Egyik 19

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Europe

Hungary
15/10/2025  Hungary still imports a significant portion of its fossil fuels from Russia. The EU's REpowerEU roadmap plans to phase out all imports from Russia by 2027. This would also cut Hungary's oil imports from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline. "Currently, there are two oil pipelines leading to Hungary, and Brussels wants us to eliminate one in the name of diversification,' Hungarian FM Szijjártó said in Moscow today. "But how can the elimination of one pipeline be called diversification? How can one pipeline be considered safer than two?' he asked, calling it madness, complete illogicality. The other oil pipeline enters Hungary from Croatia. However, according to the Hungarian government, the Adria pipeline is insufficient for the country's needs as a landlocked country. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Austria
10 October 2025  In the latest survey by pollster Lazarsfeld for news site oe24, the right-wingers come in first with 38 per cent of the vote – a gain of 5 percentage points compared to just six months ago. The FPÖ’s rise coincides with a sharp drop in popularity of the three parties that rule Austria: The Conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the Liberal Neos party. FPÖ leader Kickl also comes in first when respondents were asked for their favourite choice for federal chancellor, with 30 per cent wanting to see him at the helm. That is almost as much as ÖVP leader and current Chancellor Christian Stocker on 14 per cent, SPÖ leader Babler at 11 per cent and Neos frontwoman Meinl-Reisinger with 7 per cent. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

France
October 10, 2025   President Macron reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister today, just four days after he had resigned from the role, searching for a way out of France's worst political crisis in decades. Reactions. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

Germany
15 October 2025  The German Government is planning to spend €80 billion on defence projects in the coming 15 months – including €26 billion for new frigates, €3.4 billion for new wheeled tanks, and €2.4 billion for an updated version of the Taurus missile. Germany abolished compulsory military service in 2011. On October 7, defence minister Pistorius (SPD) announced that, starting in 2027, the German army would build more than 270 new barrack buildings throughout the country. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is planning to introduce a lottery system for compulsory military service. The plan is to be presented to the public soon. The German army is suffering from severe manpower shortages that hamper the ambitious expansion plans presented by Merz and Pistorius. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has come out in favour of a full reintroduction of compulsory military service. Negotiators of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the coalition partner CDU have agreed on a four-step system. A questionnaire would be sent to around 400,000 men per year. At first, all young men and women will be asked in an official letter whether they are ready to serve in the German army, and fill in a questionnaire on their physical abilities and qualifications. Only men are required to respond; women can reply if they want to. In a second phase, those men who are to be invited for military examination and an interview would be selected by lottery. In a third step, the “winners” of this lottery would be conscripted into the army unless enough volunteers sign up to fill all open positions. If this fails, in the final phase general compulsory military service would be reintroduced. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

Romania
October 13, 2025  Why Romania’s plan to buy 216 Abrams tanks is a bad idea? While the Romanians looked at other options for their much-needed MBT upgrade, such as the German Leopard 2A8 or South Korea’s K2 Black Panther, the Romanians apparently favor the costlier Abrams. In their view, it makes strategic sense, if only because it ties Romania closer to American supply chains. The US defense industrial supply chain cannot maintain its own systems, let alone be expected to provide for other countries in the event of a conflict! Romanian leaders seem to believe that being directly reliant on the United States would make them better off 'if a war with Russia ever erupted along their border'. This is the wrong decision. Like all European NATO nations, Romania must do better at maintaining its military capabilities. But it must do so within the confines of what is economically realistic and logistically viable. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Weichert

Russia
Wednesday 15 October 2025 07:06 BST  Ukraine’s rail network carries more than 63% of the country’s freight and 37% of passenger traffic. Russia is creating new technology to target trains. Russian forces have added a key upgrade to their drone fleet since the summer. Cameras and radio modems, which send and receive data wirelessly, have been fitted to various types of long-range strike drones, sharply increasing precision compared to preprogrammed models. The modified drones can fly up to 200 kilometers into territory. Now, as they have very precise Shahed drones, they are targeting individual diesel and electric locomotives. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom / The Associated Press - U.S.)

Oct 13, 2025 | 15:36 GMT  On Oct. 7, the World Bank released its ''Fall 2025 Economic Update,'' which projects that Russian real GDP growth will decline from 4.3% in 2024 to 0.9% this year. The Russian economy is entering a multi-year stagnation that, while enabling the Kremlin to sustain the war effort over the next 12 months, will steadily erode the fiscal, industrial and technological foundations required to keep fighting at current intensity beyond 2026. (Source: Stratfor - U.S.)

(Sunday), 12/10/2025 - 17:52  Russia attacked energy infrastructure in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv overnight into Sunday. Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday it had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, while Ukraine’s air force said that its air defences intercepted or jammed 103 of 118 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight. (Source: France 24 „with AP” - U.S.)

Saturday 11 October 2025 15:17 BST  Russia’s Defence Ministry stated yesterday that its strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military, without specifying locations. It confirmed the use of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones in the operation. More than 800,000 residents in Kyiv had their power restored today, following extensive Russian assaults on the nation's power grid that plunged vast swathes of the country into darkness. Ukraine’s air force said today that its air defences intercepted or jammed 54 of 78 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

October 10, 2025 6:44 pm CET  Trump sincerely is aiming for peace in Ukraine, Putin said, adding the most striking example of his peacemaking credentials “is the situation in the Middle East.” “If Donald succeeds in accomplishing everything he’s aiming for, everything he’s talked about and trying to do, it will be a historic moment,” the Russian president gushed. Trump deserved the Nobel prize, says Putin. The Russian president says "the Nobel committee has lost credibility'. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Ukraine
October 15, 2025 5:05 PM GMT+2  Ukraine needs up to $20b in U.S. weapons through NATO programme, defence minister says. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

(Saturday), 11/10/2025 - 12:41  Russian attack on energy facilities. Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours yesterday, after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cutting power and water to homes and halting a key metro link across the Dnipro river. (Source: France 24)
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Europe
October 14, 2025  From telecom protocols to a 1.5 million row dataset, the reach and tactics of a mercenary phone-tracking company uncovered. In the spring of 2024, Lighthouse found a vast archive of data on the deep web. It contained thousands of phone numbers and hundreds of thousands of locations from nearly every country in the world. The data came from a little-known surveillance company called First Wap. Headquartered in Jakarta but run by a group of European executives, First Wap has quietly built a phone tracking empire spanning the globe. Most countries have a legal mandate to carry out domestic phone network surveillance. The First Wap archive demonstrates, however, how phone network connections can be leveraged to allow tracking all over the world, without authorisation from the targeted networks. In recent years, a number of investigations have explored the ways in which surveillance companies gain access to phone networks to enable this type of tracking. Lighthouse and its partners have previously written about how SS7 abuses were linked to the murder of a reporter in Mexico and a crackdown on an activist in Congo, and how they were enabled via leasing of Global Titles. Although in recent years some phone operators have acted to improve security, global imbalances remain. Stopping unauthorised signalling is expensive and as such tends to be better implemented by wealthier operators. When operators in the global minority world allow surveillance companies to access their systems and send traffic, they are increasing risk to people in the global majority. Last year, the UK’s telecom regulator took the step of banning Global Title leasing on the grounds that phone operators had failed to manage risk and UK networks were carrying large amounts of malicious signalling traffic, including surveillance traffic, into networks worldwide. But for real change to occur, other regulators in the EU need to follow suit. (Source: Lighthouse Reports - The Netherlands)

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

October 15, 2025  In a Monday address to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), legal expert for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, Rieder, warned that Turkey is systematically targeting Christians purely for practicing their faith. Turkey’s labeling of peaceful Christian residents as ‘security threats’ is a clear misuse of law and an attack on freedom of religion or belief, Rieder said during the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. Ankara calls claims unfounded and part of a deliberate disinformation campaign. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

Africa

Egypt
(14 October 2025)  "After fewer than seven hours in Israel, we took the short flight to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt; location of the mediated talks between Israel and Hamas that led to last week's breakthrough. On our descent, Egyptian F16s escorted us - the ultimate show for the president who loves displays of military might. Trump had wanted to celebrate every minute of the day. But the dangers in this region are many, and the risk seemed clear that he was declaring the ultimate deal before really landing it. That was reflected in the giant sign, written in capital letters, above the presidential podium in Sharm el-Sheikh: "PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST". There, I watched the extraordinary sight of world leaders filing into a room to stand behind Trump as he made his speech hailing peace. They lined up in front of their national flags and listened as he listed their countries one by one". Trump had been introduced to the stage by the host, Egyptian president Sisi, who said that the goal remained a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. Trump has changed his position markedly since the start of this year. He became increasingly irritated by the Israeli leadership and was drawn closer to his friends in the Gulf. That came amid a diplomatic move by the Europeans to isolate Israel over its escalating campaign in Gaza and to get the Saudi leadership onboard with their vision. Trump then shifted, drawn by his Gulf allies – whose wealth and "power" he frequently referred to during the drip. Trump presided over the signing ceremony in Sharm saying it had taken 3,000 years to get here. But there are still many more years to go - and it will take more than one man to get there.
(Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

13 October 2025   U.S. President Trump arrives in Sharm el-Sheikh for the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal summit. (Source:YouTube - U.S. / The Telegraph - United Kingdom)
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Tunisia
(Saturday), October 11, 2025  Residents entered the state-run Tunisian Chemical Group's (CGT) phosphate complex in the southern city of Gabes today, demanding its closure to prevent environmental pollution and respiratory illnesses, to balance public health demands with the production of phosphate, Tunisia's most valuable natural resource. Army soldiers and military vehicles were seen stationed inside the complex. In 2017, authorities pledged to dismantle the Gabes complex and replace it with a facility that meets international standards, acknowledging that its emissions posed a danger to local residents. However, the plan has yet to be implemented. Tons of industrial waste are discharged into Gabes's Chatt Essalam sea daily. The government aims to revive the phosphate industry by increasing production fivefold to 14 million tonnes by 2030 to capitalize on rising global demand. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

North America

United States
October 12, 2025  U.S. intelligence has been helping Ukraine mount long-range strikes on important Russian energy facilities, including oil refineries, far beyond the front line for months in a joint effort to weaken the economy, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed Ukrainian and U.S. officials today. Moscow said this month that Washington and its NATO alliance were regularly supplying intelligence to Kyiv. ’The supply and use of the entire infrastructure of NATO and the United States to collect and transfer intelligence to Ukrainians is obvious,’ Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters then. Zelenskiy said yesterday he had discussed Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system 'in a positive and productive call' with U.S. President Trump. The FT said U.S. intelligence helps Kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine's long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defences. A U.S. official was quoted as saying Ukraine selected the targets for long-range strikes and Washington then provided intelligence on the sites' vulnerabilities. The U.S. asked NATO allies to provide similar support, the U.S. officials said. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

Nobel Peace Prize

October 10,  2025  After the Nobel Committee overlooked US President Trump and chose Venezuelan opposition leader Machado for the peace prize, White House slammed the committee, claiming that it placed politics over peace. (Source: The Week - India)

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Afghanistan
(Monday), 10/13/2025  Pakistani troops were on high alert on the border with Afghanistan today, after fierce fighting between the two sides at the weekend left dozens dead. The Pakistan military said that 23 of its soldiers were killed in the weekend clashes. The Taliban said nine of its fighters were killed. Border crossings for vehicles and pedestrians along the 2,600-km frontier are closed since Saturday following unprovoked attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces, a senior Pakistani security official told. Pakistan is the main source of goods and food supplies for landlocked, impoverished Afghanistan. Fighting between the two sides, who were once allies, erupted after Islamabad demanded the Taliban take action against militants who have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operate from havens in Afghanistan. Afghanistan did not wish to fight with anyone and all its other neighbours were happy with Kabul, Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Muttaqi told in the Indian capital New Delhi, which he is visiting for the first time since 2021. The Taliban denies that Pakistani militants are present in Afghanistan. Kabul said yesterday that it had halted attacks at the request of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The fighting has drawn the attention of Trump, as he flew from Washington to Israel on Sunday as part of his efforts to end the Gaza war. He said he would focus on it soon, because „I'm good at solving wars, I'm good at making peace," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. China, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan in its western region and has sought to play a mediating role in calming hostilities between the two sides, said today it was very concerned about the latest clashes. (Source: MSN - U.S. / Reuters - United Kingdom)

China
2025.10.13  Beijing’s top religion regulator issued new rules banning unauthorized online preaching, as well as a broader crackdown on online content that expresses views contrary to the Chinese Communist Party’s goals. China arrests Christian underground church founder, pastors. (Source: Radio Free Asia - U.S.)

Gaza
October 14, 2025 7:23am EDT  After Trump declares 'war is over," Hamas executes rivals in Gaza to reassert control. The war is over, but the question is whether peace will really begin. Gazans describe uncertainty as terrorist group reasserts control despite ceasefire agreement. While the guns have fallen silent, the next stage -  Hamas’ disarmament and the arrival of a stabilization force - will determine whether Gaza finally begins rebuilding or slips back into chaos. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

Indonesia
(October 14, 2025)  The First Wap, the surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you. It has continued to develop Altamides, adding new capabilities. Now it can not only track locations, it can intercept calls and messages and crack accounts that rely on passcodes sent via text messages - including the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp, as Rudolph told Albert and Abdou, the Lighthouse reporters posing as potential buyers, at the ISS conference in June. The company steers clear of the spyware, highly regarded in the industry, that provides access to everything on a target’s device. It continues to exploit phone networks, which offers more limited surveillance possibilities, but allows First Wap to operate more freely and flexibly than its competitors, Rudolph said. (Source: Mother Jones - U.S.)

Israel
(14 October 2025)  In the chamber of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, the mood was altogether more raucous than that in the streets. Emblazoned on the red baseball caps handed out by staff, and worn by some of the audience, were the words: "The president of peace". Spectators shouted from the gallery behind me: "Thank you Trump." Lawmakers hammered their desks. Trump hailed a "historic dawn of a new Middle East". He also wanted to leave little doubt the war was over, and it seemed he expected it to stay that way: Israel, he said, with America's help, had won all that it could by force of arms. His speech meandered into extensive attacks on his political opponents in the US. He praised a major donor to his election campaign seated in the gallery. And he even appealed to Israel's president, Herzog, seating next to him, to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption – charges that the Israeli PM denies. Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that? Trump exclaimed, referencing the allegation that Netanyahu accepted pricy gifts. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
by Bateman, State department correspondent travelling on Air Force

Oct 13, 2025 11:30 AM EDT  Today, Hamas released these 20 living hostages into the custody of the Red Cross, which then brought them to Israel as part of a new ceasefire deal that many hope will signal an end to two years of war in the devastated Gaza Strip. Under the agreement, all living hostages were to be released, as well as the bodies of the deceased. A look at the 20 hostages released today. (Source: PBS - U.S.)
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11:17 PM EDT, Sun October 12, 2025  US President Trump is heading to Israel ahead of the expected release early Monday of the 20 Israeli hostages thought to be alive in Gaza. Nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israel will also be freed as part of the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal. Trump will address Israel’s parliament and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the families of the hostages. Later on Monday, leaders from more than 20 countries will join Trump in Egypt for a summit on Gaza’s future. “The reason why we’re at this moment … is because the president of the United States. He gave unusual authorities to people who had never been in diplomacy before, he actually broke the mold,” VP Vance said. “Instead of doing diplomacy the same old way that it had failed for the past 30 or 40 years. He gave Witkoff and Kushner a remarkable amount of authority to go and get a peace deal done.” The UN said Israel had approved more aid shipments, now totalling 190,000 metric tons, in what it hopes is just the beginning in getting crucial supplies to the enclave. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
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Friday 10 October 2025 10:25 EDT  The United States is sending up to 200 troops to Israel to monitor the ceasefire transition process with Gaza and ensure the terms of phase one of the 20-point deal are implemented. They are from U.S. Central Command, the military organization responsible for defending and promoting U.S. interests across the globe. The American troops, led by Admiral Cooper, will join soldiers from neighboring countries in the region, including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The goal of the Civil Military Coordination Center is to establish a hub for military and political officials, as well as aid experts, to coordinate while implementing the ceasefire deal. That means everything from security support to humanitarian aid. An official confirmed no U.S. troops would be sent to Gaza. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Pakistan
(Saturday), 11.10.25  Radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) today claimed that police shot dead 11 of its supporters as they attempted to march towards Islamabad to stage a demonstration outside the US embassy against Israel's military actions in Gaza. Authorities in Punjab, however, said that at least 40 policemen were injured in clashes with the TLP that began two days ago amid the group’s call for anti-Israel demonstrations. (The Telegraph - India)

Persian Gulf
October 11, 2025  Over the past three years, facilitated by the United States, Arab states quietly expanded security cooperation with the Israeli military, leaked U.S. documents reveal. Senior military officials from Israel and six key Arab countries came together for a series of planning meetings in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar. Even as security cooperation with Israel expanded behind closed doors, Arab leaders denounced its war in Gaza. The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia said the Israeli campaign amounted to a genocide. The documents state that the partnership does not form a new alliance. and that all meetings would be “held in confidence.” Five Centcom PowerPoint presentations detail the creation of what the U.S. military describes as the “Regional Security Construct.” In addition to Israel and Qatar, the construct includes Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Those military ties could now play a key role in overseeing the nascent ceasefire in Gaza. The documents refer to Kuwait and Oman as “potential partners” that were briefed on all meetings. They were written between 2022 and 2025, before and after the launch of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023. Israel and the Arab countries signed on to the plan at a 2022 security conference, agreeing to coordinate military exercises and procure the equipment to make it possible. By 2024, Centcom successfully linked many of the partner states to its systems, allowing them to provide radar and sensor data to the U.S. military and, in turn, to view the combined data of the partners. A briefing document stated that six of the seven partner nations were receiving a partial air picture of the region through Defense Department systems, and that two countries were sharing their own radar data through a U.S. Air Force squadron. Partner nations were also being onboarded to a U.S.-run secure chat system so that they could communicate with each other and the U.S. military. While Qatar and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relationships with Israel, the Centcom documents show the important behind-the-scenes role that both powerful gulf states played in the nascent partnership. The May 2024 security conference at al-Udeid Air Base underscored the increased cooperation, with Israeli officials holding bilateral discussions with representatives from each of the attending Arab countries. Saudi Arabia played an active role in this collaboration, sharing intelligence with Israel and Arab partners on a broad range of security issues. In a 2025 meeting, a Saudi official and a U.S. intelligence official provided an intelligence overview to partners on political developments in Syria, including the role played by Russia, Turkey and Kurdish forces in the country. The briefing also covered the threats posed by the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen and the islamic state’s operations in Syria and Iraq. A 2024 briefing document envisioned the creation of a “Combined Middle East Cyber Center” by the end of 2026 to serve as a headquarters for education and exercises on defensive cyber operations. Another document advocated for the creation of an “Information Fusion Center” for partners to “rapidly plan, execute, and assess operations in the information environment.” These engagements reflected the Gulf Arab states’ pragmatic ties with Israel - and their respect for its military prowess. The centerpiece of the agreement establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain - an air-defense plan to combat Iran’s missiles and drones - moved from theory to reality over the past three years. The air-defense system, however, did nothing to protect Qatar against Israel’s Sept. 9 strike on its capital. U.S. satellite and radar systems did not provide an early warning of the strike, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. France told. Those systems “are typically focused on Iran and other [areas] where we expect an attack to come from.” Tensions between the parties were now on full display after the Israeli strike in Qatar. A key member of the American effort has attacked another, with America seen as complacent, complicit or blind. 200 U.S. troops would be sent to Israel to provide support to the ceasefire agreement, and would be joined by soldiers from several of the Arab countries that participated in this long-standing security cooperation. Even before that announcement, the Arab countries involved in this security collaboration had all signaled their support for Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war. The plan calls for Arab states to participate in the deployment of an international force to Gaza that would train a new Palestinian police force in the region. Security analysts said gulf states could provide financial and diplomatic support for an international force in Gaza but would probably refrain from committing their own military forces to the complex and dangerous mission. In a joint statement, five of the six Arab countries said that they supported the establishment of a mechanism that “guarantees the security of all sides,” but they have stopped short of publicly committing to deploy military forces. There’s a lot of concern in gulf states about what an unshackled Israel is going to do. At the same time, they are reliant on the U.S. as the guarantor of their security. They are also very concerned about Iran. (Source: The Washington Post - U.S.)

South Korea
Oct 14, 2025  Major General “Hank” Taylor, commander of the 8th Field Army in South Korea, told reporters that he’s using ChatGPT to help make military and personal decisions affecting the soldiers under his command. This includes the joint United Nations Command in South Korea, which Taylor currently leads as chief of staff. As a commander, I want to make better decisions, Taylor reportedly said. 'I want to make sure that I make decisions at the right time to give me the advantage.' (Source: Futurism - U.S.)

