World
US 'sleepwalking' into WWIII, experts warn nation is underprepared: 'We do not have our Churchill'
The U.S. is “sleepwalking” into a global war against its top adversaries united under an axis of “malign partnerships,” and experts are sounding the alarm that neither the U.S. military nor the public are prepared for World War III.
In late July, a body of non-governmental national security experts, first tasked by Congress in 2022 under the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, released an evaluation of the U.S.’ overall security strategy put forward by the Biden administration two years ago.
The commission found that after decades of post-Cold War policies that cut defense spending and reduced investments in the security sector, Washington, D.C., is “not prepared” to counter Beijing in open conflict, let alone a multi-front war against China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
Chinese and Russian warships take part in joint naval drills in the East China Sea, on Dec. 27, 2022. (Xu Wei/Xinhua via AP, File)
RUSSIA, CHINA HOLD BIGGEST WAR GAMES SINCE SOVIET ERA
The commission, which included four Republicans and four Democrats who served under the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations, looked to make clear the lack of preparedness was not the fault of a single administration, but rather the failure of a generation of leaders to identify and counter the growing danger posed by authoritarian nations, as well as to adequately explain the threat to the American public.
The experts explained the U.S. and its allies are facing a threat not seen from global powers since WWII, as Europe is witnessing the largest land war on the continent since 1945 – a war in which Russia is receiving aid from China, Iran and North Korea.
The threat of a major war between nation states, not just rogue militants or terrorist groups, looms in the Middle East, and the potential for open conflict in the Indo-Pacific also remains a serious concern.
“There’s been a generalized failure across our political class in educating the American public of the severity of these threats and the danger that they represent,” Amb. Eric Edelman, who served as vice-chair for the 2024 commission as well as co-chair or vice chair for prior commission reports, said during a briefing to reporters hosted by JINSA this week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin look toward each other as they shake hands prior to their talks in Beijing on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
“Historically, I’m sad to say, that when we’re faced with these kinds of challenges, we have typically responded after a catastrophe,” he added, referencing events like Pearl Harbor and 9/11. “Perhaps we can draw from some different lessons in history.”
The experts pointed to the decrease in defense spending – which has been in a downturn since 1952 when the U.S. allocated nearly 17% of its GDP for defense compared to the 3% allocated today – and warned this investment in security is not enough to adequately counter adversaries like China.
After reviewing unclassified war games, the commission found that even with Washington’s efforts to ramp up weapons stockpiles following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. would likely still exhaust its munitions inventories within three to four weeks if it were to engage in open conflict with Beijing.
TOP RUSSIAN OFFICIAL LANDS IN IRAN AMID US, UK CONCERNS OVER ALLEGED NUCLEAR DEAL
U.S. Army soldiers, from the 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade out of Fort Bragg North Carolina, conduct live fire testing of early versions of the Army Tactical Missile System at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on Dec. 14, 2021. (John Hamilton/U.S. Army via AP, File)
Some munitions like anti-ship missiles are estimated to last only a few days, and once expended, it will take years to replace the munitions.
Edelman pointed out that this is not a justification for ceasing military aid to Ukraine and highlighted that a direct war against an adversary like China or Russia would be substantially more expensive, let alone a global conflict not seen since the 20th century.
Battalion 120 territorial defense takes part in training exercises near the Belarus border in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on March 16, 2024 as the war between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for the last two years. (Photo by Gian Marco Benedetto/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Preparing ourselves for defense is essentially an effort to deter conflict,” Edelman said. “Whatever the cost of defense is going to be, it’s going to be paltry in comparison to what the cost of a war would be.”
Near the end of World War II, the U.S. allocated more than 40% of its GDP for its defense budget in 1943 and 1944, and the commission warned that modern wars, as seen in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Ukraine, are lengthy engagements.
“The United States must therefore ready its forces and its industrial base for the potential of protracted conflict,” the commission’s report said.
