There is an urgent need to repair national security following four years of globalist control in the White House, which resulted in an illegal alien invasion through the southern border. This prompted President Trump to deploy thousands of US troops to the border last week, including the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the “Screaming Eagles.” 

On Saturday, Fort Campbell soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division were deployed to the southern border, according to a press release from the Army.

“Fort Campbell Soldiers departed today en route to the U.S. southern border, in support of U.S. Northern Command’s mission to protect the territorial integrity of the United States,” the service wrote in a statement. 

Here’s more:

Soldiers assigned to the 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) will integrate with military forces already along the border and work together with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.

Prior to their departure, the 716th MP element conducted a “patching ceremony,” donning the historic 101st Airborne Div. “Screaming Eagle” patch as part of ongoing Army Structure and force modernization efforts at Fort Campbell.

Lt. Col. Phillip Mason, commander of the 716th Military Police Battalion, wrote in a statement, “We are trained and ready to support this important mission,” adding, “Our Soldiers are committed to protecting all Americans and supporting our civilian partners in defending the territorial integrity of the United States. We’re also proud to mobilize for this mission wearing the Screaming Eagle patch, which has significant relevance to the 716th.”

A soldier heading to the border just sent a message to all Americans.

“I love this country. I’m gonna protect it.”

President Trump has infused a new level of patriotism in our troops in less than one week. pic.twitter.com/NAZpRIvarJ

— George (@BehizyTweets) January 25, 2025

On Monday, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border through an executive order. By late last week, reports indicated that his administration prepared to deploy at least 10,000 troops.

BREAKING: The United States Marines have arrived at the Southern Border to help stop the illegal immigrant invasion.

1,500 troops, including 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, were deployed to the US border by the Trump administration.

According to officials, this is likely just… pic.twitter.com/SPbV9wobQw

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 24, 2025

By Tuesday, Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents launched nationwide large-scale raids targeting criminal illegal aliens, marking a significant shift in immigration policy. He stated that “public safety threats” will be prioritized.

Dear Democrats,

I don’t want to hear jack sh*t from you about ICE raids and mass deportation. For the past 4 years, you stayed silent and allowed the Biden-Harris administration to infest neighborhoods of hard-working Americans and immigrants with rap*sts, gang members, k*llers,… pic.twitter.com/jAqFKfACom

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) January 23, 2025

Then, on Friday, the first military deportation flight of criminal illegal aliens began… 

Recapping the week on the immigration front:

• Trump To Issue Flurry Of Border & Immigration EOs, Along With DEI, Trade, Energy And TikTok

• Trump’s Border Czar: ICE Raids Targeting Criminal Illegal Aliens “Already Started”

• “Just The Beginning”: Trump Plans 10,000 Troops On Border To Restore National Security

• New Flight Data Shows Guatemala Received Trump’s First Jumbo Jet Load Of Illegals

The ‘Trump Effect‘: Migrant encounters at border ports of entry have dramatically declined since Trump took office on Monday. Imagine that—the Biden-Harris regime had the ability all along to slow or stop the migrant invasion but chose not to, suggesting the crisis may have been intentional. The American people must hold the Democratic Party accountable at the ballot box in future elections for years of chaos. 

Bye-Bye… 

NEW: Haitian man says “F*ck Trump, Biden forever,” gets arrested by ICE’s elite Boston unit to be deported.

The ultimate FAFO.

The arrest was part of a Boston raid on the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens, as reported by @BillMelugin_.

“It’s a frigid five degrees in… pic.twitter.com/83XgPMgNlt

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 23, 2025

Democrats’ worst nightmare is unfolding as their future voters—those who violated border laws by illegally entering the US—are being deported en masse. Many of these migrants are unvetted and pose national security risks. The US is a nation of laws, without them, there is no nation, and restoring law and order while securing the border was a very clear mandate given to President Trump by the American people. 

Far-left corporate media, radical leftist billionaire-funded non-profits, and progressive lawmakers still have not figured out the nation’s vibe has drastically shifted to demanding law and order and border security – not Marxist DEI – not the gender game – and no more to wokeism. Make meritocracy great again.

Authored by Chris Power via RealClearPolitics,

The latest spotlight on the crisis in American manufacturing may be on steel, but our nation has traded its manufacturing might for financial gains across all sectors – making the same fateful mistake that has befallen great civilizations throughout history. As a founder, CEO, and advocate for American industrial renewal, who’s building the world’s most advanced, efficient factories to counter China’s chokehold on manufacturing, I can tell you that America has just three years – not 10 – to rebuild our industrial base before falling critically behind.  

