🇬🇧‼️ Former Prince Andrew has been released under investigation after being in police custody for 12 hours

He has not been charged

🇩🇪🤝🇺🇸 Germany seeks more F-35 jets as European fighter jet programme falters, sources say

Germany is considering ordering more U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, two sources told Reuters, a move that would deepen Berlin's reliance on American military technology as its joint next-generation fighter programme with France falters.

One source said Berlin was in talks that could lead to the purchase of more than 35 additional jets. A second source did not specify the number. Both sources cautioned that the outcome was still uncertain.

The future of the Franco-German FCAS programme is bleak. If Germany does pursue the F-35, France will have to build the FCAS on its own.

Germany's purchase of F-35 fighter jets would represent a massive blow to the ambitions of French president Emmanuel Macron and European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who have tried their best to boost the sales of European defense companies but with little results so far.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-seeking-more-f-35-jets-european-fighter-program-falters-sources-say-2026-02-19/

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 This is the strongest indication to me of the seriousness of the US threat to Iran. The US has deployed more than 2/3 of its available E3 command/control aircraft to Europe and the Middle East.

The E3 is an incredibly important aircraft. For those unfamiliar, it is the large airplane that looks like an airliner, but with a revolving radar disc on top. The airplane is loaded with an air crew whose job is to observe, manage and control the airspace in its area. It is especially important for directing fighters and ground/sea based missile interceptors against Iranian missiles and drones.

USAF has only 16 E3s total, so 6 of 16 E3s deployed is significant by itself, BUT mission capable rates are 55% for E3s, meaning only 9 are possibly available for operations. The full mission capable rate for the E3 is likely lower, so there may only be 7 or 8 E3s deployable. The Air Force may just have deployed nearly every E3 they have available

This is an example of something the Air Force genuinely wouldn’t do unless it was absolutely necessary. There’s no PR value in this, you get that from the deployed carriers and fighter squadrons. You only deploy these en masse if you need to because they will be used.

The likelihood of that decision not being made is getting smaller and smaller.

📝Anon: Similar to when Russia put combat medics with fresh blood supplies at the Ukraine border in January 2022. That wasn't for PR or show-of-force. These little details tell you when someone is serious.

🔗 Matthew Hoh

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 Trump officials say there's a 90% chance of strikes on Iran. He can’t without Congress.

Representative Thomas Massie & I have a War Powers Resolution to debate & vote on war before putting U.S. troops in harm’s way. I will make a motion to discharge to force a vote on it next week.

Trump is positioning two aircraft carriers, a dozen warships & hundreds of fighter jets to prepare for a possible war with Iran. I first got into politics to end the Iraq War. I won’t let Trump launch a disastrous war without Congress voting to stop it.

A war with Iran would be catastrophic. Iran is a complex society of 90 million people with significant air defenses and military capabilities. We also have 30-40k U.S. troops in the region who could be at risk of retaliation. Congress must do its job and stop this march to war.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 was enacted over Nixon’s veto so that Congress could play an active role to weigh the merits of war and reflect the American people's will *before* the president unilaterally launched an attack.

The lawmakers who crafted the WPR stated hostilities "encompasses a state of confrontation in which no shots have been fired but where there is a clear and present danger of armed conflict." That’s exactly what Trump's military buildup is and why I am forcing a vote next week.

Like the votes before the Iraq war, this could be one of the most consequential votes in the history of Congress. Are we going to stop another endless dumb foreign war? Or will the neoconservatives mislead us once again?

🧵 Rep. Ro Khanna

🇮🇷🛢🇨🇳 Iran remains China's biggest source of oil as of October 2025.

After the fall of Nicolas Maduro, China's reliance on Iran for oil has likely increased as the remnants of Maduro's regime have ceased all oil exports to Beijing.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 With a US-Iran war looking imminent, it is time to revisit Nicholas J. Spykman's Rimland theory:

Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia;
Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.

The Rimland roughly corresponds to the geographical areas of EUCOM, CENTCOM and INDOPACOM. The US is the sea power trying to rule Eurasia by controlling the Rimland.

Iran remains China's biggest source of oil and in return Iran buys Chinese technology, giving plenty opportunities to collect data and refine its tech for a real conflict with the US over Taiwan.

Controlling Iran is essential for containing the power of the Eurasian bloc, a battle between sea and land.

@CIG_telegram

🇫🇷❌🇮🇹 Emmanuel Macron responded to Giorgia Meloni after she described the killing of 23-year-old Quentin Deranque in Lyon as “a wound for the whole of Europe.”

Macron said nationalist leaders are often quick to comment on events beyond their borders, adding: “If everyone minded their own business, things would be just fine.”

📝: Macron's France is the same country which refuses to this day to extradite Italian communist terrorists (Red Brigades, see Years of Lead) continuing a policy instituted by the socialist president, François Mitterrand, who at the time argued that those terrorists would not receive "fair" sentences in Italian courts.

In 2018, Emmanuel Macron was awarded the Charlemagne Prize by the EU "[for] his inspiring vision of a re-founding of the European project and his passionate fight against nationalism and isolationism."

🔗 Europa.com (@europa)

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — BREAKING: President Trump is considering an initial limited military strike on Iran as a way to pressure Tehran into agreeing to a nuclear deal, according to WSJ.

➡️ The opening assault, which if authorized could come within days, would involve hitting a small number of military or government targets, with the possibility of expanding the campaign if Iran does not agree to restrict its nuclear program.

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷📝 Anon: The option for a limited strike against Iran is a gamble but the likelihood of Tehran conceding to Trump's (Israel's) maximalist demands of dismantling its nuclear program and its missile arsenal is next to none.

Another option is that this article is part of a deception campaign by the United States which aims to fool the Iranians into believing that an imminent strike is merely part of negotiations and not in fact a threat to the regime’s survival. This places the Iranians in a dilemma. When strikes happen, are they in a use it or lose in scenario? Or are they warning strikes. They might not know until it’s too late.

If you’re in the Iranian govt’s position what do you do? You’re playing with a lot of risk here and you’re getting mixed messages. Is the regime actually in danger? Are you willing to take that risk?

@CIG_telegram

🇬🇧📁 — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been released.

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — President Trump declares Iran has 10-15 days to make a deal with the United States.

🇺🇸👽📁 — President Trump has decided to distract the American people from the Epstein files by releasing files about aliens and UFOs.