FBI releases new video recorded by suspect in deadly New Orleans attack – FOX 13 Seattle
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FBI releases new video recorded by suspect in deadly New Orleans attack FOX 13 Seattle
01a Apocalyptic
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the $5 million summary judgment against President Donald Trump in a lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll alleging Trump raped her. The court claimed, “We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Court Upholds $5M Judgment Against President Trump in Carroll Case– wltreport.com
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President Donald Trump’s attempt to stop $5 million judgment hit a wall on Monday.
A federal appeals court upheld the jury’s 2023 ruling against him in E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit.
The court found no errors in the trial that held President Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Carroll’s allegations date back to the ’90s when she says he assaulted her in a department store dressing room.
You know, the same exact plot from an episode of Law & Order SVU.
A jury decided Trump was liable for battery and defamation but stopped short of the rape claim, handing Carroll a $5M win.
And so the court rejected Trump’s appeal just weeks before Jan. 20th.
While the new acting President faces legal challenges, the former President may soon be arrested if law enforcement officials get their way. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials has formally requested an arrest warrant filing to detain the former President.
South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached president in martial law probe– www.cbc.ca
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South Korean law enforcement officials have requested a court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the power grab that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant on Monday. Investigators plan to question Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion.
Yoon has dodged several requests by the joint investigation team and public prosecutors to appear for questioning and has also blocked searches of his offices.
It’s not clear whether the court will grant the warrant or whether Yoon can be compelled to appear for questioning.
Under the country’s laws, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge, and it’s unlikely that Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces detainment.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over his imposition of martial law that lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets. Yoon’s fate now lies with the Constitutional Court. It has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
Former President Jimmy Carter (D-GA) passed away at the age of 100. President Joe Biden said of his passing, “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility.”
President Trump said of the passing, “President Jimmy Carter is dead at 100 years of age. While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for. He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office. Warmest condolences from Melania and I to his wonderful family!”
Jimmy Carter: tributes continue for former president hailed as ‘statesman and humanitarian’ – US politics live | US news– www.theguardian.com
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Tributes have continued to pour in for Jimmy Carter, the former US president who died aged 100 on Sunday.
The 39th president of the United States was a tireless advocate for global health and human rights, and president Joe Biden has declared a national day of mourning for 9 January, describing Carter as an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.”
A theory behind the appearance of multiple drones across the east coast surmised the drones are looking for missing nuclear waste or missile-great uranium stolen from a nuclear weapon. The GQ Electronics’ Geiger Counter World Map is showing a spike in radiation in the New York city area, showing the area had radiation levels 5 times higher than normal.
High Levels of Radiation Detected Across the East Coast After Mysterious Drone Sightings– townhall.com
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Radiation levels have dramatically increased in New York City after the “mysterious” drone sightings were discovered hovering around the East Coast in recent weeks. The new revelations result in officials warning Americans to “prepare for the worst.”
According to GQ Electronics’ Geiger Counter World Map, high emissions levels were detected near the Bronx and the Upper West Side of New York City. The radiation reading scale measured 1048 counts-per-minute (CPM), or the number of particles detected. This exceeds the average number of particles detected by the 200 counts-per-minute safety threshold. In comparison, the average person is usually exposed to background radiation that measures about five to 60 CPM.
Author of Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy America, Gordon Chang, told Forbes that the drones could be associated with the area’s high radiation levels.
“There have been reports of spikes and radiation in the New York metropolitan area,” Chang said. “Two of them, one on each side of the Hudson. That leads to the conclusion that maybe they’re looking for an implanted nuclear weapon.”
The DNC-serving content market “The Hill” published an “op-ed” from two lawyers who appear to have been tasked with the job of testing a narrative to see if a new coercive method of precenting Trump from taking office might be viable. The two lawyers are Evan A. Davis and David M. Shulte. Their narrative is being picked up by the other DNC content marketing companies, like MSNBC and CNN.
The lawyers’ central claim is this: “The Constitution provides that an oath-breaking insurrectionist is ineligible to be president. This is the plain wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution…. This disability can be removed by a two-thirds vote in each House. Disqualification is based on insurrection against the Constitution and not the government. The evidence of Donald Trump’s engaging in such insurrection is overwhelming. The matter has been decided in three separate forums, two of which were fully contested with the active participation of Trump’s counsel.”
