Israel recognised Somaliland in exchange for base | Over the past few weeks, a new "country" calling itself "Somaliland" has declared its existence by taking over the northern part of the existing country of Somalia. The ONLY other country on Earth to "recognize" Somaliland, has been Israel. Now, we know why...Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated publicly today:

Hal Turner Analysis: All claims to the contrary, the world now sees what the REAL PURPOSE of Israel's attacking Gaza was: Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Literally a crime against Humanity! This reality is now as plain as the nose of our face. If these three steps are implemented, what will happen in the future? I think, a Pandora’s box will be opened in the world.

■ Somalia Warns Israeli’s Somaliland Recognition Could Fuel Gaza Displacement Plan (Tasnim)
■ China Rejects Israeli Recognition of Somaliland, Backs Somalia’s Territorial Unity (Tasnim)
■ Israel defends Somaliland move at UN amid concerns over Gaza motives (MSN)
✅ From Gaza to Berbera: Why 'Israel' is courting Somaliland (Al Mayadeen English)

Vladimir Putin to the collective West: "Who do you think you are? All we ever hear is: You must…
You have to…We’re warning you…Who even are you?"

Once Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry, among other countries, denounced the “deplorable attack” on the Russian President's residence, Ukraine has been scrambling to contain the “diplomatic fallout,” writes the Financial Times. | Facing intense heat after the long-range drone provocation on the night of December 29 targeting Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region, Foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said Ukrainian officials were “disappointed” by the statements from the three countries. US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was “very angry” to hear about the attack directly from Putin. Many countries have signaled solidarity with Russia following Ukraine’s outrageous drone attack.

■ Генерал Романенков раскрыл подробности отражения атаки ВСУ на резиденцию президента РФ на Валдае (RG.ru)
■ Swarm of Ukrainian kamikaze drones intercepted near Moscow – officials (RT)
■ Tajik President Condemns Ukraine Drone Strike on Putin's Residence (Sputnik)
■ Zelensky lashes out at India over response to drone attack (RT)
■ Russia: "Our Response Will NOT be Diplomatic" (Hal Turner)
■ Trump ‘very angry’ about Ukrainian attack on Putin’s residence (12/30/25)
✅ Thoughts regarding the Ukrainian drone attack that targeted President Putin (Scott Ritter)
✅ A strike on Putin or on Zelensky? (Julian Macfarlane)
✅ Stanislav Krapivnik: Massive Escalation - Attack on Putin's Residence (Glenn Diesen) (VIDEO)

■ ADL Goes Ballistic After Megyn Kelly Says Bari Weiss, Ben Shapiro Are 'Making Antisemites' (Zero Hedge)
[ 🚩 If there's censorship, use a VPN. The US and Europe are blocking this news item.]

Avoiding giving Kiev the Tomahawk cruise missile was the right decision, the US president has signaled | US President Donald Trump has condemned the attempted Ukrainian drone strike on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating the attack made him “very angry” and came at a “delicate period of time.” ● Earlier on Monday, Moscow said Putin’s residence in Novgorod Region came under a concentrated long-range drone attack overnight. A total of 91 kamikaze drones were used in the strike, all of which were intercepted. Top Russian officials condemned the attempted strike as a terrorist attack, vowing retaliation and signaling the incident was bound to affect Moscow’s position in the ongoing negotiations to settle the Ukraine conflict.

■ Zelensky will have to hide for rest of life, Medvedev predicts (TASS)
■ Kiev to face retaliation for terrorist actions, Russian diplomat says (TASS)
■ Foreign states condemn Ukrainian attack on Putin’s residence (RT)
■ Response to Kiev’s attack on Putin’s residence will not be diplomatic – Moscow (12/29/25)
✅ Trump ‘very angry’ about Ukrainian attack on Putin’s residence (Harold Turner)

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) [...] Recently, a certain ragamuffin wished death upon “one person.” It is clear to everyone that he wants the death not only of “one person,” but of all of us and our country. And he not only wished for it, but also gave instructions for massive attacks. I will not write here about his violent death, although right now the Grim Reaper is breathing down the bastard's neck. ■ I wish for something else — for scientific purposes. It is very important that in the future, after his imminent demise, the green homunculus's body preserved in alcohol be displayed in the Kunstkammer in St. Petersburg, where Russian tsars collected freaks for the amusement of their descendants. And carefully studied, because it is quite possible that we are dealing with an emissary from distant space of the special race "scurra sordidus," who flew to us from the dwarf galaxy in Tucana.

