In his blog, Hersh writes - The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers' funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia.

It is unknown how much the Zalensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as $400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kyiv with CIA Director William Burns. His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie.

It was meant to be a special moment for Rishi Sunak as he seeks to put the 'special' back into the UK's strained relationship with the US.

But the Prime Minister suffered an awkward moment as he greeted Joe Biden off Air Force One last night.

In what some have suggested was a diplomatic snub the US president was quick to shake off the attentions of the PM after landing in Belfast.

After a swift greeting with the UK leader on the tarmac in blustery, chilly conditions he moved away to salute the King's personal representative for County Antrim, Lord-Lieutenant David McCorkell.

The US has been spying on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, CNN reported on Sunday, citing alleged intelligence reports that were leaked online last week.

The reportedly classified files are supposedly related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, including a daily dispatch from the battlefield.

The US allegedly surveilled the Ukrainian leader using signals intelligence, which the National Security Agency defines as communication intercepted from electronic devices. A source close to Zelensky was quoted as saying that the news is "unsurprising," adding that officials in Kiev are "deeply frustrated" about the leak.

According to CNN, a US intelligence report said that in late February, Zelensky "suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia's Rostov Oblast" with drones because Kiev does not have long-range weapons that can hit targets that far.

Top sanctions officials from the U.S. Treasury Department plan special international trips this month to pressure firms and countries still doing business with Russia to cut off financial ties because of the war on Ukraine.

The message is that those working with Russia's government must decide:

1. Continue to provide Moscow with material support or

2. Keep doing business with countries that represent 50 percent of the global economy.

Those are the choices to be laid out, senior Treasury officials told reporters on a call Friday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the travel plans.

There are new revelations coming to light about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's unprecedented raid against former President Donald Trump prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

As reported by America First Legal, a judicial watchdog:

"Records obtained from our investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Mar-a-Lago raid further confirm that the FBI obtained access to these records through a 'special access request' from the Biden White House on behalf of the DOJ."

The details, themselves, are shocking, as AFL noted in its press release:

On August 8, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago on the ground that potentially classified records existed there. According to press reports, Biden Administration aides were "stunned" to hear of this development.

However, new NARA records obtained through America First Legal's investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Mar-a-Lago raid further confirmed that the FBI obtained access to these records through a "special access request" from the Biden White House on behalf of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

It appears that the Biden White House and DOJ coordinated to obtain the Trump records and perhaps create a pretext for the law enforcement raid by way of a "special access request."

US officials are searching for the source of a security breach as highly classified documents were allegedly leaked over the past few weeks on social media platforms. Showing war-sensitive details on Ukraine's military defences as the embattled nation prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces, the documents drew international scrutiny while alarming the Pentagon.

Heavily publicised in an article published by the New York Times last week, the leak of allegedly highly confidential documents over the past month has sent the US security community into a frenzy as it seeks to identify the source of the breach.

The US national security community is grappling with fallout from the release of dozens of secret documents, including the impact on sensitive information-sharing within the government and ties with other countries, two US officials said on condition of anonymity.

Detailing Ukraine's military vulnerabilities and strategic plans, the documents also contain information on US allies including Israel, South Korea and Turkey.

Ukraine on Friday said its president and top security officials had met to discuss ways to prevent future leaks.

A green energy firm with close ties to the White House was among the very first companies to take advantage of tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Democrats' flagship climate package.

Form Energy — a Massachusetts-based company that has developed a utility-scale iron-air battery system — announced in December, just four months after Congress passed and President signed the IRA, that it would invest up to $760 million to construct a factory in Weirton, West Virginia. The factory is among the first clean energy projects to directly benefit from the IRA and has been touted by the White House.

A White House fact sheet in March highlighting private sector investments in West Virginia including Form Energy's:

"These investments are creating good-paying jobs, including union jobs and jobs that don't require a four-year degree in industries that will boost U.S. competitiveness, rebuild infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, and help build a clean energy economy."

The former US leader offered a cryptic hint as to who may have destroyed the gas pipelines...

Former US President Donald Trump has dismissed claims that Russia was behind the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, but said that speculating on the true perpetrator might "get our country in trouble."

Speaking to Fox's Tucker Carlson in an interview set to air in full this week, Trump was asked for his thoughts about "who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline," which was hit by multiple blasts under mysterious circumstances last September.

"I don't want to get our country in trouble so I won't answer it. But I can tell you who it wasn't, was Russia. How about when they blamed Russia. They said 'Russia blew up their own pipeline.' You got a kick out of that one, too. It wasn't Russia."

A George Soros-linked St. Louis prosecutor is facing possible removal from office over "willful neglect of cases."

Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey released a statement tearing into St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, saying he's taken steps to remove her from office regarding "years of willful neglect" for the cases she was responsible for prosecuting.

"As Attorney General, I want to protect the people of St. Louis, and that includes ensuring prosecutors protect the public. We gave Circuit Attorney Gardner the chance to do the right thing and resign, she has refused to do so, and my office filed a quo warrant at 12:01 PM to remove her from office immediately."

Bailey's office said in a press release:

"On February 18, 2023, Janae Edmonson, a sixteen-year-old athlete, was walking back to her hotel in downtown St. Louis when she was run down by a speeding vehicle and lost both her legs. One was severed, and the other maimed. Ms. Edmonson survived the crash due to her father's quick action and emergency medical training, but both of her legs were amputated."

French President Emmanuel Macron has got the Americans in a flap with his comments advocating greater European strategic autonomy and for the old continent to avoid becoming embroiled in a U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan.

Macron made his remarks while traveling back from China where he appeared to have been well received by President Xi Jinping. The trip reportedly garnered several lucrative trade deals for French businesses at a time when Élysée Palace is assailed with nationwide public protests and strikes over economic woes.

The American chagrin over Macron's musings about European strategic autonomy is revealing in at least two ways.

The New York Times sniffily accused Macron of playing the "Gaullist card" while the Wall Street Journal censured the French leader for "blundering on Taiwan", adding, "He weakens deterrence against Chinese aggression and undermines U.S. support for Europe".

Republican Senator Marco Rubio was palpably miffed and demanded that Macron should clarify "quickly" whether he was speaking for Europe as a whole or for France alone. In a huff, Rubio said, "You guys [European leaders] handle Ukraine" because the U.S. would henceforth focus its attention on "China's threats".

You have to laugh at the misplaced sense of American chivalry. This is the usual American trope of believing that they are once again salvaging Europe from conflict, as in the First and Second World Wars. Uncle Sam, as Rubio suggests, is going to abandon Europe to its bloody squabbling while getting on with "dealing" with purported "Chinese aggression".

The reality is diametrically opposite. Europe is embroiled in the worst war since the Second World War precisely because its supine leaders are slavishly following Washington's agenda of waging a proxy against Russia and destroying the strategic Russian-European energy trade. U.S.-led NATO expansionism over decades - under the guise of "protecting Europe - has produced this dangerous juncture. The war in Ukraine is driven by Washington's need to shore up its unwieldy hegemonic ambitions. Confronting Russia and China are an integral part of Washington's imperial game, as is the American need to subordinate Europe as a colony of vassals.