NATO Summit Fortifies Support for Ukraine, Magnifies Russia's War Against the World
Russia's U.S. asset Donald Trump loomed over the event as World Leaders prepare for his potential return to power
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NATO Summit Fortifies Support for Ukraine, Magnifies Russia's War Against the World
For obvious reasons, Russia and its homicidal dictator Vladimir Putin remained persona non grata at this year’s NATO Summit in Washington, D.C. But Putin sure made everything about him, even by one to two degrees of separation.
Despite the Western world’s strengthened unification around Ukraine and against the terrorist state, Putin guaranteed the threat he poses to the World Order was at the heart of the discussions. And since Putin has others do his dirty work for him, the proxy weapons he used were his 2 key assets: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and MAGA candidate Donald Trump.
These 2 puppet leaders loomed large over the week, especially for European leaders who are anxiously preparing for Trump’s potential return to power. Unlike the United States press corp., the EU takes Trump’s threat seriously. Recall that back in 2020, Trump told European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “You need to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you. And by the way, Nato is dead. And we will leave, we will quit Nato.”
This remains Trump’s unwavering position. In February, Trump told MAGA stans at his South Carolina rally that he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to Nato countries that did not spend enough. But, you know, Biden’s age.
And to reinforce his position on the West’s defiance against his fragile ego to must haz Ukraine, he attacked multiple Ukrainian cities—targeting pediatric hospitals and civilians—the day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left for the Summit.
This meant that the week’s meeting of world leaders from NATO’s 32-member countries kicked off with an emergency UN Security Council meeting about Russia. And even though it was called to condemn Russia’s latest war crimes in Ukraine, Putin evidently believes that bad press is still beneficial. Even if it ensnares his allies.
Putin has put China on its back foot for openly allying itself with Russia for its war on Ukraine. On Wednesday, NATO member states issued a declaration that condemned China’s role in Russia’s proxy war against the West. They put the country on notice for being a “decisive enabler” of Russia by providing large-scale military support, as well as for assisting in hybrid warfare against NATO and non-NATO members, writing:
“The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies continue to challenge our interests, security and values. The deepening strategic partnership between Russia and the PRC and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut and reshape the rules-based international order, are a cause for profound concern. We are confronted by hybrid, cyber, space, and other threats and malicious activities from state and non-state actors.”
This is a bold stance against China and a strong message to Xi Jinping, China’s dictator, that the world is watching. Tell me you’re saying you’re monitoring China’s actions—both in propping up Putin’s regime and in its colonial desires to swallow up Taiwan—without telling me.
So it makes sense that non-NATO members in the Indo-Pacific also attended the summit. It didn’t get as much attention as Russia, but leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea attended the summit for the third year in a row, in a show of unified force against the allied autocracies that threaten their security and autonomy.
The 4 issued a joint statement on Thursday to “strongly condemn the illicit military cooperation” between Russia and North Korea and launched cooperative initiatives with each other and NATO states on military aid to Ukraine, as well as intelligence sharing to combat disinformation and shore up cybersecurity, and joint exercises.
The White House stated that the threats and challenges among the regions are interconnected. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed this sentiment, stating,
“We will address our shared security challenges, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, China’s support for Russia’s war economy and the growing alignment of authoritarian powers. We must work even more closely together to preserve peace and protect the rules-based international order. Our security is not regional. It is global.”
To make things extra clear to the modern day Axis of Evil, NATO members pledged that Ukraine has a path to membership. The bloc also announced further integration with Ukraine's military and committed €40bn ($43.3B) in aid in the next year, including F-16 fighter jets and air defense support, which is heading to Ukraine at the moment.
Stoltenberg reiterated that "support to Ukraine is not charity - it is in our own security interest." Also, the NATO declaration made it explicit that Russia "remains the most significant and direct threat" to global security.
All Roads Lead to Trump’s Daddy, Vladdy
Russia, the current chair of the UN Security Council (make it make sense!), has repeatedly made itself clear of this existential global threat. And it appears that it’s finally sinking in that Russia has been at war with the West. The question is: Will the West finally do something about Putin?
Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence informed Germany that the Kremlin planned to assassinate the CEO of a German arms manufacturer because the company supported Ukraine. German security services quickly acted to scupper Putin’s plan to 86 another foe, and it turns out the plan was much bigger and involved multiple European countries.
No information has been revealed whether Putin planned to make the man fly out of a window, slip plutonium into his tea, or swipe Novichok in his underwear a la Alexei Navalny.
Speaking of Navalny, Putin’s not done persecuting anyone associated with his vanquished foe. His next target is Navalny’s widow whom he has directed his “justice system” to issue an arrest warrant for her detainment should she return to Mother Russia. This follows the imprisonment of Ksenia Fadeyeva, a legislator in the Siberian town of Tomsk who headed the local branch of Navalny’s opposition; Lilia Chanysheva, who led Navalny’s operations in Bashkortostan; and Vadim Ostanin, who headed Navalny’s office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul. Putin also arrested 3 of Navalny’s lawyers last year.
