Russia Accuses NATO of Provoking Escalation in Baltic Sea
Sputnik – 13.07.2025
MOSCOW – Russia notes the line of NATO countries on restricting freedom of navigation in the Baltic region, the military-political situation has become significantly more complicated because of this, the risks of escalation have increased, Russian Ambassador to Oslo Nikolay Korchunov told Sputnik.
“We note the deliberate line of NATO member countries on restricting freedom of navigation in the region, launching for these purposes, under the pretext of threats to underwater infrastructure, among other things, the alliance’s mission ‘Baltic Sentinel,’ which is accompanied by the strengthening of the naval group operating in the open sea, as a result of which the military-political situation in the region has become significantly more complicated and the risks of possible escalation and conflict have increased,” Korchunov said in an interview with the agency.
The ambassador emphasized that the norms of international maritime law must be observed by all countries in the region.
“We proceed from the imperative of compliance by all countries in the region with the norms of international maritime law and the exercise of restraint in the interests of ensuring commercial shipping and preventing military incidents. It is obvious that in the current conditions, the forces and means of the Baltic Fleet and other security services of the Russian Federation in the Baltic Sea region are an important factor in ensuring freedom of navigation both in the interests of the Russian Federation and third countries,” Korchunov noted.
He drew parallels with the actions of Russia’s neighboring states in the past — Poland, Germany, Sweden — in the 17th-19th centuries.
“They also tried with all their might to prevent the passage of ships carrying Russian goods through the Baltic to the priority markets of Britain, Holland and France. The Swedes did not even shy away from pirate seizures. Ultimately, these efforts, as is known, ended in failure. It is regrettable that the spirit of unfair rivalry and confrontation is once again being implanted in the Baltic, which for decades has been a platform for peaceful multilateral cooperation,” the diplomat said.
US-led drills pose threat to peace in Asia – Lavrov
RT | July 12, 2025
The military activities of the US and its allies around the Korean Peninsula threaten the stability of the entire region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during his visit to North Korea.
The US, South Korea, and Japan are increasing the number of joint military drills, some of which involve “a nuclear component,” Lavrov told reporters at a press conference in Wonsan on Saturday.
“This does not contribute to peace and stability, not only on the Korean Peninsula but throughout Northeast Asia,” the diplomat said, expressing skepticism about Seoul’s intentions to normalize relations with Pyongyang.
Lavrov condemned what he described as “dangerous attempts by actors outside the Indo-Pacific to form exclusive alliances and expand NATO infrastructure in the region.” He emphasized that countries should not build alliances at the expense of others, adding that both Russia and North Korea are committed to “equal and indivisible security” for all nations in Eurasia.
The US, South Korea, and Japan conducted joint exercises this week involving the deployment of America’s nuclear-capable B-52H strategic bombers. In a joint statement, the allies accused Pyongyang of “unlawful activities” that “destabilize the Korean Peninsula.”
Russia and North Korea signed a defense pact in June 2024, after which Pyongyang dispatched troops to help expel Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region later that year. The cooperation is a testament to the “invincible brotherhood” between the two countries, Lavrov said.
Another Week in Washington to Remember
Or perhaps to forget
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • July 12, 2025
If one thinks that arming Ukraine against Russia or having Israeli soldiers and also American contractors slaughter Gazan civilians are not supportive of any United States actual interests, last week could easily be written off as yet another descent into Hell on the part of the United States. Americans and others should have the right to criticize how the Israelis wage war without being denounced and criminalized by governments that have been corrupted from the inside, most often by money, but that is exactly what is going on in the US and in select countries in Europe. Watching children being targeted for killing and complaining about it does not make one an anti-Semite even though the Israeli government exploits that issue precisely as a tool to avoid any consequences for its horrific behavior. Here in America, it’s past time for the White House and Congress to rid themselves of their obscene and unseemly obsession with judging overseas developments using the optics of Israel loyalty tests. There is an appreciable difference between hating Israel reflexively based on its religion and acting like a member of a cheering gallery on steroids every time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to town.
