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German foreign minister makes new threat against Russia

RT | July 24, 2025

Ukraine will soon have the capability to strike targets inside Russia, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Wednesday, raising the prospect of Berlin supplying long-range weapons that Moscow has warned could escalate the conflict.

Speaking to Die Zeit, Wadephul did not name specific systems, but appeared to reference the Taurus missile – a long-range weapon capable of hitting targets up to 500km away, including inside Russian territory.

”Ukraine will also have the means to strike back into Russian territory,” he said. “However, we will not reveal to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin… which weapons systems we are providing to Ukraine.”

Wadephul added that he had been cautious about weighing in on the Taurus debate, citing the missile’s technical complexity as the reason for the delay in coming to a decision.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that supplying Taurus missiles would make Germany a direct party to the conflict. Russian officials have long criticized Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, saying they prolong hostilities and risk a broader confrontation.

Berlin has resisted supplying the Taurus system to Kiev for months. Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeatedly blocked the transfer, citing a risk of escalation. His successor, Friedrich Merz, has since stated that no decision has been taken on the matter.

Since taking office in May, Merz has adopted a hardline stance toward Russia. Earlier this month, he declared that diplomatic options in the Ukraine conflict had been “exhausted” and reaffirmed his commitment to arming Ukraine. In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused him of fueling escalation by abandoning diplomacy.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated earlier this month that Berlin would not send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

Senior German General Christian Freuding said recently, however, that Ukraine would receive its first batch of long-range missiles financed by Berlin before the end of July. He did not specify the type, but suggested that Ukrainian forces consider striking Russian airfields and weapons factories to relieve pressure at the front.

July 24, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

It’s a HOLOHOAX (Don’t Be Fooled) Pt5

Renegade Tribune | March 4, 2020

Note: This blog series is derived from “Did Six Million Really Die?” book by Richard E. Harwood (1974) with many additional sources, originally presented in DJ Noble Protagonist’s E-book (The Battle to preserve Western Civilization):  https://archive.org/details/@nobleprotagonist

Note: Core reference material: https://holocausthandbooks.com/

Also in German: http://holocausthandbuecher.com/

“NAZI DEATH CAMPS”

It is true that in 1945, Allied propaganda did claim that all the concentration camps, particularly those in Germany itself, were “Death Camps,” but not for long. On this question the American historian Professor Harry Elmer Barnes wrote, “These camps were first presented as those in Germany, such as Dachau, Belsen, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Dora, but it was soon demonstrated that there had been no systematic extermination in those camps. Attention was then moved to Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Jonowska, Tarnow, Ravensbruck, Mauthausen, Brezeznia and Birkenau, which does not exhaust the list that appears to have been extended as needed.”

What had happened was that certain honest observers among the British & American occupation forces in Germany, while admitting that many camp inmates had died of disease & starvation in the final months of the war, had found no evidence after all of “gas chambers.”    

As a result, eastern camps in the Russian zone of occupation, such as Auschwitz & Treblinka, gradually came to the fore as horrific centers of “extermination”, though no one was permitted to see them. This tendency has lasted almost to the present day.

Here in these camps it was all supposed to have happened, but with the Iron Curtain brought down firmly over them it was difficult to verify such charges. The Communists claimed that four million people died at Auschwitz in gigantic gas chambers accommodating 2,000 people, and no one could argue to the contrary.

THE LEUCHTER REPORT

In 1984 in Toronto, Canada, German-born publisher, Ernst Zundel, distributed his own edition of the pamphlet, “Did Six Million Really Die?”, and sent copies out to Canadian Members of Parliament; members of the clergy; journalists and broadcasters. A year later he was subsequently put on trial and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment followed by automatic deportation, after a Jewish complaint under an obscure law prohibiting the publication of “false news”.

This sentence was passed even though both the defense and the prosecution agreed that the bulk of “Did Six Million Really Die?” was correct and only small points were in dispute.

“The Leuchter Report” was actually commissioned by Ernst Zundel, to act in his defense, after his 1985 conviction was overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1987, and a retrial was ordered to commence in January, 1988.

In February 1988, the first forensic examination of the alleged execution gas chambers at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek, was conducted by Fred Leuchter and subsequently published as “The Leuchter Report”.