The vice president and many of the new administration have demonstrated passion for reindustrializing the country and creating a jobs boom that has not been seen in this country for decades. 

This is not just an economic challenge – it’s a moral imperative to secure our nation’s future while being good stewards of our resources, which include the people of this great country. 

The good news is that American innovation and determination can overcome these challenges. In my own company, we’ve developed systems that can transform someone who’s never set foot in a factory into a highly productive team member in weeks, not years. We pay well, offer equity, and provide meaningful work contributing to national security. This isn’t about replacing American workers with automation – it’s about empowering them with technology to manufacture for America faster and better than ever before, creating new and better jobs along the way. 

Likewise, the Trump administration’s commitment to reindustrialization, American manufacturing and our workforce can begin on Day One. To regain our competitiveness, we need the incoming administration to take four broad steps: 

First, we must dramatically reform our permitting process for strategic manufacturing facilities. While China can build a factory in months, American companies often wait years for permits. This regulatory burden is crushing our ability to rapidly scale the production of critical components. 

Second, we need to level the playing field against China’s predatory practices. This means addressing everything from raw material costs to energy rates to shipping subsidies. These artificial costs squeeze what American companies can pay their workforce.  

When Chinese manufacturers can access materials and energy at a fraction of what American companies pay, we’re not competing on merit – we’re competing against a government-subsidized adversary that has been intentionally de-industrializing the U.S. for 30 years. Americans can compete, but not against the Chinese Communist Party making everything from energy to raw materials free. One hundred billion dollars of currently offshored manufacturing business from American companies sourcing in China could return overnight as a result of a more level playing field, creating a jobs boom unlike anything we’ve seen since the ’40s. 

Third, we must ensure that manufacturers who receive government subsidies or revenue from the Department of Defense (DOD) make their supply chain 100% American. Too many of our tax dollars end up being outsourced to China and other competitive nations for 20% cheaper components from bad supply chain incentives. Tariffs will help, but we need a mandate to “make in America if you want to get paid by American taxpayers!” 

And finally, we need to stop missing crucial opportunities and take big, bold bets on American manufacturing to signal to the CCP that we are serious about any offensive moves in Europe or the Pacific Theatre.  

Take shipbuilding. In 2022, China built 800 commercial ships, while America built just one. Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its independent analysis of the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding plan, warning that the number of battle force ships will decrease from 295 today to 283 ships in 2027, reducing the fleet’s firepower. Further, CBO predicts that over the next 30 years, “…the nation’s shipyards would need to produce substantially more naval tonnage than they have produced over the past 10 years. The rate of production of nuclear-powered submarines, in particular, would need to increase significantly.” Thankfully, President Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, recognized the urgent need for shipbuilding in his confirmation hearing this month, signaling industrialization as a top priority of the next administration. In short, we need many more ships, and we need to build them now.  

But what did President Biden do? He nixed a Navy proposal called the Shipyard Accountability and Workforce Support (SAWS) initiative that would have allowed U.S. shipbuilders to invest in their workforce and suppliers, stem the rising cost of submarine production through technological innovation, and allow 17 more boats to be built. SAWS achieves this by using taxpayer dollars more effectively without Congress having to appropriate another nickel. 

Instead, Biden asked Congress for nearly $6 billion dollars as a Band-Aid to fix the problem.  

SAWS represents an immediate, comprehensive approach to revitalizing American shipbuilding. On Day One, it will provide wage increases to 45,000 shipyard workers across the nation while smartly using authorities in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to fund both these wages and critical, cutting-edge shipyard technologies, helping our major primes and new market entrants build faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Through streamlined processes that will speed up ship and submarine production, along with careful resource management, SAWS is projected to save taxpayers over $20 billion while strengthening our industrial base and has a real chance to both fix our current issues and make a technology-driven manufacturing leap over the CCP ahead of the looming 2027 Pacific timeline. 

In his first week, President Trump can pick up the ball the outgoing administration has dropped and send a signal to the CCP that he will not wait to rebuild American manufacturing strength. President Trump’s nominee for the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, gets this. In 2020, he backed expanding the Navy. And today, the stakes couldn’t be higher. We have the innovation, the workforce, and the determination to succeed. What we need now is leadership that understands the urgency of our challenge and is willing to take bold action. Working together – government, industry, technology, and the American people – we can restore our God-given right to be the world’s industrial superpower – and ensure that the 21st century remains an American century. 

The time for action, the time to start reindustrializing America, is now. 

Chris Power is founder and CEO of Hadrian, an advanced manufacturing company, and is a co-founder of the New American Industrial Alliance (NAIA).

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Trump administration has placed a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public until at least the end of the month.

