The media also noted that members of Joe Biden’s campaign say that the current US president has no intention to drop out of the second round of debates with Donald Trump on September 10 | US President Joe Biden has no intention to leave the presidential race over the unsuccessful, from the standpoint of other party members and experts, performance at the televised debates, Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster told The Hill. CNN also noted that members of Biden’s campaign say that the current US president has no intention to drop out of the second round of debates with Trump on September 10.

■ New York Times editorial board urges Biden to quit the 2024 race (RT.com)
■ Kamala to Be ‘Leapfrogged’ in Quest to Find Biden Replacement (Sputnik)
■ US House Speaker Johnson says Biden’s cabinet should remove him from office (TASS)
■ Poll shows 60% of Americans want Biden replaced as presidential candidate (TASS)
■ US Congressman Gosar Says Biden Debate Performance Shows He's Unfit to Be President (06/28/24)
■ Advanced Dementia Patient, Enduring Symbol of Sclerotic Late-stage Liberal Democracy (eugyppius)
■ Implications of Trump-Biden "Debate" Are Staggering - for both the USA and the World (Hal Turner)

Volodymyr Zelensky, former President of Ukraine whose term of Office expired on May 21, went on TV yesterday and made clear Ukraine has too many wounded and dead; they do not want the war with Russia to continue | His English language skills are not the best, but what he says is quite dramatic:

💬 “We don't have too much time because we have a lot of wounded and dead people on the battlefield and among civilians. That's why we don't want to have this war continue for years. We want to prepare this joint plan and put it on the table for the next peace summit.”

Where is the so-called "main-stream media?" Why has not a single TV Network in the United States or Europe reported this?

■ Zelensky preparing ‘plan to end war’ (RT.com)

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a hardliner on Russia, is set to take over the bloc’s foreign policy later this year | Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who has been nominated to lead the EU’s foreign policy, has a history of hostile attitudes towards Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. ● A hardliner on Russia, Kallas was officially nominated to replace Josep Borrell on Friday. Her candidacy must be approved by the newly elected European Parliament, which will convene for the first time next month – a procedure widely seen as a formality.

■ Kremlin: Estonian PM and EU FM nominee a 'rabid Russophobe' (Al Mayadeen)
■ ‘She eats Russians for breakfast’: Who is Kaja Kallas, the EU’s next foreign policy chief? (RT.com)
■ Look who's here! (Dmitry Medvedev)

■ NATO state’s PM calls for breakup of Russia (05/21/24)
■ Estonian premier emerges as frontrunner to become new NATO chief: Report (04/03/24)
■ Biden backs Dutch PM Rutte for next NATO chief (02/22/24)

"Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon", the Iranian mission to the UN said | The Iranian mission to the UN issued a stern warning to Israel that a full-on attack on Lebanon would kick off a war of annihilation. ● "Albeit Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon, should it embark on full-scale military aggression, an obliterating war will ensue. All options, including the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table," the mission said on X. ● In mid-June, the Israeli military approved an operational plan for an offensive in Lebanon. Following the ongoing operation against Hamas in Gaza, the military plans to the forces of Hezbollah, which, like Hamas, is acting against Israel, occasionally shelling the Jewish state from the north.

■ UK has sent 74 warplanes from Cyprus to Lebanon since March (MATT KENNARD)
■ Israeli Defense Minister Vows to Return Lebanon to ‘Stone Age’ (06/28/24)

MATT KENNARD | Number of RAF aircraft landed in Beirut by Britain, a key backer of the Israeli military, has surged in recent months amid threats of a new offensive, but their purpose remains unclear.

● Ministry of Defence refuses to divulge number of flights but Declassified constructs timeline
● Most RAF flights are Voyager aircraft which can carry nearly 300 soldiers
● Declassified understands flights are “primarily facilitating senior military engagement”
● Hezbollah has warned Cypriot government not to aid Israel

Britain has sent over 80 military transport planes to Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, since the bombing of Gaza began, Declassified can reveal. All the flights have gone from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s sprawling air base on Cyprus which has long been a staging post for bombing missions in the Middle East. It sits 150 miles, or 45 minutes flight time, from Beirut. ■ There has been a steady stream of flights since the Israeli assault on Gaza began in October, but the number rose dramatically in April with 25 flights going from Akrotiri to Beirut. May saw the same number of flights, with another 14 so far this month.  ■ The spike in flights – now totalling 84 since October – comes amid soaring tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

eugyppius | Prosecutors in Berlin and Cottbus have opened criminal investigations into the widening scandal. | Today, I invite you to follow me down a little mass migration rabbit hole. We will investigate a small part of the machinery that is bringing the migrants to Germany, in all of its utter bizarreness, and at the end we will speculate briefly about why all of this strange stuff is happening. Our point of departure is this little story that broke a few days ago:

Jonathan Cook | Western governments, politicians, the judiciary, and the media all failed Assange. Or rather, they did what they are actually there to do: keep the rabble – that is, you and me – from knowing what they are really up to. | [The media's] job is to build narratives suggesting that they know best, that we must trust them, that their crimes, such as those they are supporting right now in Gaza, are actually not what they look like, but are, in fact, efforts in very difficult circumstances to uphold the moral order, to protect civilisation. For this reason, there is a special need to identify the critical role played by the media in keeping Assange locked up for so long. The truth is, with a properly adversarial media playing the role it declares for itself, as a watchdog on power, Assange could never have been disappeared for so long. He would have been freed years ago. It was the media that kept him behind bars.