Fred Leuchter, was an engineer who specializes in the design & fabrication of execution hardware used in prisons throughout the United States. One of his projects was the design of a new gas chamber at the Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City.

In essence Fred Leuchter took samples from the walls of the alleged gas chambers and also from the walls of the de-lousing chambers so he could compare the claim that rather than Zyklon B being used to gas inmates of the various camps, it was actually used to de-louse the inmates clothing of lice in order to prevent outbreaks of typhus.

Leuchter’s results were overwhelming. He could find no trace of Zyklon B in the walls of the alleged gas chambers, yet it was overwhelmingly prevalent in the walls of the de-lousing chambers where the inmates’ clothing was cleaned of lice.

The Leuchter Report concludes, “After reviewing all the material and inspecting all of the sites at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek, your author finds the evidence overwhelming; there were no execution gas chambers at any of these locations. It is the best engineering opinion of this author that the alleged gas chambers at the inspected sites could not have been, or now, be utilized or seriously considered to function as execution gas chambers.”

Despite Fred Leuchter’s neutral position in questioning the official version of the “Holocaust” and his evidence based upon the exact science of forensic chemistry, Ernst Zundel was once again found guilty, albeit this time he was given a nine month sentence as opposed to the 15 month one he was given previously. He was granted bail after signing a “gag order”, promising not to write or speak about the “Holocaust”.

In 2003, Ernst Zundel was arrested at his quiet home in the mountain region of eastern Tennessee.  U.S. authorities seized him on the pretext that he had violated immigration regulations, or had missed an interview date with US immigration authorities, even though he had entered the US legally, was married to an American citizen, had no criminal record, and was acting diligently, and in full accord with the law, to secure status as a permanent legal resident.

After being held for two weeks, he was deported to Canada. For two years he was held in solitary confinement in the Toronto West Detention Centre as a supposed threat to national security.

In 2005, Zundel was deported to Germany, just as Jewish groups had been demanding. Upon his arrival at Frankfurt airport, he was immediately arrested and taken to Mannheim prison to await trial for the “thought crime” of “denying the Holocaust.”

A few months later, the public prosecutor in Mannheim formally charged Zundel with inciting “hatred” by having written or distributed texts that “approve, deny or play down” genocidal actions carried out by Germany’s wartime regime, and which “denigrate the memory of the (Jewish) dead.”  .

Zundel’s three-month trial concluded in 2007, when a court in Mannheim sentenced him to five years imprisonment for the crime of “popular incitement” under Germany’s notorious “Holocaust denial” statute. The court upheld efforts by German authorities to punish individuals for writings that are legal in the country (Canada) where they are published. Jewish groups quickly, and predictably, expressed approval of the verdict.

Zundel was released from prison in 2010.  Banned from returning to either Canada or the United States, he went to his family home in Germany’s Black Forest region, where he resided until his death.

Meanwhile, Fred Leuchter was also “persecuted” & blacklisted by promoters of the Holohoax.  In 1991, he was arrested & jailed in Germany for giving an anti-Holocaust lecture for Günther Deckert, a well-known political party leader. Leuchter was allowed out on bail.  He returned to the U.S. and chose not to go back to Germany to stand trial.  Nonetheless, he lost his livelihood as a result.

The Allied Committee of Inquiry has to date proven that no poison gas was ever used to kill prisoners in the following concentration camps… Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen, and satellite camps.. Natzweller, Neuengamme, Niederhagen, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen, Stutthoff, Theresienstadt. In all cases where gassings were alleged, it could be proven that torture was used to extract confessions, and witnesses have lied. Any former inmate who, during their debriefing continues to allege that Poison gas was used to murder people, in particular Jews, are to be reported to this office, and if they insist on lying further, they are to be charged with perjury.” – Major Miller, Commanding Officer Allied Military Police Vienna

Note: In a 1985 court case, Dr. William Lindsey testified under oath that the Auschwitz gassing story is physically impossible. Based on his careful examination of the alleged gas chambers at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek, and on his years of experience, he declared, “I have come to the conclusion that no one was willfully or purposefully killed with Zyklon B in this manner. I consider it absolutely impossible.”

