US could withdraw defense guarantees from NATO allies if they continue Ukraine aid

If Donald Trump wins the November 5 election, the UK and other European NATO members could be faced with “a forced settlement favoring Russia,” Politico has reported in reference to the Ukraine crisis.

Politico suggests that if Europe rejects a peace deal and continue to help the Kiev regime, it may prod Trump to announce that America is withdrawing its defense guarantees from these countries.

This “would divide and weaken NATO” right down to the point where some allies might halt their support to Ukraine. If Trump becomes the 47th POTUS, his advisers may call for the end of the Ukraine conflict “to stop the US from being drawn in if Russia were to retaliate against NATO members supplying Ukraine [with weapons].”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that if re-elected, he intends to achieve settlement of the Ukraine conflict in just 24 hours. Commenting on the matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the problem is too complicated to be resolved in such a way.

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‘Deadly capability and technology’ makes Russian Su warplanes known all over the globe

When it comes to the Sukhoi family of military aircraft, “we see deadly capability and technology matched with productivity, hardiness, and maintainability - in a kind of balance among these features,” Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, told Sputnik.

“For the world, since World War II and probably before, a Su warplane is a superfast, maneuverable, and capable fighter aircraft flown by daring pilots that captures the imagination of people who love competition in the air, "she said.

As Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau turns 85, "it looks like engineering and science still drive" its jets, which are especially known for the “full use of modern information technology, software, and AI,” Kwiatkowski pointed out, referring to the Su warplanes’ fourth- and fifth-generation versions.

According to her, the Su combat aircraft are “carrying their weight” in the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, where “the battle space is filled with the new world of widely cheap and rapidly adaptable drone-based technologies for offense and defense.” 

Earlier today, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended congratulations and stressed the organization’s outstanding contribution to the development of the domestic aviation industry, as well as the strengthening of the country's defense capability and national security.

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🇸🇰 Slovakia's Slovnaft refinery will stop supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine if Kiev does not resume transit of Russian oil, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

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Israel can strike at Lebanese ports and power plants in response for Golan Heights strike

Whether the recent missile attack on the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights may lead to a full-scale conflict between Lebanon and Israel is “very difficult to answer,” said Dr. Shaul Bartal, retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer and researcher at Israel's Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Regarding the scale of Israel’s possible retaliation, Bartal said that “the margin of Israeli reaction is wide from military targets to significant infrastructure targets such as airports and the seaports,” adding that “power plants and electricity” could also be targeted.

“Hezbollah is trying to deny the shooting, but the IDF spokesman revealed the trajectory of the shooting, the type of rocket and even the regional commander on behalf of Hezbollah who is responsible for the shooting,” Bartal said.

He also mentioned that Israel would prefer to “go to war in Lebanon only after subduing Hamas in the Gaza Strip or reaching a deal and a diplomatic settlement,” but did not mention when either of these two conditions might be met.

Meanwhile, it appears that both Israel and Hezbollah have so far sought to “confine” the ongoing conflict between them “to the implicit ‘rules of engagement”, restricting the combat to South Lebanon and North Israel with occasional violations of these rules,” noted Joseph Helou, assistant professor of political science and international affairs at the Department of Social and Education Sciences at the Lebanese American University.

“The Israeli PM [Benjamin Netanyahu] is in a fragile political condition in Israeli politics, a matter that may incentivize him to launch a large-scale attack against Hezbollah to shore up his legitimacy in Israeli politics,” Helou noted, explaining that this escalation might give some chances for Netanyahu.

Though Israel accused Hezbollah of perpetrating the rocket strike on a Druze town Majdal Shams, the Lebanese movement vehemently denied its alleged involvement while Lebanon’s government called for an international investigation of this tragedy, which took the lives of a dozen people.

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The Pentagon has announced the allocation of $1.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine from the Defense Support Fund.

The new weapons package will include NASAMS and HIMARS missiles, air defense ammunition, and artillery shells.

