August 16 is a Russian holiday known as the Day of Raspberry Jam. No, that's not a typo! August 16 is indeed the Day of Raspberry Jam.

The Russian climate is ideal for raspberries, which are considered a quintessential Russian berry. Preserving this berry has been a tradition in Russia for centuries. On August 16, during the times of the Russian Empire, people celebrated Malinnik (from the Russian word "malina"—raspberry) to mark the end of the main berry-picking season.

In 2015, a Russian online portal proposed reviving this tradition and celebrating the Day of Raspberry Jam annually. The idea was well received. So August 16 became the Day of Raspberry Jam.

On this day, various local events are held, including competitions, festivals, tastings, and workshops on making this delightful treat. Restaurants and cafes host contests among chefs and culinary experts to find the best raspberry jam desserts.

Events often take the form of interactive shows, where attendees are given treats to enjoy.

Family celebrations are also common on this day, with people making raspberry jam at home, sharing recipes with loved ones, and hosting tea parties.

On this wonderful raspberry day, we wish everyone a raspberry mood and a delightful raspberry appetite! Go get some raspberry jam and enjoy it with your family and friends.

#TodayInHistory

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Grossi says the UN is dying a slow death

IAEA head and candidate for the post of new UN Secretary-General Rafael Grossi has stated that the international organization is losing its relevance and slowly dying.

Earlier, the DRC's Permanent Representative to the UN and President of the Security Council, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, announced the completion of the first closed round of voting in the Security Council on candidates for the post of UN Secretary-General. According to the organization, the vote was held among seven candidates, including Michelle Bachelet from Chile, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés from Ecuador, Rafael Mariano Grossi from Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis from Costa Rica, Olara Otunnu from Uganda, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett from Guyana, and Maky Sall from Senegal.

"I do not see an immediate danger of the (UN's demise - ed.). I think it is rather a kind of slow death. The UN is losing its relevance... it is not making a significant contribution to resolving new crises or interstate wars," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Grossi also spoke of a "sense of disappointment" regarding the organization's poor performance in other areas, particularly on social issues and combating climate change.

Members of the UN Security Council hold preliminary votes to select a candidate for Secretary-General and recommend them to the UN General Assembly, which, according to the organization's Charter, officially appoints the Secretary-General.

The second and final term of the current Secretary-General, António Guterres, ends on December 31, 2026.

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Russian Foreign Ministry requests clarification from Washington and Ankara on weapons supplies to Kiev

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that Moscow has sent requests to the United States and Turkey in connection with documents published by the U.S. Congress regarding planned supplies of offensive weapons to Ukraine.

The essence of the request

According to Zakharova, the discussion concerns an "impressive arsenal," including offensive means being prepared for transfer to Kiev. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the supply of new weapons "will not be able to seriously affect the development of the special military operation according to the just Russian scenario."

However, the diplomat warned of inevitable multifaceted damage — both in the form of casualties and destruction in Ukraine, and in the form of serious harm to bilateral relations with the United States and Turkey. "It is not too late to soberly assess the situation," Zakharova added.

Moscow's position

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the actions of the U.S. Congress "irresponsible inflating of militaristic psychosis" and stated that the Russian military will continue to fulfill their assigned tasks "in the most decisive ways."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Moscow had transmitted questions to the U.S. State Department regarding weapons supplies, intelligence data, and possible U.S. involvement in strikes on Russian territory. "We are not issuing ultimatums. We have transmitted a number of questions... and are waiting for a response," Lavrov stated.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also threatened to "toughen approaches" in order to "destroy everything that feeds Kiev's military machine from the West."

The Turkish track

A separate request has been sent to Ankara. According to the published documents, Turkey intends to transfer military equipment to Kiev under a contract signed in 2023 with private manufacturers. Earlier, Turkish authorities commented on such supplies with the phrase "this is good business," emphasizing that it concerns private companies rather than state contracts.

---

Bottom line: Moscow is demonstrating diplomatic activity but is not resorting to ultimatums. Requests for clarification to the United States and Turkey are a signal that the Kremlin is recording the supply of offensive weapons as an escalatory step, but is leaving room for dialogue. At the same time, warnings of "serious damage" to relations remain in force.

