🫣 Meanwhile in the US: Nebraska Democrat Senator Machaela Cavanaugh screaming that "trans people belong here!" for 2 minutes straight

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'The only thing they could do': Why Ukraine raided Russia's Belgorod region

According to military analyst Vasily Dandykin, the failed Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Belgorod region was directly linked to their defeat in Artemovsk.

"This is all they can do to [in response], aside from shelling the territory of Donbass," the analyst said.

Despite President Zelensky's orders to hold the city at all costs, Russian forces successfully liberated Artemovsk by May 21. Dandykin stated that Ukraine lost approximately 50,000 soldiers and suffered a significant "moral defeat." He suggested that Kiev's goal was to divert Russian troops from the frontlines and protect threatened Russian territory, but Russia would respond effectively to this kind of threat.

Dandykin dismissed Ukraine's claims that the attack on the Belgorod region was carried out by "self-organized volunteers" from Russia who had defected. He compared these claims to previous allegations about Ukrainian patriots sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines.

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🤔 Do US citizens know what operations their billions are spent on?

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🔺American hegemony and the G7’s economic dominance are now history: who will take their place?
🔺Lavrov’s trip to Eritrea advances Russia’s multipolar strategy for the Horn of Africa
🔺Poland is ‘Ready’ to Start Training Ukrainians on F-16s

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Nouriel Roubini, an American economist and New York University professor, warned that negotiations to prevent a US default could drag on, and a failure to agree on a debt ceiling could hit markets and undermine long-term confidence in the dollar

He also said that the US and China are on the path of confrontation after the G7 summit in Japan.

“The Cold War between the US and China will get colder. There will be no thaw between the US and China. China's reaction to the G7 summit is that Europe, the US, Japan and other countries are uniting against China," he said.

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🗣️”I find it a tragedy of history that now this summit, which should have been used for peace, is being used to increase war”: Political analyst, researcher and independent investigative journalist Chris Helali on the G7, which is used to increase the confrontation with Russia

🎧Listen to more of Helali’s analysis in our podcast By Any Means Necessary

South Korea cancelled the third flight of its space rocket on Wednesday because of technical problems, hours before a launch that was meant to mark a significant step in its burgeoning space program

South Korea is aspiring to be a key player in space technology, competing with its Asian neighbors.

The technical glitches are most likely communication errors between computers that control a helium relief valve, officials say. The vehicle itself does not show any problems, so it will remain on the launch pad for a rescheduled test.

In June 2022, the country successfully launched its domestically produced Nuri rocket and placed working and dummy satellites into orbit in its second test.

The third test would be the first to load and launch a commercial-grade satellite aboard the Nuri vehicle, standing on the pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, on the southwestern tip of South Korea.

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The referendum on the reunification of Crimea with Russia was completely legitimate and reflected the opinion of the Crimeans, Marine Le Pen believes.

“The inhabitants of Crimea freely expressed their will by voting in order to reunite with Russia,” the former French presidential candidate said at a meeting of a parliamentary commission.

The politician noted that during her trips to the peninsula, she talked a lot with local residents, who, in her opinion, have “a much deeper connection with Russia.” She also drew attention to the fact that "there was not a single refugee" from Crimea.

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“If we stopped deliveries of weapons to Ukraine today, the end of Ukraine would come tomorrow”

So responded German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in the Bundestag when asked by a deputy why Germany is not making efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

He was later accused of violating the country's criminal code and further drawing Germany into the conflict. The deputy noted that plans for an attack on Crimea and the deployment of NATO bases there appeared a year before the start of the Russian special operation and "have nothing to do with Ukraine's right to self-defense."

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African Peace Initiative Aims to Facilitate Supplies of Russian Grain & Fertilizers, Negotiator Says

One of the goals of the African peace mission is to help Russia unblock its grain and fertilizer exports via the Black Sea, thus facilitating their supply to African nations, said Jean Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator and the head of the Brazzaville Foundation, in an interview with Sputnik Africa.

He explained that Africa was largely affected by the conflict in particular because of this "vital problem of grain and fertilizers."

💬 "Africa could not just be a spectator in this conflict and Africa wants to make its voice heard," he underscored.

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The first phase of training of Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets will be held in the UK

"This will be ground-based basic training of Ukrainian pilots who will then be ready for more specific F-16 [or other] training," a UK government spokesperson told US media, adding that some 20 Ukrainian pilots would be entering the initial training.

Ukrainian and Eastern European officials have already begun considering wargame scenarios for the use of Western fighter jets for various purposes, including escorting grain-carrying ships through the Black Sea, Artis Pabriks, former Latvian Defense Minister and the head of the Northern Europe Policy Centre think tank in Riga, told the media.

"It’s better late than never ... With F-16s, it will give additional assistance to ground forces. It will give it better cover for operations with tanks, either Leopards or Abrams. And it will neutralize or weaken Russian air capability. So, even if they are shooting missiles from Russian territory, it’s important that they know that they could be hurt," Pabriks also said.

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💰 At the end of 2022, US public debt reached $31.42 trillion - this is equal to the debt of the next 13 largest debtor nations, Sputnik calculated

🇷🇺🇰🇵 Moscow and Pyongyang are working on creating a settlement system in rubles; this will help increase trade, the Russian ambassador told Sputnik

❗️ The FSB prevented a terrorist attack against nuclear power facilities in the Russian Federation, which had been planned by the Ukrainian special services

▪️ Ukrainian saboteurs attempted to undermine more than 30 power lines of the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear power plants. This, according to the plan of the Ukrainian special services, would lead to a shutdown of nuclear reactors, and a violation of the normal operation of the nuclear power plant. The terrorists managed to undermine one and mine 4 pylons of the power transmission line of the Leningrad NPP, as well as to lay explosive devices under seven pylons of the Kalinin NPP.

▪️ Two citizens of Ukraine were detained, another citizen of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, who is in Belgium, was put on Russia's wanted list.

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📹 The FSB has published footage showing the detention of Ukrainian saboteurs and found explosive devices

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📹 36.5 kg of S-4 explosives, 61 foreign-made electric detonators, and 38 timers were seized from hiding places organized by the Ukrainian saboteurs, the FSB reported

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