A Pentagon official and European diplomat confirmed a Financial Times report that the Pentagon’s Baltic Security Initiative — which grants hundreds of millions of dollars a year to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to help build up their defenses and military infrastructure — will lose funding this year.(Politico).
“I governi Ue sconcertati”Washington non finanzierà più i programmi di addestramento ed equipaggiamento per le forze armate nei Paesi dell’Europa orientale che si troverebbero in prima linea in un eventuale conflitto con Mosca
Nuovo tassello del disimpegno di Donald Trump dallo scenario europeo. Gli Usa, scrive il Financial Times, elimineranno gradualmente i programmi di assistenza alla sicurezza per gli eserciti europei lungo il confine con la Russia. Una mossa che punta a spingere il Vecchio continente a finanziare in autonomia la propria difesa. In ballo c’è un budget da oltre 1 miliardo di dollari. La notizia è stata data ai diplomatici europei da funzionari del Pentagono la scorsa settimana. Washington, è il succo, non finanzierà più i programmi di addestramento ed equipaggiamento per le forze armate nei Paesi dell’Europa orientale che si troverebbero in prima linea in un eventuale conflitto con Mosca. I governi europei sono rimasti “sconcertati” dalla comunicazione e stanno cercando di ottenere ulteriori dettagli da Washington, secondo due diplomatici.
La spesa per questo programma del Pentagono, che rientra nell’ambito della ‘Sezione 333’, deve essere approvata dal Congresso Usa, ma l’amministrazione Trump non ha richiesto ulteriori fondi. Quelli già approvati saranno disponibili fino alla fine di settembre 2026. Un funzionario della Casa Bianca ha commentato dicendo che la mossa è in linea con gli sforzi del presidente Donald Trump per “riesaminare e riallineare” gli aiuti esteri con l’America First e risponde a un ordine esecutivo emesso il primo giorno del suo mandato. “Questa azione è stata coordinata con i Paesi europei in linea con l’ordine esecutivo e con l’enfasi di lunga data del presidente nel garantire che l’Europa si assuma maggiori responsabilità per la propria difesa”, ha affermato il funzionario. Sotto la pressione di Trump, a giugno gli alleati Nato hanno concordato di aumentare la loro spesa per la difesa e la sicurezza al 5% del Pil.
Il programma ha stanziato 1,6 miliardi di dollari in Europa tra il 2018 e il 2022, secondo il Government Accountability Office degli Stati Uniti. Tra i principali beneficiari figurano Estonia, Lettonia e Lituania. Funzionari di decine di ambasciate europee a Washington, anche di Paesi che non ricevono l’assistenza, hanno partecipato a una riunione in cui i funzionari del Pentagono hanno informato dei tagli.
I funzionari europei, secondo il quotidiano, stanno cercando di capire se i finanziamenti interni possano colmare le lacune o se i tagli avranno un impatto su elementi critici della sicurezza europea. “Se saranno brutali, le implicazioni saranno enormi”, ha affermato uno dei diplomatici, aggiungendo che la Nato ne risentirà sicuramente, poiché parte dei finanziamenti passerà attraverso l’alleanza. “Sta causando molta preoccupazione e incertezza”, ha affermato il secondo diplomatico, paragonandola alla precedente decisione di Trump di tagliare gli aiuti internazionali degli Stati Uniti.
Il Fatto Quotidiano
Google appears to have blocked certain artificial intelligence search results for queries about President Donald Trump’s mental acuity, but will provide an AI summary of the same for former President Joe Biden. When The Independent searched “is trump in cognitive decline,” Google’s AI Overview tool displayed a message saying: “An AI Overview is not available for this search.”
IndependentSen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) pulled no punches on Tuesday when asked to react to President Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier in the day that the military could use American cities as “training grounds.”
“Look, the president’s an idiot,” replied Gallego, who is also a former Marine.
“He doesn’t actually understand how the military works. The first thing it’s going to be is that most U.S. citizens will stand against that in civil protests, and you’ll have many of us joining them in that if they try to do such a thing,” Gallego continued, adding:
Number two, the oath that our members of the military take—they will not be firing upon their own men and women, their own neighbors. Only, again, an idiot like Donald Trump would believe that such a thing could happen. And thirdly, we’ll do everything within our constitutional power to make sure we hold anybody accountable should they ever do something of that nature.
Gramariye -- Daily KosGov. JB Pritzker continues to mince no words about Donald Trump, telling reporters that the president has dementia.
“It appears that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in, but he’s copying tactics of Vladimir Putin,” Pritzker said Monday during a press conference. “Sending troops into cities, thinking that that’s some sort of proving ground for war, or that indeed there’s some sort of internal war going on in the United States is just, frankly, insane and I’m concerned for his health
Daily Kos
Fleeing the U.S.
Dozens of Americans are seeking asylum in Australia as their US homeland becomes increasingly fractured and politically volatile during Donald Trump’s second presidency.
At least 29 US citizens applied for humanitarian protection visas in the first six months since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, according to Department of Home Affairs figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
to be accepted as a refugee in Australia, an asylum seeker must be assessed as having a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
The Guardian.
Was die Kriminalität angeht, lügen die Zahlen über die Auswirkungen der Einwanderung nicht
Die Statistiken sprechen eine klare Sprache. Laut dem Bundeskriminalamt-Jahresbericht 2023 waren Männer aus den wichtigsten Herkunftsländern von Asylbewerbern – die weniger als 1 % der deutschen Bevölkerung ausmachen – für 8.800 Sexualdelikte verantwortlich. Das sind 24 pro Tag. Vor 2015 gab es solche Zahlen einfach nicht. Das Gleiche gilt für Jugendkriminalität und Messerstechereien: Fast die Hälfte der Verdächtigen stammt aus diesen Milieus. Diese Tatsachen zu ignorieren, schafft nur noch mehr Probleme: Spaltung, Extremismus und Erosion der kollektiven Freiheiten. Es ist bereits statistisch erwiesen, dass diese Migrationswelle die Kriminalität angeheizt hat. Das zu leugnen, wäre unverantwortlich.