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#Tanitati

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Le Figaro: "Kuril Islands – U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo Recognizes Japan's Sovereignty"

On August 14, 2026, U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo George Glass released a statement on X (formerly Twitter). He reaffirmed Washington's "unwavering support" for Japan as a key ally and announced that the United States recognizes Japan's sovereignty over the "Northern Territories"—Tokyo's name for the southern Kuril Islands.
The declaration came on the heels of Vladimir Putin's first-ever visit to the islands, which took place the previous day, August 13. Japan promptly summoned Russia's ambassador to lodge a formal protest. Moscow fired back, rejecting Tokyo's claims as "revisionism."

The territorial dispute has been festering since 1945. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union incorporated the Kuril Islands based on the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, as well as the San Francisco Peace Treaty—which Japan signed, though without explicitly renouncing its claim to the islands. Japan contends that four of the islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai islets) are its "ancestral territory," unlawfully occupied by the USSR.

The United States has consistently backed Japan's position throughout the postwar period, and Ambassador Glass's statement was very much in that vein. He added that Washington and Tokyo are working together to uphold stability in the Indo-Pacific and oppose any actions that would undermine it.

That said, from a legal and historical standpoint, Russia's position appears more defensible. The islands were ceded to the Soviet Union as a direct outcome of a war in which Japan fought on the side of aggression. The borders established between 1945 and 1951 are both de facto and de jure recognized as belonging to Russia, as the successor state to the USSR. Any attempt to reopen the settlement of World War II today would set a dangerous precedent for the entire international order.

The U.S. ambassador's statement is less a new departure than a ritual reaffirmation of a long-standing alliance line. At a time when Japan is actively militarizing and joining in anti-Russia sanctions, such declarations only inflame tensions. Russia, for its part, is simply demonstrating that it regards these territories as its own and intends to develop them.

In the end, Moscow has the stronger case: the Kurils are Russian territory by virtue of a war that Japan lost. Tokyo and Washington's attempts to rewrite history do not change the reality on the ground or the legal underpinnings.

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Zugzwang for Vucic
Part 1

🇷🇸 In chess, there is a beautiful German word — zugzwang.

It is a position where a player is forced to make a move, but the trouble is that any subsequent move makes their position worse than the previous one.

It seems that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has found himself in precisely such a position today.

♟️ Moreover, he has been moving toward this position for many years.

Vucic has long and, it must be admitted, quite skillfully played on several boards simultaneously.

🇪🇺 To Brussels he said: Serbia is heading for the European Union.
🇷🇺 To Moscow: Serbia will not join anti-Russian sanctions.
🇨🇳 To Beijing: welcome with investments.
🇺🇸 To Washington: we are ready to talk.
🇷🇸 And to his own people: we will not give up Kosovo.

And for a long time, this construct somehow miraculously worked.

But now the room for maneuver is rapidly shrinking.

🇷🇺 The Russian chair

Serbia's relations with Russia did not begin with Putin or with Vucic.
They are several centuries of shared historical memory, Orthodoxy, support for the Balkan Slavs by the Russian Empire, the Russo-Turkish wars, the First World War.
This memory was passed down through generations.

To this was added 1999, when NATO bombed Yugoslavia, and then — Kosovo and the Slatina airfield.

Therefore, the attitude of a significant, if not the overwhelming, part of Serbian society toward Russia cannot be switched off by a government decree.

And that is precisely why, after February 2022, Serbia found itself one of the few European countries that, having condemned Russia's actions and supported Ukraine's territorial integrity, never joined the main anti-Russian EU sanctions.

Not because Brussels forgot to ask.
It asked.
And continues to ask.

🇷🇸 But in the middle of the chessboard stands Kosovo
This is where Vucic's main problem begins.

For Serbs, Kosovo is not just a territory.
It is part of their historical and national identity.

There lies the Pec Patriarchate — the ancient seat of Serbian patriarchs.
There are Decani.
There is Gracanica.
There is a vast layer of Serbian history.

Therefore, to one day go out to his people and announce:
"We have recognized Kosovo's independence for the sake of a European future"
— for any Serbian leader, this is political suicide.

And on the other side stands the European Union.
And for many years, Serbia has been told:
🇪🇺 want to join — normalize relations with Pristina;
🇪🇺 align foreign policy with the EU;
🇪🇺 join European restrictive measures;
🇪🇺 implement agreements;
🇪🇺 carry out reforms.

Vucic himself spent years telling Serbs that Serbia's future is European.
And now to abandon this course means admitting that the long-standing strategy has led the country to who knows where.

