British commanders reportedly fear the navy looks “toothless” in the face of a supposed Russian threat Britain’s entire available fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines is stuck in port awaiting maintenance and repairs, leaving the Royal Navy without a deployable hunter-killer boat, UK media have reported. All five of the Royal Navy’s operational Astute-class attack submarines are currently unavailable, while a sixth boat, although commissioned into the fleet, is not yet ready for deployment, The Telegraph and Daily Mail said over the weekend, citing naval sources. The Astute-class submarines are designed to track and deter enemy submarines, and escort the UK’s aircraft carriers and Vanguard-class vessels carrying Trident nuclear missiles. The boats are nuclear-powered and armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Former nuclear submarine captain Commander Ryan Ram...
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As Poland and Lithuania seek more US troops and bases, the debate is no longer about defense alone but about sovereignty and dependence Recent history offers one very simple lesson: the most reliable way for a ruling elite to protect itself from accountability is to hand over its country’s sovereignty to a powerful foreign patron. In Europe, many have decided that the United States is the only patron worth having. We are now watching a race among Eastern European states to secure new American military bases on their territory. Poland is openly pressing for US troops and equipment withdrawn from Germany to be moved east and Lithuania has gone further, with officials floating the idea of hosting American nuclear weapons. It would be naïve to think this is mainly about national security and nor is it simply about money, although hosting US bases has often been seen by client regimes as a useful sou...
The US president earlier called the UK’s plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius “an act of great stupidity” The US is weighing a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands directly from Mauritius in a bid to sideline the UK over the future of a crucial military base in the Indian Ocean, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The Chagos Islands are home to Diego Garcia, a joint UK-US military base regarded as one of the most important American installations outside the continental US. The facility hosts roughly 2,500 US military personnel and supports B-2 bomber deployments, operations against Houthi targets in Yemen, and has been used in strikes on Iran. While the Chagos Islands are currently controlled by the UK, London last year approved a plan to hand them over to Mauritius while signing a 99-year lease on the base. The UK’s hand was essentially forced by a decades-long colonial sovereignty dispute...
Oak processionary moth caterpillars can trigger rashes, respiratory problems and, in rare cases, allergic shock An insect infestation is spreading across Berlin, forcing closures and health warnings in parks, sports grounds, and residential areas, German media has reported. The culprit is the oak processionary moth caterpillar, a tree-killing pest covered in toxic stinging hairs. The insect, scientifically known as Thaumetopoea processionea, is a moth species whose caterpillars emerge between May and July. While the moth itself is harmless, the caterpillars develop hundreds of thousands of microscopic toxic hairs that can travel up to 200 meters on the wind and cause rashes, eye irritation, and respiratory problems. In severe cases, exposure can trigger allergic reactions and even anaphylactic shock. The infestation has been spreading across Berlin for years, but officials say several districts are seeing...
The US secretary of war’s remarks come as Brussels prepares to roll out its most ambitious migration reforms in years US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used a D-Day ceremony in Normandy to warn that Europe is under a new form of “invasion,” urging EU leaders to confront migration before it’s too late. Speaking on the anniversary of the June 6, 1944 Allied landings in France, Hegseth said, “different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies” in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria, where “boats and men arrive.” “When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not,” he added. D-Day marks the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule. The troops who landed on Normandy’s beaches were not invading Europe in the sense used by modern immigrati...
The gaffe-prone former foreign minister has been blamed for Berlin’s failure to win a rotating seat on the UN Security Council German lawmakers want former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock questioned over Berlin’s failure to secure a seat on the UN Security Council, Bild reports. According to the outlet, the ruling CDU/CSU alliance blames the former top diplomat for the setback and wants her summoned before the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Germany failed to win a non-permanent seat on the UNSC – the UN’s most powerful body, with authority to adopt legally binding resolutions and sanctions – for the first time in modern history on Wednesday, losing out to Portugal and Austria. Germany won all six previous contests it entered since 1977, but this time received only 104 votes, well short of the required two-thirds majority. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul des...