West Bank
13 October 2025 14:47  Palestinian prisoniers are released in Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Source: Sky News - United Kingdom)
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Europe

Denmark
09:11, 11/10/2025, Saturday  Focusing squarely on the Arctic region, Denmark has unveiled a massive new defense and security package. The government announced a comprehensive security agreement that includes the purchase of 16 additional F-35 fighter jets and a multi-billion dollar infusion of funds for Arctic and North Atlantic security infrastructure. A substantial 29 billion kroner (approximately $2.8 billion) is earmarked for the new F-35 aircraft. This acquisition will bring the Royal Danish Air Force's total F-35 fleet to 43 units. Beyond the jet purchase, an additional 27.4 billion kroner ($2.7 billion) is allocated to bolster Denmark's presence in the strategically vital Arctic. The plan, developed with Greenland and the Faroe Islands, includes a new Arctic Command headquarters in Nuuk, Greenland, laying a submarine communications cable between Greenland and Denmark, and acquiring two new Arctic patrol vessels, drones, and maritime surveillance aircraft. (Source: Yeni Şafak - Turkey)

United Kingdom
14 October 2025  ‘Lost or destroyed’: Army records about soldier Wallace, who exposed abuses in Northern Ireland, have gone missing. (Source: Declassified UK)
by Norton-Taylor

Africa

Madagascar
13 October 2025  France evacuated Madagascan president Rajoelina from the country by a French military plane, amid protests. The unrest began over widespread water and electricity cuts. Former prime minister Christian Ntsay and businessman Ravatomanga, a close ally of the president, reportedly flew to Mauritius on a private jet yesterday night. (Source: Morning Star - United Kingdom)

(Sunday), Oct. 12, 2025  Earlier on Saturday, some troops from the elite CAPSAT unit that helped President Rajoelina seize power in a 2009 coup, urged fellow soldiers to disobey orders and back the youth-led protests. Late on Saturday, the presidency released a statement in response to what it called the spread of false information on social media, following widespread speculation that Rajoelina, who also has French citizenship, had fled the country. Madagascar's prime minister Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo called for calm and unity yesterday, hours after some soldiers joined youth protesters, escorting them as they entered Antananarivo’s May 13 Square, the scene of many political uprising, for the first time since demonstrations began over water and electricity shortages on Sept. 25. Rajoelina appointed Zafisambo and a new defense and security minister after dissolving the previous government in response to the protests. Zafisambo said the government was fully ready to listen and engage in dialogue with all factions - youth, unions, or the military. The demonstrators are demanding that Rajoelina step down, apologize to the country, and dissolve the Senate and electoral commission. At least 22 people have been killed and 100 injured in the unrest. (Source: The Korea Herald - South Korea / Reuters - United Kingdom)

Asia

Philippines
October 14, 2025  China deployed naval assets as part of efforts to 'obstruct' a Philippine government supply mission near contested features in the South China Sea, the Philippines' maritime zone: Sabina Shoal - situated about 90 miles west of the Philippines' westernmost province of Palawan-and Scarborough Shoal, traditionally a rich fishing ground for both Chinese and Filipino anglers. Chinese maritime forces once again sought to block a joint Philippine coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources convoy tasked with delivering fuel and groceries to local fishermen. The supply team encountered about 10 Chinese coast guard ships and another 10 vessels belonging to China's 'maritime militia' near both features. People's Liberation Army Navy helicopters and ships, including a high-speed response boat, were also spotted near Scarborough Shoal. China's coast guard accused Manila of violating the "environmental reserve" that Beijing unilaterally declared over a large section of Scarborough Shoal last month. The mission succeeded in handing supplies to almost 100 fishing vessels. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Caribbean

Cuba
10/13/25 7:00 AM ET  Venezuela’s collapse dominates the headlines, but Cuba’s slow-motion breakdown could have far more profound consequences. A failed state just 90 miles from Florida would unleash new migration waves, invite rival powers into the region, and test America’s resolve. (Source:The Hill - U.S.)

North America

United States
Oct. 15, 2025  The Trump administration has secretly authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert action in Venezuela, according to U.S. officials, stepping up a campaign against Maduro, the country’s authoritarian leader. For weeks, the U.S. military has been targeting boats off the Venezuelan coast it says are transporting drugs, killing 27 people. In all, the Navy has eight surface warships and a submarine in the Caribbean. Today, Mr. Trump said he had made the authorization because Venezuela had 'emptied their prisons into the United States of America.' The president appeared to be referring to claims by his administration that members of the Tren de Aragua prison gang had been sent into the United States to commit crimes. In March, Mr. Trump proclaimed the gang a terrorist organization that was 'conducting irregular warfare' against the United States under the orders of the Maduro government. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)

October 15, 2025  The United States informed Europe that it would withdraw from a joint initiative to counter foreign disinformation. The program especially targeted China, Iran, and Russia. In early September, a U.S. State Department notice informed European capitals that the 2014 memoranda of understanding to unify American and European approaches to disinformation had been nullified. The initiative was managed by the Global Engagement Center (GEC) within the State Department, although the GEC was formally dismantled in late 2024. 'Not only was GEC’s infamous censorship activity profoundly misaligned with this administration’s pro-free speech position, it was woefully and embarrassingly ineffective on its own terms,' the Trump administration’s acting undersecretary for public diplomacy commented. (Source: The Council on Foreign Relations - U.S.)

October 14, 2025  Problems with allies and partners show up in different ways in three key areas: intelligence sharing, coalition planning, and arms sales. The report offers detailed recommendations to help U.S. policymakers more effectively work with the allies and partners that will be central to U.S. strategy in Europe and especially in the Indo-Pacific in the coming decades. (Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies - U.S.)

NATO

15.10.2025  NATO introduced the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative in July after US President Trump briefly suspended military aid to Ukraine, accusing allies of failing to share the burden. Under the program, the US provides weapons to Ukraine while Western allies cover the costs. By August, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden had allocated a total of $2.2 billion for the program. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

South America

Argentina
15/10/2025, Wednesday  US President Trump has announced his full endorsement for Argentine President Milei during a joint appearance at the White House, praising Milei for doing the "right things" for Argentine, ahead of Argentina's legislative elections. Trump predicted Milei would win and praised his economic reforms. The endorsement comes as Milei's La Libertad Avanza party prepares for elections on October 26. The political backing from the White House aligns with economic support signals from US Treasury Secretary Bessent, who recently stated his department stands ready to assist Argentina, describing the South American nation as "a systemically important US ally in Latin America." (Source: Yeni Şafak - Turkey)

Venezuela
(October 14, 2025)  Six killed after US strikes another boat off coast of Venezuela. (Source: CNN - U.S.)

Space

Oct 13, 2025 9:00 PM  Roughly half of geostationary satellite signals, many carrying sensitive consumer, corporate, and government communications, have been left entirely vulnerable to eavesdropping, a team of researchers at UC San Diego and the University of Maryland revealed today in a study that will likely resonate across the cybersecurity industry, telecom firms, and inside military and intelligence agencies worldwide. For three years, the UCSD and UMD researchers developed and used an off-the-shelf, $800 satellite receiver system on the roof of a university building in the La Jolla seaside neighborhood of San Diego to pick up the communications of geosynchronous satellites in the small band of space visible from their Southern California vantage point. By simply pointing their dish at different satellites and spending months interpreting the obscure - but unprotected - signals they received from them, the researchers assembled an alarming collection of private data: They obtained samples of the contents of Americans’ calls and text messages on T-Mobile’s cellular network, data from airline passengers’ in-flight Wi-Fi browsing, communications to and from critical infrastructure such as electric utilities and offshore oil and gas platforms, and even US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications that revealed the locations of personnel, equipment, and facilities. The group’s paper, which they’re presenting this week at an Association for Computing Machinery conference in Taiwan, is titled “Don’t Look Up”. The researchers say that they’ve spent nearly the past year warning companies and agencies whose sensitive data they found exposed in satellite communications. Most of them moved quickly to encrypt those communications and protect the data. The researchers’ work looked at only a small fraction of geostationary satellites whose signals they could pick up from San Diego - roughly 15 percent of those in operation, by the researchers’ estimate. UCSD cryptography professor Heninger, who co-led the study, compares their study’s revelation - the sheer scale of the unprotected satellite data available for the taking - to some of the revelations of Snowden that showed how the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ were obtaining telecom and internet data on an enormous scale, often by secretly tapping directly into communications infrastructure. (Source: Wired - U.S.)

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Europe

United Kingdom
(11 October 2025)  United Kingdom sanctions have frozen more than £25bn of Russian assets since february 2022. But until now, funds sent to Ukraine using Russian assets had only been taken from profits and interest accrued on them. The UK is 'ready to progress to using the full value of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's war' effort, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said. The announcement comes after European leaders met in Copenhagen last week to discuss using frozen Russian assets for a €140bn ($162bn; £121bn) loan to Ukraine. The value of frozen Russian assets in the EU is estimated to be almost €211bn (£181bn). In a statement, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany said the joint action 'would increase pressure' on Russian President Putin. It added the move would be taken in close cooperation with the US. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Africa

Morocco
11/10/2025  Morocco's King Mohammed VI urges speedy social reforms following youth-led protests. Yesterday he said improving public education and healthcare was a priority. The protesters have taken to the streets almost every night since September 27. (Source: France 24)
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Asia

Japan
October 11, 2025  China has been intensifying its activities across the entire region surrounding Japan, including in the East China Sea, particularly in the area around the Senkaku Islands, the Sea of Japan, and the western Pacific Ocean, extending beyond the so-called the first island chain to the second island chain. A Chinese naval flotilla, led by a pair of destroyers, was tracked sailing around nearly all of Japan’s territory, including its outlying southwestern islands, in less than a month, according to data released by Japan’s Defense Ministry. The Chinese ships began their voyage around Japan on September 16-17, when they transited the Tsushima Strait, located between Japan and South Korea, moving into the Sea of Japan - also known as the East Sea in South Korea - from the East China Sea. The Chinese flotilla later departed the Sea of Japan for the North Pacific as it transited the Soya Strait - also known as the La Pérouse Strait in Russia - on September 22-23. The strait lies between Russia’s Sakhalin Island and Japan’s main island of Hokkaido. (Source: The Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Philippines
Oct 12, 2025, 12:21 AM  6.0-magnitude quake hits off southern Philippines late yesterday. It was not yet clear if the 6.0-magnitude quake in Surigao del Sur was an aftershock of the 6.7- and the 7.4-magnitude tremors that struck off Manay town in Mindanao region a day ago, which killed at least eight people. The series of quakes came just days after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 75 people and injured more than 1,200 in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government data. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / AFP - France)

Australia

October 10, 2025  Australia has officially received its first two AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. These helicopters are part of a 29-aircraft deal, with the final deliveries scheduled for 2029. Northern Australia is geographically closer to the Pacific’s contested maritime domains - namely the South China Sea, Arafura Sea, and Indo-Pacific littorals. By aligning aviation assets forward, Australia shortens the 'kill chain' - decreasing transit time, allowing for faster reaction, and giving Australian forces better integration with maritime/land/intelligence assets. The northern posture becomes more credible. Canberra hopes that the introduction of Apaches will raise the costs of hostile actions near Australian territory or in adjacent seas. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Weichert. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine.

North America

United States
October 11, 2025  „As the Trump administration restructures the American armed forces by instituting a 10-point plan announced at the recent meeting of the generals and flag officers at Quantico, by renaming the Department of Defense the War Department, by reinvigorating our industrial plant to build more ships, planes, and other war platforms, by modernizing our nuclear forces, by pursuing Golden Dome defenses, and by redirecting the focus of our armed forces to protecting the homeland and securing the Western Hemisphere, the long-delayed need to emancipate our European allies into global adulthood is upon us. It is time for the United States to cut NATO’s umbilical cord”. NATO is 76 years old, but continues to act as a young adult, and sometimes acts like a child, always looking to the United States for financial and military support. That has to end. „The Trump administration is ending it”. U.S. troops are still there (in Europe), and now they are committed to fighting on behalf of 31 other countries. NATO’s first Secretary General Lord Ismay famously remarked that the purpose of the alliance was “to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.’ The Soviet Union hasn’t existed since 1991. Germany threatens no one. But the Americans are still ’in’ despite the fact that the European Union’s gross domestic product is nearly 70 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Restructuring NATO appears to be one aspect of the forthcoming National Defense Strategy (NDS) as foreshadowed in War Secretary Hegseth’s statement of May 2, 2025. „Secretary Hegseth outlined three priorities for the NDS: defense of the homeland, deterring China in the Indo-Pacific, and burden-sharing with our allies and partners throughout the world. Burden-sharing includes most especially NATO”. Under Secretary for Policy Colby is heading-up the NDS, just as he did in Trump’s first term. „Colby’s 2018 NDS shifted the department’s focus from small peripheral wars to great power competition, especially with China. Colby also has expressed concern that wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have distracted American policymakers from the greater threat in the Indo-Pacific. Trump’s Middle East peace proposals, efforts to end the Ukraine War, and repeated calls for greater burden-sharing by our European allies fit neatly within the forthcoming NDS as projected by Hegseth. The forthcoming 2025 NDS, however, will refocus the War Department on protecting the homeland and securing the Western Hemisphere as part of Trump’s America First foreign policy. This approach has already manifested itself in sealing the nation’s southern border, mass deportations of illegal aliens, a renewed interest in controlling the Panama Canal, talk about acquiring Greenland, dispatching National Guard troops to combat crime in major cities, and using the armed forces to attack narco-terrorists in the Caribbean Sea. Trump has reinvigorated the Monroe Doctrine, which the Obama-Biden administrations treated as a historical relic of a distant past”. Trump’s approach to defense strategy is geographical. It begins with homeland and hemispheric defense and then prioritizes U.S. interests in Eurasia by seeking to shift resources from the Middle East and Europe to the Indo-Pacific. Finally, it recalls Reagan’s approach of peace through strength. The 2025 NDS will not be isolationist or limited to hemispheric defense. As Spykman pointed out in America’s Strategy in World Politics, “hemispheric defense is no defense at all.” But failing to protect the homeland and secure the Western Hemisphere would cripple our ability to project power abroad when it is in our interests to do so. The 2025 NDS will focus on geographical interests rather than “values.” The U.S. armed forces should fight for concrete security interests, not for “democracy.” The Trump administration’s approach to the NDS and NATO received (surprising) support in the pages of Foreign Affairs. Kavanagh of Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies and Slezkine of the Stimson Center applaud Trump for seeking to rebalance the transatlantic relationship. Kavanaugh and Slezkine agree with Trump’s refocus on the Western Hemisphere and counsel “pulling back from Europe and “avoiding the hard ‘pivot to Asia.’ ” NATO, they continue,” should “confine its activities to the Euro-Atlantic region” instead of ’going global’ in search of new missions after the fall of the Soviet Union. Like Kennan did, Kavanaugh and Slezkine criticize NATO enlargement as unnecessary and provocative. As in Ukraine, Trump should reduce the “risk of entanglement and the temptation U.S. policymakers might feel to support direct involvement.” Also, like Kennan, they are critical of the internationalists’ scheme to promote democracy throughout the world. Kavanaugh and Slezkine urge Trump to carry out a “retrenchment” of U.S. forces in Europe and to “narrow the scope of the U.S. military commitment to Europe in a crisis.” There is no longer a need for U.S. soldiers to be on the frontlines in Europe. Kavanaugh and Slezkine also urge Trump to avoid a strong pivot to Asia as recommended by so-called “China hawks’ within the administration. Instead, they argue, the U.S. should “pivot home” by focusing on the Western Hemisphere, border security, missile defense, and port security. Their proposed “pivot home” will surely be part of the 2025 NDS, but they may be too sanguine about the threat posed by China to our interests in the Indo-Pacific. „NATO was an important alliance, but as currently structured it has outlived its usefulness. Europe can stand on its own two feet without being tethered to the U.S. umbilical cord. Sevent-six years as a dependent is enough”. (Source: RealClearWorld)
by Sempa

South America

Venezuela
12.10.2025  President Maduro orders large-scale drills involving over 1,500 soldiers and civilians to defend national sovereignty amid tensions with US. The drill aims to strengthen the protection of public institutions, maintain internal order, and enhance the effectiveness of Venezuela’s air defense systems. President Maduro announced via social media that new defense zones have been established in the northeastern states of Anzoategui, Monagas, and Bolivar. He emphasized that these zones form a vital corridor extending from the Caribbean Sea to the Orinoco River and down to the Brazilian border. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Europe

Council of Europe
7 October 2025  Gender identity frameworks have been integrated into European Union and Council of Europe policies largely behind closed doors. New norms are being introduced through soft law instruments such as guidelines, strategies and recommendations, rather than through open legislative debate. A new policy report published by the Austrian-based think-tank Athena Forum titled Beneath the Surface: How Gender Identity is Reshaping Europe is a much-needed European initiative to fight for sex-based rights and democratic values. It argues that the shift from biological sex to self-defined gender identity has led to the erosion of long-standing sex-based rights across the continent. “We have watched the meaning of woman, the clarity of law and the basis for sex-based rights erode under the weight of ideological capture,' the authors write. The report highlights the role of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Council of Europe’s SOGIESC Unit in embedding these definitions into policy and professional training, shaping policy norms in Brussels and Strasbourg. Groups receive tens of millions of euros in funding from EU programmes, 'philanthropic foundations and international donors'. 'This shift is not just linguistic; it is structural, altering how institutions understand rights, allocate resources and distribute power.' The distinction between sex and gender have blurred. Terms such as gender identity are replacing sex as the basis for equality law and funding priorities. This redefinition threatens women’s rights, children’s safeguarding and the legal coherence of equality legislation. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

European Commission
09.10.2025  European Commission President survived a double no-confidence vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, overcoming challenges from 'far-right' and 'far-left' lawmakers that aimed to unseat her. This is der Leyen's second defense against a no-confidence motion this year. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

October 7, 2025  'In 2021, when Russia started amassing troops along its border with Ukraine, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed that the European Union invite Russian President Putin for a summit. Kallas - then the prime minister of Estonia, a country of 1.3 million - slammed the idea. Rather than hope that the Russian president’s behavior would change, she argued, Europe should recognize that he had been acting entirely consistently for years, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The proposal was dropped, but Kallas rose in stature'. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)

European Parliament
7 October 2025  Members of European Parliament express reluctant support for European Commission chief ahead of censure vote. MEPs will vote on the two censorship motions at midday on October 9. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

Asia

Taiwan
10/8/2025  Taiwan is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel. The liquefied natural gas is used to generate nearly half of Taiwan’s electricity. Taiwan’s current reliance on Qatar for 30% of its LNG is seen as a pressure point. Some 97% of Taiwan’s energy is imported by sea. Taiwan’s government is looking anew at nuclear power, just months after it shut down its last reactor. Two U.S. senators introduced legislation in September that would support Taiwan’s ability to secure a reliable supply of American LNG from the current 10%, including providing U.S. insurance for shippers to keep deliveries flowing if the island is threatened. Taiwan oil group CPC signed a letter of intent this year to buy millions of tons of Alaskan LNG and potentially invest in a pipeline and liquefaction project. Japan has LNG storage capacity that could serve as a crucial backstop in a U.S.-led effort to resupply Taiwan in a blockade. Beijing could subject vessels serving Taiwan to inspection by declaring a law-enforcement or health action. Since a blockade is an act of war against an enemy state, China would call its action something else, such as a quarantine. A Chinese quarantine would force Taiwan and the U.S. to decide whether to take military action and potentially be accused of starting a war. In a blockade, Taiwan’s LNG supplies would last under two weeks, while coal would last seven. Under a blockade, or in a quasi-wartime state, your industry and pretty much everything else would have to slow down. Wartime would cut the island’s energy consumption by two-thirds. Solar and wind power don’t yet come close to making the island self-sufficient. (Source: The Wall Stret Journal = U.S.)
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North America

United States
October 10, 2025  At base, Trump appears to believe that the sheer volume of peacemaking initiatives will force the Nobel committee’s hand. There is no reason to believe this is correct, but it is worth thinking through the implications his belief will have for future U.S. diplomacy. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)

October 10, 2025  Today, Venezuela has the largest population of exiles, with more than 8 million people living abroad. For Venezuelans in South Florida who fled political repression and persectution in their home country, the dream of a democratic transition felt closer than ever today: Opposition leader Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado received the award 15 months after the Venezuelan opposition participated in a presidential election from which she was barred from running. Since the election, Machado has gone into hiding to avoid arrest. (Source: Miami Herald - U.S.)

Friday, 10 October 2025  Shakeup of military hierachy continues. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

10/8/2025  Bray, a Rutgers University history professor who teaches about antifascism, has written four books on anarchism and antifa. One of them, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, is a history of postwar antifascism. One online activist called Bray a domestic terrorist professor. Another shared the address of his home in New Jersey. The campus’s chapter of the conservative student group Turning Point USA then launched a petition yesterday to demand that the university fire him, referencing Trump’s executive order and claiming Bray is a risk to their safety. Bray has taught courses spanning terrorism, human rights, modern Germany and communism at Rutgers since 2019, joining the Rutgers history department. He told his students Sunday that his courses would move online immediately. He is moving out of the United States for the year to Europe, to Spain. Bray added that he knows some professors who are searching for jobs in Canada or England. (Source: MSN - U.S.)

Oct 08, 2025  Citing low munitions stockpiles, the Pentagon is urging weapons contractors to accelerate missile production, doubling or even quadrupling production rates. It hopes to boost production rates for 12 types of missiles it wants on-hand, including Patriot interceptor missiles, Standard Missile-6, THAAD interceptors, and joint air-surface standoff missiles. But experts tell that this ambitious missile production ramp-up is a time-intensive, costly, and logistically challenging endeavor that may ultimately fail without substantive financial commitment from the DoD. The Pentagon has burnt through many of its munitions in ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel - at a rate faster than it can replace them. Cancian (Colonel, USMCR, ret.), a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told that, if the necessary funding was available, the U.S. defense industrial base could double the production of many missiles over about two years, merely by having existing weapons factories double-up on production shifts and workers. The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year allocated $25 billion over the next five years toward munitions funding; the Pentagon’s new missile production targets may well cost tens of billions more. The SM-6 (Standard Missile-6), which the Pentagon also wants to ramp up, costs about $4.3 million each. Washington needs to assess its current foreign commitments, primarily in Ukraine and Israel, before it depletes its current stores further, requiring more money, more industry, and more time to get back up to fighting shape. In other words, say experts, put the much needed focus back on the U.S. national interest even if that means turning off the spigot for other countries. Defense writer Fredenburg estimated in August that Israel’s wars on Gaza and Iran, together with the U.S. campaign on Yemen’s Houthis earlier this year, consumed 33% of the U.S. stock of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), and 17% of the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), since 2023. The U.S. used a quarter of its THAAD missile interceptors during the Israel-Iran war alone. And the Guardian reported in July that the U.S. only had 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it would need for the Pentagon’s military plans - having sent many to Ukraine, which still often lacks them. (Source: Responsible Statecraft - U.S.)

