Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in Brussels, Belgium, for a NATO summit and meeting of all NATO defense ministers. As noted by Secretary Hegseth, “going forward, our annual NATO dues will be contingent on other countries meeting their defense spending targets; where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go down,” Hegseth said. “NATO will be a two-way street. It’s only common sense. America cannot care for or pay more for Europe’s defense than our allies do.”

Specifically pointing toward Canada and Prime Minister Mark Carney, Secretary Hegseth noted some are not fulfilling their obligations while simultaneously talking about “middle powers” assembling.  WATCH (prompted)

PRESS STATEMENT – The War Department plans to review its posture and footprint in Europe to determine how the U.S. is supporting NATO, how partners are supporting NATO and whether what’s happening on the ground reflects what President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth believe the alliance should be.

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A highly disturbing video out from yesterday’s “Raise the Colors” protest in Sheffield city center, shows police engaged in physical confrontations with protestors.  During one viral video, an aggressive police officer (center of still image below) grabs the young man with the flag on his shoulders and throws him violently into a steel and concrete bollard on the sidewalk.

The video shared on X platform (below) is very disturbing.  The force of the body slam into the bollard appears to show the protestors head hitting the steel, which is significantly bent after the blow when the protester hits the ground.

The officer who slammed the man into the bollard seems to immediately notice something terrible, as do the officers who quickly rush in to surround the victim.  The aggressive police officer then begins to back away as other police tend to the medical condition of the man on the sidewalk.

Given the force of the blow, as reflected in the bending of the bollard, there are now fast spreading rumors on the X platform that the protester was killed.  Again, the status of the victim is unknown as no official statement has been made by Sheffield police or local authorities.

People are now demanding to know what the current status of the protestor is.

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Making his ninth trip to Europe since become prime minister 15 months ago, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney once again outlined his governing model to combat a U.S. administration that he claims has fractured the globalist norms.

During his press conference with Micheal Martin, Ireland’s taoiseach (Prime Minister), Carney once again built upon the idea of “middle powers” uniting together in common ideology against U.S. dominance until such a time as the U.S. government can once again return to a leftist ideology.

The specific objectives become clear about halfway through the presser today as Carney notes the importance of grouping nations together who agree on climate change, energy controls and the green agenda.

Canada’s alignment with Europe is seemingly centered on the net-zero carbon model.  This perspective makes sense from Carney as it is the same priority he’s carried since his time as governor for the Bank of England.  WATCH:

As the former Governor of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, Carney used his platform to position climate change as a systemic financial risk.  He then championed the view that private capital must be the primary tool to force an economic energy transition. [Post-COVID this was known as “Build Back Better.“]

President Trump’s perspective and the majority American view on climate change and energy development is against the core professional effort of Carney and the banking interests he has always represented.  This becomes very important to understand as the U.S-Canada conflict is about to hit an inflection point.

HISTORY: Through the “Net Zero” Banking Alliance (NZBA) Mark Carney pushed banks to agree with policies and protocols that forced them to set lower lending targets to high-carbon industries and clients.  The goal was to force companies to ‘decarbonize’ or find themselves starved of capital.

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A few days ago, the ‘coalition of the willing’ (Starmer, Merz, Macron and Zelenskyy) met in London to hammer out the latest words on paper, a new military pledge to support Ukraine against Russia.

Both British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III agreed to a renewed military effort that included British armed forces securing Ukraine territory according to their plan.

Three days later, British Defense Minister John Healey resigns, citing insufficient funding of military.  Seriously folks, you cannot make this up.  This comes on the heels of the U.K. borrowing ships from Germany in order to participate in NATO exercises led by the U.K.

LONDON – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered a fresh blow on Thursday after Secretary of Defense John Healey resigned over a budget dispute, saying the government is not willing to give the British Armed Forces the “resources they need.”

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When the systems of a ‘law and order’ society find no intention, benefit or reasonable expectation of safety from their established construct of government -generally driven by an intentional willingness to ignore the demands of the citizens those officials are expected to represent- eventually people take matters into their own hands.

It is fair to call this the end of the “first follower” phase.

It began when a singular voice stood boldly in righteous opposition to the violence. This person was watched by many.

Then, when that person, the original opponent to the violence is met with brutal isolation and retaliation, a first follower surfaces.

The first follower is the individual who stands up in anger against the retaliation they have witnessed against the singular voice.

This is the key moment when you can guarantee something is about to change.

The crowd watches the first follower, only at this very consequential inflection point -having watched the previous retaliation- the crowd are now invested emotionally in the outcome of what happens to the ‘first follower.’

The crowd will not accept the same outcome for the first follower. They are in a different mindset, a different frame of mind.  Perspectives are completely different in this phase.

