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No genocide happening in Gaza, US National Security Advisor, Jacob Sullivan, says Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

Why US’ B-2 'wonder-bomber' is nothing but an attractive museum piece

"The airframe was designed in the 1980s and first deployed in 1997, and the B-2 was scheduled to 'retire' in 2030. It could be as simple as a mechanical and software degradation," retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense, tells Sputnik, commenting on the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers' failures.

The US Air Force has announced its second costly B-2 Spirit aircraft is beyond repair, reducing its fleet of secretive stealth bombers to 19. Between 1988 and 1997, aerospace manufacturer Northrop Grumman built 21 B-2s instead of the initially planned 200 due to the warplane's gargantuan price tag. According to some estimates, its cost ranges from $1.4 to $4 billion. Despite being impressively costly, the plane has never been cost-effective, as per Sputnik's interlocutor. The B-2 has been rarely used and became infamous for bombing the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade 25 years ago. According to Kwiatkowski, the B-2 program is a "classic example of experience and sunk cost biases" with the warplane now being both aging and conceptually outdated.

"The follow-on to the B-2, the B-21 Raider, recently prototyped, is the strategic bomber corollary to the most expensive aircraft we have, the F-35, which again has proven itself to be less than durable, easily overcome by weather and counter-measures, and heavily dependent on software updates," she notes.

When asked about the B-2 future, the expert ironically says: "It is an attractive museum piece as well, and the US will keep several B-2s in the famous Arizona 'boneyard'." Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

▪️How new Defense Minister Belousov may create problems for Russia’s adversaries ▪️Russia's new pick for defense chief supports traditional values ▪️How Putin's new pick for Russian defense minister predicted the 2008 economic meltdown ▪️Are NATO members testing waters for a no-fly zone over Ukraine? ▪️Pepe Escobar: BRICS+ decentralized monetary system will spur de-dollarization ▪️Ex-Defense Minister Shoigu transferred to Russia's Defense Council: What is it and what does it do? ▪️Delve into Russia’s Black Sea fleet by exploring its goals and weaponry Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

There will be no point in reconstructing Ukraine if it is defeated, NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

"The first thing I will say is that first of all, you need to ensure that Ukraine prevails. Because unless Ukraine prevails, there's nothing to reconstruct in the free and independent Ukraine. <...> And the second, reconstruction will be very expensive. But prevention is cheaper," he said.

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Are NATO members testing waters for a no-fly zone over Ukraine? The discussion surrounding the potential establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid the Kiev army's retreat suggests that Western leaders are exploring options for potential engagement in the conflict, according to Russian political analyst Sergey Poletaev.

"On the one hand, they are making efforts to keep it that way, because it is in the interests of everyone [in the West]," Poletaev tells Sputnik. "On the other hand, they are using all tools in their possession to inflict maximum damage [to Russia] while trying to navigate a delicate balance to avoid escalating tensions further."

Members of Germany’s ruling coalition, including the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens, proposed creating a no-fly zone extending up to 70 kilometers into Ukrainian territory by using air defense systems deployed in Poland and Romania. The states were picked apparently because the lawmakers thought Russia would not attack NATO members, the expert presumes, adding that no one bothered to ask Warsaw and Bucharest's opinion with regard to the proposal. German politicians' reference to NATO shooting down Iranian missiles and drones targeting Israel as a precedent for creating a no-fly zone over Western Ukraine doesn't hold water, Poletaev continues. "In the case of Israel, it is a completely different story, because Iran is not Russia," adding that in the case of nuclear-armed Russia the stakes are much higher. Meanwhile, the German government spokesperson stated on May 13 that NATO would not enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, citing the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's decision from March 2022. Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

The large national debt and excessive spending policies of the US government could lead to a fiscal "train wreck" as soon as 2025, former World Bank President David Malpass has said.

"All signs point to a fiscal train wreck in 2025 when the debt limit is triggered, spending surges, and tax rates jump," Malpass said in a post on LinkedIn.

