Gen. Hertling: Trump keeps insulting NATO for not coming to the rescue in Hormuz, but this is not what NATO was built for.
NATO is designed mainly for collective defense in the Euro-Atlantic region — not a sudden Gulf naval operation. 1/
Hertling: If the U.S. Navy, the most capable naval force in the world, is hesitant to escalate its own direct maritime role.
Why would NATO ask European nations to rush into a more dangerous mission while they are already supporting Ukraine? 2/
Hertling: Coalition warfare requires consultation and trust, and we have broken trust with NATO.
You cannot surprise allies diplomatically and militarily, stumble into an operation without strategy or communication, and expect immediate participation. 3X
Tugendhat, Conservative MP: "The Kremlin is at war with Europe and its allies in Beijing are helping."
Russia has been conducting warlike acts against every European democracy for years, but Britain is asleep at the wheel — The Telegraph.
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2006 — Litvinenko poisoned in London.
2018 — Skripals poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury.
2024 — GRU plot to assassinate Rheinmetall CEO Papperger. Same year, incendiary devices disguised as pillows sent through DHL, nearly brought down a cargo plane over Europe.
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Estonia spends 3.4% of GDP on defence, committed to 5.4% by 2026-2029. Poland: 4.5%, rising to 4.8%. Lithuania: 4%, committed to 5-6%.
Britain: 2.4%.
Tugendhat: We have chosen not to believe in the devil. But he is alive and walks among us.
3/
Czech President Pavel: if Russia's violations of NATO airspace continue, the alliance will have to shoot down unmanned, or manned , aircraft.
Russia does not understand nice language. They mostly understand the language of power. — The Guardian. 1/
Pavel proposed asymmetric responses: switching off Russia's internet or satellites, cutting Russian banks from the global financial system.
"Not killing people — but sensitive enough to make Russia understand this is not the way they should go."
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Pavel on how Russia calibrates its provocations: When I asked them why they do provocative actions — overflights, close encounters over battleships in the Baltic — their answer was 'because we can.'
That's exactly the kind of behaviour we allowed.
3/
Putin built legitimacy on easy wars: Crimea in 2014, Syria from the air in 2015. Ukraine broke that model.
The war is in year five, the battlefield keeps expanding into Russia, and in Moscow visible failure at war becomes political poison, — The Telegraph. 1/
The war is now eating Russia’s economy. Wartime priorities squeeze civilians, and living costs rise.
Manpower is harder. Russia takes at least 30,000 killed and wounded every month. 2/
In Nov 2025 Putin signed a law enabling year round conscription, not seasonal drafts.
He knows what comes next. The 2022 partial mobilisation produced open, visible anger. 3/