Beginning of the end? US reportedly withdrawing surveillance assets from Ukraine

Now that US President Joe Biden “is done," it's "possible [NATO’s proxy] war [with Russia] in Ukraine is done too,” Jim Rickards, a former advisor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Pentagon, and the White House, has written on X.

He singled out “some intel”, which he said indicates that the US “is withdrawing surveillance assets from the battlespace.”

“That makes it impossible for the Ukrainian neo-Nazis to launch missile and drone attacks on Russia. The beginning of the end,” Rickards added.

The remarks came a few days after a “disastrous” presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which saw POTUS’ “shaky” performance and subsequent calls for him to suspend his presidential campaign and let a fresh Democratic candidate take his place.

Biden, however, has vowed to continue campaigning, as he admitted that he “didn’t have a great night [on June 27],” but that he was “going to be fighting harder.”

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Biden is not just old, he's insane — Former member of the US House of Representatives

"Only a madman would not consider a nuclear Holocaust, a nuclear war, as an existential threat. He said, quote, the only existential threat to humanity is climate change, end of quote. The only existential threat to humanity is climate change. Only an insane person would say this," Tulsi Gabbard said in a video.

Gabbard added that Biden is not fit for the presidency as he poses a threat to "life and liberty."

"This man does not belong in the White House holding this position of power because he's a threat to the two very most important things, life and liberty. To vote for Biden is to vote for nuclear war and tyranny, the destruction of our democracy. That is a fact."

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AfD delegate bites protester in self-defense at Essen convention

At the AfD party convention in Essen, Stefan Hrdy, a 67-year-old delegate from Neuss, has bitten a protester, reportedly in self-defense.

Hrdy arrived at the event and exited his car, but was blocked by demonstrators which led to an altercation where the politician ended up on the ground.

"Someone kicked me in the face from behind, I fell, and then had three or four people on top of me. In self-defense, I bit the leg of the man who had kicked me in the face," Hrdy told Bild.

Police eventually intervened, freeing him from the situation.

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Hungarian Prime Minister announces new right-wing bloc in European Parliament

Viktor Orban has announced the formation of a new right-wing group in the European Parliament of Austria's Freedom Party led by Herbert Kickl and the Czech ANO 2011 party of former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

The announcement was made following a meeting in Vienna, where the leaders expressed their commitment to forming what they claim will be the strongest right-wing coalition in Europe.

The group signed a "patriotic manifesto for the future of Europe," stating that "the EU has turned against Europeans and now represents interests that contradict the will of nations, regions, and small communities."

"We take upon ourselves the responsibility to create a group that will be the strongest right-wing coalition in Europe. The strongest right-wing forces from Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are sitting before you," Orban said.

Orban expressed confidence that this new political alliance will soon become the largest right-wing faction in the European Parliament.

"We are creating a political formation that, in my conviction, will very soon become the largest European faction. This will happen within a few days," Orban said at the press conference in Vienna, emphasizing the urgency and potential impact of this new coalition on European politics.

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📹A Russian strike drone from the Dnepr Battlegroup broke through the right bank of the Kherson region and destroyed a large control center for Ukrainian drones, thereby temporarily paralyzing the control of its UAVs, the Russian Defense Ministry informed.

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❗️Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup has taken control of a large Ukrainian stronghold on the eastern outskirts of the Kirovo settlement using an underground tunnel with a length of more than 3 km, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

It is clarified that they entered the rear of a well-fortified strongpoint with long-term firing points and underground shelters through a tunnel along the Seversky Donets canal. Using the surprise factor, the Russian military completely captured the stronghold, forcing the Ukrainians to surrender or abandon their positions and retreat.

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Why US ships more tanks to Poland's huge military stockpile

Its generous shipments of military hardware to Ukraine aside, the United States also keeps funneling arms and armored vehicles to Eastern Europe as peace seems to be the last thing on the mind of the Pentagon strategists.

Fourteen M1 Abrams main battle tanks and an M88 armored recovery vehicle have been delivered to the Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 site in Powidz, Poland, Stars and Stripes reports, citing an emailed statement by US Army spokesman Terry Welch.

The facility is expected to become fully operational next year and is going to host up to 85 tanks, 190 armored combat vehicles and 35 artillery pieces, according to the newspaper.

