Sun 12 Jul 2026 11.41 CEST
Tommy Robinson’s Musk-funded Russia trip spurs call to defend UK democracy.
Ed Davey voices concern about the Musk family foundation taking the far-right activist on a visit to Moscow.
The UK must do more to defend its democracy after it emerged that Elon Musk’s family foundation had taken the far-right activist Tommy Robinson to Russia, Ed Davey has said.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was brought to Russia by the Musks, the billionaire tech mogul’s father told the Guardian.
Robinson appeared last month in Moscow, from where he issued calls for supporters to take to the streets after a knife attack in Belfast. He shared video of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with Errol Musk, whose son has been a vocal supporter of Robinson.
The Liberal Democrat leader said: “Tommy Robinson is a useful idiot for a hostile state. What kind of so-called British patriot jets to Moscow to rub shoulders with Putin’s cronies, bankrolled by a US trillionaire?
“We must protect our democracy from far-right thugs, shady tech bros and foreign interference.”
Errol Musk said: “I brought him out to Russia,” adding that both men had held meetings with Russian business figures. He said the trip had been covered by the Musk Foundation, a private philanthropic organisation founded by Elon Musk and his brother, Kimbal.
The visit to Moscow came at a time when the Kremlin and its proxies appear to have been forging links with European far-right figures. At the same time as Robinson’s visit, Russia was also hosting the self-styled misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, who posted footage of themselves firing weapons and riding in a tank in the apparent company of the Russian military.
Police in Britain stopped Robinson and seized his phones on his return to Russia. Robinson had previously visited the country several years ago, but this time he appeared to be more explicit in his praise for Russia, sharing footage of ultra-nationalists holding a rally in memory of the murdered British teenager Henry Nowak.
Errol Musk, who also went to St Petersburg for an annual Kremlin-backed economic forum, said that Robinson was a “fine young man”.
“He’s very hotheaded, but at the same time, he’s learning,” he saidErrol Musk has travelled to Russia in the past and at one point met Vladimir Putin. A Russophile who said he believed Moscow had a “genetic advantage” over the west, he holds firmly pro-Russian positions on the conflict in Ukraine.
Topics covered in meetings alongside Robinson included Russia’s attempts to address a decline in births. “Tommy really got into these meetings,” he said.
Musk senior said he had become familiar with Robinson after the far-right activist was imprisoned. Robinson has a number of convictions but sought the spotlight in particular after he was sent to prison for breaching a contempt of court order.
“So I contacted Tommy, I was asked on British television once what I think of Tommy,” he said.
Robinson said last month that he had come to see the “beauty of a civilised society” after visiting Russia.
The link has again raised questions about about UK authorities’ continued use of X, which is owned by Elon Musk. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has said it will stop using the platform because it “now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate”.
The Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor said: “Elon Musk is hostile to British values and we must break our addiction to his hateful algorithm.”
Matthew Ford, a British security expert and associate professor at the Swedish Defence University, wrote on Bluesky: “The owner of X and friend of the president of our No 1 ally pays to send an extremist English nationalist to Russia to collude against British democracy.”
He questioned how new policies could stop “ostensibly friendly foreign actors from subverting British democracy without appearing to validate the free-speech arguments they weaponise to resist regulation”.
Saturday 11 July 2026 23:01 BST
Tommy Robinson trip to Russia ‘covered by Elon Musk’s family foundation’.
Robinson posted a video of himself and Errol Musk in Russia on a trip to the annual Kremlin-backed economic forum
Tommy Robinson’s recent trip to Russia was covered by Elon Musk’s family foundation, according to the X owner's father, who has described the far-right activist as a “fine young man”.
Musk has long been a supporter of Robinson, with both men calling for people to take to the streets in response to the knife attack in Belfast.
Last month, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, posted a video of himself and Musk’s father, Errol, apparently filmed in a Moscow hotel, in which he said: “We are going to go and cause some trouble.” He had shared a list of places were protests were to take place after the stabbing.
Now, speaking to The Guardian, Musk’s father has claimed he “brought him out to Russia.” He said the trip, that included attending an annual Kremlin-backed economic forum, was covered by the Musk Foundation, a philanthropic organisation founded by Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk.
Errol Musk also said Robinson was a “fine young man” and “very hotheaded, but at the same time, he’s learning.”
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/06/10/11/2268660518..?.jpeg[/img]
Tommy Robinson’s trip to Russia was covered by Elon Musk’s family foundation, according to Errol Musk (AFP/Getty)
During Robinson’s visit meetings were held on topics such as Russia’s decline in births, which Musk’s father said Robinson “really got into”, The Guardian reported.
The visit came as Vladimir Putin’s regime has appeared to try and make connections with European far-right figures.
On Robinson’s return to the UK, he claimed he was detained by police at Heathrow airport, and said both his phones had been seized while asking supporters to donate money to support his legal defence.
When asked by The Guardian why he had travelled to Moscow, Robinson said: “I’ve come to see how this country got itself so well on to the straight and narrow and see the beauty of a civilised society here.”
He added: “Russia is not the enemy of Britain. That narrative has long since died a natural death. There are those who benefit from pushing Russia as an enemy but everyone laughs at those people now.”
Errol Musk, who lives in South Africa, explained he discovered Robinson when he was imprisoned for breaching contempt of court order.
Sunday 12 July 2026 11:31 BST
The West is preparing for the wrong post-war Russia.
The West has long assumed pressure would force Russia to moderate or collapse. Both assumptions misunderstand how the Kremlin responds to weakness…
Whenever and however the war in Ukraine ends, it will leave Russia more constrained at home, but more likely to cause disruption beyond its borders.
This matters because too much Western thinking about Russia still rests on one of two assumptions: that sustained pressure will eventually force Moscow to moderate its behaviour, or that the system is heading towards collapse. Both assumptions misunderstand the nature of the pressures building inside Russia.
These pressures are not new and did not begin with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s working-age population has been shrinking since the early 2010s. Productivity growth slowed well before 2022, while investment has increasingly concentrated in state-linked sectors rather than the wider economy.
Hydrocarbon revenues, once a reliable cushion, have also narrowed as a share of the federal budget. Over two decades, political power has steadily centralised, with loyalty to the centre increasingly becoming the price of economic opportunity – and economic opportunity increasingly dependent on loyalty to the centre.
The war in Ukraine has intensified these pressures. Mobilisation and emigration have deepened labour shortages. Defence spending now consumes a growing share of federal expenditure, competing directly with civilian investment and social spending.
The security services, the military and the police are all drawing from the same shrinking pool of recruits, creating potential competition inside the very apparatus the regime relies upon to maintain control. The occupied territories add another burden, absorbing administrative capacity and fiscal resources without providing meaningful economic or demographic returns.
Importantly, these pressures do not operate separately. They compound.
Labour scarcity increases fiscal pressure. That reduces the resources available for patronage, which in turn encourages tighter political control rather than greater flexibility.
A shrinking manpower pool weakens the coercive apparatus at precisely the moment demands upon it are rising: from managing veteran reintegration to policing dissent and maintaining domestic stability.
Each pressure alone is manageable. Together, over time, they narrow the room the Kremlin has for manoeuvre.
The logic behind much Western policy has been straightforward: increase economic and military pressure and Russia will eventually moderate its behaviour or become too weak to sustain confrontation. That assumption makes sense for states whose legitimacy rests primarily on prosperity or electoral performance. It is less applicable to a system whose legitimacy is tied to resisting external threats and preserving centralised authority.
Putin is under pressure due to Russia’s economy and demographics being under growing strain (Kremlin.ru)
This is why Russia’s response to mounting constraint differs from what many policymakers expect. In many political systems, pressure would encourage moderation: reform to relieve strain, or retreat to conserve resources.
Russia’s system does not work that way. Its legitimacy rests not on economic delivery, but on confronting a hostile outside world and preserving the authority of the state. Under that logic, pressure is not evidence that the current course is failing. It is evidence that the threat is real.
Constraint, in other words, produces brittleness at home and volatility abroad – not caution.
This does not mean a return to large-scale conventional conflict should be ruled out. It remains possible, and it would be a mistake to discount it. But the same pressures that produce volatility also make sustained, high-intensity operations harder for Russia to generate and maintain over time.
Labour is scarce, defence spending already consumes a growing share of resources, and force regeneration is increasingly constrained by demographic decline.
What is more likely over the medium term is continued escalation through tools that place less pressure on those resources: cyber operations, sabotage, information campaigns, energy leverage and proxy pressure. These forms of coercion are cheaper, harder to attribute and better suited to a state operating under sustained internal strain.
The implication is that policymakers should move beyond thinking in terms of either collapse or moderation. They should prepare for a Russia that remains capable of sustained disruption regardless of how the war concludes.
That means treating resilience in critical infrastructure and democratic institutions as a permanent requirement, not merely a wartime contingency.
Businesses and investors should also treat Russia-linked exposure as a structural risk rather than a temporary crisis to be managed until conditions normalise.
There is unlikely to be a return to the pre-war status quo. The Russia that emerges from this war is likely to remain both brittle and volatile – and Western governments, businesses and institutions should prepare for that reality now.
Saturday 11 July 2026 13:57 BST
The 3 signs a desperate Putin is about to lash out against Europe.
Ukraine issued an urgent alert for more Patriot missiles and, misguided or not, Vladimir Putin is convinced he is on the brink of victory…
Wast Monday in Kyiv, the Patriots ran out. For the second time in three days, the city came under a concentrated attack by Russian drones and missiles, including the Iskander and Kinzhal.
The drone onslaught was blunted by the Ukrainian air defences, but all of some 60 ballistic missiles got through – resulting in 21 deaths and widespread damage across the capital. President Zelensky, on his way to the Nato summit in Ankara, came clean. Ukraine was at the point of running out of Patriot 108M air defence missiles, the only weapon capable of shooting down the Iskenders.
“The battle for Ukraine has shifted to the skies,” he said with commendable understatement.
Ukraine has been holding its position on the front lines in the land war – more or less. Putin has been making extravagant claims about the imminent conquest of Donetsk Oblast with the fall of the fortress town of Kostyantynivka – a claim hotly disputed by dissident bloggers from within Russia.
Russia’s ground attacks come at tremendous cost, according to the most reliable accounts based on ground assessments by such as the Institute for the Study of War. Drones still dominate the close frontline battle – and Russia has been losing personnel at a ratio of eight to one compared with Ukraine. May and June saw record losses – approaching 75,000, with more soldiers being lost in the fight than can be replaced.
Putin now senses a window of opportunity to push for some kind of victory to sell to the Russian people by the end of September. The confusion of the squabbling Nato powers, the distracted verbal meanderings of Donald Trump, the stalemate in the Gulf and the Middle East, and above all Kyiv’s depleted air defences drive his extraordinary optimism that a win is just round the corner.
At a recent videoed meeting of senior commanders, he actually used the cliché: “We are advancing on all fronts.” Only a few days before, he had described Russia as “going through troubled times.”
Ukraine has been steadily ramping up its long-range missile attacks into Russia. On Monday, the day of the deadly missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s own missiles struck three major refineries, at Slobodka, Yaroslav City and Russia’s largest refinery at Omsk, 2,500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine has developed a potent attack force of missiles and drones – continuously reworking old technology. Against the odds, the Flamingo long-range missile, a reworking of the Scuds of the Soviet era, has proved a success. Russia has only a limited stock of high-end ballistic missiles because Ukraine has succeeded in attacking the smaller factories building vital components in the manufacturing supply chain.
Moscow is now engaging in a campaign of disruption and misdirection across the region – raising false flag claims against the Baltic states, stating they are hosting Ukrainian drone stations and assisting in guiding Ukraine’s long-range drones into Russia. In the last week, two of Putin’s most powerful information warriors, Maria Zakharova and his security lieutenant on the supreme council, Nikolai Patrushev, have accused Latvia of direct involvement in Ukraine’s war.
In the weekend of the missile attacks on Ukraine, a Russian Bear-F reconnaissance bomber buzzed a Nato task group on exercise in the Norwegian Sea. It came too close for comfort to the British carrier HMS Prince of Wales and dropped a score or so of anti-submarine sonar buoys before being chased off by two British F-35 fighters.
The move was blatant, childish even, but had a point. Even if they worked for only a few minutes, the buoys would find out what escort submarines Nato had in the area. Russian submarines, manned and unmanned, have been increasingly active across the North and Irish Seas and the English Channel, probing and tracking fuel pipelines and communication cables.
The sense of the war seeping from Ukraine and across the region is growing. Latvia has just warned of an evacuation plan to move the population of the second city, Daugavpils – largely Russian speakers – back from the border. The government has issued a 30-page booklet – 72 Hours: What to Do in Case of a Crisis –and an extremely practical handbook for what to do if there is an attack by land and air. Ten northern members of Nato, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, are drawing up mass evacuation plans in case of attack by Russia.
The crisis of air defence over Ukraine’s cities is acute. It is an important part of the Putin window of opportunity of the next two months – but not the only one. Trump is a peak asset in the disinformation fake news diplomatic game for a couple of months more. His value wanes as he heads for midterm congressional elections, after which he is likely to become a lame duck, which will likely make him more unpredictable and unreliable.
It’s a huge gamble for Putin. The economy is deteriorating visibly, as the queues for gasoline, the disruption of internet and mobile phone services testify. Crimea is increasingly an oasis of misery, short of fuel and water.
If the push to get some victory doesn’t work out, it does not mean the war is over. Russia is now a war economy and Putin its war leader – peace is not in his frame of reference for survival. If the war is to go on through the winter, he will have to resort to even riskier tactics. The most likely one is to order a partial or full national mobilisation – to raise a minimum of 500,000 fresh troops. It is sure to be accompanied by full martial law.
This will mean that it is not only Kyiv and its Baltic neighbours that will have to look to their air defences. It will involve the European Nato allies as a whole – including Britain. We will have to look at our own homeland and sea defences. For a start, the government should rip up the rambling defence proposals in last month’s Defence Investment Plan.
It needs to think hard, fast, and in uncharacteristically practical terms about what is needed for the nation’s security now.
12.32
Падение «красного ястреба».
О смерти Линдси Грэма.
В США неожиданно скончался сенатор-республиканец Линдси Грэм (признан в РФ террористом и экстремистом). Официальные представители политика заявили, что скончался он вследствие «внезапной болезни» и остановки сердца.
Грэм являлся откровенным русофобом и одним из самых ярких ястребов в команде Трампа. Свой жесткий подход он сформировал еще в 80-х годах, но широкую известность среди российского обывателя он получил уже после начала СВО, став архитектором санкций против РФ.
🔻Чем так запомнился Грэм?
▪️В 1984 году, проходя службу в качестве военного юриста на базе ВВС США в Западной Германии в разгар холодной войны, Грэм сформировал свои жесткие взгляды на внешнюю политику.
▪️В 2008 году он стал соавтором резолюции Сената, осуждавшей действия России во время конфликта в Грузии.
▪️В 2013 году сенатор призвал США бойкотировать зимние Олимпийские игры в Сочи в ответ на решение российских властей предоставить убежище Эдварду Сноудену.
▪️В 2014 году, после присоединения Крыма к РФ, он потребовал исключить Россию из G8 и заморозить активы российских чиновников, а также обвинил администрацию Обамы в предательстве интересов Украины из-за недостаточной поддержки.
▪️В 2018 году Линдси Грэм разработал законопроект, который он сам назвал «санкциями из ада», предусматривавший масштабные ограничения против российского финансового и энергетического секторов.
▪️В 2022 году, сразу после начала СВО он публично призвал российских военнослужащих физически устранить Владимира Путина.
▪️В 2023 году в Киеве Грэм заявил, что военная поддержка, ведущая к смертям россиян, является «самой удачной инвестицией» США, что стало причиной его признания экстремистом в РФ.
▪️В 2025 году он выступил инициатором введения заградительных таможенных пошлин в размере 500% на все российские товары и продукцию стран, закупающих энергоресурсы у России.
▪️Во внутренней политике сенатор всегда отличался твердыми консервативными взглядами. Он неоднократно конфликтовал с Дональдом Трампом по вопросам миграции, войны с Ираном и мягкого подхода к властям РФ.
📌Сенатор до последнего был верен своему курсу. Грэм и его команда буквально накануне его смерти согласовали новый пакет антироссийских санкций с администрацией Трампа, а пару дней назад он ездил в Киев на встречу с Зеленским.
🖍Внезапный уход Грэма означает потерю важнейшей фигуры для киевского лобби в Конгрессе. Учитывая его колоссальный вес в Республиканской партии и прямой доступ к Овальному кабинету, заменить такого тяжеловеса на этом направлении будет крайне непросто.
🚩Для самого Трампа смерть Грэма означает утрату влиятельного союзника в Сенате. Несмотря на разногласия, он умел лоббировать интересы Белого дома и обеспечивать связь с классическим республиканским истеблишментом.
❗️Внезапный уход этой политической фигуры — событие довольно значимое. Линдси Грэм запомнится как циничный и бескомпромиссный идеолог геноцида в Газе и русофоб, который, по сути, построил карьеру на антироссийской и произраильской риторике. Поэтому и скучать по нему будут очень немногие.
Цитата:
12.14
Зеленский заявил, что дважды встречался с сенатором Грэмом накануне его смерти.
Президент выразил соболезнования в связи с его кончиной.
По словам Зеленского, Грэм был "настоящим защитником свободы и ценностей, которые делают наш мир безопаснее".
Зеленский отметил, что за годы полномасштабной войны сенатор десять раз приезжал в Украину и "был здесь вместе с нашими людьми тогда, когда это было больше всего нужно". "Лишь за последнюю неделю мы встречались дважды", - подчеркнул он.
Напомним, Грэм являлся одним из самых известных ястребов-республиканцев, был близок к так называемым «неоконсерваторам».
Он сыграл одну из основных ролей в убеждении Трампа атаковать Иран.
Также он выступал с жестких антироссийских позиций и был одним из авторов так пока и не принятого законопроекта об «адских» санкциях против РФ, подразумевающего введение 500% пошлин против стран, которые покупают российские энергоносители.
Цитата:
Sunday 12 July 2026 10:36 BST
Lindsey Graham, one of the Senate’s most influential Republicans, dies at 71.
A Senator since 2003, Graham had been a vocal advocate for a muscular, hawkish foreign policy.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died on Saturday evening after a brief and sudden illness, his office said in an X post early on Sunday. He was 71.
A Senator since 2003, Graham had been a vocal advocate for a muscular, hawkish foreign policy.
He also went from being an outspoken critic of Donald Trump to one of his most prominent supporters, particularly pushing the president to launch war against Iran.
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/09/download..?.jpg[/img]
Lindsey Graham went from being an outspoken critic of Donald Trump to one of his biggest boosters (AP)
“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period," his office said.
Trump took to Truth Social to pay tribute. “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” he said.
“He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/10/1242014507..?.jpg[/img]
Graham's death comes as questions mount over the health of Kentuck Republican Seantor Mitch McConnell (Getty)
The death comes as Senate Republicans face an additional crisis. Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized since last month, and there have been few updates on his health since then.
At the time of his death, Graham was running for a 5th term as Senator from the Palmetto State against Democrat Annie Andrews. Term-limited Republican Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster will likely now need to find a replacement for Graham.
Lindsey Olin Graham was born on July 9, 1955, to parents who ran a pool hall and restaurant. Graham’s father, Florence James Graham, died when he was 21, and his mother, Millie, died shortly thereafter. He became the guardian to his sister Millie, and used Social Security survivor benefits to put her through school.
