This Week in the World Affairs Brief
TRUMP REJECTS IRAN’S CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL
The big question is “what is Trump up to?” On the same day that Secretary of Defense (or War) Hegseth made his speech justifying purging one-fifth of US “woke” general officers, President Trump told reporters that he was at a decision point on the Iran War; “Do we blow them up or make a deal?” Coupled with Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” Iran, it looks like Trump is planning on becoming the worst war criminal in history. But why “after the midterm elections?” Perhaps what he’s planning is so horrific that it would guarantee a Republican defeat in the midterms, so he’s holding off until then. Some are worried that Trump is planning on using nuclear weapons to finish off Iran, but if he’s so unhinged to consider this, I think it’s unlikely the top military generals would go along with it, lest they be complicit in a war crime. 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.
Also:
- Europe Rearms and Ukraine Keeps fighting
- Russia and China’s Nuclear Facilities Growing Rapidly
- Israeli Influence in the Trump Administration
"As long as I’m around, he’s going to be fine," Trump continued. "You know why? He respects me."
By this strange logic, Pyongyang - which has on many more occasions (than Iran) directly threatened the United States going back literally decades - possessing nukes is just fine. Or in other words Kim="friend"/Good, Ayatollah= Rogue Bad Guy, according to the simplistic equation. The inconsistency of the obviously self-defeating 'moral high ground' narrative advanced by the administration is baffling.
Corporate media describes the rioters as "French students" or "high school students," while alternative media outlets such as Remix News and Visegrád24 claim the rioters are migrant kids.
On Friday there are reports of another foreign tanker which has been struck and damaged in the Strait of Hormuz. Several similar drone attacks have occurred this week, and over the last few days - however unlike with prior attacks these latest are not being heavily featured in the media, and have also made surprising little impact on oil prices.
China’s recovering crude demand is colliding with collapsing Iranian supplies, intensifying competition for replacement barrels and driving up refiners’ costs.
Discounted Iranian oil is giving way to expensive long-haul alternatives, squeezing independent refiners’ margins as record freight rates compound higher crude prices.
Tehran’s shrinking export revenues raise the risk of renewed disruption to Hormuz, threatening 13 million b/d of oil flows and a fresh global price shock.
Local sources reported that a 2.5 million barrel capacity supertanker that was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz illegally was hit 8 kilometers off the coast of Oman and is burning
The night prior, The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that "President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said." Here's how the president responded to a reporter's question Saturday morning:
Reporter: Will you strike Iran after the midterms?
The corridor adds a return leg to the Syrian route Baghdad turned to after the US war on Iran cut off Hormuz
Iran recently vowed that it would use ‘new weapons’ against ‘new targets’ if it came under a renewed attack
Back in July President Trump strongly signaled that he was greenlighting the ability of Ukraine to produce its own patriot anti-air defense missiles. Trump declared in the context of a Turkey-hosted NATO summit that Washington would give Ukraine "the right to make Patriots" - after Zelensky had been relentless in his requests, framing it as urgent and for the protection of cities and civilians.
But since then there's been denials and ambiguity surrounding the pledge.
Lowe’s, Home Depot and others are called on to cancel their contracts with the Atlanta-based AI surveillance company.
Trump by day's end denies offering Iran sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear concessions; the morning headlines triggered a sharp drop in oil prices.
US-Iran talks may resume, but only indirectly, this week; however Tehran remains skeptical after Trump rejected its ceasefire proposal.
Iran announced targeting 19 vessels over a 48 hour period this weekend and is threatening to escalate further.
Iran’s economy feels the pressure, with the rial hitting a record low near 2.3 million per dollar.
Karl Marx believed that “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Socialists seem to have found a generation of dupes to buy their ahistorical, fanciful pitch. A new poll shows 43% now have a positive view of socialism. An astonishing 65% of Democrats have a positive view. Socialism is now the rage on the left.
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.
Iran recently vowed that it would use ‘new weapons’ against ‘new targets’ if it came under a renewed attack
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.
‘These questions deserve rigorous science, transparency, and answers,’ the health secretary said.
"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.
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