08.10.2025  The US Senate confirmed 107 of President Trump’s nominees Tuesday which included ambassadors, agency heads and US attorneys. Democrats blocked an earlier agreement to speed up the process before the August recess, leaving hundreds of nominations stalled for months. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

October 7, 2025  Following a deployment to the North Sea and the Arctic region, the United States Navy’s newest and largest nuclear-powered supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), transited the Straits of Gibraltar and was spotted operating in the Mediterranean Sea. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

NATO

October 10, 2025  Northern Tarassis Exercise is taking place from the Arctic to the Baltic Sea, involving ground, maritime, and air forces from 10 nations. The exercise started in early September and will run until the end of October. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

Friday 10 October 2025  NATO is set to conduct its major annual nuclear exercise - the Steadfast Noon drill- beginning Monday. Running for around two weeks, the exercise will be led by the Netherlands and involve 71 aircraft from 14 NATO nations. It has been held annually for over a decade. Bomber aircraft and fighter jets that can carry nuclear warheads are taking part, but no nuclear weapons or live munitions will be used. The bulk of the exercise is being held in the North Sea, far from Russia. It will involve military bases in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands. The United States and Britain, with their nuclear forces, are key to NATO’s strategic deterrence. France also has nuclear weapons but is not a part of the organization’s nuclear planning group. The United States is providing F-35 jets capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons, refueling planes and other support aircraft. Finland and Poland are sending fighter jets. A big part of the exercise will focus on protecting nuclear weapons on the ground. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

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Europe

France
9 October 2025  France’s royal pretender, Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou, has criticised the country’s deepening political and institutional crisis and urged the French to look to their monarchic heritage as a source of renewal and hope. Regarded by royalist traditionalist „legitimists” as Louis XX, the rightful heir to the long-abolished French throne, de Bourbon traces his lineage directly to King Louis XIV through Philip V of Spain. According to de Bourbon, France’s Republican system itself encourages division rather than unity or long-term vision. ’The Republic, true to its history, remains subject to partisan logic. Although the Constitution desired by General de Gaulle appeared to seek a remedy for this flaw, it must be acknowledged that fifty years later, the scourge that has so often brought suffering to France has reappeared with renewed force,’ he wrote in a column for the Journal du Dimanche. “I believe it is my duty, as head of the House of Bourbon and heir to the dynasty that built France, to speak out on this matter.” De Bourbon criticised those who put their career before their country. ’Once again, parties and politicians, far from acting in the higher interest of France and therefore of the French people, prefer to play their own games,’ he said. ’As has so often been the case in the past, the republican institutions and the political class are proving unequal to the challenges of our time,’ he wrote. The French political class to be corrupt, he said, while calling for the restoration of the moral and cultural monarchy as a source of inspiration for rebuilding the country. In his column, he presents himself as a legitimate moral voice as he is the descendant of France’s former kings, and claims historical responsibility for the nation’s well-being. The Fifth Republic, like its predecessors, could be on the verge of collapse, he predicted. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

(7 October 2025)  Time may be running out for Master of clocks Macron. He is more likely to dissolve parliament than step down. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Oct 6, 2025  At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt stood at 3.346 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion), or 114% of GDP. France’s new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned less than a month in office and less than 24 hours after naming a new government that prompted a key coalition ally to withdraw support - the conservatives who hold 50 seats, objected to his choice for defense minister. As France is faced with a massive debt crisis, Lecornu’s main task would have been to pass a budget. National Rally is calling on President Macron to either call for new snap parliamentary elections or resign. France Unbowed also asks for Macron’s departure. (Source:PBS - U.S.)

Germany
6 October 2025  Former German chancellor Angela Merkel told Hungarian Youtube channel Partizan on October 3 that she had proposed that EU members agree a new format for negotiating with Russia in 2021, before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. She has blamed Poland and the Baltic States for war in Ukraine, turning down a proposal for the European Union to negotiate directly with Russia on Ukraine. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

Russia
October 9, 2025  ’My own best estimate of Russia’s military losses, based on multiple sources’, is 350,000 killed—or close to a million if one includes those who cannot return to service because of severed limbs or other permanent injuries. Many are listed as missing in action, including tens of thousands of unrecovered corpses. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)
by Kovalev, an 'independent journalist and former investigations editor at Meduza who left Russia in 2022.

08/10/2025 - 17:55  Russia’s foreign intelligence service has accused Western countries of plotting false flag operations to discredit Moscow. Russia accused Polish intelligence on September 30 of working with Ukrainian agents to create a fake Russian-Belarusian special forces unit aimed at attacking Polish infrastructure. A week earlier, the SVR claimed that NATO and EU officials were planning provocations in Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria. The SVR alleged on October 6 that the UK was recruiting Ukrainian agents to stage a maritime attack that would appear to have been carried out by Russia. The supposed plan included the use of Chinese equipment, which the SVR said was intended to implicate Beijing as well. The agency claimed the operatives were instructed to get arrested by Western authorities and then claim they had acted on orders from Moscow. Phase 0 is Western terminology which corresponds in Russian military doctrine to a special period – a concept inherited from the Soviet era – ’describing a phase of heightened tensions immediately before war breaks out’. During this special period, Russian doctrine focuses on sowing confusion, justifying future military actions and solidifying domestic support. While these accusations are directed at Western governments, their primary audience appears to be domestic, through Russian media outlets to shape public opinion at home, portraying Russia as perpetually under siege. Russia always invariably claims to be on the defence. This helps maintain internal support and frame any future military action as a necessity. Part of the hybrid warfare playbook – meant to sow confusion and blur the line between peace and wartime - these false flag claims could be part of a strategy to pre-emptively discredit Western narratives – ’or to justify real acts of sabotage later on’. Moscow’s objective may be less about striking first and more about signalling the potential cost of any future confrontation. „Instead of planning an outright offensive, Russia appears to be shaping the narrative – offering the West a preview of what open conflict with Moscow might look like, while positioning itself to deny accountability if escalation occurs. (Source: France 24)

October 8, 2025 12:12 PM GMT+2  Russia will shoot down Tomahawk cruise missiles and bomb their launch sites if the United States decides to supply them to Ukraine, a senior Russian lawmaker said today. ’Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical. We will find ways to hurt those who cause us trouble,’ Kartapolov, a former deputy defence minister, head of the Russian parliament's defence committee, told the state RIA news agency. He said Tomahawks could only be given in small numbers - in tens rather than hundreds. "We know these missiles very well, how they fly, how to shoot them down; we worked with them in Syria, so there is nothing new. The only problems will be for those who supply them and those who use them; that's where the problems will be,’ he said. Kartapolov was also cited as saying that Moscow had so far seen no signs that Ukraine was preparing launch sites for Tomahawks, something he said Kyiv would not be able to hide if it got such missiles. If and when that happened, he said Russia would use drones and missiles to destroy any launchers. U.S. President Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had sort of made a decision on the matter. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

Oct.6.2025 1:40PM  The first flight of the KVN drone took place in June 2024, just in time for the Ukrainian invasion in Kursk. Tchadaiev deployed 230 models on the ground, and the drone, which costs $500, destroyed 42 of the 50 Western armored vehicles in a specific Ukrainian offensive. (Source: Folha de S. Paulo - Brazil)

6:31 pm, October 6, 2025  Over the last month, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) have succeeded in slowing the Russian army’s advance in central Donbas. In August, Ukraine redeployed significant forces from other fronts to reinforce defenses around Russia’s breakthrough between Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka, leaving other sectors more vulnerable. Russian troops have advanced toward Sloviansk along both banks of the Siverskyi Donets River, capturing the Kreminna Forests. Another Russian force is advancing almost unopposed westward along the Dnipropetrovsk–Zaporizhzhia regional border, in addition to smaller-scale crises in Ukrainian defenses near Orikhiv, south of Zaporizhzhia, and around Kupyansk in the eastern Kharkiv region. (Source: Meduza - based in Riga, Latvia)
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Ukraine
Wednesday 08 October 2025 19:52 BST  A Russian drone attack struck an oil depot in Ukraine's Chernihiv region today morning. The National Energy Company of Ukraine said that several regions of Ukraine have been left without power. In the Chernihiv region the local power company is forced to implement three simultaneous hourly power cuts. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

October 6, 2025  How and why Ukraine’s military is going digital? The analysis presented in this paper is based primarily on interviews conducted with representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the MOD, and the Defense Procurement Agency. These interviews provided first-hand insights into the evolving practices of defense acquisition and procurement under wartime conditions. (Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies - U.S.)
by Bondar, a fellow with the Wadhwani AI Center at the CSIS in Washington, D.C.

Europe
10/08/2025  For the European Union, political trouble rises in the east. Russia’s refusal to halt its grinding war in Ukraine is only part of the problem. The E.U. is in turmoil.   France is ’in a soap-operatic financial and political crisis’; its latest prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, resigned Monday after less than a month in office. French President Macron is seriously weakened at home.    Germany is mired in economic malaise. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz yet to achieve the stature and influence once commanded by Angela Merkel. The recent developments may further tip the E.U political balance to the right.    In the Czech Republic on Sunday, another ’populist’ Euroskeptic and Ukraine critic, the billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis, won national parliamentary elections, to replace the ’pro-Western’, pro-Ukraine coalition led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Babis and his right wing ANO (Yes) Party, ran under the banner of “Czechia first.” He promised to raise wages and pensions - and to shut down the Czech-led program that sends most of Europe’s artillery shells to Ukraine, denouncing the country’s outgoing government for giving ’Czech mothers nothing, and Ukrainians everything. Babis has said it’s not the arms, but how they are procured, that is the problem. He claims the program is corrupt and that Czech arms merchants are making a fortune. Babis wants the program shifted to NATO. After the election, Babis said the Czech Republic would remain a reliable partner in the E.U. and NATO. “We criticize the European Union, but we don’t want to destroy it,” ANO deputy leader Havlicek told the BBC. “We want to reform it.” Babis said talks have begun with the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, which has called for Ukraine immigrants to be deported, and the new Motorists for Themselves party, which opposes the E.U.’s green deal. Both are deeply skeptical about the European project. If Babis succeeds in forming a government coalition, officials in Brussels expect he will join Orbán and Fico to obstruct assistance for Ukraine and oppose new pressure on Russia. Babis, 71, boasted he has met President Trump multiple times. He is also good friends with Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, who on Monday told the news site EconomX. that his country should not adopt the euro currency because the E.U. is disintegrating.    Since 2010, PM Orbán has fashioned himself as a champion of “illiberal Christian democracy”- 'which led the European Union to suspend $21 billion in funding'. Mr Orbán is pledging to veto any attempt to start formal E.U. membership talks with Ukraine. He accused E.U. leaders of developing war plans against Russia. On October 2, at a leaders’ summit in Denmark, he dismissed as a nonstarter a plan by European Council President Costa to fast-track membership talks with Ukraine. “I do not agree,” Viktor Orbán said. “So this plan is dead".   In neighboring Slovakia, SMER party’s leader, Prime Minister Robert Fico was attending Victory Day celebrations in Beijing and Moscow and meeting with Presidents Xi and Putin. Fico said during a televised debate on Sunday that the goal of his country is not the defeat of the Russian Federation. „Our goal is to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. These are Slavs killing each other. War is not a solution.” He added: ’If the E.U. spent as much energy on peace as it does on supporting the war in Ukraine, the war could have been over long ago.” Orbán and Fico have resisted calls to stop purchasing Russian oil and natural gas, which Trump has demanded as a condition of imposing new sanctions on Moscow - raising questions about whether any new pressure on the Kremlin will be forthcoming from Washington.    The ’dependably dull, staunchly democratic ittle’ Lithuania saw mass protests over the weekend. Artists took to the streets to demand the ouster of the culture minister from the ’populist’ Nemunas Dawn Party, whose leader has been dogged by charges of antisemitism. Nemunas Dawn joined the government after Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas resigned this summer under a cloud of corruption allegations, forcing his Social Democratic Party to find new coalition partners.    E.U. heads of state and government are clashing openly with one another. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk faces challenges at home, with the June election of conservative historian Nawrocki as president of Poland. Supported by Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party and endorsed by Trump, Nawrocki ran a successful “Poland for Poles” campaign. Nawrocki wants Germany to pay steep reparations for Nazi crimes during World War II. The Polish president plans to fight illegal immigration, defend the Polish currency and limit the powers of the European Union. Nawrocki is highly critical of Russia - he recently called Putin a war criminal - but he is wary of Ukraine, which he insists should not be allowed to join NATO or the European Union. (Source: MSN / The Washington Post = U.S.)

Africa

Burkina Faso
07/10/2025  Burkina Faso's military government said today it had arrested eight members of International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), a Netherlands-based group specialising in humanitarian safety, including a Frenchman, a French-Senegalese woman, a Czech man, a Malian and four Burkinabe nationals, accusing them of spying and treason. Since seizing power in a September 2022 coup, Burkina Faso's military junta has turned away from the West and, in particular, its former colonial ruler France. Burkinabe authorities often repress dissent within civil society and the media, claiming it as part of the battle against jihadist violence that has plagued the country for a decade. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" = France)

Egypt
6 October 2025  Rising Nile waters inundated homes and fields in northern Egypt over the weekend. This year a late-season surge has pushed north from Ethiopia, through Sudan, and into Egypt. Egypt has accused Ethiopia of reckless unilateral operation of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - headquartered in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of the Saudi royal family)

Mali
Tuesday 07/10/2025  'The war in Ukraine and terrorism in the Sahel are connected,' Malian Prime Minister General Maiga said at the United Nations in late September. ''The Ukrainian regime has become one of the main suppliers of kamikaze drones to terrorist groups around the world,' he said. From explosive drones to inflatable decoy vehicles, Tuareg rebels in Mali have increasingly turned to tactics learnt from Ukrainian intelligence to strike the west African country’s army and its Russian allies. While the Tuaregs have ties to Kiev, Mali has increasingly relied on Russian mercenaries for help in fighting both the rebels and the jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda and the isis extremist group roaming the wider Sahel region. Turkish drones gave the Malian army and its Russian partner an advantage over the Tuareg rebels when they captured the rebel stronghold of Kidal in 2023. In July 2024, Ukrainian military intelligence official, Yusov, implied that Kiev had provided information to the rebels so they could carry out an attack. The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), created in November 2024, consists mostly of Tuareg, a semi-nomadic people of Berber descent. The FLA separatists, considered terrorists in the Sahel capitals, have joined forces at times with the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM). Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military juntas that have turned their backs on the West to move closer to Russia, have severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine, accusing it of supplying weapons to the FLA. (Source: The Arab Weekly - put out by Al Arab Publishing House in London, United Kingdom)

Nobel Prize in Literature

Oct 9, 2025  Hungarian writer Krasznahorkai, whose philosophical, bleakly funny novels often unfold in single sentences, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, 'in the midst of apocalyptic terror', reaffirms the power of art. Several works including his debut, Sátántangó, and The Melancholy of Resistance were turned into films by Hungarian director Tarr. Krasznahorkai is a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Bernhard, and is characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess, the Nobel judges said. Krasznahorkai, 71, has received many awards including the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. He also won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the U.S. in 2019 for Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming. He was friends with American poet and writer Ginsberg and would regularly stay in Ginsberg’s apartment while visiting New York City. He is the first winner from Hungary since Kertesz in 2002. Last year's prize was won by South Korean author Han for her body of work that the committee said confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life. Nobel Prize award ceremonies are held on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896. Each prize carries an award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million), and the winners also receive an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma. (Source: Korea Times - South Korea)

October 09, 2025  The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hungarian author Krasznahorkai, at Borshuset in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct 9, 2025. The second Hungarian to win the prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy, after Kertesz in 2002, Krasznahorkai was born in the small town of Gyula in southeast Hungary. His 1985 novel, Sátántangó, is set in a remote rural area. The novel portrays, in powerfully suggestive terms, a destitute group of residents on an abandoned collective farm in the Hungarian countryside just before the fall of communism, the Academy said. Several of his works have been adapted into films by Tarr. In 1993, he received the German Bestenliste Prize for the best literary work of the year for The Melancholy of Resistance. (Source: AsiaOne – Singapore)

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Czechia
05/10/2025  Czech billionaire Andrej Babiš outperformed pre-election polls to secure 35% of the vote - the second-best result of a winning party in the Czech Republic since the fall of communism. Babiš said talks were already underway with far-right and populist forces that have denounced European Union policies on migration and climate. Echoing Trump, the 71-year-old former premier canvassed the eastern European nation with pledges to put Czechs first, bring an end to fiscal austerity measures and curb military aid to Ukraine. Babiš made clear that he would spurn values advanced by the European Union bloc in favour of a more transactional approach. The two smaller groups with whom Babiš is pursuing an agreement - the populist Motorists, committed to a wholesale rejection of the EU’s climate agenda and the anti-migration Freedom and Direct Democracy, or SPD, which has advocate leaving the bloc - would give him a path to a parliamentary majority, with the three holding a projected 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament. Babiš said on yesterday he would seek to govern alone, with parliamentary support from the two factions. The billionaire has rejected holding a referendum on EU membership, having called the UK’s experience with Brexit a disaster. After the vote Babis lamented what he called the over-regulation and soaring prices in the bloc, saying that ’Europe is suffering - Europe is not competitive anymore.’ “We want to save Europe - we are clearly pro-European and pro-NATO,” he said at party headquarters. In contrast with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, Babiš has never aligned himself with Russian President Putin, but has vowed to buck the EU trend on defense spending and migration. Babiš has taken aim at the flagship Czech aid initiative for Ukraine, a program to source and deliver ammunition to Kyiv. He reiterated his position that the initiative serves only to enrich weapons producers - but said he would discuss the issue with Zelenskiy and handle it transparently. Orbán celebrated the candidate’s victory, saying that “Truth has prevailed!” in the region. Babiš said he wants to boost infrastructure and other investments to get the economy grow as much as 4% a year and pledged to bring CEZ AS, the country’s biggest power producer, fully into state hands. One of Babiš’s ambitions is to reassert the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary - a group known as the Visegrad Four - as a regional force, uniting the voices of 65 million citizens to have greater voice in the 27-member bloc. (Source: Luxembourg Times / Bloomberg - U.S.)

(Sunday) 05.10.2025  'Populist' billionaire Babis' ANO Party wins Czech elections with 35.5% of vote. Around 8 million voters cast their ballots on Friday and Saturday, with 26 parties and groupings competing for seats in the 200-member lower house, four more than in the last elections in 2021. Polling stations closed at 2 pm (1200GMT) local time on Saturday. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

05/10/2025  The ANO party, lead by billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis won this weekend's parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic. With nearly all ballots counted by Saturday night, Babis and his ANO ("Yes") party had around 35 percent of the vote. His victory was based partly on campaign promises to halt aid to Ukraine. The centre-right, ’pro-western’ coalition led by the outgoing prime minister, Petr Fiala, had 23 percent. A total of six parties will make up the new parliament. Babis said he would seek backing from both the anti-immigration, eurosceptic Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party which got just short of 8 percent and a right-wing group calling itself the Motorists which won around 7 percent for an ANO government. An admirer of US President Trump and ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the European Parliament, on good terms with Slovakia's Robert Fico, Babis nonetheless stressed that his party was pro-European and pro-NATO. Describing himself as a "peacemonger" calling for a truce in the war with Russia, Babis has vowed a "Czechs first" approach. The Czech Republic has donated arms to the Ukrainian military and has also taken in some 500,000 Ukrainian refugees, 300,000 of whom are still living there. Babis is on good terms with Hungary's Orbán. In 2024 they co-founded the ’far-right’ Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, which includes France's National Rally among other parties. (Source: rfi - France)

Finland
October 3, 2025  Finland, the European Union, and the United States have recently raised concerns about Beijing's links to data cables, citing worries about national security, data integrity, and geopolitical stability over this vital infrastructure for NATO countries. Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has reported growing security concerns in the country over the Chinese state-owned firm Citic Telecom CPC, through its subsidiaries, owning and operating the three underwater telecommunications cables linking Finland, Estonia, and Sweden. The head of Finland's National Cyber Security Centre told the paper that Beijing’s link was of concern because whoever controlled the cable had access to its data traffic. The network comprises three separate routes: one between Finland and Estonia, a second between Finland and Sweden, and a third between Estonia and Sweden. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Germany
3 October 2025  The rape of Europe - both metaphorical and literal - continues because we lack the civilisational confidence to defend what previous generations built. The majority’s misguided legislation is driven by fashionable ideology, our legal institutions stand helpless before a phenomenon they were never designed to address. The acquittal of ten suspects in a Vienna sexual abuse case involving a twelve-year-old girl represents far more than a judicial failure. Similarly, the Hamburg park case, where nine men gang-raped a fifteen-year-old girl over several hours, resulted in suspended sentences for all but one perpetrator. In Germany alone, we now witness between 600 and 800 gang rapes annually. This represents a crime category that scarcely existed in European consciousness until recently, but now should be dealt with on a daily basis. It is the descent back into barbarism. Judges bend over backwards to excuse the inexcusable: 'She appeared older than twelve'; 'The sexual acts were completely consensual'. The Christian moral assumptions that permeate even our secular society, created a social contract where women could walk safely at night, trusting in men’s self-imposed restraint. This social contract requires reciprocal recognition. When mass migration introduces populations operating under fundamentally different moral systems - where women are categorised as either 'good girls' (veiled, sequestered, controlled) or 'ungodly girls' (available for exploitation) - the entire framework collapses. Our legal system, built on assumptions of shared moral understanding, finds itself 'paralyzed'. In Hamburg, a twenty-year-old woman received a harsher sentence for calling a gang rapist a disgraceful rapist pig than the rapist himself received for his crime. This inversion of justice - where defending the innocent becomes more punishable than destroying them - reveals a system that has lost all moral bearings. The judicial activism transforms perpetrators into victims through sociological alchemy: Poverty, marginalisation, and 'structural exclusion' become excuses for the most heinous crimes. We face a choice that cannot be postponed much longer. Either we restore the domain of obedience to the unenforceable by ensuring that only those who accept our civilisational premises remain among us, or we surrender that domain entirely and accept the authoritarian consequences. The first option requires acknowledging uncomfortable truths about cultural compatibility and implementing deportation policies for those unwilling to internalise European moral standards. The second leads to a surveillance state that would make Orwell blanc. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)

