Bottled Diplomacy

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will "bomb the shit” out of Oman if they get in the way of negotiations with Iran -Fox

Russian authorities arrested IT specialist Yuri Belenky over crypto donations to Ukraine. According to The Insider, Binance gave Russia’s Investigative Committee extensive account data, including IDs, transactions, logins and devices. I recommend avoiding Binance.

Whilst the UK is experiencing extreme drought following successive heatwaves, alerts have been issued which ban open fires, bbq’s and fireworks A group of Aghani migrants are approached in suburban park by both the fire services and the police. Such emergency service responses cost in the region of £700-£1000. The Afghanis then complain about being filmed whilst the emergency services attend to it.

A typical morning for a resident of the Moscow region Residents of suburban Koledino stand in a multi-kilometer queue at a gas station due to the fuel crisis and watch as yet another Wildberries warehouse burns. The "special military operation" going exactly according to plan.

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, four officials have told POLITICO. The U.K. leader believed he was communicating with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

The Trump administration is seriously discussing the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, according to Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called it "pure evil" and warned of a global catastrophe. Greene said U.S. intelligence had told the administration Iran was “nowhere near creating a nuclear weapon,” while Israel continued claiming Tehran was “only weeks away.” She accused Washington of bombing Iran anyway and warned that a nuclear strike could trigger global conflict, economic depression and mass suffering. “Do not use nuclear weapons and stop this war NOW,” Greene wrote, warning that those responsible would be held accountable “for the rest of human history.”

I thought the day might come when the United States ceased to be the leader of the Free World and a deterrent to tyrants. When the U.S. abandoned the West, so to speak. I admit I did not see it coming from the Republican Party and the Right--CPAC, Heritage, etc. But here we are.

I wonder if it is finally dawning on people that Trump’s pivot to confront China was, from the start, simply a straw man put up to abandon Ukraine and serve Putin’s interest?

Pete Hegseth: Poland is a model ally, February 2025 May 2026: US arbitrarily removes combat brigade from Poland, reverses course publicly, but has yet to deploy a replacement Elbridge Colby: South Korea is a model ally, February 2026 August 2026: Trump orders sharp decrease in joint military exercises because North Korea isn't a threat A pattern is starting to emerge.

Never thought I'd see a US president describe joint exercises with South Korea almost exactly the way the North Koreans would describe them. Trump fears our enemies but he hates our allies.

In a surprise move, President Trump announces that the US will be substantially reducing military exercises with South Korea due to his “very good relationship” with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Also suggests the move is related to South Korea’s refusal to join the Iran war.

Fox News: Why not just go to Congress for the ballroom? Blanche: We don’t believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we’re doing. Admin’s note: Blanche’s claim is incorrect: federal courts have ruled the ballroom requires explicit congressional approval, which has not been given.

Ukrainian ballistic missile FP-9 presented in Denmark at arms exhibition Its range will reach 855 km, and the weight of the warhead is 800 kg. The first ballistic strikes on Russia are promised in the fall.

Donald Trump has accused the BBC of harassing his family after the broadcaster tried to subpoena his children. The BBC’s lawyers asked a Florida court for authorisation to serve Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, with legal orders that would force them to testify in the president’s $10bn defamation case

These are messages US servicemen in the Persian Gulf have scribbled on the dust of an aircraft flap. "Be a good guy and do what Israel tells you to" "Operation Epstein Fury" "Peace deal #64 incoming... ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND" "Bibi's cucks" If this is real, it's extraordinary evidence of deep discontent among US service members. (Can anyone identify the type of aircraft?)

It looks like the era of cheap deep-strike drones may be coming to an end. The hit and penetration rates of conventional designs are declining, while more jet-powered systems and drones incorporating low-observable technologies are increasingly emerging. It’s starting to look very similar to what happened with bombers from the 1950s through the 1990s: as air defenses evolved, simply building more cheap platforms was no longer enough. Survivability, speed, range, and reduced radar signature became increasingly important.

US pulls last aircraft carrier in Asia as Trump focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere—Trump’s war against Iran is stretching the limits of U.S. aircraft carriers and leaving the western Pacific without one of the key American warships.

A Polish bus crash in Hungary has killed 12 people and injured at least 10, Reuters reports. Emergency services are responding at the scene.

Irish teenager who died in Greece have been electrocuted by faulty shower. The death of an Irish teenager, electrocuted while taking a shower in a holiday home in Greece, has led to calls for tighter checks on appliances at tourist accommodation. Alex McKee, 17, is said to have died instantly when picking up the showerhead in a bathroom described as “outdoor and rudimentary” on Kimolos. “We are lucky there weren’t two deaths as a result of electrocution,” Agapitos Xanthis, a doctor on the island told Greek TV, recounting how the boy’s mother had described feeling a similar surge when she called him for help. “I told her to immediately turn off the mains.”

"It is better if the Ukrainians lose the war quickly," — former UK PM Johnson revealed the details of a conversation with a senior official of German Chancellor's office before the full-scale invasion. According to Johnson, this episode is a symptom of the general erroneous strategy of Berlin and Paris after Crimea and before the full-scale invasion. "They behaved like family psychologists, analyzing the brutal attack of one country on another as a family scandal," says Johnson.