Ukraine has long stopped being a democracy and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just made sure to keep it that way for another 90 days by signing a decree to extend martial law and continue general mobilization effort.
The measures in force so far were due to expire on Feb. 7. Parliament voted to extend the provisions on Jan. 15. Ukraine was supposed to have a new vote long ago, but due to the war, Zelensky argued that it was not possible.
Ukraine declared a nationwide state of general mobilization on Feb. 24, 2022, and has since extended it several times. Due to staffing problems in the army, a bill on tightening mobilization rules came into force on May 18, 2024.
Martial law and conscription come despite the majority of Ukrainians saying they want to end the war and are willing to accept territorial losses in order to do so, according to the independent Gallup Polling agency.
In recent months, mobilization efforts have increasingly involved the use of violence and forced conscription, leading men to attempt to leave the country, often at the risk of their lives.
Zelensky, who fears losing power if the war ends, has an incentive to keep the conflict going. However, support for Zelensky has rapidly declined among the Ukrainian population.
Almost every week, reports are coming in about forced conscription in Ukraine being carried out using increasingly brutal means. Hungarian channel M1-Hirado recently ran a special compiling some of the latest footage of Ukrainians being beaten and shoved into vans in forced mobilization operations.
As Remix News has previously reported, desertion rates at the frontline are high, with many Ukrainians fleeing before they ever even enter combat.
To make up for shortfalls, authorities from the so-called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCK) are using increasingly aggressive methods to meet monthly draft quotas.
After morning briefings, officers split into teams and search various locations around the city – cafes, restaurants, and even nightclubs – for men eligible for military service.
From housing economist Tom Lawler: Revisions Almost Eliminate Household/Establishment Survey Employment Growth Gap
Auto stocks jumped mid day on Friday after the Financial Times reported that the EU is prepared to reduce its 10% tariff on US car imports to align more closely with the USA’s 2.5% rate in a bid to prevent a trade war with Donald Trump.
Names like Ford and GM both saw a bump during afternoon trading, and before paring gains slightly heading into the last few hours of trading for the week.
FT cited Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee. As part of the deal, the EU would also increase purchases of American liquefied natural gas and military equipment.
The move aims to ease tensions over the EU’s trade surplus with the US, a frequent target of Trump.
During Trump’s first term, Brussels lowered tariffs on lobsters and boosted imports of US LNG and soybeans, which helped contain disputes largely to steel and aluminum.
The FT report says that while the tariff reduction would apply to all WTO members, including China, EU officials believe Chinese imports won’t spike due to existing tariffs of up to 35% on Beijing-subsidized electric vehicles.
Major automakers like BMW and Mercedes support the plan, and Germany is not expected to oppose it.
In 2022, the EU exported 738,436 vehicles to the US, importing only 271,476 vehicles in return.
Lange warned that if negotiations falter, the EU could retaliate with its new anti-coercion instrument (ACI), designed to counter economic pressure tactics.
“Sometimes it’s important to have a gun on the table,” he is quoted as saying.
The ACI could target US tech giants like Meta, Google, and X through measures such as suspending IP rights and imposing digital service duties. Deploying the ACI would take about six months, but Lange noted the EU’s economic clout exceeds that of previous US trade targets like Canada and Mexico, positioning it to defend its interests effectively.
The development is the latest in a decisive series of changes President Trump has implemented or affected, including further securing the border with Mexico and Canada, in less than a month of being in office.
by Ben Bartee via PJMedia.com,
If ever you needed proof that X Community Notes is vastly superior to corporate “fact checks” as a way for real journalists to do real work countering “misinformation” rather than as a bludgeon to suppress dissident narratives, this is it.
Lying about being a Native American for DEI leg-ups, it turns out, isn’t the only dishonesty Elizabeth Warren peddles.
This lie, however, is much more consequential in terms of policy impact:
“I don't take contributions from Big Pharma executives. I don't take any corporate PAC money,” Elizabeth Warren says in the Senate hallway when confronted over her smears of RFK Jr.
Nervous Elizabeth Warren: "Check my website, I don't take contributions from Big Pharma executives. I don't take any corporate PAC money."pic.twitter.com/dSaNck5C2x
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) February 4, 2025
But the contradictory proof is all right there in the X Community Notes window, just under the lying pharma tool, with links and links and links, rendering my job as a journalist exposing her blatant lies far easier:
“Elizabeth Warren has in fact received donations from both Pharmaceutical companies and PAC organizations in the combined tune of millions of dollars.”
Warren, in fact, is the second-biggest beneficiary of cash from pharma employees and/or PACs in the entire Congress, next to Bernie Sanders.
Via TIME, 2020 (emphasis added):
In an ironic twist, that now makes Warren, who along with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been the strongest opponent of super PACs in the 2020 campaign, the biggest beneficiary of such a group heading into Super Tuesday — the most prominent reversal yet among the candidates on the issue of high-dollar donations. At one point, nearly every candidate decried the practice, before realizing it may be a necessity for survival.
