Trump’s lavish reception for China’s president Xi Jinping this week, ignited a flurry of criticism. On the late night show with Seth Meyers (no fan of Trump) his staff found a dozen video clips of Trump bragging during his first term and at later campaign rallies, about how big a critic he has been of China and Xi Jinping in comparison to the Biden family and the money they accepted from China. Then, he followed that up with recent clips of Trump praising Xi, and bragging about their “good relationship” and how impressive and smart Xi is—even mentioning his “impressive height” of being “over 6 feet.” As my readers know, this is typical of Trump, ever vying to impress his fellow big shots in the world, even if they are tyrants like Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. What brought this criticism on was the massive honors and reception Trump provided for Xi—clearly a sign that Trump is not critical of this tyrant. Meanwhile, he rightly snubbed a visit requested by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who came to NY to address the UN (to a lot of empty seats). Over 70 nations boycotted the Israeli Prime Ministers presence over Israel’s horrific bombing of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. To receive a free, one-time copy of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
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Trump Threatens Iran with Annihilation Again at UN
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The Iran War and the Image of American Military Clout
Modern American warfare was built on a decisive privilege: the United States could normally see its enemies before they saw it, strike from beyond their reach and sustain military operations from bases and supply lines assumed to be relatively secure. Its aircraft dominated the sky, its satellites exposed hostile movements and its communications connected sensors, commanders and weapons across continents. The enemy was hunted; the American force doing the hunting was rarely subjected to comparable, continuous exposure. That privilege is disappearing.
By admitting more nonwhite students with weaker test scores, the state is fixing inequality through DEI by giving them a new leg up in a world that’s unfair to them, or something like that.
What about exceptional student applicants who don’t check the correct, “historically oppressed” boxes? Meh, too bad.
Oregon had turned a routine adoption screening into a belief test, excluding an entire class of religious parents from a foster system short of homes. The settlement draws a line other states will now have to notice.
In brief: The US has warned allies of weapons delivery delays of up to five years as Washington replenishes domestic stockpiles depleted by the war against Iran. The delays affect European orders including German requests for Tomahawk cruise missiles and Typhon launchers, as well as Japanese procurements.
"Well I’m rejecting their deal," Trump responded. While in the fresh verbal interaction he did not explicitly state he plans to resume bombing, he also obviously did not deny the premise of the question (resumption of bombing Iran).
Syria has begun trucking imported gasoline from its Baniyas Refinery into Iraq, adding a return leg to a route Baghdad has used to export its fuel since the US war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Syrian oil official told Reuters on 25 September.
At one site, where China is believed to produce the plutonium triggers designed to activate nuclear weapons, an entire support town has been built, with new apartment blocks, an athletics field, and a bus depot used to transport staff to and from the nuclear site.
At another, a 600m-long tube has been built. Experts say it is used to test how nuclear weapons would withstand blasts – for instance, from enemy weapons.
China is rapidly expanding infrastructure tied to its nuclear weapons program, with satellite images revealing major construction at seven sites as Beijing faces growing scrutiny over its expanding arsenal.
President Trump continues to seek to pressure Ukraine's Zelensky to halt long-range drone strikes on Russia's refineries, in a bid to calm rising diesel prices especially while the parallel Strait of Hormuz crisis persists.
"President Trump over the weekend considered ordering a strike against the Houthis in Yemen before deciding to hold off for now, two U.S. officials said," Axios writes Monday. "Trump was caught between wanting to help his friend and ally, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and avoiding getting entangled on a new front in the Middle East."
So now the nation stands on the brink of yet a separate Mideast adventure while the Iran conflict has yet to end, this time in Yemen, because Trump desires to "help his friend". But in the end he did not pull the trigger, for now at least.
Just as the Iranian delegation of President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to fly to New York City for this week's UN General Assembly, where it's expected that the Iranians could be engaged in some sideline diplomacy with the White House, another tanker incident has unfolded off in the Persian Gulf area.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency is reporting Monday that an oil tanker has been "struck by an unknown projectile" while on an inbound transit route in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, "One of Russia's key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine.
The move follows Trump slapping 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods last month after the US and Canada failed to reach a last-minute trade deal. However, the levies included significant exemptions for major Canadian imports such as oil, gas, and potash.
