"U.S. & Russian officials are expected to meet in Miami this weekend as part of the Trump admin’s push to bring an end to nearly four years of war." Will be interesting to see if the Kremlin can reject the 20-pt deal (assured) while convincing Trump that it's Kyiv's fault (jury's still out). https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/17/us-russia-ukraine-war-miami-00695305

wowzers

"congratulations, Mr. President!" "did you watch it?" "i did not, yeah, i will see it on the news." LOL

Oho: "Turkey is seeking to return S-400 air defense systems it bought from Russia nearly a decade ago. [...] Ankara is also seeking a refund for the billions of dollars it spent to buy the air defense system [...] raising the possibility of Turkey asking for a deduction from its oil and natural gas imports bill from Russia."

Bloomberg.com

Erdogan Asks Putin to Take Back Missiles to Win US Favor

Turkey is seeking to return S-400 air defense systems it bought from Russia nearly a decade ago, a move that would end a controversial deal that ro...

when it all went wrong

idea for a new Amazon show: Man in the High Castle, but it's set in the future and the U.S. is divided between Chinese America and Russian America, post-WW3. in this case, Russian America would be the weaker side, obviously.

Serbian President Vucic blames a vast conspiracy for derailing €750 million in potential investment tied planned Trump Tower hotel in Belgrade. (Jared Kushner walked away from the project amid an anti-corruption probe & mass protests.) Vučić vows criminal charges against the deal's saboteurs.

РБК

Вучич пригрозил ответственностью сорвавшим стройку отеля Кушнера в Сербии

Сербия потеряла около 750 млн потенциальных инвестиций после того, как зять прези...

what every small-time influencer dreams of shouting at his most loyal audience members

For Ukraine’s sake, I hope European governments do agree to use their frozen Russian assets to extend a lifeline to Kyiv. But it feels a bit rich for the USG to lobby for this when Europeans would bear the risk, not Uncle Sam.

Major event in Russia's legal system & real estate market today: Supreme Court overturns (extremely unpopular) lower-court rulings allowing singer Larisa Dolina to keep an apt she sold after giving the proceeds to scammers. The buyer, Polina Lurie, retains ownership & will get the apt after all.

Meduza

Верховный суд РФ признал право собственности Полины Лурье на квартиру Ларисы Долиной — Meduza

Верховный суд РФ вынес решение в пользу Полины Лурье по делу о квартире певицы...