Important Takeaways:
- Kremlin threatens use of nuclear weapons in retaliation for drone strike on Moscow skyscrapers: Putin ally warns there is ‘no other way out’ after attack on business district that closed Russian airspace and left one injured
- The Kremlin today bluntly threatened use of nuclear weapons in the wake of the Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow’s skyscraper zone.
- Three drones struck an elite office building and residential skyscraper in Moscow early Sunday morning in what Russia’s Defense Ministry has branded an ‘attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime’.
- Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and Putin ally, has warned there is ‘simply no other way out’ and said that Kyiv should ‘pray to our warriors’ that they do not ‘allow the global nuclear fire to flare up’.
- Moscow said it had brought down three Ukrainian drones early on Sunday that had been trying to attack the capital. It also claimed its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 25 drones overnight.
- Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, has been targeted by Kyiv throughout Moscow’s Ukraine offensive but has come under more intense, increased attacks in recent weeks. Kyiv has repeatedly said it plans to take Crimea back.
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Important Takeaways:
- Zelensky Says ‘War’ Coming To Russia After Moscow Drone Attack
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that “war” was coming to Russia after three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow.
- “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” Zelensky said on a visit to the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
- “Ukraine is getting stronger,” he added, warning however that the country should prepare for new attack on energy infrastructure in winter.
- “But we must be aware that, just as last year, Russian terrorists can still attack our energy sector and critical facilities this winter,” Zelensky said, adding that preparations for “all possible scenarios” were discussed in Ivano-Frankivsk.
- Zelensky spoke after three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early on Sunday, the Russian defense ministry said. The attack damaged two office towers and briefly shut an international airport.
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Important Takeaways:
- Japan raises alarm over China’s military, Russia ties and Taiwan tensions in new defense paper
- The Japanese government stepped up its alarm over Chinese assertiveness, warning in a report issued Friday that the country faces its worst security threats since World War II as it plans to implement a new strategy that calls for a major military buildup.
- The 2023 defense white paper, approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet, is the first since the government adopted a controversial new National Security Strategy in December, seen as a break from Japan’s postwar policy limiting the use of force to self-defense.
- China, Russia and North Korea contribute to “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” according to the 510-page report. It says China’s external stance and military activities have become a “serious concern for Japan and the international community and present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge.”
- On Thursday, Russian and Chinese delegates joined North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in North Korea’s capital for a military parade that showed off the country’s latest drones and long-range nuclear-capable missiles.
- Russia and China have also stepped up strategic ties
- The report predicted that China will possess 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 and increase its military superiority over Taiwan, in what Japan views as a security threat, especially to its southwestern islands including Okinawa.
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Important Takeaways:
- China is helping Russia evade Western sanctions and likely providing Moscow with military and dual-use technology for use in Ukraine, according to an unclassified U.S. intelligence report released on Thursday.
- “The PRC is providing some dual-use technology that Moscow’s military uses to continue the war in Ukraine, despite an international cordon of sanctions and export controls,” the ODNI report said.
- It also said China has become “an even more critical partner” of Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year.
- China has increased it importation of Russia energy exports, including oil and gas rerouted from Europe, the report said.
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Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- Wheat prices soar as Russia-Ukraine tensions flare
- Global inflation is finally coming down, but heightened geopolitical tensions could mean that food is about to get a lot more expensive.
- Wheat futures soared by nearly 9% on Wednesday and are on track to hit their highest level in three weeks as tensions in Europe rise following Russia’s surprise decision to pull out of a crucial deal allowing the export of grain from Ukraine.
- Corn futures were also nearly 2% higher on Tuesday as traders feared an impending supply crunch of the staple foods.
- Moscow’s withdrawal from the wartime deal on Monday threatens to push up food prices for consumers worldwide and could tip millions of people into hunger.
- The White House said the deal had been “critical” to bringing down food prices around the globe, which spiked after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
- “Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative will worsen food insecurity and harm millions of vulnerable people around the world,” Adam Hodge, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said in a statement.
- Tensions between the two countries heightened on Wednesday, limiting the possibility that the deal to export critical commodities across the Black Sea will be restarted.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
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- Watching Asia-Pacific leaders mingle with their European counterparts at the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week, U.S. strategists might well have lit up celebratory cigars.