Note: When American & British forces overran Western & Central Germany in the spring of 1945, they were followed by troops charged with discovering and securing any evidence of German war crimes. Among them was Dr. Charles Larson, one of America’s leading forensic pathologists, who was assigned to the US Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Department. As part of a US War Crimes Investigation Team, Dr. Larson performed autopsies at Dachau and some twenty other German camps, examining on some days more than 100 corpses. After his grim work at Dachau, he was questioned for three days by US Army prosecutors.  In a 1980 newspaper interview Dr. Larson confirmed that there “never was a case of poison gas uncovered.”

FINAL FORENSIC NAIL IN THE COFFIN – AUSCHWITZ STORY

Germar Rudolf was born on October 29, 1964, in Limburg, Germany. He studied chemistry at Bonn University, where he graduated in 1989 as a Diplom-Chemist. From 1990-1993, he prepared a PhD thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State research in conjunction with the University of Stuttgart. Parallel to this and in his spare time, Rudolf re-examined Auschwitz, Birkenau and other installations and buildings, testing brick and mortar samples of delousing chambers & alleged “gas chambers” for traces of Zyklon B.

Following the pioneering work of Fred Leuchter, Germar put the final forensic nail into the coffin of the Auschwitz story with his 1993 expert report, The Rudolf Report, which proved the “Holocaust” to be a Holohoax.  Even though this book on Auschwitz was scientific in nature and utterly apolitical, Rudolf’s home & office were raided three times; his computers & papers seized.

In 1994 & 1995 he was charged and tried in Germany for his expert report.  As a scientist, he found the “gassing” claims to be scientifically untenable. Rudolf was found guilty and convicted to 14 month imprisonment. As a result, the University of Stuttgart denied him to pass his final PhD exam.

Rudolf tried to avoid serving this prison term by going into British exile with his young wife and two babies. There he started a small revisionist outlet for German language material, Castle Hill Publishers, and VHO.org, a multilingual website, which within a few years outgrew other revisionist websites by size & traffic.  In early 1999, due to the permanent persecutorial pressure, his wife filed for divorce and returned to Germany with their two babies.

When Germany wanted to have Rudolf extradited from Britain in 1999, he fled to the United States, where he applied for political asylum. While his case wound its way through the U.S. legal system, Rudolf expanded his publishing activities into English language material, for instance by launching the ambitious “Holocaust Handbook Series” [linked at the top of this article].

In 2004 Rudolf married again, this time a U.S. citizen, and soon became the father of a young baby daughter.  Immediately after this marriage was recognized as genuine by the U.S. Immigration Services in October 2005, and at a time when a hearing of his asylum case was just being scheduled by a U.S. Federal Court, the U.S. government had Rudolf arrested and deported to Germany.

Hence, his asylum hearing which took place in absentia a few months later was nothing but a farce. In Germany, Rudolf was duly arrested and put on trial again for his revisionist publishing activities abroad. Although Rudolf’s activities had been perfectly legal both in the United Kingdom and the United States, Germany nevertheless applied German censorship laws and sentenced Rudolf to another 30 months imprisonment.

On July 5, 2009, Rudolf was released from prison. After a legal battle against the U.S. government lasting almost two years, Rudolf finally succeeded in obtaining an immigrant visa for the U.S.  He has been reunited with his wife & daughter since August, 2011.

Note: In 1995, one of France’s most influential & respected magazines, L’Express, acknowledged that “everything is false” about the Auschwitz “gas chamber” that for decades has been shown to tens of thousands of tourists yearly.

Note: On page 541 of (Jewish historian) Olga Wormser-Migot’s thesis on the system of National Socialists concentration camps, there is a passage on the “gas chambers”.  There, the reader will find three additional surprises.  According to Olga, the “problem” lies in attempting to determine whether the “gas chambers” at Ravensbrück (Germany) & Mauthausen (Austria) ever existed; she concludes that they didn’t.

GAS CHAMBERS WERE NOT CREMATORIES

Stephen F. Pinter, who served as a lawyer for the United States War Department in the occupation forces in Germany & Austria for six years after the war, made an astonishing statement in the widely read Catholic magazine, Our Sunday Visitor, on June 14, 1959.

