Pentagon Says $62 Million in Ukraine Weapons Aid Was ‘Lost or Destroyed’ — But It Doesn’t Know Which

Ukraine Weapons

The Pentagon doesn’t know whether $62 million in missing U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine has been lost or destroyed, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

The $62 million in weapons were designated for end-use monitoring (EEUM), but problems in reporting and tracking between U.S. and Ukrainian forces left an information gap as to what equipment may have been destroyed, lost or diverted through November 2023, according to a Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General report (OIG) report. The Pentagon has had consistent problems tracking U.S. aid to Ukraine since the country’s war with Russia began in 2022.

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Commentary: Stumbling into Nuclear War

Ukraine and Russia leaders

In a story that deserves more attention, Ukraine recently attacked a Russian early warning radar facility designed to detect nuclear attacks. This insane action conferred no military advantage on Ukraine—the station monitored potential launches in the Middle East—but it carried with it the risk of igniting a nuclear war. From the perspective of the country being attacked, the only reason to attack an early warning system would be to blind one’s enemy as a prelude to a nuclear attack.

Nuclear war is the most dangerous game. It means the end of civilization. If this horror show ever comes to pass, it is likely more than half of the people on our planet will die. Many console themselves that they’ll die instantly and that most of the consequences will borne by others, but no one can be sure.

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Europe Embraces Border Walls in What Critics Say Is a Stark Contrast to Biden’s Policies

Poland Border wall

NATO nations are bolstering their borders, with Poland taking particularly robust measures, in response to threats posed by Russia and Belarus, which critics of the Biden administration say is markedly different from the current security at the U.S. border.

Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Norway and the Baltic States agreed to create a “drone wall” last week, but Poland stepped up support for its border officials after a Polish Army soldier was stabbed by a person attempting to enter from Belarus on Tuesday.

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Biden and the West Increase Involvement in Russia-Ukraine War

Biden and Ukraine

As Russia’s war against Ukraine drags on, the U.S. and the NATO alliance are increasing their involvement in the conflict, presenting risks for a more direct confrontation with Moscow.

President Joe Biden reportedly gave Ukraine the green light in May to start firing U.S.-provided weapons directly into certain parts of Russian territory, as NATO members consider a similar policy and the possibility of sending trainers to train the Ukrainian military. The new initiatives would represent a shift in NATO’s policy of engagement in the war and could further escalate the proxy conflict with Russia.

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Commentary: It Seems That No One Wants to End the Ukraine War Except for Trump

Ukraine Army

Next month, on June 15 and 16, a high-level peace conference will be held in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on achieving peace in Ukraine. 70 to 90 countries reportedly will be represented. Some heads of state will attend, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

However, there will be some notable absences—Russia and China. President Biden does not plan to attend and will send junior officials to the conference.

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Commentary: Signs of America’s Declining Power and the Emerging Multipolar World

President Biden walking in front of a line of international flags

During Bush’s years as president, Democrats frequently criticized his foreign policy, complaining that he acted like a cowboy, pursuing wars unilaterally without the imprimatur of the “international community.” Internationalism was a particular obsession of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who lambasted the Bush administration for snubbing the United Nations and upsetting France with its Iraq policy.

Obama was mostly a darling of foreign leaders, as he ceded American power and prestige in a bid to right what he considered the historic wrongs of colonialism and western chauvinism. This was evident in his obsession with completing the Iran deal, participating in the Kyoto accords, assisting NATO attacks on Libya and Syria, and in the general tone of public diplomacy during the Arab Spring.

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Commentary: Building the Global Nuclear Energy Order Book

Power Plant

The outlook for nuclear power is bright on the world stage. Global demand for clean nuclear energy is higher than we have ever seen. The U.S. and 20 allied nations pledged to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 at COP28, and a multinational survey reaffirmed last year — the world wants new nuclear. 

In Washington, D.C., bipartisan support for nuclear energy has never been greater. Propelled by the House passing the ADVANCE Act 393-13 this month and momentum for passage in the Senate, Congress deserves some credit this year for working to help speed up the deployment of next-generation reactors, fueling hope for an American future powered by clean energy. 

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Commentary: The New York Times Has a History of Being Fake News

NYT

The New York Times is widely regarded as the newspaper of record in the United States. Founded in 1851 to appeal to a cultured, intellectual readership rather than a mass audience, the Gray Lady has won a record-breaking 137 Pulitzer Prizes, including for its reporting on the infamous Pentagon Papers.

In times of sharp political polarization, however, the reputation of the Times, like many other outlets, has suffered significant damage. Arguably, much of this is self-inflicted, with the paper increasingly setting aside its iconic moniker “All the News That’s Fit to Print” in pursuit of activist journalism.