Manuel Ostermann, Bundesvorsitzender der
Deutschen Polizeigewerkschaft DPolG --Atlantico
Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. They got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.
NYTimesInitially, Hegseth attempted to be heard over the roaring generals, but then burst into tears, sending mascara streaking down his cheeks.
Recognizing that the audience had turned against him, a panicked Donald Trump tried to flee the building but was foiled when the escalator he boarded suddenly lurched to a halt.
As the assembled commanders rose to their feet and continued the “Epstein” chant, Hegseth stormed off the stage and was heard muttering, “Fuck it, I’m going back to drinking.”
The assembled military leaders likely already knew that Hegseth is unqualified for his job, and they could mostly tune out the sloganeering that Hegseth, a former TV host, was probably aiming more at Fox News and the White House than at the military itself. (The Atlantic)
President Donald Trump made numerous false claims in a rambling Tuesday speech to hundreds of generals and admirals who were summoned to a military base in Virginia to listen to addresses by the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Some of Trump’s false claims were about the military itself. Here is a fact check of some of the president’s remarks, many of which have been debunked before. CNN
Even if these officers had never attended a MAGA event or even seen one, they were now in the middle of a typical, unhinged Trump diatribe. The president had a speech waiting for him on the teleprompter, and now and then Trump would hunch his shoulders and apparently pick off a stray word or phrase from it, like a distracted hunter firing random buckshot from a duck blind. But Trump has always had difficulty wrestling Stephen Miller’s labored neoclassical references and clunky, faux Churchillisms off a screen and into his mouth. Mostly, the president decided to just riff on his greatest hits to the stone-faced assembly.
But American officers have never had to contend with a president like Trump. Plenty of presidents behaved badly and suffered mental and emotional setbacks: John F. Kennedy cavorted with secretaries in the White House pool, Lyndon Johnson unleashed foul-mouthed tirades on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Nixon fell into depression and paranoia, Ronald Reagan and Joe Biden wrestled with the indignities of age. But the officer corps knew that presidents were basically normal men surrounded by other normal men and women, and that the American constitutional system would insulate the military from any mad orders that might emerge from the Oval Office.
Likewise, in Trump’s first term, the president was surrounded by people who ensured that some of his nuttiest—and most dangerous—ideas were derailed before they could reach the military. Today, senior U.S. officers have to wonder who will shield them from the impulses of the person they just saw onstage.
The Atlantic
ENTRETIEN. Le cofondateur de Ledger est sans filtre sur la situation de la France. Il dénonce l’hostilité envers les riches, l’absurdité de la taxe Zucman et la fuite potentielle des talents.
Le Point.Historically, Russia has been wary of exporting its areas of military-technical advantage to China out of fears of intellectual property theft. However, Moscow increasingly sees the invasion of Taiwan – and subsequent division of the global economic order into opposing spheres – as a means of building leverage over Beijing by making Russia a supplier of critical raw materials and military industrial capacity. For China, funding to Russian military industrial enterprises contributes to the continuation of fighting in Ukraine, which the PRC supports to fix NATO capacity in the European theatre.
RUSI
King's key role in Trump's u-turn
Earlier this week, Donald Trump declared that Volodymyr Zelensky could “fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form”. Many were baffled. Trump’s desire for rapid peace has been well-documented. What inspired this change of heart? The Telegraph can now reveal that the King was key in persuading Trump to reconsider.
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Dans une note publiée sur son site, la BCE a lancé un appel aux Européens à conserver chez eux une somme assez conséquente en espèces afin de faire face à toutes sortes de crise.
Atlantico.
AFD stärkste Partei in Deutschland
Eine aktuelle Umfrage (YouGov) in Deutschland ergibt, dass die AfD mit 27 % vor den beiden konservativen Parteien CDU-CSU liegt, die auf 26 % gefallen sind. Die SPD, der derzeitige Koalitionspartner der Regierungskoalition (CDU-CSU und SPD), liegt in der Umfrage bei 15 % der Wahlabsichten, und die deutschen Grünen, die andere pro-europäische Partei der Linken, bei 11 %. Die euroskeptische Linkspartei liegt bei 9 % der Wahlabsichten, ihre anti-immigrationistische und pro-russische Abspaltung, die BSW, bei 5 %. Die liberale und pro-europäische FDP liegt weiterhin unter 4 % . Die jüngsten Kommunalwahlen in Nordrhein-Westfalen, einem der größten deutschen Bundesländer, bestätigen und nuancieren dieses allgemeine Bild: starker Anstieg der AfD auch im Westen des Landes, Schwächung des liberal-konservativen Lagers (CDU-CSU und FDP), aber vor allem erhebliche Verluste für die gemäßigten Linken (SPD und Grüne), begrenzte Bestätigung der Linken, auch im Westen, die bei weitem nicht alle verlorenen Stimmen der Linken zurückgewinnen kann. Alle Regierungsparteien verlieren an Boden, insbesondere zugunsten der beiden Parteien am rechten und linken Rand (AfD und Die Linke).
Atlantico.
The recent spate of Russian drone and aircraft intrusions into NATO air space, is not without a purpose.
Putin is hoping to elicit a military response from NATO in order to construct a potential narrative based on a scenario where he can go to the Russian people and claim that because of the ‘failures” of generals like Lapin and the open aggressive moves from NATO, “Mother Russia” needs all her patriotic sons and daughters to rally to the flag and go fight in Ukraine. It is not as far fetched a scenario as one might think.
