The country is outperforming Japan in terms of purchasing power parity, according to the Washington-based organization | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has ranked Russia as the world’s fourth-largest economy based on purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP compares economic productivity and standards of living between countries by adjusting for differences in the cost of goods and services. In its World Economic Outlook published on Tuesday, the IMF said Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 amounts to 3.55% of global GDP in terms of PPP, outperforming Japan, which has 3.38%. According to the report, Russia ranks fourth in terms of PPP after China (18.8%), the US (15%), and India (7.9%). The latest figures show that the world’s leading economies by PPP now include three BRICS countries – China, India, and Russia – the report authors noted, pointing out that Russia’s upgrade has been driven by Western sanctions.

Russia’s president and the global organization’s Secretary-General held a meeting behind closed doors where they discussed the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East | President Vladimir Putin has met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who came to Russia for the first time in over two years to attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan. ● Putin spoke with Guterres behind closed doors on Thursday evening, the final day of the summit, which saw dozens of world leaders gather in Kazan to discuss the multipolar world order advocated by the group. ● The Kremlin has yet to unveil the details of their discussion, but according to the UN chief’s office, Putin and Guterres addressed the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as questions related to global development and the international financial system.

■ Guterres, Putin discuss international financial system — UN secretary-general's office (TASS)

Moscow aims to end the impunity of the US and its allies, the Russian president has said | Moscow has had enough of the West’s impunity and hypocrisy and intends to ensure that there is justice in the world again, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Putin spoke to journalists, including many from Western outlets, at the end of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on Thursday.

💬 “Is it just to lie to our faces that NATO will not expand, and then [expand] it?” Putin asked BBC’s Steve Rosenberg, in response to his inquiry. “Is it fair to carry out a coup d’etat, spitting on all principles of law, and funding a coup in Ukraine?” he added, referring to the 2014 Maidan ‘revolution’ backed by Washington. “Is this just? There is no justice here,” Putin said. “We want to change this. And we will.”

The Russian president also dismissed as “nonsense” the claims that Moscow was somehow behind “mayhem” on British streets. Whatever may be happening in the UK is the result of London’s own policies, Putin said.

■ Putin ‘doesn’t remember’ Trump missile threats (RT.com)
■ Everyone wants quick end to Ukraine conflict – Putin (RT.com)

The Chinese president says Beijing and Moscow should further deepen economic ties while defending the UN-based global system | Beijing and Moscow should further deepen their already strong economic cooperation while defending global stability, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at talks with counterpart Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan on Tuesday. He also stressed that Sino-Russian ties have been steadily developing in recent years despite the turbulent geopolitical situation. ● BRICS country leaders were joined by those from aspiring member states for the group's 16th annual summit in the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan Republic. Russia holds the rotating chairmanship of the group this year. ● Commenting on relations with Moscow, Xi stated that “despite the chaotic and confused external situation, trade and cooperation in other spheres between the two countries are actively developing,” as evidenced by a number of large-scale joint projects. Chinese TV quoted the president as stressing the importance of further enhancing the bilateral economic partnership as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the Eurasian Economic Union.

■ World ‘tired’ of US-led West – RT editor-in-chief (RT.com)
■ Xi advocates high quality development of greater BRICS cooperation (Global Times)
■ The five major goals empower 'Greater BRICS Cooperation' with focused strength (Global Times editorial)

According to the unnamed US and NATO officials and diplomats, Germany and the US top the list of those delaying Kyiv's admission to the bloc | Some NATO countries, including the US and Germany, are hesitant to meet Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's demands for an immediate invitation to join the alliance due to concerns about triggering a direct conflict with Russia, Politico reported, citing four unnamed US and NATO officials and diplomats. ● According to them, Germany and the US top the list of those delaying Kyiv's admission to the bloc. "Countries like Belgium, Slovenia or Spain hide behind the US and Germany. They are reluctant," Politico quoted an unnamed alliance official as saying. Hungary and Slovakia also oppose Ukraine's accession.

