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John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, was indicted on Thursday — the third foe of the US president to be hit with criminal charges in recent weeks.The 76-year-old veteran diplomat was charged by a federal grand jury in Maryland with 18 counts of transmitting and retaining classified information.The 26-page indictment accuses Bolton of sharing top secret documents by email with two “unauthorized individuals” who are not identified but are believed to be his wife and daughter.It says he shared more than 1,000 pages of “diary-life” entries about his work as national security advisor via non-government email or a messaging app.The Justice Department said the documents “revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations.”Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.In a statement to US media, Bolton refuted the charges and said he had “become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department… with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.”Asked for his reaction to Bolton’s indictment, Trump told reporters his former aide is a “bad guy” and “that’s the way it goes.”- Trump critics in legal jeopardy -Bolton’s indictment follows the filing of criminal charges by the Justice Department against two other prominent critics of the Republican president — New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.The 66-year-old James was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia on October 9 on charges of bank fraud and making false statements related to a property she purchased in 2020 in Norfolk, Virginia.James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for financial fraud, has rejected the charges as “baseless” and described them as “political retribution.”Comey, 64, pleaded not guilty on October 8 to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.His lawyer has said he will seek to have the case thrown out on the grounds that it is a vindictive and selective prosecution.Trump recently publicly urged Bondi in a social media post to take action against James, Comey and others he sees as enemies, in an escalation of his campaign against political opponents.Trump did not specifically mention Bolton in the Truth Social post, but he has lashed out at his former advisor in the past and withdrew his security detail shortly after returning to the White House in January.- ‘Unfit to be president’ -A longtime critic of the Iranian regime, Bolton was a national security hawk and has received death threats from Tehran.As part of the investigation into Bolton, FBI agents raided his Maryland suburban home and his Washington office in August.Bolton served as Trump’s national security advisor in his first term and later angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, “The Room Where It Happened.”He has since become a highly visible and pugnacious detractor of Trump, frequently appearing on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called “unfit to be president.”Since January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.After Trump left the White House in 2021, James brought a major civil fraud case against him, alleging he and his real estate company had inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.A New York state judge ordered Trump to pay $464 million, but a higher court removed the financial penalty while upholding the underlying judgment.The cases against James and Comey were filed by Trump’s handpicked US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, after the previous federal prosecutor resigned, saying there was not enough evidence to charge them.Appointed to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation by then-president Barack Obama in 2013, Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 amid the probe into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 election.Trump was accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Neither case came to trial, and special counsel Jack Smith — in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president — dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.

A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York’s next mayor clashed in a debate with “high levels of testosterone” Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.Democratic candidate and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa pitched to voters in the first of two televised debates ahead of the November 4 election. Early voting begins on October 25.Mamdani attacked Cuomo for his alleged sexual misconduct and controversial governing record “sending seniors to their death in nursing homes” during the Covid pandemic.”Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have created the crime crisis in this city,” Sliwa said, gesturing at his two rivals.”There’s high levels of testosterone in this room,” he said later.Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Party primary, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the favorite for weeks, becoming the party’s official nominee.Mamdani has promised free bus services, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has panned as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million people was again upended when sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in corruption allegations, quit the race without endorsing another candidate.Cuomo, 67, was the state governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned over sexual assault allegations.Mamdani, 33, is a state lawmaker for the city borough of Queens and has run an insurgent grass-roots campaign that has motivated young New Yorkers at a high rate.- ‘Take on Trump’ -Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if he is elected, calling him a “communist.”But Mamdani said “I would make it clear to the president that I am willing to not only speak to him, but to work with him, if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New York.”Cuomo warned “Trump will take over New York City, and it will be Mayor Trump” if Mamdani won — mirroring the takeover of much of the administration of the capital Washington.Trump said Wednesday he had “terminated” the $16 billion Hudson Gateway tunnel linking New York to New Jersey, a years-long megaproject. Asked in the debate for his dream news headline, Mamdani said it would be “Mamdani continues to take on Trump.”Quinnipiac University polling suggests most voters will not have their minds changed by the TV debate with just 18 percent of Mamdani and Cuomo’s supporters “not likely” to alter their pick, compared to 24 percent of Sliwa’s backers.In the latest polling Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, is trailing a distant third with 15 percent in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33 percent and Mamdani’s 46 percent.Sliwa insisted he would not bow to inducements he alleged were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the claim — to quit the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.”I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s bribery, and it could be criminal,” Sliwa told AFP ahead of the showdown.One of the most acrimonious exchanges in the debate, held without an audience, centered on the safety of New York’s significant Jewish community.Cuomo accused Mamdani of not condemning Hamas and endorsing an epithet he claimed meant death to all Jews globally, while Sliwa accused both of being soft on hate crimes because of their endorsement of cash bail.”Why would (Mamdani) not condemn Hamas? He still won’t denounce ‘globalize the intifada,’ which means kill all Jews,” Cuomo said, drawing an instant rejection from Mamdani.Sliwa pointed to his leadership of a vigilante group saying he had “been there for all people at all times for 46 years as leader of the Guardian Angels here and around the world.”A second debate will be held on October 22.

