🛥War games show UK’s beleaguered flagship aircraft carriers ‘get sunk’ every time
 
In most war games carried out by the UK military, its costly flagship aircraft carriers “get sunk", The Times cited a source as saying. HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, commissioned into the Royal Navy in 2017 and 2019, respectively, together cost £6.2 billion. ($7.8 billion) to build but are reportedly vulnerable to missiles.

A “whole load of scenarios” was run during war games to test the Royal Navy’s “ability to survive” against an “overwhelming force", a British military source was quoted as saying, adding:

“We stretch everything to the limit. At some point you will get to a scenario where it [the carrier] is sunk.”

The report comes amid an ongoing Strategic Defence Review commissioned by Britain’s Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and overseen by the Defence Secretary John Healey. Both ministers and military chiefs have been pressured to implement cost-cutting measures due to financial constraints. Hence, large assets like the aircraft carriers are under heightened scrutiny to decide whether they are still a vital staple for modern warfare.

“There will be casualties,” a source hinted, indicating that the prospect of scrapping at least one of the carriers was raised.

Former Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Lee of Trafford told the outlet that the military was struggling to afford the requisite numbers of F-35 aircraft for the carriers, along with escort ships and support vessels.

Decades of defense cuts by successive British governments have left the country’s military understaffed and underequipped, resulting in delays in production and upgrades. The HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales have both been plagued by technical malfunctions, with humiliating breakdowns affecting Britain’s ability to participate in large-scale joint NATO drills.

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🇷🇺 Russian foreign ministry urges Germany to break with Nazi past as Baerbock calls to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced that “it's time finally find the strength to do what our partners are already doing” and send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took to Telegram to ask the German foreign minister some uncomfortable questions about the Nazi past.

1️⃣“First, isn’t it time to abolish the status of honorary resident to Hitler and other criminals of the Third Reich?” Zakharova asked, referring to the fact that many cities in western Germany have yet to “shy away from a legal break with the Nazi past” and continue to commemorate Nazi leaders with honorary noscripts.

2️⃣“Second, isn’t it time to rename German military bases named after Wehrmacht soldiers and officers?” the spokeswoman inquired, pointing out the Bundeswehr has about 40 barracks bearing the names of Nazi military leaders, including Adolf Heusinger, a general who helped planned the invasion of the USSR, who went on to chair the NATO Military Committee.

3️⃣“Third, isn’t it time to stop spending federal and regional budget money maintaining Nazi graves?” Zakharova asked, pointing out that graves, including of SS and NSDAP members, and even the former concentration camp commandants, are cared for at public expense.

4️⃣“Fourth, is it not time to stop supporting SS veterans at the legislative level in Germany?” the spokesman wondered, noting that “tens of thousands of former SS members and their relatives receive social benefits in Germany as ‘victims of war’.”

5️⃣“Fifth, isn’t it time for Germany to pay compensation to the survivors of the Leningrad Siege, no matter their nationality?” Zakharova asked, pointing out that while Berlin has agreed to pay the Siege’s Jewish victims, it continues to ignore “the suffering of the remaining residents of Leningrad,” and refuses to recognize the Siege as genocide, “even though historians estimate that more civilians died from the blockade than in the hell of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.”

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Biden arrived at the second day of the APEC Summit in Peru with a two-hour delay

During his absence, the seat bearing his nameplate was occupied by Daleep Singh, the US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, who is often referred to by the media as the "architect of sanctions against Russia."

The US delegation to the summit includes 600 military personnel, including US Marine Corps troops wearing bulletproof vests as they escort delegation members around the event. The US also brought helicopters and aircraft to Peru ahead of the summit.

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Russia halts gas deliveries to Austria

Russian gas giant Gazprom shut off deliveries of natural gas heading to Austria starting November 16, Austrian energy company OMV stated.

The move came after Austrian energy company OMV announced that it would stop paying for deliveries of Russian energy after winning an arbitration award from the International Chamber of Commerce related to a contractual dispute with the Russian gas giant.

🔸 Austria had relied on affordable and dependable pipeline-delivered Russian gas since the 1960s, with deliveries helping to ensure the Central European nation’s energy security, and fueling an ‘economic miracle’ which made Austria one of the wealthiest countries in the EU by per capita GDP.

🔸 As recently as July 2024, Austria was buying over 80% of its natural gas from Russia.

🔸 Vienna is now expected to buy gas from Germany, presumably paying a premium for the privilege, since Berlin itself now relies on imports of liquefied natural gas – which is more expensive owing to the need to transport it by ship, compress and decompress it.

🔸 Austria’s economy slipped into recession in 2023, with 3 in 4 local companies fearing deindustrialization, according to a recent Deloitte survey. Industry accounts for about 22% of Austria’s GDP. A prolonged shutoff of Russian gas would likely exacerbate the country’s economic woes, with European gas prices hitting their 2024 high late last month amid tight supply as winter approaches.

🔸 Although Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that Vienna had been “preparing” for Gazprom’s decision in a televised address to the nation Friday, his coalition government earlier announced plans to end Russian gas imports only by 2027.

🔸 The government suffered a dramatic defeat in elections in September, with the opposition Freedom Party of Austria winning 28.8% of the vote and a plurality of seats. Nehammer has vowed not to form a coalition with the opposition party, which has urged Vienna to keep Russian gas a part of Austria’s energy mix.

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🔸 Trump team to write off ‘Project Ukraine’ as sunk cost

🔸 Russia cuts uranium exports to US. What’s next?