Congress Must Stop Trump From Being Sworn In, Argues Column in The Hill– legalinsurrection.com
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An op-ed in The Hill by two lawyers argues that Congress has the right and the duty to prevent Trump from taking office because he allegedly committed insurrection and is disqualified:
The Constitution provides that an oath-breaking insurrectionist is ineligible to be president. This is the plain wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. “No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” This disability can be removed by a two-thirds vote in each House.
Disqualification is based on insurrection against the Constitution and not the government. The evidence of Donald Trump’s engaging in such insurrection is overwhelming. The matter has been decided in three separate forums, two of which were fully contested with the active participation of Trump’s counsel.
The first fully contested proceeding was Trump’s second impeachment trial. On Jan. 13, 2021, then-President Trump was impeached for “incitement of insurrection.” At the trial in the Senate, seven Republicans joined all Democrats to provide a majority for conviction but failed to reach the two-thirds vote required for removal from office. Inciting insurrection encompasses “engaging in insurrection” against the Constitution “or giving aid and comfort to the enemies thereof,” the grounds for disqualification specified in Section 3.
Russia appears to have shot down an Azerbaijan airlines passenger plane that killed all 38 people on board. The incident occurred in Western Kazakhstan, about two miles from the city of Aktau.
Russia is now blaming Ukrainian terrorist activity that led to the plane being shot down, claiming, “Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time… The pilot was offered alternative airports. He took the decision to go to Aktau airport”
‘Ukrainian military was carrying out terrorist attacks when Azerbaijani flight tried to land’: Russia claims– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Chief of Russia’s civil aviation authority Dmitry Yadrov via Telegram noted that severe fog enveloped Grozny during the plane crash incident, stating that “conditions that day and in those hours around the airport were very complicated”.
The Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crashed in western Kazakhstan, resulting in the death of 38 amongst the 67 occupants. Various news sources have reported Azerbaijani officials suggesting that a Russian air defence missile might have caused the incident, AFP reported.
“Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time,” Yadrov said, adding that the plane made two unsuccessful attempts to land.
Plane crash probe in Kazakhstan underway as speculation mounts about possible Russian involvement– www.cbsnews.com
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Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left 29 survivors injured, as speculation mounted about the cause of the disaster — including whether possible Russian air defense operations may have played a role.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted, for reasons that are still unclear, and crashed while trying to land in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The plane went down about 2 miles from Aktau.
A U.S. official told CBS News there are early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The official, who asked not to be publicly identified, said that if these indications prove true, it would further underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.
Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage and photos showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rear half of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.
Wilson Fauber, 70, of Virginia, was cited by the National Association of Realtors for being in violation of the Code of ethics prohibiting realtors from using “harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs” related to “race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The reason for the ruling stems from posts Fauber shared in 2020 reflecting his Christian views on marriage, that is between a man and woman. According to this Realtor Association, holding Christian views and sharing them publicly should result in your reputation being tarnished by incendiary charges stemming from a hatred of Christianity, nothing more.
Christian minister, realtor found guilty of ‘hate speech’ for posting Bible verses on social media – The Christian Post
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A Virginia realtor and Christian minister has been found guilty by an ethics panel after he quoted Bible verses on social media.
Wilson Fauber, 70, a longtime realtor with over four decades in the industry, was found in violation of National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Code of Ethics, which prohibits realtors from using “harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs” related to “race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The posts in question, which were made years before the NAR’s adoption of the rule in 2020, included Fauber’s views on marriage and human sexuality according to traditional Christian teachings, attorneys said.
President Donald Trump published a post on Truth Social on Christmas Day that suggests America might have to take the Panama Canal back because the country is charging outlandish rates and handing over the canal’s operations to the Chinese military.
Trump posted, “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything.’”
Trump alleges ‘Chinese soldiers’ operating Panama Canal – Türkiye Today
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump alleged on Wednesday that ‘wonderful Chinese soldiers’ are operating the Panama Canal, sparking questions about U.S. investments in the vital waterway.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day, Trump alleged that the Chinese presence is aimed at ensuring that the U.S. invests billions of dollars in repairs without reaping any benefits. “The United States puts in billions of dollars in ‘repair’ money and gets nothing in return,” he said.
Trump also addressed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him “Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada” and suggesting that Canada could achieve significant tax cuts and “would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world” if it joined the U.S. as its 51st state.