From New York to San Francisco, millions of Americans are expected to hit the streets to voice their anger over President Donald Trump’s policies at nationwide “No Kings” protests.The last day of rallies by the “No Kings” movement — which unites some 300 organizations — drew massive crowds on June 14, as Trump staged a military parade in Washington on his birthday.It was the biggest day of demonstrations since the Republican billionaire returned to the White House in January to begin his second term as president.Four months later, organizers have planned more than 2,600 demonstrations coast to coast, with millions of people expected to participate again, a movement spokesperson said.Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union, told reporters Thursday that protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.””We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” she said.Leah Greenberg, the co-founder of the Indivisible Project, slammed the Trump administration for sending the US National Guard into cities, cracking down on undocumented migrants and prosecuting political opponents.”It is the classic authoritarian playbook, threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission. But we will not be intimidated. We will not be cowed,” Greenberg said.Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, called it an “obligation to fight for the people in America.”She said protesters were committed to making sure that “this is a country where we see a democracy going forward, not backward.”Beyond New York and San Francisco, protests are scheduled in major cities like Washington, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and New Orleans, as well as in smaller towns across the country.The “No Kings” movement is even organizing events in Canada, with rallies planned in Toronto, Vancouver and the capital Ottawa.

US President Donald Trump said he would meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Hungary after a “very productive” call Thursday, and questioned Kyiv’s push for Tomahawk missiles just a day before hosting Ukraine’s leader at the White House.In his latest abrupt pivot on Russia’s 2022 invasion, Trump said he expected to meet Putin in Budapest within the next two weeks for what would be their second summit since the American’s return to power.The Kremlin welcomed the “extremely frank and trustful” call and said it was immediately preparing for the summit. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that the threat of Tomahawks had pushed Moscow to negotiate, even as he deals with yet another Trump shift on the war.”I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” Trump said on his Truth Social network, saying he and Putin would meet to “see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.” The 79-year-old Republican later told reporters in the Oval Office that the call was “very productive” and that he expected to meet “within two weeks or so, pretty quick.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will swiftly meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to sort out summit details, Trump added.- ‘Momentum’ -Trump said the Russian leader “didn’t like it” when he raised the possibility during their call of giving Moscow’s enemy Ukraine the missiles with a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) range.But Trump appeared to cast doubt on whether Ukraine would actually get the American-made arms it covets, saying the United States could not “deplete” its own supply. “We need them too, so I don’t know what we can do about that,” he said.Trump’s relations with Putin — a leader for whom he has repeatedly expressed admiration over the years — have blown hot and cold since he returned to the White House in January.After an initial rapprochement, Trump has shown increasing frustration, particularly since he came away from Alaska with no end to the war he once promised to solve within 24 hours.Zelensky meanwhile has gone the opposite way, winning Trump’s support after a disastrous initial meeting in February when the US president berated him in front of the cameras.But Trump’s latest swing appears to have moved the dial again, leaving Zelensky having to negotiate the situation with Ukraine’s main military backer.Zelensky said as he arrived Thursday in Washington that he hopes the “momentum” of the Middle East peace deal Trump brokered will help end the war in Ukraine.”We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” Zelensky said, adding that he’ll also be meeting US defence companies to discuss additional supplies of air defence systems.- ‘Peace summit’ -The Kremlin hailed the “highly substantive” Putin-Trump call, which Putin’s top aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists was at Russia’s initiative.But Putin told Trump that giving Ukraine Tomahawks would “not change the situation on the battlefield” and would harm “prospects for peaceful resolution,” added Ushakov.Budapest had been discussed as a possible venue for the previous Trump-Putin meeting before they settled on Alaska.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained friendly relations with both men, said later that he had spoken to Trump. “Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway,” he said on X.The choice of Budapest also sidesteps an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes.Hungary has announced its withdrawal from the ICC yet is still theoretically a member until June 2026. But Orban gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a promise that he would not carry out the warrant when Netanyahu visited Hungary in April.In Ukraine the war ground on with Moscow renewing its attacks on Kyiv’s energy grid.Russian strikes forced Ukraine to introduce nationwide rolling power cuts, for the second day in a row, in the cold season when temperatures can fall to zero at night.