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/10/1233337895..?.jpg[/img]
Graham had been serving as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, giving him a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes with a slim majority in the chamber (Getty)
Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina for both his undergraduate and law degrees; he served in the US Air Force as an active-duty lawyer before joining the Air Force Reserves.
He was elected to the state legislature in 1992 before winning a seat in the Congress, the House of Representatives, during the 1994 “Republican revolution,” when Republicans took control of the lower chamber for the first time in more than 40 years.
In the House, Graham would serve as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial against Bill Clinton. Despite this, when he came to the Senate in 2003, he worked occasionally with the former president’s wife, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.
Lindsey Graham, like his political mentor Senator John McCain, left, was a steadfast supporter of Israel and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (GPO/Getty)
A believer in a muscular foreign policy, Graham vocally supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he built friendships with Senator Joe Biden, who would later serve as vice president and president, and Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Graham vocally supported McCain’s 2008 campaign for president, and McCain would return the favor during Graham’s ill-fated candidacy eight years later.
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/10/1252204657..?.jpg[/img]
Graham (L) introduces Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R) at a campaign rally at New Town at St Charles in St Charles, Missouri, on October 20, 2008 (AFP/Getty)
The two of them crafted a bipartisan immigration reform deal with future Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and then-Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whom Graham ran against in 2016 for the Republican presidential nomination and who would become Trump’s secretary of state during his second term.
Graham even crossed the aisle to vote for Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who serve on the court to this day.
It would be during Trump’s presidency that Graham would morph from a largely congenial dealmaker to a hardline partisan.
[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/10/179377770..?.jpg[/img]
Graham even crossed the aisle to vote for Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who serve on the court to this day (Getty)
Initially, Graham criticized Trump, calling him a “jackass”, to which the latter responded by publicizing the Senator’s private phone number. But Graham would warm up to Trump, occasionally golfing with him.
During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Graham delivered a fiery speech where he excoriated Democrats amid sexual assault allegations against the judge, which Kavanaugh vehemently denied.
Kavanaugh would be confirmed to the court. Later, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham would facilitate the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett.
Lindsey Graham with Ukrainian leader Volodomyr Zelensky (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)
During Trump’s first impeachment, Graham regularly criticized Hunter Biden, the son of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden’s wife Jill would later say the two were no longer friends.
After the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Graham criticized Trump for his actions.
“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. I hate it being this way,” he said. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
Initially, Graham criticized the president over the January 6 Capitol riot but later warmed to the president (AP)
But Graham would vote to acquit Trump. And when the president ran for the White House again, he was one of the first lawmakers to endorse his re-election bid.
When Trump returned to the White House, Graham, as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, helped write legislation that would become Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that beefed up spending for the military and immigration enforcement while making permanent the tax cuts he had signed in 2017 and tightening requirements for nutritional assistance and Medicaid.
Graham remained a hawk despite Trump’s initially isolationist foreign policy. He vocally supported Ukraine in the war against Russia and visited Eastern Europe just last week.
It is not entirely clear how Graham will be replaced. South Carolina had its primary last month, where Graham easily won the Republican nomination. South Carolina law says that filing to replace Graham opens a week from Tuesday and a substitution primary will take place.
Цитата:
Sun 12 Jul 2026 09.01 CEST
Lindsey Graham, key ally of Donald Trump, has died after sudden illness, his office says
Republican senator served in Senate since 2003 and was sharp Trump critic before becoming one of his most loyal backers.
Lindsey Graham, a longtime US senator and key ally of Donald Trump, has died from a sudden illness, his office said on Sunday. He had just turned 71.
Graham’s abrupt death will send shock waves through Washington and the Republican party. He had served in the Senate since 2003, representing South Carolina, and was running for re-election in November.
“On the evening of Saturday 11 July, US senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
It gave no further details. Citing police scanner audio, the Washington Post newspaper reported that emergency medical services had received a call at about 8.30pm on Saturday regarding a person suffering chest pains at Graham’s home on Capitol Hill. About 25 minutes later, according to the Post, emergency personnel said CPR was in progress and a man was suffering cardiac arrest.
There had been no known concerns over the health of Graham, whose birthday was last Thursday and who visited Ukraine last week. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on social media on Friday: “I’m grateful to Lindsey for recognizing our warriors.” Graham was scheduled to appear as a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
His death is a personal blow to Trump, for whom he was a political cheerleader and frequent golf partner. The president posted on his Truth Social platform: “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”
Graham grew up in Central, a small town in South Carolina, where his parents ran a restaurant and pool hall. He was the first member of his family to go to college, earning undergraduate and law degrees from the University of South Carolina.
He served as an air force lawyer then joined the South Carolina Air National Guard. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and was a manager during Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial.
Elected to the Senate in 2002, Graham carved out a reputation as one of Capitol Hill’s most outspoken foreign policy hawks. He supported the Iraq war and had long urged military action in Iran. He opposed the nuclear agreement negotiated by Barack Obama and has been one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in the current conflict.
He briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and was initially a sharp critic of Trump, then the insurgent frontrunner. He condemned Trump as a “jackass”, “a race-baiting bigot” and “the most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican party”, memorably warning on Twitter: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.” Trump, in turn, dismissed Graham as an “idiot” and a “lightweight”.
But the relationship was transformed after Trump entered the White House and Graham became one of the president’s closest confidants. He emerged as a key adviser on foreign policy, particularly Iran and Russia. He also rallied the defence of Trump’s embattled nominee for the supreme court, Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018.
Graham wobbled only after Trump’s supporters staged an insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 in an effort to overturn his election defeat. The senator declared: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey – I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president but today, first thing you’ll see. All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
His rebellion did not last, however, and he refused to vote to convict Trump at the subsequent impeachment trial. He was again quick to endorse Trump in the 2024 presidential election and often played golf with him.
Graham’s death marks the passing of the last of the “three amigos”, comprising Graham, Joe Lieberman and John McCain, senators and close friends who each made unsuccessful bids for the presidency. McCain died in 2018, Lieberman in 2024.
Among those paying tribute on Sunday was Henry McMaster, the Republican governor of South Carolina, who said in a statement: “Lindsey Graham is irreplaceable. The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America – and a loyal and steadfast friend.”
According to state law, McMaster may appoint a replacement to fill Graham’s seat.
Several leaders in Israel expressed condolences. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, posted on X: “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”
The former prime minister Naftali Bennett wrote: “America has lost a devoted patriot, and Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. Lindsey stood with Israel through our darkest hours, with courage.”
The statement issued by Graham’s office, which gave no indication of the cause of death, comes amid growing scrutiny over the lack of transparency surrounding the health of Congress members.
The New Jersey Republican congressman Tom Kean disappeared from public view for months earlier this year before returning to Washington and revealing he had been diagnosed with depression. More recently, the Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell was admitted to hospital for undisclosed health reasons.
Revealed: Little-known reason why Jude Bellingham's first goal should NOT have stood - as Norway fans complain about England's equaliser in World Cup quarter-final
England's equaliser against Norway has sparked controversy after eagle-eyed fans suggested that it came as a result of the ball appearing to hit a camera cable in the build-up, which should have led to play being stopped.
According to the official IFAB Laws of the Game, if the ball strikes a ceiling or a fixture hanging over the pitch, such as a cable or overhead camera, and remains inside the field of play, the match must be halted.
The referee should then award a dropped ball to the team that last touched it, with play restarting from the spot beneath where the ball made contact with the fixture.
In Miami, the Three Lions were trailing when Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland took a goal kick in first-half added time.
Footage appeared to show the ball's trajectory suddenly changing before it dropped near the halfway line to Elliot Anderson, who teed up Anthony Gordon on the left wing.
Gordon then played a superb cross through to Jude Bellingham, who took two touches before firing past Nyland to draw England level just before the break.
FIFA have disputed that the ball touched the overhead wire, however.
They posted on X: 'Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the 'heartbeat of the ball' when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball.'
The footballs being used at the tournament are each fitted with a chip and utilise 'connected ball technology', which relays data directly to the VAR system.
The microchip produces accurate, instantaneous data on everything from ball movement, speed and trajectory to player touches, with adidas claiming the technology enables 'faster in-game officiating decisions and more insight into gameplay than ever before.'
The system was at the centre of controversy earlier in the tournament when Sweden were awarded a goal against Tunisia in the group stage.
Matthias Svanberg scored in the second half after converting a free-kick, but the effort was initially ruled out for offside.
However, sensors inside the ball determined that Sweden and Liverpool striker Alexander Isak had made the faintest of touches after the free-kick was taken. By that point, Svanberg had moved back into an onside position, meaning the goal was allowed to stand.
Later in the tournament, Croatia's last-gasp equaliser against Portugal in their Round of 32 match was chalked off for similar reasons, after the heartbeat monitor determined that Igor Matanovic was offside in the build-up to Josko Gvardiol’s scrambled goal.
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С оптимизмом и понятными пожеланиями, Dimitriy.
Published: Jul 12, 2026 12:45 PM
Chinese, Russian submarines seen together for first time in drill, signaling breakthrough in underwater coordination, high-level mutual trust: expert.
The at-sea phase of the China-Russia "Joint Sea-2026" exercise concluded on Saturday, marking the first time Chinese and Russian navy submarines have been featured together in the same image during the drill, according to China Bugle, an official media account affiliated with the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) news media center. A military affairs expert told the Global Times that this demonstrated a high level of mutual trust between the two countries that goes beyond the ordinary.
During the exercise, the Chinese and Russian naval formations conducted drills covering submarine rescue, surface strikes, air defense and anti-missile operations. Through efficient coordination, both sides deepened mutual trust and further enhanced their joint operational capabilities, China Bugle said.
The exercise featured flexible planning and high demands for operational coordination. The joint drills were conducted without fixed scripts, with operations adjusted dynamically based on battlefield conditions, hydrometeorological factors and other variables.
Meanwhile, participating forces were organized in mixed formations, leveraging sea, air and submarine platforms to build an integrated multi-domain combat system. This effectively tested the two sides' joint reconnaissance and early warning, command coordination and firepower strike capabilities in complex electromagnetic environments, said China Bugle.
During the air defense and anti-missile drills, Chinese and Russian vessels operated with clear division of labor and close coordination, leveraging the strengths of their respective weapon platforms to successfully intercept incoming targets in the shortest possible time, demonstrating the joint combat capability of the China-Russia maritime formation.
Since 2012, the "Joint Sea" series of exercises has become an important platform for naval cooperation between China and Russia. In this exercise, both sides deployed elite forces, covering surface, underwater, air and support elements. The participation of submarines and submarine rescue ships in particular reflects the continued expansion of bilateral naval cooperation from "surface operations" to "surface-plus-undersea" integrated combat, per the official release.
As the first-ever joint appearance of Chinese and Russian submarines in the same image was reported, Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Sunday that this signals a level of mutual trust that is not commonly seen.
Wang said that submarines operating together is rare worldwide. Submarines are inherently stealthy by nature, and their acoustic signatures are highly classified by each country. Such vessels are generally not displayed in close proximity. If two submarines appear together, it means they are operating at close range, and their acoustic signatures, including not only noise levels but also frequency characteristics, could be exposed to each other.
Official footage from the exercise shows that the Russian submarine participating was an improved Kilo-class conventional submarine, the Ufa, while the Chinese side deployed an improved Type 039B conventional submarine, said the expert.
In the past, when China operated Russian-made Kilo-class submarines alongside Russian vessels of the same type, the significance was different because the acoustic signatures were already known to each other. This time, however, China has showcased its indigenously developed and world-advanced Type 039B submarine to Russia, reflecting a level of mutual trust that goes beyond the ordinary, Wang said.
Wang added that the participation of submarines in joint exercises also involves communication and data exchange, which is another important aspect of demonstrating high-level mutual trust.
Underwater communication is complex. One method is to raise the antenna above the surface at communication depth; another is underwater acoustic communication, which uses specialized equipment to maintain contact. The latter is technically more challenging. Regardless of the method used, both sides must share technical communication characteristics, methods and tactics with each other, which enables a high degree of tactical coordination when facing common adversaries, Wang explained.
The fact that both submarines participated together, shared communication data and coordinated strikes on targets is something extremely rare. The ability of China and Russia to accomplish this reflects the high level of mutual trust between the two sides, as well as the Chinese military's strong confidence in its own capabilities. This serves as a positive start for further enhancing the depth and intensity of future joint exercises, Wang added.
Following the conclusion of the exercise, some participating forces will conduct a joint maritime patrol in relevant waters of the Pacific, continuing to contribute to regional and international peace and stability, China Bugle reported.
On July 6, China and Russia launched the "Joint Sea-2026" exercise at a military port in Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province, reported Xinhua News Agency.
A joint command has been established, comprising task forces from the navies of the two countries. The exercise will be carried out in three phases: force assembly, harbor-based planning, and at-sea operations, said Xinhua.
The at-sea operation phase of the China-Russia "Joint Sea-2026" exercise has come to a conclusion. Looking ahead, both sides will continue to uphold the principles of openness, transparency and mutual trust, further expanding the depth and breadth of joint training, and contributing greater efforts to building a maritime community with a shared future and safeguarding world peace and stability, China's Ministry of National Defense reported on Sunday.
Russian disinformation surge may be connected to upcoming Baltic elections.
An uptick in Russian disinformation aimed at NATO's eastern flank could be linked to Latvia and Estonia's upcoming parliamentary elections, experts say.
Russian information attacks against the Baltic states, as well as Finland and Poland, have increased recently, Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said.
Russia claims Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are allowing Ukraine to use its airspace for drone attacks against Russian oil infrastructure on the Baltic coast. This has been denied by all three countries.
"Not only in the media, but also through diplomatic channels on Russia's part – they want to show that, look, the Baltic states are dragging NATO into a war against Russia. But this is yet another attempt to create confusion," Tsahkna said.
Security expert Meelis Oidsalu, former deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Defense (2015-2021) said the timing and intensity coincide with Latvia's election this autumn and Estonia's next spring.
"Latvia and Estonia, which are probably the NATO countries with the largest Russian populations proportionally, have parliamentary elections coming up. Quite predictably, attempts are then made to choose targets according to the election cycle as well. There are many contentious issues between Estonia and Russia, including the issue of the Russian Orthodox Church," Oidsalu said.
The security expert said Russia may also try to stir up distrust among Estonians who have become alienated from the government.
Security expert Rainer Saks, former secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015-2020, added that the information war is being intensified by Russia's difficult situation in the war.
He added that Russia is seeking to deter not only the Baltic states but the whole of Europe, with two objectives.
"To make relations between Europe and the US as bad as possible, and secondly, to ensure that there is as little consensus as possible within Europe on supporting Ukraine, in order to disrupt the process of supporting Ukraine. At the moment, I do not see a threat of military aggression from Russia against either the Baltic states or Europe more broadly," Saks said.
The foreign minister said that Putin does not have the capability to start a war: "But provocations may come onto the agenda; that's the usual story."
However, Oidsalu said headlines can still be generated by provocations:"They are probably still looking for moves like that. But we have been so hardened by last year that there is not much that can surprise our security services anymore."
The gas is cheap. The Trump administration isn’t saying who’s paying for it.
Trump unveiled the "Freedom Fuel Network" ahead of Independence Day, offering gasoline at up to 50 cents per gallon below market prices.
President Donald Trump promoted a network of Philadelphia-area gas stations offering discount prices as a gift to the American people around Independence Day.
It’s not clear who’s footing the bill.
The White House has said only that the venture is a private company willing to take a hit on its profit margins to help American drivers struggling with high prices following the war in Iran. Trump said on social media it is backed by a “VERY smart Retailer” that is “doing this because they love the U.S.A.”
The Freedom Fuel Network’s bare-bones website lists the 25 participating stations across southeastern Pennsylvania and south Jersey. Many of those stations changed their branding to the Freedom Fuel Network virtually overnight, according to local newsreports.
More than a half-dozen fuel industry analysts and officials, including some who work with retailers in the two states, told POLITICO they had no idea who was behind the effort and were baffled at how the retailer could survive offering discounts of up to 50 cents per gallon, well below market rate.
“I’ve been seeing the news coverage, and we’ve had members or whatnot who’ve reached out about it to ask what it is, and I haven’t been able to find really any answers,” said Eric Blomgren, executive director of the New Jersey Energy Marketers Group, which represents fuel retailers and distributors in the state.
Business records show that Freedom Fuel Network LLC was incorporated in Delaware on June 23, just a week before Trump promoted it on his Truth Social account. The White House declined to name who was behind the network, only disclosing that it is a “private company” and that the administration had no involvement in its formation or in recruiting stations to join.
“There is no entity or person subsidizing the lower gasoline costs,” a White House official, granted anonymity to detail the initiative, said in a statement. “They are simply reducing their margin to make prices at the pump more affordable for drivers in Philadelphia and New Jersey.”
The official added that there is “no defined timeline” for how long the discounts would be offered, but said the participating stations had seen a “massive increase in volume.” The White House declined to connect POLITICO to a representative for the Freedom Fuel Network, which did not respond to questions sent through a contact form on its website.
“Freedom Fuel is a patriotic company doing a good thing for drivers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by lowering their gas prices,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “They are doing their part to answer the President’s call to lower prices at the pump. This retailer is taking the lead, and we hope to see others follow.”
It’s not clear whether the Freedom Fuel Network itself owns or operates any of the participating stations, or if they operate independently and chose to adopt the common Freedom Fuel branding. Most gas stations in the U.S. are owned and operated by individual proprietors, some of whom license branding from major oil producers like Exxon Mobil or Chevron.
At least seven of the stations in the Freedom Fuel Network appear in property records to be owned by affiliates of Blue Owl, a major publicly traded New York-based asset manager. Trump disclosed last month that he bought and sold millions of dollars in Blue Owl stock last year and retains significant holdings.
Through its subsidiaries, Blue Owl owns hundreds of gas station properties formerly operated by Georgia-based gasoline supplier and retailer Mountain Express Oil. Mountain Express declared bankruptcy in 2023 after a failed effort to expand nationwide backed by Blue Owl.
A Blue Owl spokesperson said in a statement that the properties are under long-term leases and it has no say over its tenants’ operations or business decisions.
“Blue Owl owns the properties through a triple-net lease structure and is not involved in the tenant’s operations or business decisions,” the spokesperson said, referring to a type of lease in which the tenant is responsible for property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs.
The White House official said Blue Owl has “nothing to do with Freedom Fuel.”
One of those Blue Owl-owned stations, in Dresher, Pennsylvania, played host to Jarrod Agen, the executive director of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council, for an unveiling ceremony last Friday. Plastered with eagles, flags and other patriotic branding, the station offered gas for $3.47 a gallon — well below the $3.91 average for the Philadelphia area, according to the American Automobile Association — “in honor of our 47th president,” Agen said in a video produced by the White House.
The bargain-basement gas pump pricing comes as the Trump administration is trying to calm Americans’ cost-of-living anxiety as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran has caused gasoline prices to spike ahead of midterm elections. The White House has ramped up pressure on the oil and gas industry to lower prices at the pump, which have been slower than crude prices to come down since the U.S. and Iran signed their now-abandoned ceasefire last month.
The Trump administration has announced a Justice Department investigation into major oil producers for allegedly price gouging drivers, and urged states to look into alleged misconduct keeping pump prices high.
National groups representing the fuel industry said they were in the dark about the new initiative.
A pair of groups representing truck stops and fuel marketers had “never heard of the Freedom Fuel Network until the White House announced its existence,” Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, spokesperson for NATSO and SIGMA, said in an email. “Ours is a very dynamic industry comprised primarily of small, mom-and-pop operators.”