Sweden
Oct 03, 2025  In late September, Sweden held its annual Preparedness Week, where authorities seek to raise awareness as part of the country's total defence strategy. The country revived the strategy in 2015 following Russia's annexation of Crimea, and more measures were introduced - including the appointment of a Minister for Civil Defence - after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Everyone is encouraged to stockpile enough food to live independently for at least seven days without external aid in the event of a crisis. Food transportation would be a real challenge 'in the event of an armed conflict': A large part of food production is concentrated in the south and the majority of imports also primarily arrive in these regions. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) has published a list of recommended foods that are high in fat and protein, and easy to store. It includes pesto, dried meat or fish, jam, chocolate, mashed potatoes, powdered milk and biscuits. In a war scenario, Qvarfort, emergency planning officer at the Swedish Food Agency told, that on average the increased need for people 'will be' about 100 calories. The agency has twice sent out a brochure to all Swedish households informing them of how to act in a crisis, once in 2018 and then in 2024. According to an MSB survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending 'in the event of a military attack', and 76 percent would be willing to defend it as part of Swedish civil defence. Its survey, published in March, showed that 39 percent of people felt worried when receiving the 2024 edition, compared to 24 percent in 2018. (Source: Barron's - U.S. / Agence France-Presse)

Georgia
Sunday, 05/10/2025  The governing Georgian Dream party said yesterday it won local elections in every municipality. The two largest ’pro-Western’ opposition blocs boycotted election in the country of 3.7 million people. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that up to 7,000 people attended a rally today, in a failed ’attempt to overthrow the constitutional order.’ He vowed opposition arrests, first and foremost the organisers of the attempted overthrow, adding that they, the country's main opposition force, will no longer be allowed to be active in Georgian politics. Georgian riot police used pepper spray and water cannons to drive demonstrators away from the presidential palace. Kobakhidze alleged that protesters who sought to force entry to the presidential palace had been trying to topple the government and were supported by the European Union. He accused EU Ambassador Herczynski of meddling in Georgian politics and urged him to condemn the protests. (Source: France 24 with Reuters - United Kingdom, and AFP - France)

Russia
Sun, October 5, 2025 at 12:00 PM GMT+2  In 2024, Russian President Putin decreed foreign nationals fighting in the army’s ranks would receive passports for themselves and their families. Since then, travel agencies and brokers have drawn people from all over the world to join what they call Russia’s elite international battalion, dangling a raft of benefits to attract would-be recruits. Estimates are ’putting the number of foreign fighters in Russian army ranks in the tens of thousands’. Many come from disadvantaged countries in the Middle East, Africa and South and East Asia. Some 2,000 Iraqis are thought to have enlisted, but press reports indicate thousands joining from Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Jordan. Fighters from Nepal, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cuba and Syria, who in the past came in significant numbers, are no longer allowed to join, according to the Russian defense ministry. Foreigners have also served on the opposing side, ’with Ukrainian officials stating in the past that roughly 20,000 fighters from 50 countries joined Ukraine’s International Legion, including around 3,000 Iraqis’. In the Russian military, many of the enlisted foreigners came to Russia first as students, but their visas lapsed and they do not want to return home. A significant number also travel to Moscow on tourist visas after they are approved by the military and are met by a broker and a Russian officer at the airport. Once in Russia, they sign a contract with the Russian ministry of defense. Offers vary, but recruits can receive a signing bonus of 1.5 million rubles (around $17,000), and depending on where they fight, get a monthly salary ranging between $2,500 to $3,500 - a life-changing amount in countries like Egypt, where the average salary barely exceeds $300. Training lasts four to six weeks and includes language instruction so foreigners can follow basic commands in Russian. They receive citizenship soon after they join, and are given a two-week paid vacation six months into their one-year deployment. If they are killed or wounded, their families can claim the money and citizenship. Among the recruitment ads, which appear in Arabic and other languages, some keep up a steady rhythm of posts extolling the Russian army’s victories in Ukraine. Several photos depict foreign soldiers after they receive their citizenship, smiling to the camera and proudly showing off their passports. In one post is saying that they add to the victory against the neo-Nazis from Ukraine. Members of a thousands-strong Telegram community group run by an Iraqi with the nickname Abbass the Supporter - who served in the Russian military for three years but now works as a broker and answers questions about deployments on his TikTok channel - participate in chats asking how quickly they can get their visa and travel. The E-visa form inquires about military experience. A channel, run by an Iraqi man who calls himself Bahjat, has almost 30,000 subscribers. Bahjat said those coming to the Russian army from abroad should expect to go into combat, and that breaking the contract risks imprisonment. What, you think a country is going to give you money and citizenship so you come and cook? he said in a WhatsApp chat. “I’ll give it to you straight. Everyone coming here is going to the frontline and to the war. Anyone saying otherwise is speaking nonsense.” (Source: Yahoo / Los Angeles Times = U.S.)

(Saturday), 04/10/2025 - 22:33  Ukraine's railway network is essential for military transport. Today, a Russian drone attack hit two passenger trains in quick succession at a Ukrainian railway station in northern Sumy region, first targeting a local service and then one bound for Kyiv. About 30 people were injured. No fatalities were reported in the immediate aftermath. (Source: France 24 with Reuters - United Kingdom, AP - U.S.)

4 October 2025 - 14:07  In August this year, Ukraine revealed ’its’ new FP-5 Flamingo, a cruise missile that allegedly has a range of up to 3,000 kilometres. Google Earth has recently updated satellite images for the archipelago Novaya Zemlya, making it possible to study details on the ground. The images from Severny, taken on August 14 this year show how the three rows of fuel tanks supplying the settlement now are covered with blueish metal nets. The nets - known as cope cages - are aimed at stopping drones from exploding on the tanks, and by that means preventing the fuel itself from igniting. The fuel tanks close to the port store gasoline for the vehicles used at the nuclear test site. Severny is one of Russia's most secret military towns. The main activity today is taking place in a shaft complex 3 km south of the settlement. There is also one tunnel in the valley ready and one more under construction, if Moscow one day should decide to resume nuclear testing. All activities at Severny are supervised by the Defence Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, responsible for safe-keeping, technical maintenance, transportation and delivery of nuclear warheads. The directorate is one of Russia’s most secretive military structures. On Novaya Zemlya, the 12th directorate cooperates with the nuclear weapon designers of Rosatom, the state corporation that produces Russia's plutonium and highly enriched weapons-grade uranium. Russia knows that there are people in Ukraine with first-hand knowledge about the nuclear test site on the shores of the Matochkin Strait. The blue-coloured metal nets are similar to what is seen covering fuel tanks at other military facilities in Russia, like at the Olenya air base south of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula. (Source: The Barents Observer - Norway)

10/04/2025, 08.59  On 1 October, Russia began its new military conscription drive. By 31 December, another 135,000 young Russians between the ages of 18 and 30 will be called up for military service. Starting in Moscow and spreading to other regions, only electronic notices will be sent, instead of the traditional postcard. In addition to compulsory conscription, many young people have been sent directly to the front in Ukraine, drawing on the Junarmija movement, the youth army, from which 11,000 young people have been taken for the war. In the nine years since its foundation, almost two million young people have joined the Junarmija. It is increasingly praised in propaganda for its contribution to the war. The commander-in-chief of the youth military organisation, Golovin reports that five young representatives of the movement have already been awarded the title of Heroes of Russia, and over 700 have been awarded medals for bravery. The Duma has passed a law abolishing seasonal restrictions on conscription from next year and introducing perpetual call-up every day of the year. Exemptions from service are still possible on health grounds for category B illnesses, which about a third of potential conscripts claim. The search for those evading service is equated with that of bandits and criminals of all kinds, using telephone surveillance, CCTV cameras in the underground and on the streets, and in cities it is almost impossible to avoid being caught. Accessing alternative civilian service, still permitted by law, is becoming increasingly problematic. Today's call to arms serves to project Russian society towards a multipolar and tradition-defending future. “Military service” is the true identity of citizenship in Putin's Russia, experiencing war as the main content of one's personal, social and religious identity. It is a form of education and inner training. The figure of the president is increasingly sacred and superior to all political, economic and military perspectives. Putin does not need to win battles on the field, but only the great battle of the spirit, and, by extension, on the whole world, a feeling of willingness to renounce oneself in order to found a new world. This is the path to the definitive affirmation of the cult of personality, on the anonymity of common identification in the masses of those who are ready to die for their country. /Source: Asia News - an official press agency of the Catholic Church's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME)/

October 3, 2025 10:31 AM GMT+2  Russia launched a massive overnight drone and missile assault. The attack included 381 drones and 35 missiles that targeted energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, and in Poltava region, where the country's main gas production facilities are located. Top private energy provider DTEK said it had suspended operations at several gas facilities in the Poltava region. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

Ukraine
(4 October 2025)  At least 30 people have been injured following a Russian drone strike on a railway station in the city of Shostka, in the Sumy region, some 50km from the Russian border. There were two strikes which hit two passenger trains. The second strike hit at a time when evacuations from the area were already under way, a statement from the railways body said. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Europe
October 5, 2025  Patriots for Europe group rejoices over the big win by Babiš and his ANO party in Czech elections. Babiš, the hot candidate to become prime minister after ANO’s strong showing co-founded the Patriots group, along with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Austria’s Kickl, in the summer of 2024. Soon joined by Le Pen’s National Rally, the Patriots surged to become the third-largest group in the European Parliament. Hungarian prime minister Orbán was one of the first European leaders to congratulate Babiš. “A big step for the Czech Republic, good news for Europe.” he said in a post on social platform X. Italy’s League leader Salvini said that Babiš, „an ally of the League in the EU”, had “crushed the left in the Czech vote. He „is preparing to lead a government that will focus on fighting illegal immigration, saying no to war, and stopping Brussels’ crazy policies,” Salvini said on X.  “The Patriots are advancing all across Europe!” Salvini also congratulated the right-wing Motorists party, also a member of the Patriots, which entered Czechia’s parliament for the first time and is likely to become part of the government. „Together we win!” he added. French National Rally also hailed ANO’s victory. „All across Europe, patriotic parties are being called to power by the people, who long to reclaim their freedom and prosperity!” Le Pen said in a post on X. Bardella was describing the result as “a landslide in favor of free enterprise, ending punitive environmental policies, and opposing uncontrolled immigration.” Others from the European Parliament’s Patriots, like Denmark’s Vistisen, the Netherlands’ Wilders, Austria’s Vilimsky and Hungary’s Gál, also expressed joy over the result. Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader did offer congratulations. “The Czech Republic has always been among the most loyal allies of Belarusian civil society and democratic forces. I am grateful for the concrete support that a free Belarus has received. I trust that the new Czech government, emerging from this election, will maintain a strong course of solidarity and continue to support our fight for freedom and the rule of law, she said in a post on X. “Congrats to Andrej Babiš, the Czech people & Patriots for Europe!”, Dmitriev, a close adviser to Russian President Putin and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said. “Europe is waking up”- enough of uncontrolled immigration, war fever, censorship and economic decline. The Right choice is winning across Europe,” Dmitriev wrote in a post on X. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

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Azerbaijan
07.10.2025  Turkish President Erdogan arrived today in the Azerbaijani city of Gabala to attend the 12th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). Accompanying Erdogan on his trip are Energy and Natural Resources Minister Bayraktar, Trade Minister Bolat, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Uraloglu, leaders of AK and MHP parties, others. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Bangladesh
08.10.25  Bangladesh plans to purchase 20 Chinese-made J-10CE fighter jets at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion. According to warpowerbangladesh.com, the Bangladesh Air Force operates 212 aircraft, including 44 fighter jets, of which 36 are Chinese-made F-7s. (Source: The Telegraph - India)

China
Wednesday, October 8, 2025  Hide and bide was the CCP’s low-key military and economic strategy for decades after the disaster of the Cultural Revolution in China that ended in 1976. It was based on an ideological retrenchment put in place by then-CCP leader Deng who argued that China had to avoid drawing attention to its modernization. His successor, Jiang then coined the policy as “hide your strength; bide your time” while gaining power. China ends hide-and-bide military strategy. The Chinese Communist Party and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army, last month began a major shift away from the 40-year-old strategy known as “hide and bide” -  keeping a low profile while advancing military and economic power. Instead, Chinese supreme leader Xi announced during a massive military parade showing off new weapons and firepower that the communist regime is now the leader of a forthcoming world order designed to replace the United States. The parade signaled the PLA’s emergence as a new global military force armed with weapons capable of attacking in all domains - sea, air, ground, space and cyber - using both manned and unmanned systems. Mr. Xi also declared during remarks at the parade that a new order is needed to eliminate war at a time ’when humanity is again faced with a choice of peace or war’. Flanked on the dais by Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s the Chinese leader declared that the West is in decline and Asia, led by a communist China that will not be bullied by the United States, is rising. Brandishing all elements of China’s nuclear triad of land- and sea-based missiles and strategic bombers, a major section of the parade showcased new unmanned weapons and counter-drone warfare systems. The PLA is well on its way to becoming a military that can fight informationized and eventually intelligentized wars. (Source: The Washington Times - U.S.)

Gaza
October 7, 2025, 11:09 AM  Analysis of dozens of satellite images from the last two years shows extent of destruction of war in Gaza. As many as 197,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed during the war, according to estimates in a damage analysis of Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data by Scher and Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University's Conflict Ecology lab. Entire towns and neighborhoods have been ravaged in Gaza, alongside key infrastructure like schools, hospitals and religious buildings. (Source: ABC News - U.S.)
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Oct 7, 2025 14:39 IST  Two years ago, Hamas' brutal attack killed 1,200 Israelis, sparking Israel's devastating retaliation, with 92% of its buildings destroyed, reducing Gaza to over 50 million tonnes of rubble, according to a UN report and leaving 67,000 Palestinians dead. Two years on, deaths, famine, displacement, and the promise of an elusive peace persist. (Source: India Today)

October 4, 2025  In late on Friday, Hamas just accepted Trump’s “peace” plan. The Palestinian movement gave its answer in a statement announcing its readiness to “release all hostages - living and dead - according to the exchange formula included in President Trump’s proposal.” Hamas added that it was ready to enter talks to discuss the details. President Trump shared Hamas’s statement on his account on Truth Social: “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting peace,” Trump said, adding that “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly!” The U.S. President thanked Arab and Muslim states for “helping me put this together,” promising that “everybody will be treated fairly.” Hamas’s response to Trump’s plan came a day after the Israeli army sealed off Gaza City. Israeli Defense Minister Katz issued a ’final warning’ to the estimated 500,000 Palestinians still in the city, announcing that those who decide to remain will be considered terrorists or supporters of terror. Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey also accepted Hamas’s response. Trump’s near-immediate positive response to the Hamas statement was reportedly met with surprise by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an Israeli official who spoke to Israel’s Channel 12 - the Israeli Prime Minister considered the Hamas response a rejection of Trump’s framework. Hamas accepted in its official statement the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of U.S. President Trump, aimed at halting the war on the Gaza Strip, achieving a prisoner exchange, allowing immediate entry of humanitarian aid, rejecting the occupation of the Strip, and opposing the displacement of our Palestinian people from it. It announced the movement’s acceptance of Trump’s prisoner exchange formula, which would see the release of 250 Palestinians from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of all Israeli captives. The statement added that Hamas was ready to immediately enter into negotiations through Qatari and Egyptian mediators to discuss the details. It also affirmed Hamas’s readiness to hand over the administration of the Strip to a Palestinian commission of independent ’technocrats,’ which would be formed ’based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing. The Hamas statement was affirming that the future of Gaza and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people must be subject to a comprehensive national position based on international law and UN Resolutions. This position would have to be discussed as part of a ’unified Palestinian national framework,’ which Hamas said it would participate in ’with full responsibility.’ Hamas didn’t accept a number of key parts of Trump’s plan that have been widely regarded as a non-starter for Palestinians. These included the clause in Trump’s plan about forming a board of peace headed by the U.S. President, the widely-reported potential participation of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the deployment of international and Arab forces to demilitarize Gaza. The statement made no mention of the demand for Hamas and other resistance factions in Gaza to disarm. Following the statement, Hamas’s head of international and legal relations, Marzouq, told Al Jazeera that Hamas was concerned with the first nine points of Trump’s 20-point plan, which related to ending the war, ending the occupation of Gaza, humanitarian aid, and who would rule the Strip. He added that these issues required further negotiations, asserting that some of Trump’s points were unrealistic, including the release of all captives within 72 hours and noted that the plan did not include any clear framework for how the Israeli withdrawal would take place. Marzouq affirmed that Gaza must be ruled by an independent commission of technocrats, referencing the inter-Palestinian agreement back in August based on an Egyptian proposal. As for the clauses of Trump’s plan concerning the future of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the future of the Gaza Strip, and the future of a Palestinian state, Marzouq said that these issues could not be decided upon by Hamas alone - Hamas is part of the Palestinian people, and all of them are partners in drawing the future of the Palestinian people. The Hamas official called on Egypt to initiate dialogue with all Palestinian parties to reach a common position on these issues. Marzouq added that it is absolutely impossible that this national consensus would accept a mandate on any part of the Palestinian people, referencing the post-World War I British Mandate over Palestine over a century ago. Regarding disarmament, Marzouq said that Hamas would hand over its weapons to a Palestinian state ’on the first day it is established,’ asserting that Hamas could not continue to be an armed organization under a Palestinian state. (Source: Mondoweiss - based in the United States)

India
(7 October 2025)  India and the UK have been holding maritime drills for three days, ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to India starting on Wednesday. The bilateral Exercise Konkan-25 by the Indian Navy and the UK Royal Navy commenced on Sunday, off the western coast of India. The exercise is being conducted in two phases until October 12. The sea phase will encompass complex maritime operational drills focusing on anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine exercises, flying operations and other seamanship evolutions, the Indian Defence Ministry said. Both participating nations will deploy frontline assets, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, and integral and shore-based air assets, it also said. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

Myanmar
Oct 07, 2025  Myanmar civil society groups said today they are suing the Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor, alleging it shared customer data with the South-east Asian nation’s ruling military that allowed the junta to track, imprison and kill civilians. Telenor said the company found itself in a 'terrible and tragic situation' in Myanmar with no good options as disobeying orders from the junta would have been perceived as terrorism and sabotage, and would have put employees in direct danger. 'Like all operators in any country', Telenor Myanmar was legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities, the company said. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)

Pakistan
07 October 2025  Pakistan's untapped mineral wealth is estimated to be worth around $6 trillion, making it one of the most resource-rich countries in the world. The US company, US Strategic Metals (USSM), signed an agreement with Pakistan in September, to explore and develop the debt-ridden country's mineral resources. The company plans to invest about $500 million to build facilities in Pakistan for processing and developing minerals. Pakistan has delivered its first-ever shipment of rare earth and critical minerals to the United States. The sample shipment that was shipped to the US includes antimony, copper concentrate, and rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium. Pakistan has offered the US access to the Pasni port on the Arabian Sea, 100 miles from the Pakistan-Iran border, to make it easier to ship rare earth minerals. This offer comes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Munir met President Trump at the White House, which was Munir's third visit to Washington this year. (Source: The Telegraph - India)

Oct 5, 2025  Pakistan ’has dangled’ an offer before US President Trump to build and run a port on the Arabian Sea. Advisers to Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Munir have approached top US officials with the offer, valued at up to $1.2 billion. As per Pakistan's blueprint, to access Pakistan's critical minerals, the civilian port will be located in Pasni, a town in Balochistan's Gwadar district, placing it strategically close to the Chabahar port being developed by India in Iran. The town Pasni, in the restive Balochistan province borders Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan also has the Gwadar port, which has been funded by China and is managed by it. Pasni is situated just 100 km from Gwadar, where China operates the port facility. Munir's charm offensive came as a US metals company signed a $500 million investment deal with Pakistan to explore strategic minerals jointly in Pakistan for use in defence and technology. The blueprint rules out the use of the port for US military purposes or setting up of a military base. What Pakistan wants is the US to finance a rail network connecting the Pasni port to mineral-rich western provinces. Pakistan has offered the US its vast untapped oil, gas, and mineral ores, mostly in the troubled Balochistan region. Pakistan has tried to court the US by pointing out that Pasni's proximity to Iran and Central Asia would enhance America's options for trade. It would also expand US influence in the Arabian Sea and Central Asia. (Source: India Today)

Qatar
05 Oct 2025  In a joint statement, the Foreign Ministers of the State of Qatar, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Republic of Egypt, today welcomed the steps taken by Hamas regarding US President Trump's proposal to end the war on Gaza, release all hostages, alive or deceased, and the immediate launch of negotiations on implementation mechanisms. (Source: The Peninsula - Qatar)

Turkey
8 October 2025  Washington has publicly pressured allies, including NATO member Türkiye, to cut energy ties with Moscow and Tehran. At their White House meeting on September 25, US President Trump pressed Turkish President Erdogan to cut Russian energy purchases. Türkiye could meet more than half of its gas needs by the end of 2028 by ramping up production and increasing US imports. Ankara aims to re-export imported liquefied natural gas and its own gas production to Europe while burning Russian and Iranian gas domestically. Russia remains Türkiye’s largest gas supplier. Its share of the market has fallen from more than 60% two decades ago to 37% in the first half of 2025. Russia's long-term pipeline contracts with Türkiye to supply 22 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines are close to expiry. Iran's 10 bcm contract expires in the middle of next year. Azerbaijan’s contracts, totaling 9.5 bcm, run until 2030 and 2033. Türkiye is likely to extend some of these contracts. It is likely to seek more flexible terms and smaller volumes to increase the diversity of its supply. State-owned TPAO is boosting output from local gas fields, state and private companies have expanded LNG import terminals to bring gas in from the US and Algeria. Domestic production and contracted LNG imports are set to exceed 26 bcm annually from 2028 from 15 bcm this year, according to Reuters calculations. That would cover more than half of Türkiye’s gas demand of around 53 bcm, reducing the gap for pipeline imports to around 26 bcm - well below the 41 bcm of current contracted supplies from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan combined. Türkiye has signed a series of LNG deals with US suppliers worth $43 billion, including a 20-year agreement with Mercuria in September. The country has built 58 bcm annual LNG import capacity, enough to cover its entire demand. Russian gas continues to flow at full capacity, and the Kremlin has said cooperation with Ankara remains strong, because Russian gas is price-competitive and creates a surplus that BOTAS can use to pressure other suppliers. Türkiye’s energy minister Bayraktar noted that US LNG offers cheaper alternatives. Türkiye’s BOTAS has already signed deals to supply Hungary and Romania with small volumes of gas in its bid to become a regional gas trading hub. Beyond gas, Ankara has deep ties with Moscow. Russia's Rosatom is building Türkiye’s first nuclear plant. Moscow is also the country's top crude and diesel supplier. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - headquartered in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of Saudi royal family)