So, as they say in their own little, local dialect, “Congratulations on your final year, fucking puppet!”

Seriously speaking, the outgoing year brought many different, complex, and very important things. Our Armed Forces continue to valiantly defeat the enemy. Contrary to Western predictions, our economy did not collapse, and the ruble strengthened. And, of course, everyone now understands the inevitability of our victory. This is the most important result of the year. (Translation: DeepL)

■ Медведев назвал главным итогом 2025 года понимание неизбежности победы РФ (Komsomolskaya Pravda)

The leader of Yemeni Ansarullah resistance movement Sayyed Abdul Malik Al-Houthi warned that any “Israeli” presence in Somaliland will be considered a military target, as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen and a direct threat to regional security that must be confronted decisively. | In a statement issued on Sunday, Sayyed Al-Houthi strongly condemned “Israel’s” formal recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. He called it an “aggressive Zionist move” aimed at establishing a foothold in the Horn of Africa. ● The Yemeni leader further underlined that any “Israeli” presence in Somaliland poses a “direct threat” to regional security, particularly the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping lanes. He said that “Israel” is seeking to fragment countries in the area as part of a broader plan to reshape the West Asian region.

■ After Somaliland recognition, 'Israel' eyes south Yemen: Israeli media (Al Mayadeen)

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Ukraine of targeting the Russian president | Russia’s response to a failed Ukrainian drone attack on President Vladimir Putin’s state residence will not be diplomatic, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Monday. Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that on the night of December 28-29...

■ Trump ‘shocked’ by Ukrainian attack on Putin’s residence – Kremlin (RT)
✅ Why did Trump reschedule his meeting with Zelenskyy two hours earlier? (PolitNavigator)
✅ Yuri Baranchik: Attack on Vladimir Putin's residence: an overturned chess table (Telegram "barantchik")
✅ Атака на резиденцию Владимира Путина: перевернутый шахматный стол (Юрий Баранчик)

Earlier, the Russian head of state warned that any strikes deep inside Russia with long-range Western-made weapons would be met with a "crushing response" | Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow has no intention of attacking anyone, but warned European officials that any attack on Russia would draw a crushing response.

Earlier, the Russian head of state warned that any strikes deep inside Russia with long-range Western-made weapons would be met with a "crushing response." Back in 2023, Putin noted that Russia’s retaliatory attacks would be "absolutely unacceptable for any potential aggressor."

■ Hours Before Trump-Zelensky Meeting in Florida, Russia Explicitly Declares "No Foreign Troops" (Hal Turner Show)
■ Missiles with unlimited range, nuclear sea drones and hypersonics: Key additions to Russia’s arsenal in 2025 (RT)
■ Ex-Russian president issues nuclear warning to Kiev (06/21/25)
■ Russia considers itself free to use weapons against Western military facilities (11/28/24)
■ Oreshnik missile, Putin’s final warning to US/UK (11/23/24)

Tarik Cyril Amar | The UK’s crackdown on protests against the Gaza genocide is the worst example of the authoritarian trend evident in Western Europe | Britain now has an evil regime, led by evil men and evil women, supported by corrupt mainstream media, all under the influence of an Israel Lobby that promotes the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. ■ The hunger strikers are a small, emblematic group of men and women who have done what, since the Holocaust, we have all been told to do if similar crimes ever happen again and our own government is committing them or complicit in them: resist as best we can. They represent a much larger number of decent and courageous British citizens who also resist and often pay a heavy price. ■ Britain’s regime is abject. There is no hope for leaders who have lost their way so badly. It is also by no means alone in NATO-EU Europe. The trend toward authoritarian information control and suppression of dissent is everywhere, from Berlin to Brussels to London. If there is hope, it lies in the protesters.

