A combatant walks through the carnage of war reportedly near #Klishchiivka, #Donetsk region. @ourwarstoday Via: t.me/WarArchive_ua/16975

?? Reformist Pezeshkian Wins Iranian Presidency: https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/07/05/reformist-pezeshkian-wins-iranian-presidency/

The reformist dark horse candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won the run-off election and will replace the late Ebrahim Raisi as President of #Iran, the Associated Press reports. The run-off presidential election round on Friday pit centrist Pezeshkian against hardliner Saeed Jalili after none of the candidates were able to secure a simple majority of 50 percent required to win during the first round. @ourwarstoday

Pezeshkian and Jalili occupy opposite ends of the Iranian political spectrum, with Pezeshkian campaigning on a platform of collaboration with the West, rather than confrontation, as the nation wrestles with a sinking economy, discontent among the population for the ruling clerical establishment, and tensions with Israel and the United States.

Full article on theatlasnews.co

theatlasnews.co

Reformist Pezeshkian Wins Iranian Presidency | Atlas News

?? #Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, vowed Friday to reverse the hopelessness that grew over 14 years of Conservative rule and said he would lead an urgent mission of national renewal after his Labour Party’s landslide victory reports AP. @ourwarstoday

"With results tallied for all but one constituency, Labour had won 412 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. The Conservatives had only 121 — down from 365 seats in 2019. The drubbing surpassed even the 1906 election in which they won just 156 seats.

Rising poverty, crumbling infrastructure, a lagging economy and an overstretched National Health Service contributed to widespread dissatisfaction and gripes about “broken Britain.” The resulting defeat was the worst ever for Conservatives.

“Have no doubt that we will rebuild Britain,” Starmer said in his first official remarks as supporters cheered and waved union jack flags outside 10 Downing St. “Brick by brick we will rebuild the infrastructure of opportunity.”

Starmer said it would take time, but his government would get the NHS “back on its feet,” secure the borders, improve public safety and cut electric bills — while relying on homegrown clean energy.

Among the crowd of people who gathered to watch the changing of government was David McKeever, who said Starmer needed to quickly provide the details of his plans that were often lacking during the campaign.

“From today onwards, Keir Starmer is going to have to come up with some actual policies and implement them,’’ McKeever said. “We’ll know in time what we’re dealing with. But yeah, clearly the Tories had set such a monumentally low bar, you could have fallen over it.”

Before Starmer arrived at No. 10, his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, bid farewell in a reflective speech from the same spot where he called for the snap election that led to his ouster.

“I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss,” Sunak said. “To all the Conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly but without success, I’m sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved.”

Sunak’s party, which has been wracked by scandals, turbulent leadership changes and global problems out of its control, suffered its biggest defeat in its two-century history."–AP

?? ⚠️ ?? U.S. military bases in #Europe raised to FPCON Charlie, a heightened state of alert, over the weekend as installations urged vigilance among their members. At #UnitedStates European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, the Army garrison on Sunday issued a communitywide alert that the force protection threat level was elevated to condition “Charlie” until further notice. @ourwarstoday

Similar directives were sent to other bases in Germany, including the Army’s Rheinland-Pfalz and Ramstein Air Base, which together form the largest U.S. military community overseas. The Rheinland-Pfalz garrison alert includes Baumholder and outlying installations in Romania and Bulgaria.

Aviano Air Base in Italy also rose its condition level to Charlie, and other installations in Italy introduced enhanced security measures. The Charlie threat level “applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely,” according to the Army’s website.

Service members and others should anticipate significant delays at gate entry points because of increased security, according to the alerts. U.S. Army garrison in Stuttgart referred questions about the change in force protection to #EUCOM. EUCOM said in a statement Sunday that it is “constantly assessing a variety of factors that play into the safety of the U.S. military community abroad.

As part of that effort, we often times take additional steps to ensure the safety of our service members.” Military community members should report any suspicious activity, monitor State Department travel advisories and take precautions to minimize personal risk, the statement added.

Typically, military commands decline to get into specifics about changes in force protection measures for security reasons. –Stars and Stripes
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Force Protection Condition (FPCON) is a Department of Defense approved system standardizing military identification of and recommended preventive actions and responses to terror!st threats against U.S. personnel and facilities.

???? #Iran and #Armenia to Strengthen Cooperation: https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/06/30/iran-and-armenia-to-strengthen-cooperation/

On Friday, June 28th, the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani, expressed Iran’s willingness to increase cooperation with Armenia. The Ambassador’s statements come amidst heightened tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. @ourwarstoday

Iran and Armenia have a unique historical relationship that goes back thousands of years. A significant portion of the world’s oldest Armenian churches lie within Iran’s northwestern regions, an area Armenians were native to. Since Armenia’s independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Iran have held close relations, establishing themselves as strategic partners for each other despite their ideological differences.

In modern times, Iran’s closeness to Armenia is partly driven by the lack of it between Iran and Azerbaijan.