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Europe

European Commission
October 6, 2025  The European Commission president urges lawmakers to keep her in post. MEPs will vote on the two no-confidence motions, brought by the 'far right' and 'far left', on Thursday. This is a vote against the Europe of Macron, said 'far-right' French MEP Bardella, who proposed one of the no-confidence motions. Bardella spoke of der Leyen’s trade surrender and said the bloc’s migration and enlargement policies were eroding European sovereignty. You have been accompanying the genocide in Gaza, said Aubry, co-chair of The Left, which proposed the other motion. She also said: You capitulated to Trump. Der Leyen is almost certain to survive because her centrist opponents say they’ll back her. But the wolves are circling. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Asia

Japan
October 4, 2025  A former economic security and interior minister, the newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Sanae Takaichi, 64, will now seek approval from parliament to replace PM Shigeru Ishiba as prime minister. She is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan's war dead and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of its past militarism. Takaichi favours revising Japan's pacifist postwar constitution to recognise the role of its expanding military. She suggested this year that Japan could form a quasi-security alliance with Taiwan. Takaichi graduated from Kobe University with a degree in business management before working as a congressional fellow in the U.S. Congress, according to her website. A protege of the late Shinzo Abe and long-time advocate of the former prime minister's "Abenomics" stimulus policies, she has called for higher spending and tax cuts to cushion rising cost of living and has criticised the Bank of Japan's decision to raise interest rates. In a key speech last month, Takaichi was pledging a crackdown on badly behaved foreigners - an issue that has become a lightning rod for some voters amid record rises in migrants and tourists. Hosting Trump in Japan later this month is expected to be one of her first acts as leader. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

Taiwan
October 6, 2025  Taiwan signed an agreement with the U.S. in 2021 to acquire PAC-3 MSE systems, with two batches scheduled for delivery in 2025 and 2026. Facing the growing need for missile defense, Lockheed Martin was recently awarded a $9.8 billion contract by the U.S. Army to produce 1,970 PAC-3 MSE missile interceptors, marking the largest contract in the company’s Missiles and Fire Control history. The Taipei Times reported yesterday that Taiwan is planning to acquire an additional four PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) systems and up to 500 missile interceptors, after the U.S. recommended increasing its stock of air defense missiles. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Caribbean

Cuba
October 5, 2025  In a October 2-dated unclassified cable sent to dozens of U.S. missions, President Trump's administration is mobilizing U.S. diplomats to lobby against a U.N. resolution calling on Washington to lift its decades-long embargo on Cuba. The non-binding resolution has passed in the U.N. General Assembly by wide margins year after year since 1992. Last year, the General Assembly adopted the resolution with 187 countries voting in favor. The United States and Israel were the only countries that voted against it, while Moldova abstained. Since returning to office in January, Trump has doubled down on sanctions, returning Cuba to a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third-country nationals who host Cuban doctors. The cable said Cuba's problems were caused by Cuba's own corruption and incompetence. As part of the administration's campaign, U.S. diplomats will tell countries that the Cuban government is actively supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine with up to 5,000 Cubans fighting alongside Moscow's forces. Trump has also recently toughened his stance towards Moscow, threatening financial penalties against buyers of Russian oil and allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to share information with Ukraine to help its attacks on energy assets inside Russia. The U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the Cold War-era embargo. The Cuban government blames U.S. sanctions for shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation. The State Department said Cuba was using the annual U.N. resolution as a mechanism to victimize itself. The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines or support an illegitimate regime that undermines our national security interests in our region, a State Department spokesperson said in emailed comments on Saturday. The cable accused the Cuban government of undermining democracies in the Western Hemisphere, as tensions have been mounting between Washington and Venezuela, Cuba’s most important political and economic ally. On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez called for the United Nations to stop the United States from starting a war in the region. He said fighting drug trafficking in the name of U.S. national security was a pretext for aggression. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)

North America

United States
October 5, 2025  The recent announcements between the United States and the UK on expanding bilateral civil nuclear cooperation featured a suite of commercial agreements, representing the practical first steps towards exporting and deploying American advanced reactors abroad. The 'Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy' signals a historic milestone for civil nuclear cooperation between the United States and the UK. The UK was not interested in simply becoming a passive consumer of energy generated by US advanced reactors. For this bilateral partnership to be durable, the UK would need to be a stakeholder in the industrial, supply chain, and commercial future of these reactors. This logic of integrated partnership extends beyond the US-UK context. Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (such as Romania) have not only turned interest in US advanced nuclear into active partnerships with the United States and American industry, but they have also expressed clear aspirations to become industrial and supply chain hubs for these technologies for the greater region and beyond. The ’Atomlink: Unlocking Civil Nuclear Expansion at the Western Frontier’ report articulates a vision for US-UK cooperation to accelerate Poland’s nuclear deployment ambitions - ultimately leveraging Poland’s rapid industrial development to serve as both a driver for nuclear demand and a foundation upon which to establish a supply chain hub to support broader regional and global expansion. ’The United States, the UK, and Poland have stood at the vanguard of countering Russian influence and aggression in Europe, including by taking measures to mitigate European reliance on Russian energy. We cannot let either China or Russia win the market for advanced nuclear’. Considering the state-owned technology and finance packages offered by Russia and China, forging allied partnerships is essential for the United States to effectively compete on the global stage. Failure to do so ’is an imminent threat to our mutual security and peace, period’. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Ahn, Deputy Director for Nuclear for Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program.

10/4/2025  Wikipedia adheres to core policies: Each article must have a neutral point of view, information comes summarized from known media sources. Volunteers, through consensus control the editorial processes. Wikipedia is serving as a base layer of knowledge for AI chatbots. Some call it Wokepedia. They talk as if its more than 64 million worldwide entries are fueled by mainstream media lies, pumping out propaganda that feeds online search results. The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee more recently announced an investigation into ’organized efforts’ to influence public opinion and sensitive subjects by manipulating Wikipedia articles. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX earlier this year called for Wikipedia to be defunded. Since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda, he posted in January. Certain right-leaning websites, such as Breitbart, are prohibited as source materials, while CNN, the New York Times and Mother Jones are allowed. Over the years, conservatives, libertarians, were pushed out, Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedi said. “There is a whole…army of administrators, hundreds of them, who are constantly blocking people…that they have ideological disagreements with.' This past week, as the Wikipedia controversy reignited, the Wikipedia page for Musk’s Grok was updated. Musk announced xAI would, in fact, offer up Grokipedia. (Source: The Wall Street Journal - U.S.)

Friday, October 3, 2025  Criminal cartels in Mexico and gangs in Venezuela posing a major narcotics trafficking and security threat to the United States are being attacked as narco-terrorists under the Trump administration’s new military-backed war on drugs, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment. It lists details on six Latin drug cartels with the two criminal gangs, Tren de Aragua and MS-13, as foreign terrorists. The largest drug-runners were identified as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The groups threaten Americans’ safety, U.S. national interests, and the safety and stability of the Western Hemisphere, the report says. The The Sinaloa Cartel, or Cártel de Sinaloa, buys precursor chemicals from China and India in synthesize deadly synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, in Mexico-based clandestine laboratories. Tens of thousands of members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel have smuggled multi-kilogram shipments of illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana into the U.S. and around the world. The organization operates covertly using decentralized networks in 40 countries and is expanding into Europe, Asia and Australia. The Sinaloa Cartel also conducts a range of violent criminal activities that seek to protect drug operations, spread their illicit influence, and increase revenue. Murder, torture and kidnapping are used by the cartel to intimidate citizens, government officials, and journalists, the report said. Other crimes include money laundering, extortion, theft of petroleum and natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling and prostitution. ’Mexican cartels’ production, trafficking, and distribution of powerful illicit synthetic drugs, chiefly fentanyl and methamphetamine, represent a dire threat to public health, the rule of law, and national security in the United States,' the report, published in May, concluded. Some cartels also have been making fentanyl in what the report said were ’super labs’ in Canada. A total of 112,910 people died from overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2023 and 84,076 died between that month and October 2024, the report said. Tren de Aragua, which was targeted in a U.S. strike on a drug boat Sept. 2, was described in the report as a violent criminal organization founded between 2012 and 2013 in north central Venezuela. Originally a prison gang, the group facilitates the smuggling of thousands of Venezuelan migrants into the United States and then extorts the migrants, forcing them into prostitution or other crimes to pay off their smuggling debts, the DEA said. TdA members have been linked to crimes including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, extortion, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, organized retail crime, robberies, and document fraud. The group MS-13, known formally as Mara Salvatrucha is called an extremely violent international criminal gang founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s by El Salvadoran immigrants. The gang is well-established in the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and its numbers have grown to include thousands of members in almost all 50 U.S. states, the report said. President Trump this week declared the United States is now at war with drug cartels, designating them enemy combatants and setting the stage for additional military strikes. In targeting cartels, Mr. Trump said in a memo sent to several congressional committees that the U.S. “is in non-international armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations.” The declaration is similar to that issued against terrorist groups such as al Qaeda since 2001 that allows killing drug traffickers as enemy combatants, detaining them without trial and prosecuting them in military tribunals. U.S. military units conducted a fourth missile strike Friday on a boat carrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States with enough narcotics to kill up to 50,000 people, Mr. Trump said in posting a video of the attack on Truth Social. (Source: The Washington Times - U.S.)

Oct 3, 2025  The administration of U.S. President Trump has determined that the U.S. is engaged in a "non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, according to a notification to the U.S. Congress sent by the Pentagon this week. The notice says the U.S. "has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks” by the groups, which Trump has also designated terrorist organizations. "The President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” the White House spokesperson Kelly said. The language in the notification expands on one submitted to congressional leaders on Sept. 4, following an earlier U.S. military strike against a purported drug trafficking vessel. At the time, Trump wrote: "It is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that will be necessary. United States forces remain postured to carry out further military operations.” The latest notice says law enforcement efforts to stem the flow of illicit drugs over several decades have proven insufficient, with the substances becoming more potent, while the cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized and violent. Some of the critics have warned that the administration may be preparing to attack Venezuela directly. Trump didn’t rule out that possibility on Sept. 30, saying "we’ll see what happens with Venezuela.” (Source: The Japan Times)

South America

Venezuela
7 Oct 2025  Late yesterday, Venezuelan President Maduro said his security forces prevented a false flag operation to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country. Following the rupture of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington in 2019, the US Embassy is closed and only maintains staff responsible for security and upkeep of the premises. According to CNN, a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers has been produced by the Office of Legal Counsel at the US Department of Justice, alongside a legal opinion that the president is allowed to authorise deadly force against a broad range of suspects due to an imminent threat to US citizens from drug gangs. The Trump administration’s ramped-up campaign against Latin American drug cartels includes expanded authority for the CIA to conduct lethal targeting and covert action in the region. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

Globalization

6 Oct 2025  ’Nepal has now joined Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’ in becoming the latest South Asian country ’where a young, digital-savvy generation’ has brought down its government. Gen Z’ riots: Younger generations being rallied by fast-spreading messages on social media oust leaders and set cities on fire. Experts warn this is not a wave of so-called Gen Z protesters that will fade.     In Nepal, protests turned violent when government banned 26 social media and messaging platforms – from Facebook and X to TikTok and WhatsApp. Almost half of Nepal’s population use social media – and many of those are under 30. Officials said it was to tackle fake news, but Nepal’s youth argued it was a bid to silence them. With anger over a ban on social media and over alleged corruption, viral clips of politicians’ children – flaunting Gucci handbags, Louis Vuitton boxes, sports cars and luxury holidays – became a bone of contention. There’s a perception that this is ill-gotten wealth. Youth unemployment in Nepal is over 20 per cent, while thousands of young men and women leave the country every day to find work abroad. Instagram allows people to see how the other half live and interact with them in real time. ’Gen Z’ protesters took to the streets in Kathmandu, burning the Singha Durbar palace, the prime minister’s residence and government offices. ’Politicians and their families were dragged from their homes, beaten in the street, and even set alight in a bloody wave of revenge’. More than 70 were killed in clashes with Police. By the end of it, Prime Minister Sharma Oli was gone.     In Morocco, anger grew as the government funnelled billions into preparations for the 2030 World Cup while hospitals and schools crumbled. Gen Z movements exploded after several women died in an underfunded hospital in Agadir. Protest videos went viral, demonstrations demanding reforms in healthcare and education sectors spread, and authorities imposed curfews.     In Madagascar, power cuts and water shortages sparked chaos. The capital, Antananarivo, plunged into darkness. Furious youths led protests demanding President Rajoelina’s resignation. Security forces opened fire, leaving more than 20 dead and hundreds injured. The government dissolved.     In Peru, a pension law forcing every citizen over 18 into a scheme triggered mass protests. Behind it lay deeper fury at corruption, police violence and political instability. Tear gas and rubber bullets rained down on Lima, as President Boluarte dug her heels in despite calls to back down.    While the UK has an older average age than Nepal, with fewer young people making up the bulk of the population, experts fear discontent is brewing. The worry is whether it can be channelled in a positive way because it can be easily hijacked by people with nefarious agendas. “The real question is not whether these uprisings could spread, but whether institutions and leaders are ready to listen before they do”, Torres, a US-based college counselor who works with teenagers, told.     TikTok timelines can turn into burning streets almost overnight. (Source: The U.S. Sun) 

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Europe

Finland
October 2, 2025  Over the past few weeks, more than 1,600 troops from across nine NATO member countries came together to hone their warfighting skills in the Arctic north and just miles from the approximately 1,600 miles long border with Russia. The US military participated in the exercise, with the 352d Special Operations Wing. Based in the United Kingdom, it operates MC-130J Commando II transport aircraft and CV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. It can also deploy special tactics airmen. According to the Finnish military, the objective of Southern Griffin 25 was to reinforce combined joint operations and interoperability between the country’s special operations forces and those of the United States and the rest of NATO. The Finnish military is a small but highly trained and well-equipped force. It numbers around 30,000 troops during peacetime but can swell to nearly 300,000 troops during wartime. Where the Finnish military truly excels is in winter warfare, fighting in the snow and in frigid temperatures. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

France
01.10.2025  They will rule out nothing if a Russian fighter jet enters European airspace, French President Macron said during an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper today. Macron also reaffirmed that he will deliver a speech in early 2026 on France’s nuclear doctrine, following a question about the strengthening of air-based nuclear deterrence. 'The French nuclear umbrella exists. I am currently working on updating our doctrine, and I want to continue deepening our strategic dialogue with the Europeans who wish to engage,' he said. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Romania
October 1, 2025  The Romanian Armed Forces continue to operate the TR-85M1 and the TR-77-580, both modernized versions of the Cold War-era T-55. In 2023, Bucharest signed a deal with Washington that would see Romania acquire 54 modernized American-made M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams, valued at $1.07 billion, along with 12 support vehicles, including four recovery platforms, four mobile assault bridges, and four mine plows. The Abrams were to come from US stock with deliveries to be completed by the end of 2028. In the second phase has called for Washington to supply Bucharest with the necessary hardware and ordnance to complete the capabilities of an Abrams-equipped battalion. The order included 54 M240 7.62 mm machine guns, explosive charges for breaching minefields, over 12,000 rounds of 120 mm ammunition, smoke grenades, training simulators, spare parts, testing equipment, technical support, and training services. The cost of the Phase Two items was estimated at $458.2 million, excluding value-added tax. A separate program would see the acquisition of 215 additional MBTs, along with 75 support vehicles that could be produced in Romania. The latter deal, which also includes ordnance, spare parts for the tanks, support, and training, was reported to be worth more than $7 billion. It is to be initiated starting in 2025, it was not indicated that all of the more than 200 MBTs would need to be the M1A2 Abrams. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

European Council
01.10.2025  'European' leaders meet in Copenhagen to address pressing issues around defense, Ukraine's security, and sanctions on Russia. Talks focus on boosting Europe’s military strength, using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, and advancing Kyiv’s EU membership bid. Proposals include a drone wall along the EU’s eastern frontier. The European Commission has proposed unlocking sanctioned Russian assets for a €140 billion ($164 billion) ’reparations loan’ to Kyiv. The plan would give Ukraine an interest-free loan, to be repaid once reparations are settled after the conflict. Hungary and Slovakia are expected to oppose, while Belgium has raised concerns as much of the frozen Russian capital is held in its financial institutions. Leaders must decide whether the projects should be led by the European Commission or left up to individual member states. Leaders will also debate Ukraine’s application to join the EU. Accession talks require unanimous agreement from all 27 member states – but Hungary’s objections have repeatedly stalled progress. The EU’s latest sanctions package against Russia is also under discussion. It targets financial institutions and energy companies. Hungary’s reluctance could prove to be an obstacle. Denmark is also hosting a broader European Political Community summit on Thursday. Launched in 2022, the EPC brings together European countries to coordinate on issues such as security, energy, infrastructure, and migration. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Russia
Oct 2, 2025 23:16 IST  Russian President Putin accused European leaders of fuelling war hysteria, dismissing claims that Moscow plans to attack Nato as baseless. He warned that Russia would respond forcefully to any provocation. ’Russia has proved more than once that we respond fast, and our response will be convincing.’ Putin said Russia was closely watching Europe’s militarisation. ’We hear, in Germany for example, that the German army should once again be the most powerful in Europe’. ’The response to these threats will be, to put it mildly, very convincing.’ ’Our history has proven that weakness is unacceptable, because it creates temptation, the illusion that some issue with us can be resolved by force’. Russia will never show weakness or indecision, Putin said, warning that there has never been a case where this did not end badly for the provocateur. Turning to Ukraine, the Russian leader described the conflict as ’a tragedy for Ukrainians and for all of us’ and argued it could have been avoided. ’The conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided if Trump had been president,” Putin claimed, while also noting that some of the US president’s initiatives on the Middle East offered “a light at the end of the tunnel.” The Russian leader accused Western elites of deliberately casting Russia as a perennial enemy to distract their citizens from domestic problems. ’They repeat this nonsense, that war with Russia is near, over and over. Honestly, I just want to say: calm down, rest easy, and focus on your own issues”. He said the West doesn’t care about Ukrainians, treating them instead as cannon fodder. Putin ridiculed advocates of the liberal world order, calling them weirdos who believed they had acquired the world but gained nothing. He also claimed Western democracies were manipulating the will of their people, warning that elections risk becoming a farce and that banning political opposition will not work, just as it didn’t in the USSR. Putin expressed gratitude to Brics nations and allies that have supported Moscow’s calls for peace, insisting that no single power can dictate terms to the world. “There is no and will be no power in the world that will dictate to everyone what to do. Every power has its limit.” Meanwhile, the Kremlin confirmed that Putin will travel to India in December for the annual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his first visit since 2021. (Source: India Today)

02.10.2025  Putin took part in the 22nd Annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. The name of this year’s event is “The Polycentric World: Instructions for Use.” Transcript. (Source: Valdai Club - Russia)

Ukraine
14:46 ET, Wed, Oct 1, 2025  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant 'is experiencing a blackout following Russian shelling of an energy facility in the city of Slavutych on Wednesday', according to Ukranian officials. 'The New Safe Confinement, which is a key facility that isolates the destroyed fourth power unit of the Chernobyl NPP and prevents the release of radioactive materials into the environment, was left without power supply'. Specialists work to restore power supply. (Source: Daily Express U.S.)