✅ How reporting facts can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist (Jonathan Cook)
✅ They Feign Concern About Pro-Palestine Chants In Order To Shut Down Pro-Palestine Protests (Caitlin Johnstone)

The billionaire pointed to a recent study that found that nearly 75% of minors in the EU capital are from non-European backgrounds | Elon Musk has warned of demographic replacement in the Belgian capital, citing a recent study that found that nearly three out of four minors in Brussels are of non-European origin. ● Approximately 72.9% of Brussels residents aged 0-17 are believed to have an immigrant background, Remix News reported earlier this week, citing data from StatBel, Belgium’s official statistics office. According to the report, only 10.56% in this age group are classified as Belgians of exclusively Belgian origin. Overall, 78% of the city’s population is now said to be of non-Belgian origin. ● “The capital city of Belgium is no longer Belgian,” Musk wrote on X on Friday, responding to a post by entrepreneur Mario Nawfal, who warned that the demographic transformation of Brussels will have “profound social consequences.”

Belgian MP Filip Dewinter of the Vlaams Belang party has also described the trend in Brussels as “population replacement,” arguing the data supports the assertion that “the native European population is being replaced.” Similar trends have been noted in other European cities. [...] The demographic shift in the EU capital comes as US President Donald Trump has warned that Europe faces “the real and stark prospect of civilizational erasure” due to migration and could become “unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” ● Elon Musk had previously criticized mass migration, arguing it “will lead to the destruction of every country that permits it,” and has said leftist politicians are “importing a leftist voting bloc dependent on government subsidies.”

Ursula von der Leyen says free speech is like a virus and censorship is its vaccine. EU politicians want to silence us. pic.twitter.com/JNn9HSX7Xt

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) May 30, 2025

In speeches (notably at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in 2024/2025 and others), von der Leyen compared disinformation and information manipulation (not free speech as such) to a virus:

    🚩 "Think of information manipulation as a virus. Instead of treating an infection once it has taken hold—that's the debunking—it is much better to vaccinate so that the body is inoculated. Pre-bunking is the same approach."

She is advocating "pre-bunking" (proactively "educating" people about disinformation techniques) as a preventive measure against "foreign interference" and "manipulated narratives," particularly online. She announced initiatives like the "European Democracy Shield" to combat what she would call "foreign disinformation campaigns," but she did (according to her own speech) not intend to censor "legitimate free expression". What are the possibilities here?

You & I: Truth expressed freely ➡️ disliked by the elite ➡️ labeled disinformation ➡️ censored ➡️ punished = no freedom for truth
You & I: Lies expessed freely ➡️ labeled 'disinformation' ➡️ censored ➡️ punished = no freedom for lies

The elite: Truth expressed freely (a rarity) ➡️ not censored ➡️ not punished ➡️ may later be linked to false narratives = lies
The elite: Lies expessed freely (indeed, abundantly) ➡️ labeled 'information' ➡️ not censored ➡️ not punished = freedom for offcial lies

What is "legitimate free expression"? It is whatever those in power like to hear. That is, they decide, not you. Anything else may be lebeled 'disinformation', 'manipulated narrative', or even 'foreign interference'. 'Foreign' means anything a hated Russia could benefit from. Russia could benefit from the truth, so 'truth' could be labeled 'foreign' or 'Russian propaganda' Are you happy with that? Wanna be "vaccinated"?