There were three major developments during the week. The first was the passage through Congress and the signing by President Donald Trump of the “big, beautiful budget bill” which establishes by law the national government’s spending projections for 2026. The fiscal year begins on October 1st. The government has long exploited alleged foreign threats to national security to boost spending to enhance America’s military power. This tendency has been largely unchallenged since 9/11, when President George W Bush announced that he and the US now represented “a new sheriff in town” and would be waging war against terrorists worldwide. In 2025 Pentagon costs were budgeted at the $895 billion level. Now, however, President Donald Trump has topped even that with his bill, adding $150 billion to the military budget for 2026, which will exceed in theory for the first time more than $1 trillion.
Interestingly, however, the reality is that the US has for some time exceeded $1 trillion due to the way the government handles its war costs through unfunded material transfers and extra expenses that are approved outside the budget process itself, combined with the fact that the Pentagon’s several components and poor money management make it impossible to be successfully audited. Based on the $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), US national security spending for 2025 is, for example, expected to actually reach about $1.77 trillion. The difference partly derives from military-related spending from other government agencies not funded by the NDAA, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security as well as from the national security share of the interest accrued on the US debt.
In September 2024 the Government Accounting Office reported that the Defense Department “remains the only major federal agency that has never been able to achieve a clean audit opinion.” And the numbers are astonishing. In fiscal year 2024, which ran from October 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2024, the Pentagon could not account for at least 44% of its assets, nor for at least 68% of the money allocated by Congress.
The biggest addition to actual defense spending is the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, with a new front recently opened in Iran, that the US is supporting off-budget, meaning that they are being paid for “out of pocket” and the money is printed up by the Federal Reserve and is added to the government debt, where it increases through the accumulation of interest to bill and bond holders. The Federal debt is now $37 trillion and Trump’s bill is expected to add at least $3 trillion more to it. Foreign nations that have invested in the debt by buying Treasury Bills might soon figure out that it is a bad investment and will stop doing so and the dollar will plummet.
And then there is the visit to Washington, the third by Benjamin Netanyahu since Trump became president six months ago, which was memorable in its own way. Netanyahu was in America again due to the fact that he wanted something. The larger issue is to get US direct support to renew an attack on Iran and the second objective being to speed up the resupply of weapons as Israel had de facto lost the conflict with the Iranians having run through its defensive weapons. What arrangements have been made vis-à-vis Iran have not yet been completely revealed, but it has been reported that multiple transport plane loads have been making their way filled with weapons drawn from US reserve stocks that are on their way to Tel Aviv as a gift from the US to Israel. And then there was the comedy routine provided by Netanyahu proposing Trump as recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, possibly the first time when a head of a state that is openly carrying out a genocide plus mass deportations and is about to create concentration camps endorses the country leader who enables the mass murder taking place. While in Washington Netanyahu also carried out the usual sucking up to Congress and vice versa as well as the closed-door meeting with the Jewish billionaires that have so effectively corrupted the US government.
The third performance of comic opera took place over Ukraine. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth apparently halted the shipment of new weapons to Kiev as a means of disengaging from the conflict with Russia. While it is clear that the US has no interest to be fighting a proxy war with Moscow, Trump had proven unable to end the fighting on his first day in office, which he had promised pre-election. To everyone’s actual surprise, Trump did not appear to know about the decision and reversed it, exhibiting some actual confusion during a press conference over what had happened. It was reminiscent of last week’s bizarre development over the disappearance of Israeli spy Jeffrey Epstein’s “client list” possibly to avoid embarrassing Israel and also, it has been suggested, to eliminate any speculation regarding Donald Trump’s relationship with Epstein in Florida back prior to 2019. It might be reasonable to assume that the whole episode amounts to one more big lie and cover-up coming out of the clownish ensemble that constitutes the Trump cabinet.