News today that the Russian military is calling for such a national mobilization and that the Kremlin is busy gauging the level of public support for such a move:
What seemed for a time as an endless reservoir of willing mobiki from the outer provinces of the Russian Federation like Yakutia, Bashkortostan, Tuva and others, has slowly dried up. Even the North Koreans are now seemingly unwilling to send the thousands of soldiers they had promised. Why would they after seeing what the Ukrainians (and the Colombians) have been doing to their soldiers in Kursk and Sumy?. Did Kim Jong Un actually cry after seeing all those coffins coming back to Pyongyang from Russia?
DECIMUS
“Two days ago, information leaked citing the Russian General Staff. Several influential Russian Telegram channels reported that the Russian General Staff is demanding mobilization to achieve certain breakthroughs on the Ukrainian fronts,” emphasized Vadym Denysenko. According to the political scientist, the Kremlin is currently testing possible reactions of Russian society to mobilization — which is the only resource the Russians have at the moment. “I don’t believe in any exotic options, like using North Korean soldiers or anything similar. Sure, they could recruit 5–10 thousand, but these aren’t the numbers the Russian army currently needs,” added Denysenko.
ESPRESO.
Drivers were charged £2.4bn for parking, up from £1.7bn five years ago
Parking officers now outnumber full-time soldiers in Britain as cash-strapped councils rake in billions from motorists’ fines, data show.
The British parking industry employs approximately 82,000 people, surpassing the 73,490 regular forces members in the army.
Meanwhile, separate figures show council fines and charges on motorists reached nearly £2.4bn a year in 2024-25, of which the councils raked in £1.18bn in profit.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said that Ukraine is in a position to “fight and win back” all of the territory it has lost since the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion.
“Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,” Trump wrote, in a rare full-throated endorsement of Ukraine’s potential.
“Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that! Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump said in his lengthy social media meditation. He added that the US will continue to supply Nato with weapons for purchase.
Earlier, in a bilateral meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said that the “Russian economy is terrible right now” and Ukraine has done a “pretty amazing” job at staving off the Kremlin’s forces.
The Guardian.
Die Ostsee ohne Amerika: eine Warnung fürWashington
Donald Trump und seine Stellvertreter fordern Europa regelmäßig auf, mehr für seine eigene Sicherheit zu tun. Aber es gibt bereits einen Ort, an dem die europäischen Länder erfolgreich für sich selbst sorgen: die Ostsee.
Der kleine Ozean birgt zahlreiche Gefahren (man denke nur an Geisterschiffe und durchtrennte Kabel). Doch die Länder dieser Region sind so autark, dass das US-Militär kaum eine Rolle spielt.
Das ist die Zukunft, die Amerika weltweit bevorsteht. Obwohl Baltic Sentry eine NATO-Operation ist, wurde sie von den Staats- und Regierungschefs der Ostseeanrainerstaaten bei einem Treffen in Helsinki konzipiert. Wie Nordic Warden ist sie ein rein europäisches Unterfangen.
Wenn Trump morgen verkünden würde, dass Amerika sich aus der Ostsee zurückzieht, würde sich kaum etwas ändern. Man könnte sich sogar fragen, ob es überhaupt jemand bemerken würde.
Aber Trump könnte das Ergebnis nicht gefallen. Die Macht Amerikas beruht darauf, dass seine Gegner sein Militär fürchten und seine Verbündeten es brauchen – und sich daher in wichtigen Fragen der nationalen Sicherheit Washington unterordnen. Wenn Washington diplomatische Unterstützung braucht und seine Verbündeten nur mit den Schultern zucken, hat die USA dann Erfolg gehabt?
Next target of Russia's imperialism: Finland
The Kremlin is running a coordinated information operation against Finland that is aimed at discrediting the government and creating the perception of internal instability, according to analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Experts said that similar tactics have preceded Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on September 18 that the Finnish government’s “neutral veneer peeled off” and that revanchism is “literally on the rise” in Finland,” ISW said.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential special envoy Sergey Ivanov said that Russian-Finnish relations are effectively broken and will not improve due to Finland’s recent accession to the NATO defense alliance.
Analysts expressed particular concern over Ivanov’s involvement in the campaign. A former defense minister, deputy prime minister, and head of Putin’s administration, Ivanov has long been close to the Kremlin dictator, making his participation in information attacks a signal of Moscow’s serious intentions, experts say.
“ISW continues to assess that the playbook Russia is currently using to threaten NATO mirrors the playbook Russia previously used to set informational conditions justifying its aggression against Ukraine,” the report said
ISW RUSI considers Britain a target for Russian aggressionAn Integrated Air and Missile Defence Architecture for the UKL’Arabie saoudite, par l’intermédiaire de son Fonds d’investissement public (FIP), a approfondi ses relations avec Tel-Aviv en investissant dans des entreprises israéliennes qui soutiennent l’occupation en Palestine. Ces transactions financières s’inscrivent dans un plan plus large visant à normaliser les relations avec Israël contrariées par le génocide à Gaza.
ORIENTXXi
Hurting Russia's war machine
Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev told Euronews that Kyiv’s strategy to hit the Russian oil industry is “the most efficient thing Ukraine can do” to hurt Russia’s war machine.
The Russian government relies heavily on oil and gas revenue. Oil exports constitute about one-third of Russia's federal budget, making them a critical source of funding for the war in Ukraine.
Inozemtsev explained to Euronews that targeting oil refineries has a significantly bigger impact than targeting, for example, drone manufacturing sites.
According to Inozemtsev, it does not take much time to set up or repair a drone factory, which is not much more than “a large assembly shop where components are delivered, assembled, checked and tested.”
“Let’s say a drone attacks a factory like this – it would take three days to rebuild everything. But if you hit an oil refinery - the consequences are much more serious, it would burn for weeks," he told Euronews.
In turn, oil refinery equipment is not only costly, Inozemtsev said, but also almost irreplaceable, given that Moscow is under significant Western sanctions.