Under campaign finance laws, donors can give unlimited amounts to a super PAC as long as the groups do not directly coordinate with the candidates they are supporting. Since launching her campaign, Warren has prided herself on her refusal to accept money from political action committees or federal lobbyists, and she has promised to disavow any super PAC that formed on her behalf.
That pledge is still publicly available on her campaign website, but Warren has not distanced herself from Persist PAC. Instead, her rhetoric on the issue started to shift in the past month, as her once-promising campaign underperformed its expectations in the first three states to vote. “If all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in, I’ll lead the charge,” she told reporters on Feb. 20 in Nevada when asked if she would disavow Persist PAC. “But that’s how it has to be. It can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only one or two don’t.”
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) unveiled on Thursday the first round of sanctions against Iran under President Trump's second term, reinforcing his campaign pledge to ramp up "maximum pressure" on Tehran. The move targets Iran's oil network, which supplies discounted crude to China, generating billions in revenue that Treasury officials say helps fund regional militant groups.
"The oil was shipped on behalf of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and its sanctioned front company, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars (Sepehr Energy). This action includes entities and individuals in multiple jurisdictions, including the PRC, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as several vessels," the Treasury stated in a press release, adding those "targeted" sanctions were designed to disrupt Iran's "oil network" to ship to China. Three ships were sanctioned, including one very large crude carrier and two Aframaxes tankers.
More color on Sepehr Energy via public records data... Upstream ownership might explain why this entity was targeted by OFAC.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated, "The Iranian regime remains focused on leveraging its oil revenues to fund the development of its nuclear program, to produce its deadly ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and to support its regional terrorist proxy groups."
"The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any attempt by Iran to secure funding for these malign activities," Bessent noted.
The move from the Treasury follows Trump's announcement on Tuesday in "restoring maximum pressure on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran's malign influence abroad."
Trump said he would "modify or rescind existing sanctions waivers and cooperate with the Secretary of Treasury to implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran's oil exports to zero."
Under Biden's first term, Iran turned on the crude oil export spigots, much of which was shipped to China (read: What Sanctions? China Imports Record Amount Of Iranian Oil).
Bloomberg quoted shippers and analysts following the Treasury's announcement as overwhelmingly saying the targeting of a number of tankers carrying Iranian oil stopped short of "maximum pressure."
The Biden-Harris era of loose enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil exports to China is over. Trump and the Treasury's move this week should serve as a clear warning shot to Tehran.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/trump-begins-sanction-campaign-against-tehrans-oil-network
by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A federal program that granted funds to states to build a national electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has been stopped, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program allocated $5 billion to states for building a nationwide, interconnected network of DC fast chargers. The program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, was a key part of the Biden administration’s push toward net-zero emissions by 2050. Biden had set a goal of having at least 500,000 publicly available EV chargers in the country by the end of this decade.
The FHWA, an agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), is suspending the commitment of funds under the NEVI program, the agency said in a Feb. 6 letter sent to directors of state departments of transportation.
The NEVI program mandates states to submit plans detailing how they intend to use the funds. The DOT secretary is required to approve each state’s plan before committing NEVI program funds.
In the letter, FHWA said that all current and prior guidance related to the NEVI program is rescinded.
No funds from the NEVI program will be committed unless fresh guidance is issued and new state plans are submitted and approved. Funds that have already been committed to various projects won’t be affected.
According to FHWA data, an estimated $4.15 billion in funds were allocated to several states under the NEVI program between fiscal years 2022 and 2026, out of which $1.77 billion is estimated for fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
FHWA said the decision was taken to align with current DOT policies, including a Jan. 29 agency order requiring that DOT policymaking be based on “sound economic principles and analysis supported by rigorous cost-benefit requirements and data-driven decisions.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 asking agencies to “immediately pause” all funds appropriated via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
This includes “funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program.”
According to a Jan. 23 post by environmental advocacy Natural Resources Defense Council, Trump’s plan to claw back EV charging funds won’t be “that simple.”
“Every state has already engaged with the NEVI program, and the foundation for a nationwide charging network is underway,” the group said. “The legal and practical safeguards built into these programs ensure that they will continue to deliver results, despite political headwinds.”
Trump’s executive order not only impacts the federal charging infrastructure support but also threatens federal incentives handed out for EVs.
Trump’s order calls for eliminating the EV mandate, including “considering the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies.”
At present, Americans who buy a new qualified plug-in EV or fuel cell electric vehicle are eligible for up to $7,500 in credits.
To be eligible, an individual’s modified adjusted gross income should not exceed $150,000, with the limit rising to $225,000 for heads of households and $300,000 for married couples filing jointly. The vehicle also needs to fulfill certain criteria, such as having a battery capacity of at least seven kilowatt hours and being assembled in North America in the final stages.
The new EV policies come as American interest in electric vehicles appears to be waning.
A September 2024 survey from IT consulting company EY showed that only 34 percent of Americans planned on buying an EV as their next car. This is down 14 percent from the 48 percent in the 2023 EY survey.
“Despite a focus on infrastructure and EV education, consumers cite expensive battery replacement (26%) and concerns about public chargers (25%) as major deterrents to buying an EV,” the survey said.
