Thursday, September 17, 2026

Rumors Of War: German, French, UK Military Aircraft Spotted Near Russian Border – Flight Data


German, French, UK Military Aircraft Spotted Near Russian Border – Flight Data
Sputnik


German, French and UK military aircraft have been spotted flying near the Russian border, according to flight data analyzed by Sputnik on Thursday. 
A German air force aircraft took off from the German Nordholz airfield at around 6:12 a.m. (GMT) and as of 8:50 a.m. it was spotted patrolling over the Baltic Sea. 
A French air force Airbus A330-243MRTT military aircraft was circling in Finnish airspace near the Russian border as of 9:42 a.m., while a UK air force Boeing Poseidon MRA1 patrol aircraft with the call sign RFR7045 was circling near Russia's Kaliningrad Region in Polish airspace as of 10:30 a.m. 
In recent years, Russia has been flagging up NATO's unprecedented activity and buildup of troops near its western borders. The Kremlin has stated that Russia does not threaten anyone, but would not ignore actions that are potentially dangerous to its interests.



Beijing pushes Tehran to help stop Houthi attacks following appeal from Saudis


Beijing pushes Tehran to help stop Houthi attacks following appeal from Saudis, Iranian sources say
REUTERS

China has privately asked Tehran to help rein in Yemen's Houthis after an appeal to Beijing by Saudi Arabia following the Iran-backed group's military blitz in the past week, according to three Iranian sources familiar with the matter.

Riyadh turned to China for help after the Houthis made rapid advances along the Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, moves that have left Saudi oil exports and shipping more exposed, the sources said.

China has publicly called for restraint, dialogue and the restoration of safe navigation, but its private message went further than the public statements, they said.

Beijing wants Iran to use its influence with the Houthis to help prevent the conflict spreading further across energy routes on which China, the world's second-largest economy, depends.

The sources, who were briefed on the discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide details on how the message was delivered or whether it was conveyed during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's visit to China on Wednesday.

The sources said Tehran's response was that stability and peace in the region depend on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Chinese officials did not issue any explicit threats or indicate that Beijing would seek to pressure Tehran economically if it failed to use its influence over the Houthis, the three Iranian sources said.

In response to a Reuters request for comment on this story, the Chinese foreign ministry said: "China does not wish to see regional tensions further spill over into Yemen and the Red Sea. Escalating regional instability is not in the interests of any party."

"The sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected, and facilities vital to people's livelihoods must not be targeted. China calls for an end to actions that further complicate the situation and urges resolving issues through dialogue and negotiation," it said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Saudi government's media office did not immediately respond to Reutersrequests for comment for this article.

China has been Iran's largest trading partner for more than a decade and remains the main buyer of its oil. Chinese purchases accounted for more than 80% of Iran's seaborne oil exports in 2025, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day, according to commodities data and analytics firm Kpler.

"Beijing is one of the few capitals that can still press Iran to rein in the Houthis," a senior Western diplomat in the region said.

The Houthis, who emerged in the 1990s in opposition to Saudi Arabia's Sunni religious influence in Yemen, are armed, trained and funded by Iran, according to Iranian sources and Western countries, and form part of Tehran's anti-Western, anti-Israel "Axis of Resistance."

Any threat by the Houthis to shipping in the Red Sea and through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait risks sharply worsening the global energy crisis since Iran started blocking the Strait of Hormuz and increasing the danger of a wider regional conflict.
With Hormuz already effectively shut, sustained Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea would disrupt the Middle East's two main oil-export routes simultaneously, opening a new front in both the energy crisis and Iran's broader confrontation with the United States.

Iran and its allies now exert pressure over both ends of the region's key maritime network, one of the sources said, adding that "China depends on both."

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Beijing may oppose US pressure on Tehran, but its interests in the Middle East extend well beyond Iran. Roughly half of China's oil imports come from the region, while trade between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council states totals around $300 billion a year.

"Iran can disrupt Hormuz. But at some point that leverage begins hurting the very power Tehran increasingly depends on," Vatanka said.

Tehran cannot ignore China, but Beijing is only one of several Iranian considerations

It is unclear whether Tehran will act on the concerns raised by Beijing, according to the three Iranian sources.

The relationship nevertheless carries significant economic and strategic weight for Iran as it continues to face hostilities with the US, they said.