“In fact, it is European and American equipment. It is difficult to replace it with Chinese equipment," he explained.
Attacks on the big oil refineries cause a significant drop in production, including petrol.
"And the situation with petrol is noticeable. Everyone is talking about problems with petrol. And this is true, it exists, and Ukrainians have created it.”
Gas stations have run dry in more regions of the country, with motorists waiting in long lines and officials resorting to rationing or cutting off sales altogether. “Ukrainians have hit the nail on the head here," Inozemtsev emphasised.
Supply disruptions are painful because car ownership is high, and practically everyone has a car."
"So when people see that there is nothing at the petrol station, this is one of the three most important irritating factors, in my opinion: lack of petrol, airport closures, and internet disruptions. These are three things that all Russians feel.”
Can Moscow fix it?
Russia remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter, In order to ease the shortage, Russia has paused gasoline exports. A full ban has been declared until 30 September, and a partial ban affecting traders and intermediaries until 31 October.
Oil and gas revenues have accounted for between a third and a half of Russia's total federal budget proceeds over the past decade, making the sector the most critical source of financing for the government.
Inozemtsev pointed out to Euronews that the Russian economy is being hit, but the Russian army and Russia’s war remain intact at this stage.
'Putin wants to press on'
GDP growth is expected to slow to around 1% from 4.3% last year, and inflation remains above 8% in a country where much of the workforce and 40% of revenues now go to defence and security.
“In principle, this is how we enter a state where, most likely, we will have zero growth in the coming years, but at the same time, there will always be enough for war,” Inozemtsev told Euronews"
Ukrainian strikes are now already happening all over the country. It makes people understand that things are not going ok and that the government cannot do anything about it but “Putin is not concerned about this.”
"(Putin) is absolutely certain that in a year or two, the West and Ukraine will collapse. He wants to press on," Inozemtsev concluded.
EURO News
Denmark to buy ‘long-range’ weapons amid Russia ‘paradigm shift’
Denmark will acquire long-range, high-precision weapons for the first time in an effort to deter Russia, its prime minister has said.
In a firm rebuke of Moscow, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told journalists Wednesday that Russia would constitute a threat to Denmark for “years to come” even if there is no imminent danger of an attack. “With these weapons, the defence forces will be able to hit targets at long range and, for example, neutralise enemy missile threats,” she said, adding that the decision represented a “paradigm shift in Danish defence policy”. (AlJazeera)
The world of international arms deals received a jolt on Wednesday, as Denmark announced it would purchase an estimated $9 billion in cutting-edge military systems, marking the largest weapons purchase ever for the Scandinavian nation. More surprising than the massive buy, however, was who Denmark had chosen to supply the influx of arms: fellow European nations, and conspicuously not the United States. (THE WEEK)
Democrats to copycat Republicans?
The Democratic Party has been floundering since former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election against Donald Trump—and a new think tank is pushing to make things even worse for the party.
The group and its founder, former Democratic Party operative Adam Jentleson, were profiled in The New York Times on Wednesday. He said the Searchlight Institute seeks to push the Democrats away from openly supporting human rights for LGBTQ+ Americans and to join Republicans in denying the reality of the science of climate change.
“The folks who are most to blame about Trump are the ones who pushed Democrats to take indefensible positions,” Jentleson said. He also speciously claimed that the ACLU, which has defended human rights for decades and has pushed back on Republican’s abuses of immigrants, “did more to contribute to Trump’s victory than many conservative groups.”
The Gaza riviera project
The words of the nationalist finance minister, settler and messianic Bezalel Smotrich, were striking. He publicly confirmed for the first time that the project for the reconstruction of the Strip is the subject of discussions with the US, explaining: "I have started negotiations with the Americans, I say this without joking, because we have paid a lot of money for this war. We have to divide up the percentages of the land."
Speaking at a summit on urban regeneration, he described post-war Gaza as an Eldorado, a gold mine for investment. The Washington Post devoted an extensive report to the Strip's glittering architectural future at the end of last month. It reported on a reconstruction plan circulating among US administration officials, based on Donald Trump's intention to gain control of the enclave and transform it “into a trust zone administered by the United States for at least ten years.”
As things stand today, it takes a lot of open-mindedness to believe this: the gray dust that hovers over the Strip, the collapsed buildings, and the dirty rubble suggest feelings of catastrophe. Imagine a sparkling future. At the moment, IDF bulldozers are clearing the land between Rafah and Khan Younis for the Palestinians.
Helping to fuel the dreams are videos posted by Hamas opponents: “What were you thinking, Sinwar?” asks one of them, posting a video of the Strip before October 7, 2023, showing wide avenues lined with palm trees, metropolitan traffic, luxury shops, elegant malls, trendy restaurants, children in arcades: 712 days later, nothing remains. The only certainty is the battle plan of General Yaniv Ashur, head of the IDF's Southern Command, revealed by Walla.
There are three phases: ‘the moment of fire’, with the massive destruction of terrorist infrastructure, especially at night. In the second phase, the ground operation is coordinated with intelligence, with great attention paid to reducing the risks for soldiers and hostages. According to the information available, the hostages are surrounded by explosive traps and men with bombs. Finally, the third part: classified with the highest level of secrecy.
ANSA check
Cheap drones to scare NATO
Putin can simply deploy more inexpensive drones than NATO’s defense industries can produce multimillion-dollar interceptors to shoot them down. Read more here (gift link).
Anton Troianovski of The New York Times also describes the drone attack as a message to the West: That Russia will not back down. Putin, he argues, feels emboldened after being embraced by Trump in Alaska and by Xi and his autocratic network at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. The Russian president is telling Ukraine that he won’t stop, while warning Europe and the United States against continuing—or deepening—their support for Kyiv.