One thing is for sure: The homicidal maniac leading Russia has waged a large-scale sabotage campaign across Europe since at least the beginning of 2024 in a desperate attempt to fend off Ukraine’s defense. A desperation so great that the assassinations of weapons manufacturing executives (yes, plural) is a key part of it. And we all know that murdering foreign nationals and Russian dissidents on European soil isn’t Putin’s first rodeo.
The Kremlin also recruited locals to commit arson attacks on arms warehouses and vandalize them in order to obstruct the flow of weapons to Ukraine. These revelations follow news about Russia’s disinformation campaign out of the U.S. being dismantled by a coordinated effort by NATO members. Word’s still out on whether this was the last straw.
Meanwhile, as the NATO Summit wrapped up, Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán ditched his frenemies to join Florida man Donald Trump at his confederate headquarters, Mar-a-Lago. He had an important message to send from Vlad, after all.
Leading up to the annual Summit, Orban went behind EU leader’s backs to separately meet with 2 allied Dictators: China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He also met with Zelenskyy in Ukraine, but I doubt he received a warm welcome.
This presents issues for many obvious reasons, but it’s all the more dangerous given that Hungary is currently the president of the EU Council where it pledged a “Make Europe Great Again” agenda. (I wonder what genius came up with that slogan.) In terms of optics, the President of the EU Council meeting with Russia only gives Putin undeserved legitimacy. So it’s no surprise that Orban is billing his meeting with Trump as a “peace mission” for Russia’s war on Ukraine. But you know peace wasn’t part of the discussion.
And because it is the Florida-based Russian asset that Vlad is betting all his cards on to weaken and dismantle NATO, Donald Trump plans to end intelligence sharing with U.S. allies. Trump advisers are already giving allies a heads up that this is the plan for the next Trump administration.
But you know, once again, Biden’s age seems way more newsworthy than the fact that the GOP frontrunner who orchestrated a coup on the United States continues to openly commit treason to help the enemy of the world.
- Stephanie
The Threat of Donald Trump & Project 2025
The “gay furry hackers” known as the hacker collective SiegedSec hacked the Heritage Foundation and released a cache of data on Telegram on Tuesday. This is the latest hacktivism by the collective as part of its #OpTransRights campaign, which breached Real America’s Voice, the Hillsong megachurch, and the River Valley Church in Burnsville, MN back in April. The author of Project 2025 simultaneously denies its systems were breached and that the hackers only gained access to incomplete password information. SiegedSec claims it obtained passwords and data on “every user” of the database, including the organization’s president Kevin Roberts and U.S. government employees. On Wednesday, SiegedSec shared chat logs between one of its hackers and Heritage Foundation executive director, Mike Howell (and a former Trump admin official), with the Daily Dot and The Intercept. It shows Howell’s unhinged ideology and eagerness to doxx LGBTQ members, as well as weaponize the government to go after its foes.
A retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency official is marketing himself as Donald Trump’s “future secretary of retribution.” As part of MAGA’s revenge tour against political enemies, Ivan Raiklin drafted a “Deep State target list” consisting of 350 “traitors” that includes Democratic and Republican (aka RHINOs) politicians, including House Select J6 Committee members, FBI and intelligence officials, U.S. Capitol Police officers and civilian employees, witnesses in Trump’s 2 impeachment trials and J6 hearings, and journalists. Raiklin, who is a confidante of Trump’s National Security Advisor retired Lt. General Michael Flynn (aka Q-Anon Kevin), has been circulating his list since January. Since at least April, he has pitched plans to enlist “constitutional” sheriffs in rural red counties nationwide to deputize 75K military veterans for “live-streamed swatting raids” of Trump’s political enemies. And he has told sheriff offices and GOP members of Congress that the list is just the beginning.
Checking GOP Partisan Gerrymandering
On Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the GOP-controlled state legislature violated the state constitution when it repealed a 2018 voter-approved redistricting reform initiative knowned a Prop 4. The case stems from a 2022 lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and a group of Salt Lake County voters who challenged the legislature’s actions, alleging it overstepped its authority. For 2020 redistricting, GOP state lawmakers rushed through a new law (SB200) that nullified what the voters passed and drew partisan gerrymandered congressional maps that split Salt Lake County into 4 districts—further entrenching Republican Party rule in the state.
The hubristic error GOP lawmakers made was that this defiant power grab is unconstitutional. Utah’s Constitution explicitly gives residents the political power to reshape its government. The case now goes back to a judge in Utah’s 3rd District Court. If the judge strikes down SB200, the legislature must comply with Prop 4 to redraw Utah’s congressional maps, as well as state legislative and school board maps.