A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York’s next mayor go head-to-head for a TV debate Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa will make their pitch to voters in the first of two televised debates from 7 pm local time (2300 GMT) ahead of the November 4 vote. Early voting begins on October 25.New York’s astronomical cost of living, public safety and policing, and the candidates’ different approaches to relations with President Donald Trump if elected will be front and center.Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic party primary, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the favorite for weeks, becoming the party’s official nominee.Mamdani has promised free bus services, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has panned as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million people was again upended when sitting mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in corruption allegations, quit the race without endorsing another candidate.Cuomo, 67, was the governor of New York state from 2011 until 2021 when he resigned over sexual assault allegations, previously serving as a cabinet secretary under former president Bill Clinton.Mamdani, 33, is a state lawmaker for the Queens borough of New York and has faced criticism for his relative youth in the face of a typically older political establishment.- ‘Making a change’ -“I know some of you have expressed concerns about my age…That’s why this weekend I’ll be making a change. I’m turning 34,” he said in an Instagram video that was liked 134,000 in the first six hours.”The best gift is to beat Andrew Cuomo a second time.”Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if he’s elected, calling him a “communist.”But in an interview on Fox News, Mamdani addressed Trump directly and after criticizing his rivals said “I will, however, be a mayor who is ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living.”Quinnipiac University polling suggests most voters will not have their minds changed by the TV debate with just 18 percent of Mamdani and Cuomo’s voters “not likely” to change their minds, compared to 24 percent of Sliwa’s backers.In the latest polling Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, is trailing a distant third with 15 percent in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33 percent and Mamdani’s 46 percent.Sliwa, 71, insisted he would not bow to inducements he alleged were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the claim — to quit the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.”I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s bribery, and it could be criminal,” Sliwa told AFP.Viewing parties were planned in bars across the city with several offering debate bingo drinking games.”I have very little optimism that they’re going to do anything with the cost of living to match what we have to pay,” said voter Steven Looez, a 41-year-old bartender, ahead of the debate.”Besides, it feels like they’re all bought anyway.”The second televised debate will be held on October 22.

Donald Trump on Thursday announced a plan aimed at making in vitro fertilization more affordable, an initial step in a long-touted campaign promise.Earlier this year Trump dubbed himself the “fertilization president” and has vowed to address IVF accessibility, an effort that has sowed division within his base between pro-natalist members and conservative Christians.Substantive coverage of fertility-related procedures and medications in the United States remains rare and highly variable depending on specific patients, providers, employers and state rules.It was unclear what concrete changes the initiative could lead to. But Trump said in Oval Office remarks that “prices are going way down. Way, way down.”Trump said the White House is proposing a so-called employer benefit option they say would encourage employers to offer workers coverage for IVF through a supplemental plan.That would be similar to how dental and vision care are frequently managed in the United States — carved out of the core medical insurance and covered as a standalone type of care.”I’m asking all employers to make these new fertility benefit options available to their employees immediately,” Trump said.Senior administration officials told journalists there was no discussion of creating subsidies that would incentivize employers to provide IVF benefits, nor was it mandating they do so.A typical round of IVF treatment — patients must frequently endure multiple rounds to achieve a viable pregnancy — can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Necessary prescription drug costs alone can set back hopeful parents by the thousands.The Trump administration’s announcement included a proposal to make some of those drugs available for patients to purchase directly from manufacturers at discounted rates, via the president’s new website TrumpRx, starting in early 2026.Trump’s IVF efforts have emerged as a dividing line among competing groups within his own base.Many Christian conservatives voice staunch opposition to IVF, primarily because it can involve discarding human embryos.Trump side-stepped the issue when queried about it Thursday.”I think this is very pro-life,” he said. “You can’t get more pro-life than this.”About a quarter of US employers with 200 workers or more currently offer health plans that include at least some IVF coverage, according to the KFF health policy research organization. Some states require private insurers to include services in their plans. And some states require Medicaid, the government program for low-income individuals, to include some benefits related to fertility.TJ Farnsworth — the head of Inception Fertility, a providers alliance — welcomed the White House efforts, but said it is on employers to consider what they offer.”I just think it’s really important that people realize that this is an amazing start to the conversation, but it’s not likely to have an immediate impact to patients,” Farnsworth told AFP.

