SENATOR PREDICTS PEACE DEAL IN UKRAINE U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham sounds eager for one war to end but sounds ready to back another. It’s not the war in Ukraine that gives Graham, the South Carolina Republican, the jitters. That would be the idea of Iran with a nuclear weapon. “And they’re way too close,” he said on Washington Watch Tuesday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the U.S. and Ukraine are very close to reaching agreement on a deal that would allow the U.S. to share in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals which are valued at an estimated $500 billion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to sign the deal during a White House visit Friday. Rubio, using a football metaphor, said the likelihood of a successful deal for mineral rights is inside the 1-yard line. That’s good news, but what will the world map look like when the dust settles? Graham and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) have differing opinions and predictions. Graham told show host Tony Perkins that some loss of Ukrainian territory is acceptable if it leads to longer-term peace goals. The real goal here, he said, is to prevent a third invasion from Russia as Vladimir Putin seeks to rebuild the glory of the former Soviet Union. The U.S. should continue to support the Ukrainian military by selling weapons, not giving them away, Graham said. “They’re the most lethal army on the continent of Europe," he observed. "I want to make them stronger over the next decade by buying American weapons, which is good for our economy.” Graham's cheerleading for the U.S. defense industry, however, is why the U.S. senator is often called a "warhawk" and a "neocon," which are not compliments, by his critics. European troops should be on the ground policing the ceasefire, he said. “If we do these three things, Putin won’t invade again, and we will not only get our money back from Ukraine but will make money. Only President Trump can do this,” Graham said. Peace in Ukraine can be achieved without admitting Ukraine into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), something Putin fiercely opposes, Graham said. A violation against NATO would in fact commit U.S. troops for security. Graham calls NATO membership for Ukraine a “bridge too far” for Russia. However, Ukrainian membership could be a good thing down the road, and it could be Russia that makes the call. “My idea is if they ever invade Ukraine again, Ukraine automatically goes into NATO. Let Russia be a tripwire," he observed. The land swap will be some level of appeasement for Putin but a necessary one to end the war. Ukraine will decide what it can accept, but it’s the only way to reach a successful outcome which guarantees Russia won’t invade again, Graham said. Perry said Zelenskyy’s claim over the weekend that he would step down as president if it meant “peace for Ukraine” is a bargaining chip to consider. “I would modify that deal if I were President Trump. I would say, look, if Zelenskyy is willing to step aside, Ukraine's original territory must be restored,” he told Perkins. Perry downplayed the significance of NATO. “I see NATO as an organization that really hasn't produced much over the course of its time, and I wouldn't make that a sticking point to resolve this conflict,” he said. At the end of the day, peace must be lasting. It will have effects far beyond Russia and Ukraine, Graham said. “My goal is to make sure that Ukraine is a sovereign, independent, democratic nation when this war is over,” Graham said. 23rd January,2025

A BATTLE OVER REALITY VS RHETORIC Even though the resolution called for a “de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities, and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine,” the U.S. voted with 17 other nations, including Russia and North Korea, against it. The General Assembly resolution ultimately passed 93-18, with 65 member states abstaining (including China and Iran). General Assembly resolutions have no actual power — as opposed to Security Council resolutions, where the U.S. and Russia hold permanent vetoes. Yet the fact that the U.S. sided with Russia against Ukraine in an international vote is still surprising. Has the United States suddenly taken Russia’s side in its war against Ukraine? This wasn’t the first action that makes observers wonder. “Last week, President Trump said Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelensky was responsible for the conflict,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. “The question we should be asking is, ‘How so?’” Trump’s comments came in response to Ukraine’s protestations over being excluded from talks between top American diplomats and their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia. Here it’s worth distinguishing two separate but dynamic diplomatic channels. On Monday, Regent University professor A.J. Nolte on “Washington Watch” made “a distinction here between some of the rhetoric that’s coming out and some of the proposals.” On the one hand, “a lot of the proposals about allowing for [Russian] annexation [of Ukrainian territory] have more to do with the recognition of exhaustion on both the part of the Russians and the Ukrainians than with the idea that this is a just outcome,” he