But our European allies were aghast last week at Trump’s response to the swarm of around 20 drones that Russia sent across Polish borders, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot them down. While Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, told his parliament the episode was “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II,” all that Trump could muster was a post on his Truth Social platform: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”
A day later, though, he made clear he was going nowhere. “It could have been a mistake,” he said of the drone penetration.
(According to the German publication WELT, five of the Russian drones were on a direct flight path toward a NATO base before being intercepted by Dutch Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, suggesting they were probably dispatched to test NATO reflexes.)
I love Trump’s turn of phrase: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?” Our president sounds like a teenage blogger commenting on some movie star who did something embarrassing in public — not the leader of the free world. If Putin had any sense of humor he would post on Truth Social: “Donald, what’s with that Department of War thing?”
Every day that goes by, Trump seems to add another condition or another timeline for when he will impose meaningful economic sanctions on Russia, as Putin steps up his attacks on Ukraine. Trump’s latest formulation posted over the weekend is that all nations in Europe, most of whom have already sharply cut back their imports of Russian oil, would need to stop buying oil from Moscow entirely. In addition, all NATO nations need to impose tariffs of 50% to 100% on China. A serious president would not be posting such demands on social media. He and his staff would be working the phones.
I have always avoided the more conspiratorial explanations for Trump’s behavior. I do not believe that the U.S. president is somehow a Putin asset (though he sure knows how to play one on TV). What I believe is that Trump is simply different from any U.S. president since World War II — and not in a good way.
Thomas Friedman -- NY Times
The man behind Trump
More than seven months into Trump’s second term, Stephen Miller has become America’s — if not the world’s — most powerful unelected bureaucrat. With Trump’s blessing, Miller has been allowed to run and remake the country in a manner virtually unheard of for a U.S. government official of his rank. Think of any egregious policy from the Trump administration: Chances are, it was driven by Stephen Miller.
All of it bears Trump’s signature, but the president is not the one spending his nights writing executive orders and bending legal theory to his will; nearly all of this bears the authorship (or, at least, co-authorship) of Miller. Everything you loathe or love about Donald Trump’s America, you hate or cherish about Stephen Miller’s republic of fear.
Under Miller’s guiding hand, the government can deport (or kidnap and rendition) you or your spouse, without due process, to a foreign gulag, if the president feels like it. The White House can repeatedly threaten to take away the most basic of constitutional protections, such as habeas corpus. The president can launch Justice Department criminal investigations against his enemies who, by all known accounts, did nothing wrong except annoy the commander-in-chief, or refuse to help him steal an election. The president and his lieutenants can arrest you at a routine courthouse check-in, at your church, outside your kid’s school, even if you have no criminal record. They’ve instituted a heavily draconian system of immigration arrest “quotas,” ensuring a regime not mainly of mass deportation, but of mass disappearances and indefinite detention in jails and newly erected camps.
Rolling Stone
Chasing longevity
At the helm of what is essentially Altman's playground for experimenting with pushing the limits of the human lifespan, Betts-LaCroix is hoping to engineer the same shift that air conditioning brought to hot summer days for your brain and body. Ideally, one day, decouple aging from decline and disease. Hoping is one thing, delivering is another.
Retro is set to start its first clinical trial since its launch in 2021, with an initial $180 million investment from Altman. Betts-LaCroix told Business Insider that by the end of 2025, Retro will have dosed its first trial patient with an experimental pill called RTR242.
It's designed to help reverse Alzheimer's by reviving autophagy. This cellular recycling process in our body — the same one that's triggered by fasting — often goes haywire in old age, and is widely thought to have broad antiaging effects.
"There are old, misfolded, mutated, broken, undigestible proteins inside cells that build up over time," Betts-LaCroix said. "The normal cellular recycling system gets messed up."
In Australia, where it's faster and easier to get Phase 1 safety trials off the ground, Retro has picked a clinical trial site, selected lab vendors, and expects its first participant to be enrolled toward the end of the year.
Meaningful results are needed to attract more investment for large-scale clinical trials. The company has been vocal about its goal to raise $1 billion in its Series A.
If it's successful, that cash would put Retro in the realm of longevity startups like the Jeff Bezos-backed Altos Labs, which is by far the most well-funded new name in Silicon Valley longevity biotech. Altos has raised more than $3 billion from big-name tech investors, including Yuri Milner, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale (via his investment firm 8VC), and the Arch Venture founder Robert Nelson.
Betts-LaCroix assures me that Retro is in "hardcore preclinical mode."
RTR242 is one of at least three big ideas the company is currently betting on to reverse aging. All of Retro's big bets share the goal of taking some aspect of our biology "back to essentially a younger age," Betts-LaCroix said.
Retro's been vocal about its ultimate goal: to add 10 extra, healthy years to human lifespan.
MSNSuch a move would go against the EU’s core principles, particularly after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated her opposition to tariffs, insisting that “tariffs are taxes” on domestic consumers. Slapping tariffs on India, with whom Brussels is nearing a major trade deal, and on China, to which its open economy is heavily exposed, would amount to colossal acts of self-harm.
“We don’t do tariffs. We are a trading bloc. We are exporters. Exports are the engine of the EU economy. This is our DNA,” said Agathe Demarais, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
POLITICO.
Trump acts impulsively, without thinking about the consequences, without looking at the next steps needed. And when he orders the most powerful military in the history of the world to carry out his impulses, they salute and carry them out.
Leaders of Europe and other countries have gamed out how to deal with Trump — the Trump of last month, or last week, when he could be counted on to at least hesitate before doing something crazy. They knew how to flatter him, how to play to his vanity, how to make him think their reasonable proposals were really all his idea. I don’t think they know how to deal with the Trump of this week, and they absolutely have to be terrified of the Trump of next week and the one after. And I am sure their intelligence services are giving them more accurate information about Trump’s accelerating physical and mental decline than we are being told.