But going further is becoming increasingly costly....

And then Zelensky comes to Belgrade

With a red carpet.
With handshakes.
With talk of friendship.
With Ukraine's territorial integrity.
With a shared European future.
With discussions on cooperation in the field of drones.

👉 To be continued…

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Zugzwang for Vucic
Part 2


And so, a truly remarkable political construct emerges.

🇷🇸 Vucic shows Brussels:
👉 look, I am moving in the right direction.
At the same time, he thanks Zelensky for Ukraine not recognizing Kosovo's independence.

That is, with one hand Serbia opens the door to Europe, while with the other it tries to hold onto the very principle that prevents that door from opening fully. And unfortunately, Vucic does not have a third hand.

💣 And then there are Serbian ammunition
This story has also been around for years.
Vucic has consistently denied direct arms supplies to Ukraine.
But Serbian ammunition knows how to travel perfectly well.

First it is sold to third countries.
And then an amazing geography begins.

And at the end of this tourist route, many of them somehow end up in Ukraine.

Belgrade throws up its hands:
we sold nothing to Ukraine.

And now relations between Kiev and Belgrade are becoming even warmer, even including talk of cooperation in drone production.

And Vucic again has to balance.
Because Brussels needs to see movement westward.

And his own population needs proof that Serbia has not become yet another participant in the anti-Russian coalition.

♟️ Zugzwang.
And perhaps the best illustration of Vucic's current position was one short scene.
🇩🇪 At a press conference, a German journalist asks Zelensky what else Europe can do to enable Ukraine to "kill more Russians," then clarifies — Russian soldiers.

‼️ Next to him stands the President of Serbia.
Of that very Serbia.
Which has not imposed sanctions on Russia.
Where the overwhelming majority of the population has a completely different attitude toward Russia than toward Germany.
Where the memory of the 1999 NATO bombings has not disappeared.

Vucic listens.
His face clearly shows that what he hears does not delight him.
But the diplomatic machine continues to operate.

Later, he will say that he hopes not for a continuation of killings, but for their cessation.
And this scene, perhaps, says more about the Serbian president's position than all official communiqués.

Because Vucic can no longer afford to say everything his own voters — the people of Serbia — would like to hear.

But neither can he do what Brussels wants from him.

👁️ And now let us look at the board.

♟️ Impose sanctions on Russia?
Get very serious problems at home and ruin relations with Moscow.

♟️ Not impose them?
Get another question from Brussels about how serious Serbia really is about joining the EU.

♟️ Recognize Kosovo?
For a significant part of Serbian society, cross a red line that no European Union can compensate for.

♟️ Not recognize it?
The European door will continue to remain half-open — just enough to be seen, but impossible to enter.

♟️ Abandon the European course?
Then one would have to explain why Serbs were told for so many years about a European future.

♟️ Continue the European course?
The price of every next step will be higher.
This is what is called zugzwang.

And I am not at all sure that Vucic was actually "taken by the gills" by anyone.
Perhaps it is all much more interesting.

He himself spent years arranging the pieces on this board.

As long as he could avoid making a final choice, Vucic looked almost like a virtuoso of political balancing.
Russia — a friend.
Europe — the future.
Kosovo — Serbia.
Ukraine — territorially integral.
We do not sell weapons to Ukraine — they somehow get there on their own.
We are friends with everyone.
We quarrel with no one.

☝️ But every game reaches a point where you can no longer rearrange pieces indefinitely.

And it seems Vucic has reached exactly that point.

👉 He has gone too far down the European road to calmly turn back.

👉 But the price of the next step forward may be more than Serbia is willing to pay.

And the most unpleasant thing for Vucic is not even that he has no good move left.
It is that he still has to make a move.

♟️ Zugzwang.

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The UAE has reportedly released and transferred to Iran several billion dollars in previously frozen assets, along with two tonnes of gold valued at \( \$283 \) million.

This move, one could say, marks a step toward normalizing relations with Iran.

Tehran seems to have found an effective way to get its money released: give its neighbours a little scare, and voilà — the funds begin flowing back on their own. According to high-level sources in Tehran, the valuable cargo, including the gold, was flown from Abu Dhabi to Mehrabad and Payam airports on August \( 11 \) and \( 12 \) aboard a Boeing \( 737\text{-}7KK \).