On December 20, 2024 a Saudi national drove his car intentionally through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing 5 and injuring over 200 others. One of the dead included a 9-year-old boy. The suspect is 50-year old Taleb A. He is allegedly an ex-Muslim angry at the German state for not allowing more Saudi ex-Muslims to emigrate to the country.
The attack has highlighted Germany’s growing impatience with mass immigration of peoples who don’t want to become culturally German. As of right now, the center-right appears poised to regain control of the government, but rallies in response to the attack suggest the AfD, the more conservative party, could benefit.
Germany: Magdeburg attack could shape upcoming elections – DW (English)
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Austrian nationalist Martin Sellner, a leading figure in European Identitarian networks, was one of the most prominent spreaders of the disinformation. Politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) soon joined in the efforts to capitalize on the attack, in which at least five people were killed by a suspect identified as Talib A.*, a Saudi citizen who has lived in Germany since 2006 and has apparently expressed admiration for the AfD.
“Only the AfD would have deported the man long ago,” Sven Tritschler, the deputy chairman of the AfD in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted to social media.
Dominik Kaufner, an AfD member of the Brandenburg state legislature, posted to social media that “millionfold migration is the problem and millionfold remigration is the solution.”
From their own mouths, woke “medical” doctors are “celebrating” the news that the Covid-19 lockdowns helped create an environment that allowed more children to be indoctrinated with the rainbow ideology. The study comes from the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.
A PhD student quoted in the News Medical Life Sciences article said, “The lockdown period of the pandemic gave many people the space and time to figure out who they are and what is important to them, which for many of our participants, included their gender identity.”
Study reveals positive impact of COVID-19 lockdown on gender identity development – News-Medical.Net
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Research published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown had largely positive impacts on gender identity development in trans and gender diverse youth.
For the study, 295 transgender and gender diverse U.S. youth, ages 13–22 years, were asked the open-ended question “How has the COVID pandemic changed or affected your own understanding of your gender identity?”
Responses revealed several themes. The most prevalent was “time for identity development,” suggesting that the pandemic and lockdown created space and time to explore and resolve their gender identity.
“The lockdown period of the pandemic gave many people the space and time to figure out who they are and what is important to them, which for many of our participants, included their gender identity,” said corresponding author Sydney Hainsworth, who was a PhD student at the University of Arizona while conducting this research and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota.
Researchers out of Saudi Arabia and Egypt published a study in PubMed that claims Covid-19 mRNA Vaccinated mothers were significantly more likely to lose their unborn child than mothers who did not receive the vaccine.
From the study, “…women in Group B had a significantly higher rate of abortions, oligohydramnios (24.4%), abnormal placentas (size and location), 103 (42.7%) abnormal fetal growth, 122 (53.7%) problems breastfeeding, blood pressure problems, and more cases of malaise, headaches, chest pain, breathing problems, and sleep problems than women in Group A.”
Covid ‘Vaccines’ Trigger Spontaneous Abortions & Still Births in Pregnant Mothers, Study Finds– slaynews.com
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A study has revealed the alarming impact of Covid mRNA “vaccines” on pregnant mothers and their unborn children.
The shocking side effects of the injections were revealed in a study conducted in 2022 and published in 2024.
The study was conducted by a group of leading researchers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The results of the study were published in the peer-reviewed journal PubMed.
The study documented a litany of adverse events suffered by pregnant mothers following Covid “vaccine” administration.
It compared non-vaccinated mothers (Group A) to vaccinated mothers (Group B).
The researchers found that women who received Covid mRNA shots during pregnancy had higher rates of miscarriage, abnormal placentas, decreased amniotic fluid, and abnormal birth weights.
Research published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment suggests there have been NO global temperature increases since the 1970s.
The study concluded, “Our results show limited evidence for a warming surge; in most surface temperature time series, no change in the warming rate beyond the 1970s is detected despite the breaking record temperatures observed in 2023.”
Study Finds Zero ‘Global Warming’ Increases in 50 Years of Data– slaynews.com
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A leading group of environmental researchers has debunked a key narrative of the green agenda after proving that Earth has not recorded any “global warming” increases over the past 50 years.
The study has emerged as globalists continue to ramp up warnings of a “climate crisis” allegedly caused by human activity.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has even upped the ante by claiming that the planet has now passed the point of no return regarding “global warming.”
According to Guterres, the planet has now entered an “era of global boiling.”
The UN is pushing this narrative so aggressively that Guterres wants the general public to live in “mud huts” to fight “climate change.”