Dan K -- Daily Kos
Donald Trump critics were beside themselves over the president’s Saturday Truth Social post that featured an AI re-imagining of the war movie “Apocalypse Now,” which he rebranded as “Chipocalypse Now.”
“I love the smell of deportations in the morning…” Trump posted. “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” in reference to Trump’s rebranding of the Department of Defense.
Behind an AI-generated image of Trump as a key character in the movie is a depiction of Chicago burning with helicopters hovering over the city.
Russia and China Sign Deal to Advance Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline
The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, with an annual capacity of 50 billion cubic meters, has been on the Kremlin’s wish list for nearly two decades. The project has taken on new urgency as Moscow seeks a way to offset the collapse of Gazprom’s once-lucrative sales to Europe.
The 2,600-kilometer Power of Siberia 2 pipeline is expected to cost the company about 2 trillion rubles ($25 billion, according to spot foreign exchange market data published by Reuters), and China has not committed to provide funding.
Earlier reporting suggested that Beijing sought to commit to only part of the pipeline’s capacity and at heavily discounted Russian domestic rates, which stand at around $120 to $130 per thousand cubic meters, according to energy expert Alexei Gromov.
Industry analyst Mikhail Krutikhin estimated the project’s price tag at around 2 trillion rubles ($24.8 billion) and warned that Russia risked subsidizing Chinese consumers at its own expense.
“Given the enormous costs of pipeline construction and field development, Russia will in fact continue subsidizing Chinese gas consumption to its own detriment,” he said.
The Moscow Times
The idea of a ceasefire is not only “entirely unachievable because Vladimir Putin is plainly not interested in ending the fighting”, Giles told Al Jazeera, but it is also undesirable.
“Everybody knows still that a ceasefire was among one of the worst-case possible outcomes for Ukraine before Trump arrived in office,” he said.
Ukraine and its European allies have repeatedly scoffed at a truce as a chance for Putin to reorganise his forces before attacking with renewed vigour. Trump, however, made a ceasefire his priority last February. “The need to humour Trump, and to play along with the fantasy version of reality that drives the Trump world, means that they still pay lip service to these ludicrous ideas,” said Giles.
Al Jazeera
Washington Post reports that plan, known as GREAT Trust, envisions U.S. oversight for at least 10 years, building AI-powered smart cities, luxury resorts and industrial hubs.
Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeship
A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.
The GuardianFrançois Facchini, économiste à la Sorbonne et spécialiste des dépenses publiques, répond aux propos tenus sur X par le banquier d’affaires, qui minimise le problème de la dette. (Le Point)
Le taux d’épargne des Français vient de battre un record historique : 19 % selon l’Insee. La classe politique, enfermée dans des aprioris idéologiques et refusant de prendre en compte la réalité budgétaire désastreuse, ne veut même pas savoir que les Français bourrent leur bas de laine. Pourquoi et comment ?
"Vediamo un enorme rafforzamento delle forze armate russe e non avviene per le parate militari a Mosca, è lì per essere usato, in Ucraina o altrove". Lo ha detto il segretario generale della Nato Mark Rutte nel corso della sua visita in Lussemburgo.
La Repubblica Poutine immortel?Scène insolite sur le tapis rouge de Tianjin mercredi 3 septembre. Xi Jinping et Vladimir Poutine ont échangé mercredi 3 septembre sur la possibilité de vivre éternellement, lors d’une conversation privée captée par les caméras, en marge d’un défilé militaire massif organisé à Pékin. Dans une image haute en symbole, Xi Jinping a serré la main de Vladimir Poutine et du dirigeant nord-coréen Kim Jong Un, avant de discuter avec eux en marchant sur un tapis rouge près de la place Tiananmen.
« Aujourd’hui, à 70 ans, on est encore un enfant », a dit Xi Jinping en mandarin, alors qu’il marchait aux côtés des deux hommes, selon les images de la chaîne étatique chinoise CCTV. « Autrefois, il était rare de dépasser 70 ans, et aujourd’hui on dit qu’à 70 ans on est encore un enfant », a ensuite traduit en russe un interprète.
« Avec le développement de la biotechnologie, les organes humains peuvent être transplantés continuellement, les gens peuvent rajeunir en vieillissant, et pourraient même devenir immortels », a répondu Vladimir Poutine, selon les propos relayés à Xi Jinping, toujours par un interprète. « Certains prédisent que pendant le siècle en cours, il pourrait être possible de vivre jusqu’à 150 ans », a alors déclaré Xi Jinping.
Ouest France Europe can survive Trump“Nine of the 25 biggest economies are in the European Union - include the UK and Switzerland and that makes 11 European states. Add Canada, Japan and Taiwan and pro-Western nations clearly bestride the globe. … Europe can survive Trump and just as prestige has drained from Washington to Beijing, so it can be diverted to the Continent. America's loss does not have to be just China's gain.”
Für die meisten von uns ist es der letzte schwüle Sommertag. Für die Franzosen ist es eine Zeit, um sich vor der Arbeit zu drücken. Aber wenn Sie eine junge Frau an der University of Alabama sind, ist der August der wichtigste Monat Ihres Lebens.
Dann versammeln sich die Studentinnen der Universität auf makellosen Rasenflächen, um in passenden Outfits zu springen und Rad zu schlagen und damit den Beginn von „Bama Rush” einzuläuten, der Rekrutierungskampagne für das neue akademische Jahr.
Eine dieser Vereinigungen ist Kappa Alpha Theta, die sich dieses Jahr für ein Western-Thema entschieden hat – Jeans, Jeanswesten, Cowboyhüte – unterlegt mit Miley Cyrus’ „Hoedown Throwdown”. Ihre TikTok-Tanzvideos sollen potenzielle Rekruten und rivalisierende Verbindungen beeindrucken – und ein bisschen Spaß machen –, aber in den letzten Jahren sind sie aus den Fugen geraten und sind zu köstlichen Häppchen Softporno für Kellerbewohner geworden, die auf langbeinige College-Mädchen stehen.
Die Ironie dabei ist, dass kein selbstbewusstes Mädchen aus einer Studentinnenverbindung auch nur einen Blick auf einen ihrer bärtigen Fanboys werfen würde. Aber das spielt keine Rolle:
Sie ist das strahlende Symbol des trotzigen Konservatismus für Männer, die es satt haben, von Frauen in ihrem eigenen Leben abgelehnt und übertrumpft zu werden.
Der vielleicht aufschlussreichste Kommentar ist dieser: „Als 21-jährige Frau muss man sich fühlen, als hätte man eine Million Dollar in der Tasche.“
Und doch entspricht der Traum der Online-Rechten von Studentinnenverbindungen voller unbeschwerter Mädchen kaum der Realität. Der Ruf der kichernden heißen Mädchen ist in Wirklichkeit sorgfältig kuratiert und basiert auf jahrelangen strengen Auswahlverfahren und interner Kontrolle.
Auf TikTok erinnert sich ein ehemaliges Verbindungsmädchen an eine E-Mail an alle Mitglieder, in der die "Schwestern" aufgefordert wurden, mit Verbindungsjungen zu trinken und zu flirten, um ihre Party-Einladungen zu behalten.
Was hinter verschlossenen Türen zwischen Frauen vor sich geht, ist nicht nur eine Kissenschlacht. Tatsächlich können Studentinnenverbindungen grausam und voreingenommen sein – für manche Mädchen ist es ein vierjähriger psychologischer Krieg.
Das System ist in einer Weise offen diskriminierend...aber diese komplizierten Snobismen sind der Schlüssel zum Erfolg einer Studentinnenverbindung.
Jede Studentinnenverbindung hat einen nationalen Hauptsitz und ein unverwechselbares Prestige, das um jeden Preis aufrechterhalten werden muss. Kappa Kappa Gamma und Chi Omega gehören beispielsweise zu den Verbindungen, die am stärksten um neue Mitglieder konkurrieren.
Mit dem guten Ruf gehen hohe Standards einher: Eine Chi-O-Verbindung hatte offenbar den Slogan „dünn, hübsch, lustig“. Wahrscheinlich hätte sie noch „reich“ hinzufügen sollen: Die Mitgliedschaft in einer Studentinnenverbindung kann Tausende von Dollar pro Jahr kosten, zuzüglich Unterkunft und Verpflegung in luxuriösen Campus-Wohnheimen, oft mit privaten Köchen.
Ich habe Berichte gelesen, in denen Mädchen wegen einer Abtreibung, wegen Äußerungen über häusliche Gewalt oder wegen des Tragens falscher Jeans ausgeschlossen wurden; in einem Kapitel sollen „dicke Mädchen aus der Studentinnenverbindung bloßgestellt worden sein, indem man sie auf eine eingeschaltete Waschmaschine setzen und auf ihre Fettpolster hinweisen ließ“.
Andere Gründe für einen Ausschluss waren das Posten von Bildern mit roten Bechern im Hintergrund, die auf Alkohol hindeuten – was das saubere Image der Verbindung gefährdet – und das Nichtbestehen des „Postleitzahl-Tests“ (aus einem rauen Viertel zu stammen). Viele behaupten, dass Nicht-Weiße in Aktivitäten und Wohnheimen zusammengefasst werden, wenn sie es überhaupt schaffen, aufgenommen zu werden.
Die Geschichten enthalten, wie alle langweiligen Universitätsanekdoten, eine vorhersehbare Menge an Erbrochenem, Tränen, Alkohol und Urin; im Gegensatz zu anderen Universitäten geht es dabei auch um Botox und Lippenfüller: „Sie haben einen Vertreter einer Klinik für plastische Chirurgie/Schönheitschirurgie eingeladen, um uns Rabatte zu gewähren“, gesteht eine vermutlich faltenfreie Absolventin.
Ein unheimliches neues Kapitel in der Studentenwelt, in dem potenzielle Mitglieder nach Supermodel-Maßstäben beurteilt werden. Ihre Outfits müssen aufwendig, makellos und von Designern sein. Ihre Haare sind hochgesteckt, ihre Bräune ist strahlend und gleichmäßig. Sie beginnen ihren Tag nicht damit, ihren wohlverdienten Kater auszukurieren, sondern indem sie sich Eis über das Gesicht rollen, um Schwellungen zu reduzieren, bevor sie sich voll schminken. Und natürlich scheinen sie nie zu arbeiten. Ist es das, worum es im Studentenleben geht?
Die Wahrheit ist, dass Studentinnenverbindungen streng überwachte Kleinstaaten sind, die nach den bizarren Anweisungen gemeiner Mädchen organisiert sind.
Aber für ihre neuen Bewunderer, die Alt-Right-Typen in den sozialen Medien, ist das alles nur ein gefundenes Fressen: Die Werte, die diese Häuser angeblich widerspiegeln – Nächstenliebe, Anstand, Tradition – sind eindeutig mit einer traditionellen Vorstellung von Konservatismus vereinbar, aber die Werte, die tatsächlich darunter zu lauern scheinen – heiß, reich und sexuell verfügbar zu sein – sind die feuchten Träume der verbitterten Incel*, die über diese Videos sabbern. Dass die Mädchen der Studentinnenverbindung dazu neigen, den „MAGA-Barbie“-Look zu tragen, trägt nur noch zu ihrer Attraktivität bei. Unterdessen spiegeln sich die MAGA-Hassgefühle in den sanften Vorurteilen wider, die die Rush-Wochen in ganz Amerika prägen: Ist sie dick, ist sie arm, schwarz, lesbisch – oder eine von uns?