European Political Community
02.10.2025  Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who attended the 7th summit of the European Political Community (EPC) hosted by Denmark in the capital Copenhagen, engaged in a sharp exchange with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday on the nature of threats facing Europe and the Russia-Ukraine war. Orbán argued that the main danger to Europe was not Moscow. ’Economic stagnation and losing competitiveness - this is the danger,’ Orbán said, adding that Europe remains stronger than Russia in population, GDP and military spending. ’We spend altogether, 27 countries, more on military spending than the Russians. So, why are we afraid? We are stronger than they are, he said. Orbán stressed that the challenge for Europe was a lack of leadership and unity. “The question is whether we have leadership to come together and to defend our interests together. That’s what we should do anyway,” he said. Tusk countered by stressing that the war in Ukraine is also ’Europe’s war’. ’Yes, this is also our war. In Poland, no one has doubts on this.’ (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Strait of Gibraltar
01/10/2025 - 16:52  Alleged Russian Black Sea fleet submarine – Novorossiysk, a short-range Russian stealth hunter - surfaced at Strait of Gibraltar, giving away its location. The 74-metre-long Kilo-class Novorossiysk had experienced a technical failure, the anti-Kremlin Telegram channel VChK-OGPU reported. Fuel was leaking into the bilge, the very bottom of the vessel hull. A US Navy maritime patrol plane flew over the area where the submarine was spotted for several days in a row. The diesel-electric sub Novorossiysk is relatively modern, can carry a crew of around 50 people. It was put into service in August 2014. The Novorossiysk’s main purpose is to operate in coastal waters. It joined Russia’s Black Sea fleet in September 2024. It is equipped with torpedoes, and is capable of carrying Kalibr cruise missiles – the Russian equivalent of US Tomahawk missiles. It can also deploy naval mines. With no official confirmation from the Kremlin, the extent of the reported damage – or whether there is any at all – remains unclear. The risks of an explosion are tied to the type of arms that might be onboard. Mines and missiles would make the situation much more dangerous. (Source: France 24)

Zangezur Corridor
1 October 2025  A new corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan, 40 kilometres away, across Armenia, could just easily ignite geopolitical tensions. The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) often referred to as the Zangezur Corridor, is a flat piece of Armenian land, part of this summer’s US-brokered framework agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Both countries should benefit from the development of the corridor, as will the USA, which has an exclusive 99-year lease to develop gas, oil, rail and fibre-optic links along it. Azerbaijan’s current land route to its Nakhchivan exclave is a rusty rail track and bumpy road through Iran. The Trump route will build a modern road and rail link into the exclave, which will then connect all the way to Turkey. This will unlock new trade flows for both countries and ensure substantial transit revenues for Armenia. The proposed deal has also improved Armenia’s relations with Turkey, which is notable given that their joint border has been closed since 1992. The project is one that gives Russia a headache and Iran a migraine. For several centuries, the Russians, Turks and Iranians have competed for influence in the region. If TRIPP is built, Russia’s leverage will further diminish, while Iran will see an American-built economic corridor emerge along its border, possibly with private American security personnel deployed to help guard it. Another reason Tehran is concerned is because up to a quarter of Iranians are ethnic Azeris, many of whom live in the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan, which borders Nakhchivan. If TRIPP helps to grow Azerbaijan’s power, there could be a knock-on effect in relations with ethnic kin across the border. Turkey is the rising power in the area. Moscow and Tehran will both try to undermine the deal. Moscow supplies energy to Armenia, controls its only rail company, influences the Armenian Apostolic Church (which opposes the unpopular PM Pashinyan), and has two military bases in the country. (Source: Geographical - United Kingdom)

Africa

Nigeria
October 1, 2025  Lawmakers and human rights groups continue to push for Nigeria to be listed as a Country of Particular Concern, leveraging the International Religious Freedom Act to demand greater protections for Christians and all religious minorities. International Christian advocacy group Open Doors says that 'more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.' "The United States remains deeply concerned about the levels of violence against Christians and members of other groups in Nigeria, including the threats posed by terrorist groups like Boko Haram and isis-West Africa in northern Nigeria'. Boko Haram and isis-West Africa are designated as Entities of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act. They have engaged in massive human rights abuses, including interfering with the ability of Christians, Muslims and members of other religious communities to freely exercise their faith, the State Department said. Nigeria-based human-rights NGO International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) said in a report in August jihadists have killed 125,009 Christians since 2009 with 19,100 churches razed in that time. It also counts 60,000 liberal Muslims killed in these years. Roughly half the population of Nigeria is Muslim, while the other half is Christian. (Source: Newsweek / Miami Herald = U.S.)

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Europe

European Commission
01/10/2025  Ahead of the informal gathering of EU leaders in Copenhagen on Wednesday, the European Commission had released a so-called Scoping Paper in which it outlined, among other ideas, four flagship projects it believes need to be financed and implemented as a matter of urgency. These include a European drone wall, an Eastern Flank Watch, an Air Defence Shield and a Defence Space Shield. The European Commission chief, der Leyen’s services are set to deliver a roadmap for defence in two weeks that will build on the discussions leaders had on Wednesday and outline capability targets with a view for them to take decisions at a formal summit later this month. The 27 leaders briefly exchanged ’about the Commission’s proposal to issue a €140 billion to Kyiv based on the cash balances of Russia’s frozen assets,’ the bulk of which is today held at Euroclear, a central securities depository based in Brussels, ’to reinforce financial and military assistance to Ukraine’. The plan is still in early stages: ’Ukraine would be asked to repay the loan’ only after Moscow agrees to compensate for the damages caused. ’Afterwards, the Commission would repay’ Euroclear, and Euroclear would repay Russia, completing the circle. The blueprint has been met with the resistance of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who, during the debate between leaders, took the floor and expressed legal and technical concerns. One key question for Belgium is risk management: how any eventual pitfall, default or lawsuit would be handled ’collectively by the bloc’ without leaving the country, as Euroclear host, to fend for itself. Belgium cannot be the only member state that is carrying the risk, but ’the risks have to be put on broader shoulders,’ der Leyen said at the end of the meeting, (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Australia

October 2, 2025 11:37  'Amid mounting tensions between China and the West', the U.S. has approved the sale of more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to Australia, a key U.S. ally and part of Washington's island chain strategy, which the Pentagon sees as critical to containing China's military in the event of an Asia-Pacific conflict. The U.S. State Department approved the $705 million deal after Australia had requested to buy 48 HIMARS systems. The package would also include resupply vehicles, trailers, practice rocket pods, intercom systems, spare parts and other equipment, adding to Australia’s previous order of 42 HIMARS launchers. This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States. Canberra is part of AUKUS - the security pact with the U.S. and U.K.-and hosts rotational U.S. Marine deployments in the Northern Territory city of Darwin. Australia is one of only a handful of U.S. allies to carry out transits through the Taiwan Strait in support of freedom of navigation amid ongoing cross-strait tensions. Canberra is the third government in the region, after Singapore and Taiwan, to operate the multiple rocket launcher, which has proven effective in Ukraine‘s defense against invading Russian forces with a land indirect strike of more than 400 kilometers. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

North America

United States
Oct 2, 2025  Despite the bellicose rhetoric often emanating from the White House and Capitol Hill, don’t be surprised if the two sides reach a pragmatic deal; China and the US are now so evenly matched that the Trump administration may decide it is better to figure out a way to cooperate in certain areas, including advanced technology, than to slug it out. (Source: Semafor - U.S.)

October 2, 2025  ' A new report warns the U.S. nuclear arsenal is dangerously outdated and too small to confront growing global threats - and recommends nearly tripling the number of deployed American warheads by 2050. The report argues that America’s current force of about 1,750 deployed nuclear weapons leaves the nation vulnerable in an era when Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang are all expanding their arsenals at breakneck speed. China alone is building 100 new nuclear weapons a year, according to the Pentagon, and is on track to reach strategic parity with the U.S. by the mid-2030s. The report, authored by Peters of Heritage’s Allison Center for National Security, proposes that Washington expand its force to roughly 4,625 operationally deployed nuclear weapons by 2050. That number would include about 3,500 strategic warheads - carried by intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), ballistic missile submarines, and bombers - and about 1,125 non-strategic weapons, such as gravity bombs and theater-range missiles. It comes amid warnings that Moscow maintains thousands of non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe, outnumbering U.S. stocks by as much as ten to one, while China races to deploy stealth bombers, submarine-based missiles and even orbital strike systems. North Korea already possesses about 90 warheads and continues testing missiles that can reach the U.S. homeland. Peters’ proposal envisions a modernized force including new Sentinel ICBMs, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, nuclear-capable B-21 stealth bombers, long-range cruise missiles and theater-range hypersonic weapons. It lays out a plan for regional nuclear allocations in each theater, with the largest number of assets, 3,200 warheads, being placed under Northern Command and focused on homeland defense. Some 750 warheads would be placed in Europe and 675 in the Indo-Pacific region. Peters made a call for nuclear capabilities to be placed in South Korea. The report also calls for nuclear capabilities to be deployed forward to Finland and Poland, a proposal that would cut strike times down from hours to minutes. Nuclear weapons are currently hosted in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands - bases chosen in the Cold War when they sat just 150 miles from the Soviet front line. But Russia’s front line has now moved 800 miles east. '   "Trump very understandably doesn't like nuclear weapons," Peters said. "Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capacity is something we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it," Trump mused in remarks to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in February. "I want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think it’s very possible," suggesting talks on the issue between the U.S., Russia and China. President Putin announced Russia would suspend its participation in the New START treaty in 2023 over U.S. support for Ukraine. In September, Russia proposed a one-year extension of the New START treaty, which technically expires in 2026, but the White House has yet to respond to that proposal. China has never engaged in negotiations with the U.S. over arms reduction. North Korea has rejected any suggestion of denuclearizing from the U.S. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

02/10/2025  The US is set to provide Ukraine with intelligence to support long-range strikes on energy infrastructure targets deep inside Russia, 'according to US outlets'. 'US officials reportedly said the intelligence will allow Ukraine to target refineries, pipelines, power stations and other infrastructure far from its borders'. Washington is urging NATO allies 'to follow suit and expand similar cooperation'. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)
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Europe

Hungary
September 29, 2025  Zelenskyy on Friday claimed “likely Hungarian” drones had crossed the border to conduct reconnaissance of industrial sites. Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó swiftly rejected the allegations, accusing Zelenskyy of “losing his mind to his anti-Hungarian obsession.’ Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today further downplayed the security concerns, insisting Ukraine should “be dealing with the drones on its eastern border” where the ground war with Russia is being fought. “No one is going to attack it from here,” he said. “Two, three, or four Hungarian drones, whether they crossed the border or not, is not the issue the Ukrainians should be concerned with.” “Let’s suppose they flew a few meters in there [Ukraine], and so what?” Orbán said on the Fighter’s Hour podcast produced by his Fidesz party. “Ukraine is not an independent country. Ukraine is not a sovereign country … If we, that is the West, decide not to give it a single forint [Hungarian currency], tomorrow Ukraine could shut down,” he added. Orbán argued that Kyiv has already “lost one-fifth of its territory” to Russia and that its survival depends entirely on Western aid. “That is where sovereignty ended, and we support the remaining territory,” he said, adding that Hungary and Ukraine “may disagree, but we are not enemies.” Later today, Gulyás, the minister overseeing Orbán’s office, said Hungary was introducing “reflective measures against Ukrainian news portals” in retaliation for Kyiv’s decision in mid-September to block several foreign news sites, including the Hungarian pro-government outlets Origo and Demokrata, citing concerns they were spreading Russian propaganda. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
Melkozerova contributed to the report.

Finland
29/09/2025  Alaska summit was a 'victory' for Putin, Finland's Foreign Minister Valtonen says. An end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine looks very unlikely now despite US-led efforts to secure peace. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Germany
2025-09-29  ' Rheinmetall has been commissioned to supply ammunition to an Eastern European customer. As a subcontractor to Global Military Products, a company commissioned by the U.S. government, Rheinmetall Expal Munitions will supply 155 mm M107 projectiles with M4A2 propellant charges and 105 mm M1 projectiles to the customer. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2026 and be completed in June 2027. The total value of the contract is around €444 million '. (Source Rheinmetall - Germany)

Portugal
(28 September 2025)  The Turkish Air Force is actively participating in the NATO's multinational aerial Tiger Meet 2025 exercise, held in Portugal between 18 September and 3 October. Türkiye has deployed three F-16 fighter aircraft and 53 air force personnel to the exercise, The drill also involves air forces from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, and Greece, as well as NATO units. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

Sweden
September 30, 2025  Criminal gangs recruiting teenage girls  as young as 15 as assassins, arsonists and bombers, officials warn. In 2023 alone, 280 girls aged 15-17 were charged with violent offenses, including murder and manslaughter. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

Moldova
September 30, 2025  Moldova’s parliamentary elections on Sunday delivered victory for President Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), which secured majority - 55 of 101 seats - reinforcing the country’s pro-European trajectory. Can President Sandu end a frozen conflict with Russia-backed Transnistria and pull her country closer to the EU? (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

29/09/2025  Moldova’s ruling PAS party secured lead over its pro-Russian rivals in parliamentary election. The tense vote of the EU candidate country was marred by a series of incidents and overshadowed by allegations of Russian interference. (Source: France 24)

Africa

South Africa
30.09.2025  Mthethwa, 58, South Africa’s ambassador to France was found dead today outside the Hyatt Hotel in Paris. It is believed that he might have jumped from the 22nd floor. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Baltic Sea
September 28, 2025  Nato said yesterday it is upgrading its mission in the Baltic Sea, 'in response to drone incursions in Denmark'. The alliance said the new assets included intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms and at least one air-defence frigate. The new assets will enhance Nato's Baltic Sentry mission, launched in January. Nato countries have deployed frigates, patrol aircraft and naval drones as part of the mission, to help protect critical infrastructure. The alliance also launched the Eastern Sentry mission this month, to bolster the defence of Europe's eastern flank. (Source: Asia One - Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)

France
28.09.2025  In a statement on the Dubai-headquartered company, Telegram founder Durov today accused France of asking him to remove some Moldovan channels from the social media platform ahead of the country’s presidential election last year. Durov claimed that the French intelligence services asked him through an intermediary to help the Moldovan government to censor certain Telegram channels before the vote on Oct. 20, in which incumbent President Sandu secured a second term in office following a runoff held on Nov. 3. ’The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would say good things about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year,’ Durov said. If the agency did not, and merely claimed to have done so, ’then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe - a pattern we have also observed in Romania,’ he further said. Durov also said that Telegram later received a second list of Moldovan channels, which he noted were “legitimate and fully compliant with our rules.” ’Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments. We refused to act on this request,” he went on to say, adding that Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons. After Romania, Moldova. @durov likes making accusations while elections are ongoing, the French Foreign Ministry, wrote on the US social media company X, in reference to similar accusations he made during Romania’s presidential election in May. Durov was arrested in a Paris airport in August 2024 and later charged on multiple counts, including complicity in the spread of child abuse images and in drug trafficking. Durov denied any guilt and was released on the day of his arrest on €5 million (about $5.4 million) bail under judicial supervision. Moldova is holding parliamentary election. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Poland
(30 September 2025)  A Ukrainian national has been arrested by police in Pruszkow, near Warsaw, Poland, on suspicion of involvement in a series of explosions that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea. The man, identified as a trained diver called Z, was detained under a European arrest warrant in the early hours of today, a German prosecutors said. The attack on Nord Stream infrastructure concerns one of the pipeline's owners, Gazprom, which directly finances the military operations in Ukraine, the man's lawyer, Paprocki, told Reuters. 'His extradition to Germany would be challenged as the war in Ukraine made the warrant inadmissible'. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

Russia
09/29/2025, 11.05  The third International Buddhist Forum on the theme of ‘The Buddhist World in the New Millennium’ was held in Elista, capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia, the only predominantly Buddhist region in the European part of Russia, near the Urals, welcoming guests from across the Russian Federation and 35 countries around the world. The visitors were able to immerse themselves in the history of Kalmykia and other peoples linked to Tibetan Buddhism in various regions of Russia, as well as in the principles and symbolism of Buddhist philosophy, with the participation of impressive actors and readers. Official delegations from China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Korea, Belarus, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Brazil, Bhutan and Spain were present. According to the president of the Central Administration of Buddhists in Russia, Lama Kirishov (Gesha Jonten), Buddhism is professed today by three of the eight billion inhabitants of the earth (although the most authoritative statistics on world religions speak of 500 million), and countries with a predominantly Buddhist presence demonstrate greater economic growth than many others. The majority of Buddhist countries have refused to join the sanctions against Russia, and commercial and economic cooperation between the Buddhist world and Russia is constantly growing. The lama also praised the spirit of sacrifice of the Buddhist soldiers participating in the special military operation in Ukraine. (Source: PIME Asia News - Italy)

Serbia
29/09/2025  In late April, the Holocaust Memorial, three synagogues and a restaurant in Paris were defaced with green paint. Nine heads of pigs, considered impure in Islam, were found in early September outside mosques in Paris and the surrounding region, sparking outrage and alarm over rising-anti-Muslim hatred. Three Serbs have since been charged and jailed in France as part of the investigation. Serbian police have arrested 11 people today, accused of inciting hatred in France and Germany, including by placing pigs' heads and throwing paint. The arrests took place in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, and in Velika Plana. The group of Serbian nationals were allegedly trained by another suspect, 'acting under the instructions of a foreign intelligence service,' who is currently on the run, the interior ministry said. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" = France)

Ukraine
28 September 2025  Russia carried out a 12-hour air assault on Ukraine overnight from Saturday to today, launching nearly 500 drones and over 40 missiles across multiple regions. The main targets were Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, with extensive damage to residential areas and critical infrastructure. In Kyiv, 20 separate locations across six city districts were hit. The strikes also hit Sumy, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi, and Chernihiv regions. Russia claimed the targets were military facilities, including airbases and defence industry locations. The Ukrainian air force said the attack involved Tu-95 bombers from the Murmansk and Engels air bases and MiG-31K aircraft. (Source: Helsinki Times - Finland)

Europe
Monday 29 September 2025  Which countries are the key military backers behind war in Europe? The Trump administration has been highly resistant to sending the levels of weaponry provided to Ukraine during the Biden era. Zelensky asked the US to sell ’highly coveted weapons, long-range Tomahawk missiles, with a range of 2,500km, to European nations’ that would send them to Ukraine, adding Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine’s artillery would put Russia’s capital within Kyiv’s range. That could be seen by Putin as an escalation in the war. President Trump ’appears to be more accepting’ of Zelensky’s requests. The US leader suggested in June that the US could send more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. “They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,” the US president said at the recent Nato summit in the Netherlands. “And we’re going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We’re supplying them to Israel, and they’re very effective, 100 per cent effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.”    Who is arming Ukraine?    ’EU member states have provided more than 67 billion euros of military aid to Ukraine’ between January 2022 and June 2025. ’Europe, including the UK, has totalled €167.4bn’. A small snapshot of the vast array of different weapons, both defensive and offensive, provided to Ukraine by countries across Europe: hundreds of tanks from Poland and Germany including the German Leopard 2, nearly 300 Dutch infantry vehicles, 76 howitzers from Italy, 16 Czech air defence systems. Germany has provided military aid at €16.5bn. The UK has committed up to £21.8bn, including £5.3bn on non-military and £13,8bn on military support - dozens of howitzers, a number of Storm Shadow missiles, six multiple launch rocket systems and 13 Raven air defence systems. Washington has provided more than €64 bn (£55bn) in military support. Since November, the US-made ATACMS missiles have been used by Ukraine in crucial strikes on targets deep inside Russia, with a range of around 300km. F-16 fighter jets built in the US, hundreds of M777 howitzers, dozens of HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and Abrams tanks, and more than 300 infantry vehicles are among the weapons sent to Ukraine by the US. Kyiv is persistently pushed for long-range and more powerful weapons - Tomahawks - to allow it to strike targets deeper inside Russia. US aid has totalled €114.6bn of financial, humanitarian and military donations to Ukraine since the war began, as of June this year, the Kiel Institute said.     Who is arming Russia? The exact picture is a little more blurred. Iran has provided crucial support for Russia’s air capabilities, providing it with thousands of Shahed drones. Tehran’s importance as a supplier has declined as Russia has localised production of the drones. After signing a treaty which includes a mutual defence pact, Kim is said to have sent around 12,000 North Korean troops, who assisted Russian forces in driving the Ukrainian military out of the Russia’s Kursk region. Russia and China have built an increasingly close bond since the war began. Presidents Xi and Putin signed a no-limits partnership and have repeatedly hailed each other as dear friends. Western countries claim China is militarily supporting the war effort in Ukraine. Beijing has been sending so-called dual-use technology, which can be used for both civilian and military purposes, leaving plausible deniability for China to avoid Western sanctions. Russian imports of drones and ceramics – which is a component used in body armour – has significantly increased since the war began. The Wall Street Journal reports that dual-use navigation equipment, jamming technology, and fighter jet parts were sold to Russian state-owned companies. In April, Zelensky said that gunpowder and artillery had been supplied by Chinese enterprises. On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry denied it was supplying weapons to parties in the Ukraine war. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

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Caribbean

Cuba
Sep 28, 2025  This past August, the Cuban government announced an increase in the average monthly salary to 6,649 pesos (about $15), or a 16.4% increase (a minimal amount for the average family). And a 50% increase in pensions was announced. According to Foreign Minister Rodríguez, this measure fell under the Cuban Revolution’s precept of leaving no one behind, benefiting 1,324,599 senior citizens. The minimum pension now stands at 3,000 pesos a month (just over $7.00). But, in the midst of a crisis where the elderly are the hardest hit, this increase still won’t help them make ends meet. The average pension has lost more than 60% of its purchasing power between 2021 and 2024. Cuba - which is experiencing a severe housing shortage - has a deficit of 862,000 properties, although the real number is believed to be higher. Unemployment in Cuba remains at 12%. Some organizations have dedicated themselves to quantifying Cuba’s misfortune. UNICEF asserts that a tenth of children on the island live in conditions of “severe food poverty. The Cuban Ministry of Public Health states that more and more Cubans eat only once a day. And the latest study by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) reveals that seven in 10 Cubans have skipped breakfast, lunch, or dinner due to lack of money or food shortages, while nearly 89% of the population currently lives in extreme poverty. The official narrative tries to avoid the word poverty, just as it has avoided acknowledging the ever-increasing inequality in the country - a problem the Cuban Revolution promised to eradicate or minimize when it put forward its national vision in 1959. The Revolution specifically promised a better future - with equality and well-being - for its entire population. What we see 60 years later is an increase in poverty and inequality and, what’s worse, a denial by the government of the structural causes that are producing it. (Source: El País - Spain)

Central America

Belize
September 30, 2025 The Trump administration on September 15 named Belize as a major transit country for drug shipments to the U.S. (Source: Organized Crime and Corruption Reprting Project - U.S.)

North America

United States
9/30/2025  While addressing hundreds of military officials who had been summoned to an in-person meeting at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, by Defense Secretary Hegseth, President Trump told U.S. military leaders today that fighting the enemy from within will be a big thing for them. He underlined his vision of using the military for domestic purposes, and not just foreign threats. “And we have to handle it before it gets out of control,” Trump said. He has already deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, and said over the weekend that troops would be dispatched to Portland, Oregon. Trump touted signing an executive order last month to train a National Guard quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. Referencing San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Trump told the military brass that “we’ll straighten them out one-by-one.” “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security.” “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military”, the president added. After Hegseth delivered an address that focused on how the Trump administration has removed ’the social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage’ from the Defense Department, Trump was far more low-energy in his remarks. His free-wheeling speech lasted an hour and 13 minutes. The president appeared to recognize he was facing a tough crowd when he noted he’d “never walked into a room so silent before” and encouraged the commanders to applaud if they wanted to. (Source: MSN / HuffPost = U.S.)

09/30/25  President Trump addressed dozens of top generals and admirals in Quantico, Va., where he said defending the homeland was the military’s most important priority. He signaled the leaders in the room could be tasked with aiding in federal interventions in Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and New York City. Trump has for weeks threatened to deploy the National Guard to cities such as Chicago, New York and New Orleans. Democratic leaders have likened Trump’s use of the military in American cities to an authoritarian tactic. “America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within,” Trump said today. “No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.” (Source: The Hill - U.S.)

