At the battle of Stirling Bridge, 11 September 1297, the movie Braveheart has William Wallace provoking the English to battle, saying "Here are Scotland's terms. Lower your flags, and march straight back to England, stopping at every home to beg forgiveness for 100 years of theft, rape, and murder. Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today. ... Before we let you leave, your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his legs, and kiss his own ass."
Putin's Nuclear Crisis - August 2025
Donald Trump on Truth Social said, "Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia. Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the security Council of the Russian Federation. I have ordered 2 nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case. These foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be 1 of thoseinstances. Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Later, in an interview with Newsmax, Trump said in reference to moving the submarines, "We had to do that. We just have to be careful." "A threat was made, and we didn't think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful." "When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared. And we're totally prepared, he said, adding that the submarines were being moved "closer to Russia." Trump did not specify if he was referring to nuclear-powered submarines or those armed with nuclear weapons. The Navy, which normally does not discuss deployment of submarines, declined to comment. Later asked by reporters why he ordered the submarine deployment, Trump claimed: "A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we're going to protect our people."
Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies noted on LieveNow from FOX "Dmitri Medvedev, who is let me be blunt about this, is both Putin's lap dog and attack dog. That's sort of his role here, and he is trying to intimidate president Trump. He is trying to intimidate the US and make us cow. He recalls very well, frankly that every time he threatened Biden, Biden said we can't provoke President Putin. We want to deescalate. and Biden did things like say "well we can give some defensive weapons to Ukraine but nothing offensive. ... I'm afraid under Biden you were preventing Ukraine from losing quickly. but allowing them to lose. slowly. May continued " I think what president Trump is doing now with the submarines is simply making very clear. you're not intimidating me you don't want to threaten me, you don't want to threaten the United States. you don't want a war withus. Don't know. Do youunderstand what that would mean for you, You would lose very, very badly. Stop Bluffing like this."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he doesn't think Medvedev should be considered a decision-maker in Russia but added that his comments can't be ignored. "Obviously, he's someone who once held office there and is still in a government role, and his words are going to have an impact in the role of a provocateur," Rubio told Fox Radio on July 31. This isn't the first time Trump and Medvedev have clashed. The former Russian leader has been a vocal critic of Trump and recent US strikes on Iran. But it appears to be the first time an exchange between the two may has led to the real action.
The Russisan Foreign Ministry issued a statement 04 August 2025 concerning a moratorium on deploying ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles. "Since 2023, we have observed instances of US systems capable of ground-launched INF strikes being transferred to the European NATO countries for trial use during exercises that clearly have an anti-Russia slant, such as exercises in Denmark which involved the use of a mobile Mk70 launcher. In the Asia-Pacific, we note that under the pretext of exercises, a Typhon mid-range capability missile system was delivered to the Philippines in April 2024 and remains stationed there. The same system was used in Australia in July during live-fire exercises as part of the Talisman Sabre 2025 multilateral training. During those exercises, the US military carried out the first overseas deployment of the Dark Eagle intermediate-range hypersonic system, openly stating that this was done to "project power" and emphasising the system's rapid redeployment capability. Furthermore, during Talisman Sabre 2025 exercises, an Australian crew of the US-supplied HIMARS system launched a US-made PrSM missile, which had been tested by the Pentagon in 2021 at a range exceeding 500 km and qualifies as a ground-based INF-class missile. These missiles were launched by the US Army from the Republic of Palau in June 2024 using an advanced autonomous HIMARS-based platform. Notably, these PrSM tests and PrSM missile firing exercises effectively mean that every M142 HIMARS and its tracked counterpart, the M270 MLRS, can be regarded as ground-based INF launchers."
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Russia acknowledges the dissolution of conditions for maintaining its unilateral moratorium on deploying ground-based intermediate and short-range missiles, and no longer considers itself bound by the previous self-imposed restrictions. "There are no longer any restrictions on this matter in Russia. Russia no longer considers itself constrained in any way," Peskov told reporters, commenting on the Russian MFA's statement that the Russian Federation no longer considers itself bound by the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of INF missiles. Russia maintains that it has the right to take steps on the placement of ground-based intermediate and short-range missiles if necessary, he added. "Russia considers itself entitled, if necessary, to take the corresponding measures and steps," Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President. said.
On 13 August 2025, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said that Russia and Belarus will rehearse planning for the use of nuclear weapons and Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missiles during their Zapad-2025 military exercises. “For us, this is a strategically important element, above all for deterrence,” he said after a closed-door meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
At the meeting, Khrenin told Lukashenko that the armed forces of both countries will practice “the planning of nuclear weapons use” and the use of the Oreshnik missile system, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to supply to Belarus. “As required by the head of state, we must be ready for anything. We see the situation on our western and northern borders, and we cannot simply stand by and watch the militarization and military activities of NATO countries,” he said, noting that Belarus favors peace, “but we must keep our powder dry” in the arsenals.
The Zapad-2025 drills, whose active phase is scheduled for September, will involve at least 13,000 Belarusian troops, along with an unspecified number of Russian forces. In late 2024, Belarus signed a security agreement with Russia, after which Putin indicated the possibility of deploying Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missiles in Belarus in the second half of 2025. At that time, Putin said his country was ready to defend Belarus “with all the forces at its disposal,” including the tactical nuclear weapons that Moscow deployed in the neighboring country after the start of the Ukrainian conflict.
Ukraine attacked one of Russia's nuclear power plants in a spate of overnight drone attacks, Russian authorities said 24 August 2025. The operators of the Russian nuclear power plant in its western Kursk region and the region's governor said in posts to messaging app Telegram early on Sunday that Russian air defenses had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to the nuclear site shortly after midnight local time. Kursk borders northeastern Ukraine.
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