Finally, there is one other story that I consider a pure product of the ignorance and downright stupidity that characterizes the Trump regime. The United Nations Human Rights Council has what they refer to as a Special Rapporteur and investigator over developments in Israel and Palestine, to include the Israeli occupied territories on the West Bank. Francesca Albanese, an Italian, is an experienced bureaucrat of demonstrated integrity who has focused on human rights issues. She has been under intense pressure from both the United States and Israel to forego on reporting Israel’s atrocities, particularly in Gaza, but those who have actually interacted with her claim that she has recorded developments honestly and accurately. This past week, coinciding with the Netanyahu visit, Washington decided to move against her with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing sanctions against her.
This is how Rubio described the case to be made to justify the sanctions: “Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives… Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”
One begins to wonder if Rubio is as totally ignorant and stupid as his boss. The US has previously called on the UN to replace Albanese and a week before the sanctions were issued a warning from Washington suggested that something was coming. “The United States once again expressed its grave concerns to UN Secretary-General António Guterres about the continued activities of Francesca Albanese … and again called upon the Secretary-General to condemn her activities and call for her removal,” the US UN mission said in a statement on July 1. The US has characteristically accused Albanese of “virulent antisemitism” for her criticism of Israel, a smear on Albanese also made by President Joe Biden’s administration after she last year produced a report accusing Israel of genocide. One might observe that in February the US also used the sanctions tool against the justices of the International Criminal Court (and their families) after the court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of genocide.
Wish that were all, but there is one more story about what a fine place “America’s best friend and closest ally” Israel actually is. A twenty-year old Palestinian American from Tampa Florida, Seif al-Din Muslat, was visiting family in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday. In town, he was confronted and beaten to death by rampaging Israeli settlers. Another Palestinian teen Mohammad Shalabi was shot dead in the same incident. The US Embassy apparently was informed of the killing by the boy’s family but as usual it will take no action and will defer to the so-called Israeli justice system to investigate. That means that the scum Settlers, largely expat Americans from places like Brooklyn, will in no way be punished and will walk free to kill more Palestinian children. There have been an increasing number of instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighborhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles and destroying crops and businesses in attacks. And they feel free to kill any Palestinian who crosses their paths or who tries to intervene. Thank you Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump for your loyalty to murderous Jews. It does you proud, or at least it demonstrates what you are made of!
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
US lawmakers move to curb Trump’s control over Ukraine aid
RT | July 12, 2025
A bill authorizing more Ukraine aid and barring the Pentagon from unilaterally halting arms shipments has passed the Senate Armed Services Committee. The measures are part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense bill that outlines the Pentagon’s priorities and funding for the next fiscal year.
The bill comes as tensions have risen between Congress and the White House over aid pauses earlier this year. In March, President Donald Trump temporarily halted all Ukraine assistance and intelligence sharing, while earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused weapons deliveries, citing the need to review dwindling Pentagon stockpiles.
Aid resumed earlier this week after Trump expressed frustration over delays in the peace process and said Ukraine needs weapons to “defend” itself. Media reports later suggested Trump had not been informed of the latest suspension and struggled to explain whether he had approved it.
The new NDAA draft was passed in a bipartisan vote this week. It “reaffirms” US support for Ukraine, extends aid through 2028, increases annual authorizations from $300 million to $500 million, and requires the Pentagon to continue intelligence support for Kiev, according to a summary released on Friday.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, however, said the bill also includes language blocking the Pentagon from halting aid or intelligence sharing without congressional approval. She noted that provisions listed in the bill “put guardrails” on the Trump administration “to make sure promised military assistance continues to flow to Ukraine.”
A separate version of the NDAA drafted by House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers extends aid through 2028 but keeps it capped at $300 million per year. It also prohibits the Trump administration from halting funds without written justification to Congress and requires Hegseth to report regularly on support to Ukraine. The House committee will vote on its version on Tuesday. The bill must pass committee votes before being submitted for a full congressional vote.