said. “There’s a concern that there’s not realistically enough capacity on the Ukrainian or the Western/Allied side to allow Ukraine to retake that territory.” “That is a pragmatic kind of realpolitik,” the view that “this is the best we can get,” he said. “Putin wanted to take the entire country, and so survival is some sort of victory. … I don’t necessarily know if I buy it, but I think that’s a reasonable position. But the rhetoric employed to reach that compromise is another matter entirely. Nolte expressed skepticism “that, in the course of these negotiations, we need to pretend as though Russia didn’t invade a sovereign neighbor.” “Putin said … that Ukraine was a historical mistake,” he explained. “Now, if somebody invades your country and says your country is a historical mistake, I would think, as a good nationalist, somebody would say, ‘Well, no, you have a right to defend yourself.’” Perkins agreed with the folly of pretending that Russia was not the aggressor. “Where the president ends up, I may be completely in agreement with,” he said, but “my concern is, in some of this rhetoric, that words matter; and, when we say certain things, that tyrants and terrorists around the world are listening to these things, and they’re taking their cues off of them.” Indeed, even rhetoric blaming the war on Ukraine is simply recycled Russian propaganda. “President Trump may have been alluding to a line of argumentation that the Russians, as well as some scholars in academia, have made, which is that essentially the war was provoked by Ukraine taking a more Western orientation, potentially the possibility that they might join NATO, the possibility that they might join the European Union,” Nolte noted. “The argument is that, because Russia views Ukraine as part of its sphere of influence and as a buffer against the West, this was provocative.” “It’s sort of a bizarre argument,” he judged. “What Russia is saying is, ‘Ukraine is being aggressive because they, as a sovereign country, are considering joining organizations that we, the Russians, find threatening.’” “That argument makes a couple of assumptions, one of which is that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation,” continued Nolte. “Nationalism, at its core, is the idea that sovereign countries get to make their own decisions. And certainly, we wouldn’t want somebody else — you know, Canada, for example — having a veto on treaties that we as the United States could make.” Nolte added that “a lot of folks in Trump’s orbit” make a point of calling themselves nationalists, but they don’t seem to want to extend those principles to Ukraine. Ultimately, this Russian propaganda can be traced back to the worldview of Vladimir Putin, who “believes wholeheartedly that the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century,” said Nolte. “So, when he sees this as aggressive, [it’s because] he sees a lot of these countries that are now sovereign, independent countries as Russian territory.” “It’s been a justification that the Russians have made for many of their aggressive moves against their neighbors, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s Georgia, whether it’s making threatening noises toward the Baltics. … Who’s the antagonist in that? It’s the United States,” he continued. “That’s not supported under international law. That’s not something that anybody else believes. But it’s part of Putin's narrative of how the world is supposed to work.” Unfortunately, Putin is able to impose his personal worldview upon others because he is the dictator of one of the world’s most powerful countries. Contrary to some American voices (who, again, are spouting Russian propaganda), the dictator in the war is Putin, not Zelensky. “If you want pretty good evidence that Zelensky is not a dictator, look at the fact that he offered to resign this weekend, if [America] guarantees the security of [Ukraine],” Nolte suggested. “That’s not a thing that dictators do. We contrast that with Vladimir Putin, who has essentially either rigged, severely harassed, [or] intimidated any opposition. [He has] rigged elections, done everything that you would expect from a dictator, [and] unilaterally changed the Constitution so he could run for more terms.” In short, “the guy who’s been in power since 1999 — and has a constitutional remit to stay president until 2036 — is probably the dictator,” declared Nolte. What is so frustrating is that, time and time again, American presidents have said, ‘You know, maybe we’re to blame. Maybe we’re the reason that we just can’t have better relationships with Putin.’” Every president of this century has tried to thaw relations with Putin, he said, but “every single time one of those American presidents has done that, Putin has responded with some form of aggression against his neighbors “If given any opportunity to take more [territory], [Putin] has done that in the past. You could look at Georgia in 2008. You could look at Ukraine in 2014,” said Nolte. “It doesn’t seem like he has really had any respect for any past peace agreement,” so he shouldn’t be trusted now. “In many ways, President Trump is very innovative in terms of foreign policy. He likes to think outside the box. But his rhetoric about Russia and Ukraine is essentially doing the same thing