BREAKING:

🇺🇲 PRESIDENT TRUMP AND PUTIN
ARE CURRENTLY HOLDING TALKS.

LETS HOPE AND PRAY SOMETHING
POSITIVE GETS ANNOUNCED. pic.twitter.com/i9BWEAy2n3

— Ash Crypto (@Ashcryptoreal) March 18, 2025

For a little over an hour, Presidents Trump and Putin have been speaking via telephone. During that conversation, a sudden, intense, burst of Military Aircraft activity began over Europe. I don't know if the two things are related, but they're happening: [military aircraft over Europe] That's more than two hundred (200) aircraft!

■ FACTBOX: Contacts between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump (TASS)
■ Trump-Putin phone call: What has changed since the last time they talked? (RT)
■ West uses sanctions against Russia as an instrument of ‘strategic pressure’ – Putin (RT)

Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says toll from Israel strikes rises to 413 | The health ministry in besieged Gaza said the death toll from Israel's most intense strikes on the Palestinian enclave since a January truce had risen to at least 413. "So far, 413 martyrs have arrived in hospitals in Gaza," a health ministry statement said, adding: "A number of victims are still under the rubble and work is underway to recover them." Iran condemns Israeli strikes on Gaza as 'continuation of genocide | 'Iran condemned Israel's wave of air strikes on Gaza, the deadliest since a truce took effect in January. In a statement, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the strikes a "continuation of the genocide and ethnic cleansing" in the Palestinian territories, and accused the United States of "direct responsibility" in the attack.

"Certain discussions [between Moscow and Washington] have already taken place. [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff was in Moscow, there was a round of talks in Istanbul, and there was the first conversation between the presidents," Dmitry Peskov pointed out | Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump are expected to discuss the normalization of Russian-US relations and the situation in Ukraine during their telephone conversation this afternoon, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

■ EU leaders ‘trembling’ over Putin-Trump call – Bild (RT)
✅ Boots-on-Ground Theater Conceals Raging Impotence of Toothless Euro-Prats (Simplicius)

Today, President Trump directed the US military to engage in "decisive combat operations." For now, this appears to mean naval and air strike activity. No word of any "boots on the ground." | The White House announced this afternoon that President Trump has ordered decisive combat operations against Yemen. The U.S. Navy then confirmed it's 5th Fleet has entered a period of 'sustained combat operations' within the CENTCOM area of responsibility. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is responsible for naval forces in the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea, with its headquarters located at NSA Bahrain in Manama, Bahrain. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and is a component command of, and reports to, CENTCOM. Yemen has re-initiated a sort of naval blockade in the Red Sea, which also affects the Suez Canal, against the "state" of Israel because Israel is forbidding food, water, and electricity into the Gaza Strip for over two weeks. Over 1.5 Million people remain in Gaza despite much of it having been obliterated by Israeli bombing.

Hal Turner Remarks | Today's escalation by President Trump is extremely serious. How the world's most powerful military can attack a country which has no army, navy, or air force, is not a good "look" at all. In fact, it's more than just not a good "look." Maybe pressure should be brought to bear upon the country actually causing all this; you know, Israel?  ■ How Israel can apply "group punishment" to 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, over the actions of a few hundred members of HAMAS, seems un-American. Denying food and water to 1.5 Million over the actions of a few hundred seems unthinkable to civilized people. It is also illegal under the Geneva Conventions. ■ If it is OK for Israel to apply group punishment to all Palestinians in Gaza for the actions of a few, would it then also be okay for the world to apply group punishment to ALL Israeli-types for the ongoing Genocide in Gaza? That may have to be something the world considers doing over the next days.

■ 33 dead as Trump orders strikes on Huthis in Yemen (The Citizen)
✅ Trump Bombs Yemen (Short Take) (Moon of Alabama)
✅ Here's What's Really Behind Trump's Surprise Bombardment of Yemen (Ilya Tsukanov) | “Trump’s decision" to launch airstrikes on Yemen revolves around Washington's desire "to protect and help extend Israeli domination over the larger region,” Isa Blumi, an associate professor of Middle East studies at Stockholm University, told Sputnik. The strikes have less to do with the Houthis than they do with trying to ensure the survival of the State of Israel, and Israeli and US projects to expel the Palestinians from Gaza, turn the strip into a glitzy Las Vegas-style resort, and exploit its offshore gas resources, the academic said.

The Estonian hardliner has burned many key bridges across the bloc, an analysis by the major German newspaper claims

 ● EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is facing mounting resistance in key Western European capitals over her ambitious military aid plan for Ukraine, according to an analysis published on Monday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper. France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal are now joining Hungary in opposing significant new contributions, according to the outlet.

 ● Kallas, who took office in December, has struggled to win over skeptical governments. Her proposal to raise EU military support for Ukraine to €40 billion this year – aimed at offsetting dwindling US aid – has met stiff resistance, the newspaper’s political correspondent Thomas Gutschker wrote. Many member states have refused to commit beyond the €15 billion already pledged, with Berlin’s planned €3 billion contribution still awaiting approval. So far, Denmark alone has given more than France, Italy, and Spain combined.

 ● According to the FAZ, Kallas’ efforts to push through the funding have been hampered by political missteps. The paper cited unnamed diplomats as arguing she failed to properly consult key EU nations before reviving the proposal, which was originally introduced by her predecessor, Josep Borrell. Her decision to remove high-ranking officials from Italy and Spain from the European External Action Service has also sparked backlash, with some EU governments reportedly “furious,” the FAZ reported.