Rob Underwood, president of the Energy Marketers of America, said he “learned about the Freedom Fuel Network like everyone else when the story hit the news.” He added that retail gas prices are declining across the industry in response to falling oil prices.
The Freedom Fuel Network was registered in Delaware by the Corporation Trust Co., which handles correspondence and compliance work for hundreds of thousands of companies.
Josh Destefano, a spokesperson for Corporation Trust, said in a statement that it does not comment on the activities of the businesses for which it provides registered agent services.
The 25 stations largely did not share the same branding before joining the Freedom Fuel Network. Many of them lacked branding or were branded as independent local chains, such as Gas N Go and Karco, according to Google Maps images. Even before the latest transition, several of the stations appear to have shifted their branding or gone independent in recent years.
Most of the stations do not list contact information online or in public records beyond addresses, and POLITICO was unable to reach them for this article.
One station in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, was branded as a Shell until it joined the Freedom Fuel Network and still remained visible on the British oil giant’s website as of this week. Rakhee Sharma, a Shell spokesperson, said the company is “not affiliated with the Freedom Fuel Network and was not involved in its formation.”
“Most Shell-branded stations in the U.S., including this location, are independently owned and operated by businesses that license the Shell brand,” Sharma
Analysts said the Freedom Fuel stations appeared to be selling gas at or below the wholesale price in the area, which does not account for labor costs and credit card fees paid directly by the station operator.
“You can’t see these stations at these prices for long,” said Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser for U.S.-based fuel retailer Gulf Oil. “The economics will dictate that — they’re going to have to either close down or raise prices very, very dramatically.”
In fact, some states, including New Jersey, have laws barring gas stations from selling under market rate to prevent large retailers from choking out smaller competitors, Kloza noted. Those laws are rarely enforced, however, because the discounts are typically offered as very short-term promotions.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at pricing service GasBuddy, said gas stations will sometimes offer cheap gas on opening day or after a change of ownership. But he had never seen this many stations change their branding and prices overnight in a coordinated fashion.
“It’s very rare, and especially this name, I mean, Freedom Fuel Network — that’s not your average gas station,” he said.
De Haan noted the Freedom Fuel Network shares some similarities to a T-Mobile promotion in early June in which the mobile network operator wrapped select stations in three cities in its distinctive pink branding and offered its members $1.99-per-gallon gas. A T-Mobile spokesperson said it had no involvement in the Freedom Fuel Network.
Blomgren from the New Jersey Energy Marketers Group said more retailers outside of the network would like to bring down prices, but continue to contend with elevated fuel prices because of the war in Iran.
“I know the president’s been tweeting in general about, ‘Oh, we need to get prices lower because of the price of oil,’ but the [wholesale] price of gas is like 80 cents a gallon higher than it was when the war started, even if the price of oil has been reaching the [pre-war] level,” he said. “So retailers have basically done all they can, I think.”
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В течение дня в период с 8.00 мск до 20.00 мск дежурными средствами ПВО перехвачены и уничтожены 220 украинских беспилотных летательных аппаратов самолетного типа над территориями Белгородской, Брянской, Калужской, Курской, Орловской, Тульской областей, Краснодарского края, Московского региона, Республики Крым и над акваториями Азовского и Черного морей.
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17.52
«Укроборонпром» заявил об увольнении руководителей двух госпредприятий. В компании заявили, что предварительное расследование выявило нарушения ими правил хранения боеприпасов. Также были уволены другие должностные лица – их действия или бездействие могли привести к серьезным последствиям.
Напомним, 6 июля во время массированной атаки российских войск в Вишневом произошел пожар с детонацией. Зеленский заявил, что двое должностных лиц госпредприятия согласовали размещение арсеналов в городе вопреки закону.
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Правительство Великобритании объявило о выделении более 6,6 млрд долларов на беспилотную трансформацию вооружённых сил в рамках Defence Investment Plan.
Эти средства рассчитаны на четыре года и станут крупнейшими в истории страны вложениями в беспилотные и автономные военные системы.
Программа предусматривает ускоренное внедрение БПЛА, безэкипажных катеров, НРТК, систем радиоэлектронной борьбы и технологий искусственного интеллекта во всех видах вооружённых сил.
• Королевский военно-морской флот перейдёт к модели гибридного флота;
•Сухопутные войска получат барражирующие боеприпасы, разведывательные БПЛА, дроны-перехватчики и НРТК;
•Королевские ВВС — беспилотные средства РЭБ и программу автономных боевых летательных аппаратов для совместных действий с пилотируемой авиацией.
Отдельное внимание уделено развитию национальной промышленной базы: будет профинансирован Центр беспилотных систем в Суиндоне и создана Целевая группа по беспилотным системам. Лондон рассматривает беспилотную трансформацию как один из ключевых элементов нового оборонного курса, направленного на усиление возможностей на суше, на море и в воздухе, а также на поддержку британской оборонной промышленности.
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Около 300 дронов летели в сторону Московской области в течение последних суток, сообщил мэр столицы Сергей Собянин.
Большая часть нейтрализована на дальних подступах, 45 БПЛА уничтожены на подлете к Москве, уточнил мэр.
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Германия профинансирует закупку 50 тысяч ударных беспилотников на 90 млн евро для Украины. Заказ, о котором официально не сообщалось, является одной из крупнейших закупок дронов для Украины западным правительством, передает Reuters со ссылкой на источники.
Контракт касается поставки FPV-дронов Shrike, изготовленных крупным украинским производителем SkyFall и оснащенных программным обеспечением американской оборонно-технологической компании Auterion. Эти беспилотники предназначены для автономного отслеживания и поражения движущихся целей на завершающем этапе полета.
В SkyFall подтвердили участие Германии в закупке, но заявили, что компания не может комментировать детали контракта.
В свою очередь генеральный директор Auterion Лоренц Майер подтвердил сумму контракта, отметив, что его финансирует европейская страна. По словам гендиректора, часть дронов уже доставлена в Украину, а остальные должны быть отправлены в этом году. Майер добавил, что компания Auterion в партнерстве с различными производителями оборудования при финансовой поддержке нескольких западных правительств помогает Украине поставить в общей сложности 100 000 беспилотников в текущем году.
Это также включает в себя контракт Пентагона на сумму 50 миллионов долларов на поставку 33 000 беспилотников, которые, по словам Майера, уже были доставлены в Украину.
В июне Великобритания заявила, что в этом году предоставит Украине 150 000 беспилотников в рамках более широкого пакета финансирования в размере 752 миллионов фунтов стерлингов (1,01 миллиарда долларов).
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16.05
По секрету всему свету.
Как собирать БЛА втайне, чтоб все об этом знали.
Немецкое участие в украинской «лаборатории» — это давно известный факт для российских граждан. А вот в Европе и США, судя по нарративам в СМИ, это была большая тайна.
Как пишут в NYT, В Германии работает секретный завод компании Helsing, который действует в условиях строжайших мер безопасности, а в случае возникновения угрозы его могут свернуть и переместить в другое место в течение дня.
🖍Helsing — одно из предприятий, которое действует в зоне СВО уже несколько лет. Немцы были одними из первых, кто притащил на т.н.Украину промышленные 3D-принтеры для сборки беспилотников.
Именно участие в конфликте позволило немецкому стартапу занять крайне важную нишу в ВПК ФРГ. Вначале немцы собирали дроны в западной части т.н.Украины, затем в Европе поняли, что быстрее привозить уже готовые БЛА.
🚩 И удивительного в этом ничего нет: те же крылатые ракеты «Фламинго» собираются всей Европой и привозят на т.н. Украину для ударов по России. В Европе есть промышленные мощности, а для серийного производства — это то, что нужно.
При этом тот секретный завод, скорее всего, размещён на юге в земле Бавария. Ранее мы уже рассказывали о том, как одна из компаний в Гёрисриде производит для реактивных беспилотников двигатели.
❗️ Поэтому вполне не исключаем того варианта, что именно эти цеха также используются и компанией «Хельсинг». А что: логистика обкатана, производство также налажено, и БЛА можно собирать в больших масштабах.
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Sun 12 Jul 2026 15.19 BST
Ukrainian drone strikes force Russia to suspend shipping in Sea of Azov.
Vital maritime corridor closes after 90 vessels – including shadow fleet oil tankers – are attacked in under a week
Russia has been forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week.
Ukraine’s drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in the city of Syzran. There had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea, he added.
“The technological humiliation of the [Russian] empire continues. It will fall because of Crimea,” Brovdi wrote on social media. He said Moscow’s shadow fleet, which transports sanctioned oil products around the world, was “noticeably shrinking” and could no longer use the Kerch strait, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea.
The Sea of Azov is a vital waterway that connects Russia with eastern Europe. It is of crucial economic and military importance to Moscow, which uses it to ship oil, grain and other products such as steel to international markets.
Russia suspended shipping through the Don-Azov canal on Friday, Reuters reported. The canal connects with a Russian river network and the Caspian Sea. This export route via Kerch and the Bosphorus strait in Turkey is effectively shut down.
Ukraine’s former defence minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, said the Kremlin had lost control of a “critical” maritime corridor. He said the blockade affected military vessels and shipping transporting grain stolen from occupied southern Ukraine and moved through the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol.
“The Caspian Sea doesn’t have any connection to the world’s oceans. It has turned into a lake. All of its products – agricultural, fertiliser, whatever – go through this channel and river,” Zagorodnyuk said.
Russia’s small flotilla in the Caspian was likewise trapped, he added, predicting further strikes on Russian ships in and around the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
Ukraine has been systematically destroying much of Russia’s radar and anti-aircraft defences. This has enabled it to carry out a series of devastating long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries, including one last week in the Siberian city of Omsk, 2,700km (1,700 miles) from Ukrainian territory.
Residents in Syzran reported the sound of drones at 5am on Sunday followed by loud explosions. Photographs and videos showed a large fire at the oil refinery, with thick columns of black smoke rising above an industrial area. The complex supplies the Russian military and sends fuel abroad via the Azov-Kerch canal.
Kyiv has also launched a wave of mid-range strikes on land and sea supply routes into occupied Crimea, hitting lorries, ships and crossing points. One tanker caught fire overnight as it entered the Azov-Black Sea canal, Russian officials said. On Sunday, local channels reported two large oil spills off the coast of Taganrog.
Yevgeniya Gaber, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council thinktank, said the attacks were part of a much broader strategy that included isolating Crimea and “turning it into an island”.
The overall goal was “to progressively degrade Russia’s ability to sustain offensive operations by disrupting logistics, fuel supplies and transport infrastructure, and cutting off military units in the south of Ukraine”, she said.
Gaber added: “There is not a single oil refinery that is unhit now. Maritime logistics in the Sea of Azov, all of this fits into the same strategy and operational concept, which is a strategic neutralisation of Russia. I’m sure we will see more deep strikes on Russian territory.”
Video released by Brovdi’s unmanned strike aviation brigade, Magyar’s Birds, shows Russian tankers fitted with protective cages and ropes. These have not prevented night-time Ukrainian drone strikes and crews have abandoned some damaged and burnt-out vessels, leaving them adrift.
Repeated Ukrainian attacks have forced the authorities in Crimea to declare a state of emergency. Widespread electricity blackouts and acute petrol shortages have been reported and the peninsula’s tourist industry has collapsed. Car drivers have been forced to travel to Russia in search of fuel, with long queues outside petrol stations in many regions.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, has described the strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure as part of Kyiv’s campaign of “long-range sanctions” carried out in response to Moscow’s refusal to end its war. Vladimir Putin insists his original military goals – to seize the eastern Donbas and other Ukrainian regions – are unchanged.
Overnight, three people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, including two in a bombing of an industrial facility in Zelenskyy’s home city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said. A separate drone attack on the southern city of Kherson killed a 48-year-old, reported its mayor, Yaroslav Shanko.
European leaders mourn US Senator Lindsey Graham.
The South Carolina Republican strongly advocated for sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine.
European leaders are mourning the death of Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 71.
Graham, who strongly advocated for sanctions against Russia over its war against Ukraine, had just returned from a state visit to Kyiv.
Graham was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 and to the U.S. Senate in 2002. He was a prominent conservative figure in American politics and a staunch ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Senator Graham fought until the very end to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom and raise the cost of Russia’s war of aggression,” wrote European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in a post on the social media platform X.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Graham was “a true friend and a partner of Germany.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensyy said he was “deeply saddened by the news” of Graham’s death and that “America and the world have lost a determined leader,” also on X. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office wrote that “Ukraine had lost a true friend.”
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote that he was “very shocked and saddened” by the news.
Several top Israeli political figures including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Energy ministers Eli Cohen reacted to the news on X.
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Sunday 12 July 2026 19:51 BST
Kash Patel reveals FBI is assisting local authorities after Lindsey Graham’s sudden death.
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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, 71, died Saturday from a "brief and sudden illness" at his Washington, D.C., home, with paramedics responding to a cardiac arrest call.
• FBI Director Kash Patel announced the FBI is "assisting local authorities" in connection with Graham's death, though it is unclear if an investigation is underway.
• Graham had recently returned from Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and secured a White House agreement on a bill to sanction Russia.
• Donald Trump stated he spoke with Graham on Saturday evening, describing him as "like a member of the family" and noting he sounded "a little tired."
• Emergency responders had to force entry into Graham's home after finding the deadbolt secured, despite a 911 caller indicating the door was unlocked.
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Published: 17:44 BST, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 18:29 BST, 12 July 2026
Online liberals post sick celebrations after Lindsey Graham's 'sudden' death at 71.
Far-left pundits wasted no time callously celebrating the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham after it was announced that he had unexpectedly died.
The office of Graham, who has represented South Carolina since 2002, announced in the early hours of Sunday that the senator 'had passed away from a brief and sudden illness.'
A 911 call for 'cardiac arrest' was placed from Graham's residence around 8.30pm on Saturday, but no official cause of death has been confirmed, according to multiple reports.
While many people, including Donald Trump and other top US officials, as well as the leaders of Israel and Ukraine, publicly mourned Graham's death, many liberal commentators said they were glad he is dead.
Ana Kasparian, co-host and executive producer of the far-left media network The Young Turks, appears to have been one of the first people to celebrate the news.
At 2.35am, about 30 minutes after it was announced Graham had died, she posted a tweet on X that simply said: 'Good riddance.'
A few hours later, Kyle Kulinski, host of the popular left-wing podcast Secular Talk, posted a tweet that said: 'Miserable closet case warmonger.'
The insensitive words seem to refer to decades-long speculation that Graham was a closeted gay man, as he never married or had children. The senator had consistently and firmly denied the rumors and regularly opposed pro-LGBTQ+ legislation.
US Senator Lindsey Graham unexpectedly died aged 71 on Saturday evening. In the hours after the announcement, far-left pundits immediately began celebrating his death.
Ana Kasparian, co-host and executive producer of the far-left media network the Young Turks, celebrated the news of Graham's death just 30 minutes after it was announced.
Hasan Piker, a socialist political commentator with a huge following on social media, called Graham a 'bloodthirsty odious monster' on Sunday.
Hasan Piker, a socialist commentator and streamer with an enormous following online, wrote on X: 'Lindsey graham was a bloodthirsty odious monster who loved war.'
'Ironic that he achieved his best friend john mccains dream of bombing iran, only to experience the spectacular failure it turned into in his final days! he watched a century of force projection capabilities collapse,' Piker added.
Earlier, he replied 'lmao [laughing my a** off]' to a tweet mourning Graham's death that was posted by Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Brian Krassenstein, another leftist political commentator and vocal critic of Trump, posted a tweet that said: 'Lindsey Graham just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.
'He can no longer hurt innocent people! There are clearly a lot of emotions being flung around about Graham dying so suddenly. He was a war monger and diehard Trump Supporter until the very end of his 71 year life.'
Jackson Hinkle, the international secretary for the American Communist Party, posted to his nearly four million followers on X: 'Lindsey Graham advocated for dropping nuclear bombs on Gaza RIP BOZO.'
Steve Schmidt, co-founder of an anti-Trump political action committee called the Lincoln Project, posted a tweet that said: 'Lindsey Graham was a simple, tragic man.
'He lacked a moral core. The great empty spaces of his life were filled with an insatiable need for “relevance.” He found it as a cast member in the most malignant reality show ever made.'
Kasparian's tweet celebrating Graham's death is pictured. The celebratory statements of many other influential voices on the far left are pictured below.
Although Graham was a controversial figure to some, he was beloved by Trump as one of the president's closest allies in the Senate. The two are pictured at a campaign rally in 2020.
Mike Drucker, an Emmy-nominated writer, producer and comedian, wrote on X: 'RIP Lindsey Graham. You taught me it was okay to be a coward whose only skill is debasing myself until death for a tiny, ultimately illusionary crumb of power.'
Graham was a controversial figure because of his staunch support of Israel, even as public opinion towards the country declined in recent years. The senator was also steadfast in his support of Ukraine, and he was an Iran hawk.
Graham's calls to arm Ukraine and Israel, as well as his aggressive stance on Iran, are what led critics, including some on the extreme right, to call him a warmonger.
But the senator was beloved by many Republicans, including Trump. Graham was one of the president's closest allies in the US Senate, consistently voting to enact Trump's agenda.
Graham's death comes just days after he visited Ukraine and met with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion.
His meeting with the leader of Ukraine is understood to be the last public image of him. There were no known concerns about his health in the lead-up to his trip to the embattled nation.
Graham's death comes just days after he visited Ukraine and met with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He is pictured during that meeting
Graham was also steadfast in his support of Israel, even as public opinion towards the country declined in recent years. He is pictured with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Graham later announced that an agreement had been reached with Trump to advance bipartisan legislation targeting countries buying Russian energy, which would potentially clear the way for stronger pressure on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
The senator also cheered on Trump's decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites last year and had been a supporter of the latest conflict that started a few months ago.
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Published: 16:14 BST, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 20:19 BST, 12 July 2026
FBI is ‘assisting’ police after 71-year-old Lindsey Graham’s mysterious death one day after secret Ukraine trip and chilling Iran ‘murder plot’.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stepped in to 'assist' local authorities in the wake of Lindsey Graham's unexpected death, adding to mounting skepticism surrounding the US Senator's sudden passing at 71.
The office of Graham, who had represented South Carolina since 2002, announced in the early hours of Sunday that the senator had 'passed away from a brief and sudden illness.'
A 911 call for 'cardiac arrest' was placed from Graham's residence around 8.30pm, but no official cause of death has been confirmed, according to multiple reports.
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X on Sunday morning that the agency was 'assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.'
Graham was a vocal supporter of US involvement in conflicts abroad, including both the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran clashes.
Federal law enforcement sources later told Fox News that as of Sunday, there was no indication of foul play.
Amidst the July 4th recess break in Washington, DC this past week, Graham travelled to Ukraine, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and even visited a drone facility which was later destroyed by the Russians.
Graham has also been targeted by Iranian leaders. An Iranian State TV host noted in a Sunday broadcast that she congratulated 'the Iranian people on the death U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been sent to hell.'
Political commentators, liberal and conservative alike, have stepped up with their own theories about Graham's cause of death.
US Senator Lindsey Graham answers questions from the media near an exhibition of damaged Russian vehicles in central Kyiv, on July 10, 2026.
DC Fire and EMS medical units and EMS supervisors deliver Senator Lindsey Graham to George Washington Hospital Emergency Room on the night of July 11, 2026. Senator Graham passed away in the early hours of July 12, 2026.
FBI Director Kash Patel is seen at a press conference in Washington, DC on July 1, 2026.
Megan Mobbs, Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative think tank, noted on X that 'cardiac arrest tells us how his life ended. It does not tell us why his heart stopped.'