■ Inside Nato, fears are growing Putin is about to land a decisive blow in Ukraine (iNews)

Mark Curtis | Since the 1960s, Labour and Conservative governments have supported or acquiesced in several cases of genocide across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. | Many people in Britain I speak to struggle to understand how their government can acquiesce in, still less support, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. ■ We see the killing, maiming and destruction on a daily or even hourly basis, in real time, knowing our government is complicit. It seems incomprehensible to many. ■ But it’s only hard to understand if one has little knowledge of Britain’s foreign policy in recent decades, or an overly rosy picture of just what Whitehall stands for in the world. ■ And if people do suffer from that historical ignorance, it is not their fault, but the fault of a media system that refuses to tell people the truth about our past as well as our present. ■ The reality is that, tragically, the UK establishment’s complicity in genocide is nothing new. There is a long history to Britain backing forces committing genocide – defined as an attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

Lubos Blaha has questioned the move against Moscow, noting that US funds were not targeted when it attacked Iraq | The blocking of sovereign Russian funds in the West amounts to “theft,” Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha has said. He called on the EU authorities to stop pumping Ukraine with money and weapons in the conflict with Moscow. ● The US, EU, and their allies have frozen an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian state since the Ukraine conflict escalated more than two years ago. The bulk of the funds, around €197 billion ($214 billion), is being held at Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear.

💬 “The freezing of Russian assets is theft and robbery. You can find hundreds of justifications for this, but this is theft,” Blaha said at a European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday. “Europe didn’t steal American assets at the time of unjustified aggression against Iraq, Will we do the same with Israeli assets?” the lawmaker asked, referring to the latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Blaha, who visited Moscow earlier this month, also called on EU lawmakers to use “common sense,” stating that Brussels should “stop sending Ukraine weapons and billions of euros” that are needed in the bloc. “This is unfair to our own citizens,” the MEP insisted. ● On Tuesday, the European Parliament backed the allocation of a loan of up to €35 billion ($38 billion) for Ukraine, using immobilized Russian assets as collateral for the repayments.

Check out this video of Emmanuel Macron at the biggest Zionist event of the year in France, the infamous “CRIF dinner”. If you don’t now what the CRIF is, do not bother with the Wikipedia article – it’s all sanitized – but think of the French CRIF like (AIPAC+JINSA+ADL+B’nai B’rith)2: all the power of the Israel Lobby in the USA, but squared (yeah, I know, hard to imagine, but true). (FYI – the guy holding Macron’s wrist is the CRIF’s President)

The BRICS Summit, attended by heads of state, is held in Kazan, Russia, on 22-24 October. | The 16th annual BRICS summit began on Tuesday in the Russian city of Kazan, in the Republic of Tatarstan. The three-day summit will bring together officials from 36 countries, including 22 top ones, as well as leaders of six international organizations. [...] The summit will be devoted to discussions on strengthening multilateralism, integrating new members of the bloc and addressing regional challenges. Russian President Vladimir Putin will host the summit.

⚡ Dumping US dollar ‘keeps politics out of economic development’ – Putin (RT.com)
■ BRICS not aiming to ‘defeat the dollar’ – Kremlin (RT.com)
■ Putin to have a series of bilateral meetings on sidelines of BRICS Summit (TASS)
■ Developments on payment mechanisms expected in BRICS — Russian Foreign Ministry (TASS)
■ BRICS Economic Dominance Taking Shape, West Can Do Nothing About It - French Politician (Sputnik)

Russia needs to be discouraged from launching new operations against its neighbor once a ceasefire is reached, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu says | The West should seriously consider placing “conventional deterrence” assets, which could include long-range missile sytems, on Ukrainian soil once the hot phase of the conflict is over, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu has said. In an interview with the broadcaster TF1/LCI on Monday, Lecornu weighed in on Vladimir Zelensky’s much-touted “victory plan,” which the Ukrainian leader presented to the national parliament last week.

