EUROPE - Poland and the Baltic States just requested EU funding to finance what they now call the “EU Defense Line”, which is really just the latest rebranding of January’s “Baltic Defense Line” that was then renamed the “Baltic Shield” before its latest iteration. It was during this project’s second conceptual phase that it paired with Poland and set the basis for a joint “Shield” initiative. The US envisages Germany employing the “military Schengen” to accelerate the construction of “Fortress Europe”, which will enable Germany to contain Russia at the US’ behest while the US “Pivots (back) to Asia” to more muscularly contain China. This project is basically all about restoring Germany’s long-lost superpower trajectory with American support.

USA - While Biden bumbles, Xi threatens, Putin invades, and Kim fires missiles, there are more nuclear weapons pointed at the United States today than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Arms control groups and non-nuclear countries worldwide are acutely aware that the US president ultimately decides if a nuclear war will occur. The upcoming election scares them. According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “Humanity is on a knife’s edge. The risk of a nuclear weapon being used has reached heights not seen since the Cold War.”

USA - The day after his catastrophic debate performance that has prompted some of the leaders in his own party to call for him to step aside, Joe Biden found solace in a group that he knows he can count on for unconditional love and support — the “LGBTQI+” community. Joe Biden appeared Friday with Elton John in New York as part of gay pride month to help open the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center — a new venue in Greenwich Village commemorating the Stonewall riots of 1969. In his pride-themed speech, which he read from teleprompters, Biden repeatedly used the term “soul of America” — an echo of his speech from last year in which he controversially declared that transgender individuals “shape our nation’s soul.” Elton John followed Biden by railing against “misinformation” and “senseless scapegoating.”

VATICAN - Pope Francis asserted this week Christians, Jews and Muslims, all worship the one God and are “brothers and sisters.” “Jesus taught us to welcome one another as brothers and sisters,” the pontiff told a delegation from the Bologna Mosque in northern Italy. “And this is true first of all for us, Christians, Jews, and Muslims, who worship the One God.” Members of all three faiths refer to Abraham as “our father in faith,” he said, “albeit in different ways.”

GAZA - This may come as some surprise, but only three per cent of the residents of Rafah, in Gaza, were poorly fed in May, according to the United Nations. In Khan Yunis and the central town of Deir al Balah, that figure stood at six per cent. The biggest challenges were faced by those who had failed to evacuate from the north at the start of the campaign. There, 13 per cent were found to be hungry. The overwhelming majority of Gazans had “acceptable” quantities of food. Now consider the situation before Hamas brought catastrophe to Gaza. Despite billions of dollars of aid money pouring into the Strip, 14 per cent of the population faced hunger in 2022, according to a contemporaneous study by the World Food Programme. So it appears that provisions are better now than they were when Hamas was in charge.

ISRAEL - The Gateway Pundit reported that Joe Biden reversed a Trump policy by sending $1 billion to UNRWA since he entered office. UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Details around the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7 continue to emerge, including reports that at least 12 UNRWA staffers took part in the mass slaughter of innocent Jews. The Times of Israel reports: "It said UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, let Hamas use its facilities for weapons storage, allowed tunnels and command centers to be built under its sites, and funneled cash into the terror group’s coffers by insisting on paying employees in US dollars.

USA - Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed this week that artificial intelligence companies are trying to create “God or something,” but said his company is different. “I find it a pretty big turnoff when people in the tech industry kind of talk about building this one true AI. It’s almost as if they think they’re creating God or something. And it’s like, that’s not what we’re doing,” Zuckerberg said during an interview with YouTuber Kane Kallaway. He also maintained that his company had other goals, such as allowing creators and small businesses to personalize their own AIs to suit their needs. "So, a big part of the approach is going to be enabling every creator, and then eventually also every small business on the platform, to create an AI for themselves to help them interact with their community and their customers if they’re a business,” he said. Zuckerberg’s comment seems a bit hypocritical, considering Meta has amplified AI usage on Facebook and Instagram.

GERMANY - Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) could soon be granted additional powers to protect itself from infiltration by perceived enemies, particularly Russia, the news outlet Welt reported on Friday. Citing a draft bill on the expansion of MAD’s powers, Welt stated that the agency is looking to use its expanded intelligence capability outside German military bases during foreign missions. Additionally, it wants to be able to monitor not only its own soldiers, but also foreign nationals, by intercepting their communications and using informants.

USA - The 81-year-old president’s condition puts the country in a “very dangerous situation,” Mike Johnson has argued. Joe Biden should be replaced as US president, having shown he is “not up to the task” during his debate with Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson has said. The US president's performance in his first election face-off with Trump on Thursday was widely viewed as a disaster. The 81-year-old appeared frail and confused, struggling to finish his sentences and mixing up words. According to media reports, Democrats were “panicking” after the debate, and some donors have demanded that the president be dropped from the party’s ticket for the November 5 election.

USA - Americans purchased roughly 5.5 million guns in the first four months of 2024, according to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. In 2022, there were a total of 16.7 million guns sold, and 2023 saw a 4% decline from that. 2024 appears to continue that trend. The states of Florida, California and Texas account for 22% of the guns purchased this year.

USA - Internet addiction is the problematic, compulsive use of the Internet that results in significant impairments in an individual’s functioning in various aspects of life, including social, work, and academic arenas. Internet addiction is becoming a worldwide problem. Individual screen time averages have risen to about three hours daily. Many people declare that their internet use is “compulsive.” In fact, more than 30 million of the United Kingdom’s 50 million internet users acknowledge that their compulsive, habitual use of the Internet is adversely affecting their personal lives by disrupting relationships and neglecting responsibilities. Teens addicted to their internet-connected devices have significant alterations in their brain function, worsening addictive behaviors and prohibiting normal development. Internet addiction, powered by uncontrollable urges, disrupts their development, psychological well-being, and every aspect of their lives – mental, emotional, social, and physical.

SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Beijing on Tuesday to meet with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and General Zhang Youxia, vice-chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and China’s highest-ranking uniformed official. The meeting suggests the Saudis are turning to China for defense cooperation after four years of disastrous relations with the administration of American President Joe Biden. The Saudi state press agency said several other high-ranking officials traveled to Beijing with the defense minister to discuss stronger relations with China and increased military “coordination efforts,” as Prince Khalid put it.

UKRAINE - If you had the opportunity to grab natural resources that are worth tens of trillions of dollars and you believed that you could get away with it, would you do it? A lot of people in western nations are not able to identify Ukraine on a blank map of the world, but the truth is that it isn’t just another country. It turns out that Ukraine is sitting on natural resources that are worth tens of trillions of dollars. Most of those natural resources are located in eastern Ukraine, and of course that is where all of the fighting is happening. Whoever is victorious in this conflict is going to get their hands on all of that wealth. I think that this helps to explain why the Russians and the western elite are so obsessed with winning this war.

UKRAINE - Ukraine has reached a security agreement with the European Union, and signed similar bilateral pacts with Lithuania and Estonia. Under the deal, the EU will continue to provide military support to Kiev, according to a draft seen by Reuters. Since 2023, Ukraine has secured such pacts with several individual NATO member states, including the UK, France and Germany. None of these documents, however, pledge direct future involvement on the part of the signatories in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

USA - Democrats were left in a full-blown panic after Joe Biden's poor debate performance against Donald Trump, leading to talk about replacing the president on the ballot. Biden, 81, fumbled and stumbled in the first presidential debate, sounding hoarse and searching for words as Trump swatted at his arguments. Senior Democratic leaders are reported to be having conversations about whether or not Biden should continue his run for president. Others suggested he be replaced.