What tensions lurk behind Biden-Macron toasts & backslapping?

Behind the toasts and pageantry accompanying President Joe Biden’s state visit to France on the anniversary of the D-Day landing of Allied troops 80 years ago, there is an undercurrent of tension between him and French leader Emmanuel Macron.

France’s strive for less US-dependent policy

Frictions have been mostly driven by Macron’s thirst for a more assertive role, independent of the US, The New York Times reported. On the quiet, US officials roll their eyes “in exasperation” with regard to their French counterparts, while the French side is “frustrated” at the Biden administration’s “overbearing approach to trans-Atlantic leadership.” Europe must show that "it’s never going to be a vassal for the United States" has been Macron’s mantra of late. He has urged for the continent to stop “delegating our defense to the US.”

Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza

France and the US reportedly do not see eye to eye on the degree of Washington’s support for its ally Tel Aviv, and Gaza’s post-war future either. France believes that Biden failed to put enough pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the Israeli advance into Rafah, which would have prevented numerous civilian casualties.

Escalating proxy conflict in Ukraine

Although both the US and France are fueling the proxy conflict in Ukraine, Macron wants to be ahead of the curve. He was the one who refused to rule out the possibility of sending NATO troops into Ukraine earlier, and has since backed the idea of sending military trainers to Kiev. He has also committed to sending his country’s Mirage 2000 warplanes to Ukraine.

Despite underlying tensions, the US and France have joined forces to fuel the conflict in Ukraine, seemingly hell-bent on provoking World War III. “NATO representatives, especially in Europe, should be aware of what they are playing with,” Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned recently.

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The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli shelling has surpassed 37,000 in more than eight months, the enclave's Health Ministry said

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Russian Railways to develop Eastern polygon

In the next few years, Russian Railways plans to increase the carrying capacity of railroads in the direction of ports by 200 million tons from the current 450 million tons, said Alexey Shilo, deputy general director of the company.

He recalled the record volume of Russian Railways’ investment program, in particular the development of the Eastern polygon, which includes Baikal-Amur Mainline and Trans-Siberian Railway.

"We are developing approaches to other ports, through which export-import interaction can also be built today. The total volume of railway infrastructure to our ports already amounts to 450 million tons and the nearest plans, in the next few years we expect to expand throughput capacity in the direction of all major ports by another 200 million tons,” Shilo said at an SPIEF session noscriptd “Russia – China.”

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🇷🇺🪖 Latest statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

◾️ Units of Battlegroups Sever and Yug improved their position along the front line, striking Ukrainian forces and repelling counterattacks.

◾️ Battlegroups Zapad and Vostok also occupied more advantageous positions, while Battlegroup Tsentr’s tactical position was improved.

◾️ During the day, the enemy lost up to 1,475 military personnel in various areas.

◾️ Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter.

◾️ Russian troops hit the locations of UAV operators and foreign mercenaries, as well as accumulations of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in 131 areas.

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‘New global majority already formed’, as world rejects disastrous US dictate – senior Russian MP

Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, spoke at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum session ‘World Order Architecture: A View from Russia’.

💬 "As for the export of democracy from the United States — we all see it, and there is no need to dwell on it today — I think we all agree here that there is no democracy, first and foremost, in the United States itself,” Slutsky said. “This was demonstrated by the recent presidential elections, and the realities of the United States demonstrate it to us essentially every day."

Slutsky noted that "countries of the collective West... which would like to create, indeed, a unipolar world, where Washington will be the sole center of power, influence, and decision-making," stressing the destructive outcomes of the unipolar system.

The MP also stressed that every nations wants to decide its own fate, instead of following the Washington’s diktat, pointing to the disastrous consequences of US policies in Iraq and Libya.

Earlier, at the concluding press conference of SPIEF-2024, Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation and responsible secretary of the organizing committee, stated:

"The President of Russia has called on national forces worldwide to strengthen their sovereignties and develop their own national economies. There is confidence that a multipolar world will be able to defend its economic and political sovereignty and prevail over the unipolar structure subordinate to the American sovereign, as never before. The world has changed and is becoming increasingly unified!"

