🇸🇾🇱🇧🇱🇧 Syrian foreign minister says Syria open to meeting Hezbollah, according to media reports

Syria's foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Syria was open to meeting the Iran-backed ‌Lebanese group Hezbollah "if interests require it", Lebanon's state news agency reported.

Asaad al-Shibani met Lebanese government leaders including President Joseph Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. It was his first visit there since U.S. President Donald Trump raised the possibility of Syrian forces combating Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ​previously denied what he called rumours about any Syrian presence entering Lebanon.

The former rebels and commanders that now run ​Syria fought against Hezbollah for years while it deployed to Syria to support former President Bashar al-Assad.

Now ⁠that they are in power, they are having to calibrate alliances and military action carefully in efforts to maintain relative stability in ​Syria, which is still recovering from 14 years of civil war.

Shibani said the "Hezbollah file" was not raised during his meetings in Lebanon ​on Thursday, but that Syria was open to meeting the group, the Lebanese state news agency cited him as saying. It did not immediately publish any further comments from Shibani.

A statement from Aoun said that neighbours Syria and Lebanon wanted each other's stability and that Sharaa had assured him that Syria ​would not take sides in Lebanon's internal issues.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrian-foreign-minister-visits-beirut-after-trump-comments-about-taking-2026-07-02/

🇪🇺❌📱 EU fines Google 4.1 billion Euros or using its Android mobile operating system to ‌block rivals

The European Commission had originally handed out a €4.34 billion fine to Google in 2018 for its agreements ​which forced phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser and ​the Google Play app store on their Android devices and ⁠prevented them from using rival Android systems.

A lower tribunal subsequently trimmed the fine ​to €4.1 billion in 2022 after the world's most popular search engine challenged the ​EU penalty. Google then appealed to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's highest.

The court sided with the EU antitrust enforcer.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-top-court-dismisses-google-fight-against-record-41-billion-eu-antitrust-fine-2026-07-02/

🇺🇸 Economists are manipulating data to claim the US isn’t headed into recession; claiming a +2.1 GDP isn’t compatible with weakening economy.

The only reason we have a positive GDP is because the economy is TOAST.

Biggest contributor to US GDP is a 50% reduction in imports, because consumer spending fell off a cliff. Investment is simply data centers as new home construction fell off a cliff. Exports down and what little consumer spending is contributing to GDP, its caused by the healthcare related expenses of boomers.

🔗 Roger

#NEW
⚡️🇮🇷🇮🇷❌🌞 - Last night, the IRGC engaged Kurdish fighters of the PDKI and the PJAK near the western cities of 'Piranshahr' and 'Sardasht'.

At least 5 PDKI fighters were killed following an IRGC ambush, in which an RPG projectile struck their vehicle.

🇮🇷🇴🇲🚢 Hormuz traffic holds steady

The Strait of Hormuz remained open and active on 30 June, with 34 verified crossings recorded and traffic evenly split by direction. The dataset showed a broad mix of commercial, energy-linked and support movements, while route visibility remained fragmented across Iranian, Omani, IMO and Dark or Unknown routes. That pattern points to continued operational continuity, but not a settled return to normal routing. With IMO’s incident tracker now listing 49 confirmed regional incidents, including a newly confirmed physical attack on BOCHEM MARENGO, maritime-security commitments linked to US-Iran discussions face a more demanding test.

🔗 Kpler (@Kpler)

🇺🇸❌🌐 Democrats have chosen the global digital ID agenda as a keystone of their 2028 campaign.

Project 2029’s “Kids Over Clicks” plan: ban under-16s, force age verification, gut Section 230.

It's all sold as child protection.

The reality is: passports, face scans, and government ID wallets just to post online.

Australia, UK, EU, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are embracing it.

It kills anonymous speech for everyone.

🔗 https://reclaimthenet.org/democrats-global-digital-id-agenda-project-2029

🇺🇦📰🇷🇺 PR War Ramps Up in Ukraine

Untangling the latest media web

Having faded largely into the constant background noise of the mainstream news cycle in recent months, and having been overshadowed by unprecedented geopolitical events in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine is back in the headlines. Casual consumers of world news have been presented with a series of startling narratives and images indicating that after years of apparent stagnation, the war may be reaching an inflection point favoring Ukraine.

A string of pieces in The Economist gives a sense of the shift: Is Russia Being Out-Droned? (May 5), Vladimir Putin is Losing His Grip on Russia (May 6), Russia is Stumbling on the Battlefield (May 10), Russia’s Crimean Conquest is Turning into a Deadly Mess (June 23). In Foreign Affairs: Ukraine Turns the Tide (June 1). CNN: Russia’s Winning Streak in Ukraine is Over (May 14). Anne Applebaum’s June 7th piece in The Atlantic was given the fascinating title Ukraine is Not Losing. Russia is Not Winning.

