NATO announced this week that it is increasing patrols in and around the Black Sea to counter Russian threats to civilian shipping and attacks on Ukrainian ports following withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain deal. In addition to destroying grain storage and transfer infrastructure used in the export of agricultural products, Russia has also deployed mines in Black Sea shipping lanes leading to these facilities.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:

"Russia's actions pose significant risks to the stability of the Black Sea region, which is of strategic importance to NATO. Allies are increasing their support for Ukraine and increasing our vigilance. We remain ready to defend every centimeter of allied territory against any aggression."

In a statement issued following this week's meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, NATO claims Russia’s new Black Sea warning area overlaps Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, posing new risks for miscalculations and escalation.

The British government warned on Wednesday that Russia could be planning a naval blockade of Ukraine.

Poland to Double Size of Military

Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced the country would be doubling the size of their military in response to new threats to the country’s sovereignty, including an expansionist Russia, and neighboring Belarus hosting both Russian nuclear weapons and thousands of Wagner fighters. Joint training between Wagner fighters and Belarusian troops is taking place at a base close to the Polish border.

Blaszczak said the orders have already been signed to increase the number of active service members in the Polish Army from 172,000 to 300,000.

Poland's Interior Minister announced Thursday that his nation, along with Lithuania, could jointly shut their borders with Belarus if there are serious incidents involving the Wagner group.

Hazard Pay for U.S. Troops in Ukraine

The Military Times reported this week that the Pentagon has authorized hazard pay for U.S. troops serving in Ukraine. This probably comes as a shock to many who have heard repeated claims by Biden Administration officials that there are no U.S. forces operating in the country. Despite this, multiple news services report that the US has Special Forces operating out of the U.S. embassy providing intelligence assistance to Ukrainian Special Forces, as well as to provide security for visiting VIPs. Then there are the forces quietly trying to track U.S. weapons contributions, as well as the Marines who guard the embassy, and still others in a variety of roles.

Readers are reminded that this past April, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard's intelligence wing was arrested after posting classified documents to a social media chat group showing that the U.S. is among a number of nations with special forces deployed in Ukraine.

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.

The House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs held hearings this week titled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency.”

In plain English, this was a hearing about UFO's, with three highly credible witnesses providing testimony under oath. Their comments on encounters, recovery of craft, and non-human "biologics" left the hearing room stunned.

Ryan Graves
Executive Director
Americans for Safe Aerospace
Written Testimony (PDF)

Commander David Fravor (Ret.)
Former Commanding Officer
United States Navy
Written Testimony (PDF)

David Grusch
Former National Reconnaissance Office
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force
Written Testimony (PDF)

According to the UK Ministry of Defence:

The Russia-Africa Conference convened in St Petersburg on 27 July 2023, with 17 African heads of state attending, down from 43 at the last iteration. The event takes place ten days after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI).

The BSGI had allowed the export of 30 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to Africa, providing essential nutrition to states including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan. As well as the direct disruption of supplies, Russia’s blockade of Ukraine is also causing grain prices to rise.

The impact of the war in Ukraine will almost certainly compound food insecurity across Africa for at least the next two years.

Implications Of China’s Nuclear Expansion For Strategic Stability

The looming prospect of the United States facing two peer nuclear adversaries raises serious questions about whether significant changes to U.S. nuclear strategy and forces are necessary, and whether it is possible to maintain strategic stability in such a system. Will China’s dramatic nuclear expansion, including more than 300 new silos for intercontinental-range ballistic missiles require a counter-expansion of U.S. nuclear capabilities, or posturing existing forces differently? Will the dynamics of a three-sided system undermine strategic stability by creating first-strike incentives that drive nuclear escalation in crisis, and by driving a new arms race spiral that would make limits on strategic nuclear arms untenable?

