Although US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris cannot agree on a date and place for their future debates, let's imagine for a moment what we're going to witness either on September 4, 10 or whenever.

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US Central Command chief Gen. Michael Kurilla arrived in the Middle East on Saturday and is expected to visit the Gulf states, Jordan and Israel.

As US media claims, his aim is "to mobilize a coalition to protect Israel amid preparations for a possible Iranian attack."

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🎥 WATCH: Russian Su-25 attack aircraft carried out a strike with S-8 unguided rockets, destroying a stronghold and enemy manpower in Battlegroup Vostok’s area of responsibility.

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Trump congratulates Putin on another great deal,’ commenting on historic prisoner swap

Former US President Donald Trump called the historic prisoner swap between the US and Russia as a “great deal” negotiated by Vladimir Putin. The Republican presidential nominee, who has always taken pride in his own dealmaking skills, appeared to imply that Putin had outsmarted US officials regarding the terms of the swap.

“By the way, I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal,” Trump said at a rally in Georgia on Saturday. “Did you see the deal we made? Now look, we want to get people in. We got 59 hostages — I never paid anything.”

Deriding the deal as inferior to those he made during his own presidency, Trump leveled a broadside at the Biden administration, saying:

“And we got our people back, but boy, we made some horrible, horrible deals.” Earlier, Trump called the swap a "win for Putin" on Fox News, saying:
“As usual, it was a win for Putin or any other country that deals with us.”

The historic swap took place on August 1 after the United States, Russia, Germany, and other Western countries struck a deal for a 24-person prisoner swap, one of the largest prisoner exchange agreements since the end of the Cold War. As a result, eight Russians detained and held in custody in a number of NATO countries returned home. Russia, in turn, released 16 people, including seven Russian and five German citizens.

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Elon Musk speculates that civil war is ‘inevitable’ in violence-gripped UK

US billionaire Elon Musk has speculated that the UK is heading for civil war. Musk weighed in on the wave of violence sweeping across the country amid uncontrolled migration and soaring crime, posting on X a succinct post that read, “Civil war is inevitable.”

The Tesla CEO and owner of X made the comment under one of many videos showing scenes of unrest gripping towns and cities in Britain during the past days. The latest wave of interethnic violence was triggered by a recent tragedy in the town of Southport, where a 17-year-old teen of Rwandan origin stabbed three girls to death on July 29. Police arrested dozens of people on Saturday, as projectiles and fireworks were set off, and storefronts set on fire. Footage posted on social media shows crowds chanting anti-immigrant slogans such as “stop the boats” in Liverpool, in a reference to the dinghies used by asylum seekers to cross the English Channel to the UK. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel denounced Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Party for complacency amid the riots, writing on X that Parliament ought to be recalled from summer break.

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◾️ Trump congratulates Vladimir Putin on ‘another great deal’

◾️ Lebanon fires missiles towards Israel, intercepting most of them

◾️ US Central Command chief arrives in the Middle East, likely aims to bolster Israeli allies’ cohesion

◾️ United States reinforces its military presence in Syria

◾️ Elon Musk forecasts civil war in UK

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Zelensky changing tack on talks with Russia amid military failures, public discontent - French politician

Failures on the battlefield and public discontent are increasingly piling pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky, forcing him to pursue negotiations with Russia, the leader of French Eurosceptic party The Patriots said Saturday.

"Zelensky has been forced to completely turn around in the face of popular discontent among Ukrainians and setbacks on the front," Florian Philippot posted on the social media platform X.

"He now wants Russia to participate in peace summits. Territorial concessions are no longer a taboo for him: it suddenly becomes possible! He has realized that the flow of Western weapons is drying up, and that it might soon all be over," he continued.

While Philippot speculated at the end of his post whether peace was “finally possible,” ha also warned:

“But watch out for the NATO hawks ready for anything!” In an interview with French media this week, Zelensky broached the possibility of starting negotiations with Russia, as polling shows surging support among the Ukrainian public for abandoning claims to new Russian territory in order to "achieve peace.”

Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for peace negotiations, but noted that Zelensky, during his time as a legitimate president, banned himself from any negotiations with Russia.

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Russia and US avoid escalation as Washington gets signal from Moscow’s military leadership

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has delivered a “signal” to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and the sides have managed to avoid another escalation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Sunday.

Belousov and Austin held a phone conversation about the situation in Ukraine on July 25.

"The signal that was sent from the Russian side to Washington and, I take it, not only to Washington but also to some other capitals controlled by Washington, has reached Washington. We have avoided a new escalation," Ryabkov told Russian media.

At the same time, Russia does not rule out the deployment of nuclear-armed missiles in response to the US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the deputy foreign minister stressed.

Russia will elaborate on retaliatory military measures towards the US, choosing from a wide range of possible options, Ryabkov added

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❗️Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the village of Novoselovka Pervaya in the Donetsk People's Republic – Russian Defense Ministry

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❗️Ukraine lost up three tanks, including two Leopards in combat with the Russian Zapad Battlegroup. A US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system radar station was hit – Russian Defense Ministry

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

▫️ Ukraine lost up to 490 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone;

▫️ The Russian Sever Battlegroup struck four enemy brigades, repelled two counterattacks and inflicted losses of up to 190 militants on the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▫️ Ukraine lost up to 690 militants in battle with the Russian Yug Battlegroup;

▫️ Russian forces hit a fuel depot and a UAV depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▫️ More than 160 drones, including 82 outside the special military operation zone, were destroyed by air defenses.

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Biden asked Netanyahu to ‘stop bullsh*tting’ him during call on ceasefire talks after Haniyeh killing

Joe Biden asked Benjamin Netanyahu to stop putting him on during their Thursday phone after the Israeli prime minister told him Tel Aviv was preparing to send a delegation to resume talks with Hamas following Wednesday’s assassination of the Palestinian militia’s chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh.

“Stop bullsh*tting me,” Biden said, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. “Don’t take the president for granted,” Biden reportedly added at the end of their conversation.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not comment on the report, except to say that Netanyahu “does not intervene in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, and expects Americans to also not intervene in Israeli politics.”

According to the New York Times, Biden told the Israeli leader the Haniyeh killing was “poorly timed,” with Washington seeking an “endgame” to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release. Axios said Biden communicated to Netanyahu that he should not expect the US to keep bailing Israel out if it continues to escalate tensions in the region.

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75-year-old woman killed in Shebekino when Ukrainian UAV flew into her window

The town near Belgorod was attacked twice on Sunday morning. As a result of the shelling, two men were wounded and a woman was killed, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Gladkov said the grounds of a social facility and a residential area were hit by drones.

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Destruction of ageing NATO F-16s delivered to Ukraine will boost Russia's image

Deliveries of ageing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will play into Russia's hands and improve its image, and Russian President Vladimir Putin “would savor the image that destroying F-16s from NATO countries would bring,” The Independent reported.

Russia’s Armed Forces will likely “destroy the F-16s on the ground with long-range missiles,” predicted the news site, while Russia’s Su-35 fighter jets would be “one of the biggest threats” to the US-made aircraft, as well as sophisticated air surveillance radars.

Russia’s advanced air defense systems would also make it too risky for Ukraine to try to use the jets to support its troops on the front line, analysts quoted by the website acknowledged.

The fact that Kiev’s pilots have only had a nine-month training “crash course” on flying the F-16, compared to the typical three-year conversion Western pilots receive, also has raised concerns.

Ukraine recently received a handful of F-16s from the Netherlands. Although Europe promised to provide Kiev with more over the next few months, every previous so-called ‘game-changing’ weapon failed to turn the tide, as Russia had an effective countermeasure ready and waiting for each of them.

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