"Tehran and Beijing need each other. China is a factor Tehran cannot ignore, and Beijing wants Hormuz reopened and Red Sea shipping secured," the Western diplomat said.

Analysts say the key test will be whether China is prepared to attach consequences to its demands. Ultimately, they say, the clearest sign of Beijing's resolve would be evidence that it is willing to use its leverage over Tehran.




Experts Declare Fuel Crisis Imminent as Global Wars Choke Out Supply


Experts Declare Fuel Crisis Imminent as Global Wars Choke Out Supply



Experts all around the world are now declaring that a major fuel crisis is upon us due to the perfect storm of catalysts, which includes Ukraine and Russia’s mutual energy strikes, as well as the sudden flare-up of the Houthi-Iran axis’s targeting of critical Saudi energy infrastructure.

American oil executives warned for months that the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz was bound to cause a fuel crisis. Now, they say it is here.

Commercial fuel stocks around the world have been depleting for more than six months, and strategic crude reserves can’t be tapped much further. Attacks last week shut down a crucial crude pipeline in Saudi Arabia that bypassed the Strait, stranding at least 2.5 million barrels a day from an already tight global oil market, analysts estimate.

The latest driver has been the news that Saudi Arabia is cancelling “crude oil cargoes” to Europe for the rest of September, with rumors now speculating that this will extend into October as well.

The past several days, the Houthis have been launching major strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure sites, which include the Aramco plant at 18.485593, 42.505660geolocation:

.BREAKING: Oil loadings suspended at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea port, following the earlier attack on the east–west pipeline, Reuters report.

Oil storage tanks ablaze after a claimed Houthi missile strike on the Aramco Abha Bulk Plant north of Abha, Saudi Arabia.

About 500 miles from there the Yasref oil refinery in the Red Sea coast city of Yanbu was also hit:

BREAKING: Yemen’s Houthis appear to have directly struck the YASREF oil refinery in Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast this morning, the 400,000 barrel per day Aramco-Sinopec joint venture and one of the Red Sea’s largest diesel exporters. Footage shows a large fire, with …
Meanwhile, the critical East-West pipeline meant to serve as lifeline to redirect Hormuz crude flows was seen in new Maxar satellite imagery after the attack which disabled it on September 10th. Reportedly, multiple pump stations along the long route were destroyed, making the attack far more severe than initially estimated:


BREAKING: US diesel prices officially rise to a new record $6.26/gallon, now up over +80% in 9 months. Truck drivers are now paying nearly $3.00 more per gallon for diesel than they were in January. This has pushed average gas prices in California, one of the most expensive…


Russian analyst Victor Leonov shared an interesting theory that proposes Russia and Iran are working hand-in-hand in taking down the Western monetary and economic orders:

Why do Iran and Russia target energy facilities?

In the war in Ukraine and the tensions in the Middle East, petrol stations, oil and fuel depots, energy facilities, infrastructure, and refineries are continuously targeted by Russia and Iran. At the same time, transportation and energy routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab are completely shut down. Why is this happening? Why are Russia and Iran doing this in coordination, and what is their objective?

The answer to these questions comes from the fact that Russia and Iran have agreed together to destroy the Western and American capitalist system, by creating an energy crisis through targeting energy facilities and transportation routes. The equation works like this: attacking and destroying these facilities reduces energy production and supply, while closing the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab similarly reduces supply and availability on a global level.

As a result, fuel and energy prices in general begin to rise and surge. Rising prices mean that greater pressure is placed on the global industrial sector, which must secure fuel at much higher prices. At the same time, transportation costs also rise and economic inflation begins to increase. As a result, central banks are forced to raise interest rates in order to control inflation, which in turn slows and weakens the economy. In this way, production and factory activity gradually weaken, while the industrial sector faces a major threat.


Through this method, Russia and Iran are putting industry, economic growth, and the current world order at risk, to the point where factories may shut down and industry, in its current form, may no longer be able to continue. Since industry is the foundation stone of modern capitalism, step by step the current world order moves toward collapse as an energy crisis develops.

Therefore, Russia and Iran want to use this path to bring down and transform the current world order, which is led by the United States in a unipolar manner. For this reason, expect further bombing of petrol stations, oil, gas, and fuel depots, along with more attacks on energy facilities and infrastructure.