Ukraine has received nearly $115 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian US aid since its conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. The military component of this sum has come through congressional bills such as the NDAA and the Presidential Drawdown Authority, a fund capped by Congress that allows the president to send US weapons directly to Kiev.
Russia has long argued that Western arms prolong the fighting without changing the outcome.
Moscow and Kiev have so far held two rounds of peace talks in Türkiye, reviving a process that Kiev abandoned in 2022 to pursue military victory with Western assistance. Moscow says it is ready to continue negotiations and is awaiting Kiev’s response to schedule the next round.
Behind Closed Doors: Bilderberg’s Secret Summits Are a Threat to Democracy
By Paul Anthony Taylor | Dr. Rath Health Foundation | July 11, 2025
Accompanied by only the bare minimum of publicity, a group of powerful politicians, corporate titans, tech billionaires, and military chiefs recently retreated behind a tight wall of secrecy for the 71st Bilderberg Meeting. Held in Stockholm’s luxurious Grand Hotel, some of the most influential decision-makers on Earth had four days of discussions in a forum that prides itself on being unaccountable to the billions of citizens whose lives are shaped by its decisions. As the Dr. Rath Health Foundation has long warned, when unelected elites meet in the shadows to set the world’s direction, it is democracy and the rights of ordinary people that are sacrificed first.
A glance at this year’s Bilderberg participant list is enough to quickly expose the lie that this was just a harmless “networking event.” NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte sat down with the heads of the US Indo-Pacific Command and Europe’s top military brass, while defense contractors like Saab, Palantir and Thales stood by ready to profit from conflict. CEOs from Big Tech and the pharma industry – Microsoft, Spotify and Pfizer – were there too, rubbing shoulders with former Google chief and Bilderberg board member Eric Schmidt, a man who has openly warned that whoever wins the race for super-intelligent AI will hold “the keys to control the entire world.”
How can such a gathering, convened with no oversight and no minutes published, claim to serve the common good? The organizers hide behind the excuse that secrecy allows “free discussion,” but it is the freedom of the global public that is undermined when vital decisions about war, energy, technology, and economic policy are hashed out in private by an unelected few.
Consider some of this year’s discussion topics: the Ukraine conflict, nuclear proliferation, AI weapons, the “authoritarian axis” of China and Russia, the geopolitics of energy and critical minerals, and even depopulation and migration. These are not idle cocktail gossip subjects; they are major issues that touch the lives and livelihoods of billions of people across the entire world. Yet there is supposedly no record of what is said behind Bilderberg’s closed doors – only the vague reassurance that there is “no desired outcome.”
Profiting from the crises they help perpetuate
AI and military conflict were closely related themes at this year’s meeting. While some at Bilderberg paint AI as the next industrial revolution, others describe it as the “cavalry” that will save civilization from itself. But save whom, exactly? Powerful insiders like Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt have invested heavily in AI-driven drone warfare and mass data collection – technologies that promise ever-greater profits for the few and unprecedented surveillance and control for the rest of us.
Meanwhile, those pushing this agenda are the same people who stand to profit most from the very conflicts they claim to manage. As the Dr. Rath Health Foundation has repeatedly exposed over the years, the interlocking interests of multinational corporations and their senior executives frequently feed off the very crises they help perpetuate.
And what about health? While the public is told to trust in official narratives, those who sit around the Bilderberg table include the heads of pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and major financial houses like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup – institutions that have thrived under a global economic model that prioritizes profits and costly chronic disease management over preventive and science-based natural health approaches. With AI now poised to become the next trillion-dollar bonanza, these same interests gather to protect their future dominance – while the public remains uninformed and voiceless.
The point here is that for decades, the Bilderbergers have presented themselves as guardians of the so-called “rules-based order.” But the truth is that secrecy and accountability cannot coexist. Real democracy demands informed consent, not enforced compliance. When power is concentrated in hidden networks that answer to no one, trust evaporates and corruption thrives. Worse, secrecy fuels public disillusionment and suspicion – precisely because the participants make transparency impossible. If the Bilderbergers have nothing to hide, why do they hide at all?