Jonathan Cook | The raid on investigative journalist Asa Winstanley isn’t about terrorism – except the UK government’s. It is about scaring us into staying silent on Britain’s collusion in Israel’s genocide | The UK government and police – the British state – made clear today they are waging a war of intimidation against the country’s independent journalists in a desperate attempt to silence them. ■ Ten Metropolitan police officers made a dawn raid on the home of investigative journalist Asa Winstanley and seized his electronic devices under the UK’s draconian Terrorism Act. A letter from the Met indicates that the associate editor of the Electronic Intifada is being investigated by the force for “encouraging terrorism”. ■ Winstanley is the latest – and most high profile – independent journalist to be targeted by counter-terrorism police in recent weeks. Earlier, Richard Medhurst was arrested at Heathrow airport on returning to the UK from a trip abroad. Then Sarah Wilkinson was arrested and her home ransacked. Winstanley has repeatedly embarrassed the British establishment by exposing its covert and deep ties to Israel and its collusion with the Israeli lobby.

He praised the Russian president for being the first world leader to speak out in the publisher’s defense | John Shipton, the father of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, has said that he is grateful to Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting his son amid his persecution by Western authorities. Shipton arrived in Moscow on Sunday at the invitation of Russian journalist Mira Terada, the co-chair of the BRICS Journalists’ Association.

💬 “In 2012, President Putin became the first head of state to speak out in defense of Julian’s interests as a publisher and citizen,” Shipton told RIA-Novosti news agency. Putin came forward when only “defamatory lies” were spread about his son in the media, Assange’s father said. “For this, I express my sympathy to your president,” he added.

Assange spent five years in Belmarsh high-security prison in the UK as he fought extradition to the US, which had accused him of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified information, much of which was related to American war crimes. He was placed in the facility over breach of bail, after living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, which had granted him asylum, between 2012 and 2019. In June, he struck a plea bargain with the US Justice Department, formally acknowledging some guilt and waiving his right to legal recourse in exchange for freedom. “I pled guilty to journalism,” Assange explained later.

Metropolitan Theodosius of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church suffered a concussion and burns during a violent raid on St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy, carried out by armed men, mostly from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. | The UN Human Rights Office reaffirmed that freedom of religion is a fundamental right after a raid on St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy, Ukraine. Videos show armed men in military-style clothing clashing with worshippers from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The attackers reportedly used tear gas, stun grenades, and fired a gas pistol, stealing icons, documents, and $60,000. The UOC blamed “schismatics” from the Kiev-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) for the attack against worshippers. The UN stressed, "Attacks on civilian believers are prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian norms."

■ Ukrainian diocese ‘goes underground’ after raid on cathedral (10/18/24)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is on a two-day visit to Kyiv | Paris is in talks with NATO allies about the chance of inviting Ukraine to the bloc immediately, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on a visit to Kyiv. "As for Ukraine's invitation to NATO, we do not rule it out and are holding discussions on this issue with our partners," he said. ● The day before, in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Minister-Delegate for European Affairs at the French Foreign Ministry Benjamin Haddad said that Paris believes it is a priority to agree on Ukraine's official invitation to NATO. He conceded that the process of joining the alliance could take a fairly long time. But, according to Haddad, the invitation is the first political signal that can be made right now.

While Ukraine still keeps resisting, that resistance is getting weaker, Andrey Kelin says | Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin told the BBC that the UK government is using Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia.

💬 "The UK government is waging aggressive war against Russia at the hands of Ukrainians. This is a proxy war led by the United Kingdom’s government by providing lethal weapons, with which the UK government is killing Russian soldiers and civilians," he said in an interview with the broadcaster, an excerpt of which the BBC posted to its website. (According to Kelin, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is not showing any interest in peace talks. This stance means only that Ukraine will lose more territory, he said.) "You [...] heard Zelensky yesterday. He was desperate. He fully understands that he is losing not only terrain, but he is losing the conflict," the ambassador said.

Donald Trump has slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for failing to seek peace with Russia | Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for helping start that nation’s war with Russia, a comment that further suggests Trump is likely to radically shift US policy toward Ukraine if he wins the US election. ● The Republican former president has frequently criticised Zelensky on the campaign trail, repeatedly calling him “the greatest salesman on Earth” for having solicited and received billions of dollars of US military aid since the war broke out in 2022.