Pinter admitted, “I was in Dachau for 17 months after the war, as a U.S. War Department Attorney, and can state that there was no gas chamber at Dachau. What was shown to visitors & sightseers there and erroneously described as a ‘gas chamber’ was a crematory. Nor was there a gas chamber in any of the other concentration camps in Germany. We were told that there was a gas chamber at Auschwitz, but since that was in the Russian zone of occupation, we were not permitted to investigate since the Russians would not allow it. From what I was able to determine during six postwar years in Germany & Austria, there were a number of Jews killed, but the figure of a million was certainly never reached. I interviewed thousands of Jews, former inmates of concentration camps in Germany and Austria and consider myself as well qualified as any man on this subject.”

Pinter tells a very different story from the customary propaganda. He is very astute on the question of the crematory being represented as a chamber.  This is a frequent ploy because no such thing as a “gas chamber” has ever been shown to exist in these camps, hence the deliberately misleading term “gas oven”, aimed at confusing a gas chamber with a crematorium. The latter, usually single furnace and similar to the kind of thing employed today, were used quite simply for the cremation of those persons who had died from various natural causes within the camp, particularly infectious diseases.    

This fact was conclusively proved by the German arch bishop Faulhaber of Munich. He informed the Americans that during the Allied air raid on Munich, in September 1944, 30,000 people were killed. The archbishop requested the authorities at the time to cremate the bodies, but was told that, unfortunately, this plan could not be carried out; the crematorium, having only one furnace, was not able to cope with the many bodies of the air raid victims.

Clearly, therefore, the crematorium could not have coped with the 238,000 Jewish bodies which were allegedly cremated there. In order to do so, the crematorium would have to be kept going for 326 years without stopping and 530 tons of ashes would have been recovered.

The figures of Dachau casualties are typical of the kind of exaggerations that have since been drastically revised. In 1946, a memorial plaque was unveiled at Dachau by Philip Auerbach, the Jewish State-Secretary in the Bavarian Government who was convicted for embezzling money, which he claimed as compensation for non-existent Jews. The plaque read, “This area is being retained as a shrine to the 238,000 individuals who were cremated here.”

Since then, the official casualty figures of Dachau have had to be steadily revised downwards, and now stand at only 20,600; the majority, from typhus & starvation only at the end of the war.

Note: Dachau was one the first concentration camp set up soon after the National Socialists came to power. These first camps were in reality large prisons to which inmates had been sentenced by the ordinary criminal courts to fixed terms of imprisonment. Membership in the Communist Party was a frequent criminal offense. Jews were largely involved in communist activities, and were imprisoned accordingly.


Battle for the West (Website): http://www.battleforthewest.com/    

Battle for the West (BitChute): https://www.bitchute.com/channel/65cDI4QdHali/

July 23, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

West Doubles Down on Failed Wars in Ukraine & Middle East

Glenn Diesen | July 22, 2025

Larry Johnson is a former intelligence analyst at the CIA, who also worked at the US State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism. Johnson discusses why the West is doubling down on the failed wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Rumble

July 22, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Video | , , , , , | Leave a comment

German opposition slams Ukraine aid

RT | July 21, 2025

Frustration is growing in Germany over increased aid to Ukraine while domestic spending lags, co-chair of opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) Alice Weidel has said.

Berlin has been one of Kiev’s largest military backers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Earlier this year, the German Defense Ministry announced that it would provide €5 billion ($5.6 billion) to finance long-range weapons production in Ukraine.

In an interview with the broadcaster ARD on Sunday, Weidel criticized the allocation of funds to Kiev, citing unmet domestic needs. Asked about alternative uses for public funds, she pointed to a shelved proposal to abolish electricity taxes, which would have cost the state €5.4 billion – comparable to what Berlin is spending on weapons for Ukraine, she argued.

“And then our government, the Friedrich Merz government, gives Ukraine nine billion in German tax money and now wants to buy Patriot missiles for Ukraine for five billion. Nobody understands that anymore,” Weidel said.