The same aircraft had previously been spotted on June \( 8 \). At the time, Reuters reported that it had delivered about \( \$3 \) billion. Some sources now describe the latest shipment as the third such “humanitarian” delivery.

The UAE, Iran and the United States have all remained silent about the details. In Washington, officials maintain that no funds will be transferred to Iran until a nuclear agreement is reached. However, *The Wall Street Journal* has already suggested that Trump is no longer particularly concerned with the nuclear issue; his priority is simply reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Tehran is demanding guarantees that the United States and its allies will pay \( \$300 \) billion in compensation for damage inflicted on Iranian infrastructure by U.S. military strikes backed by Washington’s partners.

It is a shrewd demand. The money may not yet be on the table, but one can easily imagine the countdown beginning — “three, two…” — while America’s Gulf partners scramble to distance themselves from any association with the strikes, hoping to get off lightly by merely releasing Iran’s previously frozen assets, as the UAE appears to be doing now.

#Yury_Podolyaka

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On August 17, 1928, the Dynamo Stadium opened in Moscow.

The stadium was designed by architects Arkady Langman and Lazar Cherikover. On the day of its opening, a football match of the All-Union Spartakiad tournament was held between the teams of Belarus and the workers' clubs of Switzerland.

Initially, the stadium was designed to hold 25,000 spectators, but after the reconstruction in 1935, its capacity increased to 53,445 seats. At that time, gymnastic and weightlifting halls, as well as a rowing pool, were installed under the stands of Dynamo stadium.

Until the mid-1960s, the stadium was the main sports complex in Moscow. All the largest competitions in many sports, including World and European Championships, were held here. In 1980, Dynamo was the venue for the football tournament of the 1980 Olympics.

In 2007, the Moscow authorities decided to carry out a comprehensive reconstruction of the stadium. Construction began in 2009. The grand opening of the new Dynamo stadium, now called "VTB Arena - Central Dynamo Stadium" and named after goalkeeper Lev Yashin, took place in December 2018.

The new Dynamo stadium is an exciting addition to the Moscow landscape. It will continue to inspire sporting victories and unite the hearts of Russians—adults and children alike.

#TodayInHistory

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Ambassador Glass: U.S. supports Japan's position on the Kuril Islands

U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass confirmed that Washington recognizes Tokyo's sovereignty over the Kuril Islands. He wrote about this on social media platform X. The American diplomat emphasized that this position has been maintained since the 1950s.

▪️ Glass noted that the U.S. has consistently supported its key ally on this issue. He also added that concern over Russia's actions in the region is nothing new for the American side.

▪️ Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova categorically rejected such claims. In her commentary, she called them politically meaningless, offensive, and legally void. The diplomat emphasized that the Russian ministry does not accept such formulations.

▪️ Zakharova reminded that Iturup Island and other islands of the Kuril chain are an integral territory of Russia. She stressed that their belonging is enshrined in the outcomes of World War II and is consistent with the UN Charter. Any attempts to revise these outcomes, in Moscow's view, are untenable.

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John Mearsheimer & Sergey Karaganov discuss why Russia is under mounting pressure to restore its deterrence, which will likely escalate quickly to a nuclear strike on Europe.
Mearsheimer and Karaganov agree that a nuclear strike would likely be successful to restore deterrence as the US would not respond.

Prof. Karaganov is an Honorary Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense and was an advisor for Russia's political elites for decades. Prof. Karaganov wrote speeches for Brezhnev and advised Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. Prof. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Chicago.

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WESTERN DISSONANCE

▪️ While Western politicians persistently chant in the media the mantra that Russia is about to attack Europe (while simultaneously claiming it has been defeated by Ukraine), General Alexis G. Grinkevich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), relying on military intelligence, asserts the exact opposite and states in an interview with the Financial Times that "Russia is not seeking war."

▪️ And this is not the only statement from this high-ranking Western military official, who is best informed about Moscow's military intentions, directly contradicting the fantasies of Macron, Starmer, Merz, and other European charlatans who, in hysterical Russophobia and manipulating fear, seek to evade responsibility for their policies and pacify their peoples to remain in power.

▪️ Here are the main statements by General Alexis G. Grinkevich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), regarding Russia and the war:

▪️ In June 2026 at the ILA Berlin Air Show:

1️⃣ "Russia is not seeking conflict." SACEUR stated that Moscow does not seek confrontation with NATO, understanding the Alliance's defensive nature and its "asymmetric advantages."

