On Friday evening, AlertsUSA subscribers were some of the first in the U.S. to learn of Russian national guard forces in the streets of Moscow, St. Peterburg and Rostov-n-Don, following very public threats by the head of the Russian private military group Wagner to attack senior Russian military leaders.

In an explosive audio message, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, accused Russian military leaders of ordering a missile strike on a Wagner training facility which killed scores of his men, and he has vowed retaliation.

"We were ready to make concessions to the Defense Ministry and surrender our weapons. Today, seeing that we have not been broken, they conducted missile strikes at our rear camps."

"We’re 25,000 strong, and we’re going to get to the bottom of the lawlessness in this country. Everyone who wants to, join us. We need to put an end to this disgrace."

Throughout Friday night, Prigozhin released messages on social media reporting his men are pulling out of Ukraine and returning to Moscow. Now facing charges of armed rebellion, Prigozhin claimed on his Telegram channel that he has significant support among Russian conventional forces, including pilots who refused to bomb Wagner fighters on the move.

In his declaration of war against the Russian Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin stated the following:

"I’m asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads."

Late last night, Prigozhin regularly reported on Wagner's progress:

“Now we are entering Rostov. The units of the Ministry of Defense, or rather the conscripts who were thrown to block our road, stepped aside, and all units have crossed the state border."

Videos and imagery on social media (see this and this) show heavily armed Wagner fighters on the streets of Rostov-on-Don near the regional police headquarters, as well as in tanks positioned outside the headquarters of the Southern Military District.

Putin Address to Nation

Early Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation via taped message during which he vowed to protect the country:

"Once again, any internal revolt is a deadly threat to our statehood and our nation. It is a blow to Russia, to our people. Our actions to defend the Fatherland from this threat will be harsh. All those who have consciously chosen the path of betrayal, planned an armed mutiny and taken the path of blackmail and terrorism, will inevitably be punished and will answer before the law and our people."

As of the time of this report's preparation Saturday morning, large convoys of Wagner forces, to include a growing number of Russian military units who have joined up, continued to travel north towards Moscow.

White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge released a statement saying the developing Wagner coup is 'serious' and the U.S. is consulting with allies and partners on these developments.

This situation is developing fast. AlertsUSA continues to monitor the situation around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers of any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence:

• Since summer 2022, the Russian Navy has invested in major enhancements to the security of the Black Sea Fleet’s main base at Sevastopol.

• This includes at least four layers of nets and booms across the harbour entrance. In recent weeks, these defences have highly likely also been augmented by an increased number of trained marine mammals.

• Imagery shows a near doubling of floating mammal pens in the harbour which highly likely contain bottle-nosed dolphins. In Arctic waters, the navy also uses Beluga whales and seals. Russia has trained animals for a range of missions, but the ones housed in Sevastopol harbour are highly likely intended to counter enemy divers.

Will NATO Summit Launch a Forever War in Europe?

An article in the New York Times on Wednesday claimed that pressure is building on Biden to announce a timetable for Ukrainian membership in NATO at its Vilnius Summit next month.

Supposedly Biden is “isolated” among NATO allies in his reluctance to do so, even though that claim is contradicted by the story’s own last paragraph (the one that Noam Chomsky once quipped should be read first), which acknowledges that “others argue more quietly” that NATO membership “could give Mr. Putin more incentive to continue the war, or to escalate it.”

~ READ MORE HERE (Responsible Statecraft) ~

The Monroe Doctrine is Dying

“[T]he American continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers... [W]e should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety,” declared President James Monroe on December 2, 1823.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal almost two hundred years later, Walter Russell Mead--George Kennan like--warns: “From Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego, American interests are under threat as virtually every country in Latin America suffers from major and growing social, political and economic distress” and Latin America’s “ties with Russia and China are booming.” The Monroe Doctrine is dying.

