Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative last week, citing the systematic failure by the US and Europe to facilitate the export of Russian foodstuffs and fertilizers. The Russian Foreign Ministry subsequently warned that it could no longer guarantee the safety of navigation through the northwestern Black Sea.
Retired US admiral and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis has proposed deploying alliance forces in the Black Sea and having them attack Russian warships if they attempt to target ships streaming into or out of Ukrainian ports.
“NATO and the US could escort the grain shipments at sea, something they have plenty of capability to do with three major NATO nations in the Black Sea,” Stavridis told US media, referring to Black Sea-adjacent NATO members Turkiye, Bulgaria and Romania.
“With well stated warnings to the Russian Black Sea fleet, NATO should return fire if a Russian warship were to attack a grain ship, which is essentially a humanitarian vessel operating in international waters,” the retired admiral added.
Stavridis knows a thing or two about aggressive naval operations far from Western countries’ home shores. From 1987-1988, he took part in enforcing ‘Operation Earnest Will’, the US military operation protecting Kuwaiti tankers during the Iran-Iraq War. That operation led to US attacks on Iranian warships, and on July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes missile cruiser shot down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard.
Stavridis did not elaborate on the potential consequences of firing on Russian ships in the Black Sea, which would constitute an overt act of war......more below
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