She was referencing a US-backed plan to funnel Patriot air defense systems to Kiev via NATO members, with Germany covering the costs. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said after meeting US counterpart Pete Hegseth in Washington last week that the terms of the arrangement could be finalized “within days or weeks,” though the actual transfer of the missile systems to Ukraine might take months. Berlin has indicated its readiness to cover the cost of at least two Patriot batteries to Ukraine – estimated at approximately $1 billion each.

Since taking office in May, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pursued a hardline stance against Russia. Earlier this month, he declared that diplomatic options in the Ukraine conflict were “exhausted” and doubled down on his policy of providing weapons to Kiev. In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Merz of choosing escalation by abandoning diplomacy.

Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that European nations are funding the “death” of Ukraine by paying for weapons sent to Kiev. Russia has consistently denounced Western weapons deliveries, saying they do not change the overall course of the conflict and merely serve to prolong the bloodshed and risk further escalation.

July 21, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

E3 violated JCPOA, lost right to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran: Russian envoy

Press TV – July 21, 2025

A senior Russian diplomat says Britain, France, and Germany, known as the E3, have repeatedly violated the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, and thus forfeited their right to trigger the snapback mechanism that would re-impose all UN Security Council sanctions on Iran.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, made the remarks in an interview with Izvestia newspaper on Monday, days after the E3, in coordination with the US, threatened to initiate the 30-day snapback process if there is no progress on Iran’s nuclear talks by the end of August.

“As for the threats of Westerners to initiate a mechanism for restoring sanctions, it is quite rightly noted that this idea is illegitimate,” Ulyanov said.

“The Americans themselves withdrew from the JCPOA, renouncing the rights and obligations of a participant in the nuclear deal, and the United Kingdom, Germany and France are violators of both the JCPOA and UN Security Council resolution 2231. This means that they have also deprived themselves of the right to initiate a ‘snapback.’”

He was referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the Iran nuclear accord, which the US ditched in 2018 before returning the illegal sanctions that it had lifted against Iran and launching the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign.

Following the US withdrawal, the European signatories to the JCPOA failed to uphold their commitments and made no efforts to save the agreement.

Also in his remarks, the Russian envoy criticized the Europeans and Americans for using “the tactics of forceful pressure” against Tehran, saying such an approach has no chance of success.

“The habit of Europeans and Americans to set certain deadlines all the time is quite counterproductive,” he said, citing the negotiations aimed at restoring the JCPOA in 2021-2022 as an example.

In an X post on Sunday, Ulyanov emphasized that the E3 “has no legal or moral right” to activate the snapback procedure.

Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the UN chief, the Security Council president, and the top EU diplomat, saying the E3 have relinquished their role as “participants” in the JCPOA, rendering any attempt to trigger the snapback mechanism “null and void.”

July 21, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia, China, and Iran to hold nuclear talks – Tehran

RT | July 21, 2025

Russia, China, and Iran will hold talks on Tuesday to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, has announced. He noted that a separate round of talks with European nations is scheduled for later this week.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Baghaei said that the trilateral talks would also focus on the threats by Britain, France, and Germany to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. In particular, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot warned of a potential sanctions snapback next month if no meaningful progress is made in limiting Iran’s nuclear activities.

Baghaei noted that Russia and China remain members of the 2015 nuclear deal and hold significant influence in the UN Security Council. He added that Iran had had “good consultations” with the two countries regarding the potential sanctions snapback. “Legally and logically, there is no reason for the return of sanctions lifted under the [nuclear deal],” he stressed.

The spokesman also confirmed that Iran would hold a separate meeting at the deputy foreign minister level with Britain, France, and Germany in Istanbul on Friday, adding that Tehran has “no plans to talk with the US” at this time.

One of the key stumbling blocks has been Iran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was monitoring Tehran’s nuclear program. Tehran has accused the IAEA of releasing a biased report, which was allegedly used as a pretense by Israel to launch a 12-day war against Iran.

The Israeli attack came after Iran-US nuclear talks ended up at an impasse due to Washington’s demand that Tehran fully abandon uranium enrichment. While the US has argued that Iran could use the capacity to create a nuclear bomb, Iran has dismissed any plans of doing so, insisting that it needs enrichment to fuel its civilian energy industry.

Both Russia and China maintain that the Iranian nuclear crisis can only be resolved through political and diplomatic means.

