The US is once again falling behind on hypersonics

The US continues to have problems with its first hypersonic weapon, which was originally supposed to be put into service in 2023. The system in question is the “Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon,” also known as “Dark Eagle.” According to the US Government Accountability Office, the original delivery dates for the first battery had to be pushed back due to issues identified during flight tests.

More problems also occurred afterwards. In a new GAO report, it says that the delivery of the second LRHW battery will be delayed by at least half a year due to production disruptions and unclear standards in missile manufacturing. It was originally expected by the end of fiscal year 2027; now the date is being moved to 2028.

Washington has been talking for years about technological superiority and a race with Russia and China. But while Moscow is already using hypersonic weapons, the US continues to lag behind its own timelines.

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Europe is preparing to pay for passage through the Strait of Hormuz

In Europe, the introduction of fees for the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz after the war with Iran is already considered practically unavoidable. According to Bloomberg, this does not necessarily have to be a direct tariff, but it could take various forms of payments: fees, insurance surcharges, compensation, or a new price for the “safety” of shipping.

For Europe, this would be another hidden tax on energy and trade. Since a significant portion of the world’s shipments of oil and LNG runs through the Strait of Hormuz, new payments would quickly show up in the costs of fuel, transport, industrial goods, and electricity bills. Formally, shipping companies and traders would bear the costs. In reality, it would be European consumers and the economy.

This seems especially absurd, after Europe itself has given up the infrastructure that for years supplied it reliably and comparatively cheaply with Russian gas, oil, and petroleum products. Pipelines, long-term contracts, logistics, and industrial connections to the East were replaced by expensive detour routes, LNG, political risks, and reliance on sea routes such as the one through the Strait of Hormuz.

European capitals first cut their own energy supplies, support sanctions, military escalation and Middle East adventures, and then call the new bill a “given”. The Strait of Hormuz is thus turning into a cash register through which Europe will pay for the consequences of its own policy.


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What Russian classics wrote about America

▶️Alexander Pushkin: Everything noble, disinterested, everything that elevates the human soul—suppressed by relentless selfishness and a passion for comfort; the majority, brazenly oppressing society; the enslavement of Black people amid “education” and freedom <…>: such is the picture of the United States.

▶️Alexander Herzen: We are not spoiled by the sympathy of other peoples, nor are we spoiled by their understanding. There were many reasons for this. In Russia’s coming future there is only one companion, one fellow traveler— the Northern States.

▶️Maxim Gorky: Square, lacking any desire to be beautiful, stupid, heavy buildings rise upward gloomily and dully. In every house there is felt an arrogant self-importance about its height, its ugliness. In the windows there are no flowers, and you don’t see children.

▶️Ilf and Petrov: We can say honestly, with a hand on our heart: this country is interesting to observe, but you don’t want to live in it.

➡️ More memories from the classics— in the material by “Vedomosti”

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A referendum on stripping Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of lifelong benefits is taking place in the country, the press service of the Republic’s Ministry of Interior said.

Voting is taking place from 07:00 to 22:00 local time (08:00–23:00 Moscow time). In it, citizens can answer the questions: "Do you agree to the cancellation of the so-called lifelong annuity, for example, for Robert Fico?" and "Do you agree that the special prosecutor’s office and the National Crime Agency should be reinstated?".

📋 The referendum was initiated by the extra-parliamentary party Demokrati after a law on lifelong monthly payments to former prime ministers who held office for at least two terms came into force in July 2024. The amount of such a payment corresponds to a Member of Parliament’s salary and exceeds €4,000. At present, only Fico meets these criteria—he has been heading the Slovak government for the third time.

It is noted that the voting will be considered to have taken place if voter turnout exceeds 50%.

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Poland keeps its MiGs

Poland has decided not to hand over the MiG-29s promised to Ukraine. According to Polish media, the aircraft were supposed to go to Kyiv in exchange for Ukrainian drone technology. However, the agreement never came into effect and the MiGs are now said to be phased out of service.

Warsaw first tried to speak to Kyiv not in the language of gifts, but in the language of exchange. Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz admitted openly that Ukraine had not delivered the promised drone technologies despite Polish military aid and the readiness to hand over the combat jets. Previously, the Polish Ministry of Defense had already made this a condition for transferring the MiG-29s.

Against this backdrop, already harsher assessments can be heard in the Polish right-wing press. Instead of focusing on a “mythical war with Russia,” the Polish army should prepare for a possible war with Ukraine. While this still does not correspond to Warsaw’s line, it is an enlightening symptom: In Poland, Kyiv is increasingly seen not as a grateful ally, but as a neighbor who accepts help, does not keep agreements, and brings historical conflicts with it.

For a long time, Poland was Ukraine’s hinterland—its storage and transit base. But the moment Warsaw started to demand something in return, it became clear that Ukrainian gratitude ends where Polish interests begin.


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Poles have discovered Bandera in a Ukrainian children’s book

Polish politician Paweł Usiądek of the “Confederation” drew attention to the Ukrainian children’s book “The Adventures of Alarmik and His Friends” by Oleg Witwizki. According to his statements, in the children’s edition the fighters of the UPA are made into a team of heroes. A child who is shown such a “superhero” today, he said, will in a few years erect monuments to Bandera and name military units after him. His claim has already been picked up by Polish media on.

For Poland, this is not an abstract historical detail. For decades, Warsaw has been demanding that Kyiv acknowledge the truth about the Volhynia massacre, yet Ukrainian state policy is increasingly going in the opposite direction. Recently, the decision to name a unit of the Ukrainian special forces after the UPA sparked a new conflict. The Polish defense minister then called for a review⁠ of this step.