The broad narrative is as follows: after a clear Russian advantage on the battlefield during the past year, the Ukrainians have emerged from an organizational restructuring significantly stronger. The AFU’s desertion problem has been largely solved. Increased drone production is giving the AFU a numerical advantage in standoff strikes for the first time. Russian casualties have never been higher, with losses totaling as many as 30,000 personnel a month, and the Russians are unable to generate the recruitment rate to replace them. The average life expectancy of a Russian soldier sent to the front lines can be measured in minutes. Ukrainian attacks on fuel logistics both in Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine and in Russia proper threaten the Russian army and Russia’s economy as a whole. The situation is so catastrophic in Crimea that for the first time since the failure of the 2023 summer offensive, Ukraine may stand a chance of retaking it. Incredibly, the Ukrainians are achieving these victories without American support.

All of these issues are pushing a ceasefire ever closer, and the Russians may have no choice but to give in. Shocking images from Russia itself bolster these narratives. Last week saw the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow since the war began. Hundreds of Muscovites (who face no legal repercussions for doing so, unlike in Ukraine) readily shared videos of a major Moscow refinery burning. And the Ukrainians are just getting started. Zelensky announced the beginning of a “40-day influence operation” two days ago. The explicit objective? To force the Russians to sue for peace.

Readers of this publication will be familiar by now with my preferred rhetorical structure for analysis of issues like this one. First describe the mainstream narrative in detail, then pick it apart in an attempt to glean the truth of it. And this piece will be no different.

First, the narrative should be viewed through the lens of the overriding pattern in Ukraine’s relationship with the western media. Long-term observers of the war will recognize this immediately from the experience of Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensive, the 2023 summer offensive in Zaporozhye, the 2024 offensive into Russian territory around Sudzha, and previous waves of strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

The pattern goes like this: official Ukrainian government statements and heightened, flashy military action coincide with a wave of think pieces in respected publications. The usual suspects are all here: Anne Applebaum, Ben Hodges, Ukrainian publications like the Kyiv Independent, The Economist, and so on.

The pattern has thus far always resulted in the same thing: the Ukrainian effort peters out, the war continues much as it did before—with a glacial Russian advance creeping its way across the Donbass, the Russian government more or less unchanged, and the Russian economy intact but never quite where Russian planners want it to be.

🔗 https://www.amerikanets.com/p/pr-war-ramps-up-in-ukraine

🔼 🇺🇸 🏌‍♂️ Trump's resorts just broke their own records

Mar-a-Lago pulled in $77.5 million last year, triple its 2020 haul.

Doral, his golf resort near Miami, cleared $122 million.

The membership fee jumped from $100,000 to $1 million right before his reelection, and the line only got longer.

Nobody pays that for the golf.

They're paying for a seat near the president who dines on the patio most nights.

Trump: "You know why I'm profiting? Because the stock market's going up. Everybody's profiting."

Access to the president was always the real product.

Source: CNN / Writer: Daniyal

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/01/us/trump-financial-disclosure-mar-a-lago-doral-income-invs

📎 Mario Nawfal

🌟 🇺🇸 🇻🇪 "Right now, the U.S. military, the Department of War, has roughly 2,000 teammates in the area on land, air, and sea around Venezuela. They are working hard daily to help in the search and rescue efforts, to help in the recovery efforts, to deliver needed supplies. We have leveraged a large complement of aircraft, ground vehicles, naval ships to support operations in and around Venezuela. We will continue to do so until the job is done. And when we’re done, we will depart Venezuela." - Gen. Donovan

Transcript: Press Briefing with John Barrett, Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy Caracas and Gen. Francis L Donovan, SOUTHCOM Commander.

https://www.state.gov/press-briefing-with-john-barrett-charge-daffaires-u-s-embassy-caracas-and-general-francis-donovan-commander-u-s-southern-command-southcom

👩 🇺🇸 📉 White women are dropping out of the labor force at dramatic rates. We are back to 1988 levels of participation and only above the deepest depth of lockdowns. This was all predictable.

📎 Jeffrey A. Tucker

🧓 🇺🇸 📉 And this one for all people 55 years and older (over 10 years) is beyond belief.

📎 Jeffrey A Tucker

🌭 🇺🇸 📈 As the US gears up for its 250th birthday, the cost of celebrating with hot dogs and just about every other favourite dish will be higher than ever as prices soar on the back of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war with Iran.

📎 Financial Times