The concepts here are just labels. Nothing more. Ms. von der Leyen can move them around as she merry well please. Freedom of speech is definitely at risk. She may put her labels on anything & anyone, and there is nothing we can do about it. Can we trust people like her? Absolutely not! We are at risk, not just the truth. — Editor

Julian Macfarlane | Chickens come home to.... | I have hesitated to comment on Bondi Beach, preferring to see events unfold. The loss of life was regrettable: deaths for any reason should evoke sorrow. But 15 people? In the scheme of things, it is a drop in the bucket. How many people-- women and children— die every day in Gaza . How many civilians in Russia and the Donbass are killed by Ukrainian bombing? How many fishermen get killed in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific”. ■ What was most regrettable about the Bondi Massacre was not the number of deaths but the media, governmental and public reaction which exaggerated the significance of the event and distorted the moral lesson – which is basically “what goes ‘round comes ‘round. Two men ran amok and killed people but it is all of us who are guilty, who made possible that “eye for an eye” thing so beloved of the Old Testament."

SOHR: Death toll in Suwayda exceeds 2,000 after July massacres, clashes

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the number of documented deaths from the July attacks by government forces and Bedouin tribes on the Druze province of Suwayda has risen to 2,026.… pic.twitter.com/Beno0qUCiJ

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 7, 2025

Syrian security forces and allied militias are carrying out near-daily killings of civilians, targeting them solely on the basis of sect | In the nine months since former Al-Qaeda commander Ahmad al-Sharaa took power in Syria, over 3,000 people have been extrajudicially executed by Syrian security forces and affiliated armed factions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on 7 September. ● Between 8 December of last year and 6 September, SOHR documented the deaths of 10,672 people across the country in acts of violence and violations by local and foreign parties, including 3,020 people who were extrajudicially executed.

💬 “The fall of the Assad regime also coincided with unprecedented security chaos in all Syrian areas,” SOHR noted, resulting in the proliferation of “assassinations and political and sectarian-based massacres.”

The majority of the victims have been from the Alawite and Druze religious minorities in the Syrian coast and in Suwayda, who are viewed as apostates deserving to be killed by the extremists filling the ranks of President Sharaa’s security forces. The total death toll included 8,180 civilians, including 438 children and 620 women, SOHR stated.

✅ Causes and consequences of the collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic (Declan Hayes)

President Trump ["I like the oil"] said Thursday that the U.S. launched "powerful and deadly" strikes against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country's government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians. | Mr. Trump did not provide [any] details on the strikes, such as how many people were killed, who or what was specifically targeted, or how many strikes were carried out, other than to say they were "numerous perfect strikes." However, U.S. Africa Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Africa, said in a statement that its "initial assessment is that multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps."

■ Nigeria rebuffs Trump’s persecution narrative despite US coordination (Al Mayadeen)
■ US Launches More Airstrikes in Somalia as Trump Continues Record-Shattering Bombing Campaign (antiwar.com)
■ US Moves Additional Troops and Special Operations Aircraft to the Caribbean as It Escalates Against Venezuela
✅ Why’d Trump Bomb ISIS In Nigeria On Christmas? (Andrew Korybko)
✅ America first, int'l law last: Trump and the unmaking of global rules (Al Mayadeen English)
✅ Arrogance, hubris and ideology: How 2025 capped a quarter century of US failures (David Hearst)

The European Union has started using the Anti-Russia sanctions as a repressive tool to smuther civil society dissent within the West. Last week, Colonel Jacque Baud, a former Swiss army member and NATO advisor was sanctioned, but so were several others before him, including activists and Journalists. One of them is Hüsseyin Dogru, a german national who was sanctioned already in May. He joines us today to discuss his case.

Lithuanian intelligence officers will be able to conduct searches and surveillance without a court warrant | Lithuania has approved legislation expanding the powers of its intelligence services, allowing agents to detain and search suspected individuals, as well as conduct surveillance, without a court order. ● The new law, set to take effect on February 1, comes amid escalating rhetoric in European NATO countries about an alleged threat from Russia, which Moscow refutes. ● Adopted by the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday, the revised Intelligence Law allows security services not only to gather information but also to take measures against what they perceive as external risks, dangers, and threats “arising from abroad that may be significant to state sovereignty.” ● According to the new law, intelligence officers will be able to conduct surveillance of such individuals and their correspondence without a court warrant, but must apply to a court within 24 hours for authorization to continue.

