FBI Says Seized Oil Tanker Near Venezuela Was Supporting Terrorist Groups

#FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the bureau, the Department of Homeland Security (#DHS), and other agencies were involved in the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of #Venezuela on Dec. 10, stating that it was connected to terrorist organizations.

The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) has drafted plans for an intervention in #Nigeria, the primary target being #ISWAP and, to a lesser extent, other Islamist groups such as JAS and decentralized bandit groups. Plans are divided into light, medium, and heavy options.

The light option is to continue to rely on the Nigerian army while providing additional military and financial support to help the government neutralize the threats.
The medium option would include drone strikes and joint operations with the Nigerian army against terrorist camps and positions. This, however, would be difficult because the US lost access to airbases in Niamey and Agadez in Niger. Other regional countries might permit use of their territory, but that is unlikely; the most feasible alternative would be to operate from the AFRICOM base in Djibouti.

The heavy option, and the least likely, would be to move an aircraft-carrier strike group into the Gulf of Guinea so fighter jets could carry out high-impact airstrikes against militant camps. That is constrained by carrier availability: the Gerald R. Ford is being moved to the southern Caribbean, other carriers are deployed in the Pacific or the Middle East, and some are undergoing maintenance.

Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayor's race

#Mamdani defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent. Voter turnout surpassed 2 million for the first time since 1969.

Victory for socialism in New York - and a loss for freedom and capitalism in America. A man who praised BDS, backed “Globalize the Intifada,” and called Israel genocidal just won. Mamdani's victory makes anti-Semites more comfortable. Let that sink in.

Pro-Mandani groups took $40 Million from Soros. He isn’t anti-billionaire at all, as long as they’re filling his pockets. Just like every Marxist leader before him...

Groups of French and UK military already arrived at Odessa. NATO is respectively forming right now bases of staging, cargo logistics and military units movement in the territory of Moldova...

Zapad-2025 drills to practice troop management in event of aggression against ally

Military personnel at the joint Belarus-Russia drills #Zapad-2025 will practice managing troop groupings during the localization of aggression against the Union State, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"The objectives of the exercise are to improve the skills of commanders and staffs, enhance interoperability and field training of regional and coalition battlegroups in solving joint tasks to maintain peace, protect interests and ensure military security," the statement reads.

According to Russia’s top brass, the troops will practice actions "at firing ranges in the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation and in the Baltic Sea and the Barents Sea." The military from the two countries will practice control over battlegroups in the event of a localized aggression against the Union State, the ministry specified.

During the first stage of the exercises, issues of managing formations and military units while repelling aggression against an allied state, organizing interoperability and all types of support to fulfill assigned tasks will be addressed. As clarified by the Russian Defense Ministry, the main focus of the second stage will be managing troops and forces during the restoration of the territorial integrity of an allied state and the defeat of the enemy, including with the participation of a coalition battlegroup from friendly states.

Leftist revolt in France

#Leftist parties are calling on their supporters to revolt over French prime-minister, François #Bayrou’s draft 2026 budget, which includes scrapping two national holidays, freezing pensions and cutting €5 billion from health spending. The French Left are organising under the slogan “Block everything” (“Bloquons tout”) and seek to repeat the scale of the Yellow Vest protests of 2018-2019 but if the Yellow Vests were led by rightwing parties, this wave of social unrest is left-coded.

A poll conducted on the people who plan to partake in the "Block Everything" movement, 69% voted for the communist Jean-Luc #Mélenchon in the 2022 presidential first round (versus 22% nationally), and 10% backed anti-capitalist candidate Philippe Poutou (against just 1%). By contrast, only 2% supported President Emmanuel Macron (28% nationwide) and 3% for rightwing leader Marine Le Pen (23%). More than half of respondents (51%) placed themselves at the far left of the political spectrum, compared to just 3% of the French public. "If you broaden the scope, 86% describe themselves as belonging to the radical left," the study said.

Telegram chat groups linked to the campaign are filled with calls for a general strike and attacks on "ultra-rich capitalists", the foundation said.

The study showed that 54% of supporters cited rising inequality as a top concern, compared with 13% nationally. Other priorities included the environment (43% vs. 23%) and the health system (30% vs. 19%).