In a Jan. 21 memo, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink told agency staff officials that an “immediate pause” had been ordered on announcements, press releases, social media posts, regulations, and guidance until those communications were approved by an appointee.

Agencies that are affected include HHS-supervised agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and many others. The pause is in effect through Feb. 1, according to the memo.

The pause announced by Fink includes anything that may be published in the Federal Register, as well as in the CDC’s publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which offers studies and alerts on a range of health-related subject matter. Nothing has been published in the CDC publication since Jan. 16, or four days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Fink said in the memo that some exceptions would be made for communications that affect “critical health, safety, environmental, financial or nation security functions.” However, such statements would have to be reviewed beforehand, she said.

On Jan. 21, the FDA posted notices about warning letters sent to companies. The CDC posted several statements, announcements, and research papers on its website on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22.

Fink, an endocrinologist and career civil servant who had led the HHS Office on Women’s Health, was selected by Trump as his interim HHS secretary on the afternoon of Jan. 20, according to a notice published by the White House. She will remain in that position until Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s choice to lead the agency, is confirmed by the Senate.

Hearings for Kennedy, formerly an independent presidential candidate before dropping out and endorsing Trump last year, will start in the Senate as soon as the paperwork is sent to the upper chamber, a senator from Louisiana confirmed to local media outlets.

“I’m told the paperwork might come today, at which point we can schedule the hearings,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told the Shreveport Times on Jan. 21.

Long a critic of certain vaccines, Kennedy has endorsed a Trump-related slogan, “Make America Healthy Again,” while Trump said at a pre-election rally in New York City that he would have Kennedy “go wild” on U.S. health agencies. During a conference last year, Kennedy said he wanted to fire 600 people working at the NIH, which oversees vaccine research, and replace them with 600 new hires.

“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said.

To lead the CDC, Trump has chosen former Florida Republican Rep. Dave Weldon, a medical doctor. Trump also selected Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary to lead the FDA.

The Epoch Times contacted the FDA, CDC, and HHS for additional comment on Jan. 22.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she supports the arrest of illegal immigrant criminals in her state, but reaffirmed an earlier promise that state police will not help in mass deportation efforts.

The Trump administration has intensified immigration enforcement since taking office, including via a Department of Justice memo that directs federal prosecutors to investigate state and local officials who obstruct federal immigration efforts. The memo raises questions about whether the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts could prosecute local officials who refuse to comply with the president’s orders.

When asked at a Wednesday press conference if she was concerned about the DOJ memo, Healey said she “has no reason to be concerned.”

“We’re not a sanctuary state,” she said, adding that she’s not planning to get in the way of federal immigration agents doing their jobs.

Eight Massachusetts cities, including Boston and Cambridge, have proclaimed sanctuary status, which include local laws to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement to shield illegal immigrants from deportation.

That said…

Immediately following Trump’s reelection, Healey pledged that Massachusetts State Police would “absolutely not” assist the administration with its promised mass deportation efforts. That pledge still stands, she said, noting there is a difference between “civil immigration enforcement” and addressing crimes committed by those in the country illegally.

“When it comes to criminal activity, alleged criminal activity, or the apprehension of those who have committed crimes—whether they are people from Massachusetts or people who come to Massachusetts, cooperation by my administration through the state police, by others in local law enforcement, will continue with our federal authorities,” she told the reporter.

“We want to make sure that we’re always supportive of law enforcement when it comes to investigating, prosecuting, pursuing, holding accountable, and—in the event you’re talking about a person who is undocumented—the removal, the deportation of that individual.”

On Thursday, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued a joint statement with her counterparts from 12 other states, condemning the DOJ directive as unconstitutional for trying to compel states to enforce federal laws.

The attorneys general said they will uphold laws of their own states and won’t be “distracted by the president’s mass deportation agenda.” They also said they will challenge any prosecutions of local officials.

“The President has made troubling threats to weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutorial authority and resources to attack public servants acting in compliance with their state laws, interfering with their ability to build trust with the communities they serve and protect,” the statement said.

Amid the legal debate, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been swift in executing the administration’s agenda, prioritizing illegal immigrants with criminal records. In a span of two days, the agency has arrested more than 1,000 illegal immigrants across the country, including in self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities” such as New York and Boston.

One high-profile arrest in Boston involved 25-year-old Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles, whom ICE identified as a member of a Haitian street gang with 17 criminal convictions.

According to ICE Boston, Charles entered the United States legally in 2013, but later “violated the terms of his lawful admission.” His convictions include multiple drug, weapons, and assault and battery crimes.

The US Army’s 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, recently tested General Motors Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Colorado truck, in the snowy Bavarian mountains of Germany. 

