Patriot missles are seen at the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, March 25, 2022, in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Updated 2:29 PM EDT, August 27, 2026The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.
The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth,” the U.S. defense official said.
In Europe, the American military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the U.S. official said.
It illustrates the cascading fallout from Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran, a conflict that reaches the six-month mark on Friday. U.S. missile stocks in Europe have been moved to the Middle East, where U.S. and Gulf allies have fired off significant numbers of interceptors, including Patriots, to thwart Iran’s drones and missiles. Some of those attacks have killed and wounded American troops.
Though a Russian ballistic missile attack against NATO countries is not imminently expected, CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow this week to warn Russia not to attack, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Asked by reporters Thursday whether Ratcliffe delivered that message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump offered a roundabout response.
“I don’t want to comment on that, but they’re not going to attack,” Trump said.
European and NATO officials say Russia could be in a position to attack countries in the alliance by 2030. Patriot stockpiles are projected to rebound by then. In the meantime, Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinder its ability to carry out any missile attack on Europe as it would be a challenge for Moscow to fight an air war on two fronts.
US Patriot transfers to Ukraine played a role in the drawdown, but the Iran war wasn’t expected
U.S. Army Col. Martin O’Donnell, a senior NATO military spokesperson, said it is “simply not the case” that the number of Patriot missiles in Europe is beyond critical.
NATO, he said, is able to “block punches” and has enough air defense munitions available to defend itself as well as to donate to Ukraine.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Thursday that claims of U.S. munition shortages “are false.”
“We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing,” Parnell said. “Across multiple combatant commands, we have already executed successful operations while maintaining a deep, ready arsenal to defend our people and our interests.”
Officials in Ukraine, however, are begging for more Patriots to defend against Russian missile attacks, while previous U.S. transfers to Ukraine have drawn down some of the American supply of the interceptors.
Kyiv says only U.S.-made Patriots can stop Russia’s advanced ballistic missiles, which increasingly are getting through Ukrainian defenses, including as part of a barrage overnight into Thursday.
The U.S. supplied hundreds of Patriot missiles to Ukraine over the course of the 4 1/2-year-long conflict, but the Iran war was the tipping point for shrinking inventories, said Ed Arnold, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank in London.
The supply to Ukraine was planned for and reasonably measured, he said, whereas stocks in the Middle East have been unexpectedly and quickly drained, exposing supply chain constraints.
The U.S. military in Europe also is grappling with critical shortages of the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a medium-range ballistic missile designed to strike behind enemy lines, the two officials said. But the overall munitions picture in Europe is less dire than on air defenses alone because some European militaries have their own offensive missiles, such as the Taurus and Storm Shadow, which are both long-range air-launched bunker-busting missiles.
Europe has few alternatives while stocks are low
The dearth of Patriot interceptors in Europe would leave few alternatives for shooting down Russia’s more advanced ballistic missiles, which can be combined with swarms of inexpensive drones to overwhelm defenses, experts say.
Ukraine and some allies already use systems that can destroy slower-moving drones without expensive missiles. But ballistic missiles are a challenge because they dive steeply toward targets at more than five times the speed of sound, leaving little time to stop them.
The Patriot system tracks the missile, predicts its path and launches within minutes, all while carrying out complex calculations to ensure the interceptor finds its target. One Patriot battery can only cover a limited area: for example, a small military base but not a whole city.
One alternative could be France and Italy’s SAMP/T NG air defense system. France has promised to speed up the delivery of the system — the upgraded version of the current SAMP/T — to Ukraine, which the manufacturer says is better able to counter ballistics.
The new iteration, however, has not yet been battle tested and the current version of the SAMP/T has a smaller range than the Patriot.
While U.S. and European militaries have warships that can serve as mobile air defense, they may be too far from a target to protect it and could risk getting sunk.
Patriot stocks have plunged during the Iran war
Ukraine has received Patriots from American and European stockpiles since Russia’s 2022 invasion, with the U.S. providing about 600 of the interceptors during the Biden administration, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel who is now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
But the greatest expenditure has been during the Iran conflict, which has used up 65% of U.S. Patriots, amounting to roughly 1,500 of the nation’s 2,330 interceptors, CSIS says. About 600 missiles, including those destined for Europe, should be made this year, with a production goal of 2,000 Patriot missiles a year set for 2030, Cancian said.
NATO says Europe’s first Patriot missile production facility is expected to open in Germany in September, with deliveries possibly beginning early next year. The first deliveries should go to countries that have already placed orders, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, the U.S. defense official said.