that every administration has tried with Putin in the past and expecting a different result,” Nolte concluded. “The first Trump administration was very good, very tough on Russia in terms of policy. And I would encourage President Trump to look back at the successes vis-a-vis Russia of his first administration and take that posture, and not the failures of Obama and Biden.” “A tough line with Putin now is probably going to get you a better outcome than a more conciliatory approach, particularly given that, [for] every administration that’s tried conciliation with Putin in the past, it hasn’t worked,” Nolte pointed out. “A good deal would require some sort of guarantees for Ukraine that would protect its national sovereignty and its right to exist as a nation — guarantees that would be provided by the U.S. and our allies. … But ultimately a good deal, right now, I think is going to be very hard to find.” 27th February,2025

AERONAUTICS SCHOOL HAS FIRE OVER FREE SPEECH ABUSES Young America's Foundation, or YAF, has sent what PJ Media calls a "scathing" complaint to the Department of Education alleging continuing violations of students' free speech rights at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The private university’s main campuses are in Daytona Beach, Florida and Prescott, Arizona. It offers instruction at more than 130 locations worldwide, many of them military bases. YAF is asking the DOE to open a formal investigation into the university and to order an end to the school’s free speech abuses. The complaint accuses Embry-Riddle of "a blatant attempt to silence the voices of its own students" with a "unilaterally decreed totalitarian speech ban." The ban reportedly targeted pro-Israel activism and things related to the sanctity of life and transgender topics. “A lot of people maybe have heard of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University because it has a great history of training generations of pilots and mechanics and other people that are critical to the aviation industry,” said Spencer Brown, head of communications with YAF. Embry-Riddle has gained a second less flattering reputation. “They’ve been infected with this leftist, woke, radical, DEI, radical transgender ideology, all this other stuff, just like so many of the larger schools people might think of normally,” Brown said. A few of the reported things the school blocked included a "Biology Basics activism project" intended to counter the lie at the heart of transgenderism. Additionally, YAF was stopped from handing out flyers to promote a speech by transgender surgery opponent Chloe Cole. It also says Embry-Riddle stopped a "Where Does Life Begin?" project showing the various stages of fetal development to show students the reality of life in the womb. But, Embry-Riddle supported the "Trans Day of Visibility," and other activism pushes from the left. Brown said his team is taking advantage of the "very welcome" changes that Trump and his administration have made. “These executive orders have empowered and enabled the Department of Education and its Office of Civil Rights to ensure that universities and colleges and other institutions in the country are adhering to the policies that were sorely needed at this point.” 27th February,2025

SURVEY: RECENT DECLINE OF US CHRISTIAN POPULATION WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who identify as Christian has declined steadily for years, but that drop shows signs of slowing, according to a new survey Wednesday from the Pew Research Center. The Religious Landscape Study finds 62% of U.S. adults call themselves Christians. While a significant dip from 2007, when 78% of Americans identified as Christian, Pew found the Christian share of the population has remained relatively stable since 2019. The rapid rise of the religiously unaffiliated — the so-called “nones ” — has also reached at least a temporary plateau, according to Pew. Approximately 29% of U.S. adults identify as religiously unaffiliated, including those who are atheist (5%), agnostic (6%) or “nothing in particular” (19%). “It’s striking to have observed this recent period of stability in American religion after that long period of decline,” said Pew’s Gregory Smith, one of the study’s co-authors. "One thing we can’t know for sure is whether these short-term signs of stabilization will prove to be a lasting change in the country’s religious trajectory.” By some measures, the U.S. remains overwhelmingly spiritual. Many Americans have a supernatural outlook, with 83% believing in God or a universal spirit and 86% believing that people have a soul or spirit. About seven in 10 Americans believe in heaven, hell or both. Young adults are less religious than their elders Despite this widespread spirituality, there are harbingers of future religious decline. Most notably, Pew found a huge age gap, with 46% of the youngest American adults identifying as Christian, compared to 80% of the oldest adults. The youngest adults are also three times more likely than the oldest group to be religiously unaffiliated. “These kinds of generational differences are a big part of what’s driven the long-term declines in American religion,” Smith said. “As older cohorts of highly religious, older people have passed away, they have been replaced by new