The world needs transparency not secrecy
There is no place for this outdated cloak-and-dagger elitism in the 21st century. Humanity faces profound challenges: war and peace, food and energy security, the survival of natural health freedom, and the need to put people before corporate profits. These are not decisions to be made by billionaires and generals behind police barricades. They belong to us all. And the only way to ensure they serve humanity is to drag them out of the shadows and into the daylight.
The Dr. Rath Health Foundation has always supported the right of people to shape their own destinies through knowledge and empowerment. We strongly reject the notion that the future of our health, our economies, and our freedoms should be decided by unaccountable elites. Whether it is the Pharma Cartel’s stranglehold on healthcare or the global race to develop super-intelligent AI, our message remains the same: people must come before profit, and transparency must triumph over secrecy.
Bilderberg is not a harmless talking shop. It is a symbol of how far the unelected few will go to keep us shut out of decisions that affect every aspect of our lives. This secrecy is not a harmless tradition; it is a threat to democracy itself. The world does not need more secret summits – it needs open, democratic debate, rooted in human rights and the health and well-being of all.
If the Bilderberg participants truly believe they are acting in our best interest, they should have nothing to fear from transparency. Until they throw open their doors, allow cameras into their meetings, publish transcripts, and let the people they claim to serve see exactly what they are planning, the rest of us have every right – indeed, every duty – to question what they are doing.
In the fight for a healthier, freer, and fairer world, secrecy is our enemy. The time has therefore come to shine a bright light on the hidden corridors of power and insist that our future is not something to be traded behind closed doors, but built in the open, by and for the people.
Executive Director of the Dr. Rath Health Foundation and one of the coauthors of our explosive book, “The Nazi Roots of the ‘Brussels EU’”, Paul Anthony Taylor is also our expert on the Codex Alimentarius Commission and has had eye-witness experience, as an official observer delegate, at its meetings. You can find Paul on Twitter at @paulanthtaylor
Ukraine’s New Arms Plan? EU Pays, US Cashes in, NATO Watches
Sputnik – 11.07.2025
US President Donald Trump said NATO, to which Washington also belongs, will pay for American weapons that the alliance will subsequently supply to Ukraine.
Strategic analyst Paolo Raffone (CIPI Foundation, Brussels) explains how Washington’s role is evolving:
“European NATO members may play a role to support the military needs of Ukraine within a framework coordinated by the US that remains the single largest armament contributor.”
He describes a triangulation scheme:
- The US provides military equipment to EU NATO states
- Ukraine buys that equipment from those states
- Purchases are covered by EU funds
“Technically, European NATO members are the sellers — but it ensures the equipment is effectively paid for by Ukraine using EU funds. NATO as an entity would not be directly involved… national governments will do it. At best, NATO will coordinate the scheme.”
Who pays and who supplies?
“UK, France, Germany and Poland are high on the list. However, the idea is that all European NATO members should participate.”
And what can they afford?
“Despite announced increases in spending, EU countries will need years to become effective armament producers… The munitions immediately available depend on US willingness to sell — and EU/Ukraine capacity to pay.”
UK’s F-35 Fleet: Mission-Ready in Theory, Grounded in Reality
Sputnik – 11.07.2025
The UK air force’s F-35 fighter jets are capable of carrying out only a third of the number of missions set by the defense ministry’s target due to a shortage of engineers, spare parts and metal corrosion, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) showed on Friday.
“The MoD [Ministry of Defense] has not been able to sustainably deliver its targets for aircraft availability, resulting in flying hours that were below its requirements for pilots. In 2024 the UK F-35 fleet had a mission capable rate (defined as the ability of an aircraft to perform at least one of its seven possible required missions) which was approximately half of the MoD’s target. It had a full mission capable rate, (defined as the ability of an F-35 aircraft to perform all its required missions) which was approximately one-third of the MoD’s target,” the report said.