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🇮🇷 The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Council has announced the names of six candidates for the 14th presidential election:

◾️ Mostafa Pourmohammadi - former minister of justice

◾️ Masoud Pezeshkian - former minister of health

◾️ Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi - first deputy speaker of parliament

◾️ Alireza Zakani - mayor of Tehran

◾️ Saeed Jalili - representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in the Supreme National Security Council

◾️ Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - speaker of parliament

According to the law, once the names of the candidates are announced, the election campaign begins and ends 24 hours before the June 28 presidential election.

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The majority of Germans are in favor of the return of compulsory military connoscription, a poll shows

The return of universal connoscription was generally supported by 60% of respondents, with 28% choosing the option “fully support” and 32% “partially support,” according to the results of a survey conducted by the YouGov public opinion research institute on behalf of the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. The initiative was opposed by 32%, including 18% “partly against” and 14% “completely”.

The poll also showed that almost half of German citizens (49%) currently believe that Germany is threatened by foreign armed forces. By contrast, slightly fewer (40%) see no threat to the country's security.

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🇱🇧🇮🇱 Gaza will 'look like a playground compared to Lebanon' if Israel-Hezbollah clashes escalate

Further regional war may “end in the destruction of entire regions in Israel, but also in colossal destruction in Lebanon and Iran,” Dr. Shaul Bartal, a retired lieutenant colonel and researcher at Israel's Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, told Sputnik.

Gaza will “look like a playground compared to Lebanon” if the current cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, the researcher said.

With PM Benjamin Netanyahu threatening to expand the Gaza conflict into Lebanon against Hezbollah, the only solution to the current crisis is “a political agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government that keeps Hezbollah away from the border,” Dr. Bartal concluded.

If current Israel-Lebanon tensions were to spiral out of control, that could “impose a heavy toll on both countries in this conflict,” agreed Joseph Helou, assistant professor of political science and international affairs in the Department of Social and Education Sciences at the Lebanese American University.

💬 “Hezbollah has developed enormous capabilities in terms of techniques and military strategies, not only weaponry, which makes a conflict between two strong actors quite destructive,” the pundit remarked. According to Helou, the international community needs to quickly intervene to avoid further dangerous escalation.

“This international political sponsorship for the resolution of the conflict does not currently dominate the political horizon. It has yet to be achieved,” Helou noted. “But without such backing, the Middle East is unlikely to witness an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

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US scrambles to develop hypersonic missiles to catch up with Russia, China

The US Navy’s Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) program aims to equip surface and subsurface fleets with hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, as reported by The War Zone.

Contracts have reportedly already been awarded to defense contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for competing missile designs, with the projected weapons to be powered by ramjet or scramjet engines. A flight demonstration has been inked in for fiscal year 2027. From vessel-launched, these will potentially be expanded to surface- and subsurface-launched configurations.

Despite lavish budgetary financing, close to a dozen hypersonic weapons projects for the US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have been plagued by delays, test failures, and cancellations.

Currently, nations like Russia, China, and Iran lead the pack when it comes to developing advanced hypersonic missiles. Russia has already used its Zircon surface-based hypersonic missile in its special operation in Ukraine.

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❗️Orban warns: Europe inches closer to war

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that decisions made despite their protests are leading Europe step by step towards war. He recalled two years ago when the war began, emphasizing the Chancellor of Germany's stance against supplying lethal equipment to Ukraine. However, contrasting that time, now German tanks are speeding towards Ukraine, and Western European missile systems are deployed, while sanctions are crippling the European economy.

If we continue at the pace of the last two years, Orban warned, it's not an exaggeration to say we're centimeters away from soldiers, Western European or American, setting foot in Ukraine. The direct confrontation is imminent. "It's not that they don't see it," he added, "it's that they want it. That's the difference. We don't want war, but they do."