July 21, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Germany, UK to deliver long-range weapons to Ukraine under new pact

Al Mayadeen | July 17, 2025

Ukraine is set to receive new long-range weapons systems developed through joint efforts by British and German defense industries, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced Thursday. The deliveries are expected to begin within the next few weeks and continue over the coming months.

The statement followed the signing of a new bilateral agreement between Germany and the United Kingdom. Chancellor Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer formalized what they described as a “historic” treaty focused on friendship and enhanced defense cooperation during a joint appearance in Berlin.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Starmer, Merz stressed the expanded scope of military assistance to Ukraine. “We had a detailed discussion about military support for Ukraine, and this is not only about air defense, but also about Ukraine’s ability to better defend itself with long-range systems. We call this long range fire,” he said during the event, which was broadcast by Germany’s Phoenix TV.

He added that “Ukraine will soon receive significant additional support in this area, including through the industrial cooperation that we have established with Ukraine.”

Arming Ukraine 

The delivery of these advanced systems comes in light of a deepening of European defense collaboration in support of Ukraine, amid ongoing hostilities with Russia. The weapons transfer is part of a broader framework outlined in the Kensington Treaty, signed on July 17, 2025, in London, the first post-WWII bilateral defense treaty between the UK and Germany. The pact not only strengthens joint military production but also facilitates financing and technological cooperation with Ukraine’s domestic arms industry.

Germany has already committed approximately €5 billion to support Ukraine’s production of long-range strike capabilities and has lifted previous range restrictions on German-supplied weapons, enabling Kiev to strike targets within Russian territory. British-German collaboration is also laying the foundation for future deep-precision systems with ranges exceeding 2,000 km, designed to ensure sustained deterrence capabilities in Eastern Europe.

These moves reflect a decisive shift in European defense policy amid increasing urgency to counter growing Russian military pressure.

Provocative Escalation

Moscow has responded with sharp warnings. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned Germany’s posture, suggesting it reveals the true intentions behind Western support for Kiev.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov criticized the deepening UK-Germany military alignment as a destabilizing factor for European security. Former President Dmitry Medvedev went further, cautioning that continued Western arms deliveries to Ukraine may provoke preemptive Russian strikes.

In a statement reported by TASS, he described the expanding range and sophistication of Western weapons as justification for escalating Russia’s own military posture.

Russian officials argue that this latest escalation marks a direct provocation, framing the treaty and weapons transfer as an existential threat that could draw Europe into broader conflict.

July 17, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Deal or sanctions: West threaten Iran ahead of August deadline

Al Mayadeen | July 16, 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, has agreed to set an end-of-August deadline for reaching a new nuclear agreement with Iran.

The decision, discussed during a joint call on Monday, could trigger a full reimposition of United Nations sanctions if no deal is reached, Axios reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

If Iran fails to meet the so-called “deadline,” the European trio plans to activate the “snapback” mechanism, an automatic reinstatement of all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement. The mechanism is intended to respond to ‘Iranian noncompliance’ and is set to expire in October.

The move is time-sensitive. The snapback process takes 30 days to complete, and European diplomats are keen to initiate it before Russia assumes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this October. Western officials see the snapback as both a diplomatic pressure tool and a contingency plan if ongoing negotiations collapse, as per the report.

Iran, however, maintains there is no legal basis for the snapback and has warned that triggering it could prompt Tehran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty altogether.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Tuesday his administration’s continued commitment to a peaceful resolution and diplomatic engagement. In a post published Monday night on X, Pezeshkian stated: “To open new horizons, we must take a critical look at the past. What will lead us toward a better future is rebuilding hope, being ready to learn and change, and forging a new path through consensus, empathy, and rational thinking.”

July 16, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Italy won’t buy US arms for Ukraine – media

RT | July 16, 2025

Italy’s budget doesn’t allow it to participate in US President Donald Trump’s plan to supply American arms to Ukraine, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reports, citing anonymous sources.

On Monday, Trump authorized new weapons deliveries to Ukraine, given that European NATO members provide funding, calling it a “very big deal.”

La Stampa said in an article on Wednesday that the strategy of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has already agreed to purchase several Patriot surface-to-air missile systems for Ukraine, “will not be pursued by Italy.”