Immigration and crime – frequent themes in French politics – ranked low, with just 4% and 3% citing them, compared with 21% and 22% nationwide.

Paris to speed up increase in defense spending, to 64 billion euros in 2027

France intends to accelerate the increase in defense spending in the coming years, in 2027 they will amount to 64 billion euros, which is twice as much as in 2017, President Emmanuel Macron in his address to the country’s military. "Although we planned to double the military budget by 2030, we will do so by 2027," said Macron, whose speech was broadcast on the page of the Elysee Palace on X. "An additional 3.5 billion euros will be allocated for defense in 2026, and another 3 billion euros in 2027. Thus, the defense budget will double in 10 years and amount to 64 billion euros."

The republic’s military spending under the budget for 2025 amount to 50.5 billion euros. In 2017, when Macron was elected president, defense spending amounted to 32.3 billion euros.

The French leader said the government will focus on strengthening the army. "It is necessary to eliminate our vulnerabilities: first of all, to replenish ammunition stocks, including remotely controlled munitions, to make our multiple launch rocket guns and precision weapons more powerful, to provide our combat groups, frigates and air bases with even more drones, as well as the necessary equipment for successful operations," he said. "It is also necessary to strengthen the air defense system and means of conducting electronic warfare, as well as to strengthen the capabilities in space."

Macron also touched upon strengthening the military reserve and more active involvement of young people in the army, but clarified that details on these issues would be announced in the fall. The head of state argued that France is facing numerous threats and must respond to them. "Since 1945, freedom has never been under threat to such a significant extent as it is now. Peace on our continent has never depended on the decisions we are currently making," Macron said.

Tracking U.S. Navy carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups
and
Deployed Chinese PLA Navy big decks

• USS Nimitz (CVN 68) + PLA CNS Shandong (17) square off in the South China Sea
• CNS Liaoning (16) east of the Philippines on record-setting deployment
• 2x PLAN amphibious assault ships operating: CNS Hainan (31) + CNS Anhui (33)
• 2x U.S. Navy amphibious ready groups deployed: USS America (LHA 6) in WESTPAC + USS Tripoli (LHA 7) in EASTPAC
• USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) remains on station in CENTCOM AOR
• USS George Washington (CVN 73) preparing for summer patrol
• USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) returned home
• USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) deploying next

India weighs tough response after Pahalgam attack

New Delhi is considering ending the ceasefire with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terrorist attack. On April 22, three armed men in camouflage opened fire on tourists in Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, killing 26 people – including one Nepalese citizen. The Resistance Front, linked to Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility.

#India accused Pakistan of failing to uphold commitments along the Line of Control and International Border, and of not curbing cross-border terrorism, News18 reports. Pakistan denied the allegations. In response, India reduced embassy staff in Islamabad, expelled Pakistani military advisers, closed the ‘Attari’ border checkpoint and suspended the key River Indus water supply agreement. India also halted issuing visas to Pakistani citizens.

#Pakistan retaliated by suspending all bilateral agreements, warning India against the water cut-off and closing airspace to India. It also expelled Indian defense advisors, accusing India of supporting terrorist groups in Pakistan.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger take armies to maximum alert

Leaders of #Burkina Faso, #Mali and #Niger, which all are members of the Sahel Alliance, decided to take their defense and security forces to the highest alert, says the joint statement of the three countries’ leaders, signed by Interim President of Mali, Chairman of the #Sahel Alliance conference Assimi Goita. "The College of national leaders closely follows the deceiving maneuvers, initiated by the French junta, who declares the shutdown of its military bases only to replace them with another, less visible mechanism, which pursues the same neo-colonial goal," says the statement, published by the AES info website.

"These actions are accompanied by operations on reorganization and regrouping of terrorist groups in the Lake Chad basin, in Sahel and in some border areas, including borders between Niger and Nigeria, Niger and Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso. These groups receive various support from foreign states, including funds and equipment, intended for destabilization of the Sahel Alliance," the statement read.

Faced by these circumstances, the College of national leaders ruled to "take the defense and security forces to maximum alert, and make the confederacy’s territory a single theater of military operation, which coexists with the current national war theaters.".