September 30, 2025  Trump addresses Military Leadership in Quantico, Virginia - September 30, 2025: Transcript (Source: Roll Call - U.S.)

United States
September 30, 2025  President Trump delivers remarks to the Department of War (Source: YouTube / The White House - U.S.)
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09/30/25  Addressing a crowded auditorium gathered at a military base in Quantico, Va., Defense Secretary Hegseth told the U.S. military’s senior-most officers today that he no longer wants to see fat generals and admirals or overweight troops. He gathered the officers to reinforce his vision for the Defense Department, earlier announcing that the U.S. military will require those in combat jobs to meet the highest male standard only of their service’s physical fitness test. Hegseth emphasized the need to stick to strict fitness standards, declaring every service member at every rank is required to take a physical fitness test, and meet height and weight requirements twice a year. “I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in a combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men, or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons, platform, or task, or under a leader who was the first but not the best,” Hegseth said. “Standards must be uniform, gender-neutral, and high.” Hegseth has repeatedly emphasized that U.S. troops meet new fitness requirements as part of a broader effort to return to what he says is the military’s warrior ethos. He has frequently been filmed working out with service members at bases around the globe, and today pointed to these physical fitness exercises as the standard he expects all U.S. troops to follow. “It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of War can do regular, hard physical training (PT), so can every member of our joint force, he said, referring to the Trump administration’s preference the Defense Department be called the War Department. “Today, at my direction, every member of the joint force, at every rank, is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service,” he said. (Source: The Hill - U.S.)

Sep 30th, 2025  In an address to top commanders today, Secretary of War Hegseth reiterated his vow to purge the military of diversity and inclusion efforts and bring an end to woke garbage in the military. Speaking at a gathering of generals, the Trump-appointed Pentagon chief said he had made it his mission „to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less lethal.” Hegseth cast his purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as part of a broader cultural battle. “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” he told the audience. “No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions, no more debris.” He argued the military had ’lost our way” under foolish and reckless political leaders who turned the Pentagon into the woke department. That era, Hegseth said, was over. He was blasting what he called the promotion of risk averse go-along to get-along conformists. Too many officers, Hegseth added, had risen for the wrong reasons – based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts. The remarks underscore the Trump administration’s full-throttle attempt to reorient the Pentagon away from social policy. Hegseth insisted his focus is fixing decades of decay. “We’re clearing out the debris, removing distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders.” (Source: Mediaite - U.S.)

Sept. 30, 2025  Secretary of War Hegseth addresses General and Flag Officers at Quantico, Virginia: Transcript (Source: U.S. Department of War)

Sept. 30, 2025  Secretary of War Hegseth speaks to military leaders during a War Department address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. (Source: Department of War / YouTube = U.S.)
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30 September 2025  President Trump and Defence Secretary Hegseth are set to address more than 800 generals, admirals, and top enlisted advisers from across the globe in a meeting at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, today. The summit was convened on short notice. Attendance was near-compulsory, including for officers stationed in the Middle East, Indo-Pacific, and other critical regions. Only a small number were granted exemption from travel. Senior officers attending today’s summit will include combat veterans from conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Attendees were seated according to branch: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force. On Sunday, speaking ahead of the event, Trump described it as “just a very nice meeting” focused on military performance and morale. Trump, who recently directed National Guard units to deploy in response to unrest in Portland, is expected to echo support for Hegseth’s proposed reforms and military posture. Hegseth is expected to deliver a speech outlining a vision for restoring a warrior ethos within the armed forces. Media reports indicate Hegseth may address future defence strategy, upcoming budget disputes, or concerns over security leaks. Some sources suggest the meeting is part of an effort to consolidate control and realign senior command with Hegseth’s priorities. Hegseth has made structural changes within the Pentagon, including a 20 percent cut in the number of active four-star generals and admirals. Since May, dozens of senior officers have been dismissed or reassigned. Internal Pentagon sources told The Washington Post that Hegseth intends the meeting to serve as a face-to-face moment with his command structure, offering direction and setting expectations. The event coincides with political gridlock in Congress over a new budget. Without a deal, a federal government shutdown is expected to begin on 1 October, possibly affecting the return of officers to their posts. The meeting is being held under tight security. The precise content of today’s discussions remains classified. Attendees are under strict instructions not to speak to the media. (Source: THelsinki Times - Finland)

30 September 2025  Open-source intelligence (OSINT) X accounts reported that 'roughly a dozen' US Air Force KC-135R/T Stratotankers were flying making the journey on Sunday night, with several en route to RAF Mildenhall - a major USAF base in England. The presence of air tankers can indicate that the US or Nato is addressing an urgent military requirement for fighter jet refueling capacity. The last time the US moved tankers in comparable numbers was five days before American warplanes struck Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump is meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. 'Denmark's inability to defend its own airspace underscores White House concerns that it is unable to protect and defend its far larger and distant Greenland territory from increasing Chinese & Russian joint air and naval patrols in the emerging Arctic theater of strategic competition,' said Sitilides, national security senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The ongoing US military movements may also be linked to Exercise Cobra Warrior 25-2, a large-scale Nato biannual operation, training event running from September 12 to October 2 over the North Sea. Ultimately, the timing of the deployments are raising eyebrows, aligning with Hegseth's unexpected meeting in Quantico with top military officials in northern Virginia tomorrow. A source close to Hegseth says that even the generals and admirals involved in the meeting still do not know the agenda details, entering the meeting blind just a day before they are expected to have their roundtable discussions. (Source: Daily Mail - United Kingdom)

9/29/2025 The department summoned top missile suppliers to a June roundtable at the Pentagon to kick off the industry effort. The meeting, attended by Defense Secretary Hegseth and Gen. Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, drew executives from several weapons makers, new market entrants like Anduril Industries, and a handful of suppliers of important parts like rocket propellant and batteries. Individual missiles can take two years to fully assemble. It can take several months and hundreds of millions of dollars to test and qualify weapons from new suppliers as safe and reliable enough for U.S. service members to use. The Trump administration’s Big, Beautiful Bill, signed in July, provided an additional $25 billion in five-year munitions funding. Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon say they have responded by adding workers, widening factory floors and growing spare-parts inventories to prepare for a potential demand surge. But some suppliers have struggled to hit the new targets. Military officials have fretted about the U.S. ability to ramp up weapons production since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration launched an effort to raise munitions production rates and smooth out supply-chain kinks in 2023. 'The current conflict in Ukraine has been a wake-up call,' then-Undersecretary of Defense LaPlante said at the time. “We’ve allowed production lines to go cold, watched as parts became obsolete and seen sub-tier suppliers consolidate or go out of business entirely.” New missile orders have since failed to keep up with the soaring use of expensive interceptors, including the Patriot, to defend Ukraine against intensifying Russian bombardment. U.S. officials want more of those interceptor missiles on hand to protect bases and allies around the Pacific region. By June, the Trump administration had set even more aggressive production goals. Then the U.S. fired hundreds of high-end missiles during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, further depleting its missile arsenal. A new acceleration council is focused on 12 weapons that the Pentagon wants on hand for a potential conflict with China, some of the people said. The list includes Patriot interceptors, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, the Standard Missile-6, Precision Strike Missiles and Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missiles. Patriot is a particular priority because Lockheed has struggled to keep pace with surging global demand. An early request for information asked weapons makers at the June roundtable to detail how they could increase production to 2.5 times current volumes through steps taken over the following six, 18 and 24 months. Deputy Defense Secretary Feinberg is taking an unusually hands-on role in the effort, called the Munitions Acceleration Council, and calls some company executives weekly to discuss it, some of the people said. The Army in September awarded Lockheed almost $10 billion to make nearly 2,000 PAC-3 missiles from fiscal year 2024 to 2026. The Pentagon wants suppliers to eventually pump out that same number of Patriots each year - nearly four times the current production rate. (Source: MSN - U.S.)

(September 29, 2025)  The US special envoy to Ukraine, Kellogg, seemed to suggest Trump had already authorised strikes deep into Russian territory. Asked on Fox News whether Washington had allowed Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes within Russia in specific instances, Kellogg said: 'The answer is yes, use the ability to hit deep, there are no such things as sanctuaries.' The US is considering a request by Ukraine for long-range Tomahawk missiles, US Vice-President JD Vance has said. Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km, which would put Moscow within reach for Ukraine. However, Vance added President Trump would be making "the final determination" on the matter. To protect its skies from ballistic missiles, Kyiv has asked its Western partners for at least 10 units of Patriot surface-to-air defence systems which can detect and intercept oncoming missiles. Asked whether the Patriot systems Trump promised over the summer were forthcoming, Ukraine's deputy defence ministe Havryliuk declined to be drawn into specifics but said there was some movement in this direction. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Sep 29, 2025  Shifts in U.S. foreign policy preferences. As Trump returns to the White House, he brings a radical shift in U.S. foreign policy by redefining the boundaries of American leadership and influence in an increasingly multipolar world. One might even call it a return to history, to four major schools of thought based on the diplomatic philosophies and practices of four presidents: Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian, Jacksonian and Wilsonian. The Hamiltonian school, explicitly advocates economic measures such as tariffs and financial dominance to protect U.S. interests, federal government intervention in commerce. U.S. diplomacy has concentrated on North America, its home continent, to determine the country’s geography, size, borders, population, nature as a republic, security, economy, and relations with neighbors - an interplay between American domestic and foreign policies. In this light, the administration’s domestic policies feature foreign policy - Trump’s trade and immigration policies and his threats of military action against neighbors - that can largely be characterized as a return of to the past. In this complex of numerous intertwined and diverse interest groups, politics invariably bears the imprint of these factions, with foreign policy being the outcome of intricate bargaining between sets of domestic stakeholders. While Trump’s tariff wars are framed as reciprocal and in the interest of America, they are, in essence, policy favors for select industries and regions. On hot-button domestic issues, such as immigration, border control and drug enforcement, Trump’s actions are crucially about catering to the demands of his constituents. The central calculus remains consolidating core support. In areas such as cryptocurrency and tech regulation, Trump has made major adjustments to his own position, as well as abrupt policy reversals from his predecessor’s approach, to serve specific sectors or even individuals. A clear pattern of prioritizing national interests over internationalism is the driving force behind these foreign policy adjustments. Emphasizing tangible gains over rules, norms or alliances is the hallmark of the Trump administration’s strategy to preserve America’s hegemonic position and advantages. Shifts in U.S. foreign policy preferences also represent America’s novel attempt to navigate and respond to changes in the international situation. Representative remarks from top figures in both parties reflect a shared view among the elite about the need to adapt to shifting global dynamics: In April 2023, Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, proposed the New Washington Consensus, reassessing neoliberalism and advocating greater government intervention in industrial policy to revitalize manufacturing and international economic partnerships centered on national security;  During his January confirmation hearing for secretary of state, Rubio declared: “The postwar global order is not just obsolete, it is now a weapon being used against us.” Both sides recognize that America must carve out new strategic paths or risk being unable to sustain its hegemony. Thus, Washington’s global strategy - from its geopolitical priorities and alliance structures to the deployment of policy tools and diplomatic style - will continue evolving in the coming years. How effective will American policy adjustments be in identifying and navigating changes and sustaining hegemony? The outcome remains highly uncertain. ’The Trump administration’s disregard for the interests of allies and partners, its obsession with transactional bargaining and the unpredictability of its policy shifts have dramatically increased global suspicion’. The compounding effect of internal and external crises has not only negated short-term gains (such as those derived from tariffs) but is also increasingly undermining policy cohesion between domestic and foreign fronts, ’particularly in immigration’, the visa system and regulation of technology. ’This erosion steadily eats away’ the foundation of America’s long-term strength and global influence. (Source: China-US Focus, published by the China–United States Exchange Foundation, founded at Hong Kong, China)
by Li, Director of President's Office, 'China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

Monday 29 September 2025  Musk has branded the Anti-Defamation League, a legal group founded to combat antisemitism, as a hate group. The ADL classified the Turning Point USA group founded by the late Kirk as being extremist because of its Professor Watchlist, a database designed to expose teachers and professors who have left-wing views. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

September 29, 2025  Trump has announced on Truth Social a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the United States: “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing “candy from a baby.” California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”. Gibson, Trump’s Hollywood ambassador, will have trouble with his latest movie. He is shooting his two part “Passion of the Christ” sequel, and it’s not in Altoona. Shooting is set for Rome, other locations in Italy, Morocco, and Israel. That is costing Gibson, a Hollywood pariah, hundreds of millions of dollars. Voight, Stallone also make movies abroad. Another movie this will likely affect: Nolan’s “Odyssey,” shooting in Greece, Morocco, Sicily, and the United Kingdom. There are plenty more, too. And who will pay for it? Moviegoers. (Source: Showbiz411 – U.S.)

South America

Argentina
9/28/2025  Since taking office in January, Trump has slashed U.S. foreign aid programs, slow-walked military assistance for Ukraine and demanded that close allies like South Korea and Japan pay for a greater share of their defense. But the administration last week showed no hesitation about saving Argentina from its latest economic misfortune. Trump is a fan of Argentine President Milei, a libertarian whose attacks on government spending and red tape have made him a folk hero to the American right. Milei took office in December 2023, vowing an economic revolution. For years, Argentine governments had spent freely even as inflation soared and living standards stagnated. Inflation peaked at an annual rate of 289 percent four months after he was inaugurated. Milei eliminated the government budget deficit, fired nearly 50,000 public-sector employees and deregulated swaths of the economy. Other struggling nations could be inspired to follow Milei’s lead. His brash rejection of conventional economics drew plaudits from Trump and his allies in the Make America Great Again movement. In April, Argentina secured a $20 billion package of financial support from the International Monetary Fund designed to support Milei’s efforts to relax currency controls and allow the peso to trade within a floating band. By August, inflation had dropped to an annual rate of 34 percent, its lowest mark since 2018. This month, however, Milei’s party was trounced in provincial elections in Buenos Aires, raising doubts about his ability to retain a legislative majority in Oct. 26 midterm elections. As the provincial elections loomed, Milei was damaged by a corruption scandal involving his sister. His Liberty Advances party won little more than one-third of the vote in an election he had billed as a referendum on his reforms. Treasury Secretary Bessent says Milei needs “a bridge to the election” so that he can win a renewed mandate for reform. Bessent, the U.S. treasury chief, boasts significant private-sector experience in turbulent currency markets. As head of Soros Fund Management’s London office, he led a team in 1992 that earned $1 billion by betting against the British pound. Bessent said Argentina is systemically important. President Trump’s decision give Argentina a $20 billion financial lifeline. A key unknown is what Argentina will offer as collateral in return for any U.S. loan. (Source: MSN / The Washington Post = U.S.)

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Hungary
Friday, September 26, 2025  Hungary remains one of the only countries in Europe to continue purchasing Russian oil and natural gas following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump, „an admirer of the long-serving Hungarian leader, earlier this month called on all NATO countries including Hungary to cease purchasing Russian oil, since he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if they did so. Hungarian officials have insisted that geographical and infrastructural constraints make it nearly impossible to transition to using fossil fuels supplied from the West. Slovakia, which neighbors Hungary, has also maintained its Russian energy imports. Orbán said today that when it comes to energy sources, “It is clear what is in Hungary’s interest and we will act accordingly.” In comments to state radio today, Orbán said he recently told Trump that dropping Russian energy imports would be an economic disaster for Hungary. “I told the U.S. president … that if Hungary is cut off from Russian oil and natural gas, immediately, within a minute, Hungarian economic performance will drop by 4%’, Orbán said. ’It means the Hungarian economy would be on its knees.’ Hungary and the United States, he said, “are sovereign countries. There is no need for either of us to accept the arguments of the other. America has its arguments and interests, and Hungary does too.” (Source:  The Washington Times / Associated Press = U.S.)
by Spike 

Denmark
27/09/2025  New unidentified drones were observed over Denmark's biggest military base today. Police said one to two drones were observed yesterday around 1815 GMT near and over the Karup military base, the country's biggest base which houses all of the armed forces' helicopters, airspace surveillance, flight school and support functions. Karup is also home to parts of the defence command. Police spokesman Skelkjaer said police could not comment on where the drones came from, adding: "We didn't take them down.' Investigators have so far failed to identify those responsible. Danish Defence Minister Poulsen said Thursday the flights appeared to be the work of a professional actor. PM Frederiksen has pointed the finger at Russia. (Source: France 24)

Germany
September 27, 2025  German Interior Minister Dobrindt announced plans today to overhaul the country’s aviation security law to give the armed forces a formal role in drone defense, including the authority to shoot down hostile aircraft. The minister said he would establish a national drone defense center to pool resources from the federal police, state police, the federal criminal office and the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr. The center would bundle budgets, foster research projects and coordinate new technologies for interception - from jamming and takeover systems to “drone-on-drone” countermeasures. The government will amend Germany’s Aviation Security Act, which dates back to 2005. The new legislation would explicitly permit the Bundeswehr to step in under the framework of military assistance to civilian authorities when police capacity is insufficient. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

European Commission
26.09.2025  After recent Russian air incursions, EU countries yesterday held their first talks on building an anti-drone defense system, with European Commissioner for Defense Kubilius stressing that the Eastern Flank Watch, with the ‘drone wall’ as its core, 'will serve all of Europe.' Defense ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania attended the virtual meeting, joined by Hungary, Slovakia, EU foreign policy chief Kallas, 4, and the Danish Council Presidency. Ukraine also participated in a separate session, with NATO present as an observer. Ukraine is ready to participate in the European Commission-led ‘drone wall’ project and 'can play an active role in defending Europe against Russia’s drone threat', Defense Minister Shmyhal said today during a joint meeting of EU and NATO officials. He said Kyiv expects a joint declaration with partners to be signed in October. Shmyhal said the meeting included EU Commissioner Kubilius, EU High Representative Kallas, 4, the defense ministers of Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and representatives of NATO. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Moldova
September 26, 2025  Moldova’s electoral commission today barred two pro-Russian parties from participating in this weekend’s parliamentary election. The parties - the Heart of Moldova and Moldova Mare - face allegations of illegal financing and voter bribery. The Heart of Moldova was one of four parties in the Russia-friendly Patriotic Electoral Bloc, or BEP, which is viewed as one of the main opponents of the ruling pro-Western Party of Action and Solidarity in Sunday’s election. The BEP says it wants friendship with Russia, permanent neutrality and a state that serves the people, not officials. The Chisinau Court of Appeal restricted the Heart of Moldova party’s activities for 12 months, following searches earlier this month on party members that led to allegations of voter bribery, illegal party financing and money laundering. The electoral commission said that all candidates proposed by Heart of Moldova will be removed from the bloc’s list of candidates, and gave the bloc 24 hours to adjust its list to meet the representation thresholds required by electoral law. “We have made numerous calls pointing out the crimes that were being committed against us, but there has been no reaction, no change in attitude, which once again confirms that in recent weeks a scenario has been implemented against us,' read a statement on Vlah, leader’s of the Heart of Moldova Facebook page. On Thursday, Vlah was banned from entering Latvia, Estonia and Poland, accused of ’helping the Russian Federation interfere' in the preparations for the parliamentary elections. Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in Moldova. In a statement Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed allegations of Russian interference in Moldova’s elections as anti-Russian and unsubstantiated. Later today, the Central Electoral Commission said it excluded the Moldova Mare party from the race, citing allegations of illegal financing, undeclared funds from abroad, vote-buying and participation in a camouflaged electoral bloc tied to a political party declared unconstitutional. The Moldova Mare was another opposition party, but was widely expected to present less of a challenge. The Moldova Mare’s leader, Furtuna, ’was sanctioned by the EU’ in July for receiving „significant support” from pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Shor, whose Shor Party was declared unconstitutional in 2023 and banned. The ruling Party of Action and Solidarity has held a strong parliamentary majority since 2021, but risks losing it - faces several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-'European' partners. (Source: The Associated Press - U.S.)

Russia
27/09/2025 - 16:49  The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been off-grid for four consecutive days, Ukrainian and Russian authorities said today, its longest blackout to date as both sides accuse each other of attacking power-supply lines. The plant's reactors are shut down but still need energy to maintain vital cooling and safety systems. Russia said the power plant has been receiving backup power supply bybackup diesel generators since Tuesday, when it said Ukraine attacked the grid. The head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Grossi, was in Moscow this week for talks with President Putin and Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency regarding safety at Zaporizhzhia. (Source: France 24)

September 27, 2025 1:52pm  Part of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the 242ft Kilo-class Russian submarine Novorossiysk which is capable of carrying Kalibr missiles is suffering from a severe technical issue and is leaking fuel in its hold. The vessel was spotted yesterday in the Strait of Gibraltar off the Mediterranean Sea. Now a Telegram post by the Russian channel VChk-OGPU claimed that the submarine has no spare parts for repairs or a qualified specialist crew to fix the issue. With fuel accumulating in the hold, the crew may have no choice but to pump it into the sea, it added. (Source: Metro – United Kingdom)

September 27 2025 09:06:24  On reports that diplomats from several NATO countries advocate shooting down Russian aircraft for airspace violations, Peskov labeled them irresponsible during a Moscow briefing. "I don't even want to talk about it; it's an extremely irresponsible statement. Extremely irresponsible because the accusations against Russia claiming that its military aircraft violated someone else's airspace or intruded into anyone's territory are groundless,' he stressed. Peskov asserted no solid evidence backs these claims, affirming, "Our fighters conduct all flights strictly adhering to international regulations." Addressing Zelensky's remark that Kremlin officials should locate the nearest bunker if Russia doesn't end the war, Peskov suggested Zelensky aims to impress his backers as a 'good soldier. 'It seems evident that Zelensky continues to make desperate efforts to convince his presumed patrons, now expected to be Europeans, that he is a competent and successful warrior. Consequently, he throws threats right and left, sounding rather reckless,' he said. Such threats show the thoughts of the Kiev regime are focused on war, not peace, Peskov added. "The real situation on the battlefronts tells a different story: every day, Ukraine's position and negotiation stance deteriorate,' he concluded. Responding to U.S. President Trump's comments on Russian-Turkish energy ties, Peskov noted that the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines operate at full capacity. "Türkiye is a sovereign state that independently decides on the areas in which it will cooperate with Russia," he said. If Türkiye deems trade in certain goods advantageous, it will proceed with purchases. (Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Turkey)

Saturday, September 27, 2025  In a recent interview, Zelensky said President Trump had explicitly backed Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets, including arms factories and energy infrastructure. “The Kiev drug addict said the Kremlin should know where a bomb shelter is so its occupants can hide when he uses long range American weapons. What the freak needs to know is that Russia can use weapons a bomb shelter won’t protect against'. Americans should also keep this in mind, Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and a former Russian president and prime minister responded on the social media platform X writing, following comments by Zelensky, about targeting Russian infrastructure with American-supplied weaponry. Zelensky suggested that Moscow officials should prepare to take cover if they continue their war in Ukraine. He added that if Ukraine 'receives more long-range American weaponry, then we will use it.' Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Trump urged NATO countries to continue defending their airspace and expressed confidence in Ukraine’s ability to reclaim lost territory. On Truth Social, he wrote, 'Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!' (Source: The National Pulse – U.S.)

