Important Takeaways:
- President Biden has made his “biggest blunder” yet by driving China and Russia into a closer strategic partnership through his faulty foreign policy
- Heritage Foundation senior fellow Michael Pillsbury argued on “Fox & Friends” that the “shocking” relationship the two nuclear world powers have fostered never would have happened under the Trump administration
- Putin visited Xi in Beijing to strengthen bilateral relations and garner additional support for the war in Ukraine
- China has vowed “resolute measures” against the U.S. in retaliation for Biden’s newly announced tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden signs Russian uranium ban
- Why it matters: The U.S. spends an estimated $1 billion per year on nuclear fuel from Russia, so the new law cuts off a key source of revenue as Putin’s forces escalate their war on Ukraine and drive military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s.
- Congress moved to ban Russian oil, gas and coal soon after the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, but Russia supplies about 20% of its enriched uranium for U.S. nuclear fuel.
- The legislation could shake up the industry’s supply and initiating nuclear fuel supply programs will be crucial for the Biden administration to avoid industry disruptions and obstacles for the next generation of reactors, Axios’ Nick Sobczyk reports.
- Zoom in: The measure, dubbed the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, unlocks $2.7 billion in new funding for nuclear fuel supply programs at the Department of Energy.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia warns it is ready for direct conflict if the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield – as Swedish PM says he is open to hosting nukes ‘in a war situation’
- If the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia is prepared for it, the country’s foreign minister declared today.
- ‘It’s their right – if they want it to be on the battlefield, it will be on the battlefield,’ Sergei Lavrov said in comments carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti.
- His statement comes months after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out the possibility that Western troops could one day be sent to Ukraine, and weeks ago said he could send troops if Russian forces break through the front lines.
- Lavrov made the warning as Sweden’s Prime Minister said he would be willing to host Western nuclear weapons should war break out.
- Leaked German documents have also suggested Berlin may be planning to introduce mandatory military service for men and women aged 18.
- The war of words between Moscow and the West dialed up as Russian troops pummeled 30 towns in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region after launching a surprise ground offensive over the border last week.
- RIA also cited him as saying that peace talks on Ukraine due to take place in Switzerland next month without Russia’s participation amounted to an ultimatum to Moscow.
- He compared the situation to ‘a reprimand for a schoolchild’ whose fate was being decided by teachers while he was out of the room.
- ‘You can’t talk to anyone like that, especially to us,’ Lavrov said. ‘The conference… boils down to restating an ultimatum to Russia.’
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine warns northern front has ‘significantly worsened’ as Russia claims capture of several villages
- Ukraine’s top general says the situation in the northern Kharkiv region has “significantly worsened” after Russia claimed to have captured four further villages as it expanded its surprise cross-border offensive.
- A Ukrainian regional official insisted Russia’s progress was not yet “significant” but admitted ground fighting in the area was spreading. Meanwhile, speaking on British television, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron acknowledged it was an “extremely dangerous moment,” adding that Russia had effectively “invaded [Ukraine] again.”
- The precise goal of Russia’s new push – which began in the early hours of Friday morning – is unclear. It may be to create a buffer zone designed to reduce Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, or possibly even a renewed assault on the city of Kharkiv, 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the south.
- Equally, it could be an attempt to draw Ukrainian forces away from other key Russian objectives further south – which was the rationale Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered in his Sunday evening address.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Russian Military district responsible for occupying eastern Ukraine is to respond to “inflammatory statements… by some Western officials” by drilling with tactical nuclear weapons, Moscow has said.
- Russia claims Western provocations while launching a nuclear provocation of its own, saying it will drill its nuclear missile troops, air force, and ships to “practice employing non-strategic nuclear-weapons”. Also known as tactical weapons, the lower-yield atomic bombs are intended for battlefield use to destroy opposing armies and fortifications, rather than whole cities or industries, as with long-range strategic missiles.