*) Selbstbezeichnung einer in den USA entstandenen Internet-Subkultur heterosexueller Männer, die nach Eigenaussage unfreiwillig keinen Geschlechtsverkehr bzw. keine romantische Beziehung haben und der Ideologie einer hegemonialen Männlichkeit anhängen. (wikipedia)
Die globale Erwärmung verlangsamt den Golfstrom, und Wissenschaftler befürchten, dass dies letztendlich zu einem irreversiblen Prozess führen wird, bei dem diese wichtige Strömung vollständig zusammenbricht.
In diesem Fall würden die Temperaturen in Nordwesteuropa sinken, was zu kälteren Wintern, weniger Niederschlägen und heftigeren Stürmen führen würde. In der südlichen Hemisphäre wird es noch heißer werden.
Bei moderaten CO2-Emissionen rechnen die niederländischen Forscher damit, dass der Kipppunkt etwa 2063 erreicht sein wird. Bei hohen Emissionen könnte der Zusammenbruch bereits 2055 beginnen. "Wir haben ein Jahr für den Beginn des Zusammenbruchs des Golfstroms, etwa 2060", sagt der Forscher René van Westen von der Universität Utrecht.
Laut Van Westen ist es noch nicht zu spät, den Zusammenbruch zu verhindern. „Unsere Studie zeigt auch, dass das Risiko eines Zusammenbruchs des Golfstroms mit einer Begrenzung der Erwärmung immer geringer wird. Man kann ihn sogar ganz verhindern, aber dafür müssen Maßnahmen ergriffen werden.“
Bereits im Juli 2053 wies die Deutsche Rundschau auf die Gefahr einer Vereisung Europas hin, indem sie das prophetische Werk von D.D. Kvasov (1971) vorstellte:
In den nächsten Jahrtausenden kann es zu einer anderen Vereisung kommen. Man muß bedenken, daß sich die menschliche Aktivität gegenwärtig in einer Anreicherung von CO2 in der Atmosphäre und in einer beträchtlichen Energieproduktion auswirkt . Es muß also eine Theorie der allgemeinen atmosphärischen und ozeanischen Zirkulation sowie der Gletscherdynamik entwickelt werden, die nicht nur auf die rezenten Verhältnisse, sondern auch auf die geologische Vergangenheit anwendbar ist.
Statt Jahrtausenden also nur drei Jahrzehnte. Zumindest können wir uns damit trösten, dass der Golfstrom erst in hundert Jahren vollständig versiegen und Europa voll vereisen wird. Hundert Jahre, um eine unterirdische Welt zu graben, die das Leben im Winter wie in den kalten Städten Kanadas und Nordeuropas ermöglicht. Unterirdische Gänge und Plätze, frostgeschützte unterirdische Eingänge zu Geschäften, Restaurants, Bars und Hotels, eine warme Welt ohne Sonnenlicht, in der die Menschen den langen Winter mit viel Alkohol und einer Überproduktion an Selbstgestricktem überstehen können, bis die erste Wärme des Frühlings eine Explosion der Lebensfreude auslöst. Europa im Zeichen des Eises, und einer guten alten Zeit, die auf wenige Sommermonate im Jahr reduziert ist.
Hitzefrei und Schulen geschlossen bei 25 Grad Celsius, wie in Reykjavík, Island.
John WantockUpdateEs könnte sogar noch schneller kalt werden in Europa, sagt Prof Stefan Rahmstorf vom Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:"We found that the tipping point where the shutdown becomes inevitable is probably in the next 10 to 20 years or so. That is quite a shocking finding as well and why we have to act really fast in cutting down emissions." Kommentar:Sancta schizophrenia! Was ist denn nun: Klimawandel, Vereisung oder.... garnichts?Variante 1: Klimawandel. Der Umbau unserer Staedte ist die einzige Chance (Südd. Zeitung 16/17/8/25) Heiss, heisser, Mannheim!Variante 2: Vereisung. Hundert Jahre langsames Versiegen des Golfstroms, (siehe oben).Variante 3: Da die Vereisung hundert Jahre dauert und der Klimawandel (d. h. die Erwärmung) wahrscheinlich ebenfalls langsam voranschreiten wird, könnte es sein, dass sich Vereisung und Erwärmung ein Jahrhundert lang gegenseitig aufheben. Das Ergebnis: Alles bleibt beim Alten. Es besteht dann keine Notwendigkeit, Städte neu zu bauen, um der Hitze zu begegnen, oder schneefreie, winterwarme Keller zu graben. Wenn es gelingt, die umbauwütigen Architekten zu zügeln, kann Europa so bleiben, wie es war und ist. (lach!)
The war in Ukraine has profoundly altered the security balance in Europe. And yet, faced with a conflict that is set to last, European countries have not yet adapted their strategy or their industrial apparatus to the scale of the challenge. Although negotiations have been launched in Washington, Russia seems more determined than ever to impose a long conflict. Europe gives the impression of not seriously anticipating this scenario.
The fact is ... that Ukraine's allies - including Europe - have, for a time at least, opted for support that has been characterized more verbally than militarily. Supplies of weapons and, in general, equipment, arrived very slowly at the start. Ukraine had to spend a great deal of energy convincing its allies to come to its aid, and to hold on to rearmament very late in relation to its real needs. We also know that, as Ukraine recently pointed out, the equipment supplied by allies was not particularly modern (generally dating from the 70s or 80s) or even ready for use. The reconditioning time required for each armored vehicle and artillery piece varies between three and six months, and was generally carried out in Ukraine.
The Spanish, for example, sent tanks that had to be repaired before they could be used. This is hardly surprising: Western armies are not in a state of war and equipment is therefore not renewed very regularly.
At present, the European Union supplies almost half of the weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine. The EU pays for American weaponry, not least because there is no other supplier of such massive weapons for a war of this type. And while the Ukrainian army is highly resilient and responsive, it has to compensate for its numerical inferiority with an abundance of resources.
Viatcheslav Avioutskii -- Atlantico.
