I'm too old, too tired and too talented to take any shit. I believe that the truth is important.

I believe that it was a travesty what was happening in Palestine.

It's just that the way the Israelis have behaved towards Palestine is just unforgivable.

I think a lot of people are sort of worried about their careers.

Beyond the fighter jets, Ukraine is seeking maintenance equipment, technical support systems, and repair documentation, while Poland is interested in acquiring Ukrainian drone technology in return.

Source: RBC-Ukraine

This time we really feel closer. We feel that we might be able to resolve this issue and leave that problem behind ourselves.

I would say, because for the first time ever, really for the last 10 to 15 years, we have full confidence in the United States administration that when we reach a deal, they're going to deliver their part of the deal as well.

And it's not only about selling F-35s or returning Türkiye to the F-35 program, as we used to be a part of.

Of course, it is about forging a much deeper defense industry cooperation between the United States and Türkiye, taking into account our comparative advantages, taking into account the importance of this issue.

So that is what makes us more hopeful than anything else.

When you remember how we ended up by buying the S-400, I'm going to put it into context there as well.

The whole process of us acquiring an air defense system started in 2010. We opened many tenders—I think three or four tenders were opened in the first seven years or so—and every time the U.S. offer turned out to be the most expensive.

That's understandable because Patriot systems are the best on the market right now. But they also turned out to be the least cooperative in terms of offsets, possibilities for technology sharing, or co-production of any of the components.

More importantly, they turned out to be the least reliable as well, because every time we discussed with our U.S. colleagues whether they could guarantee the delivery of these urgently needed air defense systems, they said they were a democratic country with congressional oversight and there was no way they could guarantee delivery within a certain period of time.

They also said that Türkiye's image in Congress was not good and that we had to work not only with the administration but with Congress as well.

When we found ourselves in 2016–2017, especially after the failed coup attempt in Türkiye, some of our allies decided to redeploy their Patriot systems that were deployed in Türkiye.

We found ourselves in 2016–2017 with a very urgent need to fill an immediate gap in our air defense architecture.

That's why we were compelled to buy this S-400 as an immediate gap filler.

But in no way did that mean that our quest for an air defense system stopped there. As I mentioned, this is a one-off procurement. This is an immediate gap filler.

Our commitment is, and will continue to be, to procure the air defense system that will be interoperable with the rest of the Alliance.

SAMP/T NG is currently Europe's only air defense system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, using the new Aster 30 B1 NT missile.

Germany currently relies on US Patriot with PAC-3 MSE — but delivery times are long, production is only in the US and Japan, leaving Berlin dependent on Washington.

Also on the table: France, Germany, and the UK will explore deep precision strike cooperation, including a 2,500 km-range ballistic missile from ArianeGroup.

Source: hartpunkt

Today our long-range sanctions worked in three directions on Russian territory, on our temporarily occupied land, and at sea.

In response to Russian strikes on our civilian infrastructure, our cities and communities, two major logistics sites were hit — in the Moscow and Tambov regions, over 500 and about 700 km from the front line.

They were being used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment.

An oil facility was also struck.

Ukrainian midstrikes also hit targets in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, and in temporarily occupied Crimea.

"The US has violated and suspended all its commitments within the framework of the Islamabad MoU," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said.

"We have also suspended our commitments... and we are busy defending the country," he added.

You know, we are in Europe sometimes castigated as a declining civilization.

But in Europe, we think that allowing people to go bankrupt for the sake of medical bills is not how a good society should be treating itself.

The drones are part of Taiwan's asymmetric defense strategy, though some experts argue the island needs hundreds, not dozens, to effectively deter Beijing.

Source: Nikkei Asia

We are already the EU's fifth-largest economy. We've just become the 20th economy in the world.

For the first time in 300 years, more Poles are coming back to Poland than emigrating, which is nice. We are issuing more and more passports to Americans.

Actually, the places where we issue the most new passports—new Polish citizens—are the United States and Israel.

And so I think by the end of the decade, within ten years, we will be a regular Western country—perhaps even more dynamic than some.