Fulton County Attorney General Fani Willis and her entire office were disqualified from their cases against President-Elect Donald Trump and his allies. The disqualification came from the Georgia Court of Appeals, who ruled Willis had disqualified herself in how she conducted herself during the trial and even outside the trial, including on the campaign trail leading up to her election as the Fulton County DA in the first place.
The ruling means a board of Georgia Prosecutors will have to select a prosecutor to replace her, but most experts believe her cases are dead in the water as the basis for the cases in the first place was always on “novel” approaches that many would argue are flat-out unconstitutional.
Fani Willis Was Just Officially Disqualified From the Prosection of Donald Trump – RedState– redstate.com
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In a major blow to the prosecution against Donald Trump in Georgia, Fulton County DA Fani Willis has been officially disqualified from the case. An appeals court ruled on Thursday morning that her conflicts of interest were simply too great for her to remain involved.
That comes after a years-long fight involving Willis’ affair with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she had hired to be part of the prosecutorial team. Questions about how much taxpayer money he was paid and the impropriety of their relationship infected the process and led to the Trump team seeking Willis’ disqualification.
The Georgia Court of Appeals has just ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is disqualified from the election-interference case against Trump and his co-defendants. Court says it will not take “extreme sanction” of tossing out entire indictment. pic.twitter.com/JJBLtGrQYq
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) December 19, 2024
In 2017, it was revealed that the FBI had been spying on members of congress. After that, the DOJ issued “reforms” intended to prevent such action from happening again. A recent IG report, however, suggests the DOJ has not fully closed the legal loopholes to assure it doesn’t (or isn’t continuing to) spy on members of congress.
IG Report Reveals FBI Could Still Be Spying On Congress– thefederalist.com
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Can you imagine the danger to our republic if the Executive Branch could secretly, for months on end, and without any clear and compelling justification, surveil the very people in Congress conducting oversight of those agencies?
That chilling constitutional nightmare transpired. And we’re only getting the details about the separation-of-powers-eviscerating, civil liberties-undermining, and transparency-imperiling activity seven years after it started.
The revelations come in a recently released Justice Department Inspector General report. Like much of this corrupt activity, the story begins with Russiagate. In the spring and summer of 2017, the first year of the Trump presidency, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post published articles containing classified information concerning Trump and Russia.
… When news reports emerged during the Biden years of what had transpired, DOJ issued a new congressional investigations policy ostensibly requiring greater scrutiny of and higher-level approvals for subpoenas and NDOs, while still not requiring approval from or notification of the attorney general or deputy attorney general — not that any such processes necessarily would have prevented such malfeasance. Only after reviewing the IG report in September of this year did DOJ even create rules mandating that prosecutors disclose to the court when an NDO involves a congressional office or staffer.
Another notable takeaway from the IG report is that the bar to subpoena communications records from members of the media is actually higher than that from members of the legislative branch. Unlike the DOJ’s News Media Policy, the Congressional Investigations Policy contains no “exhaustion requirement.” Prosecutors need not exhaust “all other reasonable means of identifying the sources of the unauthorized disclosures,” prior to seeking a subpoena. Only then, in the case of news media, must the feds request “Attorney General authorization.”
Remarkably, even after modifying its Congressional Investigations Policy, according to the IG, it is not clear that illegal leaks are subject to the policy. The policy is located in a chapter of DOJ’s Justice Manual called “Protection of Government Integrity,” the first provision of which states that the chapter deals with crimes “including bribery of public officials and accepting a gratuity, election crimes, and other related offenses.” Unauthorized disclosures do not make the list.
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Chinese national Chen Jinping, 60, of New York City, pled guilty to running a “clandestine police station” in the city. He was arrested in April of this same year.
DOJ and FBI representatives said of the plea, “The Department of Justice will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to aid the PRC’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States… These blatant violations will not be tolerated on U.S. soil. The FBI remains committed to preserving the rights and freedoms of all people in our country and will defend against transnational repression at every front.”
New York man pleads guilty to running secret police station for communist China above noodle restaurant in Manhattan– www.theblaze.com
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The Department of Justice said in a press release that a man pleaded guilty to running a secret police station for communist China above a noodle restaurant in New York City.
The secret police stations have been reported to be hidden across the world in order to further the aims of the communist government of China. Their agents harass, threaten, and spy on “wanted” Chinese nationals residing in the U.S. and identified as a threat to China.