Two people suspected of involvement in an attack on an immigration detention center in Texas are facing terrorism-related charges, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday that alleges they are members of the left-wing Antifa movement.The charges against Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts come three weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.”First time ever: the FBI arrested Antifa-aligned anarchist violent extremists and terrorism charges have been brought for the July 4 Prairieland ICE attack in Texas,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on X.”As (President Trump) has made clear, Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said, also on X. “They will be prosecuted as such.”Arnold and Evetts were among 10 people charged for the attack on the facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency which has played a leading role in Trump’s campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.A criminal complaint filed at the time did not describe the suspects as Antifa members but the indictment unsealed on Thursday said the pair and the other defendants were members of an “Antifa cell.”Arnold and Evetts were charged with providing material support to terrorists, along with attempted murder of federal officers and firearms offenses.According to the criminal complaint, the assailants, dressed in black military-style clothing, began shooting fireworks at the ICE facility and spray-painting “Traitor” and “ICE Pig” on cars and a guard structure.When a police officer arrived on the scene, he was shot in the neck by someone positioned in the nearby woods.Another assailant allegedly fired 20 to 30 rounds at unarmed correctional officersAntifa, a shorthand term for “anti-fascist,” is a nebulous movement of left-wing activists that experts say is more a political ideology than an organized group.Antifa — whose name has roots in socialist groups in 1930s Germany that opposed Hitler — has a track record of confronting right-wing groups and engaging in civil disobedience.Antifa-aligned activists, often dressed entirely in black, protest against racism, far-right values and what they consider fascism, and say violent tactics are sometimes justified as self-defense. 

“Thank you, Adele, it’s such a beautiful song,” reads a glowing comment beneath an emotional YouTube tribute to slain US activist Charlie Kirk. But the music is AI-generated — and bears little resemblance to the British icon’s voice.Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence tools can now create songs from simple text prompts, mimicking the voices of celebrity artists to produce tributes or entire performances on demand, often without their knowledge or consent.The trend raises thorny copyrights issues and highlights the erosion of shared reality as unwitting users increasingly consume content infused with disinformation enabled by artificial intelligence.”Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk!” sings a voice over a video showing the right-wing activist, who was assassinated last month.”The angels sing your name. Your story’s written in the stars, a fire that won’t wane,” the voice intones as visuals appear onscreen of Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump.Similar AI tributes on YouTube attributed to stars such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber — complete with fabricated thumbnails of them in tears — collectively racked up millions of views and thousands of comments from unsuspecting viewers thanking them for songs they never made.In many cases, the voices sound little like the original artists, yet many scrollers still believe fake AI content that is flooding the internet and engage with it.”I’m concerned that what made the internet so cool to begin with — really weird, creative people doing things they’re passionate about for fun, is gone. It’s been replaced by AI slop created by grifters aiming to make money,” Alex Mahadevan, from the nonprofit media institute Poynter, told AFP.”We’re becoming passive consumers of ‘content’ and not active, conscious digital citizens.”- ‘Not quite human’ -After AFP pointed out at least three fake tribute clips — including the one attributed to Adele — to YouTube, the video giant promptly took them down.”We terminated these channels for violating our policies prohibiting spam and deceptive practices,” company spokesman Jack Malon told AFP.YouTube’s policy requires creators to “disclose when they’ve created altered or synthetic content that is realistic, including using AI tools,” which are now widely accessible.In many of the tribute videos, the disclosure was present but not prominently displayed, often buried in the video description where it can be easily overlooked unless users click to expand the text.The videos highlight a new digital reality in which AI music generators can turn ordinary users into virtual musicians, mimicking famous artists and creating entire songs from simple text prompts.”Make any song you can imagine,” Suno, one such generator, said on its website.It offers users suggestions such as “make a jazz song about watering my plants” or “make a house song about quitting your job.”When AFP entered a prompt requesting a song mourning the death of a celebrity activist in the voice of a famous singer, the tool generated two options within seconds: “star gone too soon” and “echoes of a flame.”A new AI “band” called The Velvet Sundown has released albums and garnered over 200,000 listeners on a verified Spotify account. On social media, the “band” calls itself: “Not quite human. Not quite machine.”