🔸 Russia halts gas deliveries to Austria

🔸 Pentagon loses battle with auditors, fails seventh financial review in a row

🔸 What could Trump 2.0 mean for US healthcare?

🔸 War games show UK’s beleaguered flagship aircraft carriers ‘get sunk’ every time

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Who is Boris Epshteyn, Russian-born Trump lawyer reportedly floated as Ukraine peace negotiator?

Republican strategist, lawyer and long-time Donald Trump ally Boris Epshteyn had floated his name for the tough job of brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, the NYT has reported citing sources.

🔸 A Russian-American, Epshteyn was born in Moscow in 1982 and lived there as a child, a fact seized upon by Western and Ukrainian media concerned over his possible appointment to the peacemaker job, which Trump has reportedly heard out but has yet to agree to.

🔸 Epshteyn served as a senior advisor to the Trump campaign in 2016, and briefly, as an assistant communications director for the Trump White House until March 2017.

🔸 He’s also been one of Trump’s top legal advisors, helping to build the case against the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020, and coordinating Trump’s legal defense strategy in the criminal “witch-hunt” cases brought forward from 2023 on aimed at blocking the business mogul’s return to the White House.

🔸 Among the purported obstacles to Epshteyn's appointment are his lack of diplomatic experience and the case opened against him in Arizona over the 2020 election interference. Epshteyn has also been under the Russiagate probes swirling around Trump after 2016, coming up clean in investigations by the House Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department.

🔸 Epshteyn had reportedly previously expressed hopes to remain an outside advisor to Trump, but has now become a “significant gatekeeper” in his transition team, reportedly helping to finalize GOP lawyer William McGinley’s return to the White House as Trump’s counsel, and advocating for Congressman Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general.

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🔥🛢️ Ending the second day of occupying government buildings, the Abkhazian opposition lights fires in courtyards to keep warm at night.

The protesters have no intention of leaving, Sputnik reported from the scene.

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Trump nominates Chris Wright for Energy Secretary

Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, is known for his opposition to climate policies and his alignment with Trump's agenda to increase oil and gas production. Here's what Chris had to say about climate change in October of this year.

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Biden is shown his real place at the APEC summit

At the APEC family photo event in Peru, the 'leader of the free world' was placed in the back corner. Meanwhile, China's Xi takes center stage.

🔎 Can you even spot the old man?

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Xi Jinping: China is ready to work with Trump

Chinese President said at a meeting with Joe Biden at the APEC summit that China is ready to work with the new administration of President Donald Trump.

"China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples," he said.

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Xi Jinping: US should approach the Taiwan issue with special caution

Taiwan issue is a red line that cannot be crossed, Chinese President warned Joe Biden during their meeting in Peru.

"Peace on both sides of Taiwan Strait and separatism are as incompatible as fire and water," he added.

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Zelensky: Trump cannot force Ukraine to "sit and listen" at the negotiating table

Head of the Ukrainian regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that this approach won't work because Ukraine is "an independent country".

"His sense of humor is amazing," Elon Musk commented on X.

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First case of new strain of monkeypox confirmed in US - NY Post

Health officials in California report the first US patient infected with the clade 1 strain of monkeypox after traveling in Africa.

Although this strain is known to be more severe, the threat of the new disease remains a "very low" risk to the public, experts say.

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Trudeau comments on Putin-Scholz call

It's important to see an end to the violence in Ukraine, and that requires a certain level of engagement between the sides, Canadian Prime Minister said at the APEC summit.

Earlier, Zelensky called Putin-Scholz conversation a "Pandora's box" because it will make more leaders to communicate with the Russian side.

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🇷🇺🪖Russia’s forces possess initiative and advantage while Ukraine faces a ‘buffet of bad options’
 
Russian troops have the advantage on all fronts, and the “bad news keeps coming” for the Kiev regime, CNN has cited an analyst as saying.

“The Russians have the initiative across [the frontlines] right now; they have successfully exploited tactical gains and are reinforcing those tactical gains,” George Barros from the Institute for the Study of War told the outlet.

While Russia’s Armed Forces make gains at “key spots” along the frontlines in Ukraine, they are also preparing to launch a counteroffensive to push the remainder of Kiev’s forces from Russia’s border region of Kursk, he noted.

“The Russians are the ones taking action,” he underscored, adding that Ukraine was getting “boxed into a corner” and having to “choose from a buffet of bad options.”

The publication noted that the situation was particularly dire for Ukraine around Kupyansk.

A key city for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in the eastern part of the Kharkov region, Kupyansk straddles the Oskol River, which divides the city into two parts and serves as a natural defensive line and barrier.

Russia’s liberation of Kupyansk would create opportunities for crossing the Oskol River and advancing further west into the region.

Russian forces are solidifying their positions on the outskirts of Kupyansk in the Kharkov region, Vitaly Ganchev, head of the Russian administration in the area, told Sputnik on November 14, adding that assault groups are working to secure positions on the outskirts of Kupyansk.

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🪖Four unmanned boats heading for Russia's Crimean peninsula were destroyed overnight in the waters of the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🔹 Russia’s forces possess initiative and advantage while Ukraine faces a ‘buffet of bad options’

🔹 Who is Boris Epshteyn, Russian-born Trump lawyer reportedly floated as Ukraine peace negotiator?

🔹 Trump nominates Chris Wright for Energy Secretary

🔹 Xi Jinping: China is ready to work with Trump

🔹 First case of new strain of monkeypox confirmed in US - NY Post

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