US News
- NYC will use forced hospitalizations into psychiatric facilities to get homeless people off the streets. Reason
- A former stand-out agent at the Drug Enforcement Agency, José Irizarry, says the police force knows the drug war is unwinnable. In an interview with the Miami Herald, Irizarry claimed that a group of agents calling themselves “Team America” are using their power for profit. The Institute
- Journalist Matt Taibbi reported a massive scoop regarding Twitter’s internal handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story. Scheer Post
Russia
- President Biden said Thursday that he has no plans to contact Russian President Vladimir Putin but that he’d be willing to talk with the Russian leader if he was prepared to end the war in Ukraine. AWC
- The US and NATO are directly involved in the war in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. AWC
- The EU has tentatively agreed on setting the price cap on Russian oil at $60 per barrel, Reuters reported on Thursday. AWC
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that the US and NATO’s move to focus on countering China in the Asia Pacific has led to an increase in military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. AWC
- Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the head of the House Armed Services Committee, said Saturday that the growing calls for more oversight of the billions of dollars the US is spending on Ukraine are “part of Russian propaganda.” AWC
- The US Army has awarded Raytheon a $1.2 billion contract to produce an air defense system for Ukraine as part of US military aid for the country. AWC
- French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Russia’s security concerns when it comes to NATO expansion need to be taken into account in any future peace talks and that the West needs to be prepared to give Moscow guarantees. AWC
- Kiev has imposed sanctions on 10 top clerics in the Russian Orthodox church. The move came after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was seeking to ban any religion with ties to the Russian Federation from operating in Ukraine. The Institute
- Russia on Saturday rejected the EU’s decision to impose a price cap on Russian oil for $60 per barrel and warned it will cut off any country that endorses the cap. AWC
- Kiev denounced the price cap as being set too high. WSJ
- Nigeria’s president has warned that weapons and ammunition used in the war in Ukraine are winding up in the hands of “terrorists” in the Lake Chad region of Africa. AWC
- US intelligence believes fighting in Ukraine will slow in the coming months. Sky News
China
- A draft of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes billions in military aid for Taiwan, but Congress isn’t sure if the funds will be approved, Defense News reported on Thursday. AWC
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday delivered a speech where he reaffirmed that the Pentagon’s top priority is countering China, which he accused of seeking to reshape the so-called “international order.” AWC
Korea
- The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on three North Korean officials said to be tied to the country’s weapons programs following Pyongyang’s November 18 ICBM test. AWC