GM Defense’s mobility solutions team designed the ISV with commercial off-the-shelf parts. ISV is based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck platform, using a 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine with an advanced 12-module battery pack. 

“The testing occurred during the annual Combined Resolve 25-1 exercise, where the Army’s 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, maneuvered the vehicle across various operational scenarios, demonstrating its adaptability and effectiveness in challenging terrains,” Interesting Engineering wrote in a note, adding, “The trial emphasized ISV’s capabilities in advanced reconnaissance missions, which are crucial for troops to collect and transmit vital battlefield intelligence, especially in adverse conditions.” 

During #CombinedResolve, the U.S. Army is implementing its Transformation in Contact initiative, utilizing new technologies and systems designed to enhance its warfighting readiness and ability to respond to crisis or conflict.#ThisIsUSAREURAF #TiC #TransformationInContact pic.twitter.com/dI84f3g0tt

— U.S. Army Europe and Africa (@USArmyEURAF) January 22, 2025

In 2021, the Army selected the ISV to enhance its operational capabilities. The ISV incorporates 90% commercial off-the-shelf parts and is designed to carry nine infantrymen. The vehicle’s adaptability for air transportability allows it to be deployed via military aircraft, including C-130 to UH-60 Blackhawk. 

By 2024, the ISV completed trials with the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, testing the vehicle’s offroad capabilities in a 1,250-mile journey across highways, dunes, soft sand tracks, and rocky walls while carrying maximum payload capacities. 

The Army has replaced some of its aging Humvees with the newer Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. Still, the service aims for a smaller vehicle—larger than the Polaris MRZR but similar in size to the Humvee.

The ISV is the big brother to the ultra-light Polaris MRZR that Special Forces have used for years. MRZRs and aging Humvees are occasionally auctioned off on Gov Planet for civilians to purchase. 

A defense firm has recently introduced a complete armor package for the Tesla Cybertruck. 

We wonder what Tier 1 operators think of these new high-tech vehicles with massive lithium battery packs.

Authored by Mike Fredenburg via The Epoch Times,

To the shock of many, President Trump has declared his interest in acquiring Greenland, calling it vital to national security and critical to preempting any attempt by China to gain influence or control of Greenland. And he has wisely left all options on the table, no matter how unlikely, by declining to rule out economic coercion or force as to acquire it. And China’s great interest in Greenland must not be allowed to morph into what happened with the  Panama Canal. Interestingly, a new poll indicates that Greenlanders are very open to becoming part of the United States.

At a high level, President Trump’s focus on Greenland is about its increasing importance to U.S. national security and the energy dominance that he has promised to deliver. The increased importance of Greenland in these two areas, versus its importance during the height of the Cold War, come from changes in polar ice coverage making once impassible sea lanes and impenetrable territories far less so. This increased accessibility to the Arctic Sea and land masses, coupled with powerful icebreakers, has opened new opportunities for vastly increased merchant shipping, much better access to the Arctic’s vast natural resources, and increased human habitation.

The improved access to the Arctic has also increased the need for the United States to secure its northern borders as more Chinese and Russian naval vessels with missiles capable of striking the United States ply the waters around Greenland.

Elaborating a bit, Greenland is placed strategically along two potential shipping routes through the Arctic: The Northwest Passage bordering the North America’s northern coastline and the Transpolar Sea Route right through the center of the Arctic Ocean. With changes in ice coverage, these routes have seen big increases in ships transiting them, both military and commercial. This makes Greenland far more strategic than it was during the Cold War.

The town of Ilulissat in western Greenland. Alex Savu/Visit Greenland

Further enhancing the strategic value of Greenland is that roughly two-thirds of it is actually in the Arctic Circle. This makes it is an excellent hopping off point/staging area for accessing the Arctic region that is highly complementary to the 15 percent of Arctic territory the United States controls via Alaska. Because about one-half (53 percent) of  the Arctic is part of Russia, fully leveraging Greenland, as well as Alaska, is essential for the United States’ ability to compete for presence in and control of the Arctic region. But merely leveraging Greenland will not be enough. To be positioned to compete for Arctic influence and control, you need a very critical manmade resource that the United States is short on and Russia is rich in—icebreakers

As of 2025, Russia’s fleet of conventional and nuclear icebreakers dwarfs that of the United States, and Russia is in the process of building even more Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers. These icebreakers, with a displacement of 32,000 tons and the ability to continuously break ice of up to 10.6 feet of thickness, dwarf the largest U.S. icebreaker, the USCGC Healy, which displaces 16,000 tons with the ability to continuously break ice of up to 4.5  feet in thickness.

