As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, your support is urgently needed. Maryland joined 18 states and the District of Columbia Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging a Health and Human Services declaration last week that health care facilities offering gender-affirming care to minors would be barred from Medicare and Medicaid. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oregon, claims that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exceeded his authority with the Dec. 18 declaration, which would “effectively ban, by fiat, an entire caregory of healthcare.” It also failed to follow proper procedures for promulgating new rules, would interfere with states' rights to run their Medicaid programs and regulate health care and deny care to youth that need it. “Healthcare decisions should be made by doctors and patients – not by politicians in Washington threatening to destroy providers' careers and spreading fear among transgender youth and their families,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement late Tuesday night. This is about protecting vulnerable young people who deserve the same dignity, respect, and access to medical care as anyone else,” Brown's statement said. For many of the 20 Democrat-led jurisdictions on Tuesday's lawsuit, like Maryland, it was the second day in a row they had gone to an Oregon federal court to challenge Trump administration policy: A total of 22 jurisdictions sued Monday in an attempt to block the administration's attempt to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For Brown, this week's lawsuits were the 47th and 48th against the administration and its policies since January, when Trump returned to office. The latest lawsuit is a response to Kennedy's declaration on the “Safety, Effectiveness, and Professional Standards of Care for Sex-Rejecting Procedures on Children and Adolescents.” That document declared that health care facilities would be barred from participating in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs if they provided gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, hormonal treatments or surgery — to anyone under age 18. Part of the declaration states that the methods “for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors.” The declaration also says it supersedes “statewide or national standards of care.” In a news release with the announcement, Kennedy said it was made in line with Trump's Jan. 28 executive order “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation.” The release also notes that the Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to 12 manufacturers and retailers it says are marketing breast binders to children for treatment of gender dysphoria, and that HHS' Office for Civil Rights is working to reverse a Biden administration policy that categorized gender dysphoria as a disability. In Maryland, it noted, the Trans Health Equity Act became law in 2023, stating that the state's Medicaid program “shall” cover gender-affirming care that grants lower-income residents access to those procedures. The state Department of Health reports that in 2024, Maryland Medicaid spent $1.7 million to fund more than 1,600 unique office visits for gender-affirming care services. “We're standing up against this cruel and unlawful action because every Marylander, regardless of who they are, deserves compassionate, evidence-based healthcare from providers who won't be punished for doing what's right,” Brown said in his statement. Besides the District and Maryland, other states in Tuesday's suit include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. December is the most critical time of year for Truthout, because our nonprofit news is funded almost entirely by individual donations from readers like you. We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. 2025 was a year of frightening censorship, news industry corporate consolidation, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board. We can only resist Trump's agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. William J. Ford has reported for more than 25 years on local, county and state politics. Before Maryland Matters, he spent nearly 10 years covering municipalities, regional news and occasional news features with sports angles at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He wrote for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and was a reporter for seven years with The Washington Informer, covering local politics and other D.C.-area topics. He often appears on local radio and TV programs to discuss Maryland politics. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. To confront Trump's fascism in 2026 we will need significant resources. So, we have an ambitious goal — to raise $112,000 by December 31. Please make a tax-deductible donation now to support nonprofit journalism.

