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Trump Engineers 30 Day Ceasefire

Ukraine 'agrees to a 30-day ceasefire' with Russia as Trump lifts pause on military aid and intelligence sharingUkraine has agreed to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia as President Donald Trump lifts a pause on military aid and intelligence sharing to the country. The agreement, under intense pressure from the U.S. side, now puts the ball in Moscow's court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the conclusion of a day of talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia. 'Today, we've made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable,' said Rubio.We're going to tell them this is what's on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it'll be up to them to say yes or no,' Rubio said. The Trump administration now plans to present the temporary ceasefire offer to Moscow, which has raised a series of demands.Those include the removal of President Volodymyr Zelensky, recognizing seized territory as now independent states, and a prohibition on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.The breakthrough will put the onus on the Kremlin, just days after an angry Oval Office meeting exposed a rupture between Trump and Zelensky.Now, following high-stakes meetings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the president is also lifting a military aid and intelligence sharing pause to Ukraine.'As a result of that, and I think as a result of this positive step forward, the president has decided to lift the pause on our security assistance to Ukraine going forward, and that's effective immediately,' Rubio said.That allows for the U.S. to continue providing roughly $4 billion in previously authorized money to arm Ukraine.https://mol.im/a/14487421

Sue Hammond ● 23d0 Comments ● 23d

France is aware of the threat of Islamic terrorism, Is the UK ?

Source - Spectator online today"‘Low-cost’ jihadists are Europe’s new danger"https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/low-cost-jihadists-are-europes-new-danger/'There is a new Islamist terror threat in Europe that the French describe as ‘low-cost terrorism’. The expression was deployed in a television interview at the start of this week by Bruno Retailleau, the Minister of the Interior. Warning France that Islamic State is ‘reconstituting themselves in Africa and elsewhere’, Retailleau said that the other menace was the individual extremist acting on his own initiative. Unskilled in bomb-making and with no access to firearms, these ‘low-cost’ Islamists kill with knives or behind the wheel of a car'. However the greatest killers of Muslims around the world are Islamic extremists. Between 1979 and April 2024, Islamists carried out 66,872 attacks worldwide and killed nearly 250,000 people. Of that staggering death toll, 204,937 lost their lives between 2012 and 2024, and most of the victims were Muslims.The data, compiled by the French think tank Fondapol (Fondation pour l’innovation politique), show that the vast majority of the attacks – 96.7 per cent – do not occur in the West. They take place in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, and rarely do they make the western mainstream news.How many people are aware, for example, that since Christmas 2024, at least 237 Christians have been killed by Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? In total, since 2017, the Islamist group has murdered 6,000 Christians in this country.The Islamist attacks that do make the news in the West are small by comparison, although they are growing in number. This year alone, there have been atrocities committed in France (Mulhouse), Austria (Villach) and Germany (Aschaffenburg, Berlin and Munich). The attack in Aschaffenburg, which killed two, including a toddler, was carried out by an Afghan, although police attribute the atrocity to mental instability.These five attacks have taken the lives of six people, two of whom were run down by a car and the others fatally stabbed. They are in marked contrast to the Islamist terrorism of a previous generation; those who planned and carried out the mass-casualty attacks in Madrid (2004), London (2005), Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) had been trained overseas. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, Lord Walney, the former Labour MP who served as the government’s independent adviser on political violence and extremism, stated: ‘Islamist extremism and Islamist terrorism is the greatest threat this country faces.’A similar warning was issued this week in France by Francois Fillon, the former Prime Minister, who said that extremism is ‘gaining ground in Europe, where a growing proportion of Muslim populations are bowing to the rules of a radical, authoritarian, freedom-destroying Islam that represents a real and immediate danger to our values and our way of life’.Some might claim that good starting point for Britain would be to scrap the planned definition of ‘Islamophobia’, which would, in effect, proscribe any criticism of Islam. Is the Labour government unable to distinguish between criticism of a religion and discrimination against a person because of their religion ?

John Hawkes ● 26d0 Comments ● 26d

Trump takes on Hamas

BBC News 6/3/25"Trump issues 'last warning' to Hamas as US confirms direct hostage talks" 'US President Donald Trump has issued what he called a "last warning" to Hamas to release the hostages being held in Gaza."I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say," Trump said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.Hamas accused the US president of encouraging Israel to break the ceasefire deal currently in effect between the two sides.Trump's statement came just hours after the White House confirmed it was holding direct talks with Hamas over the remaining hostages.Washington has until now avoided direct engagement with the group, and there is a longstanding US policy against having direct contact with entities it lists as terrorist organisations.In his social media post, Trump said there would be "hell to pay" if the hostages were not released, while not specifying the nature of the support he was sending Israel."Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you," he added."For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance."He also appeared to issue a wider threat: "Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!"At last perhaps the force required to crush these terrorist killers and the destruction of their craven leadership not already hiding in exile.

John Hawkes ● 28d16 Comments ● 28d