- While the media attention in Vilnius inevitably focused on the war in Ukraine, the fate of Sweden’s bid to join and other matters closer to home, the representation of major East Asian democracies at the Western military alliance gathering heralds a major shift, a sign of the rising unity of the U.S.-allied democracies on both flanks of the Eurasian landmass.
- For the second straight year, leaders of the Asia-Pacific 4 (“AP4”) — Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea — turned up at NATO’s annual summit. The Japanese and South Korean militaries both rank in the world’s top 10 in the latest Global Firepower’s 2023 survey.
- NATO leaders, in their final summit communique, wrote: “The Indo-Pacific is important for NATO, given that developments in that region can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security. … We welcome the contribution of our partners in … the region. We will further strengthen our dialogue and cooperation to tackle our shared security challenges.”
- In a bit of diplomatic irony, it was the warming ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that helped accelerate the East-West coalition building against them.
- “With China and Russia announcing a ‘no-limits partnership’ shortly before the invasion [of Ukraine]…the balancing coalitions at either end of Eurasia became strongly linked together,” said Joel Atkinson, an international politics professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Moscow can’t ignore the nuclear capability of US-designed F-16 fighter jets that may be supplied to Ukraine by its Western backers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
- By continuing to provide more sophisticated arms to Kiev, “the US and its NATO satellites create the risk of a direct armed confrontation with Russia, and this may lead to catastrophic consequences,” Lavrov warned in his interview with Lenta.ru on Wednesday.
- The plans to supply F-16s to Kiev is yet another example of an escalatory move by the West and in itself is “an extremely dangerous development,” he stated.
- “We have informed the nuclear powers – the US, UK and France – that Russia can’t ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons,” the foreign minister continued.
- “No assurances [by the West] will help here,” he warned. In the midst of fighting, the Russian military isn’t going to investigate whether any specific jet is equipped to deliver nuclear weapons or not, he added.
- “The very fact of the appearance of such systems within the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be considered by us as a threat from the West in the nuclear domain,” Lavrov said.
- In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no doubt that the F-16s “will burn” once they’re delivered to Ukraine, just like what has happened to tanks and other Western-supplied weapons.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- A group of former senior U.S. national security officials have held secret talks with prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin — and, in at least one case, with the country’s top diplomat — with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine
- In a high-level example of the back-channel diplomacy taking place behind the scenes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, four former officials and two current officials told NBC News.
- Among the goals, they said, is to keep channels of communication with Russia open where possible and to feel out where there might be room for future negotiation, compromise and diplomacy over ending the war.
- The talks come amid mounting signs that the U.S. and its allies are eager to see Moscow and Kyiv move toward peace talks in the fall, after the completion of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin – who led a short-lived rebellion in Russia last month – is in Russia and not Belarus, the leader of Belarus says.
- In response to Mr Lukashenko’s remarks the Kremlin said it was “not following” Prigozhin’s movements.
- The BBC tracked Prigozhin’s private jet flying to Belarus in late June, and returning to Russia the same evening.
- In his address Mr. Lukashenko said he was not concerned about having Wagner fighters in Belarus, adding they would be in the country on “certain conditions”.
- Putin initially accused the group of treason, but under the deal that brought an end to the mutiny, Prigozhin was promised security and the Russian criminal case against Wagner was dropped.
- Its fighters were told they could either sign regular army contracts, go home or head to Belarus.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again warned Russia may be planning to “simulate an attack” the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, claiming that Russian troops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of buildings at the site.
- “There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a [radiation] release,” Zelenskiy said
- Russian troops seized the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, in February 2022. Each side has since regularly accused the other of shelling around the plant and risking a major nuclear mishap.
- While the reactors would be difficult to damage, according to former plant workers who spoke to the Guardian, the small cooling pond is vulnerable to an explosion, which could cause partial nuclear meltdown comparable to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US.
- Oleksiy Kovynyev, a former senior engineer, said that in this scenario, most radiation would be contained, but that if ventilation channels were opened, radiation could be released.
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