She also added that, 'given the threat environment, the identities of America’s adversaries, and Senator Graham’s prominent role confronting them, the American people deserve certainty.'
'That means a complete forensic autopsy, preservation of all relevant biological specimens, comprehensive toxicology and histology, and consultation with federal law enforcement and counterintelligence authorities,' Mobbs concluded.
Conservative commentator Matt Van Swol shared a video of Graham on X from Ukraine this last week, noting, 'I’m sorry, but Lindsey Graham dying out of the blue like this doesn’t make any sense at all.'
'We have him on camera yesterday looking perfectly healthy. None of this is making any sense,' Van Swol said.
Right-wing journalist Laura Loomer called for an 'investigation,' into Graham's death, especially as Russian president Vladimir 'Putin’s advisor Alexander Dugin called for Lindsey Graham to be “flattened” exactly 4 months ago.'
While several figures were quick to assume foreign involvement in Graham's death, others pointed to medical explanations.
Townhall columnist Dustin Grage shared that he was 'told by a source in South Carolina that Senator Lindsey Graham has dealt with blood pressure issues since his 40s,' also noting that, 'His father also died of cardiac arrest at age 69.'
'I know the conspiracy theories won’t stop, but sometimes life just happens. Not everything is a conspiracy,' Grage added.
Top conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch commented on Grange's post, noting that she agreed with his sentiment that Graham's death appeared to be 'sudden, but cardiac issues usually are.'
Trump shared a tribute to the late Senator on Truth Social shortly after the announcement was made.
'Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Graham was one of Trump's closest allies in the US Senate, consistently voting to enact the President's agenda. The White House has lowered the flags to half-mast in his honor.
The senator was also a staunch supporter of Ukraine and Israel, and he advised the President on foreign policy matters pertaining to Russia and Iran.
In late March 2025, just a little more than a month after Trump took office, the President posted a lengthy endorsement of Graham, referring to the senator as 'a wonderful friend.'
Vice President JD Vance posted his own lengthy tribute to Graham on Sunday, with whom he spent two years as colleagues in the US Senate, specifically adding that Graham 'fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.'
Congressman Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat representing South Carolina in Washington, also offered his condolences, sharing that their 'political relationship was sometimes partisan and passionate, but always pleasant and productive on behalf of the people of South Carolina.'
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18.37
Я хотел, чтобы война на Украине закончилась очень быстро, но Линдси Грэм был сторонником того, чтобы она продолжалась, — Трамп
"Он был очень воинственно настроен, когда речь шла об этом. Но я, учитывая, что каждый месяц погибало 25 тыс. человек, не хотел этого. Он был очень сильным сторонником военной силы. Я тоже такой, но, думаю, мы использовали ее немного по-разному. Вероятно, у нас было немного разное отношение к этому, но мы хорошо ладили в этом вопросе", — заявил президент США.
Published: 18:18 BST, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 18:18 BST, 12 July 2026
Do England now have their own 'Hand of God'?: How alternative angle of Norway spidercam incident risks new scandal that will overshadow the World Cup, writes MARK CLATTENBURG.
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But then I noticed Norway's goalkeeper Orjan Nyland was complaining to the referee, Clement Turpin of France. Then the half-time whistle was blown. Then the Norwegian bench was going wild with the fourth official, Alejandro Hernandez of Spain. Norway's manager Stale Solbakken was definitely not happy.
FOX, who I am working for as a rules analyst at this World Cup, allowed me and the team to review why they were so upset. Then we saw it. That video clip. You've probably seen it on social media, too. The angle that shows the ball suddenly drop from the air. Hardly anyone knows the laws.
We all remember the beachball from Sunderland-Liverpool, right? When there's outside interference? I started to wonder whether the ball here had hit something, such as the cables from the four corners carrying the 'Spidercam' suspended above the pitch. It didn't have the normal trajectory as it dropped to the pitch and to the feet of Elliot Anderson from the angle we were watching.
From there, Anderson drove forward down for England before playing in Anthony Gordon, whose pass to Bellingham led to the leveller. So if the ball did strike one of these cables, it played a key role in England's equaliser, and if the evidence was there to prove we had benefited from our own 'Hand of God' from above, this goal could not and would not have stood.
FIFA came out and told us that their sensors within the ball did not detect any interference. It can detect the slightest touch, we are told, so would have known if it had crashed into a tension wire.
Did the ball hit one of the spidercam wires before Jude Bellingham's opening goal for England? A new angle risks a scandal at the World Cup.
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken (right) was unhappy with the decision against them.
Of course, FIFA would never say otherwise, lest they want another scandal to overshadow this World Cup. It is probably damning for FIFA, and a sign of their dwindling trust within football today, that so many supporters are unwilling to take their word for it.
For me, it looks like something happened but the technology does not back the argument.
I do feel for the VAR, Jerome Brisard of France. Would he have known to check for something so strange? Would he have had the angle available to verify if so? Would he have had the apparent sensor data to hand and even thought to consult the 'Snickometer' of football?
It was all over so fast with Norway kicking off again, and only then did we all have the benefit of time to analyse for ourselves. In Norway, they may be saying at least Dick Turpin wore a mask. In England, there may be some gratefulness that Clement Turpin was officiating this one and that something untoward wasn't spotted.
England equalised in first-half stoppage time when Bellingham scored with this finish - but question marks remain about whether or not there was outside interference in the build-up
Bellingham and Co got the rub of the green overall, even if we hear complaints that the penalty awarded in real time for a foul on Djed Spence should have stood. Not for me. Spence stepped across and was looking for it. I agreed with that overturn via VAR.
England were fortunate that Erling Haaland placed two hands on Anderson at that corner from which Norway scored. The ball was not in play, and so the referee ordered the retake after rewatching what had happened, with Haaland giving him the reason to disallow. But I can definitely understand why Norway will feel as if key decisions did not go their way in this quarter-final.
England will be glad everything worked out for them once all was said and done, even if Thomas Tuchel wasn't too pleased with the overall performance.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
11.06
"До сих пор, за эти двести лет, флот наш потребовал тяжелых жертв, но не оказал ни одной существенной услуги.
Даже великая война за устье Невы была решена в сухопутной битве за полторы тысячи верст от берега. Ни в Семилетней войне, ни в турецких войнах, ни в Отечественной войне флот не играл сколько-нибудь заметной роли.
Несколько удачных кампаний в Балтике и южных морях имели вид скорее морской охоты, чем войны. Все наши войны неизменно решались на суше, и до такой степени, что в Крымскую и в восточную войны бессильному флоту нашему приходилось либо прятаться за крепости, либо топить себя без боя.
Последняя война не начинает, а увенчивает ничтожество нашей морской истории. С неуклонной верностью преданиям наш флот всегда оказывался неготовым, устарелым, плохой постройки и почти всегда с плохим личным составом. Как в старину, он и нынче прятался за береговые батареи, садился на мель, тонул, и обе попытки — 28 июля и 15 мая — вступить в открытый бой — завершились плачевным разгромом.
...Как видите, все посылки противников флота совершенно верны, но поставьте вместо «плохой» флот — «хороший» флот, и вывод получается обратный.
Между плохим и хорошим во всех вещах непереходимая пропасть. Возьмите свежее мясо и гнилое: многое ли отделяет здоровую пищу от яда.
Флот старого стиля, патриархальный, безнадзорный, конечно, России не нужен. Мало сказать, что он бесполезен: как трижды подтверждено за последние полвека, такой флот составляет наше национальное несчастье.
Именно флот подвел Россию под предательство, которому нет имени. Именно с флотом уплыла в океан наша государственная репутация и лежит на дне. Отрекаясь, как при крещении, от нечистого призрака, обрекая его на вечное осуждение, мы не имеем права дурное прошлое возводить в закон, обязательный для будущего.
Если правда, что хороший флот предупреждает войны, то эта роль государственного громоотвода не такова, чтобы от нее отказаться с легким сердцем. Несомненно, не будь застарелого хищения во флоте, наши ассигновки были бы достаточны, чтобы иметь хороший флот.
Но и в будущем полезнее затратить миллиард, чтобы предупредить войну, чем затратить треть миллиарда, и в случае поражения прибавить к ним три. Как мы ни подавлены теперь и ни разгромлены, мы не имеем право терять мужество, мы не смеем оставлять страну беззащитной.
Флота нет, но он должен быть создан, ибо, что значит не иметь флота, — мы теперь отлично знаем."
Михаил Осипович Меньшиков, русский консервативный публицист, 1905 год. Статья "Где строить флот".
Каким быть флоту, кто должен им командовать, как его строить и где, как сделать его соответствующим вызовам времени, как уйти от старых, нелепых традиций флотоводства.
Не то, чтобы это вечные русские вопросы, но сходство имеется.
Какие-то ответы есть:
1) Навсегда уходить от красивых картинок и презентаций;
2) Не бояться в инновации;
3) Гнать поганой метлой всех, кто продолжает жить по принципу "инициатива известно что делает с инициатором";
4) Ориентироваться не на цифры и тоннаж, а на практичность;
5) Вкладываться не в красивые "статусные" корабли, а в многоцелевые суда, спроектированные не под Третью мировую (которая или никогда не настанет, или всё равно обойдётся без них), а под сегодняшний день, то есть, не мечтать о больших авианосцах и собственном "Ямато", а подумать, как нам создать свои "Мистрали";
6) Четко понимать, что для корабля, который невозможно интегрировать в формат беспилотной войны, в войнах будущего места нет.
Другое дело, что современный флот в любом случае не может существовать как "вещь в себе". Для того, чтобы флот представлял из себя реальную силу, как минимум, нужны космическая связь и разведка. Плюс всевозможные БЭКи под самый широкий спектр задач с перспективой организации отдельного флотского командования.
Так что разговор — на самом деле очень сложный, долгий и не очень приятный, потому что вечные русские вопросы — слишком уж вечные.
12.02
СБУ заявляет о поражении трех резервуаров комплекса перегрузки нефтепродуктов, двух паромов и железнодорожного склада с цистернами в порту «Кавказ» Краснодарского края РФ сегодня ночью.
Еще два парома, как заявляется, были атакованы в Керчи, а также два патрульных катера в Черном море.
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8.17
Нефтебаза в городе Вязники Ставропольского края была атакована беспилотниками в ночь на 13 июля.
Факт попадания подтвердил губернатор региона Владимиров, сообщив, что в результате начался пожар, который охватил резервуары с горючими материалами.
13.33
Крымская оборонительная операция: развитие обстановки, битва над Азовским морем.
Более недели назад противник интенсифицировал атаки БПЛА во внутреннем Азовском море России, на которое в полной мере распространяется суверенитет Российской Федерации и воспринимать происходящее юридически необходимо как атаки на любую часть суши нашей страны.
Многократно поразив танкера и иные суда гражданского флота дронами, прилетевшими на большой высоте (1-1,2 км) Запорожскую область, враг приступил к натиску в район Крымского моста. В условиях непонятной в этот раз эффективности авиации, БПЛА противника, запущенные из разных точек, собрались в ударный кулак и Т-образным строем ринулись к мосту.
Первый эшелон изображал широкий фронт атаки, не давая понять, где будет сосредоточение основного удара, а второй, состоящий из тяжелых ударных дронов, пробивал силы и средства ПВО. Видимо, в этот раз задача была - именно по всем огневым средствам.
На воде, сообщают нам с войск, бой приняли ⚡️⚓️пограничные катера (не путать с кораблями). То есть платформа сама по себе не располагает к установке большого числа огневых средств или бронированию. Пограничники до конца выполнили свой воинский долг. Стояли насмерть. Учитывая, что до сих пор неизвестно про заведение из НВМБ в Азовское море новых больших кораблей Черноморского флота, специально оборудованных для борьбы с многочисленными атаками украинских дронов на воде, обстановка прогнозируется как имеющая тенденцию к осложнению. При этом командование ЧФ, поговаривают в курилках, рвёт и мечет, требуя от офицеров надлежащей организации работы МОГ, вплоть до личного направления на пулеметы капитанов 1 ранга ("гидрополковники", простите за наш сухопутный). Может, и врут. Вот только если БПЛА заходят на высоте 1,2 км, никакой стрелок/пулемет не поразит цель. Решением могли бы стать передовые автоматические турели, а так приходится сражаться в тех местах, которые выбрал противник для снижения.
В энергетическом секторе наиболее явные проблемы - на севере Крыма, откуда местные каналы пишут про несколько дней без света, несмотря на титанические усилия энергетиков. Люди помогают друг другу, организованы пункты зарядки телефонов и зон вай-фай, пароль от которых пишут ручкой на чеке от кофе. Крымчане держатся, но хотели бы большего освещения их проблем в СМИ. Показательно, что вполне адекватные знакомые люди еще звонят нам лично и спрашивают про целесообразность ехать в Крым в отпуск. Возвращаясь к теме энергетики, отметим важность отключения электроприборов большой мощности, если оставляете квартиру без присмотра даже на короткое время.
Меры по усилению защиты полуострова принимаются, но так как они не были в полной мере заблаговременные и не расчет сил и средств по отражению массированных налетов дешевых (даже не реактивных) дронов явно содержал красивые доклады (а как в этой системе доложить наверх, что ты не готов? тебя же и накажут, а не помогут - ⚡️), то сейчас приходится делать все с колёс.
И теперь, когда пелена вранья пала, во главу ставится эффективность вне зависимости от того, как организующее работу МОГ (а, местами, и ПВО) оформлено в правовом отношении и каков его формальный статус в устаревшей иерархии. Стандартные государственные механизмы остаются на бумаге, не более. В подтверждение последнего тезиса можно отметить отсутствие приведения денежного довольствия бойцов федеральных силовых ведомств в регионе в сравнении с иными прифронтовыми субъектами. Как мы уже писали, бескровной для нас защиту Крыма нельзя. А мотивацию и поддержку хотелось бы получить от центра в материальном виде, а не в виде очередного указания "усилить/растопырить/нарастить".
Тем не менее, информационная составляющая операции противника в Крыму имеет ограниченный эффект. Ничего такого, что жители Крыма и Севастополя бы ни испытывали в части украинских фейков, враг уже не выдумает. Так что сейчас как никогда важен честный диалог и внимание властей, в т.ч. федеральных к проблемам жителей полуострова. Впрочем, опыт Белгородской области дает понять перспективы таких инициатив.
✨Защита Крыма лежит в плоскости не только организации обороны полуострова на берегу, когда враг уже долетел. Важно сделать войну для противника (и его спонсоров) невыгодной, этим и начало заниматься Минобороны:
"Сегодня ночью ВС России продолжено нанесение ударов по портам Украины. В результате групповых ударов высокоточным оружием большой дальности воздушного базирования и ударными БПЛА поражены объекты портовой инфраструктуры в Черноморске Одесской области, используемые для разгрузки и хранения грузов военного назначения и горюче-смазочных материалов."
✨⭐️Операции сторон в самом разгаре, идет середина лета. Все прогнозы составлены давно, так что сейчас критически важно не допустить врагом достижения заявленных Киевом целей на Крымском направлении, но не менее важно - не оголять другие. От положения на Крымском полуострове зависит не только благополучие его жителей, но и лицо России на международной арене, в т.ч. в части переговорного трека.
Цитата:
12.26
Нанесен удар по гражданскому торговому судну под флагом Того при разгрузке минеральных удобрений в одном из украинских портов: погибли три члена экипажа, еще пятеро ранены, — вице-премьер Кулеба.
Цитата:
Цитата:
12.14
Россия атаковала гражданское торговое судно под флагом Того при разгрузке минеральных удобрений: погибли три члена экипажа, еще пятеро ранены, сообщает вице-премьер Кулеба.
Ранее РФ заявила, что в порту Черноморска атаковала два морских парома и контейнеровоз, осуществлявшие доставку грузов для ВСУ.
Цитата:
Цитата:
9.55
Минобороны РФ заявляет, что в порту Черноморска поразило два морских парома и контейнеровоз, осуществлявшие доставку грузов для ВСУ.
9.00
Официальной причиной смерти сенатора Грэма стало расслоение аорты, вызванное атеросклеротическим сердечно-сосудистым заболеванием. Об этом сообщила пресс-служба политика.
Алексей Владимирович Кочетков,
Президент Благотворительного фонда
«Русский Союз»
Александр Христофорович Бенкендорф.
В 2026 году мы отмечаем двухсотлетие знаменательного события -создания III отделения Собственной Его Императорского Величества канцелярии.
Хотя прообразы тайной политической полиции и внешней разведки существовали и действовали в России с разной степенью эффективности задолго до образованных в 1826-1827 г.г. III отделения ЕИВ канцелярии и Корпуса жандармов, всё же именно структуры, созданные и много лет возглавлявшиеся Александром Христофоровичем Бенкендорфом, можно с полной уверенностью назвать первыми и во многом единственными в нашей истории настоящими профессиональными русскими спецслужбами.
Во многом это заслуга уникальной и неординарной личности А.Х. Бенкендорфа.
Современникам Александр Христофорович запомнился как человек глубоко порядочный, добрый и до крайности щепетильный в вопросах офицерской чести.
Даже будучи весьма юным человекам, он умел привлекать симпатии людей намного старше себя и выше по положению. Причиной тому было не только редкое обаяние и неконфликность, но и глубокое чувство собственного достоинства, и твердость, с которой этот «милый мальчик» мог отстаивать свою честь со шпагой в руках.
Впоследствии этот благородный фундамент дополнили живой и цепкий ум, исключительная выдержка, а также дар мгновенно оценивать обстановку и принимать взвешенные решения в самых непростых ситуациях. Именно поэтому молодому офицеру, в совершенстве владевшему несколькими европейскими языками, еще на заре его карьеры доверяли исполнение деликатнейших миссий разведывательного и дипломатического характера как в странах Европы, так и на Востоке.
В период с 1803 по 1812 год, помимо выполнения дипломатических поручений, Александр Бенкендорф блестяще проявил себя как кавалерийский офицер, приняв деятельное участие в ряде военных компаний: Персидской, Шведской, Турецкой, а также в противостоянии французским войскам в 1805–1807 годах. За свою доблесть он был удостоен ордена Святого Георгия IV степени, который принял из рук самого Михаила Илларионовича Кутузова.
В те славные годы его командирами выступали выдающиеся полководцы: князь П. Д. Цицианов, П. С. Котляревский, граф П. А. Толстой, генерал М. И. Платов, князь П. И. Багратион и М. И. Кутузов.
Грозовой 1812 год Александр Бенкендорф встретил в чине полковника.
Принимая во внимание бесценный опыт этого выдающегося офицера, командование поручило ему особую задачу. Находясь под формальным началом австрийского генерал-майора Свиты Его Величества Фердинанда Федоровича фон Винцингероде, перешедшего на русскую службу, Бенкендорфу надлежало сформировать «автономный боевой отряд, призванный быть связующим звеном между отступающей к Москве армией и прикрывающими петербургское направление силами П.Х.Витгенштейна. В состав этой «партии» вошли исключительно мобильные силы – Казанский драгунский полк и четыре казачьих полка. Не обремененный пехотой «летучий отряд» мог быстро появляться на любых участках фронта, наносить быстрые удары по противнику и так же неожиданно исчезать».
Справедливости ради стоит отметить, что прославленные отряды под командованием А. Н. Сеславина, А. С. Фигнера и Д. В. Давыдова приступили к своим действиям лишь месяцем позже.
