Ukrainian Expert Dismisses Trump Pledge On Patriot Missile License As Empty PR
President Trump’s declaration from the NATO summit in Turkey this week saying that he’ll give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot defense systems has been met with a lot of skepticism, both among Ukrainians and internationally.
“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump had said. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.“
Zelensky seized on the opening, telling reports on Thursday, “America has recognized Ukraine as a country that is ready to do this” and urged Ukrainian and American officials to now work “without pauses” to finalize the licensing arrangements.
Immediately the Associated Press raised some relevant questions, such as: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?… also while pointing out that under the best conditions, getting such production off the ground would take ‘years’. It wrote:
Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, development director of the Fly Group Ukraine defense company, said Trump’s wording was ambiguous because he referred broadly to producing “Patriots,” without specifying whether he meant missiles, launchers, radar systems, command centers or components.
Missile production alone involves a vast supply chain, Khrapchynskyi said, with hundreds of companies making parts such as control surfaces, engines, guidance systems and communications equipment.
Following this, on Saturday Ukrainian economist and financial analyst Alexey Kushch – considered an expert of Ukraine’s defense production – was cited in regional media as dismissing Trump’s promise as mere empty PR.
His commentary is below, featured in Russian media:
“I think that was a marketing statement,” Kushch said in an interview with Novyny. Live news website, referring to Trump’s pledge. According to him, only Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) production of Patriot missiles could be launched in Ukraine, using imported components. “Such production sites should be protected,” the expert explained. “The whole of Ukraine is exposed to [enemy] fire, and missiles can even reach the Transcarpathian Region,” he said. According to Kushch, Patriot production could be localized in his country only after the hostilities end.
“We don’t have a [Turkish] Bayraktar plant, or [German] Rheinmetall production either here yet,” he added.
As for Trump’s initial comments, he had also explained that American defense firms are already building “four plants” in the US and claimed that “all of our companies will be able to do this in two to three months.”
There have notoriously been immense backlogs when it comes to Patriot production, and there’s said to be great global demand among US allies, especially given depletions which have come as a result of the Iran war.
“Planet’s Strongest Heat Dome” To Bake America’s Heartland
What some meteorologists are calling the “planet’s strongest heat dome” is set to build over America’s heartland next week. Triple-digit temperatures are expected across the northern Plains, with dangerous heat pushing eastward into parts of the Mid-Atlantic.
“The planet’s strongest heat dome will develop over the Intermountain West and Plains into next week,” meteorologists Ben Noll wrote on X, adding, “This will produce rare levels of heat up to around 110 degrees in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas. On Sunday, Billings, Montana, could be hotter than Phoenix!”
The planet’s strongest heat dome will develop over the Intermountain West and Plains into next week.
This will produce rare levels of heat up to around 110 degrees in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas.
Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli also sounded the alarm, saying, “Whopper of a heat dome coming, and that’s no exaggeration! In all aspects: size, longevity, and especially intensity this will be extreme. The heat dome should shatter all-time records for upper level pressure in the Northern Plain States.”
‼️ Whopper of a heat dome coming, and that’s no exaggeration! In all aspects: size, longevity, and especially intensity this will be extreme. The heat dome should shatter all-time records for upper level pressure in the Northern Plain States. Actual Temperatures (not heat index)… pic.twitter.com/C3HF7N2nbL
Bloomberg data for the Lower 48 show that forecast high temperatures will be comparable to those recorded during the last heat wave from late June into early July.
High temperatures in Washington are expected to reach 100F by midweek.
Temperatures in New York City are expected to reach the high 90s by Wednesday.
It is likely that the PJM Interconnection grid will withstand the second round of heat, as the Trump administration has made it a priority to ensure maximum power generation during hot days when cooling demand surges.
Beyond grid stability concerns during peak-load hours, attention will likely turn to agricultural markets as critical growing regions bake under extreme heat. Wheat futures in Chicago surged 3% on Friday.
Tehran Declares Hormuz Closed, But Ships Are Still Transiting
The Strait of Hormuz’s southern shipping channel remained open Sunday morning despite a sharp escalation in tit-for-tat attacks, with the US launching a third round of airstrikes on Iran and Tehran retaliating against US-linked targets across Arab Gulf states.
“Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued at reduced levels, with vessels transiting via both the southern Omani corridor and the northern Iranian-controlled route,” the Joint Maritime Information Center wrote in a note early Sunday.
JMIC added, “Traffic patterns continued to reflect operator caution following recent attacks.”
US Central Command said the overnight strikes on Iran were to neuter its ability to attack commercial ships in the Hormuz chokepoint after a Cyprus-flagged container vessel was heavily damaged near the critical waterway. Iranian media reported explosions across key coastal and energy facilities, including Bushehr, Asalouyeh, and Bandar Abbas.
