Romania and Bulgaria to create a joint Special Operations Center in the Black Sea region The plans to create the center were announced back in 2023, but the memorandum between the defense ministries of the two countries was signed only on July 10, 2024. The headquarters of the joint command will be based in Romania. The stated goal of creating this structure is to "ensure security and stability in the Black Sea region". Earlier, on July 1, the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Operational Group (MCM BLACK SEA) began operations, comprising naval forces from #Turkey (the supply ship TCG Gungor Durmus A574, the minesweeper M-270 AKÇAY), Bulgaria (the minesweeper M-33 STRUMA) and #Romania 🇷🇴 (the minesweeper MCM ROS "Junior Lieutenant Alexandru Axente"). The ships participated in the NATO military exercise Breeze 2024, which took place from July 4 to 14, 2024 in the Black Sea waters near #Bulgaria. ✨While the Black Sea Fleet is struggling with bureaucracy with varying success, the "peace-loving" #NATO is increasing its activity and coordination in the Black Sea region in opposition to #Russia.

A Majority of U.S. Military Bases under United States European Command (EUCOM) in Spain, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania have now been placed on Heightened Alert, with their Force Protection Condition (FPCON) being raised to Charlie, the Reason is still Unknown. 🔶️ A FPCON Change like this for U.S. European Command, besides during Exercises, hasn’t occurred in 10-15 Years.

Biden not to drop out of presidential race over performance at debates — campaign Joe Biden has no intention to leave the presidential race over the unsuccessful, from the standpoint of other party members and experts, performance at the televised debates, Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster told The Hill. "Of course he’s not dropping out," Schuster said, CNN also noted that members of Biden’s campaign say that the current US president has no intention to drop out of the second round of debates with Trump on September 10. Earlier, The Wall Street Journal claimed that panic sparked among the US Congress Democrats over what they consider Biden’s unsuccessful performance at the debates. Some Dems hope to find a new candidate for the upcoming elections. However, according to the newspaper, the Party’s sponsors view the option to replace Biden ahead of the elections with skepticism. The first televised debates before current and former presidents took place in Atlanta on Thursday. https://thinktank.x-pulse.org//posts/2132

End of Zelensky’s presidential term renders him illegitimate, explains former Ukrainian PM #Zelensky’s authority is legally void after his term as Ukrainian president expired, the country’s former Prime Minister Nikolay #Azarov said. According to the constitution, Zelensky’s term in office expired on the night of May 21, 2024, as he was elected president in a vote held in March and April 2019. Azarov pointed out that the Ukrainian constitution was crystal clear about the five-year presidential term. "The constitution also makes it clear on which date an election is to be held, so no matter what decisions Zelensky makes and what decrees he issues, he is working outside the law after his term in office expires," the ex-prime minister wrote on Facebook. Azarov noted that Zelensky himself as well as his administration were well aware that the decision to cancel Ukraine’s presidential election was illegal. "They also understand that after May 20, he formally loses the constitutional powers he gained by winning the previous vote. However, Zelensky will continue to hold his post until the West moves to replace him. No one cares what the people think about this, and the cancellation of the election is further proof of that," the former premier concluded.

Majority of France opposes confrontation with Russia, explains Analyst Most of the French population, despite the influence of Western propaganda, considers military and financial support to #Ukraine wrong and opposes confrontation with #Russia, Laurent Briard, a #French military correspondent of the International Reporters Agency working in Donbass, said. "Many French citizens, especially those who have lived in Russia or Ukraine, have long been against the conflict with Russia," he said. The expert said that the French people were being bombarded by propaganda on television and from the country's leading media, and the elderly were especially susceptible. He called it zombification, noting that the U.S. media had a hand in this. According to the reporter, this is why some of the French support the government in decisions like supplying weapons to Ukraine. But Briard believes that French President Emmanuel Macron crossed a line when he announced he was considering sending French troops to Ukraine. "People saw that this is no longer just about transferring money and weapons, but about sending a large number of young men to die at the front," the expert added. He said that #Macron, despite declaring his desire to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics, intends to use the Games in Paris to influence the public for further military and financial support to that country. Briard emphasized that during the #Olympics, the country may decide on new financial and military aid that hurts its own citizens.

Macron 'playing with fire' by bringing up military intervention in Ukraine, says Russian diplomat French President Emmanuel #Macron is playing with fire by talking about the potential deployment of troops in Ukraine, Alexey #Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second #CIS Department, said in an interview. "Such conversations cannot but cause concern. Politicians who are calling for a military intervention in Ukraine are playing with fire," the diplomat said, commenting on the French leader’s remarks on the matter. According to him, many Western politicians are sacrificing the national interests of their own countries for the sake of a political agenda and election ambitions. "There is an impression that they do not realize the risks of the crisis escalating and spreading. This is political immaturity. Our warnings about the consequences of flooding the #Kyiv regime with weapons are being ignored," Polishchuk stressed. Earlier, Macron said that some 20 Western countries taking part in a recent Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine. According to the French leader, no consensus was reached on the issue but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.