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The Number of Cubans Recruited to Fight for Russia in Ukraine is Approaching 5,000, More than the Media Reports

Russian military

Several media outlets have finally begun to acknowledge what ADN reported last year about young Cubans being recruited and lured to work in Russia, but then forced to risk their lives on the battlefields in Ukraine. Sources from the Cuban community tell ADN that the number of Cubans recruited to fight for Moscow is close to 5,000, not 400, as reported by the international press.

The bait-and-switch scheme was first revealed by ADN on September 6, 2023 as a result of dogged investigation by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, an international human rights organization dedicated to combating totalitarianism in Cuba and in the Western Hemisphere.

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Commentary: With ‘Friends’ Like Obrador, Enemies Like Putin, Xi, Kim Jong are Old News

President AMLO of Mexico

In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—who prefers to be known as AMLO for short—issued to the Biden administration blackmail demands that sounded more like existential threats.

AMLO warned the U.S. that the current influx of some 10 million illegal aliens through the southern border will most certainly continue—unless America agrees to his ultimatums.

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Impeachment Probe Dramatically Pivots to Questions of CIA, DOJ Coverup in Hunter Biden Case

After a bombastic hearing with Hunter Biden’s business partners, House impeachment investigators are dramatically pivoting to allegations of a possible coverup in the first son’s criminal tax case as the inquiry transitions to a new phase.

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee sued the Justice Department seeking to force two attorneys there to comply with subpoenas and testify about whether there was any political interference in Hunter Biden’s tax prosecution.

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Commentary: If H.R. 7521 Was Only About TikTok, the Bill Would Only Apply to TikTok

TikTok Social Media

“The TikTok bill gives Biden the power to ban websites & apps run by ‘a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity.’ Given that Biden routinely smears political opponents as being under the control of Putin, the danger should be obvious.”

That was entrepreneur David Sacks on X (formerly Twitter) on March 13 noting the fact that H.R. 7521, which has easily passed the House and is now on a fast track in the U.S Senate will give the President, right now it’s Joe Biden but also future presidents, can force divestiture of any website or application or else have it removed from hosting services if the President determines it is run by “a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity” including Russia, China, North Korea or Iran.

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Commentary: Biden Administration Abuses U.S. Intelligence Community to Undermine Netanyahu’s Leadership

President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Something reprehensible happened this week during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s annual worldwide threats report. In addition to discussing threats to our country from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups, the report questioned the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said large protests in Israel demanding his resignation could drive him from power.

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Commentary: Trump Says No More ‘Free Milk’ for NATO Free Loaders

Trump NATO

The mainstream media and political establishment are outraged over Donald Trump’s latest comments about NATO. Instead of all the dramatic pearl-clutching, they should be embracing his position.

Trump recently issued a stern warning to America’s NATO allies, specifically those who are still failing to uphold their commitment to spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense. Recounting a conversation he had with the leader of a delinquent NATO member who sought reassurance that America would defend their country from Russian attack, Trump declared that he would let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that refuse to make minimum expenditures toward their own defense.

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Commentary: America Leaving NATO Would Be Good for Itself and Europe

NATO

Donald Trump resumed his role as the “wise fool” in recent, off-the-cuff remarks about NATO. He suggested that free-riding NATO members who do not pay their fair share might have to fight Russia on their own. National security hawks and Trump’s media enemies responded with lots of pious talk about our sacred NATO obligations. Joe Biden even said Trump was “un-American.”

Trump is not the first to suggest NATO partners should pay their fair share. But unlike his predecessors, he is willing to employ some leverage to make it happen. The real dirty secret here, as evidenced by how long this situation has gone on, is that enabling the Europeans to neglect their own defense is a feature and not a bug of America’s dominance over the NATO organization.

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Commentary: President Trump, NATO, and ‘Swamp Talk’

Donald Trump in South Carolina

The hysteria in response to President Trump’s comment about NATO offers a great insight into Swamp Talk™. It’s how swamp creatures use their media dominance to gaslight Americans into voting for Democrats in spite of always disastrous results. They frighten voters into opposing candidates like President Trump, who want to make America stronger, safer, more prosperous, and free.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Navalny’s Death Demonstrates Selective Outrage over Political Prisoners

Joe Biden wasted no time before shuffling to a White House podium last Friday to denounce the sudden death of Alexey Navalny, the celebrated anti-Kremlin activist.

According to Russian officials, Navalny, 47, lost consciousness after taking a walk at the Arctic penal colony where he had been serving a 19-year prison sentence for allegedly inciting “extremist” activities and other offenses. An outspoken foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny won fans around the world including Hollywood celebrities and government leaders of all political persuasions.

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Former Trump Campaign Spokesman Steve Cortes Skeptical of Classified National Security Threat

Mike Turner

Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, said Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Turner’s (R-OH-10) Wednesday statement warning of a “serious national security threat” was “vague,” adding it “smells bad for a lot of reasons.”

