Ukraine has some of the world’s best expertise on intercepting Iranian drones — and now wants to capitalize on it.

Donald Trump's attack on Iran reveals that Ukraine does have some cards to play, after all.

The U.S. president lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year in the White House, telling him: "You don't have the cards right now." One year on, Ukraine is holding talks with polite American officials in Kyiv keen to get a look-in on Ukraine's world-leading anti-drone technology.

“Partners are turning to us, to Ukraine, for help,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday night. “Requests on this matter have also come from the American side.”

Zelenskyy said he was also talking to Arab nations seeking to upgrade defenses against Iran, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain. He was clear that Kyiv was seeking to gain strategic leverage from the talks. ___

because all the pilots are aces.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10920557

This is the Persian King with superior intellect who is supposed to bring back freedom and democracy to Iran!? 😂

France has authorised United States forces to use French military bases during the conflict involving Iran, according to a report by BFMTV.

The broadcaster said the decision would allow US armed forces access to facilities on French territory as the war continues to expand across the region.

Officials at the French Ministry of Armed Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Since Israel and the United States began their war on Iran last week, retaliatory missiles fired at Israeli targets have been flying through the skies over the occupied West Bank.

But it has been Israeli settlers on the ground who have been terrorising Palestinians in their small hamlets across rural areas of the West Bank more than the Iranian missiles or the Israeli interceptors trying to shoot them down.

Thus, when debris from one missile crashed about 20 metres (22 yards) from the century-old Mosallam family home in the northern West Bank village of Duma earlier this week, Thabet remained unfazed by the threat.

“We have the rockets in the sky, but the [Israeli] settlers are at our door,” the 24-year-old said. “Of course, the settlers and the army, they are the ones who pose a danger to us. They are what we are afraid of right now.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they ​had hit a ​U.S. tanker in the northern ⁠part of the ​Gulf and the vessel ​was on fire. There was no immediate confirmation of the ​incident or of a ​similar attack that Iran claimed ‌earlier ⁠this week.

The Guards said in their Thursday statement carried by state ​media that, ​in ⁠time of war, passage through ​the Strait of Hormuz ​will ⁠be under the control of the Islamic ⁠Republic.

Considering his first two predictions, this prediction is more than a little concerning.

zerbaijan's foreign ministry lodged an official protest with the Iranian embassy on Thursday after a pair ‌of Iranian drones flew across the border into Azerbaijan and injured two people at an airport in the Nakhchivan exclave.

"This attack on the territory of Azerbaijan contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to increased ⁠tensions in the region," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran clarify the matter in the shortest possible time, provide an explanation and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future."

Contradicting images of parties and war-flooded feeds after Iran targeted Gulf states in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks

The deputy leader of the Green party has demanded an apology from Keir Starmer after the prime minister appeared to back false claims he protested in support of the Iranian regime, which led to him receiving death threats.

Mothin Ali said he was “so scared” that the racist threats had increased to a point where “it feels like this time it might get me killed”.

Multiple threatening messages sent to Mothin Ali and seen by the Guardian included “we know where to find you”, “you have no idea what’s coming” and one that told him to “pack your bags before it’s too late”.

The messages were sent after Ali, a Green party local councillor, attended an anti-war demonstration in Parliament Square on Saturday that was mischaracterised by organisations such as GB News as a rally in support of the Iranian regime.

Valérie Butters, an artist in Knowlton, Que., is one of many Canadians who took to social media to reach out to users in Spain after seeing the clip.

"Glad to have you in our club," she wrote on Threads, saying Canada has been on Trump's "s--t list" for over a year now. "Let us know if you need maple syrup."

Dee Lysak in Sioux Narrows, Ont., also reached out with a series of posts on Threads following Trump's comments.

"Spain — you are welcome here. We see you. We hear you. We applaud your government," she wrote.

Since then, she's heard from people in Spain who offered recommendations of places to stay and told her she would be welcome there, too.

When debris from an intercepted Iranian missile struck the Fairmont The Palm, a five-star hotel on Dubai’s opulent manmade archipelago on Feb. 28, it pierced not just the country’s advanced missile defence system but also its carefully crafted image of security.

For decades, the United Arab Emirates has positioned itself as an economic and cultural hub, connecting European and Asian markets.

“The U.A.E. in particular, but more broadly, the rest of the Gulf positioned itself as a haven, surrounded by a pool of chaos for the last 40 years … and that's all been shattered now,” said Stephen J. Fallon, a political analyst who lived in the country for eight years, and now resides in Ireland.

But on Saturday, just hours after the U.S. and Israel launched massive strikes against Iran that killed the country’s longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the U.A.E. came under fire like never before.

the West shows you monarchist celebrations whilst millions mourn their murdered leader.

Lobsters.

European Commission offers access to bloc’s subsidies for manufacturing in partner countries with trade agreements.

Paywall? https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.ft.com/content/bfe77726-ba7b-4e18-ae5f-4dbc7464c770

Broad opposition to controversial freedom of information (FOI) law reforms that would have made accessing documents harder has forced Labor to back down.

Crossposted from https://lemmy.ca/post/61333568

Fewer than half of young Australians believe democracy is always preferable to other forms of government, as trust in institutions wanes, new research has found.