But for now, that means some countries, such as Germany, have bought expensive Patriot systems but are in the “ridiculous” position of not having any ammunition to fire from them, said Arnold of the London think tank.
Germany’s defense ministry said it does not comment on stockpiles.
Russia also has limitations
Moscow likely cannot carry out a sustained air assault on a NATO target while it launches almost nightly attacks on Ukraine, Arnold said.
Ukraine’s recent strikes into Russia also have exposed weaknesses in Russia’s air defenses, which could prompt Putin to think twice about provoking a retaliatory attack.
“The uncomfortable truth is possibly the best air defense that we have is Russian constraints,” Arnold said.
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Burrows reported from London. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Burrows covers security, defense and intelligence for The Associated Press in Europe. She is based in London.
Category: History
Political news I want to share. 8-26-2026
As Local News Dies, White Nationalists See Opening
Normally I color the paragraphs. I won’t do that for this post as I want the author’s words to stand on their own as the author intends them. The information is important. We have seen the rise of hate again after decades of forcing racism under the rocks it should have stayed under. But powerful people with money are doing everything possible to forment hate and bigotry to promote themselves as superior. We must fight against the idea and return to moving forward with equality and fairness in the world and the US. Hugs
https://www.confrontthehate.com/p/white-nationalist-eyes-local-news
At an invitation-only gathering in Italy, far-right leaders mapped out strategies to target rural America while local press coverage vanishes.
As economic pressures gut local newsrooms across the country, white nationalist figures see an untapped opening: stepping into media deserts where there are few journalists left to sound the alarm.
“Local media has been dying all over America, which means that there’s essentially no real way to hold local governments accountable—and they can do whatever they want,” Kevin DeAnna told an invitation-only gathering of approximately 50 white nationalists in Rome.
Breaking into a broad smile, he excitedly added: “You should be fantasizing about this. This is a good thing.”
DeAnna, a prolific propagandist who has operated under a variety of pseudonyms and who has called for turning the country into a White ethnostate, celebrated the decline of local media earlier this year during an annual retreat hosted by the white nationalist Counter Currents publishing house.
“So, if you wanna get the most bang for your buck, activate rural America—‘cause that’s where White people are,” DeAnna argued in a video that was just recently posted online.
“And these are White people that are not voting. These are White people who are angry and who are radical and have no one talking to them.”
According to the most recent report from the Northwestern University’s Medill School, the “steady, unrelenting decline of local newspapers … is leading to an ever-rising number of news deserts, now 213 counties.”
That collapse of local press coverage in rural America creates a dangerous vacuum—one that allows extremist networks to operate without accountability.
Filling that void is precisely why I launched ConfrontTheHate.com.
‘Pitch to a Billionaire’
DeAnna’s remarks were part of a “Pitch to a Billionaire” panel during the Rome retreat that focused on how white nationalists could solicit funding from the world’s wealthiest people.
Ironically, the white nationalist figure met with tech billionaire Peter Thiel in 2016, according to reporting by BuzzFeed and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“DeAnna’s work under the pseudonym ‘Gregory Hood’ drew upon foundational white nationalist and neo-Nazi texts that have inspired numerous acts of domestic terrorism,” SPLC senior researcher Hannah Gais wrote.
For the panel discussion, DeAnna proposed that “the single most effective way to build political power with the least investment would be to start a political action committee and get-out-the-vote effort for White rural voters.”
Rural areas have an outsized political influence in America, he asserted, and “it requires very little money and very little turnout to win a lot of these elections.”
Embracing the widely discredited “constitutional sheriffs” notion that county sheriffs have enormous power to nullify federal and state laws, DeAnna pushed for a focus on electing sheriffs who would take the law into their own hands.
He argued:
“I think you could take over a whole county with ten people. It would not take much…. Ten people who have some idea how to campaign, and we’re talking unlocking tens of millions of dollars, jobs for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty people, real state authority, real law enforcement power, setting up a fortress that leftists can’t even go into without losing everything.”
Other billionaire pitches
Jared Taylor, David Zsutty, Kevin DeAnna (Photo: Screenshot, Counter Currents)
Among those joining DeAnna for the discussion was Jared Taylor, who publishes the American Renaissance website and hosts an annual gathering of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other extremists at a Tennessee state park.
Taylor suggested approaching a far-right billionaire with a plea to become “the George Soros for our side,” funding white nationalist groups around the world.
“I’m not asking you to fund yet another media company or another think tank. I’m asking you to endow an entire movement,” Taylor’s pitch continued.