■ Former Russian president praises Trump over Zelensky remark (RT.com)

Hungary does not support Volodymyr Zelensky's "victory plan" because it is the shortest path to World War III, the political director of the Hungarian prime minister's office, Balazs Orban, said. | He stressed that the plan involves escalating the conflict and involving NATO countries in it, which Hungary does not accept, since it believes that the European Union should change its strategy to a peaceful one. "Zelensky's ‘victory plan’ is the shortest path to unleashing World War III, so Hungary does not support it," Orban said on social media on Thursday. ● On Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine's so-called "victory plan" had been fully prepared. The plan contains five provisions, including one that would let Ukraine strike deep inside Russia and allow Western allies to deploy their conventional weapons on Ukrainian soil to "deter" Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) (Дмитрий Медведев) |Three events that did happen during the week:

1. Trump became the first former U.S. president and presidential candidate to admit that direct responsibility for the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine (or, to be more precise, for the civil war) lies with the dirty-green drug-addicted scum, which is fed by the West and which has lost all legitimacy. This admission will change nothing about the U.S. position, even if the ginger Donald regains the Oval Office. But the very statement of this kind is extremely important for the future.

2. Given the seemingly meaningless chatter surrounding the creation of nuclear weapons by the Banderite Ukraine, there is only one sad conclusion: the Nazi regime is trying to create a “dirty bomb”. It has all the capabilities for this purpose: raw materials, technologies, and specialists. And any Soviet-era laboratory will do for the manufacture of a low-power charge. The clock is ticking.

3. The whole world was waiting for what would be included in the Kiev Nazi's notorious “victory plan”. That's it, we can exhale. The plan has been revealed! It is not a “plan for victory”, but simply a plan for victory. The word “plan” should be taken literally: as a slang name for marijuana, anasha, hashish, cannabis, cannabis, hemp, and so on. In other words, the substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which has a psychotropic effect. Apparently, the overseas comrades ordered their offspring to be more careful and change coke for grass. (Translation: DeepL (free version) + Grammarly)

■ Kiev working on dirty bomb, Medvedev warns (TASS)

СРОЧНЫЕ НОВОСТИ: Россия и Китай подписали «Пакт о партнерстве» | Президент России Владимир Путин и председатель КНР Си Цзинь Пин только что подписали «договор о партнерстве». Россия соглашается поддержать цели Китая на Тайване . Китай соглашается поддержать цели России на Украине. Они совместно осуждают Соединенные Штаты. PS: Не США, а Энлилитов которые захватили США.

Breaking NEWS: Russia and China have signed a “partnership pact” | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jin Ping have just signed a “partnership pact”. Russia agrees to support China's goals in Taiwan . China agrees to support Russia's goals in Ukraine. They jointly condemn the United States. PS: Not the United States, but the elites who have taken over the United States. (Translation: DeepL (free version)

The Ukrainian leader’s proposal is a set of “incoherent slogans,” according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova | Moscow has dismissed Vladimir Zelensky’s much-touted eight-point ‘victory plan’ as nothing but a “plan for the misfortune of Ukraine,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said in a statement. ■ On Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader unveiled his long-promised proposal to Western supporters during an extraordinary parliamentary session. Zelensky laid out five points, including an immediate invitation to join NATO, permission to use Western long-range weapons to strike targets deep in Russia, and continued incursions into the neighboring country’s territory. A further three points remain classified but have supposedly been shared with Kiev’s backers. Spokeswoman Zakharova responded to the five points of Zelensky’s plan at a press conference, calling them nothing more than...

💬 “...a set of incoherent slogans” and “bloody foam on the lips of a neo-Nazi killer.” (Commenting on Kiev’s “hysteria” about being invited into NATO, the she alleged that the only place the West sees for Ukraine in its) “security architecture” is “in a coffin and Ukrainian citizens in graves.” “That is why they brought this clown to power, who was supposed to finish off Ukraine as a state and kill as many Ukrainians as possible,” Zakharova said.

