John Bolton:

Trump thinks Putin is his friend and believes if he has a good relationship with Putin, then US-Russia relations are good. That's a huge oversimplification.

Putin doesn't think Trump is his friend; he sees him as someone he can manipulate with his KGB training.

USS Iwo Jima Docks in Puerto Rico

Until this week, the ship had operated offshore near Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico also hosts a growing concentration of U.S. air and naval assets under operations against Venezuela.

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Putin Message Shapes Hungary’s EU Stance

Viktor Orbán said Vladimir Putin told him Russia would consider how EU states vote on using frozen Russian assets.

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Greece, Israel, Cyprus Plan Joint Brigade Against Türkiye

Greece, Israel, and Cyprus are reportedly studying the creation of a joint brigade-level rapid reaction force in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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DR Congo: The government said M23’s announcement of a troop withdrawal from the key eastern city of Uvira is a “distraction.”

Keir Starmer to Reform UK MPs:

If mysterious men from the East appear bearing gifts, this time, report it to the police.

BIG: Germany Approves €50 Billion Arms Package

Germany’s Bundestag Budget Committee approved more than €50 billion in military procurement contracts.

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Stephen Miller:

American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property.

These pillaged assets were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, mercenaries and drugs.

Israeli General Warns of “Greater Türkiye”

Retired Israeli Major General Israel Ziv warned that Türkiye’s expanding regional influence is advancing near Israel’s borders.

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EU Drops 2035 Combustion Engine Ban

The EU has revised its 2035 car emissions rules, allowing limited continued sales of combustion-engine vehicles with offsets.

The policy reversal follows sustained lobbying from major European automakers.

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BIG: Türkiye is seeking to return the Russian S-400 air defense system it bought nearly a decade ago, aiming to repair ties with the US and rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program.

President Erdogan raised the issue with Putin last week, though the Kremlin denies any such request.

Washington has long pressed Ankara to give up the missiles, which led to US sanctions and Türkiye’s removal from the F-35 program in 2019.

Giving up the S-400s could pave the way for lifting sanctions and restoring defense cooperation with the US.

Türkiye is also seeking a refund from Russia for the system, potentially through energy-related offsets.

Source: Bloomberg

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German Chancellor Merz:

If we fail to reach the personnel levels needed to expand the Bundeswehr, we will not be able to avoid discussing a mandatory period of service.

We are pursuing a voluntary approach, but we must keep the option of connoscription open.

German Chancellor Merz:

If we and others had not supported the State of Israel militarily in recent decades, then this State of Israel would no longer exist today.

Q: Do you want to send German soldiers to Ukraine as part of the security guarantees? Yes or no.

Merz: There are questions in this world that are not as simple as you may imagine. This question is one of them.

German Chancellor Merz:

As long as I have a say, we will not repeat the mistakes of 2014 by allowing Ukraine to remain exposed to Russia without security guarantees.

German Chancellor Merz:

Russia is already attacking us every day — with drone overflights, assassinations, sabotage, espionage, cyberattacks, and targeted disinformation.

German Chancellor Merz:

We must not stand by and watch as the world is reordered.

We are not a pawn of great powers.

Zelensky:

Today we heard new signals from Moscow that Russia is preparing 2026 as a year of war.

These signals are not only for us. Our partners must see them, and respond, including in the United States, where some still claim Russia wants to end the war.

German Chancellor Merz:

The decisive question is whether the European Union can make the frozen Russian state assets usable for Ukraine’s defense.

We are talking about up to 90 billion Euros, which according to our assessment would be sufficient to finance the Ukrainian Armed Forces for at least two more years.

We are not doing this to prolong the war, but to end it, and to make clear to Russia that continuing this war is futile.

NEW: Iran confirms the dismissal of its Air Force commander.

Khamenei appointed Brig. Gen. Bahman Behmard as the new commander, following assessments of the military’s performance during the June war with Israel and the United States.

Further senior dismissals are rumored.

Merz: Germany Is No One’s Pawn

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe must not act as a pawn of great powers while defending military support for Ukraine and Israel.

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