cohorts of young adults who are less religious than their parents and grandparents.” Michele Margolis, a University of Pennsylvania political scientist not affiliated with the Pew survey, has studied how religious involvement changes over a lifetime. Young adults frequently move away from religion. “Then when you get married and have kids, this is a time where scholars have noted that religion is more likely to become important,” Margolis said. Margolis said one question going forward is whether the youngest American adults firmly reject organized religion, or if some of them will return to the religious fold as they age. Between 2007 and 2024, Pew religious landscape studies haven't indicated that Americans are growing more religious as they get older. Smith at Pew said "something would need to change” to stop the long-term decline of American religion, whether that's adults becoming more religious with age or new generations becoming more religious than their parents. How partisan politics intertwines with religious identity The long-term decline of U.S. Christianity and rise of the “nones” has occurred across traditions, gender, race, ethnicity, education and region. But it is much more evident among political liberals, according to Pew. The survey shows 51% of liberals claim no religion, up 24 points from 2007. Only 37% of U.S. liberals identify as Christian, down from 62% in 2007. Penny Edgell, a University of Minnesota sociologist and expert adviser for the Pew study, said this religious and political sorting aligns with whether people “support traditional, patriarchal gender and family arrangements.” Edgell also notes that Black Americans defy the assumption that all Democrats are less religious than Republicans. “More Black Americans percentagewise are Democrats, but their rates of religious involvement are still really high,” Edgell said. “That has something to do with the way that religious institutions and politics have been intertwined in historically unique ways for different groups.” The Pew survey tracks many religious traditions It’s been nearly 10 years since the last Religious Landscape Study, which tracks religious data that the U.S. census does not. The new survey found that a majority of immigrants to the U.S. are Christian (58%), but they also follow the upward trend of the religiously unaffiliated, with a quarter of foreign-born U.S. adults claiming no religion. The number of Americans who belong to religions besides Christianity has been increasing, though it’s still a small portion of the population (7%). That includes the 2% who are Jewish, and the 1% each who are Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. Of U.S. Christian adults, 40% are Protestant and 19% are Catholic. The remaining 3% in Pew’s survey include Latter-day Saints, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and smaller Christian groups. The two largest Protestant denominations in the Pew survey remain the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church – though both have lost many members since the first Religious Landscape Study in 2007. The Pew Religious Landscape Study was conducted in English and Spanish between July 2023 and March 2024, among a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey’s margin of error for results based on the full sample is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points. 27th February,2025

NSA DEPUTY DIRECTOR KWAKU OHENE GYAN ARRESTED Former NSA Deputy Director Kwaku Ohene Gyan has been arrested by NIB over payroll fraud and a ghost names scandal at the National Service Authority. Authorities are also searching for ex-NSA deputy Gifty Oware-Mensah, who is currently on the run. The National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) has detained Kwaku Ohene Gyan, the former Deputy Director of Operations at the National Service Authority (NSA), in connection with irregularities in the NSA payroll, including a ghost names scandal. According to 3news sources within the government, authorities are also searching for Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of the NSA, who is currently on the run as investigations intensify. Kwaku Ohene Gyan, popularly known as Osonoba, was picked up on Saturday evening (February 22, 2025) and is currently being held at the NIB offices. The scandal allegedly involves the insertion of ghost names on the NSA payroll, leading to significant financial losses for the state. Meanwhile, Gifty Oware-Mensah has gone into hiding, with authorities actively working to locate and apprehend her for questioning. 5th February,2025