GOP Defiantly Blocks Abortion Initiatives in Party-controlled States
On Wednesday, Arkansas GOP Secretary of State John Thurston rejected petitions submitted for an abortion-rights ballot measure, which were submitted last week. Thurston’s office claimed the organizers failed to submit statements that identified paid canvassers by name and verified that each understood and agreed to the rules on gathering signatures. He also claimed that, according to GOP math, the total signatures only came to 87,382, which was below the 90,704 threshold. But organizers submitted more than 101K signatures, a minimum garnered from 50 counties. They also told reporters that they provided required documentation and coordinated with Thurston’s office throughout the process. Once again, the GOP decides where the goal posts go and makes sure to deny people the right to vote. And it’s because the party knows it’s positions aren’t what the people want.
A similar battle is being waged in Montana over a constitutional ballot amendment that would enshrine women’s reproductive rights in the state constitution. On Wednesday, organizers of the initiative (Montana Securing Reproductive Rights) sued the Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen, for issuing a directive that instructed county officials to reject signatures listed on the state’s “inactive” voter database. As a result, the initiative that obtained the signature threshold in June was rejected for the November ballot.
This goes against the official’s tradition of accepting these signatures as the list shows registered voters whose addresses may have changed. According to the complaint, the Republican Secretary of State “abruptly” decided to change the rules and also tampered with the state’s software program that processes petititions so it would reject signatures automatically. The lawsuit continues, alleging that because of Jacobsen’s directive, thousands of legitimate signatures were invalidated. In addition, attorneys for the organizers stated that there is no state law provision that would disqualify a Montanan from signing a petition for being listed as “inactive.” The reason for this sudden rule change by the Republican Secretary of State? The Montana Republican Party’s platform is to oppose women’s reproductive freedoms.
Democrats Working For the People
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced the administration is providing $1.7B in grants to advance the production of electric vehicles by U.S. auto manufacturers and save tens of thousands of jobs in America’s Rust Belt. The grants are part of the Department of Energy’s Domestic Automotive Supply Chain Conversion Grants program, which is funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The funds will go to 11 at-risk or shuttered facilities in 8 states, including Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, which will create 2,900 jobs and retain 15K employees. Something to keep in mind: President Biden’s economic package is still having an impact that benefits the American people. Trump’s Project 2025 aims to eliminate the Department of Energy (among other agencies), dismantle unions and worker protections, and give tax cuts to the wealthy.
On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act, which will go to President Joe Biden to sign into law. The legislation, which was introduced by Senator John Ossoff (D-GA) in 2022 following bipartisan investigations into the Federal Bureau of Prisons, passed in the House in May.
The law requires the Department of Justice’s Inspector General to oversee inspections of all 122 correctional facilities, make recommendations to address issues, and assign risk scores. Higher-risk facilities will see more frequent inspections. In addition, a new role will be created for an independent ombudsman who will investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of more than 158K incarcerated people and 30K employees. They will create a secure hotline and online form to field complaints and inquiries from prisoners, their lawyers and family members, as well as staff. Findings from investigations will be reported to the U.S. Attorney General, Congress, and the public for further oversight and transparency. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will have 60 days to respond with a corrective action plan.
This law follows another bill to overhaul the federal prison system that President Biden signed into law in December 2022. That law requires correctional facilities to fix broken surveillance cameras and install new ones.
On Monday, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed the nation’s first hispanic judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado. Maldonado was confirmed by a 47-43 vote and becomes the 5th judge appointed by President Joe Biden to join the court overseeing appeals in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. GOP Senators attempted to tarnish her reputation, claiming that she was unfit because she can’t handle her case load after amassing the 7th highest backlog of any district court judge within its jurisdiction. But they neglected the fact that she joined the bench during the COVID-19 lockdown, which delayed court proceedings. She testified to this, stating that she was initially assigned to 300 cases and then further reassigned to a “highly unusual” additional number of cases after 3 judges left in late 2022. Despite the overwhelming case load, Maldonado presided over 1K cases and resolved hundreds of them without appellate reversal.
Republican’s Ongoing Harassment of POTUS
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) tried and failed to force U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to turn over the Biden-Hur interview tapes that the GOP desperately wants to use for propaganda. Luna’s “inherent contempt” resolution was rejected 204-210, but she has pledged to reintroduce the rarely used measure soon. So, the weaponization of the legislative branch against the Biden administration can’t stop won’t stop.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) continues to leverage the corporate-owned media mob mentality to weaponize the House Oversight Committee against the President and his administration. On Wednesday, Comer subpoenaed 3 senior White House aides, demanding they sit for behind-closed-door interviews about President Biden’s health. The insinuation is that there is a shadow government running the White House because POTUS is incapable of doing his job. One thing is for sure: The Republican Party can’t be trusted and any asks for closed-door interviews should raise red flags. Add this latest crusade to the GOP’s political witch hunt against a Democratic President.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) failed to get his party on board with a $7B budget bill to fund the legislative branch. On Thursday, 10 Republicans joined all but 3 Democrats in sinking the bill 205-213, which would have raised salaries by 6 percent for Congress, Capitol Police, the Congressional Budget Office, and other Hill employees. This could tee up the potential for a Government shutdown if Johnson can’t pass 8 remaining funding bills by the deadline and before Congress goes on August recess.