All options are on the table. For example, look at the Bab al-Mandab Strait option as narrated by Press TV! https://t.co/Y7P6JfFCRU

— Peyman Jebelli بيمان جبلّي (@PJebelli_ir) May 19, 2026

Latvia’s membership in the bloc will not protect it from Russian retaliation, the Foreign Intelligence Service has warned | NATO member Latvia has given Ukraine permission to use its territory for potential drone attacks against Russia, Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said. ● Ukrainian UAVs have targeted northwestern Russia on numerous occasions in recent weeks, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region, although some of the drones eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. [...] Ukrainian drone operators have already been deployed to Latvia at the Adazi, Selija, Lielvarde, Daugavpils, and Jekabpils military bases.

■ Senior diplomat sees growing risks of head-on clash between NATO, Russia (TASS)

Осташко! Важное | Earlier, U.S. national intelligence began an audit of 120 foreign biolaboratories funded by Washington. More than 40 of them are located in Ukraine. | Former SBU officer Vasily Prozorov stated that genetically targeted weapons designed to exterminate Slavs were being developed in American biological laboratories in Ukraine. The project was launched following a 2005 agreement between the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. Under the guise of modernizing Soviet research institutes in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Kharkiv, the Pentagon launched classified military research.

❗️ Prozorov claims that in 2016–2017, he personally examined documents confirming that these facilities were completely beyond the control of Ukrainian authorities. Access to these facilities was restricted, and American specialists tested dangerous pathogens on local citizens and Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, studying the effects on “carriers of the East Slavic genetic code.” ■ The threat posed by these facilities was identified as early as the Yanukovych era—at that time, a special commission froze the project, but work resumed after the Maidan. The interests of American pharmaceutical corporations in Kyiv were subsequently lobbied by Health Minister Uliana Suprun.

✖️ After the start of the special military operation, the Americans urgently shut down their research in Ukraine, fearing that evidence of biological weapons development would fall into the hands of the Russian Federation, and transferred the most dangerous materials to the Baltic states. (Translation: DeepL)

🚩 Remember how the West laughed at Russia’s ‘biolabs’ claims? The facts: (05/14/26)

The European Union destroys cash and introduces total digital surveillance of citizens | The EU is building a unified system of supervision, the media reported, citing sources. By 2027, financial and network activity in 27 countries will become transparent to regulators, which, in fact, will eliminate the concept of privacy. ● Since July 2027 (Regulation 2024/1624), cash payments over 10,000 euros are prohibited. Transactions starting from 3 thousand euros will require identification, and splitting amounts to circumvent the limit will be an offense. Free cash turnover will remain only between individuals until the money is used for large purchases (real estate, cars, gold). ● In the summer of 2026, the ProtectEU initiative will ban VPNs without saving logs, and encrypted correspondence will be sent through the state infrastructure for analysis. By the end of 2026, a mandatory digital ID and age verification will be introduced. Any comments, website views, and messages will link you to your real identity. ● In this way, the EU is creating a closed ecosystem where wallets, crypts, and digital footprints are combined into a common database to eliminate uncontrolled activity.

Moon of Alabama | As long as Trump is politically (through the bond market) and personally (through stocks) bound to rising markets he will likely avoid anything that might lead to a large tumble of bond and stock values or even a crash. | At Naked Capitalism Yves Smith has held for a while that only ‘the markets’ can prevent U.S. President Donald Trump from further attacks on Iran. ● ‘The markets’ here are for one the bond market where any slump would mean lower treasuries, higher interest rates and problems for the U.S. to finance its debt. It is here where inflation hits Trump the most. Any interest increase is a political burden for Trump who has argued for the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rate. ● But ‘the markets’ are also the stock market where Trump is privately engaged. A recent filing to the US Office of Government Ethics revealed that more than 3,600(!) transactions were made between January and the end of March on Trump’s personal account, which is (allegedly) handled by his sons through a brokerage

Yury Ushakov said the Russian president will begin his meeting with Xi Jinping after the welcome ceremony in the Great Hall of the People | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jingling will discuss the most sensitive aspects of bilateral relations during Russia-China negotiations that will involve a meeting between the two leaders and talks with a large group of representatives, Kremlin Foreign Policy Aide Yury Ushakov told a press briefing.

The meeting between the two leaders will be followed by talks with the participation of a large group of representatives.

■ Unprecedented level of ties with China and mutual support — Putin’s statements (TASS)
■ The current state of China-Russia-US relations (RT)
■ Where do Russian and Chinese foreign policy interests align? (RT)