Shocked: Trump floated pulling U.S. troops from Germany, catching the Pentagon completely off guard.

Officials said they “were not expecting it” and had no plans for a drawdown, despite a recent review that didn’t call for cuts.

Germany hosts ~35–40k U.S. troops and key bases.

Source: Politico

Banksy unveiled a new sculpture in Waterloo Place, London.

A suited man blinded by his own flag and walking off a plinth, widely read as satire on blind patriotism.

Stephen Sklenka, 3-star U.S. Marine General who oversees logistics and bases for the United States Marine Corps:

There is no threat that looms larger than… China. Don’t listen to this garbage about them being a near peer. They’re a peer because they rival us in nearly every single measure of national influence.

[China wants to] supplant us as the global leaders. They’re not interested in sharing that position.

Think about… Iran… then ask yourself… against a nation that’s number two in GDP?

The Chinese manufacturing base has been out-producing us.

None of us… have ever had to operate… against a legitimate peer in every domain.

SOURCE

Prof. Charles Kupchan | Trans-Atlantic Relations Expert | Council on Foreign Relations:
 

Many Europeans are in shock - not knowing if Trump is a passing detour or the new normal.
 
This is an inflection point. Some Europeans & Americans say it's the beginning of the end of the Atlantic relationship.
 
Others say it's a detour & the two sides will come together again when Trump leaves.
 
We don't know. But this is the most fragile, uncertain moment in the Atlantic relationship since the pre-WW2 era.

FULL INTERVIEW

NEW: Ukraine says it hit multiple Sukhoi Su-57 jets and a Sukhoi Su-34 about 1,700 km from the border.

Damage is still being assessed.

Prof. Charles Kupchan | Trans-Atlantic Relations Expert | Council on Foreign Relations:
 

Trump has created an existential moment for NATO & the US-European partnership - one that's feared it may not survive his era.
 
My best guess is it will. The US & Europe remain each other's best partners.
 
Congress is still strongly supportive - both Republicans & Democrats. The American public still supports NATO.
 
But Trump talks openly about withdrawing. He's angry that Europeans aren't helping in the Persian Gulf & that Iran war didn't go as expected. There is now a real sense of diverging interests & values.
 
Trump is an outlier - sort of unilateralist, neo-isolationist & neo-imperialist. He believes in tariffs rather than the open trade that Americans & Europeans built together.

FULL INTERVIEW

Iran conveyed its response to the latest U.S. amendments on the agreement to end the war through Pakistani mediators.

Source: Barak Ravid

Prof. Charles Kupchan | Trans-Atlantic Relations Expert | Council on Foreign Relations:
 

In the shift from the industrial to the digital era, automation has hollowed out the middle class - leaving working Americans behind in a globalized economy. They're angry & ripe for someone like Trump.
 
This is the new politics of the West - driven by socioeconomic disruption, the erosion of the political center & lost faith in democratic institutions.
 
This change came sharply to America first, but it's coming Europe's way too.
 
Once we map out the future of work in the digital age & rebuild the political center, we will return to an era that looks more like pre-Trump than post-Trump.

FULL INTERVIEW

Netanyahu posts a video from the gym to prove he is healthy.

Prof. Charles Kupchan | Trans-Atlantic Relations Expert | Council on Foreign Relations:
 

If you're Germany, France, Japan or South Korea - you have no choice but to ask if America is still a reliable partner. The US is passing through prolonged dysfunction.
 
It's not just Trump. We have swinged back from Clinton to Bush, to Obama, to Trump, to Biden, to Trump - we all have whiplash.
 
The US political center has collapsed & with it the steady liberal internationalism that anchored the transatlantic partnership.
 
Europeans are right to ask if the relationship is over. But calling it an irreversible rupture, as Mark Carney did, is too stark.
 
There is a way back - not to some golden age, but to a restored partnership.
 
That said, every country needs a Plan B. That's why Europeans are investing in China & Canada is broadening its portfolio, not to keep all marbles in one basket.
 
But don't give up on America. My best guess is we will be back.

FULL INTERVIEW

GTA V is being modded by a Ukrainian training group to simulate FPV drone flying.

During the Israeli raid on the Global Sumud aid flotilla, activist Hüseyin Oral says he was beaten and robbed by Israeli soldiers while in detention.

He says the soldiers beat him and stole his money and ID.

Satellite images show Ukrainian strikes on April 25 hit Su-57 and Su-34 jets at Shagol Airport in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei:

America's paper tiger bases can't even secure themselves, let alone the regional American-worshippers.

ExxonMobil and Chevron are resisting pressure from Trump to boost oil output during a global energy crisis.

Despite soaring prices after the Iran war, both companies say they won’t change their strategies, which focus on long-term profits and cash flow rather than rapidly increasing production.

Executives argue the disruption is too short-term to justify major shifts, and that production can’t be quickly scaled anyway.

Source: FT

A CNN investigation says Iran and its allies have hit at least 16 U.S. military sites across eight Middle Eastern countries, damaging critical radar, communications, and aircraft systems—some beyond use.

Assessments range from “fully destroyed” to “repairable but vital.”

For the first time in 15 years, the Church of St. Mary in Deir ez Zor, Syria, was visited by a Christian delegation, preparing for its renovation after years of war and occupation.