A new study found that vilifying protestors in public and through the media has been key to state repression tactics. If you value progressive media, please make a year-end donation today. A new study published this month in the journal Environmental Politics reveals that efforts to repress climate and environmental protest are growing worldwide through a combination of new legislation, novel uses of existing legal processes, police actions, vilification of activists, and both violence and killings. The authors contend that acts of repression are likely to expand and intensify as authoritarian regimes roll back climate policies, with a particular focus on President Donald Trump's actions in office criminalizing protest, increasing police power, and publicly attacking climate and environmental commitments. Second, criminalization delegitimizes climate movements in the public eye by framing them as counterproductive, criminal, or dangerous. Drawing on data from 14 countries, research at the University of Bristol found that countries engage with repression by creating new laws designed to regulate protests, like in the United States and the United Kingdom, that create criminal penalties for protests that target “critical infrastructure” like pipelines. However, non-state actors, like corporations or private security firms, engage in lethal acts of violence toward environmental and land defenders, particularly those who are Indigenous. The authors write that these efforts at “criminalization and repression are not aberrations of climate governance but a core governing strategy.” The study also highlights that climate and environmental protests have been steadily increasing each year since 2018. Vilifying protestors in public and through the media has been key to state repression tactics. In the Philippines, “red-tagging” labels activists, especially those who are Indigenous, as communists or terrorists as a method to redirect public attention from protests on climate issues. In the U.S. state of Georgia, activists protesting the construction of “Cop City,” a police training site outside Atlanta that required deforestation, were charged with domestic terrorism, facing up to 35 years in prison. One activist, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, was killed after being shot at least 57 times, marking what some experts have called the first case in the U.S. where an environmental activist has been shot and killed by security forces. Approximately 43 percent were Indigenous, and a majority of killings took place in Latin America. “Since colonization, Indigenous people have defended and put their bodies in the way of environmental destruction because it's changed the places where they live,” said Berglund. The study says “many political and corporate actors have backtracked on climate targets, not because they deny climate change or their contribution to it, but because it has become politically viable to accept its inevitability.” In October, President Trump ordered federal law enforcement agencies to review reports filed by the Government Accountability Institute and the Capital Research Center, two conservative think tanks, that link progressive organizations with anti-fascist or “antifa” networks. The Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity are listed among these alleged groups. “It's delegitimizing these actors and making them invisible,” said Berglund. December is the most critical time of year for Truthout, because our nonprofit news is funded almost entirely by individual donations from readers like you. We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. 2025 was a year of frightening censorship, news industry corporate consolidation, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board. We can only resist Trump's agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. Miacel Spotted Elk is an Indigenous affairs reporting fellow at Grist. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. To confront Trump's fascism in 2026 we will need significant resources. So, we have an ambitious goal — to raise $112,000 by December 31.

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler says union ready to stand up for struggling Americans: ‘Which side are you on?' Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said it was gearing up to challenge the US president's “Billionaire First” agenda in 2026 – and drive candidates in key elections to stand up for “struggling” Americans. In an interview with the Guardian, she described how the federation has pushed to restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers, and filed lawsuits against the Trump administration's efforts to weaken unions and worker protections. The House of Representatives passed a bill on 11 December that would restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers in response to Trump's executive orders that stripped the rights from more than 1 million federal government employees. “It was through a lot of good old-fashioned organizing,” said Shuler, who accused the president of overseeing “the biggest attack on unions in our history” by moving to eliminate collective bargaining for federal workers. Affordability has come into sharp focus, with inflation still stubbornly above typical levels, and many Americans grappling with rising bills and prices. I think they're distrustful of institutions and the media. All of the folks that we have come to rely on over the years seem to be waning in trust, and there's only one organization left that people do trust, and that's the labor movement, unions. Our credibility and trust is actually going up. And so we think that we have to capitalize on what our sweet spot is, which is using our sphere of influence.” About 68% of Americans support labor unions, according to Gallup, despite a downward trend of union density in the US over the past several decades, which has correlated with the growth of income inequality. Trump promised to lower costs on day one and create good jobs, especially in manufacturing, noted Shuler. Trump described apprehension over affordability as a “hoax”, and sought to downplay economic concerns such as the sputtering job market. “That's not what people are experiencing,” Shuler said of Trump's narrative. “They're having to run up their credit-card debt. It's at an all-time high, just to afford groceries. “When I'm out on the road talking to people, housing and healthcare are two issues everybody is feeling. And that is not on the ‘Billionaire First' agenda.” Who is standing with us when it comes to candidates, and elected officials? Thousands of Starbucks baristas are currently on strike, as they campaign for the world's largest coffee chain to grant them their first union contract. “This strike has really brought it in sharp focus, this divide that we're seeing of an economy that's working for the very rich, for the billionaires, the corporations and working people are piecing it together,” said Shuler. “They're often working two or three jobs just to get by. “The future of this economy is absolutely in peril, if you think about how inequality is rampant, but also AI and advanced technology is going to continue to create this divide between the ultra rich and everyday people just trying to make a living. “It's only going to get worse if we don't get the guardrails in place, have more power for working people to negotiate what they need and bring some balance back into our economy.” The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform. Finally, our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.