On Wednesday, Turner released a statement urging the Biden administration to “declassify all information” related to the “serious national security threat,” so that the appropriate parties can “discuss the actions necessary” in response.

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Roger Simon Calls Tucker Carlson’s Interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin a ‘Monument of Journalism’

Carlson Putin

Roger Simon, co-founder of PJMedia and current columnist for The Epoch Times, joined Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss Tucker Carlson’s two-hour interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Simon said he was “absolutely riveted” by the interview, adding the amount of information discussed was “impossible to digest immediately.”

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Tucker Carlson Releases Interview with Vladimir Putin

Tucker Carlson Vladimir Putin

Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on Thursday released his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he addressed his rationale behind the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and his view of diplomacy with the west.

Carlson attracted considerable scrutiny from western media for conducting the interview, which he defended as a part of his duty as a journalism. 

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Ballot Battles, Impeachment Inquiry, Indictments Disrupt Election Cycle

The Republican primary’s Iowa caucuses are scheduled for January 15, the first chance for voters to determine who they want to represent their party in November’s presidential election.

Iowa’s January caucuses are a regular tradition for a presidential primary season that – this time around – has been unusually enshrouded in indictments, impeachment inquiries and lawsuits heading into election year.

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Foreign Policy Problems Promise to Plague Biden Admin in 2024

The Biden administration faced several major problems on the international stage throughout 2023, some of which will bleed into the new year.

President Joe Biden and his administration have tried to manage major threats and circumvent obstacles from several foreign nations in 2023, including from those in East Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. Many international problems the Biden administration dealt with in 2023 have not been solved and have continued to metastasize going into 2024.

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China’s Funding of U.S. Climate Initiatives Mirrors the Russian Funding of Anti-Fracking Groups

Windmills

A nonprofit with operations in Beijing reportedly funded a number of nonprofits in the United States fighting climate change and pushing for sustainable or “green” energy.

Tax filings obtained by Fox News showed funding from the Energy Foundation China, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has a majority of its operations in China. The group, which refers to itself in tax filings as “Energy Foundation China” contributed $3.8 million to initiatives to phase out coal use and expand the use of electric vehicles, according to Fox News.

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FBI Agent Told Boss Biden Laptop Could be Russian Disinformation, But Team Knew Otherwise

The FBI agent who ran the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) during the 2020 election admitted in Congressional testimony that he advised his leadership that Hunter Biden’s laptop could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign, apparently unaware his team already knew that the FBI had obtained and corroborated the computer as “real,” according to interview transcripts reviewed by Just the News.

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Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie Says It Is ‘Economically Illiterate and Morally Deficient’ to Send More Money to Ukraine on Episode 45 of ‘Tucker on X’

In episode 45 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) who is against sending more aid money to Ukraine in the country’s fight against Russia.

Kicking off the 19-minute episode, Carlson said the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress will not accept the responsibility for the fact that the U.S. is “measurably weaker” for its support of Ukraine over the past two years in the country’s fight against Putin.

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Emails Show How Feds Coalesced Around Russia, QAnon to Dismiss Hunter Biden Laptop

A New York Post scoop based on emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, published three weeks before the 2020 election, immediately drew attention from the federal agency that helped set up a private consortium intended to squelch purported election misinformation.

It’s not clear why from heavily redacted emails the Department of Homeland Security turned over to America First Legal among several productions under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Commentary: Americans Won’t Fight for the Globalists’ Agenda

Imagining a cascade of catastrophic escalations plunging humanity into the next world war is no longer a stretch, and it could happen fast. Israel invades Gaza to destroy Hamas, and Hezbollah goes to war. America targets Hezbollah to help defend Israel, and Iran and Syria, with Russian assistance, attack Israel. Hezbollah cells strike targets within America, and Israel and America strike targets inside Iran. Russia launches a major new offensive in Ukraine with support from Belarus. China openly supports Russia and Iran with weapons. All of this is more plausible than ever.

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Ukraine Used Long-Range Missiles Secretly Shipped from U.S.: Report

Ukraine reportedly used long-range missiles secretly shipped over from the U.S. to attack a Russian airfield on Tuesday, according to Politico and visual evidence of the strikes.

Reports in September suggested the Biden administration was coming close to sending Ukraine the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), long-range missiles formerly considered a bridge too far in giving Kyiv the capability to strike Russian territory and risk major escalation. Now it appears that the missiles arrived in recent weeks as revealed in the strike on a Russian airfield in Berdyansk, in the Russian-occupied eastern part of the country, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the deliveries.

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Americans’ Support for Arming Ukraine Dries Up as War Drags On: Poll

Support for arming Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression has dropped among Americans across the political spectrum, according to a Thursday poll.