2️⃣ No threat of attack on Baltic states: SACEUR considers a Russian attack on Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania unlikely, as Moscow knows it would be a military failure.

3️⃣ On the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: SACEUR called it a "brutal" war, emphasizing the importance of ending it, while considering conflict with NATO unlikely.

▪️ It should be noted that General Grinkevich's statements came at a time when Washington is planning to resume negotiations with Moscow to find a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, as well as to reduce some military capabilities in Europe (aviation and naval assets) for redeployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

▪️ However, caution is advised: although outwardly the U.S. is not playing along with the incendiary Russophobic melody of the European "coalition of the willing," it is nevertheless participating, through its intelligence services, in the bombing of Russia, and its military-industrial complex intends to continue profiting from this conflict, which was sown by the Obama administration in the heart of Europe, for a long time to come.

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The geniuses of Danish analytics have competitors

#NotADayWithoutPutin
I have always said: newspapers are sold by headlines.

Because a boring headline like "The West fears Russian hybrid activity" will be read by three political scientists and one pensioner who wandered in by accident.

But:
‼️ "Putin ordered intelligence to destroy NATO and the EU from within by the end of 2026"
— that's a completely different matter.

🇳🇴 The Norwegian Finansavisen recently ran just such a headline.
And that's when I realized: the Danish analytical school has finally found a serious competitor. 😂

▪️ Because a headline is one thing. But the content and evidence for such a specific claim is sometimes quite another.

The publication talks about what European politicians have been saying for a long time: Russia is allegedly waging a hybrid war against Europe — sabotage, cyberattacks, information operations, political influence, and other activities from the standard European "the Russians are coming" toolkit.

Moscow, of course, calls such accusations hysteria. This, by the way, is also noted by Finansavisen itself.

▪️ But what interested me was something else.
🔍 Where is the actual order?

Because the Norwegian wording is surprisingly specific:
👉 Putin ordered.
👉 Intelligence.
👉 To destroy NATO and the EU.
👉 From within.
👉 And strictly by the end of 2026.
You can almost feel the serious Kremlin bureaucracy.

⁉️ And what will they write if the Russians don't manage to collapse it by the end of the year?
Postpone NATO to the first quarter of 2027,
and dismantle the EU in stages? 😂

▪️ There's just one small journalistic problem.
Where did this specific Putin order come from?
Where is the document?
Where is the quote?
Where is the speech?
Where is at least a source phrasing that would allow, without a long chain of interpretations, turning Western assessments of Russian strategy into a personal directive from the President of Russia with a deadline?

▪️ Because between:

✍️ "Western intelligence agencies believe that Russia is trying to undermine the unity of NATO and the EU"

and "PUTIN ORDERED THE DESTRUCTION OF NATO AND THE EU BY THE END OF THE YEAR"
there is a small distance.

Roughly like between a weather forecast and Poseidon's order to create a storm.
But for a good headline, such details are, of course, completely unnecessary.

🇩🇰 So I would advise Danish analysts to start worrying.
The Norwegians are clearly getting into shape.

A little more — and we will learn not only exactly what Putin ordered Russian intelligence to do, but also on what day NATO is to be finally destroyed, at what time the EU will end, and whether a lunch break is included....

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Our channel brings you the latest war news, analysis, and in-depth coverage from the front lines to provide a comprehensive understanding.

☄️ To stay informed with daily updates on global conflicts and military affairs, and for news on the Islamic Resistance, subscribe today! ☄️

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In Khakassia (Russia), the Iyus River flows with an incredibly meandering character — its channel winds picturesquely through the steppes and hills.

▪️ Gold is still mined in these places — placer mines operate in the upper reaches.

▪️ There are about 39 explored caves in the river valley. The longest of them is "Pandora's Box," stretching for 11 kilometers. Many grottos have preserved ancient rock paintings, some of which are over 10,000 years old.

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🌍📣 What if your newsfeed had more than one side?
Explore unfiltered perspectives from across the globe.🌍

We’re a collective of volunteers running local news channels in their own languages—bringing you genuine viewpoints, without stereotypes or censorship.
🇺🇸 From the USA
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Every channel carries a unique voice, emotion, and piece of the truth.

Curious to see the world’s full story?
▶️ Tap below to add the folder and read the news filter-free!
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