“I think escalation has stages. So, already we're seeing intensified conflict on the border with Lebanon. We've seen that over the last couple of days, [Israel and Hezbollah] have been hitting each other much harder. We also see a rise in the strikes against the illegal American bases in Syria and American bases in Iraq, and those will become more intense if there's further escalation. Then you have Yemen. There are many things that can happen, it doesn't have to be in one stage,” Seyed Mohammad Marandi, University of Tehran professor, told the New Rules podcast.

👉 Iran's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, the prospects of the larger regional war, and the irreparable harm to the reputation of the West: You can find the full episode on Rumble

The situation in Al Shifa hospital still remains tough, Shehab Yousef, Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip, told Sputnik.

"We have completely lost contact with the Al-Shifa hospital. The last thing we know is the IDF began to storm the hospital and closed the gates, preventing anyone from leaving. This has resulted in the interruption of communication with all doctors, journalists, and displaced persons who were inside the hospital. The network is no longer functioning. Within the hospital, there are over 7,000 refugees and more than 3,000 medical workers. We don’t know what is happening to them now, and we’re unsure if they are alive or not."

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🇺🇸 Jacob "Shaman" Chansley, who stormed the Capitol, explained to Sputnik why he plans to run for Congress.

According to him, Washington needs "new blood", it's time to stop trusting people who "created problems."

Chansley, most remembered for entering the premises of the US Capitol in his distinctive horned fur hat and wearing face paint, quickly shot to fame as the “public face” of the events of January 6, 2021. His iconic image spread like wildfire across global media, leaving an unforgettable impression.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Hamas 'remains intact' despite Israeli operation in Gaza

Tel Aviv has not achieved substantial results since the launch of its ground operation, stressed Mouni Rabbani, an independent writer and analyst specializing in Palestinian affairs, senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies, and contributing editor to the Middle East Report.

Rabbani told Sputnik that despite the fact that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been advancing in the Gaza Strip, they are still encountering fierce resistance.

Although the IDF claims to have entered Gaza City, the Israeli military is struggling to operate even in the border areas, which has supposedly been under Israeli control since the very first days of the ground operation launched on October 27, according to the analyst.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇺🇸 San Francisco — Biden’s Potemkin Village?

On the eve of the APEC summit in San Francisco, city authorities carried out large-scale measures to ensure order. An operation was carried out to clear the city of homeless people, as well as large-scale cleanup work, especially in the areas where the event was planned to be held.

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The IDF reportedly blew up the parliament building in Gaza.

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🇷🇺 The situation in Ukraine is tilting in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, British press has reported in a shocking statement.

In the summer, the West expressed optimistic expectations that Ukraine would be able to retake major cities, liberate large areas, and possibly isolate Russian forces within the country with the help of NATO weapons. However, these anticipated developments never materialized.

"At a time when the world's attention is focused on the war in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin has gained the upper hand in Ukraine... Time is on his side," said journalist Luke Harding in a podcast.

Furthermore, he added that the possible election of Donald Trump as president of the United States would also play into Russia's hands, as the American politician is not interested in helping Ukraine.

After visiting Ukraine, Harding noted that the situation in the Ukrainian forces is grim, and almost everyone has lost someone close on the front lines.

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🇷🇺 "I believe that neither Iran nor Lebanon want any involvement in this crisis," Russian FM Sergey Lavrov stated during the interview to RT.

"There is no appetite from Lebanon, and as far as I can judge from the recent statement of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, there is no appetite for any big war unless provoked, unless Gaza is no longer considered as a place where Palestinians should continue to live," Lavrov said.

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🗣️ On US airstrikes on Syrian territory

“The US attacking the Albu Kamal area on the border with Iraq, which is one of the few open border crossings between Syria and Iraq that allows humanitarian aid and supplies into Syria from Iran and Iraq. So for America, this is incredibly important to shut down Albu Kamal and have complete control, basically, of that eastern border of Syria,” Vanessa Beeley, international investigative journalist, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Beeley’s analysis in our podcast The Backstory

👉 You can watch every episode of the podcast on Rumble

📻 Catch us at 105.5FM, 1390AM (Washington DC) and 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1140АМ (Kansas City)

Where Do the World’s New Trade Corridors Lie?

◾️ The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is a strategic trade route connecting India with the Middle East and Europe. It involves maritime and overland transportation, facilitating the movement of goods between these regions.

◾️ On the other hand, the Chennai-Vladivostok EMC is a maritime route connecting the Indian port city of Chennai with the Russian port city of Vladivostok. This sea route holds significant geopolitical and economic importance, providing a shorter and more direct pathway for trade between India and Russia.

🇮🇳 🇷🇺 The route has the potential to boost trade relations, especially in energy resources, between India and Russia as India imports 87% of its oil and 65% of its gas.