Col. Ernest Lane II, commander of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade that maintains the site, reportedly said that Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 “has a huge impact on NATO.”

“The strategic location allows us to have multiple avenues of approach and routes of departure and embarkation,” he declared.

Army Prepositioned Stocks-2, one of the several such sites maintained by the United States in different parts of the globe, essentially allow US commanders in the region to quickly requisition military hardware without the need to ship it all the way from the US.

Earlier this month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that NATO wants to establish three large military bases in Poland, Slovakia and Romania to funnel weapons to Ukraine.

Orban’s warning comes amid the ongoing NATO-led militarization of Europe conducted under the pretext of preparing to fend off the imaginary “Russian threat.”

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Cogne, a commune with a population of 1,300 in Italy's Aosta Valley region, was isolated due to the flooding of several streams and mudslides.

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Has Israeli military grown weary of Netanyahu?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's row with Team Biden over delayed weapons supplies and his threats to expand the fighting with Hezbollah across the Lebanese border seek to distract the public from Tel Aviv's military failures in the Gaza Strip, according to the Conversation's contributor Professor Scott Lucas of University College Dublin.

According to Lucas, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) warned Netanyahu on June 19 that it's impossible to "eliminate" Hamas, something the premier is striving to do, while rejecting repeated ceasefire proposals from regional and global players.

Prior to that, former IDF commander and Israeli politician Benny Gantz left Netanyahu's war cabinet after the Israeli prime minister rejected his "strategic demands" which prioritized a return of hostages and installing a new political leadership in Gaza, rather than seeking a complete "destruction" of Hamas.

After Netanyahu snubbed his proposals, the former military chief accused the prime minister of placing his personal and political interests ahead of the security and existential needs of Israel.

As of yet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has not signaled his concerns, but judging from the recent development it seems that the Israeli top brass has grown weary of Netanyahu and his perpetual war in Gaza, according to the professor.

The Israeli PM is on the horns of a dilemma: once he agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas, he may find himself in political and legal jeopardy, as well as facing snap elections and bribery charges, the professor concluded.

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📹🏍The Russian Defense Ministry showed the work of motorcycle troops involved in the liberation of Staromayorskoe in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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❗️US military bases in Europe have been put on high alert due to the threat of a terrorist attack, probably the highest "in at least 10 years," CNN reports

"The bases, including the US Army garrison in Stuttgart, Germany, where the US European Command is headquartered, raised their alert level to Force Protection Condition 'Charlie'," the news agency explained.

According to the US Army, such a status “applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.”

CNN quoted one US official who said that they haven’t seen this threat level “in at least 10 years,” adding that it usually means the military has received an “active-reliable threat.”

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❗️An air alert has been declared in Russia's Sevastopol, its governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said

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Automatic US draft registration: Worrisome measure that wouldn't work – DC think tank

The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - which was passed by the US House in mid-June - envisages automatically registering American men aged 18 to 26 with Selective Service's database of potential military connoscripts.

Even though the US military is presently an all-volunteer force, the Selective Service System provides the Department of Defense with personnel in the event of a national emergency.

While "automatic" registration sounds "seductively simple" in practice, trying to base Selective Service registration on existing state and federal databases is doomed, Edward Hasbrouck, a member of the War Resisters League wrote for the DC-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QI).

🔸 Some 100,000 men per year don't register with the SSS despite risking penalties and "absolutely nobody" reports to the agency when they move, despite being required to do so.

🔸 The SSS database doesn't include many young men from states such as California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, where one is not required to register with the SSS in order to get a driver's license.

🔸 US states that obligate drivers to register with the SSS have foreigners who enter the US on a temporary basis and are non-eligible for draft on their lists.

🔸 While only males are eligible for draft, individuals can now self-select their preferred gender marker in US passports and Social Security records. That could trigger a "gender-judging quagmire". The DC-based think tank further laments the fact that an automatic system of registering for draft was introduced recently in Congress without any hearings or debate. According to the QI, the measure looks especially worrisome against the backdrop of Washington's involvement in the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts.

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France's National Rally party preliminarily wins the first round of the parliamentary elections with 34.5%, Macron's party is in 3rd place with 22.5%, according to Belgian media data.

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