However, earlier, Russian news agency Interfax quoted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as saying his country lacks the capacity to supply potash fertlizer to the West.
"We are in contact with the Qatari intermediary who conveyed our conditions to Washington to end the war, and we are awaiting a response from President Trump," the supreme council's secretary Mohsen Rezaei said.
Attorney Edward Paltzik said Thursday that he is representing Michael Desronvil, the lone holdout juror in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who would not agree that Clancy was not criminally responsible for strangling her three children in January 2023. According to Paltzik, Desronvil has relocated to an undisclosed location in northern New England after his refusal to join the rest of the jury made him the target of a mob.
Aviation researcher Andreas Rupprecht posted footage on LinkedIn that appears to show a prototype of China's "next-generation" fighter jet, with new images suggesting potential progress toward operational status.
Even when Cuba's grid is in operation, only 30% of the population at most receives electricity at any given time. Many regions stay dark 20 to 30 hours at a stretch. Some provinces have reported 60–90 hours without power. Havana has gone from 4 hours a day early in the year to 18 hours after the fuel cutoff.
Most countries in the world reject this controversial policy. Our closest allies in Europe reject birthright citizenship and follow the common practice of “jus sanguinis,” or right of blood. We are part of a smaller number of countries following “jus soli,” or right of soil.
China’s next-generation combat aircraft will be able to fly by themselves if a pilot loses consciousness, navigate without satellite signals and operate in self-reorganising large drone formations. That is the plan laid out by researchers from the Shenyang Aircraft Design & Research Institute, a top Chinese military aircraft design organisation, in a paper last month, the SCMP reported.
America's already-diminished inventory of air defense interceptor missiles took another significant hit last week, as dozens more were expended to defend US troops in Jordan from an Iranian attack. This latest incident illustrates Iran's use of crafty and increasingly technologically-advanced attacks to further sap US munitions supply and degrade the Pentagon's ability to continue mounting defenses -- or provoking attacks -- in a war nearing the seven-month mark.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune revived discussion of a potential US diesel export ban with reporters Tuesday, a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said any export halts on crude or petroleum products were unlikely to lower consumer prices. The divergence in messaging suggests growing pressure across the Trump administration to contain surging fuel costs ahead of the midterm elections as the global refining crisis pushed the US diesel crack spread to a record $117 a barrel early Wednesday morning.
Throughout the war, Iran has launched missiles and drones at U.S. military bases in the Middle East and Gulf, destroying “hundreds of buildings and structures” at American bases in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan, according to the inspector general’s report.
Dozens of U.S. aircraft were damaged or destroyed as well, it also said, including four F-15E fighter jets, one F-35 advanced fighter plane, multiple refueling aircraft, several helicopters, and others.
"This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public," one deployed service member told CBS News. "We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."
Drone attack on Mecca from unknown location being reported overnight, though the Saudi coalition has been prompted to blame Yemen's Shia Houthis:
Saudi Arabia and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have condemned what they described as a “heinous” Houthi attack targeting Mecca.
The 1,200-kilometer pipeline was shut after an attack last week damaged the system. Wright said Saudi officials were still assessing the damage, but expected repairs to be measured in days rather than weeks.
President Donald Trump's administration is planning to sell to Israel a munitions package worth $2.8 billion, which will include tens of thousands of highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs, according to a U.S. official familiar with the sale.
The planned sale, which has been informally communicated to relevant congressional committees who weigh in on large arms sales, includes 20,000 MK 84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
“And then the party of my body, my choice forced citizens to wear masks and to submit to invasive and intrusive medical interventions against their own wills. The party of MeToo — remember that we were all supposed to listen to women and to believe women— they cruelly silenced the voices of tens of thousands of mothers who believed that their children had suffered vaccine injuries. The Democrats declared war on women’s sports, effectively destroying Title IX.
“Democrats condemned meritocracy openly and celebrated mediocrity. The Democratic Party became the party of elites, labeling working Americans as deplorables. Democrats cultivated deep ties with Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Ag, Big Food, Big Insurance, and the mainstream media. They embraced policies that divided Americans along racial lines. They abolished my uncle’s physical fitness test because they said that competition was bad for children.