Things To Come: Globalist sustainable development based on U.N. Agenda 2030 and surveillance state

Trump’s war on Iran is crashing entire U.S.-dominated petro dollar system; it will be replaced with globalist sustainable development based on U.N. Agenda 2030 and surveillance state




It looks like the globalists who have for years been calling for sharp restrictions on energy usage, getting it down to more “sustainable” levels, are going to finally get their wish. And it’s a “conservative” Republican president who is going to hand it to them on a silver platter.

They want us off our land, in much smaller apartment homes, driving smaller electric cars or riding bicycles, using less air-conditioning and less energy in all aspects of life. The famous mantra of the globalist World Economic Forum has been “you will own nothing and be happy” under their so-called great digital reset. They’ve also argued for a much smaller global population.

Their dream is close at hand as the entire house of cards is getting ready to implode. The fundamental transformation to a fully controlled digitalized society is being driven on battlefields with unnecessary wars, and in the global oil and gas markets, making energy basically unaffordable for average working stiffs like us. 

Not only has Trump lost in his gamble to take down Iran, but now his aggression has led to Iran’s allies in Yemen, the Houthis, going on a rampage and taking over all of western Yemen along the vital Red Sea coastline, allowing them to control the Bab el Mandeb Strait. The Houthis also bombed a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia that had been allowing 5 percent of the global oil supply to evade the dangers of the war-ravaged Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

Here’s what David Haggith, who publishes the Daily Doomon Substack, posted on the topic:

Into the now rapidly spiraling energy crisis, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, attempted to speak some calm into markets. He seems to specialize in saying stupid things. This time he indicated the total shutdown of the east-west pipeline was not a huge concern because the Saudis plan to have the pipeline fully “running very soon.” Since he is always saying empty stuff like that, it would appear the energy secretary’s brain doesn’t have the energy to run a lightbulb.

So, it is not hard to figure out what the Houthi game plan will be for that major pipeline, making me think the energy secretary cannot be this dumb, so he must just be another Team Trump liar. With the pipeline totally dead, both parties will wait until the Saudis spend a lot of money and time getting the pumping station back online and until the oil starts flowing again. Then they will immediately blow it all back up, leaving another big mess of spilled and burned oil all over the totally destroyed equipment. Each time, the Saudis will have to clean up the big, charred oil spill before they can even start to rebuild.

The other major risk here is that other countries will enter the war on the side of Saudi Arabia, notably Pakistan and Turkey, which recently signed a mutual defense pact with the Saudis declaring an attack on one country amounts to an attack on all three. This is the first big test of that alliance. The Saudis are also asking Egypt to enter the waron their behalf.

In a matter of days, Brent crude has gone from $90 a barrel to $109 a barrel.

At this rate, we could see $150 a barrel by the end of this year. That would mean gasoline prices of $7 to $8 a gallon, and diesel prices of $10 to $12 a gallon. You think food prices are high now? Wait till we have $10 a gallon diesel. Since jet fuel is a derivative of diesel, the airline industry will also be devastated.

Trump will likely declare an “energy emergency” and implement draconian new rules limiting Americans’ ability to purchase fuel for their cars and homes. And if protests get out of hand, he may declare martial law, possibly canceling elections, or postponing the results of the elections from taking effect after suggesting they were “rigged” by China, Russia or Iran.

Costco, a major bulk-sale retailer, has already responded by announcing a rationing plan for motor oil, limiting customers to two cans each. Watch for other major retailers to follow suit.

The bigger story is this: The U.S. petro dollar and the empire it propped up is in freefall, right before our eyes, and it’s going uncovered by the media. Americans have no idea how much economic pain is coming their way as a result of Trump’s destructive wars, both military and economic wars, none of which America is prepared to fight and win.






THE CLARITY OF BIBLE PROPHECY


THE CLARITY OF BIBLE PROPHECY
J Brentner


The general assumption in many Bible-believing churches today is that Bible prophecy is far too controversial and divisive to be taught. Many churches forestall any mention of the Rapture on Sunday mornings with a note on their website saying that “Bible prophecy is tertiary,” a word that the Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines as “of third rank, importance, or value.”

Even if they don’t use the word “tertiary” in their statement of beliefs, many churches assume that Scripture is far less clear on Bible prophecy than on other matters of faith. Although most Christians accept this assertion as fact, it’s simply not true.

Beliefs about the Rapture, the seven-year Tribulation, Israel’s restoration, and the Millennium rest on how one interprets God’s Word rather than on the meaning of the words themselves. This is not only true in matters related to eschatology, the study of future things, but also in all matters of our faith.

