After months of speculation and accusations, the Pentagon has now admitted that the “Chinese spy balloon” that was shot down in February was not involved in any form of intelligence gathering.
– The intelligence agencies’ collective assessment – and this is an assessment with high confidence – is that the balloon was not engaged in any intelligence gathering, confirms General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in an interview with CBS News.
The balloon, originally heading towards Hawaii, ended up on American territory due to strong winds. It traveled over Alaska and Canada before finally reaching Montana.
According to information given to CBS News, the balloon’s sensors had never been activated while it was over the continental United States. This further supports the Pentagon’s claim that the balloon was not involved in any form of espionage.
The incident did contribute to a period of diplomatic tension between the United States and China, with Joe Biden stating as recently as May that the event had caused permanent damage to the relationship between the two countries.
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Russian forces have managed to break through Ukrainian defenses in the Kursk region through a unique underground operation in a disused gas pipeline.According to RT reports, 12 villages and over 100 square kilometers of territory have been recaptured in the last 24 hours, including the Sudzhya industrial zone.The Ukrainian army has been forced to retreat, as confirmed by the country’s commander-in-chief, General Aleksandr Syrsky.
The strategic turnaround is attributed to the secret Operation Potok, in which 800 Russian soldiers made their way 15 kilometers through an abandoned gas pipeline to catch Ukrainian forces by surprise. Through a pipeline only 1.4 meters high, the troops moved under extreme conditions for over four days.
Months of preparation
According to Russian reports, preparations took around four months. The aim was to use sabotage to force Ukrainian forces to retreat from Kursk towards Sudzhya, where Russian units were waiting. The operation, which started on March 1, began with soldiers crawling through the pipeline in small groups, equipped with oxygen tubes and protection against gas residues. Ventilation was drilled under the road with the help of Russian engineers, and wagons were used to transport water and equipment.
Military blogger Alexei Zhivov, a volunteer in the Española Brigade, notes that lessons learned from a similar operation in Avdeyevka (January 2024) were used.
Image from the underground operation. Photo: private.
Extreme challenges
– The first 72 hours were the worst.Lungs were burning, heads were bursting – then came the fever and hallucinations, says a former Wagner soldier, according to RT.
On March 8, when the soldiers emerged from the line and went on the offensive, there was a calamity on the Ukrainian side. Ukrainian forces were fired upon by artillery and drones during the retreat. Military expert Yevgeny Klimov explained to RT:
– The enemy started shelling the pipe with cluster munitions, but by then we had already secured the positions.
Final battle in Kursk close
According to retired captain Vasily Dandikin, quoted in the Russian media, the liberation of Kursk is only a matter of time:
– With rain coming, it will be difficult for the Ukrainians to maneuver.We are surrounding them now.
Among the retaken villages are Malaya Loknya and Martynovka.
Kursk has been described as a card that Zelensky could have used in a future peace negotiation with Russia. However, there are now strong indications that the conquest of the land is largely over and will return to Russian control.
Following earlier calls to “take back” the Panama Canal, US President Donald Trump is celebrating the signing of a multi-billion dollar deal by the world’s largest asset manager, US globalist and private equity giant BlackRock, to buy strategic ports on the Canal.
The deal, valued at around $22.8 billion, will see the BlackRock-led consortium reportedly acquire 90% of the Panama Ports Company, which operates the Balboa and Cristobal ports at both ends of the canal. The deal also includes CK Hutchison’s majority stake in 43 other ports in 23 countries.
Trump, who has long criticized Chinese interests in the canal, hailed the deal in his speech to Congress.
– My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it. Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal.
Are Trump’s earlier statements bearing fruit?
The statement suggests that Trump’s previous threats to “take back” the canal may have been aimed at shifting control to US-based companies rather than direct government control.
The deal marks BlackRock’s largest infrastructure investment to date. The company’s CEO Larry Fink has described the ports as “world-class” and vital for global expansion. Panamanian authorities now plan to review all legal and financial documents surrounding the deal to ensure public interests are protected.
The transaction has caused CK Hutchison’s shares to rise by over 20% on the Hong Kong stock exchange, while BlackRock’s shares increased by 1% following the announcement.
– I would like to stress that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports, Frank Sixt, one of CK Hutchison’s managing directors, said in a statement.
The Trump administration is now cracking down on the transnational professional criminal network Foxtrot, based in Uppland.The sanctions target the organization and its wanted leader Rawa Majid, known as “The Kurdish Fox”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the US is imposing sanctions on the Sweden-based Foxtrot network, the US Treasury Department said in a press release.
The network is accused of, among other things, involvement in drug and arms trafficking and contributing to an increase in violent crime in northern Europe. In Sweden, the Foxtrot network has been linked to several acts of violence such as shootings and explosions.
The new sanctions specifically target the network and its wanted leader Rawa Majid. Majid is alleged to have cooperated directly with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence’s security service, which is already subject to US sanctions, reports Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, among others.
– The Iranian regime leveraged the Foxtrot Network to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe, including the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2024, the US State Department commented on the sanctions.
US sanctions Swedish gang with Iran links, known for embassy attack attempt – i24NEWS https://t.co/lfxDVxAX7f
The action is seen as part of the Trump administration’s “renewed maximum pressure campaign” against Iran to underline the US’s “commitment to hold accountable those individuals and organizations who work in conjunction with the regime in Tehran to undermine our nation’s safety and security and our global partners”.
In parallel, President Trump has called for a “verified nuclear deal” with Iran and claimed that reports that the US and Israel are planning to attack Iran are exaggerated.
Trump administration Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz at a press conference following talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
Following talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces a call for a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war.
He also declares the resumption of military supplies of weapons and logistical support including intelligence to the Ukraine war.
The meeting between US and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday is said to have lasted eight hours. However, there is no indication yet that Russia was included in peace talks, but that the US is now resuming its military support to Ukraine. Alongside Rubio, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz attended a press conference after the talks, where it was stated that talks with Russia will be initiated next.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump also opened the door to a new meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian demands already known
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has commented on the news that they cannot comment on the possibilities for a possible ceasefire until a concrete proposal is presented in talks with Moscow. Peskov also added that a telephone meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump could be arranged at short notice.
Since the Istanbul peace talks broke down in March 2022, the US has broken off diplomatic contacts with Russia. The latest public statement from Russia, in June 2024, is that it sees the first precondition for negotiating a peace agreement as Ukraine withdrawing its military forces from the Russian-speaking regions annexed after 2022, i.e. Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk – and that it sees guarantees of Ukraine’s military non-alignment and absence of nuclear armaments as non-negotiable.