She also questioned Zelensky’s intent to strengthen Ukrainian defenses by “targeted operations in specific places.” The spokeswoman asked why the Ukrainian leader shied away from naming the places and said that Kiev has been “pushing NATO members towards a direct conflict” with Russia by insisting on obtaining permission to use long-range weapons on Russian territory.

💬 “Taken together, all of those points and secret sub-points are not a ‘plan’ for Zelensky’s victory. This is a plan for the misfortune of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zakharova surmised, adding that it is aimed at “yet another extortion of money and a presentation of [Kiev’s] terrorist capabilities.” “Today, Zelensky has finally proven to everyone that he hates Ukrainians to such an extent that [it] can be described as Ukrainophobia,” Zakharova concluded.

■ Zelensky presents ‘victory plan’ (RT.com)
■ SITREP 10/14/24: Russia Tightens Ring on Key Region on Eve of Zelensky "Victory Plan" Unveiling (Simplicius)

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) (Дмитрий Медведев) |Like an Armistice With Hitler in 1945 | Biden, in order to help his brainless protégé, blabbed that he was ready to negotiate the reduction of nuclear forces with Russia without preconditions. Another American boorishness. ■ Think about it: the U.S. is waging an almost full-fledged (not hybrid) war with us and wishes our country a strategic defeat. Therefore, negotiations on START with America are no more useful than negotiations on an armistice with Hitler in 1945. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)(Translation: DeepL + Grammarly)

■ Finland's FM acknowledges 'real' Ukraine fatigue (Al Mayadeen)

North Korea seems to be preparing for war. Today, they blew up the roads and rails that used to connect the North and the South. | Kim Jong Un has ordered artillery units to move near the border of South Korea with ‘readiness to engage.’ He also convened a top national security meeting on Monday, state media reported, directing a plan of "immediate military action" at a time of spiking tensions with the South. ■ Yesterday, China surrounded Taiwan with Naval vessels and sent over 100 aircraft into the Taiwan "Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) on all sides of the island. Both North Korea and China have issued statements concerning their "ally in the Middle East, Iran" and have made clear they will not sit bay and allow Iran to be attacked and destroyed. If Iran is attacked, both China and North Korea "will take action" as will Russia which issued a similar statement. If the US starts a war with Iran, WW3 seems guaranteed.

■ Russia to give military aid to N. Korea if it attacked (Meher News)
■ Russian diplomat says US 'can’t wait to see' things flare up in Korean peninsula (TASS)
■ Iran, North Korea discuss Israeli crimes in Gaza, Lebanon (IRNA)

David Thunder | Satire on trial: How dare you mock the New Normal? | IN AUGUST 2022, US playwright and satirist C J Hopkins, while a resident of Berlin, tweeted cover art from his book on The Rise of the New Normal Reich, which included a satirical representation of a swastika superimposed on a medical mask. For that, he has been found guilty in a German court of spreading pro-Nazi propaganda, and is facing a hefty fine and potentially a prison sentence. ■ In his tweet, Hopkins wrote (in German) that ‘Masks are symbols of ideological conformity. That’s all that they are, and that’s all they ever were. Stop pretending that they were ever anything else or get used to wearing them.’ In a second tweet, Hopkins quoted Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s statement that ‘Masks always send a signal.’ ■ For these two tweets, Amazon Germany banned Hopkins’s book, and the Berlin state prosecutor investigated him for violating German criminal statutes against ‘the use of symbols of unconstititional and terrorist organisations‘. In January 2024, Hopkins was tried before the Tiergarten Berlin District Court and acquitted. The public prosecutor appealed the decision before the Berlin Court of Appeals, which overturned his acquittal on September 30 and found him guilty as charged.

Israeli Military Gulfstream Passenger Jet in Belarus Air Space, Headed to Moscow? | An Israeli Defense Force Gulfstream Passenger jet has entered Belarus air space along a flight path that __appears__ heading toward Moscow, Russia. No word on who is aboard. With intel circuits blaring about Israeli military attack pending against Iran, what does Israel hope to accomplish by sending an IDF passenger jet to Moscow?