However, the experts also warned that preparing the U.S. for a global power struggle cannot be remedied by just throwing money into the defense budget, there also needs to be a “shift in culture.”
Mara Rudman, commissioner and former deputy assistant to the president for National Security Affairs during the Clinton and Obama administrations, pointed to steps China has been taking over the last several decades that have given it an edge over the U.S., including in its technology sectors and relationship building in Latin America, Africa and recently, the Middle East.
A view shows facilities under construction, which are owned by TALCO Gold Chinese-Tajik antimony and gold mining joint venture, at the Konchoch deposit in western Tajikistan Nov. 3, 2021. TALCO Gold, jointly owned by Tajikistan’s state metals firm TALCO and China’s Tibet Huayu Mining Co, plans to begin commercial production of antimony, a metal used in batteries and fire retardants, from the Konchoch deposits by October 2022. (REUTERS/Nazarali Pirnazarov)
“They spent the last 20 years building the Belt and Road Initiative, making sure that they control processing and mining for most of the critical minerals that we need for a range of different weapon systems we have, but also for our phones and for the kinds of cars we need to build, and for the batteries that we need to have across the board,” she told reporters this week. “That’s something we need to overcome.”
There has been an increasing push in Republican circles in the U.S. to move away from international involvement, contributing to a rise in isolationism that is similar to U.S. sentiments ahead of World War II, and experts are sounding the alarm that this needs to change if Americans do not want to find themselves embroiled in another global war.
REPUBLICANS DIVIDED ON RUSSIA’S SECURITY THREAT AS VANCE JOINS TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL TICKET
“It’s going to require leadership, and it’s going to require educating the American public,” Edelman, who served under the Bush administration, said.
The experts on the bipartisan commission were in agreement that the American people not only need to be better educated by their leadership but trusted that they can decide what is best for their nation when properly informed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, meets with a delegation led by Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Sergei Shoigu on Sept. 14, 2024, just days before the Russian official traveled to Iran. (KCNA via REUTERS )
Both the Biden-Harris administration and the Trump campaign were briefed by experts on the results of the commission.
While the White House and Harris campaign have not publicly commented on the findings, the former president’s response to the report seemed to run counter to what the commission urged, as former President Donald Trump called it “stupid” during a rally in late August – prompting the experts to question whether Trump had been properly briefed by his campaign.
“I really think it’s impossible to read the report that they’ve delivered and not believe that we are as a nation…sleepwalking into a great and potentially historic catastrophe,” host of the event and JINSA’s Charles & Randi Wax senior fellow, John Hannah, said. “We are not on the brink of a national crisis – in many ways, we’re already deep into a crisis.
“And we do not have our Churchill at the moment,” Hannah, who also served during the Bush administration, added. “The commission on the National Defense Strategy has fulfilled its mission. Now we need everybody else to play their part around the country and in the halls of power in Washington.”
World
AP honors Breanna Stewart as one of the top women’s college players during the Top 25 poll era
NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press honored Breanna Stewart before the New York Liberty’s game Tuesday night for being one of the greatest women’s college basketball players during the Top 25 poll era.
The AP celebrated the 50th anniversary of the women’s basketball poll last season. As part of it, a 13-member panel voted for the greatest college players of the past five decades. Stewart and Cheryl Miller were selected as the top players over the past 50 years.
The UConn great won four straight national championships and was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four each time. She was presented with her trophy at center court by AP Global Sports Editor Josh Hoffner a few minutes before tipoff of the Liberty’s game against the Dallas Wings.
Miller accepted her trophy at the Final Four in Phoenix last April at the “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience,” which was held at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Stewart couldn’t make that ceremony.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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Cuba’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an “act of war” by restricting fuel shipments to the island Tuesday, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz to deliver a forceful response blaming Cuba’s communist government for years of blackouts, repression and economic collapse.