Indeed, Russia’s fleet of nuclear and conventionally powered icebreakers enables it to support operations in the Arctic region at a level far beyond what the United States will be able to match given its lack of shipbuilding capacity, which also has the U.S. Navy struggling to avoid an ever-decreasing number of deployable ships.

Adding to U.S. woes when it comes to competing for Arctic control is that the Ukraine-Russia conflict has brought China and Russia much closer together than at any other time in modern history. This has resulted in China, the largest shipbuilder in the world by far,  and Russia partnering to dominate the Arctic.

Journalists attend the float-out of the Sibir (Siberia) nuclear-powered icebreaker at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg on Sept. 22, 2017. AFP Photo/Olga Maltseva

Consequently, even with the United States being able to fully leverage Greenland, it faces a steep climb when it comes to securing a slice of the Arctic pie commensurate with its leading position in the Great Power competition. Of course, all that could change if Canada and the United States came to a mutually beneficial agreement to work together to take advantage of the natural resources contained in the 40 percent of the Arctic that is part of Canada.

However, as important as Greenland is in securing substantial deposits of rare earth elements and oil, its role in securing the United States’ northern flank is more important immediately. And Greenland, even with Denmark’s support, is not up to the task.

As things stand, Greenland, with a population of about 56,000, is an autonomous territory of Denmark. And despite some claims to the contrary, with Denmark exercising control over Greenland’s foreign affairs, security, and defense policy, Greenland is not recognized as a country, nor could it effectively operate effectively as a fully independent country. With its small economy revolving around subsidized fishing jobs and to a lesser extent agriculture, its 2024 GDP, including about $600 million in annual support from its colonial owner Denmark, is about $3.4 billion. The GDP also receives a significant boost from the United States’ Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, that is currently manned by 700 personnel.

It is clear that, even with support from Denmark, this is not a nation the United States can rely on to secure its northern flank and that is why President Trump is very interested in acquiring it. With this in mind, a recent poll found 57 percent of Greenlanders want to become a state of the United States, with only 37.4 percent opposing such a move. While statehood is not a real option at this time, like Hawaii once was, it could become a protectorate territory of the United States. However, regardless of what formal relationship is established, Greenland still needs a national security partner that can both protect it and help it responsibly leverage its natural resources. And for that, the most logical partner would be the region’s Great Power and fellow North American, the United States.

Finally, no way can the United States allow what happened with Panama and China to happen with Greenland.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

The European Union is drafting bloc-wide incentives for electric vehicle purchases to aid struggling automakers, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced at Davos. He emphasized that Europe must strengthen its economy, boost industry competitiveness, and reduce bureaucracy in response to global challenges, according to Bloomberg. 

Scholz said last week: “What we need are pragmatic solutions, not ideological ones. And that is why I am delighted that the president of the commission has now taken up my proposal for harmonized Europe-wide purchase premiums for e-cars.” 

Scholz criticized efforts to undermine EV adoption, emphasizing that “e-mobility is the future” and warning against harm to the auto industry. Ahead of next month’s snap elections, his Social Democratic Party is proposing temporary tax deductions to boost German-made EV purchases.

But the road to EU-wide purchase incentives for EVs still has some bumps in it, according to follow up reporting by electrive. 

They wrote this week that the EU is exploring harmonized EV incentives, but their implementation and structure remain uncertain. Proposals range from unlimited purchase premiums to socially targeted incentives, while Germany’s Chancellor backs temporary tax cuts for German-made EVs, though their legality under EU law is unclear. The CSU party has suggested a €3,600 purchase premium.

In Davos, Scholz reaffirmed that electric mobility is the future, warning that doubters harm the industry. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed his view, emphasizing the importance of staying competitive in clean technologies.

Despite conservative pushback on the 2035 ban on new fossil-fuel car registrations, von der Leyen has stood firm, as alternatives to EVs are unlikely to mature in time.

As the report concludes, EU-wide incentives aim to bolster competitiveness against China and the US, but designing a WTO-compliant system that excludes subsidies for Chinese manufacturers remains a complex challenge.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

Zelensky demanded a minimum of 200,000 European peacekeepers during the panel session that followed his speech at Davos, which itself saw him propose that France, Germany, Italy, and the UK combine their forces with Ukraine’s in order to counter Russia’s in nearly equal numbers. He also suggested that Trump will abandon Europe in order to cut a deal over Ukraine with Russia and China. The subtext is that they should organize a large-scale peacekeeping mission before that happens.

