🚨 AI boom masking deep weakness in US economy – academic

A massive wave of AI spending by Wall Street and the White House administration is creating an illusion of strength in the US economy, warns Manu Gupta, vice provost at Virginia Commonwealth University.

💬 "On the economic activity side, the evidence is very strong that this year’s economic expansion in the US would turn into contraction if you remove AI spending... So, there is certainly weakness in the economy," he told Sputnik.

While Big Tech and government spending on AI continue to soar, major parts of the real economy are showing clear stress: Manufacturing remains in contraction, transportation and warehousing are shedding jobs, energy companies are cutting investment, and even the federal government has been reducing its workforce.

👉 Gupta is not alone in his assessment. Various economists caution that the supposed productivity gains from AI are still narrow and have not translated into broad, economy-wide improvements. Many economists now agree: Without the AI boom propping up GDP, the US economy would already be shrinking.

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🇮🇷💥 IRGC Navy fires long-range missiles and drones in the Gulf of Oman, testing air-defense and electronic warfare readiness across the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz during naval drills

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💸 Bitcoin investors split as market hovers in uncertainty

Bitcoin’s drift in the low $90,000s after ten weeks of gut-wrenching volatility has traders divided over whether the next move is a rebound toward $100,000 or a slide below $80,000, veteran market analyst Adam Sarhan told Sputnik.

Sarhan noted that Bitcoin must climb back above key long-term moving averages—including the 50-Day and 200-Day Moving Averages, currently in the high $90,000s and low $100,000s—to regain bullish momentum.

A Golden Cross, where the 50-Day crosses above the 200-Day on a higher time frame, would mark a significant bullish signal.

If the market breaks the other way, a deepening bear phase could drag Bitcoin toward $74,000 and below $70,000—a zone often associated with the 200-Week Exponential Moving Average or the lows of past major corrections.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 Russian Solntsepyok thermobaric rocket launcher destroys a Ukrainian stronghold near the town of Guliaipole, Zaporozhye Region

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 Declassification of 2016 records could restore trust and ease US–Russia tensions – ex-Trump advisor

Declassifying all records related to the so-called 2016 “Russia interference” investigation could finally shift American public opinion and dismantle the perception of Russia as an enemy, former Donald Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos told Sputnik.

💬 “People in America will not see Russia as an enemy, hopefully, anymore, and this will foster a new era for both peoples and the globe, which I think is desperately needed in today's very unstable world," he said.

Papadopoulos noted that full transparency would show what really happened, expose the roles of other foreign governments that allegedly cooperated with the Democrats during the Obama era, and help rebuild trust in the US justice system after years of politicized investigations.

He called recent indictments and new disclosures a first step toward correcting the record, arguing that they vindicate those targeted in what he described as a fabricated scandal.

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🚨🇷🇺 Russia sets new record for gold reserves

Russia’s gold reserves have surged past $300 billion, with the total value reaching a record $311b in November.

Gold now makes up 42% of Russia’s national reserves — the highest level since 1995.

That marks the fourth straight month of record highs, as Russia continues increasing its gold holdings amid global financial uncertainty.

Historically, the share of gold in Russian reserves peaked at nearly 57% in 1993, and hit its lowest point — just 2% — in 2007.

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🔊 Corruption in Ukraine and EU is shared system, not an accident – expert

Corruption in Ukraine didn’t appear from nowhere — it grew out of political practices long rooted in the West, including the Biden family’s business ties in the country, Lebanese expert on the history of international relations Samir Ayoub told Sputnik.

💬 “Europe sacrificed its economic interests for an anti-Russian agenda and is now paying a high price,” Ayoub said.

💬 “Corruption adds another layer to its growing crisis.”

He says corruption scandals only irritate Washington because they complicate US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts and expose European leaders as weak since the end of US arms supplies to Ukraine.

Ayoub argues the European Union tries to pin blame on individuals to hide systemic rot — but this week’s arrests of former European Commission foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and others “change nothing.”