- ‘Assault’ on creativity -The trend has raised questions about whether vocal and visual likenesses should be protected by copyright.”I absolutely think that someone’s likeness should be protected from replication in AI tools. That goes for dead people, too,” said Mahadevan.Lucas Hansen, co-founder of the nonprofit CivAI, said it was unlikely that likeness generation would be banned entirely but expects legal restrictions on its commercialization.”There might also be restrictions on distribution, but existing laws are much less strict towards non-monetized content,” Hansen told AFP.In June, the Recording Industry Association of America said leading record companies sued two music generators, including Suno, over alleged copyright infringement.Last year, more than 200 artists including Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj wrote in an open letter to AI developers and tech platforms that training tools on existing songs will “degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated.””This assault on human creativity must be stopped,” the letter said.”We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”

The Tomahawk cruise missile, set to be at the centre of talks between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been a mainstay of the US armed forces for over four decades and repeatedly used with success in the theatre of war.Ukraine is eager to obtain the American missiles which would allow Kyiv to strike deep into Russian territory and give its armed forces a significant boost three-and-a-half years into the conflict sparked by the February 2022 full-scale invasion.Some analysts and observers question if for all the avowed prowess of the Tomahawk it would in any way tip the balance in the war. But their delivery would be a symbol of American support for Kyiv in the wake of the disastrous Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and Trump in February and a strong signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Trump is losing patience with Moscow. Trump announced Thursday one day ahead of the talks with Zelensky that, following a call with Putin, he would meet the Russian leader at an unspecified date in Budapest.Here are five things to know about the Tomahawk:- Mainstay of US armed forces – The Tomahawk is a cruise missile that has been in service for 42 years and since then used in almost all US military interventions.Fired from submarines or surface ships, the BGM-109 Tomahawk flies up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) in range, at 880 km/h (550 mph) and a few dozen meters above the ground.According to US Navy budget documents 8,959 missiles have been produced since the programme began and more than 2,350 have been fired.A version of the Tomahawk carrying a nuclear warhead was retired from service in 2013.- Repeatedly used in conflict – The Tomahawks were first fired in a conflict during the US-led Operation Desert Storm against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1991 and repeatedly in US military interventions since then.Most recently, some 80 missiles were still fired in January 2024 against the Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, and another 30 against the Isfahan nuclear site in Iran in June when the US joined Israel’s war against the Islamic republic.The Tomahawk is also in service with the British Navy. Japan decided last year to acquire 400, and Australia and the Netherlands are also considering acquiring them.- Wanted by Ukraine – With its 450-kilogramme explosive charge, the Tomahawk can be used against air defense sites, command centers, airfields, or any heavily defended target.Ukraine could with a Tomahawk target at least 1,655 targets of interest, including 67 air bases in Russia, well beyond Moscow, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).Stacie Pettyjohn, a researcher at the CNAS think tank, estimated the US could supply 20-50 units.The US Navy has only ordered 57 for 2026, an insufficient number for its manufacturer Raytheon to quickly ramp up production, according to German missile researcher Fabian Hoffmann. They would therefore have to be taken from US stocks.Ukraine would also rather launch the missiles from land rather than sea but the land-based launchers are in very limited supply: the US Army currently has only two batteries of four launchers, and the Marine Corps only four.- No game changer – Like the battle tanks or the F-16s and Mirages already sold to Ukraine, the Tomahawk is not “a wonder weapon that is going to win the war,” Pettyjohn wrote on X while adding that they have “have a notable strategic and operational effect”.”I don’t believe that a weapons system can radically change the situation in Ukraine,” agreed the head of the French Army, General Pierre Schill.Especially since, with the homegrown Flamingo cruise missile, “the Ukrainians have developed deep strike capabilities, which they built themselves and are now using on the ground,” said Schill.- Warning to Russia – Schill said the possible delivery of Tomahawks is “above all a political and strategic signal from Mr Trump to Mr Putin to say ‘I told you I wanted us to move towards peace, I am ready to support the Ukrainians'” if there is no progress.Putin has warned that the supply of Tomahawks to Kyiv would constitute a “whole new level of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States”.Trump on Wednesday described the Tomahawk as an “incredible weapon, very offensive weapon”.”Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so,” he said.