Our overnight US-Iran wrap detailed that Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US-linked military facilities in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Qatar said it intercepted incoming missiles, while air-defense sirens were reported across several Gulf states. Read the report here.
Despite Tehran declaring the Hormuz chokepoint “closed until further notice,” JMIC’s update on the southern Omani shipping corridor and Bloomberg data show a trickle of activity, which may only suggest Tehran’s total control of the strait is waning.
As for the normalization of tanker flows in the Hormuz chokepoint, the timeline now appears to be slipping. Many institutional desks had already priced in a gradual reopening and lowered their Brent and WTI forecasts (Citi was the latest), but that outlook now looks on hold.
US Population Growth Prospects Corrected Downwards
The population of the United States is projected to keep on climbing beyond 2100. However, the rate of increase that can be expected until 2050 has been significantly corrected downwards over the last couple of years.
As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, according to the Congressional Budget Office, 349 million people live in the United States in 2026. In 2050, this is expected to have risen to 364 million. In 2019, previous to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2050 forecast had still shown a U.S. population of 389 million.
As seen in the data, U.S. population projections were substantially impacted by Covid-19, as the country experienced high excess mortality and projections kept being corrected downwards due to this fact. In the years when the pandemic subsided, forecasts showed higher expected population numbers again, while 2025 and 2026 projections trended lower once more. The latest 2026 forecast reached a new low compared to the previous years’ ups-and-downs as U.S. net immigration fell majorly in 2025.
As a reversal of low birth rates seem more and more unlikely, immigration continues to keep U.S. population growth afloat. Immigrants have contributed more to it than net births have since the second year of the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, net births (births minus deaths) took a major hit from which they never fully recovered. The Congressional Budget Office expects U.S. net births to turn negative around 2030, at which point only immigration will be contributing to U.S. population growth.
But the U.S. population is not just growing slower, it is also aging in the process. While in 2026, there are 2.7 working-age Americans (25 to 64 years old) per one American aged 65 or over, this will have changed to 2.2 to 1 in 2056 as the big cohort of baby boomers continues to cross this age threshold. As a result, more strain is expected on safety net system like Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.
Sen. Lindsey Graham Dead At 71 Following “Brief And Sudden Illness”
Lindsey Graham, the Republican foreign-policy hawk from South Carolina, died abruptly on Saturday following what his office described as “a brief and sudden illness,” according to a statement posted on X.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” Graham’s office said.
Graham had served in the Senate since 2003 and was seeking a fifth term. He was in Kyiv on Friday before returning to Washington, where he was scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.
Emergency personnel responded to his home in Washington on a reported cardiac arrest on Saturday evening, according to NBC News.
President Trump commented early Sunday on Truth Social about the passing of the senator, calling him a “true American Patriot.”
Trump said, “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
Graham was once a fierce Trump critic, denouncing him during the 2016 presidential campaign before transforming into one of his most loyal supporters. He also advocated a hard line against Iran and consistently backed a strong US military posture overseas.
The European Commission is set to unveil next week an electrification target for 2040 in a bid to reduce the need for fossil fuels and strengthen the renewable energy sector in the EU, according to a draft proposal seen by Bloomberg News.
The Commission, the EU’s legislative arm, is expected to propose on July 17 a target for the share of electrification, still unspecified, as part of the energy consumption in the bloc by 2040.
“With decisive action at all levels, Europe can become the first electro-continent,” the European Commission said in the document seen by Bloomberg News.
“This profound transformation will require investments and lead to savings and benefits well beyond the energy system, from clean tech manufacturers to the installation sector, from more modern and competitive industries to emissions and pollution reduction in European cities.”
Higher electrification rates could help the EU replace two-thirds of its gas consumption and halve its oil consumption, according to provisional EC estimates in the draft proposal.
The expected decline in fossil fuel consumption could reduce the bloc’s energy import bill by a total of $228 billion (200 billion euros), the EC reckons.
The EU’s current electrification rate is about 23% and has been stagnant at around this number for nearly a decade. At the same time, countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have exceeded a 30% electrification rate.
The EU currently has an implicit electrification rate target of 32.5% by 2030, according to estimates by clean energy think tank Ember based on the individual National Energy and Climate Plans.
The EU Electrification Action Plan, expected next week, would contain an “ambitious electrification target,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this year.
The electrification target is expected to be expressed as a yet-to-be-defined percentage share of energy consumption by 2040, according to the draft document seen by Bloomberg News.
As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, in January, this projection had still stood at 3.3 percent. While the downgrade is slight, it still conveys the multiple risks to the global economy currently present. As shocks from the Iran war persist, driving up the price of energy and other traded goods, disinflation has stalled and financial markets continue to be at risk of negative reactions.
The IMF saw a positive aspect in the global AI boom, creating an increase in demand for related technologies.