Government poised to officially protect 200,000 hectares of remote Patagonian coastline and forest Chile's government is poised to create the country's 47th national park, protecting nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of pristine wilderness and completing a wildlife corridor stretching 1,700 miles (2,800km) to the southernmost tip of the Americas. The Cape Froward national park is a wild expanse of wind-torn coastline and forested valleys that harbours unrivalled biodiversity and has played host to millennia of human history. It is the 17th national park created or expanded in Chile and Argentina by Tompkins Conservation and its successor organisation, Rewilding Chile. In 2023, they signed an agreement with the Chilean government to donate the land to become Cape Froward national park. In February, a population of 10 huemul, an endangered deer species, was found in the park, and a network of cameras regularly captures wild pumas and the endangered huillín, a river otter. Benjamín Cáceres, the conservation coordinator in the Magallanes region for Rewilding Chile, is a native of Patagonia who first visited Cape Froward at the age of 12 with his conservationist father, Patricio Cáceres. “My father was always a dreamer,” he said. “When he found out about an abandoned lighthouse all those years ago, he brought us here as a family to dream with him – and that's where this story began for me.” Now, Patricio and Benjamín's vision for the restored lighthouse is becoming a reality. “This mosaic of ecosystems is tremendously important,” said Cáceres. “The area was widely inhabited by nomadic canoeists who lived by fishing and gathering food,” said Leticia Caro, a Kawésqar activist who belongs to the Nómades del Mar community. The murky depths have claimed many lives and spawned legends. Eleven years later, with the whale population decimated, an auction was held to sell off the society's land and equipment. But there are still a number of steps before the national park officially comes into existence. An Indigenous consultation process, a legal requirement for large-scale projects in Chile, was held in September but fell flat. Chile's environment ministry said it would make “every effort” to advance with plans for the park by March. “Each of the park projects we have developed has specific reasons for being considered essential for conservation,” said Tompkins, who was the chief executive of Patagonia outdoor clothing for 20 years until 1993. “And in this sense Cape Froward is a piece of an ecological puzzle that, over time, should ensure that key biodiversity sites within Chilean Patagonia are permanently protected.” The Guardian's reporting was supported by Rewilding Chile

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The form of a written document where Russia will confirm the absence of intentions to attack NATO countries can be the subject of negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing. "Russia is ready to formalize corresponding commitments in the form of a written and legally binding document. Its specific form can be determined during negotiations but this must be a full-fledged international legal act," the diplomat said, replying to a corresponding question. "Russia remains open for serious talks, for a serious dialogue on this pragmatic and equitable basis as compared to most Western countries that have opted for military-political and economic escalation that is transforming and has transformed into pressure," the diplomat pointed out. "Precisely these states are entirely responsible for the escalation of the situation and the opportunities lost, by the way, also in the sphere of ensuring European and, generally, global security," Zakharova said.