The confrontation unfolded at the U.N. General Assembly one day after Cuba’s national electrical grid collapsed, leaving nearly 10 million people without power. It was the third nationwide grid failure this year and the eighth since October 2025, Reuters reported.
Cuban officials had restored electricity to parts of central Cuba and roughly one-third of Havana by Tuesday morning, although large areas remained offline or faced unstable service, according to Reuters.
CUBA PLUNGES INTO THIRD MAJOR BLACKOUT THIS YEAR AS POWER CRISIS WORSENS
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz holds up a photograph of jailed Cuban dissidents during a General Assembly debate on the U.S. embargo against Cuba at U.N. headquarters in New York on July 7, 2026. (UNTV)
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez told delegates that the Trump administration was carrying out a “multidimensional, non-conventional war” against Cuba that had grown “more cruel and ruthless in the last seven months.”
Rodríguez described U.S. efforts to restrict fuel deliveries as the imposition of “an energy collapse, equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war,” according to a UNTV transcript.
Waltz rejected the claim that the United States had established a naval blockade around Cuba.
“There is no ring of Navy warships, U.S. Navy warships sitting around this island blocking trade or humanitarian aid going into Cuba,” Waltz said. “It’s fake. It’s false. It’s a lie. Period.”
Waltz argued that the real embargo was the one Cuba’s government imposed on its own citizens.
HAVANA REGIME IN SUSPENSE AFTER CASTRO INDICTMENT WITH TRUMP PRESSURE ON, SAYS CUBAN-BORN GOP REP.
People walk on the street during a national electrical grid collapse, in Havana, Cuba, March 14, 2025. (Norlys Perez/Reuters)
“There’s a lot of talk today of an embargo. And indeed there is one,” he said. “It’s the embargo the Cuban regime mercilessly imposes on its own people decade after decade after decade.”
He called on Havana to “change your ways” and “turn the lights back on for your people,” while accusing Cuba’s leaders of ensuring that government compounds and propaganda operations had power even as families worried about spoiled food, hospitals losing electricity and phones running out of charge.
Waltz noted that Tuesday’s meeting came days before the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021, demonstrations, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets amid shortages of food, medicine and electricity and demanded greater freedom.
As Waltz spoke, a member of the Cuban delegation pounded on the table, prompting the ambassador to respond.
“This is not Havana. This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations,” Waltz said. “And we will speak, we will be heard, and we will not be silenced like your own people. So, pound away.”
Waltz displayed photographs and read the names of several jailed Cuban artists, musicians and activists, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Duannis Dabel León Taboada.
MILLIONS LOSE POWER ACROSS CUBA AS TRUMP SANCTIONS CONTINUE TO FUEL ONGOING ENERGY CRISIS
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks during a news conference in Havana. (Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini)
“They’re not armed. They’re not violent,” Waltz said. “They carry flowers, and write poems and write music. And for that, the regime beats them, detains them and tries to break them.”
Waltz also said GAESA, Cuba’s military-run conglomerate, controls approximately half of the country’s economy and holds $18 billion in assets.
Reuters has reported that estimates of GAESA’s economic reach range from approximately 40% to 70%, while Cuban officials dispute the U.S. government’s $18 billion figure.
Waltz said that despite Cuba’s blockade claims, humanitarian assistance had recently arrived from countries including China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Spain, as well as from the European Union and the United Nations.
He also said the United States had provided more than $100 million in aid this year and approximately $500 million annually in commodities.
“The answer is simple: because blaming the United States is the only economic plan Havana has left,” Waltz said of Cuba’s decision to bring the issue before the General Assembly.
CUBA SAYS CIA CHIEF RATCLIFFE MET WITH OFFICIALS IN HAVANA AMID US TENSIONS
Protesters gather outside a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, as a fire burns in the street during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital appeared to show demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Reuters)
Before the wider debate, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos objected to reopening the agenda item and called for a vote on whether the proceedings should go forward.
