China recently denounced "appalling" US actions of "plundering" Syrian resources...

"Chinese state media is reporting based on Syrian war monitors that the Pentagon has
expanded its presence inside Syria by establishing a new hub of operations in the northeastern province of Hasakah this past weekend.

"The new military base was set up in the village of Naqara, 3 km southwest of the city of Qamishli in Hasakah province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" - as cited in Xinhua.

The biggest, and main US base in Hasakeh province remains at Syria's al-Omar oil fields,...While President Joe Biden has rejected this overt rhetoric focused taking energy resources, the past month witnessed multiple alleged instances of coalition forces ferrying oil across the Iraq border in tanker trucks.  

Another major American base, but which is not in Hasakah, is at al-Tanf. US special forces at the base are there ostensibly in support of Arab and Kurdish anti-Assad fighters. The base's location is strategic, given it is near the three-way border between Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. Despite the Pentagon for years touting its "counter-ISIS" mission in Syria, the main US target has clearly remained both the Assad government and its Iranian allies.  

China's foreign ministry denounced the "appalling" US actions of "plundering" Syrian resources..." ZH

Russia Jails Journalist Safronov for 22 Years on Treason Charges

"A Moscow court sentenced reporter Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison Monday, Russia’s first treason conviction for a journalist since 2001. Safronov, a defense journalist at top Russian newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti who went on to work for state space agency Roscosmos, was convicted of collecting secret information about the Russian military and handing it to spies for the Czech Republic." MT

Putin visits major international war games

"Putin is touring a military range in the country’s Far East, which is hosting the international Vostok 2022 drills. Vostok 2022 is part of a series of strategic military training exercises held by Russia each year. It is hosted by one of its military districts on a rotating basis. This year, the Eastern Military District welcomed 13 foreign nations, which sent troops and observers to Russia.

Over 2,000 foreign troops joined 50,000 Russian soldiers and officers for the drills, the Defense Ministry told journalists. The countries taking part include Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Tajikistan." RT

ISIS claims responsibility for deadly bombing near Russian embassy

"ISIS has claimed responsibility for Monday’s suicide bombing in Kabul. The blast occurred
not far from the entrance to the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital and killed 25 people, including two embassy staff members." RT

Suicide attack at Russia embassy in Kabul kills 2 diplomats

 "A suicide bombing outside the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed two members of the embassy staff....The blast went off at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section, where Afghans were waiting for news about their visas, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry and the state news agency RIA Novosti. A Russian diplomat had emerged from the building to call out the names of candidates for visas when the explosion occurred......" ABC

As Europe Implodes......

"A few days after the EU threatened commodity traders it would stage an "emergency
intervention" to crush energy prices which were rising at a pace of about 20% per day (perhaps Europe can now print nat gas and electricity in addition to monetizing all deficits while injecting trillions in the process)......... a move which actually worked for a few days until Putin reminded Europe who's boss late on Friday when Gazprom suddenly decided it would "completely halt" all Nord Stream 1 transit altogether due to an "oil leak", with the news sending global stock markets plunging and threatening to push European gas and power prices back to all time highs.....In response to soaring energy prices and rationing of firewood, over the weekend, Germany - the country most affected by the Nord Stream cutoff - unveiled a $65 billion package meant to boost demand......." ZeroHedge

Top EU diplomat warns European arms stocks are running low

"Weapons stocks in the European Union are running low as member countries continue to
sends arms and ammunition to Ukraine, the bloc’s top diplomat warned Monday as he urged EU nations to better coordinate their spending on military materiel.

“The military stocks of most member states has been, I wouldn’t say exhausted, but depleted in a high proportion, because we have been providing a lot of capacity to the Ukrainians,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a debate with European lawmakers." AP

Mykolaiv Shelled

"Russian shelling hit the southern Ukraine port city of Mykolaiv during the night, damaging a
medical treatment facility." Breitbart

Constant artillery fire has prompted fears of a radiation disaster the International Red Cross says would cause a major humanitarian catastrophe

"Constant artillery fire prompted fears of a radiation disaster that the International Red Cross has said would cause a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Shelling continued nearby in Kherson on Sunday as Ukrainian forces attempt to retake the city occupied by Russian troops for months. Ukraine forces destroyed a recreation facility where Russian soldiers were staying, local residents said.