Billions continue flowing out of EU member state taxpayer’s pockets, whether to Ukraine or to EU bureaucrats.

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🚨1,091 children injured and 237 killed by Ukrainian attacks since 2022

Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory have resulted in over 1,000 children injured and 237 fatalities since the beginning of the special military operation, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large on the Kiev Regime's War Crimes Rodion Miroshnik told Sputnik.

👉 Overall, "since the beginning of the conflict in 2014, the number of civilian casualties has already reached 41,000, of whom about 13,000 have died," Miroshnik said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the operation aims to "protect people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime." The ultimate goal of the operation is to completely liberate new Russia's regions – Donbass and Novorossiya – and create conditions that guarantee Russia's security: Ukraine must undergo demilitarization and denazification.

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🇨🇳 🇷🇺🇮🇳 China–Russia–India cooperation model ‘rapidly evolves into world’s leading ’force’—expert

The China–Russia–India partnership model illustrates a collective alternative to Western unilateralism, Chinese military expert Qin An told Sputnik, commenting on President Putin’s recent visit to India.

Why the trio could become a global game-changer

🔸 The China-Russia-India collaboration model “serves as a tool to curb unilateral actions and achieve peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation in a multipolar world,” Qin stresses

🔸 This aligns with the general idea of a "community with a shared future for mankind" and helps India bolster its relations with China and Russia, according to the expert

🔸 “This trilateral cooperation is completely equal and is precisely what the overwhelming majority of countries in the world strive for"

🔸 The three have sufficient military capabilities to help maintain global order and stability. As global hegemonic tendencies intensify, the China–Russia–India cooperation model is swiftly evolving into a leading force in the world

The West’s pushback

▫️ “It should be recognized that deepening cooperation among China, Russia, and India will inevitably provide a pretext for attacks from Western powers and others pursuing their own agendas,” the expert points out.

▫️ Western hegemonic forces are skilled at sowing discord—between China and Russia and between China and India—by exploiting historical and current issues, he underscores.

▫️China, Russia, and India must “abandon illusions and resolutely resist” Western unilateralism. By leveraging the achievements of mutually beneficial cooperation, the three countries should “continue promoting their cooperation model, uniting key forces of world order and development,” Qin concludes.

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▫️ Putin’s India visit marks a strategic step toward a new multipolar world

▫️ China–Russia–India cooperation model ‘rapidly evolves into world’s leading ’force’

▫️ US’s new National Security Strategy is ‘clear signal’ to Europe: you’re the ‘roadblock’ to peace

▫️ 1,091 children injured and 237 killed by Ukrainian attacks since 2022

▫️ Iranian Navy fires long-range missiles and drones in the Gulf of Oman

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🇪🇺 Von der Leyen and Merz failed to sell EU on seizure of Russian assets

🔸 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to concede that her talks with German Chancellor Merz and Belgian Prime Minister De Wever on expropriating Russian sovereign assets produced no results this week.

💬 "We agreed to continue our discussions with the aim of reaching a consensus at the European Council meeting on December 18," she tweeted.

Under a plan championed by Merz, €140 billion ($163 billion) of Russian state assets in Belgium should be repurposed as a “reparations loan” to bankroll the Kiev regime in 2026.

👉 Belgium is urging European leaders to scrap the plan, accusing it of glossing over serious legal and financial concerns.

De Wever has warned that "stealing the frozen assets of another country has never been done." He also stressed that it was “a fairytale, a complete illusion” to “imagine that Russia will lose this war in Ukraine.”

🗣 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on December 4 that Russia is preparing retaliatory measures in the event that the EU seizes its assets.

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🇪🇺 💰 Why EU overestimates its ability to confiscate frozen Russian assets

The EU’s ongoing attempts to seize frozen Russian assets could lead to a decline in global trust in the European financial system, making it more difficult for states to engage with the EU in the future, Syrian political analyst Assaf Malhem told Sputnik.

