Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is making his first statement about potential voter fraud in the recent US presidential election, which he dismisses.
In the last presidential election, Donald Trump has claimed that he only lost to incumbent President Joe Biden through voter fraud, a claim that the mainstream media has portrayed as unfounded, while US postal workers have testified to serious irregularities.
In an interview with NBC, DeSantis said that he does not believe there was any fraud in the last presidential election and that Joe Biden won honestly.
– No, of course he lost. Joe Biden’s the president, says DeSantis.
This is the first time DeSantis has answered questions about the legitimacy of the election, questions he has previously avoided answering.
– Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 every four years is the winner, he said.
Commenting on DeSantis’ remarks, Donald Trump’s campaign spokesman said that DeSantis should stop being “Joe Biden’s biggest cheerleader”.
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One of Britain’s highest-ranking military officers assesses that Ukraine will never be able to defeat Russia on the battlefield and should instead negotiate for peace.
In an interview with The Independent’s podcast World of Trouble, Field Marshal Lord David Richards argues that Ukraine simply does not have the capacity to drive Russian forces from its territory and should instead seek a negotiated solution.
Richards, who was promoted to the country’s most prestigious five-star military rank earlier this year and led NATO forces during the troop surge in Afghanistan, is critical of how Ukraine’s allies have managed their support.
— What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win, says the former Chief of the Defence Staff.
When Richards is asked to reflect on Ukraine’s chances of success against Russia, he is clear.
— My view is that they would not win.
When the interviewer asks whether Ukraine could win even with the right resources, the answer is brief.
— No.
Pressed further on whether the right resources could make a difference, he repeated his answer and added:
— No, they haven’t got the manpower.
Not an existential issue for the West
Richards, who is the only British officer to have commanded large American combat forces since 1945, believes the prospects for Ukraine are bleak.
— Unless we were to go in with them – which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us. It clearly is for the Russians, by the way.
— We’ve decided because it’s not an existential issue, we will not go to war. We are, you can argue – and I absolutely accept it – in some sort of hybrid war. But that’s not the same as a shooting war in which our soldiers are dying in large numbers, Richards continues.
He emphasizes that despite sympathy for the Ukrainians and their achievements, he still believes the war is not in the West’s vital national interests.
— My instinct is that the best Ukraine can do, and you already see President Zelensky, who’s an inspirational leader … the best they can do is a sort of a score draw.
Zelensky met Trump
The statement comes after Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Washington DC to meet Donald Trump and try to convince him to give Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles.
But Zelensky’s plans to pressure Trump appear to have been undermined by Vladimir Putin, who spoke with the American president hours before the White House meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
At a packed press conference, Trump appeared hesitant to give away American weapons, while maintaining a friendly tone with Zelensky. The American president emphasized his own country’s need to maintain stockpiles.
Zelensky said very little, except to politely suggest that Ukraine could offer its drone technology in an exchange deal. Trump seemed open to the idea.
After the summit, Zelensky said that Trump had not said no to the idea of Tomahawk missiles – but not yes either.
Iraq war built on lies
In the extensive interview about his military life, the field marshal revealed that although his career has been successful, there have been occasions when he came into conflict with the establishment and often disagreed with his military and political superiors.
As a major general and deputy chief of the army under General Sir Mike Jackson, he says it was obvious to him that British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government was lying about its claims that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons in Iraq.
Tony Blair’s government lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to legitimize the invasion. Photo: World Economic Forum/CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Together with other senior officers, he questioned the legality of Britain’s decision to join American forces in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Before the British joined the invasion, Blair presented an intelligence document to parliament claiming that the Iraqi dictator was developing nuclear weapons.
“This stinks”
The document, which has since been mocked as “the dodgy dossier” for its unfounded claims, caused dismay among senior officers who had access to the actual intelligence information.
— “I and others encouraged the chief of defence staff to query whether this was legal and what was the basis of this intelligence, says Lord Richards.
— I do remember one officer – who I won’t name but was on the intelligence side – saying, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find something to put’. Yeah, ‘don’t worry. We’ll find something about that. We’ll justify what we were doing’, he recounts.
— I went back to say to Mike Jackson, ‘This stinks’.
Former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns believes that one of China's greatest advantages is the Chinese Communist Party's ability to think strategically and long-term.
Nicholas Burns, who served as U.S. Ambassador to China for three years, argues that the Western world has systematically underestimated the Chinese superpower’s capabilities in technology, military, and infrastructure.
In a recent interview, the experienced diplomat highlights several areas where China is far ahead of the United States – and warns that American policymakers still fail to see the full gravity of the situation from the perspective of U.S. strategic interests.
Nicholas Burns, 68, concluded his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to China in January 2025 after three intense years in Beijing. With a long career in American diplomacy behind him – having served under six presidents and nine secretaries of state – he returned to Harvard University where he is a professor of diplomacy and international relations.
Now he speaks openly about his experiences and observations from his time in China. And the picture he paints is more alarming than many are willing to acknowledge.
Impressive infrastructure
— We’ve underestimated Chinese power in the world, Burns states bluntly. As an example, he highlights China’s high-speed rail system:
— Those trains are fabulous. We rode those trains. You know, you can go from Beijing to Shanghai in four and a half hours.
The distance is over a thousand kilometers, he points out, drawing a clear comparison with the American rail system Amtrak:
— We have Amtrak’s just not like that.
But it is in scientific and technological capacity that Burns sees the greatest challenge.
— That’s the coin of the realm in our decade, he says and continues:
— In the next few decades. Which society will turn out more scientists and engineers?
