Macron's frustrated voters want more than 'political posturing on Ukraine'

Emmanuel Macron's electorate “want more than a geopolitical and international stance on Ukraine,” Alexis Poulin, a leading EU policy analyst and Co-Editor of Le Monde Moderne magazine, told Sputnik.

The French President’s sabre-rattling with Russia ahead of the upcoming European election in June comes as “the balance clearly is not looking good for Emmanuel Macron's party… where he could have a major defeat,” said the pundit.

Polls show support for cutting arms supplies to Kiev has surged among the French amid plunging production and an unprecedented decline in food consumption in the country.

Marine Le Pen's RN (National Rally) party is likely to become France’s largest political party, said Alexis Poulin, as its political posture “resonates with the French public… as does a more cautious approach to international relations, given that Emmanuel Macron is clearly on the Washington line and even further, with NATO. That could resonate even more.”

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🔺What NATO hardware has Russia destroyed in Ukraine?

🔺Is the US Flying F-35s in Ukraine-related NATO missions?

🔺What makes Russia's newest T-14 Armata far superior to other existing tanks?

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🔺Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's speech at the World Youth Festival

🔺Main statements from the Dmitry Medvedev's speech at the Russian Znanie Society’s educational marathon

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Germany using Nord Stream attack playbook to avoid responsibility for military leak

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has blamed Moscow for leaking the sensitive contents of German generals' confidential call, completely overlooking the fact that the Bundeswehr top brass were discussing nothing short of an open attack on Russia, international observers say.

"On this tape it was revealed that German generals were discussing attacks on Russia or more specifically, attacking the infrastructure of the Crimean Bridge. And it also revealed that the Taurus missiles will be supplied to Ukraine," Glenn Diesen, professor of international relations at the University of South-Eastern Norway, told Sputnik.

By accusing Russia of launching a "disinformation" attack, Germany appears to be sticking to the same playbook it used in the aftermath of the Nord Stream sabotage attack in September 2022 when Russia was groundlessly blamed for destroying its own pipeline.

"It's the same pattern of behavior," Gunnar Beck, AfD European Parliament MEP, told Sputnik. "The German government is presented with clear evidence. And they deny it and they go on the attack against Russia. Who’s benefiting from this clearly [are the] fervently anti-Russian interest groups within the German government."

A trannoscript of chatter between high-ranking German officers was released by Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group.

"They're now being caught red-handed, planning attacks on Russia, which makes them participants," Diesen emphasized.

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Maine withdraws decision to keep Trump off ballot after Supreme Court ruling

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced on Monday she retracted her previous decision to declare former President Donald Trump ineligible for the presidential primary after the US Supreme Court reversed a similar move by a Colorado court.

"Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid," Bellows said in a statement.

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US F-35s are participating in missions over Ukraine, Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said

"More recently, the US used its F-35s to determine the location of anti-aircraft missile systems of Russian units in Ukraine, then this information was transmitted to NATO countries," the Bulgarian Military quoted the minister as saying.

The publication specifies that a similar case was reported last April and it was based on a statement by a US pilot. He confirmed that the F-35 he was piloting was used to locate the Russian S-300 system deployed near the Belarus-Ukraine border.

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White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said that speaking about the content of a leaked audio recording of talks between high-ranking German military officials about a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge with long-range Taurus missiles bolsters Russia’s claims of Western involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

"Speaking about the content of the leak plays right into Russian hands," Kirby said, adding that it would help Russian President Vladimir Putin to "sell" the narrative that the conflict directly involves the United States, NATO or the collective West.

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and the Rossiya Segodnya media group, published a recording of the February 19 conversation between four German military officers on Friday.

German news agency DPA reported earlier that the leaked audio recording was authentic.

On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has publicly repeatedly ruled out the possibility of supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles, said that the government was investigating the leak.

The Russian Foreign Ministry requested an explanation from German Ambassador in Moscow Alexander Graf Lambsdorff. A hybrid war waged by the collective West against the Russian people was in full swing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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Pentagon announces $6Bln program for AI combat drones amid tech rivalry with Russia

The Pentagon has announced a $6 billion program to build a 1,000 UAV-strong fleet of AI-empowered drones known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

"Russian designers demonstrated a similar drone, called the Grom (lit. Thunder), at a MAKS air show," Dmitry Drozdenko, a military analyst and chief editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland, a Russian military-related internet portal, told Sputnik.

"These drones fly accompanying a modern [manned] aircraft, for example, a fighter, and perform the most risky tasks. […] Their task is to come forward, draw fire upon themselves, confuse air defense forces, fight with them; and then the manned group arrives and completes the task."

It was announced that the Grom, developed by the Kronstadt Group, will escort the Su-35 and the Su-57 jets, and will be capable of carrying various weapons systems, including KAB-500S guided aerial bombs and Kh-38 air-to-surface guided missiles. The AI-empowered unmanned aircraft will also be able to control a swarm of smaller 10 Molniya (lit. Lightning) drones. According to open sources, work on the Grom was close to completion at the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, the US Air Force is facing a number of challenges in the way of getting its hundreds of planned CCAs. The US Department of Defense has a long record of late and over-budget programs. Moreover, the average Pentagon program takes seven years from contract award until service entry, while the CCA program is supposed to be completed in five years.

