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Dear Abby gives advice to a reader who feels alone after his wife stopped returning his affection.

Bryan Betancur, 28, has an active arrest for an assault and battery offense that took place aboard a Silver Line train servicing the Clarendon Metro Station in Virginia on Sunday evening.

Macron Throws Out French Nuclear Policy Over Russia And China Threats

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday broke several decades of French nuclear taboos, promising to increase the country’s arsenal and positioning France for a lead role in European security.  Macron also called for the deployment of French nuclear capable aircraft to allied nations (which could potentially include Ukraine).  The new policies are some of the most significant changes in French nuclear doctrine since the end of the Cold War.

“Today, a new phase in French deterrence may therefore be taking shape. We are embarking on what I would call forward deterrence,” the French president said. That means increasingly including European countries in France’s deterrent – starting with participation in nuclear drills. 

“It will ultimately provide for the circumstantial deployments of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” Macron added, referring to the squadrons of nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets.

Macron cites threats from Russian and China as reasons for the decision. His announcement comes only a week after Russian Intelligence claimed they had uncovered a British and French plot to provide Ukraine with relevant European components and equipment that would then be misrepresented to the world as proof of a domestically developed nuclear program. This also allegedly included a plan to give Ukraine at least one actual warhead and/or materials for a dirty bomb.

It may be that there was some truth to this report and now France is simply abandoning clandestine strategies and implementing nuclear plans out in the open.  The Kremlin has warned that any presence of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would result in a direct military response to European suppliers.  They say this could include a nuclear response.

French political analysts note that Macron and his leftist political compatriots may be attempting to lock France into military action before the next presidential elections in 2027, so that new leadership will be unable to reverse course.  In other words, conservatives in France are gaining significant ground due to mass immigration issues and the leftist establishment is hoping to embed military forces in Ukraine before they lose power in government.  

Macron argued to qualify nuclear proliferation in his speech while standing at a podium in front of a nuclear submarine.  The statements came off as empty posturing, but the implications are still broad.

“Whoever wants to be free must be feared. Whoever wants to be feared must be strong…To be free, we have to be feared.”

France is, of course, not free.  The government has arrested and jailed numerous citizens in the past few years over online posts that violate the country’s leftist “hate speech” laws.  This mostly involves punishing people for speaking out against mass immigration.  This is why Macron’s strategy to bolster French military strength is unlikely to gain popular traction – Most young French people have no interest in dying for a government that wants to replace them with third world migrants.

Critics of the NATO handling of Ukraine have predicted that Europe has no intention of pursuing peace with Russia. Rather, they believe that European elites are seeking to trigger a wider war with Russia and drag the US into the middle of it.  The Trump Administration has been reticent rattle sabers over Ukraine and its peace proposals have been consistently thwarted by European leaders. 

Russian forces in the region continue to gain ground and Ukrainian troop strength is dwindling.  It would appear that the Europeans have decided to escalate rather than accept any agreement that would result in ceding territory to Vladimir Putin.    

Tyler Durden
Tue, 03/03/2026 – 02:45

The president’s remarks appeared to be a bid to push back against concerns about the U.S.’s weapon stockpile levels as the conflict with Iran escalates.

Trump Says He’s ‘Disappointed’ by Starmer For Blocking Use Of Diego Garcia For Iran Strikes

Authored by Evgenia Filimianova via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was disappointed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to use the joint UK–U.S. military base on Diego Garcia island to strike Iran.
A US Air Force weapons loader delivers a 2,000lbs bomb for loading into a B1 bomber at the Diego Garcia base, UK, on 22 Oct. 2001. USAF/DOD/AFP via Getty Images

In an interview with The Telegraph, published on March 2, Trump said that Starmer’s initial refusal to let Washington use the Chagos Islands base was unlike anything that had “happened between our countries before.”

Starmer confirmed late on March 1 that the UK had initially decided not to take part in U.S. strikes against Iran, but said the security situation had changed as Iranian actions began threatening British personnel and interests in the region.

“We have British jets in the air as part of coordinated defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted Iranian strikes,” Starmer said. “But the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source – in their storage depots or the launchers which used to fire the missiles.”

