U.S. officials had been quietly talking with Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello for months before the U.S. raid that captured Maduro, and those contacts have continued since.

Washington warned Cabello not to use security forces or pro-government militias against the opposition. Talks also covered U.S. sanctions and the drug-trafficking indictment he faces.

Cabello, long seen as Maduro’s chief enforcer, was not arrested and retains control over key security institutions.

Source: Reuters

BREAKING: Syrian Army take control of Tabqa Airbase, liberating it from SDF/YPG terror group.

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey:

You will not convince Americans to go fight another war, even if it is just.

I don't think that America could work itself up enough to go fight the Nazis again.

I think we literally don't have it in us.

Source: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey:

Look at the kids who were on the beaches in Normandy on D-Day. Do you think that we have a few million of those?

Source: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey:

The U.S. needs to stop being the world police and start being the world’s gun store.

In other words, we shouldn’t be sending our own people to die for other countries’ interests.

We should be giving them the tools that they need to maintain their existence as a nation that the U.S. wants to be allied with.

The analogy I prefer is to turn them into porcupines.

Source: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey:

North Korea doesn’t need to fight South Korea to win.

They just need to keep having kids and making artillery shells.

Source: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey:

The United States really since the end of the Cold War has erected these ideas that the things that we're spending money on are going to keep us safe and that they're going to help our allies win any potential war that comes along.

And then we've been confronted with this stark reality. Things like the Ukraine invasion where we realize that actually a lot of these tools are sitting ducks.

You're going to have $50 million bombers blown up by $500 drones, and we don't have the tools that we need to stop them.

Source: The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Senator Graham:

If there is use of military force by the new Syrian government against Syrian Kurds and the SDF, that would create tremendous instability in Syria and the region and would tell me all I need to know about this new regime.

If military action is taken by the Syrian government, I will do everything in my power to revive the Caesar Act sanctions, making them even more bone crushing.

Gregory Bovino, Trump’s Border Patrol Chief, appeared at the Minneapolis protests with officers.

NOW: SDF/YPG terror group members fleeing from Tabqa, following swift Syrian Army advances today.

Netanyahu’s Office:

The announcement of Gaza’s governing council, subordinated to the peace conference, was not coordinated with Israel and contradicts its policy.

The Prime Minister has instructed the Foreign Minister to raise the matter with the U.S. Secretary of State.

BREAKING: Trump puts tariffs on allies over Greenland:

Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America.

On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%.

Trump also says that the United States is open to negotiation with Denmark.

BREAKING: Trump to POLITICO:

It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran.

Trump on Khamenei:

The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people.

His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership.

Source: POLITICO

Trump on Khamenei:

What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before.

In order to keep the country functioning — even though that function is a very low level — the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control.

Source: POLITICO

Trump to POLITICO:

Leadership is about respect, not fear and death.

Trump:

This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.

Ursula von der Leyen:

This agreement (EU-Mercosur) sends a very strong message to the world:

We choose fair trade over tariffs, we choose a productive long-term partnership over isolation.

Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot:

Netanyahu has lost the reins — other countries are managing Gaza over Israel’s head, with Türkiye and Qatar as part of the governing body.

Macron responds to Trump:

No intimidation or threat will influence us, whether in Ukraine, in Greenland, or anywhere else in the world.

Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.

Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner should such threats be confirmed. We will ensure that European sovereignty is upheld.

It is in this spirit that I will hold discussions with our European partners.