Возглавляя небольшую группу отважных кавалеристов, полковник Бенкендорф искусно проникал во вражеские тылы. Он вступал в стремительные боестолкновения, навязывая неприятелю стычки, чтобы выявить расположение и численность вражеских сил, захватывал «языков» и перехватывал обозы с провиантом и награбленным имуществом.
«Так как мы находились в самом тылу французской армии, наши марши становились более трудными и часто останавливались неприятельскими партиями, которые со всех сторон наводняли здешний край, жгли и грабили деревни, - вспоминал Бенкендорф. - Повсюду находили мы следы произведенных ими опустошений и святотатств, и везде мы спешили на помощь несчастным жителям. Дворяне, священники, купцы, крестьяне — все были одушевлены одним духом, все объединились на борьбу и уничтожение дерзких чужеземцев, перешедших наши священные границы».
Разделив свои силы на несколько высокомобильных групп, Бенкендорф, к тому времени уже произведенный в генерал-майоры, неустанно пополнял их ряды местными крестьянами, повсеместно примыкавшими к партизанскому движению.
"Никогда еще русский крестьянин не проявлял большей привязанности к своей религии и к своему отечеству, большей преданности Императору и повиновения законам».
Несмотря на свои немецкие корни, Александр Христофорович всей душой ощущал себя русским человеком. Его семья на протяжении нескольких поколений верой и правдой служила России, проливая за нее кровь, а его отец и дед также были удостоены чести носить Георгиевские кресты.
На страницах своих воспоминаний граф Бенкендорф неоднократно обращался к судьбе простых русских крестьян, к которым за годы войны проникся искренней, глубокой любовью и неподдельным состраданием. Спустя годы, в своей аналитической записке, поданной на высочайшее имя императора Николая I, он напишет следующие строки:
«Среди этого класса встречается гораздо больше рассуждающих голов, чем это можно было бы предположить с первого взгляда. Приходя в соприкосновение с казенными крестьянами и живя с согласия своих господ в городах, крепостные невольно учатся ценить те преимущества, коими пользуются свободные сословия. Надо заметить, что всякий крепостной, которому удалось своим трудом скопить несколько тысяч рублей, употребляет их прежде всего на то, чтобы купить себе свободу. Они хорошо знают, что во всей России только народ-победитель, русские крестьяне, находится в состоянии рабства; все остальные: финны, татары, эсты, латыши, мордва, чуваши и т.д. - свободны. Среди крестьян циркулирует несколько пророчеств и предсказаний: они ждут своего освободителя, как евреи своего Мессию, и дали ему имя Метелкина.. Они говорят между собой: «Пугачев попугал господ, а Метелкин пометет их». В начале каждого нового царствования мы видим бунты, потому что народные страсти не довольствуются желаниями и надеждами. Так как из этого сословия мы вербуем своих солдат, оно, пожалуй, заслуживает особого внимания со стороны правительства».
Вновь обращаясь к военным заслугам генерал-майора Бенкендорфа, можно с уверенностью утверждать: в годы Отечественной войны он был не просто талантливым кавалерийским командиром. По сути своей (хотя формально подобных должностей в ту эпоху не существовало), он стал одним из ключевых организаторов партизанского движения и руководителем структуры, которую сегодня назвали бы прообразом Сил специальных операций. Он блестяще наладил работу летучих отрядов, искусно разрушая вражеские коммуникации, пресекая снабжение противника и внося хаос в его логистику.
Свои выдающиеся навыки командира «армейского спецназа» Бенкендорф во всем блеске продемонстрировал, когда ворвался со своим отрядом в оставленную основными силами французов Москву. Там он сумел предотвратить подрыв Кремля и спасти жизни отбитых у неприятеля раненых русских военнопленных, обреченных французами на верную гибель.
Окончательно разбив и взяв в плен остатки французских войск, отряд Бенкендорфа выдержал тяжелейший трехдневный бой с бесчинствующими бандами мародеров, хлынувшими в освобожденную столицу.
Приняв на себя обязанности первого временного коменданта освобожденной Москвы, генерал совершил поистине невозможное. Всего за три дня ему удалось восстановить порядок, задержать более двухсот преступников, организовать очистку городских улиц и обеспечить провизией как русских раненых, так и пленных французов. Лишь 16 октября Александр Христофорович передал дела обер-полицмейстеру, генералу П. А. Ивашкину.
Бесценный опыт, полученный в ходе компании 1812 года и заграничного похода 1813-1814 гг. он, в последствие, активно использовал при создании Корпуса жандармов Российской Империи.
К созданию политической полиции «нового типа» Александр Христофорович преступил в начале 1826 года после завершения следствия по делу о попытке военного мятежа «декабристов», когда императору Николаю I и высшим сановникам стало окончательно ясно, что дальше медлить с коренными изменениями системы управления Российской Империи означает обречь страну на катастрофу.
Страна остро нуждалась в новых идеологичеких и законодательных базах, новых принципах взаимодействия верховной власти и основных сословий, а также в новой модели формирования управленческого аппарата, хозяйствования и системы контроля.
Главным высшим правительственным органом, призванным разработать и внедрить новые принципы, стала «Собственная Его Императорского Величества канцелярия» (СЕИВК)
Она структурно состояла из шести профильных отделений:
I отделение бдительно следило за исполнением высочайших повелений и ведало личным составом чиновников;
II отделение отвечало за проведение реформы и кодификацию законодательства Российской империи;
III отделение представляло собой высшую полицию;
IV отделение осуществляло надзор за благотворительными и учебными заведениями;
V отделение занималось деликатной подготовкой крестьянской реформы;
VI отделение ведало управлением гражданскими делами Закавказского края.
Одной из важнейших, пусть и «обыденных», задач III отделения и жандармерии стало искоренение коррупции. Прекрасно понимая хитросплетения и нравы русской провинции, Александр Христофорович с полным на то правом отмечал:
«Чиновники - это сословие, пожалуй, является наиболее развращенным морально. Среди них редко встречаются порядочные люди. Хищения, подлоги, превратное толкование законов — вот их ремесло. К несчастью, они-то и правят, и не только отдельные, наиболее крупные из них, но, в сущности, все, так как им всем известны все тонкости бюрократической системы. Они боятся введения правосудия, точных законов и искоренения хищений; они ненавидят тех, кто преследует взяточничество, и бегут их, как сова солнца. Они систематически порицают все мероприятия правительства и образуют собою кадры недовольных; но, не смея обнаружить причины своего недовольства, они выдают себя также за патриотов».
Местные власти нередко пытались саботировать усилия жандармерии по наведению порядка в губерниях и желанию «утереть слезы невинных». Более того, даже личные попытки Бенкендорфа вывести на чистую воду того или иного казнокрада часто наталкивались на глухое сопротивление и раздраженные опровержения со стороны профильных министерств. Тем не менее, история знает немало примеров, когда именно беспристрастный отчет жандармского офицера стоил кресла и губернатору, и проворовавшимся чиновникам. Не щадили и тех, кто запятнал себя морально неблаговидными поступками: так, в 1831 году своей должности лишился симбирский губернатор А. М. Загряжский, а в 1841 году — ярославский вице-губернатор П. А. Ковалевский.
Бенкендорф неустанно напоминал своим подчиненным, что их первейший долг — предотвращать произвол, выступать надежным щитом для простых людей перед лицом административной несправедливости и, в случае необходимости, иметь смелость докладывать о злоупотреблениях напрямую «наверх».
Другой, столь же значимой миссией новой структуры стала борьба с тайными заговорами и пагубным иностранным влиянием. Об этом Бенкендорф предельно ясно высказался в одной из своих инструкций:
«Император всеми способами пытается вырвать корни тех злоупотреблений, которые проникли в аппарат управления, и которые стали явными после раскрытия заговора, обагрившего кровью его вступление на престол. Исходя из необходимости организовать действенное наблюдение, которое со всех концов его обширной империи сходилось бы к одному органу, он обратил свой взгляд на меня с тем, чтобы сформировать высшую полицию с целью защиты угнетённых и наблюдения за заговорами и недоброжелателями».
«Утвердить благосостояние и спокойствие всех в России сословий» — эти слова стали истинным девизом высшей полиции, созданной Александром Бенкендорфом. Их цель состояла в том, чтобы предупреждать преступления, чутко выявлять потенциальные угрозы и превентивно устранять их, избегая крайних форм насилия и тем более террора. Именно этот подход позволил III отделению и Отдельному корпусу жандармов стать подлинно профессиональной спецслужбой, защищающей фундаментальные потребности нации: ее самосохранение, самовоспроизведение и созидательное развитие при минимальных рисках для базовых ценностей общества. В этом кроется глубокое, принципиальное отличие императорских спецслужб от карательных органов советского периода, которые посредством государственного террора и физического истребления целых слоев населения стремились удержать власть одной-единственной политической партии — партии чуждой духовному и культурному коду народного большинства.
Сегодня современные российские спецслужбы, в отличие от ВЧК–ОГПУ–НКВД–МГБ, гораздо больше соответствуют своему высокому предназначению. Однако до тех пор, пока некоторые их представители будут искать вдохновение в эпохе Гражданской войны и «большого террора», ориентируясь на методы тех лет, называть их русскими спецслужбами в полном, историческом смысле этого слова будет не вполне справедливо.
В эпоху правления государя Николая I был заложен мощный фундамент для последующего культурного, экономического и демографического расцвета России.
Страна одержала блестящие победы над Турцией и Персией, решительно подавила сепаратистский мятеж в Польше в 1830–1831 годах и сломила сопротивление радикально настроенного имама Шамиля. Были успешно проведены масштабные экономические и законодательные реформы, введен «серебряный стандарт» графа Канкрина, благодаря которому курс рубля обрел завидную стабильность. По всей империи началось активное строительство железных дорог (первой из которых в 1837 году стала ветка от Петербурга до Царского Села), стремительно возводились новые мануфактуры и фабрики — число промышленных предприятий возросло с 5 200 до 15 000. В этот же период стартовала разработка богатейшего Донецкого угольного бассейна, а численность населения Российской империи увеличилась в полтора раза: с 40 до 60 миллионов человек.
Подводя итог этому историческому экскурсу, следует подчеркнуть поразительный факт: за без малого тридцать лет, с 1826 по 1855 год, в России не было совершено ни единого покушения на главу государства. Император мог совершенно спокойно, без всякой охраны, прогуливаться по улицам русских городов, не опасаясь за свою жизнь. Не произошло ни одной попытки государственного переворота; все немногочисленные политические интриги внутри страны пресекались, что называется, на корню. Ничего подобного масштабному военному заговору, вызревшему в царствование Александра I, больше не возникало.
Более того, Россия оказалась единственной крупной европейской державой, сумевшей избежать разрушительного «поветрия революций» 1848–1849 годов.
Одни лишь эти факты красноречиво свидетельствуют о том, насколько эффективно эта крохотная, по нынешним меркам, спецслужба справлялась со своими колоссальными задачами. А ведь помимо политического сыска, III отделение и жандармерия выполняли множество иных функций, зачастую беря на себя обязанности министерств внутренних и иностранных дел, спасательных служб, государственного контроля, ведомства по делам религий, института стратегических исследований и десятка других государственных институтов. Обе эти структуры прослужили Отечеству долгие годы: III отделение существовало 54 года (с 1826 по 1880 год, после чего было преобразовано в Департамент полиции МВД), а Корпус жандармов — почти 90 лет (с 1827 по 1917 год). Других примеров столь долгого сохранения организационной структуры правоохранительного органа в истории России попросту нет.
Без малейшего преувеличения можно утверждать, что именно III отделение и Отдельный корпус жандармов, бережно созданные А. Х. Бенкендорфом в 1826–1827 годах, выступали главными гарантами незыблемой стабильности государства на протяжении трех десятилетий.
Их главная и самая благородная цель — «Утвердить благосостояние и спокойствие всех в России сословий» — была исполнена с честью.
9.44
Продажи рухнули. Как киевский рынок недвижимости реагирует на усиление российских атак по столице.
Усиление российских атак на Киев и пригород и главное - беспрецедентные разрушения, нанесенные за последнее время жилой застройке, уже "давят" на рынок недвижимости. Еще недавно он, напомним, считался одним из самых благополучных в Украине, в том числе и потому, что считалось - столица "прикрыта самым мощным ПВО в Украине".
Но сейчас ситуация изменилась. Прилеты становятся все чаще, а ущерб - все больше.
И это уже имеет свои последствия.
По словам директора агентства недвижимости "КиевДомСервис" Андрея Романова, многие уже договоренные сделки по купле-продаже квартир срываются.
"Люди просто не понимают, что им дальше делать, и стоит ли вообще покупать сейчас жилье, а если да, то какое именно и в каких локациях. Например, до недавнего времени хорошим спросом пользовалось жилье в Вишневом, а после мощной атаки на город те, кто не успел купить, перекрестились", - говорит Романов.
Столичный риелтор Ирина Луханина говорит, что и ранее после каждой массированной атаки риелторы наблюдают одну и ту же картину: на день-два жизнь будто замирает - нет ни звонков, ни просмотров, ни новых запросов. Люди берут паузу, чтобы "прийти в себя".
Затем ситуация понемногу стабилизируется и все идет своим чередом.
Но с недавних пор этот сценарий существенно изменился.
В последнее время российские атаки на Киев и Киевскую область заметно усилились. При этом существенно ухудшилось их отражение, плюс - беспрецедентно увеличились удары по жилой застройке с большими разрушениями.
Кроме того, атаки идут буквально одна за другой, поэтому у людей просто нет тех самых спокойных нескольких дней, за которые можно прийти в себя и вернуться к теме покупки недвижимости.
Уже и западные СМИ пишут о тяжелых настроениях в городе, где людям приходится ночи подряд переживать обстрелы в метро.
"Из-за регулярных атак жители заранее уходят в метро и подземные убежища. Многие киевляне проводят ночь в автомобилях на подземных паркингах или в подвальных помещениях, следя за сообщениями пабликов, что заранее предупреждают о взлёте стратегической авиации РФ и приближении крылатых ракет. Киевляне говорят, что в их городе стало хуже, чем в Харькове", – пишет французская Le Monde.
В целом, как говорит Романов, рынок купли-продажи жилья сейчас практически остановился.
Помимо усиления атак, на снижение количества сделок сильно повлияли проблемы с финансированием по госпрограммам - "еОсели" и "еВидновлення".
"Люди уже прошли все бюрократические процедуры, но денег нет. Говорят, ждите до сентября. Понятно, что остановка льготного кредитования и выдачи жилищных сертификатов сильно ударила по рынку, ведь на эти инструменты приходилось не менее трети всех продаж", - отметил Романов.
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7.57
Сегодня ночью Вооруженными Силами Российской Федерации нанесены групповые удары высокоточным оружием большой дальности воздушного и наземного базирования, беспилотными летательными аппаратами, в результате которых в городе Киеве поражены предприятия военной промышленности, участвующие в разработке и производстве ракет различного типа и беспилотных летательных аппаратов, а также объекты портовой инфраструктуры в порту Южный Одесской области, используемые для разгрузки и хранения горюче-смазочных материалов ВСУ.
07/14/2026 04:45 AM EDT
How best to honor Lindsey Graham’s legacy? Republicans are divided.
Most senators want to see their chamber unite behind Russia sanctions. The president has other ideas.
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham was known as a champion of American military power, strong global alliances, conservative jurisprudence and more.
Cryptocurrency regulation? Not so much.
So when President Donald Trump suggested in a Truth Social post Monday that the Senate should pass a long-brewing crypto bill in “honor of Senator Lindsey Graham,” it struck a false note to many lawmakers. It also underscored how quickly many in Washington are moving after the Republican senator’s death Saturday to claim his mantle for their own purposes.
Many of Graham’s surviving colleagues instead rallied around a proposal they believe would better honor the four-term South Carolina legend: a bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Russia that Graham had been pushing — and had won White House support for — in the days before he died.
But it remains unclear if that legislation truly has legs, especially with Trump infatuated with other priorities that have little to do with Graham’s signature issues. That has opened up room for the competing attempts to seize on his legacy.
In addition to the crypto bill, Trump stoked a competing suggestion — that the contentious GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act could be passed in Graham’s memory — by saying he had spoken to the senator about that legislation just hours before his death.
“He thought we were going to get it passed,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” — sparking other Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mike Lee of Utah, to redouble their calls for a bill that Graham supported but never played a lead role in advocating.
Lee said during an X broadcast Monday night that he had met with Trump at the Oval Office earlier in the day. In that conversation, Lee said, Trump’s final conversation with Graham about the elections bill came up.
“I imagine a number of my colleagues will see that as an emotionally compelling reason, one of many, to get this done,” Lee said. Skeptics, he added, should “reconsider in light of the fact that this was on Lindsey Graham’s mind just moments before he died and we ought to figure out a way to carry forward his legacy by getting this thing passed.”
To many senators, however, the bill slapping sanction on buyers of Russian oil and gas is a no-brainer. Not only was Graham known as one of the chamber’s fiercest Russia hawks, with decades of trans-Atlantic security experience, he had just returned from the NATO summit in Turkey and a visit to Ukraine when he died.
“The most obvious and logical way [to honor Graham] would be the sanctions bill, because it’s his bill,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in an interview Monday. “You’re not making anything up. He practically died trying to get it passed. … Anything else becomes kind of political trickery in my mind.”
The problem is, the sanctions bill still faces serious doubts among some Republicans. Graham at multiple points over the past year believed he had talked Trump into backing the measure, only for it to be put on ice as Trump tried to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Though prior versions of the bill had broad bipartisan support, small pockets of skepticism could still force the Senate to eat up weeks of floor time in order to get it across the finish line.
And then there’s the matter of what Trump will do. While Graham claimed presidential support and a White House official confirmed that Monday, Trump himself was not so direct when asked separately Monday if he would support it.
“We’re talking about that,” he told reporters.
The president was nowhere as indirect in regards to the crypto bill, saying in his social media post that “the U.S. Senate should pass the Clarity Act” in memory of Graham, whom he called “a big supporter” of the legislation.
While Graham had voted for other cryptocurrency bills, he was not considered a major industry ally and in the last Congress had co-introduced a tough bipartisan regulatory bill aimed at combatting money laundering.
As for the SAVE America Act — which has been a key source of tension between Trump and Senate Republicans — Graham had cosponsored it and called for its passage. But he also cast doubt on whether the Senate would eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold to pass it.
Instead, Graham before his death was floating trying to get pieces of the bill passed through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process — a process he partly controlled as Senate Budget Committee chair.
Fellow senators agreed that crypto and SAVE America were Trump’s obsessions — not Graham’s.
“There are only two things on the president’s mind. … No. 1, the SAVE Act, and No. 2, based on the tweet I saw this morning, the crypto bill,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “I want to do the crypto bill, but Lindsey cared about the sanctions bill.”
Asked if he saw a connection between Graham and the cryptocurrency legislation, Cramer said, “This place is full of circumstances where you get too cute by half.”
Honoring Graham with the sanctions bill, he added, would be “obvious.”
While some senators have floated other fitting ideas, like naming the annual Pentagon policy bill after Graham, advancing the sanctions legislation has the most momentum — especially after the idea was endorsed by top leaders and a bipartisan slew of Graham’s colleagues Monday.
“It would be a great tribute and legacy for Lindsey,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Monday, while acknowledging leaders were still “assessing” if the bill had a path forward.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also urged the Senate to quickly pass the sanctions legislation in honor of Graham.
“I know if Senator Graham were here in this chamber today, he would also join me in urging the Senate to support Ukraine and strengthen sanctions on Russia,” Schumer said on the floor, predicting it would “pass overwhelmingly and help our allies in Ukraine” if Thune moved forward with it.