According to the paper’s sources, Rome will be opting out of the scheme “not only because our weapon systems already handed over to Kiev have other technological configurations, but above all because – unlike Germany – the budget that Italy can allocate to such an operation is practically non-existent.”

The only arms purchase from the US currently planned by Italy is the delivery of a batch of F35 fighter jets scheduled for the 2030s, the sources added.

Politico reported on Tuesday, citing two French officials, that Paris would not be purchasing US weapons for Kiev as France is looking to invest in its own defense industry to meet European security needs.

The same day, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Publico outlet that Prague is also currently “not considering” joining the initiative. The country “is focusing on other… ways to help Ukraine,” he explained.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas earlier welcomed Trump’s pledge to send more weapons to Ukraine, but urged Washington to “share the burden” in terms of financing the deliveries. Washington, meanwhile, has threatened to impose secondary US tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners unless progress toward a peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev is made within 50 days.

July 16, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Patriot Systems Delivery to Ukraine Will Take Months – German Defense Ministry

Sputnik – 15.07.2025

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that the delivery of Patriot systems to Ukraine, following an agreement with the United States on their purchase in the coming days or weeks, will take months. This came after his meeting with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.

“It is clear that Ukraine really needs them [Patriot systems], and we have seen this. But do not have any illusions — the Patriot system, which we are talking about today that it should be sent to Ukraine, will take months to deliver. And it will take more days or weeks until a decision is made. But after that, everything will go quickly,” Pistorius told reporters.

The minister noted that the parties had decided not to report the number of systems being supplied, as discussions were ongoing on what exactly would be included in one unit of the system in terms of technical characteristics and the number of missiles. He estimated the cost of one battery at approximately $1 billion.

Earlier, Pistorius said that the issue of a roadmap for ensuring the security of Europe by the United States would be discussed during the meeting. According to Pistorius, the ministers would also discuss the sale of two Patriot systems by the United States to Germany, intended for Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Kremlin emphasized that pumping Kiev with weapons by the West would not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and would have a negative effect.

Boris Pistorius said that he had discussed with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, the need to coordinate the possible reduction of US troops in Europe.

“We have discussed what to do if this happens … We are speaking about how we step by step can coordinate the implementation of such decisions if they are made – but they have not been made yet – so that we together guarantee that there will be no dangerous gaps in the European security. So that we can avoid the situation when the United States withdraws something which we cannot replace in time,” Pistorius told reporters after the meeting with Hegseth.

On June 5, Hegseth said that the United States intended to review the deployment of its troops around the world and restore deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.

July 15, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Zelensky threatens ‘long-range strikes’ in Russia

RT | July 14, 2025

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has threatened new strikes deep inside Russia, days after the US pledged to resume military aid to Kiev.

Zelensky made the remarks after a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Aleksandr Syrsky, and Chief of the General Staff Andrey Gnatov on Sunday.

“Our units will continue to destroy the occupiers and do everything possible to bring the war onto Russian territory. We are preparing our new long-range strikes,” Zelensky wrote on X.

He added that Ukraine is preparing for a visit by US presidential envoy Keith Kellogg and will “work with partners on arms deliveries and scaling up joint production of essential defense assets.”

Among its recent attacks far from the front line, Ukraine targeted military airfields housing strategic bombers in several Russian regions last month. Ukrainian drones and missiles also repeatedly struck apartment blocks and other civilian infrastructure. According to Moscow, Ukraine was responsible for the passenger train derailment on March 31, which left seven people dead.

The EU has allocated hundreds of billions of euros in recent months to expand its military-industrial complex and support Ukraine’s domestic armament production.

Berlin will provide Ukraine its first batch of long-range missiles financed by Germany in the coming weeks, Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees the coordination of the country’s military support for Kiev, has said.

US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the Pentagon will resume deliveries to Kiev, following weeks of suspension, and reportedly considers approving a first new aid package since returning to office.

Russia has said that it views the use of foreign-supplied missiles as direct participation by Western states in the conflict and claimed that Ukrainian troops cannot operate sophisticated weapons systems on their own.

July 14, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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.

July 13, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment