North Korea threatens a harsh response to U.S. drills, missiles are already flying
North Korea is making it clear ahead of the major summer drills by the U.S. and South Korea that this time it may not stop at words. On Monday, the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise begins, with American and South Korean troops set to train with live fire, joint precision strikes, river crossings and the movement of prepositioned military equipment. Washington and Seoul call it a defensive exercise against threats from the North, while Pyongyang calls it preparation for a war of aggression and is announcing a correspondingly harsh response. The Foreign Ministry said that a new level of threat would be met with a new level of deterrence and that the country would decisively exercise its right to self-defense. Kim Jong Un’s government is leaving open what exactly will follow, but the first missiles have already flown. Within one week, neighboring countries detected two ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s east coast. Pyongyang has not explained them so far, but the timing immediately before the drills is hard to miss. North Korea also claims that this year’s exercises are more dangerous and provocative than in 2025 and involve the full range of military capabilities of both countries.
Washington and Seoul do not confirm that description, but they themselves have announced that they will train joint strikes, the movement of larger units and resupply under combat conditions in complex war scenarios. So the threat is not coming out of nowhere, even though Pyongyang has been pushing its own military buildup for years far beyond these kinds of exercises. Kim Jong Un has so far ignored offers from Washington and Seoul to resume talks and is instead continuing to expand his nuclear weapons and missile arsenal. Since his talks with Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, practically nothing has remained of that personal diplomacy. At the same time, North Korea has massively deepened its military cooperation with Russia, providing troops and ammunition for the war against Ukraine and receiving economic and military support in return. Pyongyang is also visibly seeking closer ties with China again, even though the relationship was anything but trouble-free for years. That means these drills are taking place in a far more dangerous environment than they were just a few years ago.
The U.S. and South Korea are training against a North Korea that is now more closely tied to Moscow, is expanding its nuclear capabilities and is responding to military pressure more quickly with new tests. Pyongyang, for its part, regularly uses the exercises to present its own buildup abroad as a reaction and to demonstrate toughness at home. The fact that both sides know how quickly days like these can turn into a new series of missile launches does not make the situation any calmer. The next eleven days will therefore be decided not only on the training grounds in South Korea, but also on the launch sites north of the border.
Trump loses antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard
Federal Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston has dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University, stopping a central part of the pressure campaign against the school. Judge Richard Stearns said the antisemitic incidents cited by the administration were too isolated and episodic to support a finding of an ongoing violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The administration had accused Harvard of looking the other way when Jewish and Israeli students faced hostility, intimidation and harassment after the Gaza war began in 2023, while largely allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to break school rules. The lawsuit cited, among other things, the case of a Jewish student who tried to film a protest and was surrounded and jostled by demonstrators. Harvard argued that it had been working across the university for years to combat antisemitism. Stearns sided with the university and pointed out that the lawsuit focused mainly on incidents from the 2023/24 academic year. That, he said, does not plausibly show that Harvard is still systematically violating the law today. Another point matters especially: the administration wanted the lawsuit to give it the right to cut off federal funding.
Judge Richard G. Stearns made clear that Title VI is meant to bring schools into compliance with the law, not to be used as a punishment tool. That hits exactly one of the levers Trump wanted to use against Harvard. Legal experts still expect the administration to appeal and look for other ways to keep up the pressure. One law professor said the decision practically removes the administration’s ability to use a Title VI investigation to force Harvard into concessions. The Jewish civil rights group Brandeis Center, on the other hand, warns that the reasoning could make other civil rights cases harder in the future because authorities would have to prove not only past violations but new ones as well. The fight is nowhere near over. An appeal is still pending over an earlier ruling that found the freezing of Harvard research funding unlawful, and the administration’s attempt to keep international students out of Harvard is also still in court. More than 10,000 alumni backed the university in July, along with more than three dozen colleges and universities warning of damage to research and scientific progress. Trump wanted to pressure Harvard through money, admissions, international students and antisemitism. In this case, a federal judge has now clearly shut the door on him.
FIA lets Russian drivers compete again with flag and anthem
The International Automobile Federation is lifting its restrictions on Russian and Belarusian racing drivers. They will once again be allowed to compete under their own flag, display their national colors and have their anthem played after victories. The decision was already taken on August 3 by the World Motor Sport Council and has now been published officially. It applies to drivers, national teams, individual competitors and officials. The previous special restrictions on national symbols are being dropped. What remains in place, however, is the ban on holding international competitions in Russia or Belarus. So the FIA is drawing the line exactly where it still directly controls who gets to host events, while making Russian and Belarusian athletes fully visible internationally again.
Politically, that is remarkable, because the war against Ukraine is still going on and nothing has changed about the reasons the restrictions were introduced in the first place. Then there is the question of who now runs Russian motorsport. Since 2024, Boris Romanovich Rotenberg has headed the Russian Automobile Federation, the younger brother of Arkady Rotenberg and part of a family that has been among the Kremlin’s closest business circles for years. Together with Gennady Timchenko, the Rotenbergs also own 44 percent of the Helsinki Arena in Finland. Because of sanctions against the Russian owners, practically all contractors cut ties with the arena, leaving it largely mothballed for a time, while the owners still refused to sell it. It is exactly this environment that is now announcing the return of Russian drivers with flag and anthem. The FIA calls its decision a review of the previous emergency measures. For Russia, it is simply the return of national symbols to international motorsport. The country remains barred from hosting events, but on the racetrack itself, a large part of the political distancing is disappearing. Russia is once again allowed to appear visibly as Russia. Any further comment on that is unnecessary.
Musk is back with Trump - and he is bringing at least $100 million for the midterms
Less than a year ago, Donald Trump and Elon Musk were publicly insulting each other, threatening each other and declaring their political friendship practically over. Now they are talking again about once a month, discussing China, artificial intelligence and world affairs, and Musk plans to spend at least $100 million to help Republicans keep control of Congress in November. The road back was long and anything but romantic. Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reached out to Musk just one day after the public break, followed later by conversations with Trump himself, invitations to Mar-a-Lago and the White House. Musk dropped his plan to start his own political party, in part because he did not want to destroy his relationship with Vance. Vance had long understood that politically, the man behind SpaceX could hardly be treated like just another offended billionaire. Too much now depends on his companies, from spaceflight to defense. A review of SpaceX contracts after the fight with Trump even found that a large share of them were nearly impossible for the Pentagon and NASA to replace.
Then there was Donald Trump Jr., who stayed friendly with Musk, and Charlie Kirk, who worked to bring the two men back together before he was assassinated. Trump and Musk met again at Kirk’s memorial. Later, Musk returned to the White House for a dinner honoring the Saudi crown prince. In May, he was finally back with Trump aboard Air Force One on the way to China, talking about new factories in the U.S., spaceflight and the 2024 campaign. That was where he also gave Trump’s people the news they had been hoping to hear for months: he was going to start paying again. At least $100 million is supposed to go into a Republican voter-turnout operation in key states through Musk’s America PAC and in coordination with MAGA Inc., the main Trump-aligned political action committee, which already has more than $400 million. In 2024, Musk spent nearly $300 million to help put Trump back in the White House. Later, during their feud, he said Trump would have lost the election without him. Trump, in turn, threatened to cancel Musk’s government contracts after Musk claimed Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files and that this was the real reason they had not been released. Musk called Trump’s major tax-and-spending bill a “disgusting abomination,” while Trump accused him of opposing it only because it cut incentives for electric vehicles. Publicly, almost nothing of that remains today. Privately, Trump tells aides that the relationship will never be as close as it once was, but both sides have too much to lose. If Democrats win Congress in November, Trump and his family could face new investigations, and Musk could also come under heavier political and congressional pressure.
A broken friendship has therefore turned back into a deal, and that deal is worth at least $100 million. Musk says he wants to be less visible this time than he was in 2024 and admitted himself that he may have gotten a little too involved in politics. He is not out of it, though. Quite the opposite: when it comes down to who controls Congress in November, his money is back on Trump’s side.
Trump wants his name back on the Kennedy Center - despite the court and the law
Donald Trump is not getting his way at the Kennedy Center fast enough, so his own board is trying again. In May, the Trump-appointed board already wanted to partially shut down the cultural institution, but Federal Judge Christopher Cooper blocked the plan and called the decision poorly informed and apparently predetermined. Now the board has voted again: the Kennedy Center is supposed to close for two years, supposedly for a sweeping renovation. Cooper still has to review the new plan, and the documents are due to him next week. At the same time, the board voted to put Trump’s name back on the building. Because the law prohibits additional memorial plaques or comparable honors in public areas, they are now trying the wording “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who successfully sued the Kennedy Center back in May, calls it an open attempt to get around the court ruling and bypass the rules passed by Congress.
The dispute fits Trump’s growing desire to reshape Washington physically according to his own taste. From the Reflecting Pool to the East Wing of the White House to the planned ballroom, he has personally inserted himself into the changes, and the Kennedy Center has long since become part of that. His takeover of the institution began with attacks on supposedly too “woke” programming, after which ticket sales collapsed and the Center’s cultural standing took a hit. And yet now his name is supposed to be made visible on the building again. Journalist Chuck Todd put the absurdity bluntly and publicly asked how low Trump’s self-esteem must be if he needs this honor so badly. The legal question, however, is still unresolved. The new closure plan is back before the same judge who stopped the first attempt. Trump can have his board vote to put his name there. Whether he will actually be allowed to bolt it onto the building in the end is still up to a court.
Putin visits the Kuril Islands for the first time - Japan calls it an “absolutely unacceptable” provocation
Vladimir Putin has visited the disputed Kuril Islands for the first time, reigniting a conflict that has remained unresolved since the end of World War II. The Russian president traveled to Iturup, known in Japanese as Etorofu, one of the four southern islands claimed by both Russia and Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reacted unusually sharply and called the visit “absolutely unacceptable.” She said it hurt the feelings of the Japanese people and worsened Japanese attitudes toward Russia. Tokyo considers the four islands Japanese territory historically and under international law. Moscow sees it completely differently and administers them as Russian territory. The dispute is one of the reasons the two countries still have not signed a peace treaty more than 80 years after World War II. The Soviet Union occupied the islands at the end of the war and later deported around 17,000 Japanese residents. Now, for the first time, a Russian president has personally traveled there. Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also lodged a formal protest and again declared that the islands are Japanese territory.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolai Nozdrev. Moscow responded with its usual harshness. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Russian land would remain Russian no matter what Tokyo said, and that Japan’s diplomatic protests would change nothing. The dispute has long been about more than history. Russia has strengthened its military presence on the islands in recent years, and Iturup is now the main Russian air base in the region. Just last month, Russian and Chinese warships passed together through one of the straits in the Kuril chain. Military exercises around the islands regularly trigger new protests in Japan. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tokyo has also imposed sanctions on Moscow, and relations are at a low point. Japan has already protested visits to the islands by Russian prime ministers such as Mikhail Mishustin and Dmitry Medvedev. Putin’s visit now goes one step further. For Moscow, it is a demonstration that Russian control is not up for negotiation, while for Tokyo it is a direct violation of its territorial claim. A dispute that neither side has been able to resolve for decades has now become another degree harsher.
