“Joe Biden wearing his hardhat backward while trying to be 'one of the guys' is so on brand": Biden was mocked online during a visit to a brewery

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US and Germany to become partners in crime with Ukraine if investigation reveals Kiev used US Patriot or German IRIS-T systems to down the Il-76 airplane, Russia’s Deputy Envoy to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday approved Turkiye’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership

MI6 and other Western secret services train Ukrainian saboteurs to be capable of nuclear terrorism

More stories:

'I wanted to live': words of a Ukrainian POW killed by the Kiev regime haunt from beyond the grave

What will the International Court of Justice decide on South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel on genocide in Gaza?

'Prudent' or ‘war psychosis’: what are the prospects for a European military?

US and Iraq to reportedly hold talks ‘soon’ on ending the American foothold

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The US is supplying the Syrian armed opposition with modern drones, including for raids on the Russian airbase at Khmeimim, Russia's special presidential envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, has told Sputnik.

Washington sets tasks for its wards to inflict maximum damage on the Russian military contingent, Lavrentyev noted.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Texas Border Showdown: Constitutional Crisis or the Beginning of a New American Civil War?

Here’s what we know so far:

▪️ Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared that the state had a right to self defense “superseding any federal statutes to the contrary” following a US Supreme Court ruling allowing federal agents to remove razor wire installed on the Mexican border.

▪️ This statement came after weeks of growing tensions between Texas authorities and the Biden administration over the US immigration crisis. Texas has accused the federal government of purposefully undermining efforts to secure the southern border.

▪️ Republican governors from 25 US states have signed a joint statement in support of Texas’ “constitutional right to self-defense.” Several of the governors also pledged to send their national guard units to assist Texas.

▪️ Former US President Donald Trump has also expressed solidarity with Texas and urged "all willing states to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of illegals and to remove them back across the border."

▪️ The Biden administration has given Texas until Friday to stand down. Democratic lawmakers have called upon Biden to seize control of the Texas national guard, a move that would almost certainly spark an enormous political backlash.

▪️ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that state has no plans on complying with the Friday deadline, and accused the Biden administration of colluding with Mexican drug cartels in a “pay-per person scheme.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

‘Holy sh*t. Dmitry Medvedev was right...’

Against the backdrop of events taking place in the United States, on X (Twitter), Dmitry Medvedev’s prediction of December 26, 2022 about a civil war in the US and the secession of Texas with the subsequent reassembly of Republican states under President Elon Musk seems prophetic to many netizens.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️Media reports that Russia is ready to abandon Ukraine’s neutral status and change its position on Kiev’s accession to NATO are not true, Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

"We have not heard a word of condemnation"

The West has still not condemned the terrorist attack of the Kiev regime that shot down the Il-76, Peskov noted.

He called the disaster a continuation of the actions of Ukraine, which has been consistently destroying its population since 2014.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Russia has created the Lovky (Deft) tiltrotor drone for reconnaissance and fire adjustment. It can accelerate to 200 km/h, has a flight data and transmission range of up to 50 km, flight altitude of up to 5 km, and flight duration of 1.5 hours.

The Lovky is 2.5 times better in terms of speed and range than any drone currently operating in the special operation zone, the development company told Sputnik.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Key points from the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov's briefing:

▪️On whether Russia plans to provide evidence of Kiev’s guilt in the Il-76 crash: decisions will be made as all information is received.

▪️The lack of transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will lead to changes in logistics chains; there are alternative supply routes to Europe.

▪️Moscow will carefully review Germany’s plans to develop a defense plan. Berlin has taken the path of decisive confrontation with Russia, this is no secret.

▪️About the sentencing of Daria Trepova: we do not comment on court decisions and will not do so now.

▪️Venezuelan President Maduro’s visit to Russia is being worked out; there is a need for it; relations between the Russian Federation and Venezuela continue to develop.

▪️Putin will hold a meeting on the development of the region on Friday in St. Petersburg and will take part in laying the keel of the new nuclear icebreaker Leningrad.

▪️Putin will hold a meeting with participants in the special military operation on Friday.

⚡️ The Ministry of Defense’s main task now is to provide everything necessary for each participant in the special military operation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

He noted that equipment and weapons are now being delivered to the special military operation zone in a timely manner, and that a local repair system has been established as well.

The minister also spoke about efforts in the military-construction complex: last year, it was focused on developing infrastructure for the nuclear deterrence forces, as well as the airfield network.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇫🇷 Protesters in France carried off goods from a store in the commune of Clermont-l'Hérault and destroyed its parking lot.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The Russian Armed Forces will receive 36,000 units of equipment and 16.5 million weapons in 2024 - this is several times more than in the previous two years, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports

❗️LIVE NOW: Farmers protesting in Berlin.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Texas Border Crisis: The Start of America’s Warlord Period?

The United States is potentially on the brink of a watershed moment in its political history. Texas has openly defied the Biden administration and the US Supreme court’s demands to stop blocking federal agents from the southern border. This revolt against Washington has received support from 25 other states, former President Donald Trump, and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Instead of trying to quietly deescalate the conflict, Biden has decided to pour gasoline on the fire – issuing an ultimatum for Texas to return control over border patrol to the federal government by Friday. In the likely event that this gamble fails, Biden could very well attempt to steamroll Texas into submission by sending in the US military and ordering the Texas National Guard to turn against state authorities. Such a move would backfire spectacularly. In the best-case scenario, Biden emerges from this crisis even more reviled than he currently is. In the worst-case scenario, American troops will be shooting at one another.

It has become fashionable in recent years to speculate about the possibility of a new American civil war. I personally don’t think that’s the most likely scenario. Instead, what I expect to happen is a steady erosion of the federal center. Washington will nominally remain the imperial capital, but its dictates will be increasingly disregarded by local authorities with their own militias and power bases. The future of America is most likely to resemble Japan’s Sengoku period, in which a symbolic emperor sitting in Kyoto helplessly watched as different warlords and clans fought among themselves.

Column by Dimitri Simes Jr.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt