Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu Renews Israel Victory Pledge as Biden Calls for Ceasefire, Two-State Solution
- The U.S. and Israel stand at a diplomatic and military crossroads.
- Israel says it needs to finish the war against Hamas in the key Gazan city of Rafah, yet the U.S. is threatening that Israel won’t be able to use American weapons if Israel launches its military campaign against the Hamas stronghold.
- On the northern border, Hezbollah continues to fire rocket volleys on Israeli communities.
- In his State of the Union address, President Biden put the burden on Israel to protect Gazans.
- “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards under hospitals, daycare centers, and all the like. Israel also has a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza,” Biden declared.
- He added what he says is the solution: “As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution (between Israel and the Palestinians) over time.”
- To increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, the administration announced plans to construct a port in Gaza
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Important Takeaways:
- Just over half of Americans over the age of 65 are earning under $30,000 a year, and it shows how stark the retirement crisis is
- There’s a retirement crisis looming for many Americans — and some are already living on scant incomes. Retirement becoming a luxury for Americans hoping to get a reprieve in their later years is something a handful of lawmakers are hoping to change.
- The report cited the National Retirement Risk Index which found that around half of households “will not be able to maintain their pre-retirement living standard,” and 56% of low-income households — and 45% of those who are middle-income — were “at risk” of not maintaining those pre-retirement standards at age 65.
- Even more glaringly, 73% of those in the bottom group of wealth holders were similarly at risk, compared to 28% of those in the highest wealth group.
- And, for some, the retirement crisis is already here. Just over half of Americans over the age of 65 are living on incomes of $30,000 or less a year, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The largest share — just under 23% — have incomes between $10,000 and $19,999.
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Important Takeaways:
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday warned France that Russia has “no more red lines” for the country.
- His warning was directed at French President Emmanuel Macron, who earlier in the day reaffirmed Paris’ firm support for Kyiv in its war against Russia’s invading forces while meeting with France’s other party leaders at the Elysee Palace.
- Le Monde reported that after the meeting, Fabien Roussel—national secretary of the French Communist Party—said Macron had expressed how “France’s position has changed” regarding the war, and that “there are no more red lines, there are no more limits.
- Medvedev addressed the report from the French newspaper in a threatening X post.
- “Macron has said, ‘there are no more red lines, there are no more limits’ in terms of supporting Ukraine (Le Monde). Then that means, Russia has no more red lines left for France,” Medvedev wrote.
- The Kremlin official then added, “In hostem omina licita,” a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “everything is legal if it is done to an enemy.”
- “Nothing should be excluded,” the French President said, following a gathering of Ukraine’s backers in Paris on February 26. “We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has been certified to carry thermonuclear weapons as tensions between Russia and NATO hit a breaking point.
- The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has become the first stealth fighter of its class to be green-lit to carry nuclear weapons.
- A spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office told Breaking Defense: “The F-35A is the first 5th generation nuclear-capable aircraft ever, and the first new platform (fighter or bomber) to achieve this status since the early 1990s.
- The move comes as tensions between NATO and Russia continue to escalate
- On Thursday, Sweden officially joined the NATO alliance, breaking from decades of neutrality
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. Embassy in Moscow early Friday warned of an “imminent” extremist attack in Russia and alerted American citizens that they may be in danger.
- The warning comes a day after Russian authorities said they killed Islamic State militants who were plotting a terrorist attack on a Moscow synagogue.
- “The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said in a brief statement on its website.
- On Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it foiled a planned attack against a Moscow synagogue. FSB officials said that an Islamic State cell had plans to kill worshippers at the synagogue, according to media reports.
- “During their arrest, the terrorists put up armed resistance against FSB officers, and as a result, they were neutralized by return fire,” the FSB said in a statement, according to English-language media accounts.
- “Firearms, ammunition, as well as components for creating improvised explosive devices were found and seized,” the security service said.
- Russian officials said the attack was being planned by the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-K.
- That group is believed to have been responsible for the August 2021 suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. Marines at the Kabul airport during America’s frantic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West threatens nuclear war if the alliance sends troops to Ukraine.
- During his State of the Union address on Thursday, Putin claimed NATO and the US are preparing to “strike Russian territory”.
- He added: “They must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that?”
- Putin also claimed that his new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is ready for the Russian military to use.
- With Putin’s saber-rattling reaching new levels, the map below shows the 14 locations in the US Russia would likely target in a nuclear war.
