🎉 Celebrating Lavrov's 75th birthday, let's reflect on the career of Russia’s top diplomat

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🇯🇵🪖 What is Japan's new Joint Operations Command and what does Taiwan have to do with it?

🔻Official goal

▪️The “permanent” command, due to be headed by General Kenichiro Nagumo, aims to coordinate the three branches of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) - ground, maritime and air.

▪️To date, the SDF has pursued a policy of responding to situations as they arise by organizing temporary joint task forces.

▪️The new force was formed in response to “the most complex security environment in the post-war era” to ensure “the smooth execution of the SDF’s missions," Defense Minister Minoru Kihara earlier stressed.

🔻Cooperation with US

▪️Last year, the White House unveiled plans to convert US forces in Japan into a joint force headquarters that will report to the commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, in close collaborationwith Japan’s Joint Operations Command.

▪️This came after the US and Japan reaffirmed bilateral ties as they referred to China as the “greatest strategic challenge” in the region.

▪️The development unfolds amid Japan’s push for a closer relationship with the AUKUS alliance (Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States).

🔻Taiwan issue

▪️The Japanese government earlier made it clear that the new command could grapple with risks of possible contingency in Taiwan, seen by China as an essential part of the mainland.

▪️Japan does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan due to the "One-China" policy, but maintains close unofficial ties with the island.

▪️Visiting Taiwan were several Japanese officials, including former and current lawmakers.

🔻China’s reaction

▪️"China always believes that military cooperation between states should be conducive to regional peace and stability,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, stressed.

▪️Liu warned these states against targeting any third party or harming the interests of this party.

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❌ 🪖 Globalists seek to kill Europe’s ‘future competitiveness’ through exorbitant military expenses

NATO intends to ask its European members to boost their military gear stocks by about 30%, Bloomberg claims, citing its sources.

Commenting on this development, German geopolitical analyst and AfD MP Dr. Rainer Rothfuss tells Sputnik that European countries today find themselves pressured by globalists and defense industry lobbyists pushing to ramp up military spending even as Trump in the US is doing the exact opposite.

Just as countries in the northern hemisphere have an opportunity to lower defense spending, “the globalists groups and lobbyist groups lobbying for defense industry interests have found the European countries where most pressure can be exerted where most successfully arms sales can still be increased.”

This situation, Dr. Rothfuss explains, does not bode well for Europe’s “FUTURE COMPETITIVENESS” because European powers need to spend more on education, research, development and civil infrastructure instead of military pursuits.

He also points out that the “globalists” currently spurring Europe to ramp up defense expenses are the ones who “lost control over the United States through the election of Trump.”

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🔎 US intel asset? Why Epstein files may never see the light of day

"It would be far too bitter a pill for the American public to swallow if we learned that the FBI and DOJ were complicit in Epstein’s crimes against children and women — despite the overwhelming evidence of that," Jason Goodman, a US investigative journalist and founder of CrowdSource the Truth, tells Sputnik.

The media and former intelligence operatives allege Epstein used underage girls as honey traps for politicians, raising key question of whether this was part of a US intelligence operation, potentially allowing for secrecy on national security grounds.

Goodman alleges accused sex trafficker Epstein was an asset of intelligence agencies, including that of Israel and the US:

▪️Epstein’s lenient 2008 plea deal raises suspicions that the US government was protecting him.

▪️"Epstein was also quite obviously operating freely within the US, apparently with the full knowledge and consent of the Department of Justice."

▪️The missing jailhouse surveillance footage on the day of his death in August 2019 suggests he became a liability for powerful figures.

The US Justice Department is unlikely to undermine America's image, hence the JFK files failed to become a bombshell, while the disclosure of Epstein documents "has been terribly handled from the start," Goodman said, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s February dump, which disappointed many by containing only previously known files.

"Declassifying flight logs and making big data dumps is fine for creating YouTube documentaries and the like, but I want to see lawfare criminals, corrupt judges, and nonprofit NGO hustlers prosecuted and incarcerated. Anything less is fluff," Goodman concludes, stressing that his expectations are extremely low.

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NATO acts as defense industry lobbyist in Europe

While the Ukraine conflict may be nearing its end, NATO continues pressuring allies to prioritize defense industry interests, says Dr. Rainer Rothfuss, German geopolitical analyst and AfD MP.

"This isn't aligned to the concept of democracy," he adds.

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