"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable." -- H.L. Mencken
Chinese President Xi Jinping used today's 18th BRICS Summit to push for a greater diplomatic role in Gulf affairs. The move appears to be transforming the bloc's economic weight into geopolitical influence, really positioning it as a counterweight to US foreign policy.
Iran’s reported combat debut of a new anti-ship ballistic missile marks a potentially consequential shift in the Gulf conflict, where increasingly sophisticated targeting networks could turn US naval superiority into a more contested — and more escalatory — proposition.
A senior Navy leader reportedly said Iran “blew the hell” out of America’s Bahrain base, and new reports back up serious damage to core command systems.
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It was reported yesterday that the Netherlands just shifted approximately 86 tonnes of its gold reserves from New York and Ottawa to London, explicitly citing “increasing geopolitical unrest” and the need to prepare for severe crises.
The Dutch central bank says gold held in London can be accessed and traded more quickly during an emergency than gold stored in New York or Canada.
Posted by Tyler Durden, Via Middle East Eye
Ammar al-Baluchi remembers the cold most of all. Held nearly naked in a cell lit around the clock by fluorescent bulbs, he referred to his detention "as if I was living in a refrigerator".
Posted by Tyler Durden, Authored by GoldFix , VBL
By Kamran Yeganegi thecradle.com
In the early hours of 7 October 2023, an Israeli journalist identified only as Asaf booked flights for himself, his wife, and their two daughters. The next day, carrying only hand luggage, the family boarded a flight to Berlin. What began as an emergency exit became permanent. Two years later, they had not returned.
US officials have linked satellite imagery supplied to Iran by Chinese entities to an Iranian attack that killed three American troops at a base in Jordan, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Tehran acquired high-resolution images of the installation both before and after the July attack, according to officials familiar with the incident. They described the findings as the strongest evidence yet that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had deadly consequences for American forces.