The European Commission has given members a choice between the economic and legal consequences of funding Kiev, the newspaper has reported | EU member states will face ballooning deficits and debt unless they agree to use frozen Russian assets as collateral to fund Ukraine, the European Commission has warned in a document seen by the Financial Times. ● The paper was circulated to EU capitals following last month’s failure to reach a consensus on a ‘reparations loan’ of around €140 billion ($160 billion), the FT reported on Friday. ● Without tapping the frozen Russian central bank reserves, the EU would need to either authorize joint borrowing or issue direct grants – both of which would “directly affect” national budgets and increase public debt, the commission warned. It remains unclear whether the option of not bankrolling Kiev was even considered. ● The potential cost to EU economies is substantial, as servicing a collective loan of that size could result in up to €5.6 billion in annual interest payments. The commission cautioned that borrowing on this scale could also raise general EU borrowing costs and undermine other financial instruments.

■ There's No Legal Way to Seize Frozen Russian Assets – Lavrov (Sputnik)

According to Reuters, the purpose of the military presence will be to help enable a security deal between Israel and Syria | The US is planning to establish a military base in Damascus, Syria, Reuters has reported, as the Trump administration continues to strongly back the new Syrian government that’s led by former al-Qaeda leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. ● The report said that the US will establish a military presence at an airbase on the outskirts of the Syrian capital for the purpose of enabling a security pact that Washington is attempting to broker between Israel and Syria. ● The idea would be for the US military to monitor a potential deal that would include the demilitarization of areas to the south of Damascus. Officials compared it to the US monitoring of the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, which Israel has constantly violated, and the ceasefire deal in Gaza, which Israel has also been in breach of.

Nate Bear | After shilling for genocide, losing every argument for the past two years and watching the reputation of their precious little rape colony eat shit, Zionists have turned their attention to another genocide to obscure the stains of their own. | If you haven’t been following, high profile Zionist commentators and propagandists have flooded social media this week with tweets, articles and memes about the genocide in Sudan and the lack of protests compared with the genocide of Gaza. People who denied genocide for two years have suddenly become very animated by genocide.