In particular, between October 2024 and January 2025, the F-35 fleet had aircraft “unavailable to perform any missions” as they were undergoing maintenance.
The report concluded that the problems with combat capability were driven by slow maintenance activity and a lack of spare parts, as well as an emerging issue with higher corrosion than expected in maritime environments.
The NAO also found issues with the arsenal of missiles for fighter jets. Due to delays in installation, the F-35s are currently armed only with bombs, which significantly reduces their combat capability and “stealth” capabilities against the enemy.
The UK began purchasing F-35 fighter jets in 2012 and intended to purchase only 138 aircraft. At the moment, agreements already concluded with the United States involve the purchase of 48 aircraft, of which 38 are already in service with the UK air force. In July, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office announced that London would purchase 12 US F-35 fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The new fighters are to be used in the NATO missions.
EU ‘has no money except for war’ – Hungarian official
RT | July 11, 2025
The EU is placing Ukraine’s military needs above the priorities of the bloc’s member states, Hungarian government adviser Balazs Orban has said. He accused EU leaders of always finding money for “war” but not other causes.
Leaders of EU nations are considering the creation of a new €100 billion ($117 billion) fund under the bloc’s upcoming seven-year budget to cover expenses for the Ukrainian government, Bloomberg reported this week, citing people familiar with the discussions. Budapest, however, has been a vocal critic of the bloc’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict since its onset.
”Europe has run out of money – except when it comes to war. There is always 100 billion euros for that,” Orban wrote on Wednesday on social media. He warned that such an allocation of funds would likely lead to further proposals to spend EU taxpayers’ money on Ukraine.
Orban pointed to Kiev’s estimate that it would require $1 trillion over 14 years for reconstruction and modernization, a figure shared by Prime Minister Denis Shmigal during a donors conference in Rome this week.
”While Europe cannot climb out of its own economic, social and security crisis, Brussels would continue to finance the war – weapons instead of peace, new debt instead of a competitive Europe,” Orban said.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that US investment firm BlackRock had abandoned efforts to attract private investors for a Ukraine reconstruction program. The fund was expected to be launched at the Rome conference, but potential participants reportedly expressed “a lack of interest amid increased uncertainty” over the country’s future.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said at the event that “only friends are invited” to help rebuild the country. He reiterated his call to confiscate Russian state assets frozen by Western nations and transfer them to Kiev.
Moscow has warned that such actions would constitute international theft. EU members have voiced concern that expropriating Russian assets could significantly erode global confidence in their financial systems. As an alternative, Ukraine’s backers have been imposing a “windfall tax” on profits from the immobilized Russian funds and channeling the money to Kiev – an approach Moscow has described as another form of criminality.
Hungary has accused the EU leadership of inflicting major economic harm on member states through sanctions on Russia, and of wasting resources on a war effort that it argues cannot deliver a military victory over Moscow.
Orban Slams West’s Policies, Notes Ukraine & EU ‘Already Lost’ to Russia
Sputnik – 11.07.2025
Ukraine and the European Union have essentially lost the conflict with Russia but lack the courage to admit it and take responsibility for the consequences, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
“Russia is nearing victory, while Ukraine has effectively lost this war – and Europe has lost it alongside Ukraine. Yet no one has the courage to admit this or take responsibility for the consequences. Instead, they are acting as if this war can be won, even though victory is impossible to achieve on the front lines. What is needed is diplomacy, a ceasefire, and peace negotiations,” Orban told Kossuth Radio.
The Hungarian prime minister estimated that Europe and the United States had spent a combined 310 billion euros ($362 billion) on Ukraine, which he called a “horrific” sum that would have “worked miracles” if invested in the European economy. Instead, the money “went down the drain,” he said, warning the West that it is making a grave mistake in Ukraine that will come at a high price.