‘A human rights organization report found that there were likely as many as 100 secret police stations operated by the Chinese Community Part across the world.’
60-year-old Chen Jinping of New York City was arrested in April 2023 and accused of running a “clandestine police station” on U.S. soil, according to the DOJ. The secret police station “occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown” and was shut down in the fall of 2022.
Top Crime Investigators Believe UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooter Did Not Act Alone in Cold-Blooded Murder Plot – www.thegatewaypundit.com
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As the chilling details of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder continue to unfold, prominent crime investigators in an interview with the Daily Mail are raising alarming questions about whether the accused shooter, Luigi Mangione, acted alone.
Evidence gathered from CCTV footage, witness statements, and suspect behavior suggests the involvement of at least one accomplice, potentially making this case far more intricate than initially believed.
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, faces charges of first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism for the December 4th slaying of Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.
Despite Mangione’s handwritten manifesto proclaiming he acted alone, investigators like Brian O’Shea, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and seasoned private investigator, argue otherwise.
Brian O’Shea, whom The Gateway Pundit previously interviewed, spent 11 years serving in U.S. Army intelligence, followed by another decade working as a contractor for various U.S. intelligence agencies. Now, he is the Chief Operations Officer at Centurion Intelligence Partners (a private intelligence consulting firm serving various industries).
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China “Threatens” To Paralyze U.S. Aircraft Carriers By Attacking Its Radars & Sensors; Hit Them With ‘Carrier Killer’ Missiles – EurAsian Times
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… China understands that aircraft carriers and destroyers would be crucial for the U.S. Navy to puncture the blockade. This has prompted Beijing to develop and test some lethal weapons that could thwart the U.S. Navy, coming to Taiwan’s aid.
China has a powerful stockpile of anti-ship missiles, and its strategy to prevent U.S. forces from entering the Western Pacific is centered on these weapons.
China’s arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles, also known as “carrier killers,” has grown dramatically. China’s primary anti-ship missiles include the DF-21, DF-26, YJ-12, YJ-18, and YJ-83. Moreover, it also has YJ-21 and DF-27 hypersonic missiles that have the potential to penetrate air defenses and destroy U.S. Navy ships. Some of these weapons have been used in simulated strikes on U.S. carriers.
The U.S., on its part, has excellent machinery to detect incoming hostile targets and shoot them down just in time. It has reportedly been mulling the deployment of combat-proven Patriot interceptors to thwart a potential Chinese missile attack, in addition to other air defense assets.
US sets conditions for Ukrainian NATO membership — RT World News– www.rt.com
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Washington has long insisted that Kiev will join the bloc, but never clarified the exact timeline
Ukraine can only hope to join NATO if it reforms its military and succeeds in improving its democratic institutions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Blinken rejected the idea that the US, Germany, or other NATO allies are “standing in the way” of Kiev’s accession to the bloc. Ukraine has long aspired to become a full-fledged NATO member, and formally applied to join in the autumn of 2022 after four of its former regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.
The bloc, Blinken insisted, has “put Ukraine on a path to NATO membership” and taken concrete steps to advance this goal, while stopping short of clarifying the accession timeline.
“We set up for the first time in NATO’s history a dedicated command whose purpose is to help Ukraine along that path, to take the practical steps that it needs to take – in continuing to build and reform its military institutions, to continue to strengthen its democracy – that are necessary for membership,” he said.
The secretary of state admitted that it would be “very challenging for Russia” to agree to a peace deal over Ukraine that would not explicitly remove the prospect of Kiev joining NATO. However, he argued that Ukraine could potentially receive “other kinds of assurances, commitments, guarantees” that would be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an attack on one member of the bloc is an attack on all.
In October, Politico reported that some NATO allies were not particularly happy with Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’, which calls for Ukraine to receive an immediate invitation to join the bloc. The article identified the US and Germany as the countries opposed to his request over fears that it would draw them into a direct conflict with Russia.
Publicly, NATO has ruled out full membership for Ukraine as long as it is embroiled in the conflict with Russia. However, some Western officials have floated an option of “partial membership” for Kiev, an idea rejected by Zelensky, who argued that this would essentially mean that the country recognizes all of its territorial losses to Russia.
Moscow has long been opposed to NATO expansion towards its borders, seeing it as an existential threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Kiev’s ambition to join the bloc is one of the key reasons for the conflict, with Ukrainian neutrality, along with demilitarization and denazification, being Moscow’s main goals.