Events in Europe are at the extreme side of the first follower phase. However, events in the United States are not far behind. In fact, the reason we are watching events in Europe with such deliberate attention is entirely because our proximity to the violence at hand is not determined by miles; rather, it is determined by mindset.

WARNING of the “do not look away” image below.

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In a lengthy open letter addressed to “The President of the Russian Federation” Vladimir Putin [SEE HERE], Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposes a ceasefire and direct negotiations between himself and President Putin.

Two thirds of the letter are background constructed snark and ridicule aimed toward Western audiences sympathetic to the Ukraine side of the conflict. The last third of the letter contains the details of the offer:

Open Letter – […] “We have seen intelligence reports showing that you are now considering plans to continue the war into 2027 and 2028. We also know that you hope ballistic missiles will achieve for you what everything else has failed to achieve. You want to draw Belarus even deeper into this war, and we are now forced to prepare for that as well. We see that you are trying to orchestrate something around Transnistria. Your propagandists threaten, in one way or another, every country neighboring Russia. Do you really want to go through all of this?

The choice is yours now.

Enough of war.

Ukraine proposes to end this war.

This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited.

We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.

Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you.”

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Mike Steger takes less than 20-minutes to walk through a year of President Trump’s multifaceted U.S. manufacturing policy initiatives that have positioned the U.S. economy for a massive surge in growth. Steger recaps several consequential moves by President Trump and his cabinet to fundamentally change economics in the Western Hemisphere. Each point is well delivered and well presented.

Steger then overlays the economic moves with the geopolitical moves in Venezuela (oil), Cuba (communism ended), Mexico (cartels, traffickers and corruption), Canada (globalism confronted) and finally Greenland (a new consulate is created). Put together, Steger notes how all of these move’s work together with a massive surge in energy, technology and productivity to create a hemispheric powerhouse within the United States. WATCH:

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
01:10 Volcker and the Origins of Globalization
02:30 NAFTA and the Collapse of Industrial America
04:05 Liberation Day and the Tariff Battle
05:30 China’s Rare Earth Weapon
06:45 Rebuilding American Industry

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It’s not Mexico that needs a trade deal with Europe, it’s the opposite.

For almost two decades Europe has been investing heavily inside Mexico, particularly noted in the auto industry, as they positioned themselves to take advantage of NAFTA and later the USMCA as an entry to the U.S. market.

European auto companies spent billions on assembly plants in Mexico, where they could ship EU manufactured component goods to be assembled into NAFTA/USMCA compliant vehicles.  As President Trump and USTR Greer begin focusing on eliminating the USMCA trade agreement in favor of two bilateral deals (U.S-Canada and U.S-Mexico), Europe now needs to protect prior investment.

The prior Mexico-EU trade agreement has existed since 2000 (NAFTA timeframe).  In 2025 they agreed to a revised Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and finalized the terms and conditions yesterday.

MEXICO CITY, May 22 (Reuters) – Mexico and the European Union signed a long-stalled free trade agreement on Friday as they seek to decrease dependence on the U.S. and partially insulate themselves from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The accord, which they reached broad agreement on in 2025 but have delayed signing, expands a Mexico-EU trade accord from 2000, which covered only industrial goods. The new pact adds services, government procurement, digital trade, investment and farm produce.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa are to sign the deal in Mexico City in their first summit in over a decade.

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When Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin uses the term “Nazi” he does so with a perspective that is not the same as western considerations. Ukraine is well known for their ideological blood lust, the events within this story are related to that definition.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the targeting of a college dormitory in Starobilsk, Luhansk, an occupied territory under the control of Russian forces.

This was not a military target. Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, said that 86 ​teenagers aged 14 to 18 had been asleep inside the hostel belonging to Luhansk Pedagogical University’s Starobilsk college when Ukrainian drones had attacked it during ​the night.

Leonid Pasechnik, the top Russian-installed official in Luhansk, said two people had been pulled from the rubble. Maria Lvova-Belova, presidential commissioner for children’s rights, said up to ‌18 children ⁠could still be trapped.

Ukraine’s military denied the Russian accusations and said it had struck an elite drone command unit in the area. It said that ​Kyiv complied with international humanitarian law.

Putin said in his own statement, which was carried by state TV, that there were no military ​targets near the dorm.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a press conference with the assembled press pool following NATO discussions in Helsingborg, Sweden.

The main topics of concern from the European media is the reduction of U.S. troops from NATO bases and the current status of the conflict with Iran.  Rubio notes that Sweden and Finland joining NATO was one of the few examples of the alliance benefiting from the addition of countries.  However, that said, the overall posture of NATO should proceed with an urgency on their own defense posture as the U.S. footprint is under evaluation.

At 15:25 of the video below, Secretary Rubio discusses the current status of the U.S. toward the conflict with Ukraine.  Rubio notes the Ukraine-Russia conflict will only resolve with a negotiated settlement.  WATCH: 

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