For example, we readily accept the unmistakable clarity of the Lord’s words in John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Yet I know of professing Christians who read this verse and yet claim that Jesus is not the only path to salvation. In some circles, the words of John 14:6 are more contentious than our belief in the pre-Tribulation Rapture. A popular “Christian” author argues that Jesus didn’t pay the debt for our sins, but only makes our salvation possible. Does he not read the same verse we do?

You see, even on the essentials of the gospel, many who say they believe Scripture is inspired don’t accept the face-value meaning of the words even when they reveal essential matters of the gospel. They look at the same words we do, yet interpret them far differently.

THE UNBIBLICAL BASIS OF REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY

As for Israel’s place in Bible prophecy, what one believes about the nation’s future is also shaped by assumptions formed apart from the biblical text, not by the intent of the words themselves.

Augustine, an early church theologian, popularized Replacement Theology in the early fifth century AD. His belief that the church had replaced Israel in God’s prophetic program didn’t arise from the words of Scripture, but rather from his deep-seated antisemitism and acceptance of Platonism. He adhered to many of the beliefs of the ancient philosopher Plato, who taught that all matter was evil and only the unseen spiritual world was good. Hence, there could be no Millennium despite the clarity of Revelation 20:1-10 and numerous Old Testament passages.

To make God’s Word fit his errant beliefs, Augustine allegorized texts in which the Lord clearly promises to restore a kingdom to Israel. He changed them into allegories, stories with deeper hidden meanings whereby the characters, events, and settings in such narratives symbolize truths without stating them directly.


Augustine’s approach to Bible prophecy directly contradicts what God said long ago.

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

    and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, “My counsel shall stand,

    and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:9C-10).

Do those words sound like Someone who would reveal the future in allegories, which by their nature depend on human wisdom to understand? Would He make promises to Israel in such a way that they could later be reconstructed to actually refer to the church?

When we allow the words of Scripture to mean what they did when the authors recorded them, it confirms that the Lord will restore a kingdom to Israel, just as He repeatedly promised throughout His Word. This approach confirms that the church is definitely not the fulfillment of God’s kingdom promises. Let me explain.

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ABOUT ISRAEL’S RESTORATION

As for Israel’s future, Jeremiah 33:14-16 is just one example of well over a hundred Old Testament references that clearly and unmistakably prophesy Israel’s still-future restoration as a viable kingdom:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

If these words mean what they did when the Lord spoke them, they must refer to a future time of restoration for the nation of Israel. We know that since the days of Jeremiah to today, there has never been a time when they were true. The only other alternative to reading the above passage as prophetic of Israel’s future is to reinterpret it as part of a grand narrative in which God was actually talking about the church (even though it didn’t exist at the time), not Israel.

Consider the Jews of Jeremiah’s day who responded positively to his message. Although clearly a small minority, they believed the Lord would someday raise them from the dead, at which time they would experience the promised blessings of Jeremiah 33:14-16. Are we to believe that the actions of the Jews living during the time of Christ negated the clear promises God made to their ancestors living centuries earlier who heeded the words of Jeremiah? Yet that is what the no-Israel crowd would have us to believe.

THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ABOUT THE RAPTURE

God’s Word is also remarkably clear about the Rapture. Consider the following verses also from John 14, where Jesus said this about His return to take us home:

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:2-3)

Based on all we know about the meaning of the above words and the Galilean marriage customs of the first century AD, of which the disciples were well aware, it’s clear that Jesus was prophesying of a time when He would come and take us to an actual physical location in His “Father’s house.” Paul later wrote that when Jesus appears, we go to glory (Colossians 3:4). Why do so many believers assign clarity to Jesus’ words in John 14:6 while denying His clear intent in 14:2-3?

Although widely ridiculed and dismissed as far too controversial to discuss in church, the New Testament says much about the event we call the “Rapture.” It’s a sound biblical doctrine that’s clearly revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-55.

Our hope does not rest in the Second Coming; our “blessed hope” is the Rapture. Why are so many pastors afraid to mention it?

Sadly, the assertion that Bible prophecy is tertiary has caused considerable damage within the body of Christ. Among other things, it has blinded believers to the abundance of signs signifying that we live in the last moments of the last days. Silence about eternal realities in churches today has shifted many believers' focus to temporary, earthbound aspirations that offer no hope for the perilous times we now live in and provide no comfort for the tribulations of life we all experience in this vale of tears.

