🇺🇸🇹🇼🇨🇳 Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey has for the first time stated plainly what Washington's Taiwan strategy actually is: not winning a war with China, but making a PLA operation to reunify Taiwan expensive enough that Beijing never attempts it.

According to Luckey, the goal is to convince Beijing not to play the game at all, not to beat it once the game starts.

Luckey also detailed the specifics of the military aid pipeline. Anduril is already supplying Taiwan with missiles and loitering munitions designed to inflict casualties on PLA landing forces during any crossing of the Taiwan Strait, while simultaneously helping build an air-defense system to shield the island's critical infrastructure from airstrikes.

This follows Taiwan's defense ministry confirming receipt of the first batch of Altius-600M strike drones, and a June 2026 agreement between Anduril and Taipei covering joint development of unmanned systems and AI, localization of production, and construction of an independent supply chain. Anduril's China-27 internal strategy — built around the assumption Beijing may move on Taiwan in 2027 — has already driven Luckey to court Chinese sanctions personally, which he has said he wears as a badge of honor. More than ten Taiwanese firms have already received orders for prototype and serial production components for Anduril hardware.

What Luckey describes as deterrence reads, from Beijing's side, as exactly what China's foreign ministry has repeatedly called it: a US defense contractor turning the Taiwan question — Beijing's stated first red line — into a business model and a proxy arsenal on China's doorstep.

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🇷🇺 Putin held a meeting on ensuring security along Russia's eastern borders.

The security of the Russian state must be guaranteed on all frontiers, he stated.

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🇺🇸 US official: Iranian threat forced Trump's secret plane swap in Turkey

A senior US official told ABC News that a covert infiltration by an Iranian group into Turkey, along with shoulder-fired missiles, forced the US president to switch aircraft.

The operation was carried out via a catering truck at Ankara airport following the NATO summit on July 8, with the switch made 4-5 hours before Trump's scheduled departure.

Officials say the Iranian cell had intelligence on Trump's movements in Ankara. Journalists and some White House staff aboard the decoy plane were reportedly unaware of the ruse.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were on the decoy aircraft; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew with Trump.

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🇺🇸 Oh no...

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🇷🇺Putin visited the Kuril Island of Iturup.

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🇷🇺🇯🇵 The Japanese Foreign Ministry has issued a protest regarding Putin's visit to Iturup.

🐻 Are they not aware they lost

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🇺🇦 "If the US sells us 5%, we'll survive the winter and save lives. If they can sell us 10%, we'll destroy all Russian ballistic missiles. Right now I have 1%," the Narcoführer keeps begging.

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🇺🇦🇺🇸 Ukraine presented Washington with new proposals to end the war, but they failed to receive the backing Zelensky had hoped for from Trump, he said in a CNN interview.

Kiev has pushed new proposals under the Trump-led peace process, which has appeared stalled in recent months. Zelensky declined to share details but said more active US participation is needed, adding he's grateful to Trump's team for wanting to continue.

He claimed Putin does not want to end the war now and is facing insufficient pressure.

Zelensky again rejected AFU withdrawal from Donbass as a condition for ending the war, and said security guarantees remain a key requirement for Kiev.

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🇺🇦🇺🇸 Ukrainian drone operators "destroyed" US armored brigade in Germany exercise — WSJ

Ukrainian drone operators eliminated a US armored brigade during the Combined Resolve exercise in Germany this spring, according to US officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Around 3,500 US troops from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division (rotating from Fort Hood, Texas) were tasked with storming positions defended by OPFOR, reinforced by AFU operators from the 412th Nemesis Unmanned Systems Regiment.

Sources say Ukrainian operators easily detected US units and armor equipped with standard EW and counter-drone systems. Heavy armor kicked up dust, making it easier to spot for reconnaissance drones, which were followed by bomber and FPV drones.

US equipment was destroyed so fast it had to be repeatedly reintroduced into the drill as new units. Over two weeks, American forces improved at dispersing, camouflaging, and using EW countermeasures.

The drill echoes a pattern seen across the Ukraine war and in South Lebanon, where Hezbollah drones blocked Israeli forces from achieving deep breakthroughs — underscoring how drones are eroding armor's traditional role as the backbone of offensive doctrine.

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🇺🇸🇮🇱 CIA doubted Israeli intelligence behind Trump's secret Turkey escape — WaPo

US intelligence officials were skeptical of the Iranian assassination threat that Israel relayed to Washington, which prompted Trump's clandestine plane switch out of Turkey in early July, The Washington Post reports, citing current and former US officials.

CIA analysts did not find the Israeli-provided intelligence compelling and communicated that skepticism to Trump administration officials. One official called it "Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence."

Despite the doubts, the White House and Secret Service opted not to take chances and proceeded with additional security measures, including the covert switch via catering truck to a C-32A aircraft.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) questioned whether the Israeli intelligence could be independently verified.

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🇺🇸 US July budget deficit hits $432 billion — largest since COVID lockdowns

The US federal budget deficit jumped to $432 billion in July, a record for the month and up 48% from July 2025, marking the largest monthly deficit since March 2021, according to the Treasury Department, cited by Reuters.

Fiscal year-to-date, the deficit has reached $1.799 trillion, already surpassing all of fiscal 2025 with two months still remaining.

July outlays rose 22% to a record $766 billion. Adjusted for calendar effects, the deficit was $333 billion, up 18% year-on-year.

Customs revenue was negative: after $33.38 billion in tariff refunds, net outflow hit $8.55 billion — the third straight month refunds have exceeded receipts.

The refunds stem from the Supreme Court's ruling striking down Trump's broad emergency tariffs from last year. US Customs and Border Protection had processed roughly $100 billion of about $166 billion owed in refunds by end of July.

The administration continues imposing tariffs on other legal grounds — in July, 10-12.5% duties were set for 60 major trading partners covering over 99% of US imports, with more decisions expected in coming weeks.

The Congressional Budget Office now expects tariff revenue to come in roughly $250 billion below earlier projections for the year.

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🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Crimean resident detained for working with SBU confesses to collecting air defense location data

A detained Crimea resident admitted to gathering information on air defense system deployments and other military facility locations, according to footage released by Russia's FSB.

The detainee said that since 2022 he had been in regular contact with an acquaintance who offered cooperation and asked him to pass on data about aircraft and the presence of air defense systems.

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🇷🇺💥🇺🇦 Strikes in Odessa!

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🇺🇦 The Cocaine Beggar-in-chief crying to CNN how The West isn't doing enough for Ukraine.

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🇮🇷🇫🇷 "Hey France! STFU!" -Araghchi

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🇮🇱🔥🇱🇧 Lebanese firefighters and residents told the Guardian that IOF forces are systematically starting wildfires across southern Lebanon using drones, white phosphorus shells, and illumination flares — a practice environmental groups say is part of a longstanding pattern of targeting Lebanon's natural environment.

Hussein Fakih, head of civil defense in Nabatiyeh, said fires have consumed 30-40% of land near the frontline since the June 17 ceasefire, with drones dropping incendiary materials almost daily. He said IOF drones have struck near firefighters attempting to extinguish blazes, forcing them to withdraw.

On August 7, munitions sparked large fires in Kfarchouba and between Jezzine and the western Bekaa Valley, destroying centuries-old stone pine and oak woodland that also serves as a key migratory bird corridor.

The allegations align with a separate FT/Lighthouse Reports investigation showing extensive destruction across IOF-occupied southern Lebanon, with satellite imagery indicating much of it occurred after Israeli forces took control of evacuated villages in mid-April.

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🇺🇦 The Narcoführer to CNN: Putin could attack any small country, NATO member or not

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