They’re unlikely to accede to his demand, however, for the same reason that the UK is unlikely to actually establish a military base in Ukraine like it agreed to explore doing in their new 100-year partnership pact. None of the Europeans want to risk a war with Russia where they’d be left fighting on their own without American support, not even the nuclear-armed UK and France, since Trump isn’t expected to extend Article 5 mutual defense guarantees to allies’ forces in third countries like Ukraine.

He, who loves having as much control over everything as possible, naturally wouldn’t feel comfortable knowing that others could provoke a war with Russia that might then drag in the US. Trump’s grand strategic goal is to wrap up the Ukrainian Conflict as soon as possible so as to prioritize his far-reaching domestic reform plans while “Pivoting (back) to Asia” to more muscularly contain China. Anything that could come in the way of that agenda, especially others provoking a war with Russia, is anathema.

That said, it can’t be ruled out the Europeans might assemble a large-scale force on Ukraine’s Polish and Romanian borders for rapid deployment in the event of future hostilities, regardless of whether this is coordinated through US-controlled NATO or outside of it. For that to happen, however, Polish–Ukrainian ties would have to improve (Zelensky ignored Poland in his speech despite it having NATO’s third-largest army) and Romania’s populist frontrunner would have to lose May’s presidential election rerun.

Moreover, Europe would need to make meaningful progress on building the “military Schengen” for facilitating the movement of troops and equipment through the bloc to its eastern borders, otherwise whatever it assembles on the Ukrainian frontier and then sends across it would be logistically vulnerable. Polish-Ukrainian ties haven’t yet improved, Romania’s presidential election rerun hasn’t yet happened, and the “military Schengen” remains mostly on paper, all of which work against Zelensky’s plans.

Consequently, the likelihood of the Europeans assembling a large-scale force on Ukraine’s Polish and Romanian borders anytime soon is low, let alone them unilaterally deploying peacekeepers – whether 200,000 or just 2,000 – to Ukraine without prior US approval. Nevertheless, Zelensky’s Davos speech and panel session might serve to plant the seed of “ambitious thinking” in European policymakers’ minds, which could lead to them initiating such discussions with the US.

From Trump’s perspective, it’s important to “share the burden” in Ukraine and ideally offload as much of it as possible onto the Europeans’ shoulders, though without emboldening them to provoke a war with Russia afterwards. To that end, he might publicly flirt with some variation of Zelensky’s European peacekeeper proposal, but only as part of a negotiating tactic with Putin so that he can then rescind it as a faux concession in exchange for something more tangible and meaningful from his counterpart.

Trump might also ultimately authorize the US to take the lead in assembling the aforementioned large-scale force on Ukraine’s Polish and Romanian borders, but conditional on all NATO members agreeing to his demand that they spend 5% of GDP on defense. There might also be other strings attached too, such as trade-related ones, for “comforting” them in this way by making a show out of not “abandoning” Europe like Zelensky just fearmongered that he might be plotting.

One way to coerce them to do both, namely spend 5% of GDP on defense while agreeing to trade-related concessions for leading an unprecedented NATO buildup on Ukraine’s western borders to “deter Russia” after the conflict ends, is to demand drastic cuts to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Zelensky warned during his panel session that Putin might demand a five-fold reduction per the precedent from spring 2022’s draft treaty, and if Trump agrees, then this might spook Europe into doing what he demands.

Whatever he ends up doing, the odds of him allowing the Europeans to unilaterally dispatch any number of peacekeepers to Ukraine are close to nil due to the chance that they’d provoke a war with Russia that could risk dragging in the US, thus derailing his domestic and foreign policy agendas. All that he has to do to prevent this is make clear that Article 5 mutual defense guarantees won’t be extended to those of their forces in third countries no matter the circumstances of the attacks that they might come under.

The only scenario in which he might countenance this is if he’s tricked by the military-industrial complex, the Europeans (especially outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda who’s one of his close friends), and misguided advisors into turning Ukraine into his Vietnam like Steven Bannon just warned. While there are causes for concern, most notably his remarks about Russia after the inauguration, it’s premature to conclude that he’ll go this route so the European peacekeeper scenario remains very unlikely.

Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told his Chinese counterpart that the Trump administration will prioritize American interest in its relationship with communist China, according to the State Department.

Rubio conveyed this message during a phone call on Jan. 24 with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, marking his first publicly known formal exchange with Wang as the top U.S. diplomat.

Rubio emphasized that the Trump administration will pursue a relationship with China that “advances U.S. interests and puts the American people first,” according to the U.S. readout of the call.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the secretary “stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea.”

According to a summary of the call issued by China’s foreign ministry, Wang told Rubio that teams from both sides should implement the consensus reached during last week’s conversation between the two countries’ leaders, which had “pointed out the direction” and “established the tone” for Sino–U.S. relations.

