For the first time, I have accepted the offer made by the French President to jointly think about nuclear deterrence.

Historically speaking, General Charles de Gaulle had already offered the Federal Republic of Germany a French nuclear umbrella many decades ago.

Germany never accepted that offer. At the time, we didn't need to, because we lived in a different world.

But the world we live in today requires new answers. That is why we will, for the first time, take part in a French nuclear exercise with conventional forces in order to determine where we can achieve our shared objective of stronger deterrence in Europe.

The Iranians are clearly going to win. But what Trump will do is declare victory and all of his acolytes will say it is a great victory.

The question is: can he convince most Americans? I think he will not.

You have to ask yourself — do you believe what we see with our own eyes, or do you believe what President Trump says?

Before this war, hardly anyone thought the Iranians would do as well as they have.

I don't think anyone fully understood — including the Iranians themselves — exactly how well Iran would do against the United States.

Let me be absolutely clear: I am not anti-China.

But we see in our economies, and across Europe, that every year our trade deficit with China grows.

This means that tens of thousands of jobs are lost in Europe every year.

China is also a country that has become a global leader in innovation. But if we want technological development in our own countries, we cannot simply import Chinese products. We need technology transfer.

We need investment and cooperation in sectors such as chemicals, the automotive industry, and many others that are currently under pressure.

China supports its own industries on average eight times more than we are able to do in Europe. Those are rules of competition that must be rebalanced.

Emmanuel Macron will not be able to be the next President of France, but I assume that whoever succeeds him will also be guided by what is right and necessary for the interests of our countries.

From Germany's perspective, I can only say this: we will continue to do everything we can to make our cooperation with our French neighbor as close, as deep, and as trusting as possible—regardless of how the French people vote.

That applies both to the Élysée Palace and to the National Assembly.

The German hand will always remain extended toward deeper and trusting cooperation with France, regardless of how the voters in our two countries decide.

Russia threatens our security. The People's Republic of China challenges our economy.

The transatlantic partnership can no longer be taken for granted.

Islamabad fears Houthi escalation, rather than direct Iranian action, could draw Pakistani forces into the conflict.

Source: Reuters

Problem is, that quote is fabricated.

The man on the photo is also Poland’s former President Duda.

Most vessels transited via the Iranian route, while none used the Omani route.

Source: MarineTraffic

While Trump hasn't made a final decision, officials say an escalation could come in the coming days.

Source: Axios

The request follows unsuccessful talks over transferring entire Patriot batteries.

Ukrainian officials believe some of the 23-year-old missiles may be nearing the end of their service lives but could still be usable.

One proposal would see Greece sell the missiles to Norway, which would then transfer them to Ukraine. Athens has given no indication it will agree.

Source: Kathimerini