September 26, 2025 7:35 AM  Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Putin said it would have been impossible for Ukraine to have carried out the 2022 explosions that sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines without U.S. President Biden and his administration knowing in advance. The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of masterminding the attack.  (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)

Friday, September 26, 2025  The line of contact has grown by roughly 200 kilometers in length to nearly 1,250 kilometers over the past year, stretching Kyiv’s defenses, Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Syrskyi said. Russian forces employ a new tactic of sending swarms of small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian lines. (Source: The Washington Times - U.S.)

Ukraine
27.09.2025  'Zelenskyy said today that he has provided US President Trump with a list of requested weapons' worth $90 billion. He also stated that an Israeli Patriot system has been in use in Ukraine for a month and that the country will receive two more new systems in the fall. 'An Israeli complex has been operating in Ukraine for a month. We will get two Patriot systems in the autumn,' Zelenskyy said. Israel had previously denied supplying air defense systems to Kyiv. In June, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said Russia received official clarifications from Israel, whose authorities denied rumors about the possibility of supplying Patriot systems to Ukraine. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Europe

European Commission
Friday, September 26, 2025  Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been working on a drone wall project, but in March, the European Union’s executive branch rejected a joint Estonia-Lithuania request for funds to set one up. European Commission President der Leyen said earlier this month that Europe ’must heed the call of our Baltic friends and build a drone wall.’ She said that 6 billion euros ($7 billion) would be earmarked to set up ’a drone alliance with Ukraine’, whose armed forces are using the unmanned aerial vehicles to inflict around two-thirds of all military equipment losses sustained by Russian forces. Defense ministers from European countries with borders close to Russia and Ukraine held talks today about building a ’drone wall’ to plug gaps in their defenses following several airspace violations. Russia has been blamed for some of the incidents, but denies that anything was done on purpose or that it played a role. EU Defense Commissioner Kubilius chaired today’s talks. The meeting, via video-link, included those countries plus officials from Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, along with representatives from Ukraine and NATO. EU leaders will discuss the meeting conclusions at a summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday. (Source: The Washington Times / Associated Press = U.S.)

North America

United States
Sept. 27, 2025  President Trump said in a post on Truth Social yesterday he was ordering Defense Secretary Hegseth to send troops to Portland, Ore to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he said were under siege from attack by antifa, a loose network of antifascist protesters that Trump recently called a terror group. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary, Trump wrote, apparently referring to troops’ authority to use weapons. Their mission, he said, was to “protect War Ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE facilities.” Trump has already ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Memphis, claiming they are needed to address crime, assist in immigration enforcement and guard federal facilities. He has deployed National Guard troops to the southern U.S. border and is also using military bases for migrant detention centers. In a memo this week, Trump cited riots in Portland as part of growing attacks on ICE agents. A group of Portland residents has protested outside of an ICE building in the city for over 100 days. Their standoffs with federal police have led to arrests of some of the demonstrators. Trump has pulled back from sending the military to Chicago, despite threatening to do so multiple times. He also has raised the possibility of sending troops to New Orleans. (Source: The Wall Street Journal - U.S.)

Sept. 26, 2025  The president has intensified a crackdown on liberal groups since the assassination of the conservative activist Kirk. Mr. Trump and his administration have asserted that liberal groups are stoking a violent conspiracy against conservative values and the American way of life. He signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday ordering his administration to investigate what he claimed were rich people and organizations funding left-wing political violence around the country. The targeting of Open Society is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to cripple the financial and organizational infrastructure supporting Democrat-aligned causes and candidates. During a panel discussion featuring world leaders and philanthropists in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, the son of the billionaire investor Soros said the $23 billion organization he leads would not cave to pressure from President Trump. A skittishness has taken over the Ford Foundation which owns the building where Soros spoke on the panel. The Ford Foundation was called out by Vice President Vance, alongside Open Society after the assassination. Even before this week, the $16 billion foundation had been scrutinizing its distributed grants that officials there fear could be criticized for violating prohibitions on partisan political activity. The foundation’s board has been concerned about recent doxxing attempts against its directors. On Tuesday, the foundation abruptly canceled a long-planned dinner to honor its departing president, Walker. Foundations are fearful about investigations from Immigration and Customs Enforcement into the immigration status of their employees. ’Faced with daunting choices’, some in progressive finance circles have moved into a defensive crouch. Some have stopped sending emails out. One expressed concern that even ’donations made to groups anonymously’ could be unmasked by the government in a federal inquiry. Some declined to sign a letter last week pushing back on Mr. Trump’s attacks on the sector. They feared that it would be seen as too oppositional to a powerful administration. Ford and Open Society signed the letter. Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn and one of the country’s biggest Democratic donors who was named by Mr. Trump on Thursday as another potential target, has largely vanished from political giving in 2025 and is much less publicly voluble about his disagreements with Mr. Trump. In the pantheon vilified by political opponents, Soros and the Open Society Foundations stand alone. The elder Soros, 95, has personally been among the top donors to Democratic candidates and groups for more than two decades. His organization, established decades ago, has donated more than $24 billion to groups in the United States and around the world. The board of Open Society is now chaired by Alex, 39, who has taken a more hands-on role in Democratic politics and at the organization, confrontational toward Mr. Trump on social media. He is privately determined to fight back. In big money circles across the political spectrum, on the left, some are cheered that Open Society’s resources and history make it better positioned to fight back than other smaller or newer groups. The Open Society Foundations for years has dealt with heavy-handed tactics around the world. The group moved its operations out of Mr. Soros’s native Hungary under intense pressure from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Some are concerned that an investigation by the Trump administration could be costly to defend, diverting resources from its programming. The Justice Department directive urging prosecutors to investigate Open Society Foundations cited a report by a conservative group, Capital Research Center, which said Soros’s organization had donated over $80 million to groups tied to terrorism or extremist violence. The report pointed to statements made by organizations it helped fund - some of which applauded terrorist acts like Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, or encouraged U.S. activists to block roads or destroy property during protests. Of the grantees that the report cited for directly assisting domestic terrorism, eight are active U.S.-based nonprofits. One group cited in the report, the Center for Third World Organizing, got about 2 percent of its revenue from Mr. Soros’s groups between 2020 and 2023. The center also received gifts during the same period from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and funds connected to the financial giants Morgan Stanley and Vanguard. On Wednesday night, at a cocktail reception in Manhattan hosted by Open Society, a foundation official joked to the crowd - which included Alex and the foundation president, Nowrojee - that they should enjoy the party because it might be their last night of freedom before they were imprisoned. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)

Friday 26 September 2025  President Trump says he will introduce a 100 percent tariff on imported pharmaceuticals, as well as a 50 percent tariff on kitchen and bathroom cabinets, a 30 percent levy on upholstered furniture, and a 30 percent levy on heavy trucks. The new import taxes are scheduled to come into effect on October 1. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

Sept. 26, 2025 In recent weeks, the U.S. military struck at least three boats from Venezuela allegedly carrying narco-traffickers and drugs that could threaten Americans, President Trump said on Truth Social. The United States’ recent military escalation is in part a result of Venezuelan President Maduro not doing enough, in the administration’s view, to stop the flow of illegal drugs out of his country. U.S. military officials are drawing up options to target drug traffickers inside Venezuela. President Trump has not approved any action yet. Strikes within that country’s borders could potentially begin in a matter of weeks. The plans being discussed primarily focus on drone strikes against drug trafficking groups’ members and leadership, as well as targeting drug labs. Venezuela is considered a major departure point for flights carrying cocaine elsewhere. In 2020, the Trump administration has accused Maduro of working with cartels that it says are sending cocaine, fentanyl and gang members to the U.S. The Justice Department indicted Maduro on drug trafficking charges. Maduro has previously denied any role in drug trafficking and has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. is trying to force him from power. 'The U.S. and Venezuela are talking through Middle Eastern intermediaries. They are allies'. Maduro has spoken to those intermediaries about concessions he would be willing to make to remain in power. Trump is “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” a senior administration official said. Secretary of State Rubio has been one of the voices championing regime change. Earlier this month Maduro sent a letter to Trump about opening a dialogue. Trump received the letter but condemned it. The U.S. has continued to coordinate with Venezuela on some matters, including on continuing deportation flights. There have been 54 such flights through last Friday. The U.S. has deployed at least eight ships with more than 4,000 personnel to the waters in the region recently and sent F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico. Thousands of U.S. military forces, ships and aircraft keeping in the area could begin to impact deployments elsewhere. Grenell, who serves as the special presidential envoy for special missions, has been in routine communication with Trump and continues to push diplomacy with Venezuela as an option. (Source: NBC News - U.S.)

September (26), 2025  Confronting cartels: Military considerations South of the border. The fact that the United States has been engaged in the war on drugs for more than a half-century while national rates of drug misuse and drug trafficking have increased suggests caution about what can be achieved. That caution does not justify indifference or inaction. While it is true that U.S. addiction levels create the demand, Mexico’s cartels are flooding the market with fentanyl and other synthetic drugs that are powerful, cheaper to make, and easier to smuggle. The United States cannot reduce the drug problem without reducing demand when drugs are so readily available. Drug consumption is also increasing in Mexico, providing a further incentive for cooperation. In the 19th century, China fought and lost two opium wars with the British and French, and as a consequence was unable to prevent British merchants from importing opium into China. Nor could China’s government halt spreading use of the drug. Consumption skyrocketed. By the end of the century, it is estimated that 40 million people, about 10 percent of China’s population were addicts, contributing to the country’s social and economic decline. This, too, is a cautionary tale. Possible U.S. military action against Mexico’s drug cartels poses unique challenges. The situation is complicated, and the United States must be prepared for possible counteractions. The cartels are not a single actor. If attacked, they may avoid direct confrontation, accepting temporary losses, anticipating that the United States will not sustain a long campaign. Or Mexico’s cartels may respond violently, exploiting U.S. vulnerabilities in Mexico - and possibly north of the border. The government of Mexico is a separate actor. It can assist or undermine U.S. efforts. Past government campaigns against the cartels led to soaring rates of criminal violence. Chaos in Mexico could have serious implications for U.S. homeland security. The United States needs a ‘Red Team’ to examine a range of scenarios. (Source: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point - U.S.)
by Jenkins, a former Green Beret. In 1972, he initiated one of the nation’s first research programs on terrorism. His books and monographs include International Terrorism: A New Mode of Conflict; Aviation, Terrorism and Security; Unconquerable Nation; Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?; The Long Shadow of 9/11; Paths to Destruction; and most recently, Plagues and Their Aftermath. 

South America

Colombia
Sep 27, 2025 12:32 IST  Petro, Colombia's first leftist president and a vocal opponent of Israel's war in Gaza, hit out at Trump in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, saying the US leader was complicit in genocide in Gaza and calling for criminal proceedings over US missile attacks on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters. The United States is Colombia's main trading partner and its greatest ally in the fight against drug trafficking, but US-Colombia relations got off to a bad start shortly after Trump returned to office in January, when Petro refused to accept military flights carrying deportees in Trump's immigration crackdown. He quickly reversed course, agreeing to accept the migrants, after both countries threatened tariffs on each other and after the US canceled visa appointments for Colombians. Trump this month put Colombia on a list of countries that Washington says have failed to uphold their counter-narcotics agreements, blaming Colombia's political leadership. Petro took to New York's streets yesterday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration addressing a crowd outside the UN headquarters in Manhattan. He called for a global armed force with the priority of liberating Palestinians, adding, 'This force has to be bigger than that of the United States'. 'That's why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of Trump'. Obey the orders of humanity. The United States said it would revoke Colombian President Petro's visa. (Source: India Today)

United Nations

27/09/2025 - 8:16 GMT+2  A resolution brought forward by Iran’s allies Russia and China at the UN's 15-member Security Council level to delay snapback sanctions triggered by the UK, France and Germany over Tehran’s nuclear programme failed to pass yesterday. The vote ended with four votes in favour of the resolution, nine votes against, with two abstentions. The sanctions - triggered by the UK, France and Germany - will once again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalise any development of Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Four countries - China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria - once again supported giving Iran more time to negotiate with the European countries, the so-called E3, and Washington, which unilaterally withdrew from the international accord in 2018 during US President Trump's first administration. Iranian President Pezeshkian, speaking shortly after the vote said that despite previous threats, Iran won't withdraw from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty like North Korea, which abandoned the treaty in 2003 and then built atomic weapons. The European leaders triggered the so-called snapback mechanism last month after accusing Tehran of failing to comply with the conditions of the accord and when weeks of high-level negotiations failed to reach a diplomatic resolution. Pezeshkian painted a different image of how the meetings went, saying that it was the Europeans and Americans who refused to make a deal during the High-level week. “Every time we spoke with the Europeans, we’ve reached conclusions and agreements, but then at the end of the day the American side did not accept,' he said. IAEA inspectors are currently in Iran where they are inspecting a second undamaged site, and will not leave the country ahead of the expected reimposition of sanctions this weekend. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Sep 27, 2025 12:32 IST  The Trump administration has been cracking down on pro-Palestinian voices while countries including France, Britain, Australia and Canada have recognised a Palestinian state - moves that have angered Israel and its ally the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the assembly on Friday, denounced Western countries for embracing Palestinian statehood, accusing them of sending the message that 'murdering Jews pays off.' Palestinian Authority President Abbas addressed the UN by video on Thursday after the Trump administration said it would not give him a visa to travel to New York. Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons. (Source: India Today)

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Europe

Germany
(25 September 2025)  Merz backs EU plan for €140 billion interest-free Ukraine loan. 'German chancellor supports using frozen Russian assets for Kyiv loan package'. (Source: Luxembourg Times)

25.09.2025  Russian surveillance satellites are tracking satellites used by German armed forces and NATO allies, German defense minister Pistorius said speaking at a national space technologies conference. He warned that Russia is currently positioning its reconnaissance satellites close to satellites used by the German military and its allies. Russia and China can disrupt, blind, manipulate, or kinetically destroy satellites. In space, there are no borders or continents. There, Russia and China are our direct neighbors. Currently, two IntelSat satellites, which are also used by the German armed forces, are being tracked by two Russian Luch-Olymp reconnaissance satellites, Pistorius said. The minister also announced that the German government plans to invest approximately 35 billion euros ($41 billion) by 2030 for space projects and security architecture. He said the program will enhance orbital surveillance through radars and telescopes, deploy guardian satellites, and develop both defensive and offensive capabilities to deter potential threats. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

The Netherlands
25.09.2025  Beginning last week, for 50 days, organized by the Rotterdam Palestine Coalition Foundation, every Monday and Thursday for 24 hours, the names and ages of over 65,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been read aloud outside the Dutch Foreign Ministry in The Hague. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

European Commission
September 24, 2025  Der Leyen’s messages auto-delete to save space on her phone, Commission says, erasing some of the EU’s most politically sensitive communications. The European Ombudsman announced this week it has launched a probe in reference to a text message from French President Macron urging European Commission chief der Leyen to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

September 24, 2025  EU concedes trade deal with Trump falls short of WTO rules. The pact, brokered in July by European Commission President der Leyen and U.S. President Trump in Scotland, goes against reciprocity and nondiscrimination - two principles at the heart of the rules-based system. The agreement does not fulfill the conditions of article XXIV of the World Trade Organization rule that allows countries to remove tariffs on one another without granting the same benefits to others as long as they strike a full-blown trade deal. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

September 24, 2025  On Saturday, Bloomberg reported that the EU was considering unspecified trade measures to cut off oil through the Druzhba pipeline, through which Hungary and Slovakia purchase Russian oil. The move follows Trump’s claim that the United States is willing to impose tough sanctions on Russia as long as NATO allies cut imports of Russian oil first. ’In practice, that means that just three countries must cut off Russian oil’: Turkey, which is not an EU member; Hungary; and Slovakia, where infrastructure made it difficult to quickly switch to alternative sources. Hungary and Slovakia have said they have concerns over the price of oil from Croatia’s Adria pipeline, the primary alternative to Russia’s Druzhba pipeline. Hungary has also benefited from the cheap cost of Russian oil, received as much as a 77 percent discount versus non-Russian oil. The EU is already moving toward a blanket Russian energy ban process structured as an internal market regulation in order to prevent Hungary and Slovakia from blocking it with a veto. Polish Energy Minister Motyka, in an open letter to other European energy chiefs, said on Sept. 16 that Europe should stop importing oil by the end of 2026. "According to the Financial Times' the EU will provide 550 million euros (about $648 million) in funds to Hungary in order to win approval for a recently announced Russian sanctions package that includes a faster-than-planned phaseout of Russian gas. The EU also has powerful stick. ’It could withhold subsidies for Hungary and Slovakia over rule-of-law issues if the countries do not cut off Russian oil. The EU couldn’t connect the two issues legally, but ’such an arrangement would be within the bloc’s political powers’. Hungary and Slovakia also have cards to play. Trump has sympathy for their leaders. Hungary, at least, has a powerful ally in the White House in Trump, with whom Orbán is close. The renewal of sanctions on Russia requires a unanimous vote from EU members every six months, giving Hungary and Slovakia powerful vetoes. Orbán has threatened to block renewal of the sanctions as recently as January. If Orbán were to call Trump and complain of EU pressure, for instance, U.S. pressure on the EU could theoretically melt away. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)

United Kingdom
September 24, 2025  Britain has warned Moscow it is ready to shoot down Russian jets and drones that violate Nato airspace. On Monday a number of drones were spotted near Copenhagen airport, forcing the airport to shut for several hours. They were suspected of being Russian drones and, if confirmed, the incursion into Denmark would be the furthest west 'its aircraft' have strayed during the current wave of incidents. Ambassador Holland, the head of the UK delegation to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said today in a speech in Vienna to the OSCE: “Russia should be in no doubt that Nato and allies will employ all necessary military and non-military tools, in accordance with international law, to defend ourselves and deter all threats in a manner, timing and domain of our choosing.” At the weekend RAF Typhoon fighter jets began a new mission to patrol the airspace over Poland, codenamed Eastern Sentry. “Let us be clear: Nato is a defensive alliance. Its purpose is to protect, not provoke. That is why the UK has contributed to Eastern Sentry to bolster Nato’s security along our entire Eastern Flank,” Holland added. Russia is a member of the OSCE but suspended its participation last year. Holland said that the international community should not allow Russia’s provocations elsewhere to distract from the urgent need to end this war [in Ukraine]. Russia has refused to respond to requests from the UK and other allies to confirm responsibility for deliberate violations of Nato airspace. (Source: The i Paper – United Kingdom)

Asia

Japan
Sep 25, 2025  Japan has scrapped a plan to promote cultural exchanges between regional cities and four African countries. The Africa Hometown initiative was meant to pair four small Japanese cities with Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. But a statement from the Nigerian government went much further, promising immigration through special visas. Japanese citizens reacted online, many assuming it would lead to unlimited African migration into Japan’s countryside. If this continues, there will be no Japan, just some islands where Japanese people used to live, Musk commented on X. Barely a month after its announcement, the initiative has now been abandoned. Immigrants represent in Japan, about 3 per cent of the population. Political parties such as Sanseito have tapped into the issue, and immigration policy is a point of contention in the ongoing race for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / Bloomberg - U.S.)

 North America

United States
September 25, 2025    ' '  'Europe' is at war with Russia. ' '    The fighting in Ukraine is only part of Russia’s wider war against the continent as a whole. The only way Moscow can now achieve its objectives is by weakening Europe’s support for Ukraine and exploiting divisions within and among NATO nations. This is what its covert war against Europe aims to do. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
by Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, 'a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center'

NATO

September 25, 2025  Russia maintains a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, destroyer-class combatant ships, strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles, and a world-leading collection of icebreakers right next door to Canada. Testing boundaries, hybrid warfare, and imposing psychological trauma on neighbors is well-documented Russian behavior. The vastness of the Arctic region, which Russia is working daily to militarize and leverage for both security and economic reasons, combined with Canada’s weak security readiness, ’represents an enormous NATO vulnerability’. The weakness of NORAD’s current defensive capabilities in the north, represent a gaping soft spot in the NATO phalanx. Last year, there were 12 instances when Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force jets had to scramble planes to address and occasionally escort Russian aircraft flying provocatively and needlessly close to North American airspace. Qaidari recently noted in Policy Options a range of near-term solutions which could boost Canada’s ability to patrol the high north and safeguard its sovereignty: a hybrid air fleet and multidomain surveillance network to expand visibility of manned or unmanned aerial incursions, seabed sensors and unmanned subsurface ships to patrol underwater routes, and mobile missile units capable of responding to threats. Acquiring and deploying a twin-engine aircraft known as the E-7 Wedgetail, to sight aerial threats and report on them to NORAD and NATO commands was recommended. A report also recommended space-based radar systems and leveraging Canadian and U.S. public investment in a new push to secure the Arctic. The proposals should be considered in the context of Trump’s plan to establish a “Golden Dome” for North American aerospace defense. (Source: Foreig Policy - U.S.)
by Bondy, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa and CEO of Bondy & Associates.

Global

24 September 2025  Shipping faces ‘stormy seas’ as trade slows and costs rise (Source: UN News)

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