Wang reiterated the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) sovereignty claims over Taiwan, a self-ruled island that the regime has not ruled out using force to bring under its control.

Wang also issued a veiled warning to Rubio, who was placed on Beijing’s sanctions list twice in 2020 for his human rights advocacy, saying that he hoped Rubio would “act accordingly” and “play a constructive role for the future of the people of China and the United States,” according to a translation by the Chinese ministry.

Rubio characterized communist China as “the most potent and dangerous, near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted” during his Senate confirmation hearing last week.

Trump: US–China Relationship Needs to Be ‘Fair’

The conversation between the two countries’ top diplomats comes less than a week after President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term.

Trump had invited CCP leader Xi Jinping to his inauguration in the U.S. Capitol, but the regime chose to send deputy leader Han Zheng as its special envoy for the event.

Hours before his inauguration ceremony, Trump had a phone call with Xi that he later described as “very good” for both the United States and China.

The president told reporters later on the day that he had received an invitation to visit China and that a trip this year could be possible.

Earlier this week, Trump said that he believed under his administration, the United States will have “a very good relationship” with China.

“All we want is fairness. We just want a level playing field,” the president told the attendees of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos via a video link.

Highlighting the massive U.S. trade deficits with China, Trump said, “It’s just an unfair relationship, and we have to make it just fair.”

“We don’t have to make it phenomenal. We have to make it a fair relationship,” he said. “Right now. It’s not a fair relationship.”

The U.S. trade deficit with China reached $279.4 billion in 2023, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Commerce Department.

During his presidential campaign, Trump floated the idea of imposing tariffs as high as 60 percent on Chinese imports.

On Jan. 22, Trump said that an extra 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports could start as early as Feb. 1. The extra duties, according to the president, were based on the “fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.”

Authored by Yuhong Dong M.D., Ph.D. & Makai Allbert via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Dr. Eben Alexander was at the height of his career as a neurosurgeon. With a doctorate in medicine from Duke University and a residency from Harvard, he believed he understood consciousness and the brain. However, on Nov. 10, 2008, a rare and severe bacterial infection attacked his brain, challenging everything he thought he knew.

He fell into a coma and, seven days later, awakened with a complete physical recovery. Yet, while asleep, his mind was not idle. He recalls that his consciousness had gone to another dimension—a place furnished with clouds, shimmering beings, and ethereal sceneries.

“I was in a place of clouds. Big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the deep blue-black sky. Higher than the clouds—immeasurably higher—flocks of transparent orbs, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving long, streamer-like lines behind them,” Alexander wrote in his book, “A Proof of Heaven.”

“I witnessed all of that realm in all of its majesty,” Alexander recounted during an interview with The Epoch Times. “Though I didn’t know where I was or even what I was, I was absolutely sure of one thing: This place I’d suddenly found myself in was completely real,” he said.

Similarly, Dr. Sam Parnia, a medical doctor and research scientist, observed that seven percent of resuscitated patients recounted visits to an unearthly dimension during their near-death experience (NDE)—an experience people sometimes have on the precipice of death and may remember after recovery. Further, Dr. Pim van Lommel, a cardiologist from the Netherlands, reported that 29 percent of people with NDEs describe entering a vast, beautiful realm beyond our physical reality.

These shared elements have prompted experts to discuss the origin of consciousness. Can our consciousness be linked and travel to a dimension imperceptible to human eyes? While people of faith say they’ve had answers all along, medical doctors are still probing, and physicists claim they are close to finding the answer.

Multiple Dimensions

Physicists recognize that there may be numerous dimensions. Modern physics embraces the concept of multidimensional space and parallel universes as a serious scientific idea.

Leading theories include string theory and M-theory. String theory posits that the fundamental building blocks of the universe are not just particles but tiny, vibrating filaments, or “strings.”

Imagine analyzing an apple. As you magnify it, you discover layers of structure down to cells, molecules, and atoms. Conventional theories usually stop at subatomic particles. String theory posits that the infinitesimally small subatomic particles are actually strands of energy vibrating in different patterns, much like the strings of a violin. Each distinct vibration produces unique particles, creating a cosmic symphony that constitutes all matter.

String theories are given credence because they provide a framework to unify the fundamental forces of nature—gravity, electromagnetic force, and nuclear force—into one consistent theory. However, string theory posits a universe with at least 10 dimensions, which is integral to its formulation and mathematical consistency.

On a related note, M-theory is a concept in physics that combines different theories about tiny strings, which are thought to make up the fabric of the universe. It suggests 11 dimensions instead of the four we experience (three spatial dimensions of space—width, height, and depth—and one of time). M-theory aims to explain how the forces of nature, including gravity, work together in a single framework, making it a potential “theory of everything.”