- A statement by the Russian ministry of defense expressed the intentions of the exercise, while blaming Western states for it happening at all. Russian state media quoted the Kremlin as having said:
- The exercise aims to maintain the preparedness of troops and equipment for the combat employment of non-strategic nuclear weapons to react and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials against the Russian Federation…
- Kremlin media paraphrased this as the exercise being intended to be a retaliation against what it called “inflammatory statements and threats by some Western officials”
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia will face consequences for a cyberattack allegedly orchestrated by a group with ties to its military intelligence, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday.
- Germany has been among the Western nations providing Ukraine military support in its war with Russia
- In January 2023, Berlin said Russian activist hackers knocked several German websites offline in response to its decision to send tanks to Ukraine, although with little tangible effect.
- “We can now clearly attribute last year’s attack to the Russian group APT28, which is controlled by the Russian military intelligence service GRU”
- “In other words, Russian state hackers have attacked Germany in cyberspace,” added Baerbock, who is visiting Australia to meet counterpart Penny Wong. “This is completely unacceptable and will not remain without consequences.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Emmanuel Macron has said he would be prepared to send troops to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin’s forces break through the front lines – further raising the risk of NATO forces clashing with Russia’s armies.
- In an interview published today, the French president said the issue of sending troops would ‘legitimately’ arise if Kyiv and President Volodymyr Zelensky made such a request.
- The Economist said Macron gave the interview after delivering a keynote speech last week where he declared that Europe is ‘mortal’ and could ‘die’ partly due to the threat posed by Russian aggression after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- It also came as Russia claimed its forces had taken another town in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, with Moscow’s armies continuing to push against Kyiv’s defenses.
- Russia is rushing to advance against struggling Ukrainian forces ahead of the long-awaited arrival of the bulk of US weapons to the front for Kyiv’s outgunned troops.
- ‘I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,’ Macron said when asked if he stood by comments earlier this year not excluding the sending of Western troops that sent shockwaves around Europe.
- Such a move would see NATO troops go head-to-head with those in the Russian army, dramatically increasing the risk of an escalation.
- ‘I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine,’ Macron said.
- ‘If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe,’ he warned.
- ‘Who can pretend that Russia will stop there? What security will there be for the other neighboring countries, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and the others?’
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Important Takeaways:
- Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.
- No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.
- Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.
- Hal Turner Snap Analysis
- Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent, like it’s a cultural program.
- My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part — Poland didn’t actually “request” anything.
- They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.
- The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia has warned that Poland will make itself a ‘priority target’ if it hosts NATO nuclear weapons on its territory. In a Thursday statement Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said “Moves in this direction will not provide greater security (for Poland or other nations that host such weapons).” He was further quoted in Russian media as saying:
- Moscow considers any expansion of NATO’s nuclear-sharing arrangement as “deeply destabilizing” in nature, “and in fact threatening” Russia, Ryabkov was quoted as saying by TASS on Thursday. This applies to joint missions, where non-nuclear members of the US-led bloc are trained to use American hardware, and even more so to the permanent stationing of such weapons “which hotheads in Warsaw are talking about,” he said.
- In follow-up, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stipulated that “any nuclear weapons deployed to Poland would be legitimate targets in the event of war with the alliance.” Russian media translations said Moscow would see this as a “priority target”.
- While three NATO members are officially nuclear weapons states – the United States, France and the United Kingdom – others are authorized to host nukes (typically ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons). They are Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
- Apparently, Poland is now throwing its name in the hat for NATO’s nuclear-sharing program, which would expand Western nuke placement right up to Russia’s backyard.
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Important Takeaways:
- US reveals it quietly sent Ukraine missile systems that could hit Russia as Pentagon announces $1B aid package
- Minutes after signing a long-delayed $95 billion foreign assistance supplemental bill into law, President Biden promised that aid would begin rolling to Ukraine within “a few hours.”
- Moments later, the Pentagon released an announcement detailing the critical weapons and military equipment it was sending to the besieged country.
- While most of the equipment in the initial package fulfills basic military needs — and includes anti-aircraft missiles, small arms, artillery rounds, and night vision gear — national security adviser Jake Sullivan revealed that the US had quietly sent Ukraine Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) weeks ago, despite the White House saying there was no funding left for such assistance.
- GOP leaders had successfully advocated for ATACMS to be included in future packages if the supplemental passed, senior House Republican staff told The Post last week.
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