But some Republicans believe Trump will have to publicly bear-hug the bill to get it across the finish line.
“I know some people at the White House have said they support it … but they don’t count,” Kennedy said. “No offense to anybody, but they don’t count. I haven’t yet heard the president stand up and say, ‘We need to sanction the hell out of Russia, and let’s get going.’”
А.п. напоминает, что национальный праздник Франции - «взятия Бастилии» имеет под собой мифологическую основу.
В реальности утром 14 июля 1788 года произошло следующее:
• «Осада» Бастилии длилась несколько часов.
• гарнизон крепости из 50 солдат потерял одного убитого, а восставшие горожане около ста, точнее 98 убитыми и 73 раненными, большая часть которых погибла и пострадала от «дружественного» огня из-за неразберихи в рядах восставших.
• комендант крепости де Лоне сам открыл ворота и сдал Бастилию, за что он и еще семеро военнослужащих были растерзаны толпой.
• на тот момент в крепости содержалось 7(семь!) арестантов.
Крепость была снесена (разобрана на стройматериалы за три года) и на ее месте полвека спустя поставили колонну, назвав это место – площадь Бастилии (La place de la Bastille).
То есть праздновать, строго говоря, нечего...
Подводя итог следует сказать, что если бы 12 июля, комендант Парижа барон Бретейль, для усмирения восставших горожан, поступил бы как Наполеон 4 октября 1795 года и расстрелял бы толпу картечью у сада Тирюльи, а не выставлял бы полк драгун (Royal-Allemand), то 14 июля остался бы простым рабочим днем.
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8.15
Канцлер Германии Фридрих Мерц заявил, что гарантии безопасности для Украины, которые она получит по завершении конфликта с Россией, будут определять Киев и его союзники.
Москва, по его словам, в этом процессе участия принимать не будет (что возможно только в том случае, если Россия проиграет войну - замечание а.п.).
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10.47
Morning opening: Bastille Day.
Over 300 vehicles and 6,500 soldiers will march down the iconic Champs-Élysées in central Paris this morning as part of today’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which is set to “send a strategic signal” about France and Europe’s military awakening.
Marking the importance of international cooperation, the parade will also include 500 troops from the countries involved in the Coalition of the Willing, including Germany, and 25 soldiers from Ukraine.
It will be Emmanuel Macron’s tenth – and final – parade ahead of next year’s presidential election. He has a strong guest list this year, though, with many leaders staying overnight after yesterday’s talks on Ukraine, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself.
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Trump’s Nato remarks rang hollow – but he recognizes something real.
US political leaders must be more clear-eyed about our global alliances, without embracing his scorched-earth approach.
Donald Trump memorably took out a full-page advertisement in multiple newspapers in 1987 charging that America was carrying too much weight for its allies. In his first term he repeated this charge, threatening to withdraw from Nato and berating US allies around the world in the process. Last week’s gathering of Nato’s heads of government in Turkey suggests his approach is running out of steam as the world adjusts and the president bumps up against the limits of American unilateral power in Iran.
Trump’s domestic political opponents should breathe a sigh of relief but not rush headlong into an uncritical embrace of US alliances. For all his counterproductive bluster, Trump recognized something real. If his opponents in the Democratic and Republican parties are not more clear-eyed about what alliances cost Americans – as Biden failed to be with Israel – they will fuel the fires that brought Trump to power in the first place.
The Ankara summit shows the limits of how far Trump will go. Weakened by his failed war on Iran, which now seems destined to drag on in fits and starts indefinitely, Trump found that his attempt to dominate the meeting rang hollow. His talking points berating allies for not doing enough – this time to support him against Iran – have lost their shock value. What’s more, they conflicted with his later claims that the meeting was filled with “tremendous love”.
A year ago, tensions ran high as European leaders feared Trump might withdraw America from Nato altogether, leaving them to fend for themselves against a hostile and militarized Russia. This threat is losing its force. Withdrawing from the almost 80-year-old alliance would be a lot of trouble, creating a domestic political firestorm that Trump cannot afford. It could also look weak, and Trump likes the stage that Nato offers him anyway. More important, Europe is growing stronger and less vulnerable to Trump’s threats of abandonment and is now on course to acquire serious defenses against Russia for as long as the threat persists.
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The Nato summit in Ankara is likely to be remembered less as a US-European divorce than as another step toward a Nato in which Europe’s role becomes equal to America’s – and toward a more balanced US-European relationship that can still be productive for both sides. Future American leaders can learn from Trump’s mistakes without simply reacting against them. The world needs constructive American leadership, but it also needs realism about the limits of American power and the costs the American people will bear – and should be expected to bear – for the other nations of the world. This requires a balanced approach to US alliances, neither a full-throated embrace nor a Trumpian scorched-earth campaign.
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January 15, 2019
Trump’s NATO isolationism is at least 30 years old.
…
Those flipping through the New York Times on Sept. 2, 1987, would have come across an unusual full-page advertisement carrying a now-familiar signature. And a now-familiar message.
“For decades, Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States,” it began. After arguing that Japan and the Middle East had abused U.S. support, the letter got to its point: “Make Japan, Saudi Arabia, and others pay for the protection we extend as allies. Let’s help our farmers, our sick, our homeless by taking from some of the greatest profit machines ever created — machines created and nurtured by us.”
21.51
Коалиция по противоракетной обороне: Европа и Украина усиливают взаимодействие в сфере ПВО.
Девять европейских государств совместно с Украиной объявили о создании новой коалиции в области противоракетной обороны. Соответствующее совместное заявление подписали лидеры Дании, Франции, Германии, Италии, Нидерландов, Норвегии, Испании, Швеции и Британии.
Ключевая цель объединения, в которое, как заявили в Елисейском дворце, могут вступить и другие игроки — нарастить коллективные возможности по защите воздушного пространства стран Европы за счёт объединения промышленного потенциала и накопленного практического опыта. Речь идёт о разработке перспективных технологий обнаружения и перехвата воздушных целей, модернизации существующих комплексов, а также о выработке единых стандартов взаимодействия между разными системами ПВО.
В целом, новосозданная "коалиция по ПВО" — не столько про разделение "рисков и затрат" и большой промышленный проект, который по задумке евроэлит должен подстегнуть местный ВПК к решению задач импортозамещения и технологической независимости. Это и про то, что Европа торопится поплотнее прикрыть свое небо на случай увеличения масштаба боевых действий в регионе.
Меры по противодронной борьбе, дают результаты. Даже не 97% сбито нашей ПВО, а 100% выпущенных ВСУ БПЛА.
А стоимость этого налёта для противника, при средней цене такого дрона у врага около 12-15 млн рублей, составляет порядка 4 млрд рублей.
Что хоть и оплачивает Европа, но у них сейчас не густо со свободными ресурсами. Поэтому и говорю, что сейчас со стороны Европы и их прокси ВСУ, идёт "февральское контрнаступление", по аналогии с 1918м годом. Где вроде бы на фронте какие то успехи, а в тылу полный швах. А потом у Германии все рухнуло. Нынешний еврорейх идёт тем же путем.
И главное чтоб наши отечественные чудаки, которые мечтают повторить октябрьский переворот, и вырвать долгожданную победу из рук России, не подсуетились в этот раз. От большого ума фанаты СССР 2.0 уже с год назад начали кампанию запретобесия, чем население довели до крайнего недоверия к власти, и сейчас именно они являются главной угрозой для страны.
Путь к Победе лежит в совершенствовании себя, системы управления, эволюции - а не в поисках магической кнопки, сделать хорошо как всех поставить в стойло и закидать врага мясом. Увы, не все ЛПР это осознают, что говорит об их уровне компетенции и степени мифологизации познаний.
Но будем надеяться что здоровые силы с умными головами смогут недопустить запуск простых, понятных и неправильных решений.
Цитата:
9.24
Частная ПВО Украины. Как организовать. Инструкции для бизнеса.
❗️Актуальная тема! Недавно мы публиковали два материала, посвящённых тому, как наш враг реализует программу частной ПВО для крупного бизнеса и критически значимых объектов
В свете того, что у нас тоже начались с этим определённые подвижки, Аналитический центр КЦПН перевёл подробные разъяснения, как украинский бизнес должен реализовывать такую систему, какие есть нюансы юридического и технического характера, как правильно организовать взаимодействие с военными
Этот материал полезен к изучению для тех, кто участвует или будет участвовать к созданию подобной защиты у нас. Поскольку враг начал заниматься этим раньше, то будет очень не лишним изучить сильные и слабые стороны их системы, подсмотреть удачные моменты и увидеть ошибки
📍Процесс запуска группы ПВО на предприятии — это не покупка ружья и выход на пост. Это полноценная бюрократическая и военная процедура, требующая серьёзного подхода
📍Важно: группа не может действовать сама по себе. Решение на поражение цели принимают военные, а частная ПВО лишь исполняет команду в координации с Воздушными силами
📍Основные шаги для организации частной ПВО
1️⃣Обращение в Минобороны — компания просит предоставить полномочия на ведение работ по ПВО
2️⃣Заявка в Воздушное командование (по зоне: «Юг», «Север», «Восток», «Запад»)
3️⃣Совместное решение — ключевой документ, где прописано: что именно защищаем, где, каким оружием, как храним боеприпасы, кто командует и как отчитываемся
4️⃣Создание группы как структурного подразделения предприятия
5️⃣Обучение людей и закупка оборудования
6️⃣Начало работы после уведомления Воздушного командования
📍Предприятие должно иметь лицензию на охранную деятельность, разрешение на хранение взрывчатки или быть в реестре исполнителей госзаказов Минобороны. Компания не должна находиться под санкциями, а среди владельцев и руководителей — не должно быть граждан или юрлиц государства-агрессора. Участники группы — только сотрудники предприятия, старше 21 года, без судимостей и без заболеваний, мешающих службе
📍У бизнеса есть два пути
1️⃣Самостоятельная группа. Подходит крупным предприятиям, у которых уже есть служба безопасности, военизированная охрана, юридический отдел и бюджет на оборудование
2️⃣Аутсорсинг. Обратиться в частную охранную компанию, которая специализируется на ПВО. Например, компания «Триариус» состоит из ветеранов с боевым опытом. Они сами оценят объект, подберут экипажи, средства поражения и наладят координацию с военными. Для среднего бизнеса это удобно, ведь не нужно создавать всю инфраструктуру с нуля
📍Как группа работает во время атаки. Получение данных о воздушной угрозе. Оценка: угрожает ли цель именно этому объекту? Выход на дежурство или усиление. Идентификация цели (радар, РЭБ). Получение разрешения от военных. Применение средств поражения. Отчет о результате
📍Главная проблема — обнаружение цели. Дрон типа «Герань» летит низко, может менять маршрут и атаковать в группе. Без информации от военных радаров группа работает вслепую. Свои радары — редкость. Хорошая станция стоит около млн $. Но украинские производители уже разрабатывают более доступные решения для частных групп
📍Минимально нужен один экипаж, но для полноценной защиты среднего объекта нужно 9–10 экипажей. Подготовка одного оператора занимает от 20 до 40 дней
🔎В общем, проанализировав этот документ, можно прийти к выводу, что Украина, чтобы избежать хаоса на местах, специально обкладывает бизнес серьёзными, неудобными и затратными требованиями. Подталкивая владельцев объектов обращаться к крупным хабам — по сути, частным компаниям противовоздушной обороны (такие ЧВК ПВО) и, видимо, в этом направлении и будет эволюционировать частная система ПВО нашего врага.
Best served cold! Furious restaurateur gets revenge on diners who leave bad reviews by sharing CCTV of them appearing to enjoy their food.
The furious owner of a Mediterranean restaurant has started to 'out' diners who leave bad reviews - by posting CCTV footage of them enjoying the food they later criticise.
Pejman Zamani has run an eponymous eaterie in the Leicestershire market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch for the past 36 years, selling Cypriot dishes like moussaka and stifado alongside pizza and pasta classics.
But lately Mr Zamani has become infuriated by the phenomenon of people leaving anonymous bad reviews online - which he says can be hugely damaging.
So this week the 65-year-old decided to strike back - in a move that would cause immense local controversy.
The trigger was a review posted on Google under the username 'Anonymous', claiming that a family's first visit to Zamani's had been 'a very disappointing and expensive evening'.
After the diner explained that the food 'didn't live up to expectations' and suggested the 'tired' interior could 'do with a refresh', Mr Zamani was outraged.
He responded by going through the restaurant's CCTV footage to identify the woman he believes was behind the scathing review - and then published a screen grab of the party she was with.
The image shows a man dining with her giving a 'thumbs up' sign with both hands - in what he believes to be a sign of apparent approval - when approached by a female member of staff.
Pejman Zamani says he was hurt by anonymous criticism and so decided to reveal the diners behind the review
The Zamani’s restaurant owner claims CCTV footage shows a happy dining experience before a disappointing online review was posted
Posting the image on a local community site on Facebook, Mr Zamani, who had apparently already tracked the reviewer down and had an exchange of messages with them, wrote: 'Well, well, well. Guess what?! She says it's not personal!!
'She writes a negative review anonymously…
'Her and her husband finished everything, asked for their child's pizza to be put in a box to take home, thanked my staff, he put two thumbs up!!
'I am sure she has friends, not many, but look at the photos from my CCTV, with all the legal signage, and judge for yourself!!!
'You damage mine, unfairly, I will expose you.
'I will soon post her messages to me, asking me not to harass her as she really didn't want me to know who she is!!!
'That's why this lady posted anonymously…'
While the posting has since been deleted, the review he is apparently referring to remains on Google.
In it, the unnamed female diner began by explaining her evening had started well saying: 'This was our first visit, and we were really looking forward to it.
'The restaurant has a lovely little courtyard, which was a great place to sit and enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail, and it gave a really nice first impression.'
But she went on to explain that 'the food didn't live up to our expectations' and that the main courses were 'disappointing'.
She continued: 'The chips tasted like standard oven chips with very little flavour, which wasn't what we'd expect for the price.
'My chicken was swimming in an overly salty Diane sauce, while my partner's herb-rubbed dish was dry.
'The pizza was also disappointing - we left most of it. The base wasn't the thin, crispy style we'd hoped for and was quite heavy instead.'
Of the rest of the experience, she said: 'The service was polite but felt rather inattentive.
'No one came to check whether we were enjoying our meals, and when our plates were cleared, nobody asked how the food had been or whether everything was satisfactory.
'The interior also felt quite tired and could do with a refresh. Simple touches, such as tablecloths, would have made the tables feel cleaner, more welcoming, and added to the overall dining experience.'
Giving the restaurant two stars out of five for food, service and atmosphere, she summed up the experience saying: 'Overall, it was a very disappointing and expensive evening. It's a shame, as the setting has so much potential, but sadly the food and service didn't justify the cost.'
On the community forum, a number of local residents said they were shocked by Mr Zamani's outburst which one said happened 'just because people don't like food or decor'.
Zamani made a statement online saying the family finished all the food but still left a negative review
In response to Zamani's post, one contributor said they wouldn't visit his restaurant again
One contributor wrote: 'I didn't see the review but this is bang out of line regardless.
Another, Amanda Hodgekinson, responded saying: 'Yeah, I won't be going again after seeing this post.'
A third wrote: 'Zamani is getting quite a name on social media for his tantrums… really unprofessional and unnecessary.'
They appeared to be referring to a previous outburst by Mr Zamani which became the subject of headlines in a local news outlet in June.
A different female diner using the name Martina B, had given Zamani's three stars in a review but had described the restaurant as looking 'tatty and unloved'.
She complained that there were 'very little' Italian dishes on offer aside from 'a big concentration of pizza'.
Martina said the restaurant had 'no ambience' and said her meal 'felt rushed', also complaining about 'the loud banging from the pizza place next door'.
She said the only reason she did not score the restaurant 'a two' was due to the 'very nice' pasta dish that she had but concluded: 'I doubt I'd go back'.
Mr Zamani once again took to monitoring the restaurant's CCTV footage to challenge the review which he said had 'upset' his business.
He did not share images on that occasion but instead used the footage to provide a timeline of the woman's visit to the restaurant.
In a Facebook post he said the diner ordered at 7.33pm before the starter was served at 7.39pm, with the plate cleared 10 minutes later at 7.49pm then mains served at 8.05pm.
Addressing elements of the review he did not like Mr Zamani said: 'A number of pasta dishes and pizzas on the menu haven't changed for over 20 years. The specials have always been extremely variable.
'The young chap in the pizzeria dropped a tray, by accident, we are terribly sorry about that.
'Unfair and unjust review. I am not happy.'
Complaining about negative reviews more broadly, Mr Zamani - who is also a local councillor - said: 'Why do people feel the need to upset a local business and its staff?
'If you don't like it, for whatever reason, just don't come back again, we won't miss you and you obviously won't miss us. Simple.'
He concluded the message saying: 'Signed: Pejman Zamani. The passionate and loving owner of the business for over 36 years.'
Regular customers say that, while fiercely protective of his staff and his business, Mr Zamani is the consummate 'convivial' host.
After 36 years running his restaurant, Pejman Zamani says protecting his business and staff is personal
In response to Zamani, another contributor said 'how can you post someone's photo because they posted a negative review'
Over the years, Zamani's has had hundreds of positive reviews on various forums and his restaurant is rated overall with 4.6 stars on both Tripadvisor and Google.
As well as the restaurant with its al fresco dining space, the venue has a wine bar and a popular cocktail bar and regularly hosts live music events on Sunday afternoons.
An AI summary of reviews on Tripadvisor says: 'Zamani's Restaurant is popular among many travellers for its relaxed and inviting atmosphere, featuring soft lighting and live music.
'The decor, while authentic, is noted by some as slightly dated. Guests frequently praise the delicious and varied menu, with standout dishes like pizzas and homemade pastas.
'The restaurant is celebrated for offering excellent value, with generous portions and reasonable prices.
'Service earns accolades for its friendliness and attentiveness, though a few have mentioned occasional rushed interactions.'
Mr Zamani has also been flooded with messages of support since his latest posting which he said he had taken down because it was 'affecting' his wife Kate.
He said: 'She is not like me, she likes a calm, peaceful life! She didn't want me to respond at all but the more I watched the video the more it wound me up.'
Explaining his reaction to one supporter he said: 'I take it very personal, it's not really been a job for the last few years, it's been more like a lifestyle and a duty but don't know how I feel right now about it all.'
Thanking loyal customers he said: 'I am temperamental, Kate is cool and laid back.
'In order to save my marriage everything is deleted but, be assured, not forgotten.'
Mr Zamani has been contacted.
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Tue 14 Jul 2026 13.00 BST
Lindsey Graham’s hawkish ideology leaves a legacy of destruction.
Mourn him if you wish, but let’s be honest about what he promoted. The longer this thinking lives on, the more peril we will all face.
The sudden death over the weekend of the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham is predictably inspiring a slew of tributes to the four-term Republican senator. Donald Trump has already ordered flags be flown at half-staff until Saturday, and Republican politicians across the country are fondly recalling Graham. But so too are the Democrats. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois honored Graham, calling him “a fierce Republican partisan one day and a key bipartisan ally the next”. Senator Adam Schiff of California lauded Graham’s “sense of humor and how he deployed it to move his policy positions forward”.
Through this thick, bipartisan forest of remembrances, however, lies Graham’s concrete legacy. Death has a way of extinguishing uncomfortable truths, but it’s important that we don’t forget who Graham was, what he exactly stood for, and what damage he has done over his political career.