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Ukraine’s door to NATO membership shut as invitation would ‘weaken Biden's re-election chances'

Ukraine’s Zelensky may pound on NATO’s door as much as he likes, but it will remain shut for the time being, reported Business Insider. Opening that door could “weaken Biden’s chances of getting re-elected,” the report suggested.

💬 "Biden is trying to solidify the idea for the US public that the US is not getting involved so he doesn't weaken his chances of getting re-elected," Leo Litra, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told the news site.

"No one in NATO, and especially not in the US, wants to have to test Article 5," he added. Article 5 of the NATO Treaty stipulates that an attack on one member state is an attack on them all.

Some 70% of Americans want the Biden administration to push Ukraine toward a negotiated peace with Russia as soon as possible, a February survey from the Harris Poll and the Quincy Institute revealed. Biden's approval rating, meanwhile, fell to its lowest level in nearly two years according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May. Only 36% of Americans approved of Biden’s performance in the White House.

The US president said he was “not prepared for the NATO-isation of Ukraine,” in an interview with Time Magazine recently. Peace “doesn't mean NATO,” remarked Biden ahead of the alliance's summit from July 9 to 11.

Ukraine’s hopes for a membership timeline breakthrough at the NATO summit in Washington have been dashed, forcing it to settle for bilateral “security guarantees."

Moscow has repeatedly warned that the military bloc's ongoing buildup along Russia’s borders threatens the country’s security. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that Moscow considers Ukraine’s continued non-aligned status vital to ending the years-long conflict.

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❗️❗️❗️"Unlike the West, Russia adheres to the principle of brotherhood," said the President of Zimbabwe

💬 "The difference I see is that Russia approaches relationships from the standpoint of camaraderie, not 'rider and horse.' That's why we advocate for friendship, equality, brotherhood, rather than director-student relations," Emmerson Mnangagwa said during an interview with SputnikAfrica on the sidelines of #SPIEF2024.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that Moscow sees Africa not as an arena of confrontation among global players but as a "new, emerging, diverse, original, global pole of power." Moscow is ready to help strengthen the potential of African countries "without imposing any political conditions or offering unsolicited advice."

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❗️❗️❗️"We are ready to submit an application" - Zimbabwe President on joining BRICS

In an interview with SputnikAfrica at #SPIEF2024, Emmerson Mnangagwa confirmed that Harare wants to join the bloc.

"I have discussed this with my dear brother, President Putin, and I think we are ready to join because now we have a strong currency in Zimbabwe. And our economy is now working on solid fundamental economic foundations. And when we submit our application, BRICS will examine our economy and the approaches we apply. We are confident that we meet the requirements necessary to join BRICS."

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🇮🇱 Israeli Minister Benny Gantz has announced his departure from the Netanyahu government due to the absence of a plan for further action in the Gaza sector.

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Biden once again mixed things up: as his visit to France was ending, the head of the White House, discussing the long-awaited approval of a new tranche of aid to Kiev, referred to Ukraine as Iraq:

"The idea that we become semi-isolationist now, which some are talking about? I mean, the idea we had to wait all those months just to get the money for Iraq and we … because we’re waiting – I mean, it just – it just – it’s not who we are. It’s not who America is,” Biden said.

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◻️ Ukraine’s door to NATO membership shut as invitation would ‘weaken Biden's re-election chances'

◻️ "Unlike the West, Russia adheres to the principle of brotherhood," said the President of Zimbabwe

◻️ Ukraine has not attacked unrecognized Transnistria yet only because de jure, the region is a part of Moldova - ex-president of Moldova

◻️ US scrambles to develop hypersonic missiles to catch up with Russia, China

◻️ "We are ready to submit an application" - Zimbabwe President on joining BRICS

◻️ Moldova-Russia discord due to "Soros puppets" but relations can be restored - ex-president of Moldova

◻️ Gaza will 'look like a playground compared to Lebanon' if Israel-Hezbollah clashes escalate

◻️ What tensions lurk behind Biden-Macron toasts & backslapping?

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