Reporting by Joshua McElwee Editing by Peter Graff Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner for about an hour on how to end the war. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a list of exchanges and delays.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include information about the alleged attacker in the explosion that killed two police officers. Two police officers involved in the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion in Moscow, sources within Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 24. Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed that the explosion killed two police officers, as well as a third person who was nearby. The attack appears to be part of an ongoing campaign targeting Russian officials linked to war crimes in Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence sources said the officers had previously taken part in Russia's war against Ukraine and were implicated in the abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). The intelligence sources said the attack took place at around 1 a.m., when a local resident approached a police car parked near a police station and threw an improvised explosive device through the vehicle's window. Russian authorities have not confirmed this claim. Pro-Kremlin outlet RBC Russia later identified the alleged attacker as 24-year-old Pavel Golubenko, citing an unnamed law enforcement source. According to the Russian Telegram channel Baza, Golubenko lived in the village of Kamenka in Russia's Ivanovo Oblast and worked as a press operator at a local factory. Russia's Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal case under articles related to attempts on the life of law enforcement officers and the illegal trafficking of explosive devices. The incident follows another high-profile attack in Moscow earlier this week. Tim Zadorozhnyy is the reporter for the Kyiv Independent, specializing in foreign policy, U.S.-Ukraine relations, and political developments across Europe and Russia. After relocating to Warsaw, he spent a year and a half with the Belarusian independent media outlet NEXTA, initially as a news anchor and later as managing editor. Tim is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with U.S. President Trump's Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Christmas Day to discuss "several substantive details" of ongoing peace talks, the president said. Ukrainian forces struck multiple targets inside Russia overnight Dec. 24-25, hitting oil refining facility, a port, and a military airfield, the Ukrainian General Staff and a source from the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. Ukraine is marking its fourth Christmas under a full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian intelligence sources said the officers had previously taken part in Russia's war against Ukraine and were implicated in the abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Russia launched 131 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. At least 22 drones made it through, striking 15 locations. Russia's Defense Ministry reported that between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. Moscow time on Dec. 24, its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 132 Ukrainian drones. "'May he perish,' each of us may think to ourselves," Zelensky said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kyiv Independent's Myroslava Chauin speaks with Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights and a children's rights activist, about evidence that Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories were transferred to a children's camp in North Korea. The plant, located in the town of Efremov, produces dual-use synthetic rubber and polymers used in military vehicle tires, armored personnel carriers, and other weapons-related applications.

Grammy-award-winning Bobby Pulido is bowing out of his music career to take a place on the political stage You will struggle to find many South Texans who don't know Bobby Pulido. Thirty years ago he and his white cowboy hat stormed onto the music scene, ushering in a younger crowd of Tejano music fans. While the jump from celebrated singer to congressional candidate is not a well-trodden path, Pulido's interest in politics started long before he sang his first breakout hit. That's always been a dream of mine,” Pulido told The Telegraph. Republicans have a razor-thin House majority and historically the party in power struggles during midterm elections. The Cook Political Report has listed 36 House races as competitive – and Texas District 15 isn't one of them. While polls predict GOP incumbent Monica de la Cruz, who in 2022 became the first Republican to win the district in 118 years, will hang onto her seat, Pulido is confident he stands a chance. “I really feel like we have a lot of momentum... “You may know me as Bobby Pulido the singer... I am José Roberto Pulido Jr, the son of a migrant farmworker and 100 per cent South Texas Tejano,” he says in the two-minute clip. He is pro-oil, supports border security and family values. He has considered running for office since 2022, when Democratic congressman Vicente Gonzalez's wife Lorenza “planted the bug” by suggesting he would make a great candidate. “That was the same year that Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz won and I was not a fan of hers and I kind of said, ‘well, I'm going to keep an eye on this'. “I just didn't feel like she really represented the people.” “Pulido is exactly the type of Democratic candidate who is successful in South Texas,” Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University in Houston, said. And while the Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more House seats next year. “Congresswoman Monica de la Cruz saw her district change significantly... close to half of her new constituents are not her current constituents, meaning that she's going to have to introduce herself to a whole new group of voters so the natural incumbency advantage that sitting members of Congress often enjoy is significantly reduced,” Mr Jones said. Pulido, meanwhile, already has high name recognition because of his career as a music star. He must first win the Democratic primary before facing Ms de la Cruz. “He's the Democratic Party's best hope for flipping one of the 25 seats [in Texas] that is presently held by a Republican,” Mr Jones added. “He's such a prominent figure in the Tejano music scene that it's tough to live in South Texas without knowing who Bobby Pulido is even if it's not a music genre that you follow,” he said. Dr Brent Boyea, political science professor at the University of Texas, said that if Ms de la Cruz wins this election it will be difficult for a Democrat to defeat her going forward. “The South Texas area was strongly Democratic, but as you know it's been undergoing a change for the last few election cycles and President Trump in particular has been pretty popular and so we've seen representative de la Cruz, for example, be among the first Republicans to be elected in forever,” he said. They're absolutely not happy about ICE raids,” he said. Local business owners are suffering because the workforce has depleted as even Latinos with green cards are too scared of being caught in a raid, Pulido said. “I have met several people whose relatives have been deported,” Pulido said, noting that there are a “lot of people” that regret voting for Mr Trump. So far Pulido has been juggling campaigning – holding “ranch halls” and appearing on podcasts – with his farewell tour. “I might have got a little emotional at my last concert,” he said.