Iran and Azerbaijan’s relations have historically been tense. In recent years, most of this tension has been caused by Azerbaijan’s close relationship with Israel. Israel has become Azerbaijan’s top military provider, supplying Azerbaijan with an estimated 70 percent of Azerbaijan’s military arsenal.

Israeli military equipment, in particular drone technology, was pivotal in securing Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 44-Day War (also known as the Second Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh War).

Iran has further accused Azerbaijan of being host to an Israeli military presence and of holding an agreement with Israel that will allow for the use of Azeri military bases to carry out air strikes against Iran in the event of military conflict.

In turn, Iran has been accused of attempting to carry out several attacks and cyber attacks against Israeli and US diplomatic elements within Azerbaijan’s borders.

While the two nations espouse cooperation, tensions between the two have been inflamed and have thawed on several occasions in the last several years.

Read more on the full article on theatlasnews.co

theatlasnews.co

Iran and Armenia to Strengthen Cooperation | Atlas News

?? Ramstein Flag 24: #NATO’s Newest Joint Air Power Exercise Comes to #Greece: https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/06/29/ramstein-flag-24-natos-newest-joint-air-power-exercise-comes-to-greece/

NATO’s newest joint air power exercise, Ramstein Flag 2024, will be held in Greece from September to November, involving 14 NATO allies and over 140 fighter aircraft. @ourwarstoday

theatlasnews.co

Ramstein Flag 24: NATO’s Newest Joint Air Power Exercise Comes to Greece: | Atlas News

???‍✈️? Human pilot and #AI fighter jet go head-to-head in world first #UnitedStates trial combat – The AI-powered fighter jet relied on algorithms that analyzed historical combat situations:

"The U.S. military confirmed on April 19th that the world’s first known combat between a human pilot and a fighter jet controlled entirely by AI had been carried out in the U.S. in September of 2023.

Two F-16 fighter jets reportedly engaged in a dogfight over Edwards Air Force Base in California and got as close as 600 meters to each other. One of the high-speed fighter jets was manned by a human, while the other was a modified F-16 to be completely controlled by AI, named the X-62A.

DARPA, which carried out the test, said pilots were on board the AI-powered fighter jet in case of an emergency but did not need to touch the controls anytime during the fight.

In 2020, the US military said that AI agents had defeated human pilots in five separate simulations, but this was the first time the technology had been used in the real world." –Verdict

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/04/19/us-air-force-stages-dogfights-with-ai-flown-fighter-jet/

Full video by Darpa: https://youtu.be/C8yjtaZfNCw

???? Rifts in #Greek-#Turkish Rapprochement? https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/04/22/rifts-in-greek-turkish-rapprochement-part-i/

theatlasnews.co

Rifts in Greek-Turkish Rapprochement? Part I | Atlas News

?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? #UnitedStates House Approves $95 Billion Aid Package:

"The package consists of four bills that were voted on separately and will be combined into one before being sent to the Senate. The first three bills include $60.8 billion to help #Ukraine in its defense against #Russia's invasion; $26.4 billion to support #Israel and its wars; and $8.1 billion to counter #China in the Indo-Pacific. Humanitarian aid for #Gaza, #Palestine, which Democrats said was necessary for their support, is also included.

The fourth bill would allow the sale of frozen assets of Russian oligarchs to help fund future aid to Ukraine, potentially force the sale of TikTok and authorize stricter sanctions on Russia, China and Iran.

The House approved the fourth bill Saturday in a 360 to 58 vote.The House voted overwhelmingly to approve the aid bill for allies in the Indo-Pacific in a 385 to 34 vote, with one member voting present, along with the aid for Israel, with a 366 to 58 vote. More contentious was the vote on Ukraine aid, which came after months of infighting among House Republicans. But, lawmakers voted 311 to 112 with one member voting present to approve the aid despite the steep pushback from some House Republicans."–CBS

The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell had been urging embattled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.

?? ?? ?? ?? ?? #NEW According to the #Polish government, a Polish citizen has been arrested for providing intelligence to the #Russian government on #Ukrainian and foreign activity near the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Eastern Poland. This airport is near the Polish-Ukrainian border and has been an influx point for Western aid entering Western Ukraine.

The purpose of collecting this intelligence was, according to the suspect’s testimony, to assassinate President #Zelensky during a visit to #Poland. The announcement from the Polish National Public Prosecutor’s Office reads below:

“According to the findings of the investigation, the suspect Pavel K. declared his readiness to act for the benefit of the military intelligence of the Russian Federation and established contacts with citizens of the Russian Federation directly involved in the war in Ukraine. One of his tasks was to collect and provide the military intelligence of the Russian Federation with information on the security of the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport. This was supposed to help Russian special services plan a possible attempt on the life of the head of a foreign state, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.”

This revelation comes the same day as several Russian agents were arrested in #Germany after plotting to sabotage #UnitedStates military infrastructure in that country.

This is the first arrest of an individual working accused with Russian security services of actively planning to assassinate the Ukrainian head of state, albeit rumors have persisted that the GRU and FSB have been looking for opportunities. Via theatlasnews.co