Malpass noted that the explosion of US government debt is draining and concentrating global resources into a narrow set of US government priorities and beneficiaries. The key problems of the American economy are the lack of new investment amid a huge growth in public spending, resulting in an unprecedented debt-to-GDP ratio as well as short-term financing crowding out small businesses, the post said. According to the International Monetary Fund, the US public debt will exceed 123% of GDP in 2024 and reach nearly 134% in 2029. The US debt currently exceeds $34.7 trillion. Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

How new Defense Minister Belousov may create problems for Russia’s adversaries Andrei Belousov’s appointment as Russia’s newest minister of defense may help take Russia’s military-industrial complex and the entire weapon procurement system to a whole new level, argues Russian political analyst Sergei Poletaev. According to him, a de facto grassroots “technological revolution” has happened in Russia over the past two years when groups of enthusiasts supplied the armed forces with repurposed civilian drones worth no more than $300 apiece that could be used to take out enemy military hardware worth millions of dollars. Being a talented economist, Belousov can combine the pros of the two approaches in weapon procurement – the “planned, government” method and the “spontaneous grassroots” method – and weed out their cons, Poletayev suggests. Many Russian soldiers in the field come up with technological and tactical solutions that could become a boon for the Russian Armed Forces, but there is no streamlined way for them to share their ideas with the higher-ups, he notes.

“If Belousov can create a system, a platform to convert this experience into orders that could then be sent to weapon manufacturers who would thus be allowed to better understand what is required and to better react to this input, and then to mass produce the most successful solutions – that would generate a tremendous impulse,” Poletaev muses.

He also points out that Russia’s military spending has been steadily growing in recent months, and while the situation is far from critical, it would be prudent for Moscow to ensure that this money does not go to waste. Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

Mike Jones is an independent journalist from England living in Moscow who's been censored on Western platforms for telling the truth about the Ukrainian conflict. Follow Foreign Agent Intel for updates and insides from Ukraine and Russia! FOREIGN AGENT INTEL

Poland’s border aviation in critical condition and unable to defend the country’s eastern border – report The air force of the Polish Border Guard (BG) has been dysfunctional for at least eight years and remains in a critical condition now. Many BG planes and helicopters are out of service and air patrolling flights are rare, Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza reported. “Out of five PZL-Kania helicopters which are at the disposal of the Border Guard, only three helicopters can fly,” Wyborcza reported. The situation with planes is not much better: at thr BG’s air force base in Bialystok near the border with Belarus, all three warplanes are out of service. The critical condition of Polish border aviation led to a situation in which patrols had to be done by the army and police aviation. Unless special measures are taken, in two years the aviation of the Border Guard service will simply be unable to perform its functions, Wyborcza concludes.

“The last eight years were wasted. No new equipment was bought for air force, pilots were not trained,” Wyborcza quotes one of the Border Guard’s military pilots as saying. “If I want to fly on patrol, I have to reserve the flight several days in advance.”

The revelations of Wyborcza were made in the context of hysteria about “the danger from the east,” i.e. the fears of a possible attack or a flood of migrants from Russia or Belarus. Recently, Poland declared it would spend $375 million on strengthening the fence on the border with Belarus with barbed wire. Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live

Washington bullying Georgian government to nix foreign agents bill US government officials and lawmakers are attempting to pressure the Georgian government to abandon a new law, marking another instance of US interference in another country's domestic affairs. ▪️US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington is "gravely disappointed" by the law. ▪️White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby cited deep concerns, claiming that the bill could "stifle" dissent and free speech. ▪️National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote on X that the US is "deeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia." ▪️Twenty-nine American lawmakers penned a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on May 10 urging him to withdraw the legislation since it will "impose control over the very same partners" who assisted Georgia's transatlantic integration. The letter expressed support for the nationwide "peaceful protests". ▪️US congressmen have threatened to reconsider US financial assistance, expand visa bans, and impose financial sanctions on Georgian officials if the bill is not withdrawn, in a colonial-style violation of Georgia's sovereign right to adopt its own laws and pursue independent policies. ▪️Protests over the bill erupted in April with protesters waving EU, Ukrainian and Georgian flags and signs reading "No to Russia. Yes to Europe." At least two American citizens involved in clashes with the police have been arrested. ▪️The Georgian State Security Service (SSSG) warns of provocateurs among protesters funded by foreign entities and linked to Georgian mercenaries involved in Ukraine, aiming to incite regime change. The bill mandates that media and NGOs must register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive over 20% of their funding from abroad, mirroring the US' Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Boost us! | Subscribe to @geopolitics_live