PRESIDENT MAHAMA’S SONA 2025 TO PARLIAMENT President John Dramani Mahama delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) since assuming office for a second term, reflecting on his return to Parliament after nearly a decade. He acknowledged the unpredictability of life and expressed gratitude to the people of Ghana for their historic electoral mandate. With an overwhelming majority in Parliament, Mahama reaffirmed his commitment to resetting the nation’s economy and addressing the challenges that have caused economic hardship and suffering among citizens. The President commended Parliament for the swift vetting and approval of his Ministerial nominees, describing it as an unprecedented efficiency in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. He urged lawmakers to apply the same urgency in confirming his Deputy Ministerial nominees so that they can promptly begin working to implement government policies. Mahama emphasized his administration’s commitment to reducing government expenditure, announcing a significant cut in the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers to just 60, including Regional Ministers. He also pledged to reduce the size of the Presidential staff, ensuring a lean and cost-effective government, amongst others. About thirty (30) years ago, in 1996, I took my first steps in public service when I was elected to this august house as the Member of Parliament for the Bole Bamboi Constituency. For twelve memorable years, I forged many enduring friendships and alliances while working with colleagues from both sides of the house to shape Ghana’s legislative agenda and advance the development of our beloved country, Ghana. It has also been nearly a decade since I said goodbye to this house after delivering what many, including myself, thought at the time would be my final address to Parliament. God almighty, providence and the unpredictability of life have summoned me here once again, on the back of a historic electoral mandate from the people of Ghana, to deliver a message on the State of the Nation. 27th February,2025

WE’LL DEAL WITH CULPRITS In a brazen move to eschew corruption in his government, President Mahama has directed a full-scale investigation into the NSS ghost names scandals. The President has also vowed to ensure that persons responsible for the corrupt act will face justice and be prosecuted. Delivering his first state of the nation address in his second term, the President noted that “as part of our Operation Recover All Loot programme, I have already tasked our investigative bodies to bring the culprits of the National service Ghost names scandal to justice. Such brazen theft of public funds must not go unpunished,” he announced. The President said he has given further directions for these persons to be declared wanted and their assets frozen until full-scale investigations are completed. Unfortunately, some of these culprits are believed to have absconded from this country already. I have directed that they be declared wanted and their assets traced and frozen until investigations are completed,” John Mahama noted. Over the weekend, the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) detained Yaw Danso, an Accountant at the National Service Authority (NSA), in connection with the ghost names payroll scandal that has rocked the institution. His arrest follows that of Kwaku Ohene Gyan, the former Deputy Director of Operations at NSA, who was taken into custody on February 22, 2025. Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of NSA, also remains on the run as authorities intensify their search for suspects linked to the fraudulent payroll scheme 27th February,2025

MAHAMA MUST ADDRESS COST OF LIVING Organised Labour has asked President John Mahama to outline measures to address the cost of living and steps to reinstate those dismissed from the Public Service. Ahead of the State of the Nation Address on February 26, leadership of Organised Labour says, the President should also indicate how jobs will be created under his tenure. They spoke exclusively with our labour affairs correspondent Daniel Opoku in Accra. President Mahama is expected to present to Parliament, the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 27. Ahead of his presentation, leadership of Organised Labour contend that the President should consider measures to revive the economy. Deputy Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Dr. Kwabena Nyarko Otoo said, the President should be clear with his initiatives. “We expect the President to indicate how to create jobs so that people will not sneak to get midnight appointment only for them to be terminated,” said. Mr Otoo added, “He must also talk about his resetting system in Ghana. He has talked about establishing the emolument committee, we need to address the large disparities in earnings particularly in the public sector to make sure that some people do not earn hundred thousand while others earn 600 cedis The General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU), Abdul Moomin Gbana expects President Mahama to outline steps in addressing cost of living and expenditure cuts. “The recently concluded base pay negotiations and the minimum wage, I personally was disappointed because year one inflation for 2024 was 23 percent, the purchasing power of workers have gone down so the President should look at that,” he said. The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Tanko Musah, appealed to the President to indicate how education will be financed. “A dedicated funding for pre-tertiary education where we can take care of the people. I am happy that the Minister of Education is saying that he is going to uncap the GETFund and we are looking forward to hearing that from the President,” he said. The union leaders were emphatic that President Mahama should respond to their concerns over the revocation of appointment of persons recruited into the Public Service after the December 7, 2024 elections 27th February,2025