Bartos said the three-hour meeting would cost approximately $84,000, money he argued could instead provide food, emergency medical supplies and solar lanterns to Cuban families.
“Right now, Cuba is in darkness — again,” Bartos said. “I urge the Cuban regime: turn the lights back on for your people.”
Members of the Cuban delegation also interrupted Bartos several times by pounding on the table. Bartos at one point paused and responded, “Keep banging away. It’s very effective,” before continuing his remarks.
Bartos accused Havana of seeking “another propaganda clip” rather than solutions and pointed to what he said were more than 800 political prisoners held by the government.
Independent organizations have produced varying estimates. Human Rights Watch said in April that more than 700 people remained imprisoned for political reasons, while Prisoners Defenders reported more than 1,200 political prisoners in Cuba in the spring of 2026. Cuba denies holding anyone for political reasons.
“That is the real Cuban embargo,” Bartos said. “It is the embargo the regime imposes on its own people: on speech, on faith, on enterprise, on dissent, on political rights and hope — and now, quite literally, on light.”
Rodríguez accused the U.S. delegation of offering “worn-out lies” and attempting to prevent the General Assembly from debating the effects of American policy.
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Jeff Bartos, U.S. Representative to the United Nations for Management and Reform, addresses a meeting of the Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York City, Nov. 25, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Cuba’s electricity crisis has been driven by severe fuel shortages and an aging, poorly maintained power system that has struggled to meet demand. The Cuban government primarily blames U.S. restrictions, while Washington attributes the island’s broader economic crisis to communist economic policies, corruption and repression.
Reuters contributed to this report.
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
The attacks have triggered fires in two districts of Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor.
Published On 7 Jul 2026
Russian missile attacks have struck Kyiv in the third large-scale assault on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week.
Early on Wednesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on Telegram that the Russian strikes had triggered fires in two districts of the city.
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So far, two people have been injured, with one requiring treatment in hospital.
Earlier, on Tuesday, a Russian missile strike hit the southern port of Odesa injuring ten people, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. Eight were being treated in hospital.
Moscow also launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv on Monday, killing at least 14 people and damaging at least a dozen buildings.
Both Russia and Ukraine have recently expanded their use of long-range weapons, including missiles, marking a new front in Moscow’s four-year war.
Ukraine has focused its attacks on Russian energy facilities to weaken its war efforts.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that its drones attacked a dozen tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” over the past two days that were delivering fuel to Moscow-occupied Crimea. Kyiv’s military said they had struck eight vessels subject to sanctions in the Sea of Azov, each with a deadweight of about 7,000 metric tonnes. Two more tankers were hit later in the day.
The Sea of Azov is a key supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and other occupied parts of southern Ukraine.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 – in a move that has been unrecognised internationally – eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has not publicly commented on this week’s attacks on Ukraine, which also included strikes on electrical substations, radar systems, and missile installations.
Attacks amid NATO Summit
The latest exchange of fire between Russia and Ukraine comes amid NATO’s annual summit, which began on Tuesday. The military alliance’s leaders have gathered in Turkiye’s capital, Ankara, for the two-day conference, where defence spending and Russia’s war on Ukraine are under discussion.
NATO is expected to pledge further military support for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges the alliance to step up aid for the country’s air defences following the deadly escalation of Russian attacks on Kyiv.
Zelenskyy – who has renewed his call for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance – wrote on social media on Tuesday that he had signed new agreements with Estonia, the Netherlands, and Denmark in Ankara.
The deals create “new opportunities for joint production, the development of innovative defense technologies, systematic exchange of expertise, and the export of Ukrainian battlefield-proven solutions”, he said.
Further agreements are expected with Germany, Norway, Finland, and Canada.
US President Donald Trump is also expected to meet Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday, having spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the NATO gathering.
Asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Trump said he hoped it would be settled “soon”.
“I think they both want to make a deal,” Trump said.
“It’s too bad it took so long, but I think something’s going to come out.”
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