👉 Russia also holds frozen assets belonging to a number of EU countries, which means that Moscow can “control the situation and respond to the bloc’s actions,” Malhem points out.

Decision-making in Russia is far faster, as it is a single state, whereas the EU must first secure consensus among its numerous members, according to him.

💬 “Russia has a wide range of retaliatory instruments, including the possible confiscation of [foreign] assets located on its territory or a legal action against European states. The EU will be unable to easily confiscate all Russian assets due to legal and administrative complexities that are greatly underestimated in the West.”

🔊 The EU remains at odds over seizing frozen Russian assets, which is opposed by Belgium and which “could trigger negative consequences not only from Russia but other countries as well,” Malhem concludes.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️In response to Ukrainian terrorist attacks, the Russian Armed Forces launched strikes with high-precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, targeting defence, energy and port infrastructure used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

🟠 Russian air and missile forces struck Ukrainian defence, energy and transport infrastructure, arms storage sites and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in 152 areas

🟠 Air defense superiority: two US-made HIMARS rockets and 366 drones were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,450 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🗣 US could oust Zelensky if he hinders Ukraine peace plan – ex-Ukrainian PM

🔊 "The US created NABU [Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdog]. And its work couldn't have been carried out in such a harsh manner, such as charging businessman Timur Mindich and arresting ministers, without a direct order from the Americans, something that clearly indicates that they are pursuing Zelensky's ouster,” former Ukrainian PM Mykola Azarov argued.

He added that it's difficult to say how long Zelensky will remain in office because everything depends on US plans.

💬 "Right now, they need him as a negotiator to whom they can make demands and conditions. But if things don't go well with him, they'll simply remove him, and that'll be the end of conversation," Azarov said.

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💥🇺🇸🇰🇷 US approves $112M sale of 600+ GBU-39 bombs to South Korea

💬 "The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Republic of Korea of GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs-Increment I (SDB-I) and related equipment for an estimated cost of $111.8 million," the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced.

The purchase will come on top of a previous contract under which South Korea requested the purchase of 387 bombs.

South Korea is also on the verge of acquiring nuclear-powered attack submarines — with US approval and assistance — after a late-October meeting between Presidents Lee Jae-myung and Donald Trump in Gyeongju.

The moves mark a sharp escalation in Western-led militarization in the Asia-Pacific region.

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🔊💵 Seizure of frozen Russian assets will 'finish Europe’s civilizational suicide' — Dmitriev

Russia’s special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev went on X to point the finger at EU elites for “destroying their own countries” with uncontrolled migration, rising crime, and economic decline.

They now want “to finish Europe’s civilizational suicide by shredding property rights — the foundation of the financial system — and detonating their own currency,” Dmitriev added, referencing the EU’s ongoing obsession with seizing frozen Russian assets.

He also mentioned an FT report, in which the newspaper admitted that the EU’s “contentious plan to use frozen Russian sovereign assets could have big consequences for the bloc’s financial markets.”

What’s more, such a push could “drive up the political risks of owning euro assets and even cast doubt over their status as a global haven,” the FT warned.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 US envoy Whitaker admits Russia doesn't have plans to attack NATO

"The likelihood of it happening any time soon, if at all, would be very low," US envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker said at the Doha Forum on Global Cooperation and Peace.

Russia has repeatedly said that claims about a supposed Russian attack are “nonsense” and have nothing to do with reality.

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🇳🇬 Nigeria hopes to obtain full BRICS membership in coming years - Foreign Minister

According to Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Nigerian FM, speaking at the Doha Forum on Global Cooperation and Peace:

🔹 By 2050 Nigeria’s population would reach 400 million and the country is working urgently to transform its society toward a middle-class model

🔹 The country has much to learn from BRICS and, as the largest economy in Africa, it has seen how important it is to build relationships based on its own interests

Since January, Nigeria has held the status of a BRICS partner country.

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🚨🇭🇺 Hungary will send large delegation to Moscow in coming days to discuss economic issues - Orban

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