Important Takeaways:
- China and Russia: The New Axis of Evil
- Xi has been eyeing the South and East China Seas, coopting the Solomon Islands, building and militarizing his own artificial islands, and threatening not only Taiwan, but neighbors such as Australia, India and Japan.
- Putin seized and occupied territory in Georgia in 2008, and Ukraine in 2014 (Crimea) and 2023, not to mention his relentless bellicosity towards the Baltic states and eastern Europe.
- There are mounting concerns… in Western security circles that in return for providing any uplift in military support for Russia, Kim wants Moscow to provide technical assistance for his missile and satellite programs, which would seriously enhance North Korea’s ability to threaten the West with its nuclear arsenal.
- Any attempt by Russia to help improve North Korea’s military strength will also benefit China’s Communist rulers: it will provide North Korea with the ability to intensify the threat that all three countries pose to the US and its allies — and to global security.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine endured a deadly nationwide Russian missile barrage targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and other cities on Thursday, just hours before President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House
- Officials called it “a terrible night for Kherson city,” with at least three people killed and six injured, noting that apartment buildings and cars were also damaged in Russian shelling on residential areas.
- Just as the country gears up for colder seasons that will require more energy use for heating
- The air raid alarms, which frequently blare on loudspeakers throughout the city and on residents’ cell phones, are so commonplace that government officials have had to appeal to residents to continue to use bomb shelters.
- The latest round of missile strikes comes after a contentious United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, where Zelensky argued that removing Russia’s veto power “will be the first necessary step.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- FIRE AND FURY Putin sub and warship blasted by ‘Storm Shadow missiles & kamikaze drone boats’ in massive Crimea port blitz
- UKRAINE unleashed a barrage of ten cruise missiles along with kamikaze drones in a massive assault on Russia’s powerful Black Sea Fleet.
- Vladimir Putin’s forces were rocked as a submarine and an assault ship were blasted during the onslaught on the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
- British-made Storm Shadow missiles and explosive-packed drone boats are believed to have been used in the biggest attack of its kind on the fleet – marking the first time such weapons have been used in Crimea.
- Shocking footage showed huge plumes of smoke and flames seen for miles around rising from the blitzed base.
- It is the latest blow to embattled Putin’s war effort – and was a major embarrassment for Vlad as he sat down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un some 5,500 miles away.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- The United States’ warnings about the summit in Russia illustrated concerns that North Korea may agree to supply artillery shells that Russia’s war effort seems to need
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has left him short not only of friends, but also munitions to sustain his frustrated military.
- Kim’s trip is significant, with Ukraine pushing to break through Russian lines before winter in a counteroffensive loaded with Western weapons
- Russia already sources drones — a cheap but effective weapon designed to wear down Ukraine’s air defenses — from Iran, another Western adversary.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Poland embraces neighborly role in war against Russia; small airport grows into logistics hub
- Rows of U.S. surface-to-air missiles line the damp earth along the road leading to the regional airport — a stark reminder of how sensitive and strategic this once-quiet corner of NATO’s eastern flank has become to the multinational scramble to help Ukraine turn back Russian invaders.
- The Polish backwater, about 60 miles from the Ukraine border, has been transformed into a buzzing international logistics hub for all kinds of aid flowing into Ukraine. The once-modest Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport became the center of a major international crisis overnight.
- “No one expected that this place would play such a vital role in the whole situation of the war,” Michal Tabisz, the airport’s vice president, said on a drizzly afternoon shortly after the Russian war against its neighbor passed the 18-month mark.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- FBN’s, Energy Analyst Flynn: We Can’t Do Anything About Saudi, Russian Oil Cuts Because SPR Is Drained
- FOX Business Contributor and Price Futures Group Senior Account Executive Phil Flynn stated that consumers will feel the rise in crude oil prices in the wake of Saudi Arabia and Russia extending production cuts, and noted that due to the low levels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve due to releases from the reserve, “there’s not anything that we can do about” Saudi Arabia and Russia “trying to stick it to the United States” by slashing oil production.
- Host Bret Baier asked, “[C]rude oil prices rising above $87 for the first time since November ’22. The last time oil neared $90, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve had 250 million more barrels of crude oil than it does. And if you look at the last three months, it’s a steady rise here. So, consumers are feeling it, right?”
- Flynn responded, “They’re going to be feeling it, and probably more than ever. And it’s great that you pointed out the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, because the releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Bret, gave the market this false sense of confidence that everything was okay in the global oil market. By releasing that oil, though, they artificially lowered prices. They discouraged investment. So, U.S. oil production is starting to plateau at a time [when] it normally would be rising to meet demand. That’s not happening. That’s leaving a void. And now, Saudi Arabia and Russia are taking advantage of this, trying to stick it to the United States by cutting production, and there’s not anything that we can do about it.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- ‘The war is coming home to Russia’: Ukraine turns the tables on Moscow as drone warfare intensifies
- A dramatic uptick in drone attacks targeting Russian territory is likely to continue and could be a game changer in the next phase of the war, analysts say.
- Russia has seen a sharp rise in unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, targeting western, central and southern Russian regions as well as the capital Moscow.
- Mostly Ukrainian-made drones have provided a way for Kyiv to strike back at Russia itself with military bases, airfields and fuel depots among the recent targets.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Putin suffers his worst night of bombardment since invading Ukraine: Zelensky’s drones blast four military transport planes and six Russian regions are hit – but Kyiv also suffers ‘massive’ missile attack
- Vladimir Putin suffered his worst night of bombardment of the war as Ukraine hit back at Russia with a series of drone strikes deep into enemy territory.
- Russian military aircraft were damaged and civilian aviation was disrupted in the drone attacks, Russian officials said, citing Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions as targeted, as well as Russian-occupied Crimea.
- Most of the drones were reportedly shot out of the skies by Russian air defenses.
- Ukraine, which has yet to achieve a major success in its summer ground counteroffensive, has struck deep into Russia in recent months, including an attack on the Kremlin in May and numerous drone attacks on civilian targets in Moscow.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- North Korea’s Kim, Russia’s Putin exchange letters vowing stronger ties
- North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged letters on Tuesday pledging to develop their ties into what Kim called a “long-standing strategic relationship,” Pyongyang’s state media KCNA said.
- The letters mark the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, which is also celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea.
- In his letter to Putin, Kim said the two countries’ friendship was forged in World War II with victory over Japan and is now “fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony,” KCNA said.
- “I am firmly convinced that the friendship and solidarity … will be further developed into a long-standing strategic relationship in conformity with the demand of the new era,” Kim was quoted as saying in the letter.
- “The two countries will always emerge victorious, strongly supporting and cooperating with each other in the course of achieving their common goal and cause.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- RAF Typhoon jets intercept Russian bombers flying north of Scotland
- Typhoon fighters were scrambled to intercept two Russian long-range maritime patrol bombers as they transited near the Shetland Islands within NATO’s northern air policing area, the government added.
- This is not the first time RAF quick reaction aircrafts have intercepted Russian jets near UK airspace – a Russian spy plane was intercepted north of Scotland in May earlier this year, although such interceptions have happened for many years.
- When Russian jets enter airspace controlled by the UK, QRA fighters are dispatched immediately as they can often be a danger to other aircraft because they do not talk to air traffic control, and nor do they “squawk” with their code to let other air users know they are there.
- UK pilots from RAF Lossiemouth recently completed a four-month deployment to lead NATO’s air policing mission in Estonia where they intercepted 50 Russian aircraft and flew for a combined total of more than 500 hours.
Read the original article by clicking here.