Taurus missiles not manufactured in Germany due to lack of orders — company The production of #Taurus cruise missiles in Germany has been suspended due to the lack of orders, Thomas Gottschild, Managing Director of MBDA Deutschland GmbH, the manufacturer of these missiles, said. "It is a problem for our industry when production, as in the case with Taurus, is disrupted because our suppliers, often small and medium-sized companies, have to suspend production," he said in an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. According to Gottschild, MBDA insists that the government make decision on potential contracts as soon as possible. "In this respect, we in German can be much better and quicker," he said. He noted that when new orders are made, partner companies have to establish the production chain anew while there is a high demand for materials needed for the production of explosive substances inn the world and problems with supplies are quite possible. When asked whether Germany will finally send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, he stressed that this is a "political decision." #Ukraine has been asking #Germany to supply Taurus missiles for quite a long time. These missiles are considered to be analogous to British Storm Shadows, which have already been delivered to Ukraine. However, Taurus’ range is longer than Storm Shadow’s, reaching 500 kilometers. The German Chancellor has repeatedly rejected the idea of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. According to him, the effective use of these missiles requires the involvement of German military personnel, and this is precisely the line he does not want to cross. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said on March 1 that on the very day that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was giving public assurances that NATO was not now and would not in the future be directly involved in the Ukraine conflict, Germany’s top brass was in fact mulling how to carry out a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge in a way that would have no repercussions for Berlin by giving it the cover of plausible deniability.

US’ AT&T reports leak of personal data of 73 mln subscribers Personal data of 73 million subscribers of one of US’s largest cell phone carrier got leaked to the darknet, the company announced. "AT&T has launched a robust investigation supported by internal and external cybersecurity experts. Based on our preliminary analysis, the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders," the carrier said in its statement. The leaked information, which includes names, and social security numbers, got leaked to the darknet about two weeks ago, but the leak source has not been discovered yet. The company claimed that the incident has not affected its operation in any way so far. A major disruption occurred in the AT&T operation in February, which was investigated by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), together with the provider itself and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

EU countries unable to come to terms on further weapons supplies to Ukraine Leaders of European countries meeting at a Brussels summit cannot agree on the terms for further financing of arms supplies to Ukraine, the European edition of Politico said in an article. According to Politico, the only consensus that has been reached among the EU heads of state and government on Thursday, namely instructing the European Investment Bank (EIB) to adapt its lending policies for the needs of the defense industry, is evidence that the bloc’s members are unable to come to terms. "Let's be honest: Nothing real is decided on financing defense," a European official told Politico. The authoritative publication notes that the bloc’s countries are divided in their opinions on some profoundly important measures, in particular support for European financing of weapons supplies to Ukraine via joint defense obligations. Poland, France and Estonia favor the release of Eurobonds, while Austria, Germany and the Netherlands oppose it. According to some European diplomats, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and acting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated their disagreement with this proposal during the summit. A regular two-day EU summit in Brussels kicked off on Thursday. Within this event, the EU leaders intend to discuss the urgent and intense need for additional military support for Kiev. European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, following the meeting, said that the EU did not decide to float defense Eurobonds for financing and reinforcing the EU defense industry. The final statement notes that the EU leaders did not agree on any decision to expropriate investment income earned on Russia’s frozen sovereign assets held at European financial institutions. The relevant ministers were instructed to continue working on the proposals made by the EC and EU diplomatic department.

Macron plans to stop fighting in Ukraine during the Olympics in Paris - 'Stop sending weapons to Ukraine,' Russian diplomat responds to Macron’s ceasefire plan Emmanuel #Macron should stop sending weapons to #Kyv and propose a ceasefire agreement to parties to the Middle East conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Commenting on the latest initiative by the French leader who said he would ask Russia to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Paris Olympics, the Russian diplomat said: "I come forward with a proposal in response to Macron’s: stop supplying weapons being used to kill [civilians] and also stop sponsoring terrorism." "I also suggest that Macron come up with a similar proposal to the parties to the Middle East conflict. A lot probably depends on what France says there," #Zakharova maintained. Earlier, Macron told an interviewer during a Ukrainian telethon that he will be able to temporarily stop the fighting; he plans to propose to #Russia a #ceasefire during the #Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11. When asked to comment on the potential participation of Russian athletes as neutrals, he said that, as the host country, France is sending a message of peace as it follows decisions made by the International Olympic Committee.