Former US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns shakes hands with Xu Kunlin, governor of Jiangsu Province in China during a meeting in 2023. Photo: US Department of State
“Alarming” education statistics
The statistics he presents are striking. 34 percent of first-year students at Chinese universities study engineering or STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In the United States, the corresponding figure is 5.6 percent.
— And they’re a much bigger country, Burns adds.
He also points to a peculiar paradox in American society. At Harvard’s graduation ceremony, where he himself teaches, the pattern is clear:
— At Harvard graduation, where I teach, when we ask our graduate students to stand up as a class, chemistry majors, biology majors, physics majors, largely Asian Americans, Some American citizens, excuse me, Asians, American citizens of Asian ethnicity or Chinese.
The same pattern is visible in business.
— Last week, when President Trump gathered all the tech titans of the United States in the White House, tremendous number of those tech titans are Indian Americans and Chinese Americans, Burns says.
His conclusion is scathing:
— We’re not competing when it really matters for the future. And that’s on technology.
Overlooked military strength
Burns also addresses the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), whose capabilities he believes the Western world underestimates.
— Some people have said, well, it hasn’t fought since 1978. What is what it’s worth? I’ve seen the PLA, he says firmly.
— I think we’ve underestimated their military strength, their technology strength.
FMR U.S AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: “WE’VE UNDERESTIMATED CHINA’S POWER”
Nicholas Burns:
“Those trains are fabulous – you can go from Beijing to Shanghai in 4 1/2 hours, over 1000 kilometers. We have Amtrak, and it’s just not like that.
One of China’s greatest advantages, according to Burns, is the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to think strategically and long-term.
— The Communist Party of China is strategic and they don’t have to worry about, you know, we want to worry about what the press says. I mean, that’s a good thing to have the press challenging the government. They have nobody opposing them. And so they can make big bets over 10, 20, 30 years.
As an example, he mentions China’s systematic Africa policy:
— For 35 consecutive years, the Chinese foreign minister, whoever that person is, has made his first trip of the year in January to Africa to show the Africans you are our priority.
The contrast with the United States is striking.
— I think President Trump never went to Africa in his first term. President Biden went once to Angola for two or three days in December, at the very end of his term, Burns says.
His conclusion is unequivocal:
— They’re strategic, and we’re not competing on that level. So actually, I think the Chinese technology military economics are stronger than we think they are. And I think we’ve underestimated them, and we can’t do that any longer.
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has been indicted for storing top secret documents in his home and sharing classified information with family members. Bolton’s hacked email account also gave unidentified hackers access to sensitive material.
The neoconservative figure John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor during President Donald Trump’s first term and later became one of his sharpest critics, was indicted on Thursday for violations related to handling classified documents.
The indictment suggests that secret information was exposed when hackers – allegedly linked to the Iranian regime – broke into Bolton’s email account. A representative for Bolton informed the FBI in 2021 about the hack, according to prosecutors, but did not disclose that he had shared classified information via the account or that the hackers now had access to government secrets.
Bolton denied the charges in a defiant statement.
— Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.
The indictment alleges that Bolton, between 2018 and August of this year, shared more than 1,000 pages of diary-like notes containing top secret information with two family members – identified as his wife and daughter. The material included information from meetings with US government officials, intelligence documents, and conversations with foreign leaders.
After sending one document, Bolton wrote to his relatives: “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of the relatives wrote: “Shhhhh”, prosecutors state.
— There is one tier of justice for all Americans. Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law, commented Attorney General Pam Bondi.
John Bolton used to go on TV every single day and accuse President Trump of mishandling classified information.
He has now been indicted for sending classified information over his personal email and keeping classified documents at his house. pic.twitter.com/8H4poGKKMA
Bolton’s attorney Abbe Lowell said that the underlying facts were investigated and resolved several years ago, and that the charges concern parts of Bolton’s personal diaries from his 45-year career in government.
He suggests that the case is linked to the Department of Justice’s failed attempt to block the publication of his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened”, which portrayed Trump as deeply ignorant about foreign policy.
— These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct, Bolton claimed.
Bolton has, throughout his long career in Republican foreign policy circles, become known as a neoconservative war hawk with hardline views on American military power.
He was, among other things, a strong advocate for the Iraq War and has consistently argued for an aggressive foreign policy toward Iran and North Korea. Trump once called him a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six”.
Q: John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. You reaction?
TRUMP: I didn’t know that. You’re telling me for the first time. You know, I think he’s a bad person.
When President Trump was asked about the indictment of his former National Security Advisor, he responded that he was not aware of it.
— I didn’t know that. You’re telling me for the first time, but I think he’s, you know, a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy. Yeah, he’s a bad guy. Too bad. But that’s the way it goes, the president stated.
Swedish citizens will soon be able to travel to China without a visa. This was announced by Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergård (M) during a visit to Beijing.
Sweden has until now been one of few European countries lacking visa-free entry to China, despite most other nations on the continent having gained access to the new rules.
— This is very welcome news, and businesses in particular have been requesting this for a long time. We don’t know the details regarding implementation or exact design, but I expect we will have this shortly. But as I understand it, it will cover Swedish citizens, Stenergård told publicly funded broadcaster SVT.
In July this year, China expanded its visa-free policy to cover a total of 74 countries, where citizens can visit the country for up to 30 days without a visa. Nearly all of Europe is included in the agreement, but Sweden and the United Kingdom have until now remained outside.
For Swedish travelers and businesses, the change represents a major relief, as visa applications were previously time-consuming and costly.
— Swedish companies have unfortunately been affected by excessive red tape for a long time, not least at the EU level, she says.