John Miles | While US military personnel have covertly assisted Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip over the last year, the Biden administration signaled an open commitment of troops to the country today in a statement released by the Pentagon. | The US and its European client states are doubling down on their support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the waning days of the Biden administration, setting the stage for Western militaries to directly participate in Israeli atrocities or even a broader regional conflagration. A series of events in recent days has demonstrated NATO countries’ deepening commitment to Israel as new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer leads the way.

■ US to send anti-missile system and troops to Israel, Pentagon says (The New Arab)

Hungary's agenda does not include Ukraine's accession to NATO, since this would mean a direct confrontation between the alliance and Russia and would lead to World War III, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with Sputnik. | According to Szijjarto, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Budapest has drawn red lines — one of them is that it is necessary to "do our best and utmost in order to avoid any form of direct confrontation between NATO and Russia." According to the minister, most of his colleagues from NATO countries, in conversations with Ukrainian representatives, talk about Kiev's possible accession to the alliance, but in a closed circle they admit that this is impossible.

The US and the UK recently appeared poised to support long-range strikes on Russian territory but backed down after serious warnings from Putin | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Thursday and again asked for permission to use British-provided missiles for long-range strikes inside Russian territory but was denied. ● A spokesperson for Starmer said the UK has not lifted the restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles, and added that “no war has ever been won by a single weapon, and there’s no change in the government’s policy on the use of long-range missiles.” ● According to Zelensky’s office, the Ukrainian leader emphasized to Starmer the “need to obtain permission to strike deep into the territory of Russia.”

■ Hungary Warns Against Allowing Long-Range Strikes Inside Russia (Antiwar)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz affirms that his government has not decided to stop delivering weapons to "Israel" and will provide some soon. | German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied on Thursday allegations that Berlin had effectively halted arms exports to "Israel", emphasizing that further defense supplies would be sent shortly. ● His stance contrasts with that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently suggested an arms embargo on equipment for use in Gaza, prompting a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ● Speaking to the German parliament, Scholz said, "We have not decided to stop delivering weapons. We have delivered weapons and we will deliver weapons."

The French leader has accused the IDF of “deliberately” targeting UN peacekeepers | French President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated his call for an arms embargo on Israel in response to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. He also condemned recent attacks on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, describing them as “totally unacceptable.” ● Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured this week after a Merkava tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s headquarters in the border town of Naqoura. Israel claims its forces fired at an immediate threat, but Macron insists that the strike was “deliberate,” echoing the view of the force’s spokesperson, who spoke to RT.

■ Israeli attacks on UN force has been ‘deliberate’ – peacekeepers spokesperson to RT (RT.com)

■ Why Macron wants off the Israel bandwagon (Rachel Marsden) | French President Emmanuel Macron would like Israel to slow its roll now, please. Because it’s acting like a spoiled brat who has been given a Ferrari by the West, and now behaves like the rules of the road don’t exist, blowing past every exit ramp en route to escalation with its neighbors. ■ And now the inevitable has happened: a head-on collision between Israeli and French interests. Because that’s the thing with spoiled brats – the day you say “No,” you, too, become a problem. ■ All this is happening now because Israel has crossed a red line for France in subjecting Lebanon to what the Western establishment would be blatantly calling an “invasion,” if Lebanon were Ukraine and Israel were Russia. French is spoken by about half of the Lebanese population and France considers the country to be within its sphere of influence, both linguistic and economic.

Andrew Korybko | It’s important for the public to be more aware of this since it helps explain Russian and Israeli policies towards one another in the context of the Ukrainian Conflict and the regional Israeli-Resistance War. | There’s been grassroots pressure on Turkiye to cut off Azerbaijan’s oil exports to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline ever since what can now be described as the regional Israeli-Resistance War broke out one year ago. Activists believe that this trade literally fuels Israel’s war machine and thus makes all the involved parties indirectly complicit in its alleged war crimes. Regardless of whatever one thinks about this claim, what’s interesting is that there’s no such pressure upon Russia.