Ukrainian forces struck multiple targets inside Russia overnight Dec. 24-25, hitting oil refining facility, a port, and a military airfield, the Ukrainian General Staff and a source from the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. Russia's Defense Ministry said 141 drones attacked Russia overnight on Dec. 25 and that seven were intercepted over Krasnodar Krai. The port fire spread across 2,000 square meters, with 70 personnel involved in extinguishing it, the regional emergency headquarters said. No casualties were reported among port staff or other personnel. The Temryuk port is a key Russian facility in the Sea of Azov, operating an oil export terminal and a large liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility. Krasnodar Krai, which borders Russian-occupied Crimea and is located along the Azov and Black Seas, has been a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks due to its role in supplying Russian forces as well. Fires broke out at the facility following the attack, according to FIRMS, an international satellite fire monitoring service. Although Russia's Orenburg Oblast lies roughly 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) from the Ukrainian border, its industrial infrastructure, vital to the Russian military and economy, is regularly targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones. Ukrainian forces targeted a military airfield in Maykop, in Russia's Republic of Adygea, as well, the General Staff said. On Dec. 22, Ukrainian drones struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in the village of Volna, located in Krasnodar Krai's Temryuk District. The attack damaged a pipeline, two berths, and two ships, with the resulting fire spreading over an area of more than 1,000 square meters, according to the General Staff. The incident came just two weeks after a Ukrainian drone strike on Krasnodar Krai's Temryuk port sparked a massive three-day fire at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, underscoring a continuing pattern of attacks on the region's energy infrastructure. Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with U.S. President Trump's Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Christmas Day to discuss "several substantive details" of ongoing peace talks, the president said. Ukrainian forces struck multiple targets inside Russia overnight Dec. 24-25, hitting oil refining facility, a port, and a military airfield, the Ukrainian General Staff and a source from the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said. Ukraine is marking its fourth Christmas under a full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian intelligence sources said the officers had previously taken part in Russia's war against Ukraine and were implicated in the abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Russia launched 131 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. At least 22 drones made it through, striking 15 locations. Russia's Defense Ministry reported that between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. Moscow time on Dec. 24, its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 132 Ukrainian drones. "'May he perish,' each of us may think to ourselves," Zelensky said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kyiv Independent's Myroslava Chauin speaks with Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights and a children's rights activist, about evidence that Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories were transferred to a children's camp in North Korea. The plant, located in the town of Efremov, produces dual-use synthetic rubber and polymers used in military vehicle tires, armored personnel carriers, and other weapons-related applications.

When a group of defense insiders gathered in Whitehall, the home of the British government, last month to discuss how prepared the United Kingdom and its allies were for a war they believe could come in the next few years, their verdict was pretty grim: They are not. Current and former members of the armed forces, government and NATO officials, researchers and defense industry professionals whose thinking is based on the widely accepted intelligence assessment that Russia is preparing for the possibility of a direct conflict with Europe. More investment into chronically underfunded European defense is key, but security experts are increasingly warning that a big shift in mindset is needed across the board too. It is time, they say, for European governments to get their citizens on board and make it clear that the time when Europe was able to ignore the threat of war is over. NATO chief warns European allies they could be Russia's next target There is a growing consensus among experts that Russia is already waging a hybrid war on the West by conducting sabotage operations and injecting chaos and disinformation into domestic political discussions. They point to the overwhelming evidence, including repeated incursions into NATO airspace by Russian planes and drones and GPS jamming in the Baltics, to disinformation campaigns, and sabotage attacks against critical infrastructure in multiple countries that have been traced back to Russian secret services. Greene said that these attacks have already shifted the views of many in Europe, even if some politicians remain unwilling to name them outright as hybrid warfare. “I think that people are spooked, particularly as this becomes more visible,” he said. “We see drones outside airports, and I think that there is a growing sense that it is probably (only) a matter of time before one of these drones brings down an airliner.” While Moscow has not carried