~ READ MORE HERE (War On The Rocks) ~

A Presidential Prayer That Could Save Our Nation

A master of war but a passionate advocate for peace, Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower stood in the shadow of the Capitol on January 20, 1953, and became the first president to draft and deliver his own prayer prior to taking the oath of office. In his pledge to preserve, defend, and protect the Constitution of the United States he invoked the Almighty to remind a national audience of the challenge before them and the responsibility of every elected official, regardless of party affiliation.

~ READ MORE HERE (Gatestone Institute) ~

Afghanistan Terrorism Report: June 2023

"However, in June, it became clear that ISIS-K continues to also plan terror attacks outside the region, particularly in Europe. In 2020 a group of Central Asians was arrested in Germany, who were, according to German government authorities, instructed by leaders of the Islamic State in Syria and Afghanistan to prepare terror attacks against US military installations in Germany. At the beginning of July 2023, another group of Central Asians was arrested in Germany and the Netherlands. This group had entered Germany from Ukraine, posing as refugees shortly after the Russian re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022."

~ READ MORE HERE (Counter Extremism Project) ~

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of July 24, 2023 based on U.S. Navy, public data provided by the U.S. Naval Institute, and open source reporting.

AMERICAS

Networks are furious Texas buoys actually deter illegal aliens
Secret Service and D.C. police prepare for potential Trump indictment
Something stinks in the Obama chef death investigation
El Salvador plans mass trials for those imprisoned in gang crackdown
Mexican marines seize 7,200 bottles of liquid meth in bound for Australia
OAS chief flags 'clear interference' in Guatemala election ahead of visit
Ecuador recovering remains after prison violence, death toll unclear
US orders government personnel, family members to leave Haiti
Mayorkas declines to provide data on suspected terrorists caught at border
Blinken visits tiny Tonga as US continues diplomatic push to counter China
Security Alert: US Embassy Haiti

EUROPE

Putin’s declared deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus raises tensions
Ukraine General Staff: Russia has lost 244,830 troops in war
Putin warns Poland over ‘aggression’ against ally Belarus
Deadly Mediterranean wildfires kill more than 40
'Information War': Russian actors in German video against Ukraine aid
Fighting intensifies in SE Ukraine with Kyiv claiming gains in counteroffensive
Moldova orders mass expulsion of nearly 60 Russian diplomats, cites spying
Land mines in Ukraine pose a deadly threat to Kyiv's military - and civilians
Security Alert: US Embassy Ireland

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Warning Signs: Rising risk of Iran axis attack on Israel
US Reaper Drone "severely damaged" by Russian jet intercept over Syria
Saudi Arabia detains relatives of US citizen over lawsuit, rights groups say
Israeli air chief warns of security threat from judicial reform crisis
Israel-Lebanon border tension raises fears of bloody escalation
Suspected ISWAP militants kill 25 in Nigeria's Borno state
Captive Niger president defiant after coup
Niger coup: Abdourahmane Tchiani declares himself leader
Bank owners and citizens protest deterioration of the Iraqi dinar
6 killed in Damascus suburb bombing near Shiite Muslim shrine
Sierra Leone and neighbors to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
Essential online services unavailable as Kenya grappled with cyberattack
Somalia authorities arrest officers accused of abetting suicide bombing

ASIA

China ‘likely’ supplying Russia with military technology – US intel
China, Russia hold series of large joint naval & air drills flexing muscle in Pacific
China taking hard line on military flybys, freedom of navigation ops
China, Russia can and must help reduce tensions on Korean Peninsula
China's sharp-tongued Foreign Minister is ousted
Japan raises alarm over China’s military, Russia ties and Taiwan tensions
North Korean missiles pose greater threat to Japan than ever, Tokyo says
Footage of North Korea's military parade featuring new weapons systems
15 killed after a boat capsized off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island

PUBLIC HEALTH

Study: 1 in 35 who were boosted developed myocarditis
Study: Trinity nuclear fallout iImpacted 46 states, Canada, Mexico
FOIA: Moderna data shows alarming lot specific data on mRNA shots
Syphilis emergency looms in the US as drugs run low
Dengue outbreak spreads in the Indian state of Kolkata
China develops weapons to alter brain function