🪖 Scholz, Pistorius bicker over how to make Germany 'fit for war'

Tension over how Germany should reboot its armed forces is brewing between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his increasingly pugnacious defense chief Boris Pistorius ahead of next year’s elections.

While public messaging sees Scholz using the word “peace” more often, like in his campaign posters for June’s European elections with the word “Frieden” (“Peace”), Pistorius says the Bundeswehr needs to get "ready for war” in an interview last year for Welt am Sonntag.

Pistorius argued the alleged “Russia threat” to urge for a dramatic hike in military spending, saying the 100-billion-euro defense fund announced by Scholz in 2022 is not enough. But this proposal was dismissed by one of the most unpopular chancellors in German history.

Then Scholz brushed aside Pistorius’s moot idea to reintroduce connoscription proposed amid German army struggling to attract recruits.

Pent-up frustration purportedly led Pistorius to threaten to quit his post during a closed-door meeting in the ministry last month. However, he thought better of it, telling reporters that, “I’m still burning for this job, and you won’t get rid of me that quickly.”

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US increasing military presence in Asia to force other countries into ‘American war chariot’ - Chinese general

“The true motive is to converge various small circles into a big circle that is an Asia-Pacific version of NATO, to maintain American hegemony,” Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

“The US strengthens its military presence to force other countries to choose sides and advances the eastward expansion of NATO," Jing said, adding that these moves create chaos and “bind regional countries with the American war chariot."

His remarks echo those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said during his visit to China that he saw no point in closed military-political alliances.

Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng's speech came in response to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said that war with China was neither imminent nor inevitable.

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Make China Great Again? Trump joins TikTok

Donald Trump, who previously tried to ban TikTok in the US, has now created an account.

In his first video, Trump used Kid Rock's song American Bad Ass and footage from the UFC.

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❗️ Saudi Arabia will not take part in the conference on Ukraine in Switzerland, the DPA agency reports, citing diplomatic sources

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Five empty coffins wrapped in French flags with the innoscription “French soldiers killed in Ukraine” were found near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the newspaper Le Parisien reported. Police detained three people who allegedly intended to flee in a minivan to Berlin.

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✍️📄 Who is on Zelensky's naughty list for 'undermining' Ukraine peace summit?

Zelensky accused China of 'undermining' the conference in Switzerland in his address to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday.

On May 31, China confirmed it would not take part in the summit — which apparently hurt the Ukrainian leader’s feelings.

Earlier, Zelensky also slammed Brazilian President Lula da Silva for his refusal to join the gathering, just a few days after Joe Biden decided to pass over the conference in favor of a glitzy Hollywood fundraiser with George Clooney.

Who is next?

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Israel accepts 'not good' US Gaza ceasefire deal but promises to destroy Hamas

Israel has accepted a tentative US plan for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah’s chief foreign policy advisor said on Sunday.

The plan announced on Friday by US President Joe Biden was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them," Ophir Falk told the Sunday Times.

He added that "there are a lot of details to be worked out," and Israel’s conditions regarding "the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organization" remain unchanged.

Falk also doubled-down on the Israeli PM’s stance that "there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met."

Gaza mediators — the US, Qatar, and Egypt — issued a joint statement that called on both Israel and Hamas to finalize the agreement.

Hamas said on Friday that it provisionally welcomed the proposal, which included “positive ideas.”

Israel has offered a three-phase “roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages," Biden said in his Friday press conference.

While the bargaining continues, an estimated 36,439 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip and 82,627 wounded since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry.

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Donald Trump stated that if elected as US President, he would be prepared to declassify information pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Jeffrey Epstein case.

During an interview with Fox, he reminisced about his tenure as head of state, mentioning that he had previously declassified "a significant amount of material" related to the Kennedy assassination.

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🚢🇷🇺 Distance, speed, security: unbeatable combo for Russia’s Northern Sea Route

There are “many factors” which make the Northern Sea Route attractive, and it’s no surprise that Western media has perked up its ears taken notice of the project, Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of the Project Office for the Development of the Arctic, told Sputnik, commenting on the recent Foreign Policy magazine article listing the merits of the Russian maritime route amid the sorry security situation in the Middle East.

“First, there’s distance. The Northern Sea Route is naturally much shorter, depending on where the ship is arriving – China, Japan, Murmansk, Rotterdam, for example. The distance can be reduced by half depending on the route. This is a very important factor. Accordingly, if the distance is reduced, delivery times also change,” Vorotnikov said, pointing out that even absent the tensions in the Middle East, the length of the route and delivery times are much shorter than through the Suez Canal.

💬 “And one more thing should be remembered – that passage through the Suez Canal may be limited by a vessel’s dimensions. Not all ships can pass through the Suez Canal. Moreover, large tankers are not able to pass through it,” Vorotnikov said. Such restrictions don’t apply to the Northern Sea Route.