Starmer said that he would now allow the United States “to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose.”

Trump said it “took far too long” for Starmer to change his mind.

“It sounds like he was worried about the legality,” he said.

The base on Diego Garcia is regarded by the United States as one of its most strategically important military hubs. Located roughly 2,300 to 2,400 miles from the southern coast of Iran, it allows long-range bomber and naval operations across the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.

In a Feb. 18 post on Truth Social, Trump warned that the facility could become critical if tensions with Iran escalated further. He wrote that if Tehran refused a diplomatic agreement, the United States might need to use Diego Garcia and the airfield at RAF Fairford in England to prevent a potential Iranian attack on the UK or its allies.

Diplomatic Tensions, Parliamentary Delay

Trump’s criticism also comes amid continuing debate over the UK’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a British overseas territory, to Mauritius.

Under the terms of the agreement, signed in October 2025, the British–U.S. naval and bomber base on Diego Garcia would remain under UK control for at least 99 years, ensuring continued access for U.S. forces.

The UK government has said the agreement was necessary to safeguard the long-term operation of the base, following a series of international court rulings that weakened the UK’s legal position.
An image released by the U.S. Navy shows an aerial view of Diego Garcia. U.S. Navy via AP

According to Starmer’s remarks in January, the issue of the Chagos deal had been raised repeatedly with the White House, and he maintained that the Trump administration had already reviewed and supported the agreement at an agency level.

Trump has criticized the UK’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an “act of total weakness” in January.

“All of a sudden [Mauritius] was claiming ownership. He [Starmer] should have fought it out and owned it or make him take it, if you want to know the truth. But no, we were very disappointed in Keir,” Trump told The Telegraph, describing the Chagos deal as a “very woke thing.”

Last week, UK officials confirmed that Downing Street was pausing to discuss the matter with the United States before bringing the bill to ratify the Chagos deal back to Parliament.

“We are sometimes going to disagree with our friends and allies in public, but we will seek to resolve those issues in private,” British Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer told lawmakers on Feb. 25.

Referring to the UK’s decision to pause the process, Trump said it “is useful,” adding that “it took far too much time.”

“It would have been much better on the legal front if he just kept the ownership of the land and not given it to people that weren’t the rightful owners,” Trump said.

Security Risks

Roughly 300,000 Britons are believed to be in countries targeted by Iran, with 102,000 registered with the Foreign Office for alerts as officials weigh all options, including a potential mass evacuation.

Trump suggested Starmer should have always approved American use of the base, because Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country”.

“[There are] people without arms and legs and faces that have been blown up. Iran is 95 per cent of those. Those horrible events were caused by Iran,” Trump said.

Starmer said in his March 1 statement that Iran is “striking British interests” and “putting British people at huge risk.”

“Our partners in the Gulf have asked us to do more to defend them, and it is my duty to protect British lives,” he added.

Hours after his statement, a Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the UK’s Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus. The drone struck military facilities at the base at 12:03 a.m., causing minor damage but no casualties, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said in a post on X.
A dog sits at the main gate of the UK’s RAF Akrotiri air base after it was hit by a drone strike near Limassol, Cyprus, on March 2, 2026. Petros Karadjias/AP

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on March 2, a spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry of Defence said that it regularly reviews the security of its overseas bases, including the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

The ministry also said additional capabilities had recently been deployed to the island as part of efforts to maintain regional security and stability in the Middle East.

Those capabilities are focused on defensive operations and include radar systems, counter-drone technology, F-35 fighter jets and ground-based air defence systems designed to detect and defeat airborne threats.

PA Media contributed to this report. 

Tyler Durden
Tue, 03/03/2026 – 02:00

“False statements online have consequences in the real world.”

PPB Group is one of several companies controlled by the Robert Kuok, Malaysia’s richest tycoon, who started trading commodities after World War II and expanded in hotels, logistics, shipping and shipbuilding.

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The Rojiblancos hold a 4-0 lead in the Copa del Rey 2025/26 semi-final from the first leg and travel to Camp Nou on Tuesday, March 3rd.