Nowhere has Graham’s legacy been more consequential than in his constant push for a hawkish US foreign policy and his uncritical devotion to Israel at every turn. The Wall Street Journal described Graham as someone having “outsize influence on U.S. foreign policy”. And Aipac, the US’s pro-Israel lobby (as the Pac describes itself on Twitter/X), posted an encomium to Graham, called him “a great friend and true champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship”. (According to the non-partisan website Open Secrets, which tracks money in politics, Graham received more than $400,000 from Aipac, his largest donation by an organization, in 2025-2026 alone.)
Graham’s unceasing desire to project American power across the world didn’t begin with the second Trump administration. Before he was elected to the Senate, Graham, who was then a member of Congress, was already pushing for the US to go to war in Iraq. “We’re looking at going after Saddam Hussein,” Graham said in March 2002, “not to contain him, but to replace him.” The US did invade Iraq, but it happened a year later.
The multiple failures of the Iraq invasion, including the lie that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons, didn’t stop Graham from supporting the war long after its true face became clear, or from counseling more war. In a speech to the Halifax International Security Forum in 2010, he promoted attacking Iraq’s neighbor, Iran, to “neuter” it, words that sound almost like Trump’s foreign policy today.
“Instead of a surgical strike on their nuclear infrastructure, I think we’re to the point now that you have to really neuter the [Iranian] regime’s ability to wage war against us and our allies,” he said. “And that’s a different military scenario. It’s not a ground invasion but it certainly destroys the ability of the regime to strike back.”
By 2015, he was sitting with his friends Senator John McCain and former senator Joseph Lieberman, publicly denouncing Obama’s recently concluded Iran nuclear deal.
In 2017, Graham was a prime backer in the push to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling Jerusalem “the undeniable capital of Israel”. His support for Israel over the years has been so complete that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is reportedly considering flying to the United States to attend Graham’s funeral.
Graham’s support for limits on Palestinian sovereignty were constant throughout his career but became even more evident after the Hamas attacks of 2023 and Israel’s most recent, and most devastating, war on Gaza began. “Give Israel what they need to fight the war they can’t afford to lose,” he said at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing. “This is Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids.”
On another occasion, he was asked if Israel’s war in Gaza, which was “killing children, killing mothers, killing families who are not militants”, aligned with “Christian values”. Graham responded with “I don’t buy that at all,” adding that Israel ought to “flatten Gaza”.
When Norway’s $2tn sovereign wealth fund decided to divest from the US company Caterpillar over ethical concerns (Caterpillar’s machines are routinely used by Israel to enforce its occupation of Palestinian land), Graham responded by publicly threatening Norway with trade tariffs and visa travel restrictions on Norwegian fund executives.
Weeks earlier, he had issued another not-so-veiled threat against the well-known Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who had joined a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to Gaza by the sea. “Hope Greta and her friends can swim!” he posted on X.
He wanted the US to get directly involved militarily in Israel’s attacks in Lebanon. “I would like the United States to participate in military operations, in the aerial side, against Hezbollah, if that’s what it takes to knock them out,” he told the Times of Israel in 2025. “I want our fingerprints on that.”
Beyond the Middle East, he also lobbied fellow senators on the US attacking Colombia, as reported by Drop Site News. “We’re not going to sit on the sidelines and watch boats full of drugs come to our country,” he told CBS News. “We’re going to blow them up and kill the people that want to poison America, and we’re now going to expand operations, I think, to the land.”
A proper summation of Graham’s foreign policy doctrine can perhaps be best expressed in his own words. Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit on 31 October 2025, Graham crowed: “I feel good about the Republican party. I feel good about where we’re going as a nation. We’re killing all the right people, and we’re cutting your taxes.”
But what has all this feelgood killing brought? While no longer on the front page, the genocide in Gaza continues, even after the so-called ceasefire of October 2025. “Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since 7 October 2023,” according to a recent United Nations independent commission finding, which also determined: “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank.”
In Lebanon, Israeli air strikes continue to kill children and erase entire families. The war in Iran has resumed, again, with little chance that it will be much different in the near future. The Caribbean Sea persists in being viewed as a lawless killing zone by this administration. Graham’s hawkish attitude isn’t a doctrine heading in the right direction. It is decades of failed foreign policy continuing the same misdeeds at ever increasing rates.
The hawkish senator from South Carolina has passed on. Mourn him if you wish, but let’s also be honest about what he promoted. His fervent desire to project US and Israeli military might across the world, regardless of the cost, is an abject political and ethical failure. The longer this ideology lives on, the more peril we will all face.
19.58
Глава Одесской ОВА Олег Кипер подтвердил, что два судна, следовавшие в украинские порты под флагами Танзании и Либерии, подверглись российской атаке.
Капитан одного из них погиб, трое членов экипажа получили ранения, еще 11 были эвакуированы на берег.
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19.00
Ещё три сухогруза на рейде порта Одесса были уничтожены беспилотниками ВС РФ, сообщили в Минобороны.
Также в порту Южный поражены объекты портовой инфраструктуры для разгрузки горюче-смазочных материалов и пять резервуаров с ГСМ, предназначенных для обеспечения ВСУ.
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18.02
Одно из двух атакованных РФ судов у берегов Одессы - это ATLAS BEY под флагом Танзании, следовавшее из Черноморска в Турцию с грузом шрота (остаток семян после отжима масла), сообщают одесские паблики.
В результате прилета реактивного БПЛА на борту начался пожар, погиб один член экипажа.
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17.30
Russia has accused Ukraine of terrorism over its escalating attacks on shipping in the Sea of Azov, a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports.
"What the Ukrainian regime is doing goes beyond even piracy. Pirates, at least, plunder and keep the spoils for themselves,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“But here, it benefits neither them nor anyone else – the goal is simply to cause damage and intimidate. It is terrorism, pure and simple," Lavrov said.
Ukrainian drones hit 11 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, Kyiv's drone forces commander said.
In a statement on Telegram, Robert Brovdi said the targets included five tankers, five dry cargo vessels and a tugboat, bringing the total number of vessels struck in the past nine days to 116.
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11.06
Чёрное море: Мы тоже так умеем. У берегов Одессы горит грузовое судно после удара «Герани-4».
На кадрах видно, как горит грузовое судно у берегов Одессы в западной части Чёрного моря.
Пожар начался после удара беспилотником «Герань-4», управляемым российскими операторами.
Это продолжение работы по украинскому морскому контуру: суда, порты, фуры, причалы, склады, ГСМ, БПЛА и маршруты быстрой разгрузки.
Одесский портовый пояс сейчас всё чаще появляется в сводках не как обычная гражданская логистика, а как рабочая военная цепочка. Судно подходит к побережью, груз уходит в порт, дальше его быстро забирают фуры и разводят по внутренним направлениям Украины.
Западная часть Чёрного моря для противника остаётся важным маршрутом снабжения. Через этот район идут грузы, оборудование, комплектующие, беспилотники, средства связи и всё, что потом может оказаться на Николаевском, Днепропетровском, Запорожском и Донецком направлениях.
Удар по судну у берегов Одессы показывает, что под вниманием находятся не только склады и портовые площадки на берегу, но и сама морская часть маршрута.
Море, порт, фуры и склады работают одной цепочкой. По этой цепочке сейчас и идёт работа.
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Этот день в истории Одессы.
14 июля 1828 года газета "Одесский вестник" опубликовала сообщение генерал-губернатора Новороссии графа Воронцова:
"Пароход, принадлежащий городу, прибыл и совершенно готов отправиться в Крым в первый рейс 22 июня сего года... Объявите, что пароход называется "Одесса" и что он будет отправляться в Крым еженедельно!"
Вице-адмиралу А. С. Грейгу граф Михаил Семенович отписал 16 марта 1826 г. следующее:
«Пароход в Одессе устраивается для перевозки как тяжестей, так равно путешественников и их экипажей, а потому нужно устроить его таким образом, чтобы в нем были, подобно аглицким, хорошо отделанные каюты и помещение для двух или трех карет».
Будем откровенны, «Одесса» с ее корпусом, набранным из выдержанного дубового леса, длиной в 37,4 м, шириной — 7,5 м и высотой борта в 4,6 м и тогда не поражала воображение современников своей величиной, а ныне и вовсе вписывалась бы разве что в размерения портового буксира. В правилах тогдашней морской практики, на «одесском пироскафе», так, разумея пароход, нередко говаривали в воронцовские в ремена, сохранялось и традиционное парусное вооружение на мачтах, поскольку полагаться на одну лишь силу пара еще не решались. Тем не менее, оба громоздких гребных колеса, как-то несуразно для морского глаза «прилепившихся» по бортам парохода, сообщали ему завидную по тем временам скорость в 5,2 узла (около 10 км в час) без всякого подобия парусов. Как и намечалось расписанием, в воскресенье 22 июля пароход «Одесса» вышел с пассажирами в море. Одолев всего полторы мили, пароход на траверзе дачи графини Ланжерон остановился — отказала паровая машина — и вынужден был уже под парусами вернуться обратно в Одесский порт. После устранения неисправностей 31 июля 1828 года «Одесса» снова снялась в рейс. На сей раз на капитанском мостике распоряжался итальянец Иван (Галгоффи). Пароход принял на борт 12 пассажиров, а из грузов — «деревянное», т.е. оливковое масло, лимонный сок и апельсины и взял курс на Евпаторию.
Кроме Евпатории, «Одесса» побывала в Балаклаве и Ялте. Пережив пожар, чудом избежав гибели на скалах Тавриды, выдержав на обратном пути свирепый шторм, пароход снова бросил якорь в Одесском порту только через 12 суток, вместо ожидаемых пяти.
Так и закончилось историческое плавание парохода «Одесса» — первый рейс в порты Крыма парового пассажирского судна, которое открыло эпоху Черноморского морского пароходства.
Estonia–Ukraine drone deal implementation 'begins immediately'
More than 10 Ukrainian companies are ready to move their production to Estonia, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said. Estonia hopes to use its newly signed drone cooperation agreement with Ukraine to procure advanced weaponry more broadly than just unmanned systems.
"When we entered the negotiations, our goal was to gain as much information and expertise as possible to strengthen our own defense capability. So although the agreement is called a drone deal, in substance it is an agreement to boost defense capability and defense industry cooperation," Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said of the accord signed on July 7 in Ankara on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
"The agreement confirms Ukraine's readiness to export its products to us and Estonia's readiness to procure various capabilities from Ukraine in the future or produce them jointly, if they meet the needs of our Defense Forces. It aligns with Estonia's interests and covers precisely the areas our Defense Forces and defense industry are most interested in," said Regina Palandi Paju, deputy director for security and defense coordination at the Government Office.
"The drone agreement concerns joint production between Estonia and Ukraine — meaning primarily the production of Ukrainian technology in Estonia and Estonia's procurement of Ukrainian defense industry products, not the shipment of Estonian products to Ukraine. The latter is handled separately under Estonia's Ukraine assistance measure (0.25 percent of GDP), where we support Ukraine with Estonian defense industry goods," she said.
According to her, the agreement allows Estonia and Ukraine to deepen knowledge sharing not only on drones but also in IT, cybersecurity, military technology and industrial development.
Ukraine's presidential administration echoed this in its press release, saying the drone agreement provides for defense industry development, deeper technological cooperation, and exchange of experience and intelligence. "Ukraine and Estonia will develop joint military production and establish new production units in both countries," the statement said.
"The cooperation includes, among other things: developing and producing air defense capabilities, drone production, sensor and early warning systems, ammunition production, battlefield command and control systems, and maritime defense capabilities," Ukraine's statement listed.
Pevkur: Primary users of manufactured products would be Ukrainians.
Pevkur emphasized that the agreement gives Estonia's defense industry the opportunity to begin production in Estonia together with Ukrainian defense industry companies — and that Ukrainian firms will now receive permission from Ukraine's Ministry of Defense to move production abroad, something they were not allowed to do before the agreement.
One Ukrainian defense industry company has already expressed interest in producing ammunition in Estonia, and more than 10 Ukrainian companies are at the stage where they could begin moving production here immediately, Pevkur said.
Palandi Paju noted that a joint steering group will be created to implement specific technologies and joint projects. Operating under the "Build with Ukraine" framework, it will select and process potential joint production initiatives.
"Implementation begins immediately, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this to our prime minister Kristen Michal at the signing in Ankara," she said.
Asked who will use the products manufactured in Estonia, Pevkur replied: "Primarily Ukrainians, of course, because they need it the most."
Estonia's agreement is broader than those of Latvia and Lithuania.
Pevkur stressed that the agreement also gives Estonia the right to purchase the Ukrainian defense industry products it most needs to strengthen its own defense capability. "Whether it's long range fire, drones or information systems — we gain the right to buy the best possible defense technology from Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, and above all President Zelenskyy, authorized this with his signature."
"We are clearly interested in Ukraine's battlefield information systems — for example, Delta, which has been mentioned in the media. But they have many other systems that are of great interest to us," Pevkur said.
Estonia's right to procure Ukrainian weaponry and the permission to bring Ukrainian defense industry factories to Estonia are the two aspects that distinguish Estonia's agreement from the so called drone agreements previously signed by Latvia and Lithuania, Pevkur noted.
"Our aim was to expand cooperation beyond drone production to the entire defense industry," he said. "So compared with the Ukraine–Lithuania and Ukraine–Latvia agreements, ours is significantly broader and offers far more opportunities for Estonia's defense industry to grow."
Asked about the financial scale of the agreement, Palandi Paju stressed that it does not impose financial obligations on the Estonian state.
"Primarily, the agreement enables cooperation and joint production between the two countries and their defense industries. Procuring Ukrainian technology made available through the agreement will depend on the needs and priorities of Estonia's Defense Forces. If Ukraine's defense industry offers the most competitive solution that meets our needs, we will proceed with procurement. But that process is still ahead, so it is too early to discuss costs," she said.
Estonian defense manufacturers welcome the agreement.
The agreement was welcomed by Rene Ehasalu, cluster manager of the Estonian Defense and Space Industry Association.
"For us, the drone cooperation agreement between Estonia and Ukraine is definitely a positive development. It is an important step that creates much better conditions for cooperation between the two countries' defense industries," he said.
He noted that previously, Estonian companies wanting to cooperate with Ukrainian firms were hindered by the lack of export licenses. The new agreement creates a clearer framework for processing such licenses.
"In essence, the agreement gives Estonian industry the opportunity to create joint production in Estonia with Ukrainian companies — bringing battle tested Ukrainian defense technologies here and starting joint production. This strengthens Estonia's own defense industry capability by bringing in new knowledge and technologies, and in the long term boosts our export potential," Ehasalu said.
He added that the association has 241 members working in diverse fields — from metalwork and cybersecurity to unmanned systems and space technologies. "The range of what our industry can offer is very wide. Considering how technologies have evolved in Ukraine, there is clear potential in unmanned systems, drone detection, counter drone systems and other capabilities that are highly relevant on today's battlefield."
Ehasalu said Estonian companies also have much to offer Ukraine, as Estonia's defense industry is highly developed. "Our strengths include flexibility, growing production capacity, engineering expertise and the references we've built over the years — including from Ukraine. Many of our companies supported Ukrainians both before and during the war. We have the knowledge, and doing this together in a formal cooperation framework will amplify the positive impact."
He added that cooperation with Ukraine will bring new expertise to Estonia's defense industry and increase export potential.
The association's companies currently have a combined turnover of about €750 million, of which €450 million comes from exports. By the end of the decade, the association aims to grow the sector's turnover to €2 billion, requiring annual growth of about 25–30 percent.
HS: Российский суд признал книги о Маннергейме и Ристо Рюти экстремистскими материалами.
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Три исторические книги, изданные в Финляндии, признаны в России экстремистскими материалами по решению суда. Решение вынес суд Ленинградской области, сообщает газета Helsingin Sanomat со ссылкой на российское информационное агентство ТАСС.
Экстремистскими материалами были признаны ”Ристо Рюти: Жизнь за Отечество” (1994), ”Оборонительные силы Финляндии прежде и теперь” (1959), а также юбилейное издание 1942 года ”Маршал Маннергейм. 75 лет 4 июня 1942 года”.
Книги были конфискованы в марте на границе России и Эстонии в Ивангороде. Они были обнаружены при досмотре в багаже 50-летнего гражданина РФ. Он возвращался на родину из Нарвы.
– Таможенники обратили внимание на то, что в некоторых изданиях были напечатаны нацистские символы и знаки, – сообщила тогда российская таможня.
По их словам, к ним относились свастика, герб нацистской Германии, а также ”фотографии государственных руководителей и военных деятелей Германии и Финляндии 1930-х и 1940-х годов”.
Путешественник объяснил, что интересуется военной историей Финляндии и купил книги для личной коллекции. В отношении него была начата административная процедура, а литература отправлена на проверку.
Экспертиза пришла к следующему выводу: ”Информация, содержащаяся в книгах, может нанести ущерб политическим интересам России, государственной безопасности и нравственности граждан”.
На основании этого заключения суд внес все три книги в список экстремистских материалов и запретил их распространение в России.
Из сообщения ТАСС не ясно, какое возможное наказание мужчина получил или получит в будущем за хранение книг.
По данным таможни, в багаже путешественника было обнаружено в общей сложности шесть книг и два журнала на финском языке. Они были опубликованы в период с 1940-х по 1990-е годы. В трех других книгах и двух журналах экспертиза не нашла ”признаков экстремизма”.
”Ристо Рюти: Жизнь за Отечество” – это труд историка Мартти Туртолы о пятом президенте Финляндии Ристо Рюти и его роли, особенно в принятии решений во время Войны-продолжения. Рюти был президентом в 1940-1944 годах.
”Оборонительные силы Финляндии прежде и теперь” рассматривает развитие, структуру и деятельность оборонительных сил Финляндии с исторической точки зрения. Конфискованная книга была изданием 1959 года под редакцией К. Й. Микколы, В. Тервaсмяки и В. С. Салоканкаса.
”Маршал Маннергейм. 75 лет 4 июня 1942 года” – это юбилейная книга, изданная в честь 75-летия Карла Густава Эмиля Маннергейма и рассказывающая о его положении как военного руководителя Финляндии во время Войны-продолжения.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Iran rules out US talks, shifts focus to national defense.
Motorists drive along Tehran's Enghelab Square on July 15, 2026, past a giant anti-US billboard featuring US president Donald Trump in a coffin with text in Persian reading "We Kill Trump". (AFP Photo)
20.38
Главный инженер ЗАЭС был убит в результате удара дрона ВСУ по служебному авто.
Вместе с главным инженером погиб водитель машины, сообщил глава «Росатома» Алексей Лихачёв:
«Эта трагедия стала возможной в результате... прямого поощрения преступного киевского режима к наращиванию терактов со стороны западных государств. Цена этого попустительства — человеческие жизни (за последние два с половиной месяца были убиты 13 и ранены 48 человек) и реальная угроза массированного ядерного инцидента на огромных территориях России, Украины и Европы».
AI slop is taking over the housing market – and it is causing a nightmare for home-hunters.
As more and more estate agents use ‘staging’ tools to give their drab properties a glow-up, Helen Coffey argues that seeing is no longer believing when looking at homes online, and wonders if the tech is having the opposite effect on would-be buyers.
AI tools can ‘stage’ or ‘set dress’ a room with virtual furnishings online (Getty/iStock/Gemini)
We’re all familiar with estate agents’ penchant for… “massaging” the truth. Back in the day, it was almost quaint. For “bijou”, read “smaller than a parking space”; for “centrally located”, read “located directly above a nightclub”; for “rustic charm”, read “needs complete rewiring and has a secret dry rot problem hidden behind the peeling wallpaper that will be a fun surprise to discover once you’ve already exchanged”.
