RUSSIA - The Kremlin has directly accused the United States of orchestrating a missile attack on Crimea that resulted in four deaths and 151 injuries. Utilizing US-supplied ATACMS missiles, the strike has prompted Moscow to issue a stern warning to the US ambassador, hinting at imminent retaliation. Russian officials claim this conflict with the West has reached a critical and dangerous phase. The direct accusation against the US for the Crimea assault, an area Russia annexed in 2014, is a significant escalation. Posts to social media allegedly show the missile launch, another of the strike itself.

RUSSIA - The Ukrainian attack that killed at least 5 Russian beachgoers and wounded another 124 in Sevastopol reportedly used American-supplied ATACMS missiles armed with cluster munition warheads. A number of open source intelligence analysts have suggested the missiles were observed and may have even been directed by a US Air Force surveillance drone operating nearby at the time. According to Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Telegram channel, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said this when asked to comment on the ATACMS strike on Crimea:

SOUTH KOREA - A South Korean national security adviser has warned that Russia could cross a “red line” by providing certain precision weaponry to the North, potentially eliminating the justification for Seoul’s decision to refrain from providing lethal military aid to Ukraine. “I would like to emphasize that it all depends on what Russia will do,” senior national security official Chang Ho-jin said on Sunday in an interview with South Korea’s KBS TV. “Will there be any line remaining for us if Russia gives precision weapons to North Korea?” Chang’s latest comments come three days after he told reporters that the South Korean government could reconsider its self-imposed ban on sending weapons to Ukraine.

ISRAEL - Israeli troops are poised to shift toward the country’s border with Lebanon to confront Hezbollah as the fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip winds down, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed. Speaking on Sunday in his first Israeli television interview since the war with Hamas started last October, Netanyahu said major combat operations in the Palestinian enclave are nearly over. “It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” he added. Rising tensions between West Jerusalem and Hezbollah have stoked US fears that Israel will trigger a wider war in the Middle East, dragging in American forces. Netanyahu dismissed such concerns, saying, “We can fight on several fronts, and we are prepared to do that.”

LEBANON - Whistleblowers at the airport told The Telegraph they were concerned about increasing weapons supplies arriving on direct flights from Iran. Hezbollah is storing huge quantities of Iranian weapons, missiles, and explosives in Beirut's main civilian airport, according to airport whistleblowers. In a city that has been battered economically since 2019, the whistleblower claims workers collaborating with Hezbollah "walk around like peacocks" with new watches and smartphones, and drive new cars. "A lot of money [is] being passed under the table," he added.

LEBANON - ‘Lebanon doesn’t want war’. A large part of anti-Hezbollah sentiment being stoked by Lebanese Christians. With an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel seemingly getting closer every day, many Lebanese have begun to protest against the terror group for dragging their country into a potentially devastating war. Fearing reprisals from Hezbollah, the largest and most powerful armed force in the country, many Lebanese have taken to the internet with slogans and caricatures in an effort to mobilize the public against war. Among the most popular online campaign slogans is the hashtag “#Lebanon doesn’t want war,” which the Jerusalem Post reported had almost 40,000 appearances last month, with a potential to reach nearly 30 million users.

USA - The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned on Sunday that an escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East. Air Force General Charles Q Brown warned that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah would likely involve Iran and that the United States may not be able to provide the same assistance to Israel as it did during the Iranian attack in April. Brown said Iran is firm in its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and would likely help the group, “particularly if they felt that Hezbollah was being significantly threatened.”

USA - A series of mass shootings rocked the US early on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and 34 others wounded in just four cases reported in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio. The shootings came amid a broader spate of recent mass shootings, including the one at an Arkansas grocery store on Friday that left four dead and nine wounded – as well as another at a nightclub in Kentucky on Saturday that killed one and injured seven. The violence brought the number of mass shootings in the US so far this year, as of Sunday, to more than 240 – an average of more than one daily, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The non-partisan archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are wounded or killed.