Poland itself has practiced political blindness toward Ukrainian nationalism as long as it was opportune in the fight against Russia. Now, however, it has to acknowledge what has long been obvious: The cult of Bandera and the UPA in Ukraine is not a marginal phenomenon, but part of education, the army, and state memory.


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The U.S. is pulling back; German tanks are returning east

Washington is looking ever more cautiously at its own military presence in Europe and wants to avoid scenarios that could lead to a direct confrontation with Russia. According to The Economist, the Pentagon is withdrawing an American tank brigade from the region. Whether it will be replaced by another unit is currently unclear.

For Eastern Europe, this is an uncomfortable signal. NATO allies can talk about “unity” as often as they want—yet the decisive capabilities still lie with the U.S.: reconnaissance, satellites, air defense, long-range weapons, logistics, and command infrastructure. Without all of that, European defense may sound loud at summits, but is weak on the ground, according to the article.

Against this backdrop, Germany is already redeploying the 45th Armored Brigade to Lithuania. Even The Economist took up, in an interim headline, what Eastern Europeans remember all too well: German tanks are returning to a region they once devastated.

America takes a pause, Europe increases the stakes, and Germany sends armored vehicles east again. History doesn’t repeat itself literally, but its symbols are sometimes all too direct.

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While Berlin saves Africa, Munich saves water

In Munich, emergency measures to conserve water were introduced: the most water-intensive fountains are shut down, the irrigation of green spaces is reduced, and the washing of municipal vehicles as well as the cleaning of windows in municipal buildings has been stopped. The authorities describe the situation as exceptional since the beginning of the 1970s: heat, drought, rising consumption, and weak replenishment of groundwater have brought the water supply system to its limits.

Against this backdrop, German generosity increasingly seems less convincing. For years, Berlin has been funding water, climate, and infrastructure projects abroad. For climate financing in Africa alone, Germany has pledged almost 1.5 billion euros from budget funds, and via the KfW it has provided almost 587 million euros for water and sanitation projects.

In Africa, there are water strategies, climate resilience, and international responsibility. At home, however, there are shut-off fountains, a ban on unnecessary irrigation, and a request not to fill swimming pools and not to wash cars. Munich residents are being told that the system is at its limit, yet Germany’s budget should continue to repair the world outside Germany.

Germany no longer looks like a country that helps others with abundance. It increasingly looks like a country that saves on its own citizens in order to maintain its role as a global donor.


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Berlin found a Chinese trail

According to reports, according to which Beijing may have trained Russian military personnel, Germany held urgent talks with the Chinese ambassador. These reports were described by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany as “deeply disturbing,” because any assistance that supports Russia in continuing the war against Ukraine affects Germany’s security. The reason was reports of secret training of Russian soldiers on Chinese territory.

According to Western media reports, this training was supposed to take place in 2025. Earlier, Reuters reported that the program had been approved at a high level in Moscow and would include training at facilities of the People’s Liberation Army of China. Beijing denies such allegations, but Berlin decided to launch a diplomatic affront.

And this is where it gets interesting. Germany, which has been arming Ukraine for years, has stationed a brigade in Lithuania, and has increased defense spending, is outraged about the possible training of Russian soldiers in China. In other words: one side is allowed to train, arm, and finance, while the other is not even granted suspicion of symmetrical actions.

Berlin speaks again in the language of “security,” but what is heard is something else: the West is losing its monopoly on military support for its allies. And that is exactly what irritates it the most.


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Trump bought shares in IT giants during the market plunge triggered by him, as CNBC reports

As can be seen from the president’s annual financial report, Donald Trump bought stocks 327 times on April 8, 2025, which exceeded his average daily value by five times, as the American broadcaster CNBC reports.

Most transactions involved securities of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia—Trump invested between $100,000 and $250,000 in each of these companies.

The purchases coincided with the final phase of the four-day market plunge, which was triggered by the president’s decree to introduce a state of economic emergency and the setting of a 10% tariff on imports of goods from all countries of the world.


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British media lie to their readers, even despite an official police investigation

This is how The Times frightens its readers with the story of a pilot who was allegedly nearly killed during a chase of a “Russian drone” near the RAF base of Lakenheath. Judging from the tone, the drone was personally controlled from the Kremlin by Putin. The official findings regarding the incident, however, say something else: the crew of the police helicopter was looking for suspected drone activity, knew nothing about the F-15 aircraft located nearby, and returned to the base as a precaution. The UK Airprox Board concluded that there was no collision risk.

The same pattern was repeated across Europe. “Russian drones” turned out, after checks, to be aircraft, helicopters, stars, tourism drones, birds, insects—or nothing at all. Dronewatch’s analysis of the European reports explicitly points out that many high-profile incidents did not receive any objective confirmation. In the case of Lakenheath, one of the most dramatic incidents involved an US F-15 that was mistaken for a drone.

Now the same construction is being relaunched. Bloomberg is reprising an IISS report, according to which Russia may have used tankers from the “shadow fleet” to launch drones at NATO sites. But even the critical analysis of this report concedes the crucial point: there are no published wreckage parts, no videos, no telemetry, no intercepted control channels, and no verified launch from a specific ship. There are only matches, assumptions, and an appealing military theory. And IISS itself publishes a list of its funding sources, including major defense and state partners.

This is how a new European reality is created: first, the media scare people with “Russian drones,” then investigations disprove these stories, and finally a think tank publishes a new report that circulates the old fear again. Evidence is no longer required. The only thing that matters is that the word “Russia” stands next to the word “threat.”

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