Once a church declares that Bible prophecy is tertiary, the gospel proclamation ends with the forgiveness of our sins because everything else in the saving message of the cross is prophecy. Jesus’ clear and unmistakable promise, through the apostle Paul, to give believers immortal and incorruptible bodies at His appearing is Bible prophecy. Our future experience of eternal bliss rests on Bible prophecy. All that we believe about the eternal state is . . . Bible prophecy. Our hope of a day without suffering, death, pain, and tears (Revelation 21:4) is . . . Bible prophecy. These things are most certainly not tertiary to us as New Testament saints.

The Rapture is the resurrection of all believers. Like it or not, every true New Testament saint believes in the Rapture because it is the time we receive resurrection bodies like our Savior’s (I Thessalonians 4:1-18, Philippians 3:20-21).

Bible prophecy is of utmost importance to every believer, and the Bible is remarkably clear about our future.



The Sounds Of The Temple Are Returning To Jerusalem


The Sounds Of The Temple Are Returning To Jerusalem
 PNW STAFF


For nearly two thousand years, these were sounds that belonged to the Bible.

The Temple was gone. The sacrifices had ceased. The priestly service ended. The silver trumpets associated with Israel's ancient worship became artifacts of another age.

But on Rosh Hashanah this year, something remarkable happened on the Temple Mount.

Hundreds of Jews ascended the mountain. Organized Jewish prayer continued there for hours. Worshippers openly carried prayer books and wore traditional prayer shawls.

Then the shofar sounded.

And beside it sounded two silver trumpets—recreating a combination of instruments associated with worship in ancient Jerusalem.

A Temple has not been rebuilt. Sacrifices have not resumed.

But increasingly, people are preparing as though they someday could.


Ancient Sounds Return To The Temple Mount

The significance of the silver trumpets could easily be missed.

God commanded Moses in Numbers 10 to make two trumpets of hammered silver. They became associated with Israel's national life and worship, and Scripture specifically commanded their use during appointed festivals and over certain sacrifices.

For generations, Christians have read those passages as descriptions of Israel's ancient past.

Now the sound of silver trumpets has been heard again on the mountain where the Temple once stood.

Rabbi Josh Wander, who participated in the Rosh Hashanah gathering, believes this was the first time in thousands of years that the shofar and silver trumpets had sounded together on the Temple Mount.

Practices once considered almost unimaginable are gradually becoming possible.

And Temple-related practices are beginning to appear with them.


They Aren't Just Talking About A Temple

The trumpets are only one piece of a much larger story.

Jewish organizations dedicated to preparing for a future Temple have spent decades researching exactly how biblical Temple worship functioned.

Sacred vessels have been recreated. Priestly garments have been produced. The procedures surrounding sacrifices have been studied. Priests descended from the biblical priestly line have received instruction concerning Temple service.

These efforts are not about constructing a museum exhibit depicting ancient Judaism.

The stated objective of groups such as the Temple Institute is the eventual restoration of Temple worship.

That changes the significance of what is happening.

For centuries, Jews prayed for the restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple. Today, some Jews are moving beyond prayer and attempting to solve the practical problems that would arise if that opportunity ever came.


What vessels would be needed?

How would the priests serve?

How would sacrifices be performed?

How would biblical requirements concerning ritual purity be satisfied?

Increasingly, those questions are being treated not merely as matters of ancient history, but as preparations for a possible future.

Even Israeli Politics Is Changing

There is another obstacle that would have seemed nearly insurmountable only a few decades ago: Israeli politics.

The Temple Mount is one of the most sensitive pieces of territory on earth. Any change there can reverberate throughout Israel, the Muslim world and the international community.

Yet before Rosh Hashanah, Israeli lawmakers Simcha Rothman and Shlomo Karai publicly called for Jews to be permitted to pray and sound the shofar on the Temple Mount. Rothman argued that preventing Jews from fulfilling the commandment at Judaism's holiest site infringed upon their ability to practice their faith.

Temple Mount activism that once existed largely on Israel's political fringes has increasingly entered mainstream political debate.

Activists are already looking toward the next step: expanding the Jewish religious practices permitted on the Mount during biblical festivals.

Nobody knows how far—or how quickly—this will go.

Enormous religious, political and security barriers remain. Any serious attempt to change the existing arrangements surrounding the Temple Mount could trigger an international crisis.