GERMANY - From the small stage of a pub in a wooded town of eastern Germany, the right-wing ideologue Björn Höcke regaled a crowd of followers late last year with the tale of his imminent trial. He faced charges for saying “Everything for Germany” at a political rally — breaking German laws against uttering Nazi slogans. Despite that approaching court date, he looked down at the crowd, and gestured to them with an impish grin. “Everything for?” he asked. “Germany!” they shouted. After a decade of testing the boundaries of political speech in Germany, Mr. Höcke, a leader of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, no longer needed to push the limits himself. The crowd did it for him.

GERMANY - The AfD has reportedly rallied a group of anti-globalist right-wing parties who want to end the Ukraine conflict. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will meet with like-minded right-wingers in Strasbourg this week to form a new bloc in the European Parliament, German news magazine Der Spiegel has reported. According to the outlet, the new faction will champion national sovereignty and call for negotiations with Russia. The AfD will host “the constitutive meeting of a new parliamentary group” in EU Parliament buildings on Thursday, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, citing an email exchange between the party and the parliament’s administration.

USA - American supremacy is on the line as a historian has issued a dire warning about the impact debt could have on the country. Professor Niall Ferguson has warned the US's global status would suffer devastating consequences if politicians continue to ignore the country's worsening debt crisis. Professor Ferguson noted both President Joe Biden and his likely contender in November's presidential election, Donald Trump, have heavily contributed to increasing America's debt during their presidencies. The historian cited historical examples to outline the potential consequences the US faces as he noted records showed that interest payments on national debt overtook defence spending in June. And earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that another $1.9 trillion will be added to America's national debt by December.

USA - News about the expiration of a Washington-Riyadh deal may be fake, but an arrangement that is key to the dollar’s success has eroded. It is said that works of fiction can often convey certain truths better than a newswire. That is perhaps the light in which to view reports circulating around the internet recently about the expiration of a 50-year ‘petrodollar’ treaty between the US and Saudi Arabia. The agreement is a piece of fiction. The spurious reports appear to have originated in India or in the murky tangle of websites aimed at crypto investors. There was an official agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia signed in June of 1974 and another, secret one reached later that year according to which the Saudis were promised military aid in exchange for recycling their oil proceeds into US Treasuries. The deal whereby Riyadh would sell its oil in dollars was informal, and there was no expiration date. The petrodollar system as we have come to know it largely grew organically.

LEBANON - The Lebanese Hezbollah group executed a precise strike using drones, showcasing their advanced capabilities and marking a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict. The Iran-backed militant group released footage captured by a drone flying over northern Israel, which included views of a naval base, an Iron Dome factory, and Haifa port. The video surfaced just before the group claimed responsibility for the naval base attack, asserting that their drones had achieved "pinpoint accuracy." In a televised address, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah emphasised the group's enhanced weaponry and intelligence, hinting at their potential to target deeper inside Israel if tensions continue to rise.

RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin reasserted his country's right to provide arms to its allies, including possibly sending long-range missiles to North Korea. Putin, who spoke with reporters in Hanoi following meetings with Vietnam's communist leadership, answered a question regarding his previous suggestion that Moscow could send weapons to the West's adversaries in response to the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members greenlighting the use of Western-supplied weapons against strikes deep within internationally recognized Russian territory. "We do not rule out supplying weapons to other countries, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," said Putin. "Let the West think where they might end up."

RUSSIA - With the West-centered world order in decline, the strengthening of a new ‘power triangle’ in the East is a logical development. On his recent visit to Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, before moving on to a warm welcome and a similar series of declarations in Vietnam. Is this really a new level of relations between Moscow and Pyongyang? Those who consider the visit simply a gesture of support for Pyongyang are missing important details. We now see the term “universal strategic partnership” being used, which implies the highest possible level of cooperation between countries. Compared to earlier descriptions of relations between Moscow and Pyongyang, this is a great leap forward.