Ukraine’s EU Entry Bid Currently a No-Go
A country where military enlistment officers beat people to death during forced mobilization cannot join the European Union, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, commenting on the death of a Hungarian man from Transcarpathia in Ukraine.
Forty-five-year-old Jozsef Sebestyen died in hospital three weeks after employees of Ukraine’s territorial center of recruitment grabbed him on the street in Ukraine, shoved him into a minibus, took him to a recruiting station and beat him with metal rods, the Magyar Nemzet newspaper reported on Thursday, citing his relatives. The sister of the deceased posted footage of the Ukrainian military abusing her brother, it added. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador to Budapest Fedir Shandor over the incident.
“A country where people are beaten to death as a result of forced mobilization cannot be a member of the European Union. Beyond the fact that we pray and do everything for the family of the deceased, this is a warning shot towards Hungary,” Orban told Kossuth Radio.
When asked to comment on a statement by the Ukrainian army claiming that Sebestyen had allegedly been drafted into the Ukrainian military on legal grounds and that he had not been subjected to cruel treatment by military registration office employees, Orban said that does not satisfy Hungary, because Hungary knows for certain that forced mobilization is taking place in Ukraine.
“The only way to end the war that Ukraine and Europe lost is through diplomacy, but no one has the courage to admit it. Instead, the Ukrainians are acting as if it can be won,” Orban said.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said that the Ukrainian authorities have not responded to accusations of harassment of Transcarpathian Hungarians for years, and now many of them are being mobilized by brute force into the Ukrainian troops. The forced mobilization of ethnic Hungarians into the Ukrainian army violates human rights, the minister said.
Ukraine announced martial law and general mobilization after Russia launched its special military operation in February 2022. The law prohibits Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Evasion from military service during mobilization is punishable by criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to five years.
Hungary summons Ukrainian envoy over death of recruit from ‘forced conscription’
RT | July 10, 2025
Hungary summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Fyodor Shandor on Thursday following reports that Ukrainian recruitment officers beat a Hungarian man to death. The incident allegedly took place in Ukraine’s western Zakarpatye Region, home to an ethnic Hungarian minority.
“It is outrageous and unacceptable to beat someone to death, especially a Hungarian, simply because he refused to go to war and take part in senseless killing,” Hungarian Parliamentary State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade Levente Magyar said.
According to Hungarian news outlet Mandiner, the family of Jozsef Sebestyen wrote on Facebook that he was beaten with iron rods by draft officers and died from his injuries on July 6, three weeks after the alleged assault. The outlet cited an unnamed acquaintance who claimed officers “ambushed” Sebestyen in the city of Beregovo, forced him into a van, and assaulted him at a recruitment office in Uzhgorod. A second source told the outlet that Sebestyén was conscripted into the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade and was later beaten in a forest near Mukachevo, where the unit is based.
“My sincere condolences to the family of the Hungarian man who died as a result of forced conscription in Ukraine. We stand with you in these difficult hours,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on Facebook.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces offered a different version of events, stating that Sebestyen was “legally mobilized” and deemed fit for service, but later deserted his unit and checked himself into a hospital. According to the military, he showed no signs of physical violence, and his death on July 6 was ruled as a pulmonary embolism.
Ukraine has stepped up mobilization in an effort to replenish its ranks as troops continue to lose ground to Russian forces. Ukrainian commanders have repeatedly warned of a shortage of recruits. Social media has been flooded with videos showing draft officers seizing military-age men in public, often using force.
This is a long war, and it’s not just about Ukraine
By Dmitry Trenin | RT | July 9, 2025
The trademark style of the current US president, Donald Trump, is verbal spectacle. His statements – brash, contradictory, sometimes theatrical – should be monitored, but not overestimated. They are not inherently favorable or hostile to Russia. And we must remember: Trump is not the ‘king’ of America. The ‘Trump revolution’ that many anticipated at the beginning of the year appears to have given way to Trump’s own evolution – a drift toward accommodation with the American establishment.
