INTERNACIONAL
US–Russia flashpoint looms over Putin’s plans for African naval base
The Trump administration is warning of «serious consequences» over Russia’s plans to open a naval base in war-torn Sudan. News of the development of the base has triggered an unusual warning from the State Department, Fox News Digital was told.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia’s defense sector.»
The Kremlin appears to be desperate to join the Horn of Africa global powers «naval club,» with its approved plans for a base for warships and nuclear-powered submarines at Port Sudan. This is not far down the Indian Ocean coast from Djibouti, where there are U.S. and Chinese bases. With the new Syrian government likely to kick the Russians out of their base in Tartus, Port Sudan would be Russia’s only foreign naval base.
«Moscow views Sudan, because of its strategic location, as a logical place to expand Russia’s footprint into Africa, which Putin views as a key place of geopolitical confrontation with the United States and China,» Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst, told Fox News Digital.
WORLD FORGETS ‘CATASTROPHIC’ WAR IN SUDAN AS RUSSIA, IRAN, OTHERS REPORTEDLY FEED FIGHTING WITH ARMS
This picture taken on Feb. 28, 2021, shows a view of the Russian Navy frigate RFS Admiral Grigorovich (494), anchored in Port Sudan. (Ibrahim Ishaq/AFP via Getty Images)
«Russia views the U.S. and China as its top adversaries, with whom Moscow may in the long-term have a kinetic conflict. Hence, Putin wants intelligence and military capabilities stationed close to the U.S. Djibouti base and Chinese facilities,» she said.
«Given that the U.S. and China already have [a] naval presence off of the Horn of Africa,» Koffler added, «Russia is looking at Port Sudan as a logistics hub for weapons transfers, storage of military hardware ammunition, all sorts of war-fighting capabilities.»
«The potential Russian naval logistics facility in Sudan would support Russian power projection in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean,» John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. He added that «this issue has gained greater importance for Moscow, given the uncertainty over the future of its Tartus naval logistics facility.»
A Russian naval base in the Indian Ocean has strategic military implications — it’s a relatively short sailing distance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a choke point through which an estimated 12% of the world’s shipping passes, while 61% of global oil tanker traffic is also said to use the canal. Koffler said this poses a significant security threat.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yousuf Al-Sharif shake hands during a press conference in Moscow on Feb. 12. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
«If Russia perceives an impending escalation against Russia, let’s say in Ukraine — such as an impending deployment of NATO forces or draconian economic measures designed to tank [the] Russian economy — I would not rule out the possibility that Putin could authorize something disruptive to exploit the choke point and destabilize or disrupt global shipping, as a way of deterring Western actions threatening Russia.»
The deal permitting Moscow to build a military base has been given the green light, although there are serious logistical challenges involved. «The agreement between Sudan and Russia was finalized in February, following a meeting between Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Yusef Sharif and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow,» Koffler explained.
US TROOPS IN STANDOFF IN AFRICAN NATIONS AS COLD WAR-LIKE TENSIONS TAKE HOLD ON CONTINENT
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov at the Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk, Russia, on Sept. 23, 2014. (Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)
Hence the strongly worded comments to Fox News Digital from the State Department that «the United States is aware of the reported deal between Russia and the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] on establishing a Russian naval facility on Sudan’s coast. We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia’s defense sector, which could trigger serious consequences, potentially including sanctions on entities or individuals associated with those transactions.
«Moving forward with such a facility or any other form of security cooperation with Russia would further isolate Sudan, deepen the current conflict, and risk further regional destabilization. «
On the (very) dry land that is Sudan, the situation Monday around the city of Al Fasher and the neighboring massive Zamzam refugee camp in the Darfur region is «horrifying,» U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Tom Fletcher posted.
Maxar satellite imagery of the ground at the Main Market Zamzam IDP civilian camp in Al Fasher on Feb. 13. (Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies via Getty images)
The civil war in Sudan, between the government’s SAF and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has just passed its grisly second anniversary. Tens of thousands have been killed, and an estimated 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes. The U.N. describes it as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and UNICEF calls it «hell on earth.»
«There can be no overstating the brutality and destructiveness of the RSF assault on Zamzam (refugee camp),» Sudan researcher Eric Reeves told Fox News Digital this week. «The camp that has existed since 2004 is no longer, even as it had grown to more than 500,000 people.»
Ominously, Reeves added that «the real dying has only just begun. Nearly the entire population of Zamzam has fled, and in all directions the threat of RSF violence remains. This creates insecurity of a sort that prevents humanitarians from reaching these scattered people. Tremendous numbers will die either from RSF violence or the lack of food, water and shelter.»
Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Sudanese rebel group active in Sudan’s Darfur State, which supports army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, attend a graduation ceremony in the southeastern Gedaref state on March 28, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Another 30 were reported killed on Tuesday in a fresh RSF attack on Al Fasher. And just this past week, the RSF rebels announced they are setting up their own government. The State Department told Fox News Digital, «The United States is deeply concerned about the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and aligned actors’ declaration of a parallel government in Sudan. This attempt to establish a parallel government is unhelpful for the cause of peace and security and risks a de facto partition of the country.»
«It will only further destabilize the country, threaten Sudan’s territorial integrity, and spread wider instability throughout the region. The United States has made clear that our interest is in the restoration of peace and an end to the threats the conflict in Sudan pose to regional stability. The best path to peace and stability is an immediate and durable cessation of hostilities so that the processes of establishing a civilian government and rebuilding the country can begin,» the spokesperson said.
Sudanese displaced people gather at the Zamzam refugee camp outside the town of El-Fashir in the Darfour region of Sudan on July 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, File)
Caleb Weiss, editor of the FDD’s Long War Journal and also a Defections Program Manager at the Bridgeway Foundation, put some of the blame for not ending the Sudanese war on the Biden administration. He told Fox News Digital that it «stopped short of seriously facilitating any sort of meaningful peace talks/mediation/or being tough on outside backers of various groups to really get them to be serious in previous negotiation attempts. This is where the Biden administration failed.»
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Weiss continued, «President Trump should continue to be aggressive on sanctioning those committing acts of violence, but also sponsor and back serious peace talks that include both parties, offer financial incentives or even threaten financial penalties, and seriously hold international backers accountable for exacerbating the conflict.»
La orden del ministro de Defensa
Un tanque del ejército de Israel, cerca de la frontera con Gaza, este miércoles. Foto: REUTERS Benjamin Netanyahu reúne a su gabinete de seguridad
Más muertos en un centro de distribución de comida
Camiones con ayuda humanitaria esperan para entrar a la Franja de Gaza por el cruce de Rafah, en la frontera con Egipto. Foto: AP INTERNACIONAL
‘Should have been prepared’: GOP senators fight for unified message on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
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Now that the Senate has fled Washington until after Labor Day, Republicans finally have a chance to sell President Donald Trump’s «big, beautiful bill» to their constituents, but some fear that Democrats already have an advantage in the messaging war.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said that Republicans could «absolutely» do better in selling the colossal bill to combat Democrats’ «lies.»
«Well, we should have been prepared right off the bat and talked about, ‘No, we’re not talking about reforming Medicaid designed for [women, children and the elderly]. We’re looking at how we can save and preserve it and repair the damage done by the Obamacare addition to it,’» he told Fox News Digital. «We should have been talking about that, but we didn’t.»
SENATE GOP READY TO GO NUCLEAR AFTER SCHUMER’S ‘POLITICAL EXTORTION’ OF NOMINEES
President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Since Trump signed the bill into law, and throughout the entire process to get it to his desk, Democrats have largely been unified in their attacks against the bill, rebranding it as Republicans’ «big, ugly betrayal,» and targeting cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and a litany of other policies.
«It’s a very unpopular bill, so if I were them, I would probably go out and start trying to spin,» Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital.
Messaging against the bill has become routine in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s floor speeches, where he often targets the cuts to Medicaid touted by the GOP as reforms to a broken system.
«The more Americans learn about the Republicans’ bill, the more they are realizing that Donald Trump and Republicans sold them a raw deal,» the New York Democrat said in a floor speech last week. «The Republicans’ ‘big, ugly betrayal’ is one of the most devastating bills for Americans’ healthcare that we’ve ever seen.»
TRUMP TELLS SCHUMER TO ‘GO TO HELL’ OVER SENATE NOMINEE DEAL FUNDING DEMANDS AFTER NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., turns to an aide during a news conference where he commented on Elon Musk’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s spending and tax bill, at the Capitol in Washington on June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Polling of the bill’s favorability among Americans is also working against Republicans. A Fox News poll conducted in June after the House GOP passed the legislation found that 59% of respondents opposed the bill.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., charged that «90% of the media is lying» about the bill, and countered that Republicans were actually increasing Medicaid spending faster than the rate of inflation «to the tune of $200 billion a year when it’s all said.»
«This is not the first message like this that we’ve struggled to get the truth through,» he told Fox News Digital.