out any direct attacks against NATO allies in Europe – experts say this is partly because Russia knows it couldn't defeat the alliance with its current capabilities – there are increasing signs that this could change in the future. NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte warned earlier this year that Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul echoed that warning in a speech last month, saying that German intelligence services believe that Moscow is “at least keeping open the option of war against NATO by 2029 at the latest.” When researchers at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School looked into the warnings and predictions made by various officials about Russia's readiness and willingness to launch a war against NATO, they found that the most often mentioned years are 2027 and 2028. Recognition of this threat has led NATO to develop contingency plans for how to defend against a possible Russian aggression against the Baltics. But experts warn the alliance's plans don't stack up. We are still planning based on things that don't exist,” said Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at RUSI. He highlighted the risk of trying to structure a defense response based on a wish list rather than reality, instead of accepting the resources that are available, and planning based on those. The Kremlin's brazen tactics: Russia's shadow fleet is doubling as a spy asset, intelligence sources say The British government earlier this year asked three high-profile experts – former NATO chief George Robertson, Gen. Richard Barrons, former head of the Joint Forces Command, and Fiona Hill, a former senior director at the US National Security Council – to conduct a strategic review of UK defense. Speaking at the RUSI event last month, Barrons said that the UK must rethink the resilience of its infrastructure, build up its armed forces, reserves and civil defense, and invest in its health service, industry and the economy, to allow a quick pivot to a war footing. The problem is that we need to actually do it,” he said. Many European capitals, including London, have spent the past few decades barely thinking about defense. With no major direct military conflicts taking place on the continent since 1945, Europe has enjoyed the longest period of continuous peace in centuries. These decades of relative calm came with a significant peace dividend. Then came two harsh awakenings: a US president, in Donald Trump, who made it clear to NATO allies that they could no longer rely so heavily on the US, and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to data from NATO, 31 of its 32 members are set to meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense this year – up from just six in 2021, the year before Russia launched its invasion. Iceland, a founding member of NATO and the only country that is not projected to meet the target, does not have its own armed forces. However, many analysts are skeptical about the goal – especially because most European countries are facing financial pressures even without thinking about a massive boost to their defense spending. A third of people believe defense should be among the bloc's spending priorities. Nonetheless, Gen. Fabien Mandon, France's armed forces chief, sparked outcry last month when he warned the French public that the country needed to steel itself for possible future losses against Russian aggression, saying France must “accept losing its children” to “protect who we are.” “If you're in the east, if you perhaps border Russia, if you're in Poland or in the Baltic states, the threat is very real for people there, and they are taking a lot more steps in terms of public shelters because they think the risk of an air attack is higher,” he said. Several countries, including Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden, have reintroduced conscription over the past decade, while other countries like Germany, Poland, Belgium, Romania and Bulgaria have brought in voluntary military training programs for their citizens. Potter said citizens with deeper trust in their countries' institutions are more likely to accept sacrifices for the wider good. “I think there's a kind of question about whether you can just lift that model and put it in a quite different society with very low trust in public institutions in comparison, like the UK.”

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky's 'peace plan' is unrealistic, and was drafted in an attempt to delay and stall negotiations, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov (2010-2014) told TASS. "I don't think that this plan is realistic. This is a yet another attempt to delay and stall the talks," he said. In his words, the plan does not resolve a number of important issues. On December 24, Zelensky published his 20-point plan which Ukraine allegedly discussed with the United States. The plan includes, among other things, the introduction of educational programs in Ukrainian schools that would promote tolerance of various cultures, addresses the territorial issue, highlights Ukraine's refusal to withdraw troops from Donbass, demands security guarantees similar to NATO's Article 5, emphasizes the need for Ukraine to have a peacetime army of 800,000 troops, envisages Ukraine's non-nuclear status, calls for ensuring freedom of navigation on the Dnieper River, suggests conducting all-for-all prisoner exchanges, and stipulates holding a presidential election in Ukraine. It also has provisions regarding the territorial issues and the status of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, but the US and Ukraine have failed to reach a compromise on them.