Yet something is clearly moving.


Christians Should Understand What They Are Watching

For Jews involved in these efforts, this is about restoring something lost nearly two thousand years ago.

For Christians who understand biblical prophecy, however, there is another reason to watch Jerusalem closely.

Several prophetic passages describe Temple worship operating again in the last days.

Daniel describes sacrifices being stopped. Jesus points His disciples toward Daniel's prophecy of the "abomination of desolation" standing in the holy place. Paul describes a future figure entering what he calls the Temple of God in 2 Thessalonians 2. Revelation 11 describes a Temple in Jerusalem being measured.

Christians disagree about precisely how and when these passages will be fulfilled. But generations of Bible prophecy teachers have expected that some form of Jewish Temple worship would eventually return to Jerusalem.

For much of Christian history, that required imagining a world that did not exist.

There was no Jewish state.

Then Israel was reborn.

Jerusalem was divided.

Then Israel gained control of the Old City and Temple Mount in 1967.

Jews were severely restricted from praying on the Mount.

Now Jewish prayer there is becoming increasingly open.

Temple worship existed primarily in history books.

Now vessels have been recreated, priestly service studied, purification requirements investigated and ancient practices rehearsed.

We may be watching pieces of that infrastructure gradually fall into place.

Religious Jews and prophecy-minded Christians ultimately expect very different things to happen on this mountain. Yet both understand something much of the world overlooks:

Jerusalem is not finished making biblical history.

For almost two thousand years, the sounds of the Temple belonged to the past.

Now, faintly but unmistakably, some of those sounds are returning.


Wednesday, September 16, 2026

BRICS Summit Takes Aim At US Influence Over The Global Economy


BRICS Summit Takes Aim At US Influence Over The Global Economy



Like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, the global grouping of emerging markets and developing countries, is intent on diminishing Western influence over the world economy. 

And just like the SCO summit earlier in September, the latest conclave of BRICS leaders fell short of presenting a united front against the West, the United States in particular.

Both the SCO and BRICS include China, India, Iran and Russia as permanent members. Among the four, India, the host nation for this edition of the BRICS annual summit, has acted as a brake on efforts to de-dollarize the global economy.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both BRICS partner countries.

BRICS members adopted a 140-point joint statement September 12 that featured calls for major reforms of Western-dominated financial institutions, including the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to give developing countries a greater say in policymaking and practices.

Some joint statement provisions took oblique swipes at the Trump administration. For example, in comments on the WTO, the statement noted a "proliferation of trade-restrictive actions that are inconsistent with WTO rules, whether in the form of indiscriminate raising of tariffs and non-tariff measures, or protectionism under the guise of environmental objectives."

More...














Bill Gates Calls For Globalist Crackdown On AI


Bill Gates Calls For Globalist Crackdown On AI


Bill Gates has a new emergency. With the climate apocalypse no longer selling, the Microsoft co-founder is touring the press circuit warning that artificial intelligence is an "alien intelligence," that no government on earth is ready for it, and that the only fix is an international organization to police the technology.

President Trump has already rejected the pause. The left, the globalist class, Beijing's spy chief, and now a Sundance-to-Netflix documentary are all at once selling the same story.

In a Reuters interview published Tuesday, Gates said no capital is prepared for what is coming. "I don't think any government is nearly as deep on this as they have to be," he told the outlet. "Governments are way behind on this one."

He compared AI to a Hollywood invasion plot in which Washington and Beijing suddenly hold hands. "There's all sorts of movies where some aliens are coming, and magically the US and China and everybody comes together to solve the problem," Gates said. "AI is kind of like this alien intelligence. It's here, and we better do like it shows in those movies."

The New York Post framed it as a "terrifying warning." Forbes led with the line Gates attached to his foundation's Goalkeepers report: left to the market, "AI will be designed by and for the richest people in the world."

He wrote that AI could be "a great equalizer - or widen the gap," and that choices made in "the next 12 to 18 months" will decide whether the tools "benefit the people who already have the most or reach those who have the least." He added that the good outcome "won't happen by accident."

On The Times Tech Pod, Gates went further and called for a dedicated global apparatus. Industry, he said, should not be trusted to police itself. "It's not the role of the industry to self-regulate or understand the whole-of-society impact that comes out of AI," he argued. "The depth of understanding of AI ... is too low in every entity, including the government."