«Republicans need to lean into it,» he continued. «We worked really hard, and we’re going to save and preserve Medicaid for those who need it the most. And we need to be sharing that.»
TAX CUTS, WORK REQUIREMENTS AND ASYLUM FEES: HERE’S WHAT’S INSIDE THE SENATE’S VERSION OF TRUMP’S BILL
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) arrives for a Senate Republican Caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 2, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., contended that Republicans shouldn’t be shy about the work they put into the bill.
Hawley, shortly after the bill passed early last month, held an event in his home state pushing the bill. He, alongside former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., lauded the bill’s inclusion of his Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which renewed and expanded compensation funding for people exposed to nuclear waste.
When asked if Republicans had gotten off to a slow start on selling the bill, he said that too much time had been devoted to talking «about Medicaid, for my own taste.»
«It’s less of that,» he said. «Talk about the tax cuts in this bill for working people, you know. I mean, that’s what people want. I mean, I was asked when I went home. I was asked immediately by people, ‘When are those no taxes on tips? When does that start?’ So, I mean, people are tracking it, but they’re tracking what’s for them.»
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And Sen. Tommy Tubberville, R-Ala., charged that Democrats had «zero credibility» when it came to bashing the GOP for cuts and reforms.
«We got a lot of time,» he told Fox News Digital. «There will be a lot of water underneath the bridge. You won’t hear about the ‘big, beautiful bill’ here in another year because there’s going to be a couple more big, beautiful bills.»
politics,senate,donald trump
INTERNACIONAL
NATO member scrambles jets after Russian drone attack near border, as Witkoff meets with Putin
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Romania was forced to scramble F-16 jets after Russia carried out a strike just half a mile from the NATO nation’s territory.
The country’s Ministry of National Defense (MApN) confirmed in a post on X that Russia carried out a drone attack near its border.
«On the night of August 5-6, the Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on the civilian infrastructure in the Ismail area, Ukraine, in the vicinity of the border with Romania,» Romania’s defense ministry wrote in a post on X.
«The radar systems of the MApN detected air targets in Ukrainian space, close to Tulcea County. At 1:10a.m., the population in the north of the county was warned via RO-Alert,» the ministry added. RO-Alert is Romania’s official emergency warning system.
Flames and plumes of smoke in Ukraine seen from Romania as Russia continues the war. (East2West news)
NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA’S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE
The defense ministry stated that two F-16 fighter jets took off «to monitor the national airspace,» but no «unauthorized intrusions» were detected. The ministry said it would carry out checks in the area and keep NATO allies updated in real time.
The drones reportedly struck oil and gas pipelines at the Orlivka plant in Odesa, Ukraine. Bright orange flames and plumes of smoke were visible across the Danube River.
Nearby Lithuania has also suffered from Russia’s war on Ukraine. Drones from Putin ally Belarus crossed into its territory, according to Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys, who said he spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
«These repeated incidents represent an alarming sign of the spillover of Russia’s aggression against [Ukraine] onto [NATO territory],» Budrys said of the incident. «We cannot compromise the security of our country and citizens, nor the integrity of NATO airspace. We must remain vigilant, as the threat is real and growing.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow, Russia Aug. 6, 2025. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters)
RUSSIA LAUNCHED ITS LARGEST AERIAL ATTACK OF THE WAR, UKRAINE SAYS
This attack could signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not moving closer to reaching a ceasefire deal, despite President Donald Trump’s Friday deadline. It’s unclear whether Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit will push the Russian leader to move toward peace. However, if Moscow fails to make a deal by Friday, the U.S. will impose sanctions on Russia and potentially secondary tariffs.
Trump is reportedly putting pressure on Witkoff’s visit. One person close to the administration told the Financial Times that «if Witkoff comes back empty-handed, with absolutely nothing, Trump is going to go ballistic.»
President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Witkoff reportedly spent about three hours at the Kremlin and, according to Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the «dialogue will prevail,» Reuters reported.
TRUMP CONFIRMS NUCLEAR SUBMARINES «IN THE REGION» AHEAD OF WITKOFF’S RUSSIA VISIT
Before setting the deadline, Trump reportedly spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about securing a deal that would end the brutal war more than three years after Russia’s invasion. Zelenskyy later confirmed the conversation took place, saying that the «key focus» was ending the war.
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«Today, we coordinated our positions – Ukraine and the United States. We exchanged assessments of the situation: The Russians have intensified the brutality of their attacks. President Trump is fully informed about Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities and communities,» Zelenskyy wrote on X.
East2West News contributed to this report.
russia,nato,ukraine,europe
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