NATOSource

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Trump’s description of Xi: “He’s a wonderful guy. He’s a friend of mine.” 2pm May 12, 2026.

🇺🇦🇷🇺🇨🇺 Rep Diaz-Balart: "Are you also aware that there's thousands of Cubans fighting for Russia?" Hegseth: "I was not aware of that particular fact." Weird that Hegseth wouldn't have been briefed on this. The US intelligence assessment is that up to 5000 Cubans are fighting for Russia. The State Dept was tasked last year of communicating this information to allies.

Austria scrambled fighter jets against U.S. military aircraft two days in a row after American planes entered Austrian airspace without permission. defence-blog.com/austria-confir…

!! The German government is hoping to persuade the Trump administration to agree to the sale of the Tomahawks together with their Typhon ground-launchers - story w / @laurapitel Germany in fresh push to buy Tomahawks after Trump row ft.com/content/c64f6c… via @ft

Pakistan: “The Iranian aircraft currently parked in Pakistan arrived during the ceasefire period and bear no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency or preservation arrangement.”

Almost 200 sanctioned Russia-linked ships have entered UK waters despite warning bbc.in/42Ytx30

NATO tarihinin ilk içkisiz zirvesiyle ilgili hazırlıklar sürerken. . Barcin Yinanc @barcinyinanc t24.com.tr/index.php/yaza…

Finnish President Alexander Stubb urged Europe on Monday to "calm down and lower the temperature" amid fears of a U.S. military withdrawal from the continent, insisting Washington won't abandon NATO despite its plans to pull troops from Germany. politico.eu/article/finlan…

The EU must build its own military so foes like Russia aren’t tempted to exploit doubts about whether the U.S. would come to its rescue, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told us. Read more in Brussels Playbook 👇 politico.eu/newsletter/bru…

Scoop via @CBSNews: As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park in its country, potentially shielding them from US airstrikes, sources told @JimLaPorta and me. Days after Trump announced the ceasefire in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan. Among the military hardware was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft. cbsnews.com/news/pakistan-…

Latvian defence minister resigns after Ukrainian drones hit oil tanks reut.rs/4uyzhMC reut.rs/4uyzhMC

Aizsardzības ministrs Andris Sprūds ir zaudējis manu un sabiedrības uzticību. Esmu pieņēmusi lēmumu pieprasīt aizsardzības ministra Andra Sprūda demisiju. Aizsardzības nozare turpmāk jāvada profesionālim. Par šo lēmumu šodien esmu informējusi ministru un koalīcijas partnerus. Šonedēļ notikušais dronu incidents skaidri parādīja, ka aizsardzības nozares politiskā vadība nav spējusi pildīt solījumu par drošām debesīm virs mūsu valsts. Sabiedrība nozarei ir uzticējusi vēsturiski lielāko finansējumu – gandrīz 5 % no IKP. Tā ir milzīga atbildība, kas prasa skaidrus rezultātus. Uzskatu, ka nozarei nepieciešama jauna, profesionāla pieeja. Esmu aicinājusi pulkvedi Raivi Melni stāties aizsardzības ministra amatā, un viņš tam ir piekritis. Viņa līdzšinējā pieredze Nacionālajos bruņotajos spēkos, militārā izglītība Londonā un pašreizējais darbs Ukrainā rada pārliecību, ka valsts aizsardzība tiks vadīta kompetenti, mērķtiecīgi un ārpus priekšvēlēšanu retorikas. Mūsu valsts un cilvēku drošība stāv pāri politikai.

First it was the insistence that Ukraine would be conquered swiftly and the best we could hope for was partisan warfare. Then it was fear of escalation. Recall Sullivan's comment, in response to the ATACMS question at the Munich Security Conference in 2022, about "heading down the road towards a third world war." Then it was DoD making four excuses for denying four critical platforms, all of which were eventually provided to Kyiv: ATACMS, Patriots, F-16s and Abrams. Excuse one: We don't have enough. Excuse two: They don't need them. Excuse three: They won't know how to use them. Excuse four: They may not even work properly. (Some ATACMS technically expired in 1994!) I heard this refrain after the Patriot was already in service in Ukraine, shooting down anything the Russians launched, including the state-of-the-art Kinzhal. Then it was fear of escalation -- again. Recall the decision-making crisis over whether to allow Ukraine to fire GMLRS into Russian territory when Moscow was making another play for Kharkiv. This agonized debate occurred after Ukraine had long been striking deep into Russian territory with homemade munitions and conducting regular cross-border raids into Kursk with U.S.-made kit such as MaxxPro MRAPs. Neither of these phenomena were exactly mysteries to the Kremlin. But American missile debris being recovered in Belgorod was seen as too provocative to many in the Biden NSC. And when they finally got to "yes," Ukraine had to be given a strictly delimited radius of operations -- something the Russians are of course not bound by. Where we are now? Today, Ukraine makes ample use of all of four of the critical systems the U.S. was reluctant to provide, although Russia had more time to adapt and diminish the effectiveness of these systems. Ukraine's homemade munitions are more plentiful, powerful, innovative, and longer-range and the U.S. even provides targeting assistance for strikes well inside Russian territory. Finally, Putin has to beg Trump to pressure Zelensky not to bomb Red Square on Victory Day. Panetta is correct.

NATO and Japan weigh shared use of satellite launch sites asia.nikkei.com/politics/inter… via @NikkeiAsia

UAE Air Defenses engaged 2 UAV’s. The Ministry of Defense announced that on May 10, 2026, UAE air defense systems successfully engaged 2 UAV’s launched from Iran. Since the onset of these blatant Iranian attacks, UAE air defenses have engaged a total of 551 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,265 UAV’s. No martyrs, fatalities, or injuries have been reported in the past hours. Since the onset of the blatant Iranian attacks, the total number of martyrs has reached 2, in addition to the martyrdom of a Moroccan civilian contracted with the Armed Forces. The total number of civilian fatalities stands at 10, from Pakistani, Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Palestinian, Indian, and Egyptian nationalities. The total number of injuries has reached 230 since the onset of the blatant Iranian attacks, involving individuals of various nationalities, including Emirati, Egyptian, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Filipino, Pakistani, Iranian, Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Azerbaijani, Yemeni, Ugandan, Eritrean, Lebanese, Afghan, Bahraini, Comorian, Turkish, Iraqi, Nepalese, Nigerian, Omani, Jordanian, Palestinian, Ghanaian, Indonesian, Swedish, Tunisian, Moroccan, and Russian. The Ministry of Defence affirmed that it remains fully prepared and ready to deal with any threats and will firmly confront anything that aims to undermine the security of the country, in a manner that ensures the protection of its sovereignty, security and stability and safeguards its interests and national capabilities. #وزارة_الدفاع #وزارة_الدفاع_الإماراتية #MOD #UAEMinistryOfDefence

Putin wants to negotiate with Schroeder.

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