Strictly speaking, these aren’t outright lies – more generous interpretations of the truth. A sort of madly optimistic, Vaseline-on-the-lens view of reality that usually completely failed to match up with the depressingly drab property presented to you.
But whatever spin they chose to put on the language, the pictures couldn’t lie, not even when someone had purposefully wobbled on tip-toes atop a stepladder in the corner of the room using a fish-eye lens. You could still see what was actually there.
Oh, to return to such innocent times! These days, it’s not just nonsense sales waffle that you have to wade through when house hunting online. Thought human estate agents were bad? Welcome to the world of AI “enhancements” currently flooding the housing market.
I first came across this phenomenon while indulging in one of my passions – idly scrolling Rightmove to see what I could afford were I to unexpectedly come by a few hundred grand. While tapping through photos of a four-bedroom house, I was struck by how nicely put together a couple of the rooms were compared to the general, run-down vibe of the place: hotel-grade sheets and expert bedmaking, homeware catalogue-level furniture and soft furnishings, colour-coordinated artwork.
As pleasing as these interiors were, my brain flagged that there was some uncanny-valley business afoot – and, sure enough, upon closer inspection, my eye was caught by the “virtual stager” caption beneath the images. The bed, the lamps, the paintings, the dresser – none of it was real. It was digital set dressing.
Moving magic: AI tools can transform a drab room – but how much can a room be edited until it’s not the real thing? (Getty/iStock/Gemini)
The more I looked, the more outraged I became. Not only did I have to be sceptical of the words I read, but I now couldn’t trust the evidence of my own eyes; seeing was no longer believing.
Several chain estate agents have admitted to using these tools to “help” buyers picture how they could use the space, including Winkworth and Wards. Half of estate agents (52 per cent) said they planned to adopt AI tools for listings, lead generation and marketing in 2026, according to research released at the beginning of the year.
“First impressions really matter, and AI virtual staging allows buyers to see the true potential of a home in an instant,” said Luke Salmon, head of marketing at Wards, when the tool was launched last year. “By making spaces more visually appealing, we will attract much more interest for our sellers, leading to increased enquiries and a higher chance of receiving an offer.”
But some prospective buyers have argued that AI has the opposite effect, tricking them into arranging a viewing, only to be sorely disappointed when they see a property in the flesh. Just as using a filter on your dating app profile pics might score you a first date but fail to lead to a second one after a disgruntled match sees the reality, so “interiors-maxxing” a house with AI might secure initial interest but fail to translate to offers. Call it flat-fishing, if you will.
One aggrieved viewer shared their experience on Reddit last month. “Should estate agents use AI to advertise a property? I got a surreal experience today”, read the post’s caption. Photos of the listing, jazzed up with AI set dressing – the same kind of thing I’d witnessed – were shared alongside real-world pictures taken by the poster. They barely resembled the same property.
The place not only looked nothing like the pictures but it was not in great condition
“My partner and I are currently looking for a house to buy, we found what looked like a lovely house in Tooting, London and decided to book a viewing,” read the post. “To our shock, all the pictures on Rightmove were AI generated; the place not only looked nothing like the pictures but it was not in great condition… we kind of laughed it off to be fair as it seemed like a joke but then felt quite upset because we took time off from work for this viewing and wasted our time to see this place.”
In some cases, the digital “furniture” that had been added covered up obvious flaws visible in the original pictures, such as an AI bedside table that hides a crudely unfinished skirting board.
The post continues: “Once we left the property and re-read the description, it did state on the bottom that ‘some’ images were enhanced with AI, we just didn’t think it was a completely different place.
“My question is, should this be allowed? Are you not misleading potential buyers?”
The post quickly garnered attention, with commenters enraged on the house hunter’s behalf. “It’s blatant lying and will only piss people off,” said one. “It’s like going dating and saying you’re 6ft tall when you’re actually 5ft 4in. As if they won’t find out.” Winkworth, the agent behind the listing, swiftly removed the AI pictures following backlash.
Before... (Getty/iStock)
And after: a few prompts are all it takes for an AI tool to jazz up a photo of an existing bedroom (Getty/iStock/Gemini)
A spokesperson for Winkworth Tooting told The Times that images had been enhanced with the addition of “soft furnishings, lights and other furniture similar to using real staging furniture” but had been taken down “after a customer expressed disappointment during a viewing”.
A Winkworth Franchising spokesperson added: “All offices are required by Winkworth Franchising Limited to disclose the use of AI imagery online and on all property details.”
There is an important distinction between enhancing how a property is presented and changing what is actually being sold
Lesley Horton, Chief Property Ombudsman
In the case of the Tooting property, while the online listing divulged that AI had been used, the PDF brochure text sharing the information was in white on a white background, therefore impossible to read (this was declared an “error” by the Tooting spokesperson).
Paula Higgins, chief executive at the HomeOwners Alliance, said that, while AI staging can be a useful sales tool if it helps buyers visualise an empty room, “it must be clearly labelled and the original image should also be available.” She added: “The line is crossed when AI hides defects, makes rooms look bigger, improves views, adds features that do not exist, or adds furniture that does not fit.”
Lesley Horton, chief property ombudsman, said: “Context is key. There is an important distinction between enhancing how a property is presented and changing what is actually being sold.
“If an agent uses AI to change the property itself, for example by adding a fireplace that is not there, a new kitchen, or bi-fold doors, that is likely to give buyers a false impression.”
There are already laws around “misleading” house buyers enshrined in UK consumer law. Real estate listings are covered by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which states that “it is an offence to knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information which causes a consumer to take a different transactional decision than they would otherwise have”.
Context is key. There is an important distinction between enhancing how a property is presented and changing what is actually being sold
Lesley Horton, chief property ombudsman
The real legal issue here is not in adding in fake furniture, especially not when signposted online – although this will still clearly lead to some frustrated and let-down viewers – but in manipulating images to deceive, from misrepresenting the dimensions of rooms by using smaller AI furniture to removing a property’s real-world flaws or adding fictitious features.
One Reddit user commenting on a similar post bemoaning the use of AI by estate agents several months ago claimed they had seen a listing in which a non-existent bay window had been added to an interior shot.
Meanwhile, buying agent Nina Harrison revealed that a client almost went back to see the same house for a second time, believing it to be a different property – that’s how much AI had altered the photos. “It was the exact same house we’d already viewed and rejected. The photographs had been refreshed, the marketing rewritten, and it looked so different online that he didn’t recognise it,” she said.
Clearly, just as in every other sphere of life at the moment, real estate is going to see an influx of AI slop as sellers plump for a virtual glow-up of their property rather than bother with the expensive and time-intensive business of improving it for real.
That’s their prerogative, of course – but the phrase “buyer beware” has never been more apt.
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George Lucas likens AI sceptics to luddites clinging to horses and carts.
Star Wars director calls AI technology ‘the future’ of film-making and says ‘there’s nothing you can do about it’
The Star Wars director, George Lucas, has added his voice to the growing chorus of film-makers receptive to the rising use of AI tools in moviemaking.
Speaking in an interview with A Rabbit’s Foot, Lucas, 82, said: “Artificial intelligence means it’s much easier for us to make movies.”
Resistance to the technology, he said, was “very much like sitting here saying: ‘Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it’s at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there’s all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they’ll be making them into tanks, and then they’ll be killing people. It’s terrible.’”
Adoption of such tools, continued Lucas, was an inevitability. “There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s progress, it’s the future.”
Lucas is not the only director of a Star Wars film to have come out in favour of AI. The British film-maker Gareth Edwards, who made Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and most recently Jurassic World Rebirth said generative AI “is a fucking genius at helping you”.
However, there are high-profile holdouts, including the director of The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan, who recently said: “I’ve never seen a technology that’s been so successfully adopted by Wall Street and by investors … that the public has so thoroughly rejected. Young people, in particular, they coined this term ‘AI slop’ … There’s a sort of disdain for things AI.”
Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh, whose documentary John Lennon: The Last Interview includes AI-generated sequences, has expressed ambivalence. “I don’t think it’s the solution to everything, and I don’t think it’s the death of everything. We are in the very early stages. Five years from now, we all may be going: ‘That was a fun phase.’”
Lucas also told the website his thoughts on the industry’s use of audience testing and focus groups. “I don’t like focus groups,” he said. “The audience doesn’t know what they want to see. If they don’t like a character, that’s interesting, and as a film-maker I want to find out why. But when the studios hear that, they take the wrong message. They let the audience actually make the movie … Now, it’s all about what the fans think. That isn’t how you make the movie.”
Образованный Лукас, к счастью, в отличии от автора статьи, луддитов не вспоминал.
Однако, в контексте актуальных для нас событий СВО, полезно напомнить откуда такая трактовка движения луддитов взялась и чем обусловлена.
К счастью в Сети сейчас доступна хорошая подробная статья по реальным истории, культуре и традициям луддитов.
По существу, это расширенная версия статьи рекомендуемого Клайва Томпсона «The Luddites Loved Remote Work», опубликованная в ноябре 2021 года.:
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Nov 1, 2021 · Clive Thompson
The Luddites Loved Remote Work.
They knew “working from home” meant controlling your hours, the pace of work, and your quality of life.
The Luddites weren’t so much opposed to technology as opposed to the way capitalism was evolving, in those early decades of the 19th century. Machinery was only one part of that.
One of the chief things they hated was how the factory system took away their control over how and when they worked. Work was moving out of the home, and into centralized locations.
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Как очевидно, это только анонс. Полный и доступный в настоящее время текст статьи Клайва Томпсона а.п. найти не удалось.
Тем не менее, по воспоминаниям пятилетней давности, опубликованный ниже материал, кажется а.п. вполне достоверной авторской версией памятной публикации:
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Не всё так просто с луддитами, как кажется.
Как пишут в энциклопедиях и статьях, луддиты — это некие ретрограды 19 века, противящиеся технологиям, что путем стихийных бунтов с погромами протестовали против прогресса и машин, которые отбирали у них работу в ходе промышленной революции в Англии. Сейчас этот термин используется в качестве уничижительного ярлыка для технофобов.
В современные луддиты, которых называют неолуддитами, записывают вообще всех. И тех, кто предостерегает от бесконтрольного внедрения новых технологий, и тех, кто призывает вообще уничтожать технологии, и амишей, и анархистов, и антиглобалистов, и экологических экстремистов, и антимилитаристы там как-то оказались, и больного на голову Теда Качинского в этот список записывают.
Я не знаю, как они там все отказались, но к луддитам они никакого отношения не имеют, потому что «те самые» луддиты не призывали отказываться от технологий и жить по «заветам предков» без электричества и на конной тяге, и ни с каким прогрессом не боролись.
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Сборная Англии по футболу снова не смогла добраться до финала чемпионата мира. В полуфинале она проиграла чемпионам мира, аргентинцам, со счетом 1:2.
Счет на 55-й минуте открыл нападающий англичан Энтони Гордон, замкнув прострел с фланга.
После этого английская сборная прижалась к своим воротам, пытаясь удержать минимальный победный счет — и понесла заслуженное наказание.
Три раза Джордан Пикфорд отбивал или ловил удары головой почти в упор, на 85-й минуте Лионель Месси дальним ударом сравнял счет, а на второй добавленной минуте подал с фланга, и вышедший на замену Лаутаро Мартинес головой забил победный гол.
В финале в воскресенье сборная Аргентины попытается отстоять титул чемпионов мира в матче с Испанией, а Англия днем раньше сыграет за третье место с Францией.
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Why Argentina’s Falklands chant matters ahead of England match.
Argentina Fans March To Atlanta Stadium For World Cup Semi-final Against England.
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The football rivalry between England and Argentina is deeply rooted in the historical and political tensions surrounding the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina.
• Argentinian football culture frequently references the Malvinas, alongside national heroes Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, particularly in chants and celebrations.
• The 1982 Falklands War, which resulted in 907 deaths, stemmed from Argentina's invasion of the British Overseas Territory, despite the islanders overwhelmingly identifying as British.
• The legacy of the conflict influences match security and FIFA's “Falklands rule”, which prevents English officials from refereeing Argentina games and vice-versa.
• Despite calls from some Argentinian veterans to separate sport from politics, the upcoming World Cup 2026 semi-final is expected to be a fiery encounter, rekindling memories of past contentious matches like the ‘Hand of God' incident.
К сожалению а.п., издание «The Guardian» не поддерживает экспорт иллюстраций, поэтому пришлось ограничится только официальной заставкой «Маши и Медведя», по возможности сюжетно и композиционно близкой к иллюстрации использованной в статье.
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From racist Bugs Bunny to the bear MPs want to ban: how cartoons have indoctrinated kids for over 100 years.
Politicians are claiming that a hit Netflix animation is Russian propaganda aimed at the ‘militarisation of children’. But it’s far from a recent problem – even the CIA has funded kids’ entertainment.
Masha and the Bear … a flex of Russian ‘soft power’? Photograph: Youtube (иллюстрация подобная опубликованной, а.п.).
When Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon spoke earlier this month in the commons of the “militarisation of children”, he wasn’t warning of a generation suddenly taking arms. He was talking about a cartoon bear. Gordon, along with a cross-party group of more than 50 MPs, had written a parliamentary letter urging that an animated children’s show be banned on the basis it is Russian propaganda.
The accused animation is Masha and the Bear, a Russian programme aimed at preschoolers. The show is one of the most popular series on YouTube, and is available in the UK on ITVX and Netflix. The programme follows the adventures of the young, pink-hooded Masha and her brown bear companion in a remote woodland. But MPs – as well as Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation and Estonia’s minister for foreign affairs – see Masha’s use of Soviet-era military costumes as a flex of Russian “soft power”.
Cartoons as propaganda have a century-long history. The earliest examples can be traced back to the first world war, according to David Welch, emeritus professor of modern history at the University of Kent. “All belligerents employed them,” he says. One of the most prominent British animators in 1914 was Lancelot Speed, whose “lightning sketches” featured him drawing ridiculous caricatures of Kaiser Wilhelm II haunted by ghosts, wearing dresses and being turned into a sausage. “These proved hugely popular with cinema audiences,” Welch adds.
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But the use of propaganda cartoons exploded in the second world war. According to Welch, the stretchy and slapstick cartoon characters in the slowly maturing animation industry were perfect for the humour-led propaganda films of the early 1940s. “The boom was also because of the technological advances in animated film production and the rise of specific global – mainly USA – companies devoted to such productions,” he says.
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Some of the biggest animation studios at the time had a hand in hand-drawn agitprop: Warner Brothers produced The Ducktators, in which Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo are depicted as maladjusted mallards who end up stuffed above a mantelpiece; in Daffy – The Commando (1943), a rotoscoped Adolf Hitler gives a speech before Daffy Duck promptly whacks him on the head with a mallet.
Disney also proved to be a muscular cartoon arm of the US war effort, producing several cartoon propaganda films for the government. The most famous was the Oscar-winning Der Fuehrer’s Face, in which Donald Duck has a nightmare that he lives in Nazi Germany. In one section, Donald reaches the point of exhaustion after repeatedly Sieg Heiling dozens of portraits of Hitler. After waking from his dream, he kisses a figurine Statue of Liberty and proclaims: “Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America!”
Many of these US wartime films featured racist caricatures and insults. Bugs Bunny featured in a now-banned Warner Brothers cartoon titled Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips, where the iconic rabbit used multiple racial slurs.
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The Axis powers also produced films for their own audiences . Fascist Italy released 1941’s Il Dottor Churkill, where a hairy, sharp-toothed Winston Churchill is depicted as a Jekyll and Hyde monster who plunders gold from people at home and abroad. In 1943, under the orders of Nazi Germany, Nimbus Libéré was released in Vichy France to portray a potential allied invasion as dangerous. In the film, an antisemitic caricature in London orders Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, Popeye and other cartoon icons to bomb a family to smithereens.
As capitalism and communism butted heads during the cold war, propaganda shifted to differences in ideology rather than sheer military might. Britain’s first animated feature film – 1954’s Animal Farm – was also marred by political influence, albeit more covertly. Decades after its release, it was discovered that the adaptation of George Orwell’s tale was funded by the CIA. The film famously diverted from the novel’s original ending, preferring to have the farm animals successfully revolt against the pigs – a broad hint of support for the overthrow of communist governments.
Although there have been some heavy-handed outliers – such as the environmentally conscious Captain Planet and the Planeteers – cartoons with overt messaging had taken a break by the end of the 20th century. But as digital animation software became more readily available in the 2000s, individuals began to produce their own propagandistic ’toons without the use of state-subsidised studios.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the internet was awash with support for US intervention in the Middle East in the form of crude animations of Osama bin Laden made in Adobe Flash. Many featured 2D versions of the al-Qaida founder being shot, tortured and generally mocked. In one widely shared animation released a month after the attacks, a pixelated Colin Powell sings a parody of Harry Belafonte’s song Banana Boat where he pleads: “Come Mr Taliban, hand over Bin Laden”. Meanwhile, George W Bush plays the bongos as the Saudi-born militant dodges a barrage of missiles.
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Both sides came to use cartoons at one point or another. While better known for publishing graphic recordings of beheadings, the Islamic State briefly took to producing child-friendly animations disseminated over YouTube and Telegram.
This lowering financial barrier to animated propaganda eventually began to blend with the explosion of online meme culture.
Murdoch Murdoch, a far-right cartoon series that began in 2015, revels in open racism, misogyny and Nazi ideology – and was created using pre-existing internet memes on forums such as 4chan. In one episode, the SS-uniformed protagonists travel back in time to redpill the Beatles.
The last 15 years have seen an uptick in war cartoons. Kristián Földes, a lecturer and academic researcher at Charles University, Prague, studied animated propaganda made during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, and found that both sides were reacting to one another through cartoon counter-propaganda. “They anthropomorphise states into children, they both use victim-perpetrator or hero-villain narrative arcs, and they also combine the fictional story of the cartoon with real-life events,” he says.
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Recently, the cost of cartoon warfare has plummeted. After the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, the Iranian digital media company Explosive Media used generative AI to create Lego Movie-style animations in support of Iran. One video sees plastic versions of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu paired with the devil, and in another a toy Iranian commander raps insults to the US; both were shared widely on social media. “Distribution through these platforms is easy, effective, and, most importantly, algorithmic,” Földes says. “This fits perfectly with cartoons because visual material, especially videos, spreads much more easily in this environment than mere text.”
The pro-Iran videos fall neatly into a fledgling category of propaganda – “slopaganda” – defined by its use of generative AI. Michał Klincewicz, an assistant professor of computational cognitive science at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, was the first to use the term in an academic paper. Though he reckons most slopaganda is text-based, Klincewicz points out that cartoons excel at communicating emotions, rather than facts. “[The] videos would not have worked so well if they were realistic depictions.” Földes agrees: “Our current infrastructure is designed to verify or falsify factual claims, not narratives and stories.”
Földes says he can’t be sure if Masha and her bear are propagandists without further study. “There are obvious symbolic elements throughout the series,” he notes. “The bear, for example, quite clearly symbolises Russia. However, compared to the Russian cartoon that we analysed – which was specifically produced as a piece of propaganda – Masha and the Bear exhibits these propagandistic elements only episodically.”
Whether Masha and the Bear will stay on screens is yet to be decided. And while propagandists will probably stay unquashed online, it begs the question: will the eraser finally come for their cartoons? Klincewicz doesn’t think so. “The idea is to deliver a message in a form that is more familiar, less threatening, or that elicits affective responses,” he says
(выделено а.п.). “So if we see a cartoon of a death camp kapo as a pig, as opposed to a realistic human being, we get a particular association. I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
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