■ Berlin: Police can secretly enter homes for state trojan installation (12/09/25)

Orbán believes Europe is closer to war than ever before | Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has made a grim prediction about Europe's peaceful future. He believes that a full-scale war could break out on the continent as early as next year. And this isn't just a military confrontation in Ukraine, but a larger conflict. In an interview with Magyar Nemzet newspaper, the Hungarian prime minister answered a journalist's question about whether he believed the outgoing year could be the last period of peace in Europe.

■ Next year ‘will be even worse’ – Italy’s Meloni (RT)

Donald Trump has said the US "has to have" Greenland, claiming it needs the territory for national security. | It comes after the US president appointed Louisiana's governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, saying he would "lead the charge" in advocating the semi-autonomous part of Denmark to become part of the United States. "Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our national security," Mr Trump said. ● Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement that Greenland belongs to Greenlanders, stressing the US will not take it over. "You cannot annex another country. Not even ‌with an argument about international security," they said. The country has already summoned the US ambassador in protest, with its foreign minister saying the move shows the US is still interested in the vast Danish territory. ● Mr Trump has repeatedly called for the US to take over the mineral rich and strategically located Arctic island, since winning his second term, and has not ruled out using military force to achieve it. ● Denmark's foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said everyone - including the US - must show respect for Denmark's territorial integrity.

■ US envoy responds to Greenland backlash (RT)
■ Ex-NATO chief warns Trump to stay away from Greenland (05/14/25)

British police have arrested a senior doctor under pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups over social media posts condemning the regime's genocide against Palestinians. | Ellen Kriesels, a consultant paediatrician with more than 15 years of service at London’s Whittington Hospital, was arrested at her home on Saturday by officers from the Metropolitan Police. ● According to a colleague of Kriesels, she was arrested in front of her children. “The Israeli lobby began hunting her in September because of her sign at a national Palestine demonstration,” Doctor Rahmeh Aladwan wrote in a post on X. "Britain is doing this to our NHS doctors for Israel. Britain is occupied,” she added. ● Kriesels was first targeted after appearing at a pro-Palestine protest holding a placard opposing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Within days, she was suspended from Whittington Hospital.

✅ Indiscriminate Suppression: Attacking pro-Palestinian Protests After The Bondi Killings (Binoy Kampmark)

Sladkov | DeepL | They are destroying civilian ships and tankers on behalf of England. | “Apparently, plans are changing as we go along,” Sladkov said about depriving Ukraine of access to the sea. Ukrainian terrorist attacks on Russian tankers have direct analogies in history, when Britain waged war on the enemy's merchant fleet with the help of pirates. ● Russian military correspondent Alexander Sladkov recalled this on his video blog, according to a correspondent from PolitNavigator.

✅ Who is hiding behind the mask of Great Britain? (Alexey Muratov)
■ Brits must be ready to sacrifice ‘sons and daughters’ – defense chief (12/17/25)

Moscow would “eliminate” any threats created around Kaliningrad, the Russian president has warned | Any attempt to blockade Russia’s Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast would spark an “unprecedented escalation” and could expand into a large-scale armed conflict, President Vladimir Putin has warned. ● The Russian leader made the remarks on Friday during his traditional end-of-year Q&A session when asked how Moscow would respond if European states sought to impose a blockade on the country’s westernmost region, an exclave bordered by NATO members Lithuania and Poland. ● Putin said he hoped such a scenario would not occur, adding: “If they create threats of this kind, we will eliminate those threats.”

Moscow has denied a report claiming it could invade NATO states in Europe, following a similar dismissal by the US intelligence chief | Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that claims made by the British news agency in a report last week, which were attributed to a US intelligence report, were false. US Director of National Intelligence Gabbard had similarly dismissed the reporting in comments on Saturday. ● Reuters claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained committed to “capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire,” citing anonymous sources familiar with the purported US analysis. ● Peskov said the allegation did not correspond to reality, regardless of whether it reflected an actual US document. “Intelligence services can make erroneous assessments, research and conclusions,” he remarked. ● Gabbard had accused Reuters of publishing “lies and propaganda” that it was “willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers” to undermine US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine conflict. ● The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has previously claimed that prolonging the Ukraine conflict is a priority for the UK and that British services could spread false reports, including ones potentially slandering Trump.

