Ukraine, which is now engaged in a counter-offensive against Russian forces, is set to receive a round of cluster bombs from the Biden administration in a drawdown of weapons that bypasses U.S. law.

Despite American law prohibiting the production, use, or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%, President Joe Biden is able to bypass the law through a rarely used provision of the Foreign Assistance Act, The Washington Post reported.

Cluster bombs, first developed and used during World War II, are banned by most countries in the world due to the view that they are inhumane because of high failure rates and unexploded fragments that can linger for years, according to the BBC.

Biden approved sending the controversial weapons to Ukraine after a “unanimous” recommendation from his national security team, according to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who said on Friday it was a “difficult” decision made “in consultation with allies and partners and in consultation with members of Congress.”

The president is using the Foreign Assistance Act to approve the cluster munitions for Ukraine, which allows him to bypass arms export restrictions as long as he determines the move is vital to U.S. national security, The Washington Post reported. U.S. officials said the cluster bombs that will make their way to Ukraine have a failure rate of less than 3%.

The weapons pose a heightened risk to civilians as they explode in the air and release dozens of smaller submunitions, also called “bomblets,” over a wide area. The bombs, intended to destroy multiple targets at once, have been sought after by the Ukrainians as their ammunition runs low, according to The New York Times.

The U.S., Ukraine, and Russia did not join the 120 countries that banned the use of cluster bombs. Russia has been using the munitions in its war against Ukraine, according to the Pentagon, and the United Nations also believes Ukraine has already been using cluster bombs, although the country denies it.

According to the Associated Press, the transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine will come out of Pentagon stocks in a fresh batch of military aid that also includes armored vehicles and more ammunition.

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Amid mounting tensions, U.S. Government reported to be working on evacuation plans for Americans in Taiwan.

The US government is reported to be currently organising the evacuation of Americans living in Taiwan. According to themessanger.com, a senior US intelligence person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the strategy, reported this evacuation planning has been ongoing for at least six months and has significantly increased over the last few months.

The official explained to the US outlet that the preparations have been prompted by a heightened level of tension, citing factors such as the visible build-up of forces and China’s alignment with Russia concerning the situation in Ukraine.

They also stressed that these developments are not beyond what is already reported in the news.

themessanger.com reported that a source with knowledge of the situation told them that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a major factor in the planning for the evacuation.

The source claimed that Ukraine “Ukraine drove a relook at what the plans were”.

The U.S. government has not released any announcements to the public, although Lt. Col. Martin Meiners is reported to have said when approached, “We do not see a conflict in the Taiwan Strait as imminent or inevitable.”

Read more at: www.express.co.uk

In June 2023, commentary about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s military and economic preparedness renewed attention to tensions over Taiwan. Xi had urged officials to prepare for severe national-security challenges, while Taiwan reported Chinese aircraft and naval activity near the island. The original article argued that Beijing might see an opportunity to act while Western governments were supplying Ukraine. That timing and the prediction of a U.S.–China war were the author’s analysis, not established outcomes. The developments highlighted concerns about deterrence and the possibility of escalation in the Taiwan Strait.

Read more at www.prophecynewswatch.com

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for countering the U.S. and South Korea.

Kim during Tuesday’s visit approved an unspecified “future action plan” in preparations for launching the satellite, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday. North Korea hasn’t disclosed a target date for the launch, which some analysts say may be in the next few weeks.

That launch would use long-range missile technology banned by past U.N. Security Council resolutions, although previous missile and rockets tests have demonstrated North Korea’s ability to deliver a satellite into space.

There are more questions, however, about the satellite’s capability. Some South Korean analysts say the satellite shown in North Korean state media photos appears too small and crudely designed to support high-resolution imagery. Photos that North Korean media released from past missile launches were low-resolution.

Photos released by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper of Tuesday’s visit showed Kim and his daughter – dressed in white lab coats – talking with scientists near an object that looked like the main component of a satellite. The newspaper did not identify the object, which was surrounded by a perimeter of red tape.

KCNA said the satellite was deemed ready to be loaded onto a rocket after scientists examined the device’s assembly and put it through tests to confirm whether it would withstand the environment of space.

Read more at: www.cbsnews.com

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Iran, over the past six months, has supplied Russia with some “300,000 artillery shells and a million rounds of ammunition.” Russian cargo ships are taking these materials by way of the Caspian Sea and Russia is using them for its war against Ukraine. Folks, that’s a pretty massive military supply from Iran to Russia, over just a six-month span.

Of course, it comes on the heels of persistent reports that Russia has received hundreds, if not 1000s, of these suicide drones from Iran. They’re mass-produced inside Iran, packed with explosives, and are flown into the target.

Russia has used these with great and deadly effect in Ukraine, in places like Kyiv, attacking civilians with these Iranian-made drones to the point where Iran plans to open a drone factory in Russia, east of Moscow, very soon, where they will mass produce. No surprise there. Iran views itself as a drone superpower, using them not only for their own ends, but to attack—by the way—US bases in Syria and Iraq.

Iran is also supplying these drones to the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, and those Shia militias in Iraq and Syria. Iranian proxies, one-and-all, are armed to the teeth by their masters in Tehran, so it makes perfect sense that Iran would also supply these drones to its good friends in Vladimir Putin’s regime.

The big question is: What does Iran get in return?

There have been reports that Russia may look to replenish its stockpiles with some ballistic missiles from Iran—Russia has also reached out to North Korea on that end.