In that light, it’s time to assess the interim results of our ‘special diplomatic operation’. There have now been six presidential phone calls, several rounds of talks between foreign ministers and national security aides, and sustained contact at other levels.
The most obvious positive outcome is the restoration of dialogue between Russia and the United States – a process that had been severed under the Biden administration. Crucially, this revived dialogue extends beyond Ukraine. A range of potential areas for cooperation have been mapped out, from geopolitical stability to transportation and sport. These may not carry immediate strategic weight, but they lay the groundwork for future engagement. Under Trump, the dialogue is unlikely to break off again – though its tone and pace may shift.
One visible result of this diplomacy was the resumption of talks with the Ukrainian side in Istanbul. While these negotiations currently hold little political substance – and the recent prisoner exchanges occurred independently of them – they nonetheless reaffirm a core tenet of Russian diplomacy: we are ready for a political resolution to the conflict.
Still, these are technical and tactical achievements. The strategic reality remains unchanged.
It was never realistic to expect Trump to offer Russia a deal on Ukraine that met our security requirements. Nor for that matter would Russia accept one that compromised its long-term security interests. Likewise, any notion that Trump would ‘deliver’ Ukraine to the Kremlin, join Moscow in undermining the EU, or push for a new Yalta agreement with Russia and China was always fantasy.
So the page has turned. What comes next?
Trump will almost certainly sign the new US sanctions bill into law – but he’ll try to preserve discretion in how those measures are applied. The sanctions will add friction to global trade, but they will not derail Russian policy.
On the military front, Trump will deliver the remaining aid packages approved under Biden, and perhaps supplement them with modest contributions of his own. But going forward, it will be Western Europe – especially Germany – that supplies Ukraine, often by buying US-made systems and re-exporting them.
Meanwhile, the United States will continue to furnish Kiev with battlefield intelligence – particularly for deep strikes inside Russian territory.
None of this suggests the conflict will end in 2025. Nor will it end when hostilities in Ukraine eventually wind down.
That’s because the fight is not fundamentally about Ukraine.
What we are witnessing is an indirect war between the West and Russia – part of a much broader global confrontation. The West is fighting to preserve its dominance. And Russia, in defending itself, is asserting its sovereign right to exist on its own terms.
This war will be long. And the United States – with Trump or without him – will remain our adversary. The outcome will shape not just the fate of Ukraine, but the future of Russia itself.
Dmitry Trenin is a research professor at the Higher School of Economics and a lead research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. He is also a member of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).
This article was first published in Kommersant, and was translated and edited by the RT team.
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From the Archives
How a War with Iran Would Diminish American Power
By Greg Scoblete | The Compass | August 13, 2010
Jennifer Rubin wants a war with Iran:
But the emphasis on the existential threat to Israel ignores a more basic issue for Americans to ponder: a nuclear-armed Iran represents a dagger at the heart of America and an existential threat to our status as a superpower and guarantor of the West’s security. As to the former, Iran is pressing ahead with its long-range ballistic missile program. First the Middle East and Eastern Europe, then all of Europe and, within a matter of years, the U.S. will be within range of Iranian missiles. If those are nuclear and not conventional, what then? We’re not talking about whether Iran is going to be “merely” a destabilizing factor in the Middle East or whether it will set off an arms race with its neighbors or imperil Israel’s existence. We’re talking about whether America will then be at risk (and lacking sufficient missile-defense capabilities if we continue to hack away at our defense budget). The argument about whether mutual assured destruction can really work against Islamic fundamentalists who have an apocalyptic vision becomes not about Israel’s ability to deter an attack but about ours. Those who oppose American military action have an obligation to explain why America should place itself in that predicament.
I would argue that any obligation to present an explanation lies with those whose disastrous policy prescriptions with respect to Iraq lead America into the worst strategic blunder in the country’s recent history. That aside, note the blind faith in the power of the military to actually achieve its ends. … continue
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