🚨 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 Israeli Intelligence Officer Ari Ben Menashe CONFIRMS Netanyahu is blackmailing Trump:

"American Government is trapped by the Israelis. Jeffrey Epstein was one of their tools to trap them.”
pic.twitter.com/YbQzkVVVfh

— ADAM (@AdameMedia) November 13, 2025

Israeli officials believe Iran is expanding its ballistic missile program. They are preparing to make the case during an upcoming meeting with Trump that it poses a new threat. | Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned that Iran is expanding production of its ballistic missile program, which was damaged by Israeli military strikes earlier this year, and are preparing to brief President Donald Trump about options for attacking it again, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans and four former U.S. officials briefed on the plans.

A criminal case has been launched in Moscow into the murder of a military officer, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Sputnik on Monday. | Investigators are pursuing multiple leads and scenarios of the murder, one of which suggests the crime may have been orchestrated by Ukraine’s special services, the spokeswoman stated.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Investigative Committee informed Sputnik that an incident in southern Moscow had left one person injured, and a vehicle damaged, prompting the opening of a criminal case.

■ Senior Russian general killed in bomb blast in Moscow — Investigative Committee (TASS)
■ Amid smiles in Miami, the general was blown up in Moscow for the third time in a year (Pravda EN)

The Oligarch Part 1 | Based on hundreds of pages of court documents, it deals with Kolomoysky's rise, his turning PrivatBank into an empire of fraud, the events of Maidan, and his involvement in the post-Maidan world | “He did play as Napoleon, right, Zelensky?... This Napoleon will soon be no more,” said a man with curly grey hair and a scraggly grey beard from the defendant’s cage in a Kiev courtroom. It was the middle of November, and Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoysky was speaking at a hearing in the longstanding fraud charges he faces related to his plundering of PrivatBank. Looking relaxed in a track suit and speaking in Russian, Kolomoysky predicted that Vladimir Zelensky would come crashing down with him due to his own intimate involvement in the corruption scandal currently roiling Ukraine. [...] It is perhaps an exaggeration to say that all crooked roads in Ukraine lead to Kolomoysky – if only because corruption there is too pervasive to trace to one man. Yet, Kolomoysky seems to stand upstream from the entire intertwined morass of militant nationalism, cronyism, and corrupt patronage networks that have defined modern Ukraine.

The Oligarch Part 2 | Zelensky elected: The people’s fantasies and Kolomoysky’s favor | In April 2019, comedian Vladimir Zelensky defeated in a landslide incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko in the Ukrainian presidential election. It was an instance of life imitating art. In a TV series called ‘Servant of the People’, Zelensky played the role of a school teacher who launches a quixotic bid for the presidency running as an anti-corruption crusader. The series, which became wildly popular, aired on the TV channel 1+1, majority owned by Kolomoysky’s 1+1 Media Group. [...] The documents show that Zelensky and his partners in the television production company Kvartal 95 set up a network of offshore firms dating back to at least 2012, which happens to be the same year the company began making regular content for Kolomoysky. The offshore entities funneled Kolomoysky’s money through the British Virgin Islands, Belize, and Cyprus in order to avoid paying taxes in Ukraine. According to the documents, associates of Zelensky used these entities to purchase and own three high-end properties in London. ●  In April 2019, the Kyiv Post reported that Zelensky traveled a total of 11 times to Geneva and an additional two times to Tel Aviv over the two-year period in which Kolomoysky was in exile and residing in those cities at the time of the flights, respectively. [...] Zelensky’s distancing efforts notwithstanding, Kolomoysky was widely seen as responsible for delivering the presidency to the comedian. Kolomoysky was hardly shy about how his protégé’s victory was perceived: “People come to see me in Israel and say, ‘Congrats! Well done!’ I say, ‘For what? My birthday’s in February’. They say, ‘Who needs a birthday when you’ve got a whole president?’”