Donald Trump is on the brink of tearing up his 'no foreign wars, pro-peace' pre-election pledge on Ukraine, with plans to deliver more weapons, and threats against Russia edging him closer toward inheriting "Biden's war." Sputnik asked a renowned US geopolitics and military affairs expert to break it down.

The president claims that his plans to ramp up arms deliveries to Ukraine and threaten Russia with secondary tariffs are designed to help end the conflict, “when in fact these steps are serving to prolong and escalate the war unnecessarily with no end in sight,” ex-US Army staff officer David Pyne says.

France’s Strategic National Review predicts a large-scale military conflict with Russia in Europe by 2030, despite Russia repeatedly rubbishing the scenario.

Why It's a Non-Starter

"When talking about war in Europe, the key question is: war between Russia and whom? NATO countries? France directly?" Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, tells Sputnik.

Both scenarios don't hold water: 

Russia won't unleash a war on NATO—it would mean nuclear war

France is currently a major buyer of Russian gas in Europe

What’s Really Behind the Claim?

The Gaza genocide is special. And not in one but two regards.

As has often been observed, this is the first genocide in history that is, in essence, livestreamed. No genocide before has been committed under the eyes of the world like this one. And second, the Gaza genocide is undermining and, in effect, devastating whole moral and legal orders – or at least longstanding claims to them – in an equally unprecedented way.

Humanitarian aid from hell: The extermination of Palestinians is being disguised as help
Israel and America want to ‘benevolently’ put the population of Gaza into what amounts to a concentration camp

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

Here goes a strange wheelbarrow, with a dog in front and a woman behind. The dog pulls, the woman pushes. Whatever one thinks of the proverbial cleanliness of Flanders, it's worth recalling this amusing observation by Victor Hugo: "The Lord of Canaples," he said, "who feared fleas so much for his dogs, would not have tied them to those carts." But these are well-dressed carts, where the brass of the milkmaids gleams; every morning, they crisscross the streets of Brussels. Along the way, the four-legged drivers try to rub each other's noses as a sign of friendship, but there is no time to lose. Butcher, baker, or milkman, all these daily suppliers must trot tirelessly and arrive on time; As soon as the rope is around one's neck, the struggle for life begins.

Sonya Wilson explains why wonder is at the heart of her novels Spark Hunter and The Secret Green. 

Last winter, about halfway up a small, damp slope in the Paradise Valley, I saw some steam rising from a lump of moss. 

I might’ve walked on past, brushing it off as a nothing-much, but since becoming a writer of fiction I’ve become much more concerned with paying attention to the details of real life, so I stopped, and I sat, and I watched.

The discussion centers around the depletion of U.S. weapons stockpiles due to aid sent to Ukraine, particularly long-range systems like ATACMS. Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted that the U.S. initially withheld these weapons because they were critically low and needed to maintain their own deterrence capability. Even after supplying some, their battlefield impact was limited. Similarly, additional weapons like Germany's Taurus or UK's Storm Shadow missiles are seen as insufficient to change the tide of the war, while accelerating Western stockpile depletion.

There was much to read in the papers last Monday, the 7th of July. Three stories caught my attention.

Hannah Thomas, who ran as a Greens candidate in Grayndler against Anthony Albanese in the recent federal election, was told that she would possibly lose the sight in her right eye as a result of forthcoming surgery. It had been injured when she was thrown to the ground by police during a protest outside a factory in Belmore which manufactures components for F-35 jets used by the Israel Defence Force.

Henry Reynolds

The Guardian has published an op-ed in which is being called for more support for Ukraine. The piece acknowledges the difficulties for the Ukrainian army, the Russian advance and the lack of support on the part of NATO members. The author proposes that the West intervenes and organises no-fly zones in order to protect the unoccupied parts of Ukraine.

What Happens If Ukraine COLLAPSES? Who's To Blame?

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose “severe” tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners unless a deal is reached to end the Ukraine conflict within 50 days.

Trump issued the warning on Monday during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office.

“We’re very, very unhappy – I am – with [Russia], and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in about 50 days,” he stated.

Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for dragging Washington into the conflict, saying the US had spent approximately $350 billion on aid for Ukraine.

Ukraine will receive its first batch of long-range missiles financed by Germany by the end of July, a top German general has said, acknowledging that Kiev’s battlefield situation is deteriorating.

In an interview with ZDF, Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees the coordination of Berlin’s military support for Kiev, said Germany is “ready to make these weapons systems available.”

Ukraine will receive the weapons “by the end of this month,” Freuding stated, adding that they will arrive “in high three-digit numbers.” He did not specify which missiles will be delivered or what their range is.

”We need weapons systems that can reach deep into Russian territory and attack depots, command facilities, airfields, and aircraft,” Freuding said.

Western nations’ hegemonic aspirations and dismissal of Russia’s security concerns have led to the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Sunday. Ideological differences are only a pretext to advance the West’s geopolitical interests, he claimed.

Putin added that he expected the collapse of the USSR to alleviate tensions between Russia and the West.

“I also thought that key disagreements [between us] were ideological in nature,” he stated. “Yet, when the Soviet Union was gone… the dismissive approach to Russia’s strategic interests persisted.”

On July 6, BRICS member states signed the Joint Declaration of the 17th BRICS Summit, “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”, in Rio de Janeiro.

Similar to the game-changing Kazan Declaration, this year’s BRICS declaration serves as a manifesto for the Multipolar World Order. Containing 126 commitments, the document reads like a Bill of Rights against the global tyranny of the Collective West.

US President Donald Trump has pushed back against claims of a cover-up in the Jeffrey Epstein case, defending his administration’s handling of the release of files related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender’s death in jail.

Some of Trump’s allies, including journalist Tucker Carlson and former adviser Steve Bannon, have criticized a report by the Department of Justice and the FBI, which found no evidence of a list of powerful individuals to whom Epstein trafficked underage girls. The report also found no signs of foul play in Epstein’s 2019 death at a Manhattan correctional facility, which was ruled a suicide.

Why Lee Jae-myung Did Not Attend the NATO Summit

Konstantin Asmolov

How the Summit Went

Staying within the bounds of what can be commented on, here are several noteworthy points:

– The main issue discussed was defense spending. The United States proposed that allies raise their military budgets to 5% of GDP.

CALL AGAINST WAR
European leaders are preparing for war. A vast rearmament program is underway. And it is the working class they will ask to pay the price for their weapons and their wars, through taxes, cuts to our social benefits, a decline in our living standards, and our blood and sweat.
The order established after World War II is disintegrating—politically, financially, and militarily.

Not a cent, not a weapon, not a single life for war!