- The Pentagon
- Naval Station Norfolk
- Comfort Suites Kings Bay Naval Base Area
- Barksdale Air Force Base
- Whiteman Air Force Base
- United States Strategic Command
- VLF Array Lualualei
- Kirtland Air Force Base
- 21st Force Support Squadron
- Warren Air Force Base
- Minot Air Force Base
- Hill Air Force Base
- Malmstrom Air Force Base
- Naval Radio Station Jim Creek
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Important Takeaways:
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans Wednesday to send the National Guard to the New York City subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
- Hochul, a Democrat, said she will deploy 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the New York Police Department with bag checks at entrances to busy train stations.
- The move came as part of a larger effort from the governor’s office to address crime in the subway. She also floated a legislative proposal to ban people from trains for three years if they are convicted of assaulting a subway passenger and said officials would install cameras in conductor cabins to protect transit workers.
- The governor said she will also send 250 state troopers and police officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, to help with the bag searches.
- Overall, crime has dropped in New York City since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and killings are down on the subway system. But rare fatal shootings and shoving’s on the subway can put residents on edge. Just last week, a passenger slashed a subway conductor in the neck, delaying trains.
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Important Takeaways:
- Haiti violence sees police ‘attacked with machetes’ as gangs wreak havoc in Port-au-Prince
- Describing the violence in the country, a journalist on the ground told Daily Express US that cannibalism has been witnessed on the streets as the violence reaches “unprecedented” levels.
- Speaking anonymously, they said: “Haiti is living in a total chaotic situation right now. It is total chaos everywhere, especially in the capital where I am right now.
- “Haiti has a leader, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, but he is not inside the country right now. In the meantime, you have gangs waging full attacks on key institutions.
- “You also have attacks on police stations. On February 28 a police station was attacked. The officers were in there for three hours crying for help, and after that, we saw images of officers being cut by machetes being shared on social media.
- “The gangs are heavily armed with guns from the US, but they are also equipped with high-level technology like drones.
- “The level of violence is unprecedented. The gangs seemingly want to kill as many people as they can. They are in a fear campaign where they want to appear as murderous and as violent as possible.”
- He continued: “For instance, we have seen images of gang leaders eating people they have killed. We have seen images of people being tortured when they are kidnapped.
- “It is senseless. The goal here is not just to ensue fear, but to paralyze people mentally. This is a message that Haiti is under the total control of gangs.”
- Henry is an unpopular acting Prime Minister of Haiti who has been criticized for failing to quell the gangs. He was never elected into his role and is now losing the trust of the country’s population.
- He left the country last week, and his whereabouts remain unclear
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Important Takeaways:
- Allowing illegal migrants into the US military as a means of granting them citizenship will lead the country towards inevitable collapse, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
- In the clip, Carlson recalled the fall of the Roman Empire, stating that while historians have long debated the reasons for the collapse of one of history’s most powerful empires, one fact has been “pretty obvious.”
- “The roman military, its legions, became dominated by non-citizens, who in the end, because they weren’t loyal to Rome, turned against Rome’s citizens,” he explained.
- Carlson went on to say that this course of events was similar to what is currently happening in the US, which he claims has been “flooded” with illegal aliens – over 7.2 million since President Joe Biden entered office, according to the White House’s official estimates. “That number is greater than the population of 32 states,” he noted.
- But the main issue, according to the former Fox News host, is that instead of deporting illegal immigrants, Congress is entertaining the idea of enlisting them into the US military. One such proposal is the Courage to Serve Act introduced by Pat Ryan, a Democratic congressman from New York.
- The bill would offer “qualified and vetted migrants” an expedited path towards citizenship if they serve in the military, Ryan said, noting that the US military fell short of its recruiting goals by around 41,000 in 2023.
- Carlson, however, vehemently rejected the idea, arguing that the military’s struggle to meet recruiting goals is the result of intentionally alienating white American men who have always made up the majority of the country’s fighting force.
- But instead of addressing these issues and figuring out why young Americans don’t want to join the armed forces, Calrson claimed that Congress has decided to “allow an invasion of the country, not use the military to stop it, and then populate the military with people who are invading the country and hope for the best.”
- Former US President Donald Trump warned last month that America would collapse if Joe Biden remains in office following this year’s presidential election, suggesting that the country will have over 18 million illegal migrants by the end of the year.
- “With four more years of Biden, the hordes of illegal aliens stampeding across our borders will exceed 40 to 50 million people”
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Important Takeaways:
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will drop out of the Republican presidential primary race on Wednesday, multiple sources claimed, handing former President Donald Trump the GOP nomination.
- During her campaign, Haley spent more than $114 million against Trump to only win Vermont and Washington, DC, Federal Election Commission (FEC) data from the latest report on February 2 shows.
- More than 75 percent of the money she raised during the campaign was from large donors, Open Secrets figured. While she invested zero dollars in her own campaign, Haley accepted donations from Democrats, including Democrat billionaire donor Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn.
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