“Campaigns for mayor, state house, city council can be swayed with twenty thousand dollars, thirty thousand dollars.”
Another white nationalist activist, attorney and former neo-Nazi David Zsutty, made the case for a billionaire to fund lawsuits to target their enemies.
“If you are the defendant, whether it be in a civil or criminal case, you have already lost—the only question is how much,” Zsutty said.
“Even if you recover attorney fees, which are usually quite substantial, you will never recover the lost time, stress, and effort.”
Counter Currents editor Greg Johnson has described the annual gathering as “private, invitation-only retreats for our writers, donors, and friends” to “foster real-world fellowships and collaborations.”
This year’s retreat took place inside the Rome headquarters of CasaPound, a prominent Italian neo-fascist group that Johnson himself characterized as a “militant organization.”
It is not clear who funds these gatherings.
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Confront the Hate. Find the Hope.
Two Majority Report clips
Weak Guys Disrupt WNBA | Beans Talk
This broadcast has important information on the trans issue being pushed by bigots in women’s sports. They discuss how this really is an attack on the rights of all women making them inferior to men in our society. It is part of project 2025 to lower the rights of women using trans people. Hugs
Let’s talk about Trump, beef prices, and how tariffs are the problem….
Not much these days, end up walking in circles around the house. Hugs
Political news I want to share. 8-19-2026.
Political news I want to share 8-18-2026. Part 1
Conversation Starter: Never Meet Your Heroes…
Last night I had the opportunity to watch the new movie remake of He-Man, and I really enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek writing. Like many of you, I grew up on Saturday Morning cartoons. I had an itemized schedule of Mystery Machine’s and Purple Gorilla’s in dune buggies, a Waskilly Wabbit and a hunter with a stutter all listed out starting early in the morning and ending at 11:00 when I was finally kicked outside to act out all those story lines. And, among them was this cartoon “He-Man”! I was a bit old for it when it came out, and from an adult standpoint it was one of the most ridiculously named storylines ever created, but dang I loved the idea of having a hero come to the rescue.
Perhaps there is just comfort knowing who the good guys are and easily identifying the bad guys to settle a heart and mind. The bad guys were always portrayed monstrously by their actions, their words, their appearance. The heroes were strong, pure, caring, and always helped people by opposing evil. The bad guys always wanted people hurt, dominated, exploited. Scooby-Doo always came out the hero and the bad guys always lost. Saturday morning Ethics were easy to understand.
Then, I grew older and I realized that the morality of reality seemed extraordinarily flexible. I was told that the weak were weak because they chose to be weak, the poor were poor because they chose to be poor. The sick were sick…. you get the point. Somehow the absolute ethics of my Saturday morning education didn’t reflect in my life or experience outside that television, no matter how much I longed for it.
In time we are asked to change our heroes. Superman is crushed by cryptonite, Hulk is ruined by his temper, and as much as I want to believe that there is something greater than this world, God still somehow has babies born with defects, children who live in pain, parents who lose their will to go on in this world. But we yearn for that hero who made everything ok in the end that we loved on Saturday morning television.
We yearn so much that we forget that those stories were just stories for children. The people we lift up to solve all our problems are just skin and bone humans, and if they tell us they are our answer to all that hurts, well…
I’ve struggled to understand how relatively smart people could fall for a leadership that has visited the depredations upon the world that this one seems to enjoy. I’ve thought them idiots, racist pigs, deplorable trash and fools, especially as the truth of this man’s toxic morality comes more and more to light. He’s raped, stolen, and killed to cover his crimes and yet he is loved by a troubling number of people. It’s not logical, it’s not rational.
But outside the horrible scum that have latched onto his leprously-stained skirts in this bid for power at any cost administration follow a horde of broken and hurt people who somehow thought this con-artist cared about anyone but himself. They are the children who sat before the television on Saturday mornings and believed somehow that the blond-haired hero with the great propaganda was here to save them. They drank the cool-aid, bought the shirts – and the hats, they believed the hype because they believed the hurt. They are not going to release that hope easily once given and because of that any atrocity is forgiven.
I fearfully believe this Land of Liberty is lost for an inability to understand right or wrong. The utopian hopeful are mocked by a populace that have come to love their chains as they fight to defend those who would make them chattel because they fear that the people hoping to release those bonds have ulterior motives. I share their fear, in part, because I know that they who thirst for power will shed their skin to walk amongst the hopeful seeking a new path. Morality is cheap for those who mock ethics, and people broken and drowning will destroy anything for hope of salvation.
-Randy