The Ukrainians feel now they have to retake Kherson and what they are trying to do is basically trap the tens of thousands of Russian soldiers there." AlJazeera

Sweden, Austria Start Bailing Out Energy Companies Triggering Europe's "Minsky Moment"

"....the infamous "Minsky Moment" framework to Europe, and specifically Germany, which
he said "can’t cover its payments without Russian gas and the government is asking citizens to conserve energy to leave more for industry." He then elaborated that "Minsky moments are triggered by excessive financial leverage, and in the context of supply chains, leverage means excessive operating leverage: in Germany, $2 trillion of value added depends on $20 billion of gas from Russia… …that’s 100-times leverage – much more than Lehman’s." (Zoltan's entire note is a must read for everyone with a passing interest in what comes next). Austria, which announced it would bail out the country's main energy supplier with a two-billion-euro ($2 billion) loan, the AFP reported. Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the loan to Wien Energie was an "extraordinary rescue measure" to ensure its two million customers - mainly Vienna households - continue to receive electricity. It will run until next April. Wien Energie asked for a bailout this weekend after suffering financial trouble amid soaring energy prices and speculation the company mismanaged their funds. Nehammer said Wien Energie, which is owned by Vienna, would have to answer questions as to how they got into trouble.  

Sweden announced it will give emergency liquidity support to electricity producers after the government said it feared Russia’s decision to halt gas deliveries to Europe could place its financial system under severe strain. Prime minister Magdalena Andersson said the government would offer hundreds of billions of kroner in support to electricity producers, the FT reported. The PM warned that, left unchecked, rising collateral demands for electricity producers could ripple through the main Nasdaq Clearing market in Stockholm and, in the worst case, spark a financial crisis.... just as Zoltan warned almost half a year ago. " ZH

Ukraine nuclear plant near front lines loses last power line amid fears of disaster

"The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest, had its last remaining main external power line cut
off, although a reserve line continued supplying electricity to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.“Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow on all Europeans for this winter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address citing the Nord Stream 1 pipeline’s continued closure." CNBC

 

 

Ukrainian boy shoots rocket launcher at his brother

"The incident occurred during an open-air

“weaponry exhibition” held by a local museum.
According to media reports, a 10-year-old boy was playing with an anti-tank weapon, believed to be a Soviet-made RPG-18 single-use rocket-propelled grenade. The boy reportedly aimed the weapon at his 12-year-old brother and discharged it, injuring his sibling and several bystanders, including a 2-year-old child." RT

Ukraine admits shelling area around nuclear plant

"The Ukrainian military publicly admitted striking the area around the Zaporozhye nuclear
power plant in an official General Staff briefing on Friday. Previously, Kiev had claimed that Russian forces used the plant as a military base; now it says all troops have relocated due to the visit by IAEA inspectors. " RT

Lavrov warns Moldova about threats to peacekeepers

"Russia’s foreign minister warned that any actions seen as endangering a Russian

peacekeeping contingent in a separatist region of Moldova would be considered as an attack on Russia itself.

Sergey Lavrov’s statement in an address at Russia’s top foreign affairs school underlined concerns that Moldova’s Transnistria region, which borders Ukraine, could be drawn into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russia has stationed peacekeepers there since the 1992 end of a three-month war that left Transnistria outside Moldovan control. Russian forces also guard a large ammunition dump in the region." TheHill

UN team at Ukraine nuclear plant ‘not going anywhere’

"The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, says the team of inspectors at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine will stay at the facility.

“We are not going anywhere,” Grossi told reporters. “The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving. It is going to stay there.” CNBC