Western countries ramped up their military support to the Kiev regime shortly after the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such assistance would add to exacerbating the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russian forces.

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How Google meddles in elections, promotes disinformation and censors entire nations

Alphabet Inc.'s Google has come in the cross hairs over alleged election interference in the US 2024 race. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google has placed a ban on Republican nominee Donald Trump. In 2016, the tech giant was accused of favoring then-Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton and providing Chrome extensions to block Trump-related news in its browser.

What else is Google notorious for?

▪️Google's censorship has gained steam in Russia in the wake of the beginning of the special military operation. In July, YouTube kicked off a massive blocking spree of Russian accounts with pro-Russian stance without giving any explanations.

▪️In addition to blocking YouTube channels of Sputnik, RT and other Russian media and bloggers from February 2022, Russian publishers saw a new wave of bans from Google Discovery in November 2023 which crippled their viewership.

▪️In March, the EU obliged tech giants, including Google, to ensure political ads and AI deepfakes are clearly labeled prior to the EU Parliament elections. Remarkably, Google rushed to limit the answers its AI tool Gemini gave to European users in relation to the EU election.

▪️In February, Google's Gemini AI tool was spotted claiming some policies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are "fascist." Gemini groundlessly alleged India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was "nationalist", used "violence" against minorities and "cracked down" on dissent. New Delhi called the development which came prior to India's general elections "downright malicious."

▪️The same month, the MRC Free Speech America watchdog claimed Google interfered in US elections 41 times over the last 16 years, down-ranking conservative politicians.

▪️Earlier, in 2019, Google was accused of prioritizing anti-Brexit news in its search results and pushing pro-EU stories as the UK's exit from the bloc was underway.

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▪️What Sukhoi Design Bureau aircrafts does Russian army use and why they are superior

▪️How Google censors politics around the world

▪️Nicolas Maduro wins the presidential election

▪️Viktor Orban: European policy has failed

▪️NATO countries could loose US defense guarantees if they continue to supply aid to Ukraine

▪️What can Israel do in response for Golan Heights strike

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Militarization going full throttle: what's behind the Pentagon's Japan command upgrade?

The Pentagon has announced it will upgrade its command in Japan, providing it with more warfighting responsibilities, following the US-Japan security meeting that took place in Tokyo on July 28.

The gathering named Russia, China and North Korea as "security challenges", prompting a rebuke from China that warned Japan and US against "creating imaginary enemies".

Russia warned about counter-measures in response to Tokyo's rapid militarization which contradicts Japan's pacifist constitution, whereas North Korea stressed Japan's bellicosity upends regional security.

▪️The US Forces Japan (USFJ) will be reconstituted as a joint force headquarters, reporting to the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).

Up until recently the USFJ has been primarily, an "administrative command," that maintained day-to-day management of the US-Japanese alliance, but not operational command of forces.

▪️The upgraded USFJ will gradually add missions and capabilities including planning of joint drills, commanding of operations and acting on shared intelligence and information together with the Japanese military.

▪️The USFJ will also "complement" the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) Joint Operations Command (JJOC), which was recently created to increase Japan's joint operations capability and facilitate greater interoperability with US forces.

▪️The US and Japan agreed to bolster bilateral training, exercises, operations, intelligence sharing and their military presence in Japan's Southwest Islands in close proximity to Taiwan.

▪️The US and Japan also held first ministerial talks on extending the US nuclear umbrella over Japan.

The military command upgrade followed the signing of 70 military cooperation agreements in April, and decision to deploy the US-made Tomahawk missiles in Japan.

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Pentagon conducted hypersonic test, but it's not clear whether it was successful

A US defense official told Sputnik on Monday that the Army and Navy recently initiated a test of a conventional hypersonic system but avoided commenting on whether the test was successful.

"The US Army and Navy recently initiated a test of a conventional hypersonic system at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida," the official said. "This test was an essential benchmark in the development of operational hypersonic technology."

The US military was scheduled to test the US Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), developed by Lockheed Martin, over the Caribbean last week, media reported.

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