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The Sudanese authorities have no general objections to the creation of a Russian navy base in the country, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq Ali told Sputnik.

"We have no fundamental objections to the agreements reached under the previous government. This is an obligation of the state," Ali said on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

Sudan's new parliament will consider the agreement with Russia on the creation of a nave base in country after the elections, Ali added.

"We believe that a new parliament should be formed, which will consider the agreement and develop a recommendation for the government — a positive recommendation. We leave this issue to the parliament, which will be elected," Ali said.

In February, Russian Ambassador to Sudan Andrei Chernovol told Sputnik that the country has not yet been able to complete the procedure for ratifying the agreement on the establishment of a Russian navy base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

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The US is awaiting the fate of the Roman Empire, Tucker Carlson says, discussing the "Courage to Serve Act" initiative

"The Roman military and its legions became dominated by non-citizens, who in the end, because they were not loyal to Rome, turned against Rome's citizens," Carlson said.

As in ancient Rome they recruited and armed the Gauls, so in modern America some congressmen want to provide rifles to illegal immigrants in order to grant them citizenship after their service in the army. The number of such illegal aliens in the US might exceeds the population of 32 states, according to the journalist.

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Ukraine’s ‘Abrams Lite’ has ‘a lot of weak points’

Ukraine’s Abrams “were supplied without additional protective equipment installed on [the] tanks operated by the Americans themselves,” veteran Russian military observer Alexei Leonkov told Sputnik, commenting on the news that a second M1 had been destroyed in fighting in the Donbass.

“This is the vaunted depleted uranium armor, which provides the tank with increased toughness,” Leonkov said.

“Then there’s the tank’s active protection, specifically, the Trophy system installed on other Abrams,” which Ukraine’s M1s similarly do not feature, Leonkov explained. “Additionally, they did not get an anti-drone warning station for defense against UAVs. That is, the tanks Ukraine got are a ‘lite version’” of the base Abrams.

The result is “a lot of weak points” for Russian tank hunters to take advantage of, on top of other known problems with the Abrams, from its powerful (but finicky) aircraft engine, to its “Achilles heel” of a transmission system, to its turret and side projection armor weak spots.

“All these issues are of course known by our servicemen. Therefore, they waited for this tank to appear, and when this platoon of Abrams began to operate in the Avdeyevka area, that is – to engage in fire from closed positions, shelling our positions, they began to be hunted,” the observer said.

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Hamas reportedly ready to reduce number of Palestinians released as part of hostage deal

Palestinian movement Hamas has expressed its readiness to reduce the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of a deal with Israel if the Jewish state agrees to allow more Palestinian civilians to the northern Gaza Strip, the Axios news portal reported, citing an Israeli official and a source.

Mediators from Qatar and Egypt told Israeli negotiators during talks in Doha last week that the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza is a top priority for Hamas, the report said, adding that the Israeli delegation was surprised how important it was to Hamas.

However, Israel sees such a move from Hamas as politically motivated, since it could strengthen the movement's position as a ruling body in the enclave, as well as deprive Israel of a point of leverage in the next phase of negotiations, the report read.

On Sunday, the news portal reported that the framework of a proposed deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip included an exchange of some 400 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel for 40 Israeli hostages. The draft deal also reportedly included a six-week pause in hostilities and a gradual return of Palestinians to the northern Gaza Strip.

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The US restoring to airdrops is an “indignity” for the nation, Esteban Carrillo, a journalist and editor for The Cradle, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Monday.

“[It is an] indignity for the United States to be there dropping aid when they’re supposed to be not just a partner of Israel [but] their patron. They’re the people giving them the bombs that are being dropped on Gaza… They should be the ones dictating what is happening, but of course, they’re not.”

He added that the aid dropped by the US is “not even a significant amount of aid. They’re just [doing] that so, I guess, people back home can clap and [say] ‘yeah, we’re helping.’ Sadly, you’re not.”

“There’s such arrogance in their statements. They’ve said ‘No matter even if there is a ceasefire, we’re still going to go into Rafah, there’s nothing to stop us.’ Essentially, this has been their public message,” Carrillo explained. “It’s past the time that Joe Biden’s White House [should have] taken a stand and stopped this,” he added.

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Mark Sleboda: Losing to Russia is ‘shattering’ Western leaders’ belief in their 'exceptionalism’

There is “sincere panic” among Western leaders who are forced to “face the inevitable fact” that they are losing to Russia, Mark Sleboda, a foreign relations and security analyst told Sputnik’s Fault Lines. “It is shattering both their preconceptions of this conflict and also shattering their belief in their own exceptionalism and seniority,” he said.

“We’ve heard from every Western leader… a Russian victory in Ukraine would be a defeat of NATO. They did this to themselves, they invested this much political and geopolitical capital. They’ve said… that US global leadership… is at stake in the outcome of this conflict.”

“The world might not have originally reached the same conclusion, but now they forced them to because they… said it so authoritatively.”

“They are fighting for US hegemony over the world… From their point of view, this was also an inevitability, from [the view of] the people who run the United States, the blob, the deep state… this war was absolutely essential.”

He noted that while they failed to defeat Russia, they did manage to deindustrialize Europe and make it more dependent on the United States.

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