A Proxy World Takes Shape — Ukraine, Europe, and Venezuela in the Crosshairs
Europe races to fortify a massive Ukraine financing plan, Trump signals impatience with diplomacy, NATO warns of a continent-scale war, and Moscow rallies to Maduro as the U.S. seizes Venezuelan oil
Europe is scrambling for cash to keep Ukraine afloat, the U.S. is wavering on peace talks, and NATO is warning the continent to prepare for a war on the scale “our grandparents endured.” Even as Brussels debates a €210 billion financing plan built on frozen Russian assets, President Trump is threatening to skip negotiations after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Washington’s jaw-dropping “free economic zone” proposal for Donbas - a plan that would see Kyiv surrender territory it currently controls in exchange for vague security guarantees and a sketchy mechanism that could place the region’s rich resources in the hands of the highest outside bidder. Meanwhile, a parallel drama is unfolding in the Americas: the U.S. seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, Moscow tightening its embrace of Nicolás Maduro, and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado slipping past security forces in disguise to reach Oslo. Taken together, the picture is unmistakable - democracies under strain, autocrats on the move, and a global order tilting toward a far more dangerous phase. As I said on air from Odesa on Thursday, at no time in recent memory has the rules-based international order appeared to be in such free fall.
Belgium is demanding that the EU provide an extra cash buffer to ensure against Kremlin threats over a €210 billion loan to Ukraine using Russian assets, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. The cash buffer is part of a series of changes that the Belgian government wants to make to the European Commission’s proposal, which would be financed by leveraging €185 billion of frozen Russian state assets held by the Brussels-based financial depository Euroclear. The remaining €25 billion would come from other frozen Russian assets, lying in private bank accounts across the bloc — predominantly in France. Belgium’s fresh demand is designed to give Euroclear more financial firepower to withstand Russian retaliation. This cash buffer would come on top of financial guarantees that EU countries would provide against the €210 billion loan to protect Belgium from paying back the full amount if the Kremlin claws back the money. In its list of amendments to the Commission, Belgium even suggested increasing the guarantees to cover potential legal disputes and settlements — an idea that is opposed by many governments. Belgium’s demands come as EU leaders prepare to descend on Brussels on Dec. 18 to try and secure Ukraine’s ability to finance its defences against Russia. As things stand, Kyiv’s war chest will run bare in April. Failure to use the Russian assets to finance the loan would force EU capitals to reach into their own pockets to keep Ukraine afloat. But frugal countries are politically opposed to shifting the burden to EU taxpayers - Politico
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to skip Ukraine-Russia peace talks after his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a “free ecomomic zone’ concept for the Donbas region. The Independent reported that as things currently stand, the US will send a representative to participate in talks in Europe on Ukraine this weekend but with Trump warning that he doesn’t want to waste “a lot of time”. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said: “We’ll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there’s a good chance. And we don’t want to waste a lot of time if we think it’s negative.” Trump has grown “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war”, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, after months of mediation between Moscow and Kyiv to bring them closer to an agreement. raised serious concerns about the US’s proposal to designate the contested Donbas region as a “free economic zone”.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelensky questioned how such an arrangement would function.“If one side’s troops have to retreat and the other side stays where they are, then what will hold back these other troops, the Russians? Or what will stop them disguising themselves as civilians and taking over this free economic zone? This is all very serious.”
Europe must prepare for a conflict with Russia “on the scale our grandparents endured”, Nato’s secretary general has said in a stark warning to the West.
Tensions have been escalating across the continent in recent weeks, following a spate of drone incursions into Nato airspace and a chilling statement by Russian president Vladimir Putin that his country is “ready for war right now” if Europe wants it. “We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way,” Mark Rutte said in a speech in Berlin on Thursday. “Russia has brought war back to Europe, and we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”
María Corina Machado said she got “support” from the United States to travel to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize this week, but declined to elaborate. Asked about the circumstances in which she left Venezuela and whether she benefited from help from US authorities, the opposition leader responded: “Yes, we did get support from the United States’ government….I cannot give details, because these are people that could be harmed,” Machado said of those who aided her travel. “Certainly, the regime would have done everything to prevent me from coming. They did not know where I was in hiding in Venezuela, so it was hard for them to stop me.” Machado left Venezuela on a fishing boat, after slipping through military checkpoints wearing a wig and a disguise, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person close to the operation. She then took a private jet from Curaçao to Norway, which made a pit stop in the United States, according to the WSJ. “My duty was to come here and take this Nobel Prize, to take it back to Venezuela, and I’ll be back very soon,” Machado said. “And I know that you will also be back in Venezuela very soon, we’re going to show the world that we do not only deserve this Nobel Prize, but that this generation will outlast what is going on,” she added. The government of Nicolás Maduro warned she would be considered a “fugitive” by authorities should she leave Venezuela - CNN
The United States on Thursday issued new sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector and on members of President Nicolás Maduro’s family, while taking steps to keep tens of millions of dollars’ worth of oil from a large tanker that U.S. forces seized off the country’s coast. Venezuela’s economy depends on oil and has been hurt by U.S. sanctions, leading Mr. Maduro’s government to smuggle and sell crude through a web of tankers and middlemen. The new sanctions target three nephews of the wife of Mr. Maduro and six shipping companies. Separately, the Trump administration is seeking the legal authority to seize the oil from the Skipper, a tanker that U.S. forces boarded and took possession of on Wednesday in international waters near Venezuela, according to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. The oil had come from a state-owned Venezuelan company. American authorities have so far obtained a seizure warrant for the tanker — saying that it had been used in the past to smuggle Iranian oil — but not for the cargo currently on board. Together, the sanctions and the seizure of the Skipper represent a new front in President Trump’s campaign to destabilize Mr. Maduro’s regime - NYT
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday demanded that the Trump administration explain why a Venezuelan oil tanker was seized by U.S. forces. “I really hope that the United States, although they consider themselves entitled to conduct such operations, will somehow explain, out of respect for other members of the world community, what facts led them to take such actions,” he said during an ambassadors’ roundtable on the Ukrainian crisis resolution. Attorney General Pam Bondi has already shared a defense for the Wednesday move, alleging that the oil on the tanker was sanctioned for its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. She said Wednesday the oil was being transported from Venezuela and Iran. However, global counterparts have questioned the move conducted by U.S. military forces without alerting them beforehand, and after repeated strikes on alleged “narco-terrorist” ships traveling in the Caribbean - The Hill
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Maduro yesterday, in which he expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people and reaffirmed his support for Maduro’s policies, according to a Kremlin readout.
More than 800,000 Gazans are at risk from flooding, the UN says, as a powerful winter storm sweeps through the Strip. The heavy rain has already deluged camps and led several buildings to collapse A steady stream of water trickles through openings in the tent Ghadir al-Adham shares with her husband and six children in Gaza City. Her family is still displaced after the war and waiting for reconstruction to begin. “Here we are, living a life of humiliation,” she told the BBC. “We want caravans. We want our homes rebuilt. We long for concrete to keep us warm. Every day I sit and cry for my children.” Two months into an American-imposed ceasefire, Gaza is stuck in the first phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan - its territory divided between the warring parties, its people still displaced and surrounded by rubble. Plans for new homes - and new government - lie frozen in the next stage of US President Donald Trump’s peace deal, as the search continues for Israel’s last missing hostage, Ran Gvili - BBC
The International Olympic Committee said Thursday that youth athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports should be allowed to compete under their national flag and anthem, easing restrictions on Russian athletes that have been in place since the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The updated position applies to the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, but it did not mention the Milan Cortina Winter Games next year, where Russian athletes are expected to compete as neutral competitors under stringent regulations. “With its considerations today, the Olympic Summit recognised that athletes, and in particular youth athletes, should not be held accountable for the actions of their governments — sport is their access to hope, and a way to show that all athletes can respect the same rules and each another,” the IOC said in a statement. Still, the IOC maintained its guidance that Russia should not be allowed to host international sports events, although it said events could be hosted in Belarus. It also reiterated that restrictions on government officials from Russia and Belarus should stay in place for both youth and adult sports events. Russia has long faced scrutiny from the IOC over allegations of doping, with a number of Russian athletes who competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics being stripped of their medals. IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who took the helm of the organization in June, has signaled that she would be open to seeing Russia compete in the 2026 Olympic Games, sparking a fierce backlash from Ukraine - Politico
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and his government resigned on December 11 following some of the largest protests in modern Bulgaria’s history over a 2026 budget that would see taxes hiked and social-security contributions raised by a government many Bulgarians view as corrupt. Zhelyazkov made the announcement in a televised statement in Sofia just ahead of a no-confidence vote was set to take place in parliament. “The government resigns today,” he said after a meeting of ruling party leaders. The decision comes after several major protests sparked by anger against the government budget plans for 2026 broadened to include disenchantment over the government’s economic policies in general and a failure to eliminate corruption - RFE/RL
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he would speak to US President Donald Trump on Friday night about a fierce conflict with Cambodia, as heavy border clashes continued for a fifth day. Thailand and Cambodia have been exchanging rockets and artillery at multiple locations along their disputed 817km frontier in some of the most intense clashes since a five-day battle in July, which Trump stopped with calls to both leaders to halt their worst conflict in recent history. This week’s clashes have killed at least 20 people, with more than 260 wounded, according to tallies by both countries, which have blamed each other for reigniting the conflict. Cambodia’s defence ministry said on Friday that Thailand had targeted civilian areas the previous day in “brutal armed attacks and aggression”. It said Thailand was shelling and firing machine guns on multiple sites early on Friday, including near ancient temples, and had sent armoured vehicles into what it called its territory - CNA
Thailand has dissolved parliament after nearly a week of fresh clashes along its border with Cambodia, with a general election to be called within 45 to 60 days.
In a royal decree published on Friday, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cited the deadly border dispute among other challenges his minority government has struggled to contain since it took office three months ago. “The appropriate solution is to dissolve parliament… which is a way to return political power to the people,” he said. Anutin, a business tycoon, is Thailand’s third prime minister since August 2023. When he took power in September, he said he would dissolve parliament by the end of January - BBC
TV game show host Vanna White (spoil alert - I met her once at a UNICEF fundraiser in Beverly Hills) isn’t leaving Wheel of Fortune just yet. The TV presenter, 68, says she’s “not ready to retire” from the game show she’s co-hosted for the last 43 years. White told E! News on Wednesday that while she considered stepping down when her longtime cohost, Pat Sajak, retired in 2024, she’s since decided to take things “one year at a time.” “At this point, I’m happy with my job,” said White. However, she added that she hasn’t ruled out other opportunities. “You never know what’s around the corner,” she told E! “Something might come to me that I want to be involved in.” White co-hosted Wheel of Fortune with Sajak, 79, for 42 years before Sajak retired. She now co-hosts the show with Ryan Seacrest. White told the outlet that she and the host, 50, “get along great.” “We just gel,” she said. “This is our second year together, and I feel like it’s been forever.” However, White also said that when she does choose to retire, viewers shouldn’t expect to see her hosting any other series. “I don’t think there’s anything else on TV I would rather do after being on Wheel for so long,” she said. “Honestly, I think I want to just play golf.” - The Daily Beast
The journals……