In a late-August essay, Gates wrote that "the transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history" and that "unfortunately, right now, we are not preparing for it."

He floated a new international organization built from pieces of nuclear inspections, aviation rules, and ozone treaties - a permanent cross-border watchdog for a technology American labs still lead. He has been pitching the same idea to Trump's team and says he wants a meeting with China's Xi Jinping later this year. 


While Gates talks crisis, his foundation is writing checks to expand the thing. On Tuesday the Gates Foundation pledged at least $1 billion over two years to spread AI in education, health, and agriculture - 40 percent tutoring and classroom tools, 40 percent diagnostics and drug discovery, the rest farming advice and the data layer that makes models work in languages other than English. The money sits inside a previously announced $9 billion-a-year spend.

David Sirota caught the split in one line.


That is the move. Sound the alarm. Demand a global referee. Keep a foundation-sized stake in the rollout.

This is not Gates' first end-of-the-world product. For years he sold net-zero as civilization's last exit - fewer cows, fake meat, the whole ritual. Then the data-center boom needed power, lots of it, and last October he allowed that climate change "won't lead to humanity's demise." Trump treated the climbdown as a concession speech. "I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax," he wrote. "Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue. It took courage to do so, and for that we are all grateful. MAGA!!!"


The scare apparatus was not retired. Once everyone realised the planet was not going to cook on schedule, the same network needed a replacement threat big enough to justify treaties, inspectors, and "international coordination."

AI arrived on cue: jobs, cyberattacks, companions, bioterror, "loss of control." All of it real enough to discuss. None of it a license to park American development under a UN-flavored commission while Beijing keeps shipping cheap open-weight models.

The entertainment wing has added its own contribution in the same news cycle. Netflix has just put up The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, the Sundance premiere from Oscar-winner Daniel Roher (Navalny) and Charlie Tyrell. The film sits Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, Reid Hoffman, Yuval Noah Harari, and the usual "humane tech" chorus in front of a camera and walks the audience through impending AI dread dressed up as a father-to-be's anxiety.

One of the producers said the hope was that it would work "kind of like 'An Inconvenient Truth' or 'The Social Dilemma' for AI." That is the tell. Same template. New monster.

The film premiered at Sundance in January, played theaters in March, and dropped on Netflix this week - the same week Gates, Obama's orbit, Bernie Sanders, and the lab CEOs were all pushing slowdown and supervision.


More...


Lavrov Warns That If NATO Attacked Russia, War Would Be "Very Short"


Lavrov Warns That If NATO Attacked Russia, War Would Be "Very Short"
TYLER DURDEN


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has again responded to allegations of European officials that Moscow seeks to expand the war beyond Ukraine.

We earlier detailed how recent drone spillover from the conflict, including explosive-laden drones coming out of Belarusian territory and threatening the Baltics, has resulted in Western officials increasingly alluding to NATO 'collective defense'.

This is highly dangerous as it means the situation could rapidly escalate into full-blown Russia-NATO direct confrontation on the basis of a single aircraft shootdown.

In his fresh remarks from Ekaterinburg, Russia - where he was addressing the International Youth Festival on Wednesday, FM Lavrov made clear that Russia has not intent of ever attacking Europe.

But he coupled the statement with a very severe and ominous warning, that could have nuclear implications.

"I would like to emphasize that we have no interest in engaging in this [attacking Europe], but if Europe, which is talking about preparing for war against Russia on a daily basis, attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short," Lavrov said in remarks translated by national media.

According to more:

The minister also expressed the hope that Europe had heard the warning about a short war in the event of an attack on Russia.

Sergey Lavrov expressed doubts regarding the idea that the world is being governed based solely on agreements between the United States and China, noting that China has a completely different approach to global affairs.


Again, though not expressly stated, Lavrov's warning hints a using nuclear weapons - given the emphasis on such a conflict being "short".

Reading between the lines, he is saying that while Russia doesn't want to go to war with Europe, the only scenario where that would be possible is if Russia is under direct attack and deems its existential survival at stake. Such a thresh-hold reached would likely justify use of strategic forces if President Putin made the decision. 

What's different or curious about the veiled Lavrov warning is that it is typically the 'hawk' Dmitry Medvedev making them. The former Russian president and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council is typically the one making such maximalist warnings.

All of this suggests the Kremlin sees escalation with NATO in the atmosphere, which it authentically doesn't seem to want.