Two countries upgraded since the last forecast were China and the UK, the latter one on a very low level, however. Other countries where economic growth is paper-thin and decreasing are France, Germany and Japan. All three are expected to grow by only 0.6–0.7 percent each this year. This number was as low as 0.9 percent for the Euro Area and 1.1 percent for Canada, giving rise to some doubts around the economic prospects of developed countries in general. The IMF meanwhile said the global economy weathered the current shocks “better than feared”.
The organization also said that global first-quarter growth in 2026 turned out better than expected at an annualized 3.0 percent quarter-over-quarter, slightly above forecast. According to the IMF, the rise in renewable energy use was making economies less vulnerable to elevated energy prices which are currently an issue. The AI boom also helped some countries and territories to achieve better economic growth numbers, but this was mostly limited to Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. China could also grow more than expected on the back of public investments and a high-tech manufacturing surge. Much of the rest of the world, however, pretty much suffered the negative effects of the current crisis without many upsides.
The IMF concludes that risks to the world economy were more balanced than in April, but still pointed in a negative direction as both peace in the Middle East and gains from the AI boom remain fragile. It also cautions that trade tensions could resurface as a result of war-induced shortages, which would put an additional damper on the economy.
“That was a Beria operation in Stalin’s time. It was deactivated twenty years ago.”
– The Living Daylights
How did KGB agents commit suicide? Two shots to the back of the head. (all photo content as-found)
Remember Lavrentiy Beria’s cheerful advice: “Show me the man, and I will find the crime”? Back in the Soviet Union they had so many laws on the books that everybody broke at least one before lunch, I mean, when lunch was available. And if they didn’t, they could make up something. Beria just needed enough spies and informants to spot the right violation.
Beria would have loved modern America. We’ve upgraded his whole operation with better cameras, faster computers, and added actual profit margins.
Not everyone who comes into your life is your friend. Some are just surveillance cameras. (btw, she was innocent, but the police didn’t apologize)
Maps of the cameras exist online, but those rely on humans, and it shows only three of the eight within five miles of my house in Modern Mayberry. I could plot an avoidance route if I had nothing better to do than play spy versus spy on my commute, or build a detector like Benn Jordan did.
Most of us have jobs and families instead. But, hey, we’ve funded a system so that every time you get on the road, you’re creating a record that will last as long as they have storage. And cops can now use this to stalk their ex-wives, so it’s a double win, right?
The result is giant databases full of regular people doing regular things. But don’t worry! If you’ve been good, you’re fine. And if you’re Hillary Clinton or Jeff Epstein, all the data will be lost.
Big Tech loves this data game because it prints money for them. They track my habits down to the weirdest details (really, kittens eating salami?) and sell the profiles to insurers, advertisers, and anyone else with a checkbook.
My patterns become their product. They turn my life into a spreadsheet and then mark it up like a used-car dealer who knows you really need that transmission fixed today.
Speaking of cars, they’re getting chatty, too.
Modern ones log every trip, every hard brake, every late-night drive. Some already phone home to the manufacturer and won’t work unless the software license is up to date. Insurance companies will pay good money for a direct feed on how I actually drive instead of guessing from your age and ZIP code.
Soon enough, the car might call the cops if it thinks I had one too many. My pickup turns into the world’s most expensive designated snitch.
Hopefully, during the 4th of July holiday you didn’t get distracted and miss the big picture: The British blew a 13 colony lead.
Ninety-nine percent of us carry cell phones that never stop reporting. Every search, every video, every song gets logged. Cops have started treating a phone left at home like suspicious behavior (I’m not making this up). The little rectangle in your pocket is the most reliable witness I never hired.
Big companies with this much reach do have a kryptonite®: governments. They do exactly what the government asks. They bent over backwards to limit talk about COVID and elections under the last administration. Books and posts that wandered off the approved script vanished from platforms: I know, I made a COVID joke on a podcast and it was sent to podcast jail.
The same tools will work just as well for whoever sits in the big chair next. They already proved they can move fast when someone important asks nicely.
Harvey Silverglate spelled this out in his book Three Felonies a Day. Federal law has grown so broad and fuzzy that a decent prosecutor can usually find something to charge anyone with. Normal life now sits inside a minefield of possible violations. Add constant surveillance and the minefield gets floodlights, motion sensors, and a searchable menu.
Stalin put a ? after the name of every traitor: they question Marx.
The Code of Federal Regulations stretches to roughly 190,000 pages or almost the number of words in a GloboLeftist meme. Rules multiply every year. Nobody can read the whole thing, and if they did, another 10,000 pages would have been added in the meantime. When surveillance supplies the evidence, the vague laws and regulations become precision weapons. Who cares if you’re guilty? Just being charged is punishment for the innocent. The process is the point.