~ READ MORE HERE (Real Clear Defense) ~

China Is A Dying Paper Dragon

The global order is ending and is being replaced by an accelerating disorder obvious to any observer of international affairs. The old order of warring empires was destroyed by World War II, so the United States and its allies met in 1944 at Bretton Woods to decide what would replace it. There, the victorious Americans laid the foundations of today’s order, a system that would contain the Soviet Union’s empire in a Cold War, initiate globalization, and bring us 75 years of prosperity and growth unmatched in human history.

That globalization is now giving way to a disorder that will change the world and end the Communist Peoples Republic of China.

~ READ MORE HERE (AND Magazine) ~

The Risks of De-Risking

Is the risk of losing trade in the future a good reason to avoid trading now, when the option is still available? One normally doesn’t commit suicide to reduce the fear of death, and one can still hope that Chinese authorities will recognize that most of their attempts at economic coercion have been unsuccessful. The same goes for the government’s return to a more statist economy. History has shown that this approach simply does not work.

~ READ MORE HERE (The Strategist) ~

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of June 20, 2023 based on U.S. Navy, public data provided by the U.S. Naval Institute, and open source reporting.

AMERICAS

US Navy detected Titan implosion last Sunday
Senators propose resolution threatening war if Putin uses nukes
Even America’s best subs couldn’t get anywhere near the OceanGate sub
Biden dispatches messengers to flip war skeptics from brics against Russia
Biden downplays impact of his comments on Xi, China warns of ‘consequences’
Upcoming Space Force-NRO wargame to focus on space conflict in 2030
Pentagon accounting error provides extra $6.2 billion for Ukraine military aid
US says Wagner coup is ‘real’ and ‘serious’ as White House consults allies
US launches prosecutions of Chinese companies for fentanyl ingredients
Fearing Russian escalation, some NATO allies favor hazier line on Ukraine
Widow of Haiti’s slain president Jovenel Moïse files lawsuit against suspects

EUROPE

Putin: Russia's new Sarmat nuclear missiles soon ready for deployment
Russia accuses US of planning to drop malaria-bearing mosquitoes on troops
Escalation of nuclear threats coincides with Ukraine's counteroffensive
Russian Army getting enough recruits to form new regiment per day – Shoigu
Zelensky admits slow progress but says offensive is not a movie
Half of EU funds for Ukraine to be funded by frozen Russian assets
US B-1B bombers land in Sweden for exercises for first time
Serbia again threatens armed intervention in Kosovo as tension rise
Macron is ‘inappropriate’ for upcoming BRICS summit– Moscow
Ukraine strikes key bridge to Crimea, say Russian-appointed officials
Ukraine could free Crimea by end of summer: Ex-U.S. General
The failing Ukraine counteroffensive & the peace that could have been
British Challenger 2 tanks seen on Ukraine battlefield for first time

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village after deadly Hamas strike
Israeli drone hits Palestinian militants as West Bank violence surges
Hezbollah set up posts in Israeli territory on Lebanon border 2 weeks ago
South African taps run dry after power shortages
The UAE and Qatar reopen embassies as Gulf Arab relations improve
Concern over Mali’s move to kick out UN peacekeepers
Analysis: Lebanon awaits foreign push out of political impasse
Nigeria's Tinubu removes security chiefs in major reshuffle
Sudan no closer to peace as another breached truce ends
Violence flares in Sierra Leone ahead of presidential vote
War between Khartoum rivals takes on an ethnic dimension in Darfur

ASIA

Blinken says US ‘doesn’t support Taiwan independence’
N. Korea most likely to use nuclear weapons as means of coercion
Australians say they would support Taiwan if China attacked, with limits -poll
As Modi visits White House, India’s reliance on Russian arms constrains him
New Zealand PM disagrees with Biden, says Xi Jinping not a 'dictator'
China’s PM focuses on trade and climate, ignores Scholz’s Ukraine plea
China’s aircraft carrier sails through Taiwan Strait days after Blinken’s visit
Pakistan widens hunt for human traffickers after migrant boat sinks off Greece
Why is Beijing increasing its engagements in Nepal?
Karachi grapples with import crisis, containers piling up at docks