Only 41% of Americans believe the federal government “should provide weapons to Ukraine,” a five-point decrease since May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey. Though some respondents were unsure, 35% of Americans disagreed with the notion that the U.S. should be sending weapons to Ukraine.

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Second GOP Presidential Debate Turns Into a Rhetorical Brawl as Candidates Jockey for Position in Trump-Dominated Race

In a second GOP presidential debate that often seemed more like a disorderly reality TV show, the Babylon Bee’s satirical news headline may have best captured the mood of viewers: ‘Mute Button’ Wins GOP Debate.

The seven Republican candidates on stage at Wednesday evening’s gladiator match in Simi Valley’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Library shouted and talked over each other and slung more mud than an Iowa hog farm.

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Never-Trump Globalists Slam Tennessee Republicans in Ukraine Support ‘Report Cards’

A group led by a major anti-Trump figure is responsible for bashing some of Tennessee’s elected Republicans for their perceived lack of support for Ukraine. 

Republicans for Ukraine, reportedly a project of Defending Democracy Together, has issued “report cards” for Tennessee’s Republicans on the issue of Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Condemns Ukraine’s Zelensky for Pressuring Ally Countries to ‘Cough Up’ More Aid Money

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a statement on Tuesday condemning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the foreign leader said elections in his country during wartime would only take place if allied countries shared the cost.

Zelensky, according to Reuters, said his country would only hold elections next year “if the US and Europe provide financial support,” adding, “I will not take money from weapons and give it to elections.”

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Biden Admin Seeks Long-Term Ukraine Aid Plan to Prevent Next President from Scaling Back Funding

The Biden administration is seeking to hammer out a long-term Ukraine aid agreement with European allies in hopes of both preventing Russia from gaining an edge on the battlefield and hamstringing a future president’s ability to scale back U.S. commitments, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The scheme emerged during sideline talks among Group of Seven leaders at a NATO summit in July, and so far involves negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine, and between the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Ukraine, according to the WSJ. It’s an attempt, in part, to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin he can simply wait until a new American administration, as several top GOP political contenders have expressed intention to reduce or eliminate U.S. aid that makes up the brunt of Western support.

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Colonel Douglas Macgregor Tells Tucker Carlson About What Is Really Happening in Ukraine

In episode 18 of his newest production, “Tucker on Twitter,” former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson sat down with Colonel Douglas Macgregor, the former advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration.

During his interview with Carlson, Macgregor said that the war between Ukraine and Russia is happening in a way that is “just not reported in the West.”

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Biden Admin Secretly Encouraged Overthrow of Leader Who Wasn’t Pro-Ukraine Enough, Leaked Cable Reveals

President Joe Biden’s administration’s diplomats encouraged Pakistani political leaders to remove former Prime Minister Imran Khan from office after he hesitated to criticize Russia for its war against Ukraine, according to a new report on Wednesday.

Imran Khan was removed from office in April 2022 after a controversial vote of no-confidence by the Pakistani National Assembly. On March 7, 2022, officials from the Department of State met with Pakistan’s then-Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan and encouraged Imran Khan’s removal from office after he visited Russia shortly after it began hostilities in Ukraine, according to a diplomatic cable that was published by The Intercept.

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Heat Wave Causing Refinery Outages and Contributing to Gas Price Surge, Analyst Says

Last week, gas prices reached an 8-month high in the U.S. at $3.714 per gallon, following a high volume of production cuts from OPEC. That number has since increased, which an analyst pinned directly on the ongoing heat wave taking place throughout the country.

On Monday, gas averaged $3.757 per gallon, up more than 16 cents from a week ago, according to AAA. Patrick De Haan, the lead petroleum analyst at the fuel savings site GasBuddy, explained how the heat wave contributed to this uptick.

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Commentary: Defense Survey Reveals Age, Gender, Party Divides

Although Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has dominated worldwide headlines for more than a year and refocused the attention of U.S. policymakers on NATO and Eastern Europe, Americans are much more worried about China’s emerging power.

In an open question asked by RealClear Opinion Research, 53% of registered voters named the People’s Republic of China as “the greatest threat to the United States.” Russia was cited by 29% of respondents, while 4% named North Korea – the same percentage who answered that America’s biggest threat was the United States itself.

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‘Commander in Chief:’ GOP Presidential Hopeful Tim Scott Launches New Ad Before Key Campaign Events in Iowa and New Hampshire

U.S. Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Tim Scott rolled out a new campaign ad Monday in Iowa and New Hampshire in front of two significant campaign events in the first nominating states. 

In the ad, titled “Commander in Chief,” the South Carolina senator denounces China for spying on children, stealing U.S. jobs, and buying up American farmland.

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