While the string and M-theories are mathematically rich and elegant frameworks that help explain certain aspects of particle physics and gravity, they do not have empirically verifiable predictions.

Nevertheless, in the aggregate, these phenomena open the door to ideas about multi-dimensions. Other dimensions, though invisible, may exist simultaneously among us.

Out of the ‘Painting’

John Burke, who has a degree in engineering and authored multiple books on NDEs, offered an analogy: Imagine we lived inside a flat, two-dimensional black-and-white painting. In such a scenario, we would experience only length and width—up and down and side to side—but not depth.

“We couldn’t even conceive of it,” he told The Epoch Times in an interview.

Burke suggested that NDEs might be like our two-dimensional consciousness peeling away from that flat painting and entering a three-dimensional world—a realm that has always existed beyond our perception. From this new viewpoint, we could look back at our flat world and understand it as part of a greater dimensional reality.

When our consciousness leaves the body, it’s likely to enter these wider, multi-dimensional spaces, Michael Pravica, who holds a doctorate in condensed matter physics from Harvard University and is a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told The Epoch Times.

The Tunnel

Individuals with NDEs often describe passing through a tunnel-like expanse with a light at the end before entering the other dimension.

Ned Dougherty, a former director of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, wrote about his personal tunnel experience in his book, “Fast Lane to Heaven.” In it, he explains that after losing physical consciousness, he was drawn to an immense tunnel. At the distant opening of the tunnel, he saw another universe.

“I pondered the purpose of the tunnel. It seemed to stretch from Earth into the universe for a distance measured in light years,” Dougherty wrote.

Interestingly, the tunnels described by people who have had NDEs bear a striking resemblance to a concept explored in string theory, where wormholes connect different dimensions.

Additionally, as discussed in Part 1 of this series, physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff proposed that microtubules in the brain may serve as quantum receivers of consciousness. These microtubules also have a unique structure akin to tunnel-like objects.

In a 2022 study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Sam Parnia and a team of medical experts from prominent universities provided the first comprehensive medical consensus documenting the existence of NDEs.

Notably, the team identified tunnel experiences as one of the main characteristics of NDEs.

The tunnel, according to the study, appears to be a connection to another dimension, where people report seeing magnificent, luminous beings and relive their entire lives in a way unconstrained by time—a phenomenon called the “life review.”

Timeless ‘Whole Life’

Of 617 near-death experiences collected by the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation published in a 2014 study, 14 percent of the near-death experiencers experienced a life review. This experience felt like watching a stereoscopic movie of their life.

Overall, 50 percent of near-death experience survivors in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake were reported to have experienced a life review.

According to Bernard Carr, emeritus professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University of London, many elements of NDEs, such as the tunnel phenomenon, intense light, and life reviews, align with the idea of transitioning through or interacting with higher dimensions. He interprets these experiences not as hallucinations or brain-generated phenomena but as glimpses into the true multidimensional nature of reality.

In his book, “Evidence of the Afterlife” Dr. Jeffery Long, a practicing radiation oncologist, and researcher who has studied NDEs for more than 25 years, recorded a case of a man named Roger who was returning from Quebec City when he had an out-of-body experience during a car crash.

“I then began to see my whole life unfolding before me like a film projected on a screen, from babyhood to adult life. It was so real!” Roger recalled.

He said the experience was more realistic than a 3D movie, as he could sense the feelings of the people he interacted with over the years and the good or bad emotions he made them feel.

Those who experience a life review during a near-death experience often recount it with a deep sense of realism. This includes re-experiencing long-forgotten events often confirmed to have occurred, as well as a deep understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others during past interactions.

According to a study published in Missouri Medicine, these life reviews are consistently accurate. 

Life reviews appear to access a dimension where all events are recorded in their entirety, and time flows differently—allowing the person to review their entire life instantly.

The book “Lessons From the Light,” co-authored by Kenneth Ring, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Connecticut, who published nearly 100 papers on NDEs, recorded a case of a man who reported re-experiencing every event in 22 years of his life.

“The brightness showed me every second of all those years, in exquisite detail, in what seemed only an instant of time,” he said.

“It’s a reliving of events, not just a remembering of events,” said Alexander. He explains that during the life review, if you had acted selfishly toward others during your lifetime, you would experience those events again, but now from the viewpoint of the people who experienced the suffering.

He believes this is where the concept of “hell” originates—those who inflicted pain and suffering during their lives would have to confront and experience that same pain during the life review. This should nudge people to realize that “We’re really all in this together and need to take care of each other and get along,” he said.

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