For Russia, the Northern Sea Route isn’t tied to the whims or interests of Western countries, according to the observer, with the project instead connected to Russia’s pivot to the east policy, “becoming an active instrument for pursuing such a policy.”

The Northern Sea Route isn’t just a bid by Russia to sit in one place and charge transit fees for cargoes shuttling between Europe and Asia, but an opportunity for companies from Russia and other countries of the post-Soviet space to find a viable route to deliver goods to China, India and other partners faster, cheaper and more securely.

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Russian-born MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov met with Trump at a UFC tournament

The former president and former champion conversed by the octagon and shook hands. Khabib Nurmagomedov appeared at a UFC tournament for the first time in a year and a half.

Nurmagomedov called on the former US president to stop the war in the Gaza Strip. Trump stated, "We will stop this. I will stop this."

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◻️ Distance, speed, security: unbeatable combo for Russia’s Northern Sea Route

◻️ Israel accepts 'not good' US Gaza ceasefire deal but promises to destroy Hamas

◻️ What mainstream media isn’t telling you about North Korea’s trash balloon campaign?

◻️ Bosnia supplies Ukraine with weapons through third countries - Republika Srpska President

◻️ US increasing military presence in Asia to force other countries into ‘American war chariot’ - Chinese general

◻️ Scholz, Pistorius bicker over how to make Germany 'fit for war'

◻️ Zelensky panhandles in the Asia-Pacific ahead of Ukraine ‘peace’ conference

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What’s behind US Air Force’s snap Minuteman III test launch plans?

US Air Force Global Strike Command will conduct two test launches of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles from Vanderberg Space Force Base this coming week. The tests come amid raging tensions between Russia and NATO amid the escalating proxy war in Ukraine, but likely aren’t worth panicking over, observers have told Sputnik.

💬 “There have been over 300 [Minuteman III] test launches over the last 50 years. So it’s something that happens periodically and it’s a routine training type exercise. Nothing special and I wouldn’t read into this at all,” retired US Army Colonel and international and military affairs observer Earl Rasmussen said.

Aleksei Borzenko, a veteran Russian military journalist and deputy chief editor of the Literary Russia newspaper, agrees. “I think the US is conducting an audit of its nuclear warhead-launching missiles. The fact is that they have not conducted any tests for a very long time.”

Borzenko recalled that Russia tests its strategic missiles on average once or twice a year to ensure readiness.

“The Americans have been sitting on what they have,” the observer said, referencing the Minuteman III’s aging status. “Many of these missiles are very old, with these developments dating back to the 70s and 80s. Therefore, they just want to test this missile and gradually modernize their nuclear forces with new missiles.”

Asked whether the launches should be seen with apprehension by Russia, Borzenko said the answer is yes, at least to some extent, since it means the Americans have returned to a field they have not tinkered with in a long time and begun their arsenal’s modernization to “put their nuclear missiles in order.”

That said, Borzenko stressed that at the current stage, US strategic rocketry is lagging behind Russia, “because we have been working in this area for a long time, and have had no failures, with all the latest launches showing that our rockets work perfectly.”

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Hungarian FM Szijjártó: EU strategy on Ukraine has failed, but politicians are not ready to admit it because they ‘want to avoid responsibility’

"They (European politicians - ed.) would like to avoid responsibility. Because the failure of Brussels' policy on the war in Ukraine is not a philosophical statement. It is a fact," said the Hungarian minister in an interview with the Belarusian TV channel ONT.

He emphasised that "it is a fact because this failure has a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary people."

"And if European politicians recognise that they followed the wrong strategy, people will ask the question. OK, which politicians promoted these decisions? What were their motives? What were the consequences and what responsibility should they bear? That's the real question. That is why these European politicians want to avoid responsibility. That is why they are not ready to admit that the current strategy has failed," concluded Szijjártó.

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Poland, Lithuania block Italian goods going to Russia at border

Polish and Lithuanian customs officers are committing arbitrariness by illegally blocking cargoes coming from Italy to Russia at their borders, president of the association of Italian entrepreneurs in Russia (GIM-Unimpresa) Vittorio Torrembini told Sputnik.

"There is clear discrimination on the part of Poland and Lithuania. Their customs officers can, for example, simply block cargoes coming to Russia from Italy, even though the cargoes are unauthorized and all the documents are in order," Torrembini said, adding that "this is nothing short of arbitrary."

At the same time, according to him, they easily pass their own cargoes through the borders.

"Isn't it strange that Lithuania has become one of the main exporters of wine to Russia today? Does Lithuania have wine? Are they the smartest?" asked Torrembini.

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