Government and Big Tech® now hold detailed maps of where you drive, what you read, who you talk to, and how you spend your time. Also notice that they don’t bother to use these to catch murderers in Chicago or gang criminals. No, they’re encouraging that violence.
Beria ran on fear and informants. The updated model runs on sensors, algorithms, and sweet quarterly earnings. It costs less to operate and reaches farther and hardly ever complains about running out of vodka. The economics make perfect sense for the people building it, because collecting the data is cheap once the hardware is installed.
The Surveillance State runs on convenience for the watchers and profit for the builders. Beria would have been jealous of the efficiency and probably asked for stock options.
Don’t you love it when totalitarian communism and capitalism overlap?
From California’s fruit and vegetable farms to the Midwest’s vast corn and soybean fields, agriculture looks very different across the United States.
Using the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), this graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, ranks every state by its agricultural production value in 2024.
America’s Largest Agricultural Economies
The table below shows each state’s agricultural production value in 2024.
Together, the top 10 states account for well over half of America’s agricultural production value. Geography, climate, water availability, and decades of specialization have helped create distinct regional farming economies across the country.
California Remains America’s Agricultural Giant
California generated $67.4 billion in agricultural production value in 2024, nearly twice as much as any other state.
Its combination of specialty crops, fruits, vegetables, nuts, dairy, and favorable growing conditions allows it to produce more agricultural value than any other U.S. state despite accounting for only a small share of the nation’s farmland.
Texas, another large state by both population and land area, ranks third nationally, generating $37.6 billion driven largely by cattle production.
The Midwest Is America’s Food Engine
While California tops the rankings individually, the Midwest dominates collectively.
The region accounts for 44% of U.S. agricultural production value, powered by states including Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, and Illinois. Taken together, these states produce over 60% of America’s corn volume.
Many Midwestern states also specialize in soybeans, livestock, and dairy, forming the backbone of both the U.S. food system and global agricultural exports. This makes the Midwest one of the world’s leading agricultural production corridors.
A Diverse Agricultural Economy
Agricultural strength varies widely by region. Western states generate high-value specialty crops, vineyards, and dairy, while Southern states are major producers of poultry, cotton, rice, and cattle. Although Northeastern agriculture is smaller by value, it remains an important source of dairy, produce, and regional food supply.
This regional specialization helps make the U.S. one of the world’s leading agricultural producers and food exporters, supplying both domestic consumers and global markets alike.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the states with the most farmland.
The company revealed that a recent test demonstrated progress toward a high-performance, lower-cost propulsion option. The test also met the Department of War’s goal to provide superior advanced weapon systems, at affordable mass, that will outpace adversaries and expand the range of solutions available to the warfighter.
“This test is an important step in proving solid fuel ramjet propulsion can deliver the speed, range and affordability our customers need,” said Scott Alexander, President, Missile Propulsion, L3Harris.
“We are reducing risk now so we can move faster toward a scalable capability for the warfighter.”
Full-Scale Test Of New Solid Fuel Ramjet Fuel Grain
L3Harris highlighted that the event marked the company’s first full-scale test of a new solid fuel ramjet fuel grain specially formulated to significantly reduce the cost of fuel when compared to historical industry standards.
During the ground test, the team ignited and operated the system in a direct connect flight-representative environment, allowing engineers to evaluate performance across a large portion of the simulated flight envelope. Initial results showed propulsion levels were consistent with expectations for flight operation, giving the team valuable data as it continues to refine the design towards tactical missile system demonstration, according to a press release.
Disciplined Approach Marks An Essential Risk Reduction
This test event helps validate key performance characteristics as L3Harris accelerates towards flight testing, and this disciplined approach marks an essential risk reduction step in enabling solid fuel ramjet propulsion to help close a critical performance and cost gap for the U.S. military and allies.
“We are answering the Department of War’s call for longer-reach, more capable, lower-cost propulsion that is producible at the scale needed,” said Joel Warhurst, Director, Business Development, L3Harris.
“We are designing for manufacturing, performance and production capacity with a straightforward goal of more speed, more range at a cost point that supports affordable mass.“
With additional ground testing planned, the company is moving quickly from test data and refinement to tactical missile flight demonstration – advancing a propulsion solution designed for the speed, scale and affordability future missions will require, as per the release.
The latest test also demonstrates the company’s expanding expertise in advanced propulsion technologies following its acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s missile propulsion business. By combining propulsion innovation with modern manufacturing techniques, L3Harris aims to accelerate the delivery of next-generation missile systems to military customers.
As global defense requirements continue to evolve, advanced ramjet propulsion is expected to play a crucial role in future missile systems by providing higher sustained speeds, extended engagement ranges, and improved survivability against sophisticated air defense networks. The successful demonstration positions L3Harris as one of the key industry players working to advance high-speed propulsion technologies for future operational needs.
