NEW: We reconstructed @samhusseini's viral confrontation with Antony Blinken by combining footage from multiple sources, including @amrhsayed & @ryangrim. A must-see.

This was the culmination of months of State Dept stonewalling.

“Why aren't you in The Hague??”

video at https://xcancel.com/decensorednews/status/1880230957070029141

YouTube Ukraine Trending page is interesting:

Cw: azov

There's gonna be a lot of CEOs and other really awful people all in one place on monday... Just making an observation

Jon Elmer on the latest radio war nerd discussing specifics of the Palestinian resistance within gaza. A lot of topics covered won't be new to the newsmega but Elmer brings a deep understanding of tactics and history all the same.

https://pca.st/episode/e2c19d95-8831-47eb-9805-3919e609d54b

The City of Atlanta crushed a homeless man to death with one of its bulldozers as the city attempted to clear a homeless encampment ahead of MLK Day celebrations scheduled for Monday. They didn't check to see if anyone was in the tents. Welcome to Hellscape America.

from https://xcancel.com/anthonyzenkus/status/1880453411348607259

Xi: Readiness to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point

TL;DR: Congratulations, better relations, Ukraine, Palestine.

Under Brazil's presidency, BRICS announces the entry of Cuba, Bolivia and six other countries as partners. The countries join the bloc as partners, with a lower status than full members, but with the possibility of participating in summits and thematic meetings. According to Friday's announcement, the following countries have joined the BRICS as partners:

• Belarus

• Bolivia

• Kazakhstan

• Cuba

• Malaysia

• Thailand

• Uganda

• Uzbekistan

"Full year results of household survey for 2024 in China just posted. Real household income and consumption rose faster than overall GDP growth. Gains to rural households are significantly higher than urban households."

seems fairly brazen from iran (if true/not old stuff), i would assume they would have suspended this part of the operations. kinda darkly funny how open hts is about its preferences

Trump to unblock TikTok on inauguration day. "On Monday, I will issue an executive order extending the period before the law's restrictions go into effect so we can make a deal to protect our national security," he wrote on social media.

Trump added that the US should have a 50 percent stake in TikTok. "My initial idea is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners, in which the United States would have a 50% ownership interest in the joint venture," the president wrote.

Had a beautiful fantasy today imagining right after Trump takes office, a massive mobilization of people coming together to march on wherever Biden is with the campaign of a Citizen’s Arrest of Biden. And/or Blinken, Miller, etc. Like a Jan 6th of trying to physically get Biden and try him in a People’s Court. This would never work out obviously lol but because Trump is Trump I don’t think he would put up too much of a fight against it with federal forces. Maybe it’d just be secret service aiming guns at protestors. But just thinking about a million people coming together to march on that one aim…beautiful

Inauguration moved inside because Hellword has frozen over

SC has upheld the ban on Tiktok lmao

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/17/supreme-court-rules-to-uphold-tiktok-ban.html

Now its up to the executive to enforce it. Biden has decided to leave it up to trump, and trump has signaled he won't enforce it either

Apparently the surprise musical guest at the inauguration is going to be Nelly?

Today’s news from the Donbass.

Russian forces liberated the Donetsk People’s Republic settlement of Vremyevka, just west of Velikaya Novosyolka. Kiev regime occupation forces inside Velikaya Novosyolka are now mostly encircled (map included): https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/01/17/983791.html

The details continue emerging of how Kiev regime troops (including Western mercenaries) massacred civilians in the DPR’s Selidovo before fleeing in late October: https://southfront.press/black-tuesday-how-the-afu-strewn-the-town-with-corpses/

A surrendered Ukrainian soldier stated that the Kiev regime is burning its dead troops’ bodies to avoid paying their families. They also burn Western mercenaries’ bodies to hide their presence: https://sputnikglobe.com/20250117/ukrainian-forces-burn-soldiers-bodies-to-avoid-paying-families---pow-1121442354.html

A combat summary for today (plus videos): https://southfront.press/overview-of-military-situation-in-ukraine-january-17-2025/

Trump, China's Xi hold call on TikTok, trade, Taiwan

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump takes office again promising tariffs that could ratchet up tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

Both leaders were upbeat about the call, with Trump calling it "a very good one" and Xi saying he and Trump both hoped for a positive start to U.S.-China relations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

It was the first known phone call between the pair after Trump's election in November.

The U.S. and China are embroiled in an array of diplomatic and economic disagreements, including an accelerating technological and military rivalry and bitter trade disputes. Marco Rubio, Trump's nominee to be his secretary of state, has defined China as the gravest threat facing the U.S. and warned about the risks of possible military conflict between the two countries.

The call came shortly before U.S. Supreme Court on Friday announced a ruling upholding a law that mandates TikTok owner ByteDance divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Sunday to a non-Chinese buyer, or be banned on national security concerns.

"The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects," Trump wrote on his social media platform.

"President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!"

Xi raised China's concerns about Taiwan, which Beijing maintains is part of its territory, and said he hoped the U.S. would treat the matter with great care.

"The Taiwan issue concerns China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and he hopes the U.S. side will handle it with caution," he said according to Chinese state television.

Xi said the United States and China can have their differences but must respect each other's core interests, and that trade relations can be mutually beneficial without confrontation and conflict, comments similar to those he made during Trump's first term.

The Chinese readout of the call said the two leaders agreed to set up a "channel of strategic communication to keep in regular touch on major issues of shared interest."

Trump offered strong support to Taiwan, including regularizing arms sales, in his first term. But during the campaign last year, he said Taiwan should pay the U.S. to be defended.

The Republican president-elect, who upended trade relations in his first term, is about to embark on an even more aggressive effort in his second term. He has pledged to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods unless Beijing does more to stop trafficking of the highly addictive narcotic fentanyl, and he threatened tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail.

Trump said on Jan. 6 that he and Xi have been communicating through representatives, expressing optimism about their relationship.

Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said whether Trump in coming days would permit TikTok to operate without a qualified divestment and whether he applied tariffs on China quickly or first began negotiations with Beijing would be early indicators of how confrontational his stance toward China would be.

Trump posted online later that his decision on TikTok would be coming soon, and that "everyone must respect" the Supreme Court ruling.

Breaking with tradition, Trump had invited Xi and other foreign leaders to his Jan. 20 inauguration, but China is sending Vice President Han Zheng, a move signaling Beijing's desire to step up communication with the incoming administration.

Still, any "grand bargain" between the two sides over trade, Taiwan and other strategic issues would be difficult to reach, said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

"There's an immense amount of distance between what one can imagine and actually achieving such an outcome. The interests between the U.S. and China on many of these issues are different and the views of key advisors to both are quite hawkish," Kennedy said.

Folks, we’re gonna do so many great things, folks. lmao this guy.

But as I’ve said, there is a good chance of easing US-China tension with Biden gone.

Pissrael is bombing Gaza. Ceasefire was a lie.

Fire at the world’s largest battery plant in California forces evacuations