of migrants, El Paso’s Strategic Communications Director Laura Cruz-Acosta told CNN via email Saturday. (Ground News // Articles)