But Iran is giving a lot here, folks, 1000s of drones, a drone factory on Russian soil, a million rounds of ammunition 300,000 artillery shells in the past half year alone. This begs the question, is this a quid pro quo relationship? The Iranian regime is not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts; what do they get in return?

Now, a few things here, Russia is reportedly supplying more up-to-date fighter jets to Iran; the Iranian Air Force is severely outdated. Additionally, Russia could look to provide Iran with nuclear know-how.

Read more at: harbingersdaily.com

Hamas has been strengthening its cooperation with the Iran-Hezbollah axis for years and the process only seems to be accelerating. The result is the formation of six fronts of aggression against Israel—a “ring of fire” composed of radical Sunni and Shiite axes.

Previous signs of this cooperation could be found in how the Palestinian Sunni Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah helped one another upgrade their capabilities. Hezbollah began digging cross-border tunnels into Israel from Lebanon (though these were demolished by the IDF in 2018), just as Hamas did for years from Gaza.

“They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” Psalm 83:4

Hamas learned from Hezbollah how to overcome its military inferiority and set up rocket bases in civilian areas. Both terror armies have set up elite cross-border ground infiltration units—Hamas’ Nuhba force and Hezbollah’s Radwan force.

The relationship grew even closer after Saleh Al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official, was expelled from Turkey and relocated to Lebanon several years ago. He began building a Hamas headquarters in Lebanon, from which he both orchestrates terrorism in Judea and Samaria and oversees a growing Hamas presence in Lebanon.

Read more at: prophecytracker.org

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned over the weekend that the United States must increase its overall military preparedness or face an almost certain war with communist China in the near future.

Graham made the remarks during an interview on Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday” on Easter while talking about U.S. national security.

Graham’s remarks come as China has conducted aggressive military drills in recent days aimed at intimidating the free nation of Taiwan. The military exercises came after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen met with top U.S. leaders on U.S. soil last week.

“Taiwan’s not the problem,” Graham told host Shannon Bream. “Lindsey Graham’s not the problem. It’s Putin and it’s Xi.”

Graham said that deterrence was the best possible option and that it could only be achieved by having a superior military and technology.

“I would increase training and get the F-16s they need in Taiwan. There’s a backlog. I would solve that backlog. I would move more forces to South Korea and Japan,” Graham said. “I would up our game. If you don’t up your game now, you are going to have a war.”

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

French President Emmanuel Macron said over the weekend that Europe should embrace an approach of “strategic autonomy” when it comes to tensions between the United States and China.

The French president said that by allying too closely with the U.S., Europe risks being dragged into conflicts and crises in which it does not have a significant interest. “Strategic autonomy,” as Macron calls it, is his plan to lead Europe into becoming a “third superpower,” according to POLITICO.

“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said on Sunday. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

Macron’s theory of “strategic autonomy” has found widespread support in Beijing, where top officials in the Chinese Communist Party have endorsed it and often encourage other European nations to embrace it as well.

The president’s remarks came after he visited Beijing last week and spent roughly six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the potential for peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Macron’s visit appears to have had little impact on that account.

Read more at: www.dailywire.com

Russia is again attempting to threaten NATO, claiming to be making good on parts of Vladimir Putin’s statement that he would be — eventually –moving nuclear weapons into Belarus.

Shorter range but operationally flexible, “Iskander-M tactical missile systems” have been deployed to Belarus, and Belarussian crews have travelled to Russia to receive training in their operation, Moscow has said. The missile can be equipped with several different warheads using conventional explosives for different purposes, or it can carry a small nuclear warhead.

A statement published by a Russian government wires service on these comments by defence minister Sergey Shoigu on the deployment of nuclear-capable weapon systems to Belarus, which borders four European Union members, appeared to have been timed to coincide with Tuesday’s ceremony to welcome Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Russia has long campaigned against Finland joining NATO, and protested NATO expansion in general, accusing the bloc of encroaching upon their territory.

Moscow said it will keep a “close eye” on their new 800-mile border with NATO, and threatened “counter measures” including “all necessary military-technical precaution measures”.

Read more at: www.breitbart.com

North Korea claimed Friday to have tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone designed to generate a gigantic “radioactive tsunami” that would destroy naval strike groups and ports. Analysts were skeptical that the device presents a major new threat, but the test underlines the North’s commitment to raising nuclear threats.

According to PBS, The test this week came as the United States reportedly planned to deploy aircraft carrier strike groups and other advanced assets to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Military tensions are at a high point as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in the past year in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the new weapon, which can be deployed from the coast or towed by surface ships, is built to “stealthily infiltrate into operational waters and make a super-scale radioactive tsunami through an underwater explosion” to destroy enemy naval strike groups and ports.

The report came hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to make North Korea pay for its “reckless provocations” as he attended a remembrance service honoring 55 South Korean troops killed during major clashes with the North near their western sea border in past years.

The testing of the purported “nuclear underwater attack drone” was part of a three-day exercise that simulated nuclear attacks on unspecified South Korean targets, which also included cruise missile launches Wednesday.

KCNA said the North’s latest tests were aimed at alerting the United States and South Korea of a brewing “nuclear crisis” as they continue with their “intentional, persistent and provocative war drills.” It said the tests were supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who vowed to make his rivals “plunge into despair.”

Read more at: endtimeheadlines.org