Check out our infographic showing these new trade corridors on the world map!

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Latest updates on Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️The IDF reportedly blew up the parliament building in Gaza.

▪️Lavrov: You cannot buy security by refusing to create a Palestinian state and reducing the territory that was intended for a Palestinian state.

▪️Lavrov: In the historical aspect, the creation of a Palestinian state is inevitable.

▪️Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a "terrorist state".

▪️IDF blew up warehouse of medicines and medical equipment in Shifa hospital - reports.

▪️Israel and Hamas are discussing the release of 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, increased humanitarian aid and the release of Palestinians from prison.

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🇨🇳 Where did China’s revolutionary Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon get its inspiration?

The Chinese Defense Ministry has released never-before-seen footage demonstarting a J-20 fifth generation stealth fighter firing off an air-to-air missile. What is known so far about this mysterious cutting-edge aircraft?

▪️Introduced into service in 2017, the J-20 marked China’s entry into the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet race

▪️J-20 features a maximum takeoff weight of 37,000 kg and is able to carry up to 11,000 kg of weapons

▪️The jet has a 2,000 km combat radius and a 20,000-meter service ceiling. It can carry an assortment of air-to-air missiles (including missiles with a range of up to 300 km), anti-radiation cruise missiles and small-diameter precision-guided bombs, and features cutting edge avionics.

▪️J-20 is unlike any other fifth-gen design on the market today, but isn't actually the first exploration of a wings-at-the-rear plus large frontal winglets design.

👉 Find out more about the jet’s inspiration, and its strategic implications for China’s security, here

🗣 Lavrov: "When Netanyahu asked Putin to convey to Abbas that he would be ready for direct negotiations, but without any preconditions, President Putin called President Abbas and delivered this message. And President Abbas said, since this is coming through from you, my good friend, as a matter of exception and respect, I accept this offer. Let's find the day - and this was July-August - let's find a date in September 2016. We immediately informed the office of the Prime Minister Netanyahu. And nothing happened. My point is that there were so many opportunities missed. There were so many attempts when a deal seemed to be close, so many attempts to replay the game."

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 Xi won’t fall for Biden’s smooth-talking charm offensive while US continues to surround China and prepare for war, expert says.

💬 “The United States has a long history of hiding behind superficial diplomacy while taking further concrete steps toward conflict. Many times the US uses the smoke screen of diplomacy to put itself in a more advantageous position for when a confrontation finally takes place,” geopolitical analyst Brian Berletic told Sputnik.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco this week for a much-awaited summit with his US counterpart, Joe Biden. The meeting is just the second face-to-face interaction between the leaders since Biden took office, and is aimed at reducing tensions between the powers across a variety of fronts from technology and trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

🇺🇸 US Air Force bases around the world will face "unimaginably worse" attacks in the future than during the Cold War, Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff Thomas Lawhead said.

"The scale and the capability of attacks that the force will see in the near- to mid-term future are unimaginably worse than what we experienced during the Cold War," Lawhead stated during a virtual Aerospace Nation event on Air Force Futures.

Lawhead noted that the US military had learned how to prevent such attacks against its bases, but emphasized the importance of base defense, logistics under attack, and agile combat employment.

Those measures would allow the United States to generate combat resources that the military needs, Lawhead added.

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🇭🇺⚛️ Hungary will be able to stop importing electricity and possibly even to start exporting it to neighboring countries once the new power units of the Paks nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as Paks-2, are launched, the office of the NPP's general director told Sputnik.

Moreover, Paks NPP employees have begun preparatory work to extend the life of four operating units until the mid-2050s, while their service life was initially due to be 30 years, Kovacs said. The final decision on the issue will be made by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, but the project is already believed to be implemented, he added.

Kovacs also stressed that the Paks NPP could be expanded further in the future, given that Hungary had committed to the EU's decarbonization strategy and the only possible renewable energy option is nuclear power. Unlike solar and wind power, nuclear power, while being low-carbon, can be produced in sufficient amounts all year round, he pointed out.

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🇮🇱 Bunker Debunker: Did Israel build subterranean fortress under Gaza’s biggest hospital?

Situated in Gaza City, the Dar Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, and has a 700 bed capacity. The IDF has targeted the complex repeatedly over the past week-and-a-half, alleging Hamas's use of facilities located underneath as a fortified command center. Is there any truth to this story?

👉 Sputnik did some digging

🇩🇪🏭 Germany's energy woes spark 'deindustrialization on a considerable scale'

Consultancy firm Deloitte reports that two out of three German companies have partially relocated their operations abroad due to ongoing energy issues in Germany.

Previous reports indicated that nearly half of the country’s small-to-midsized companies were considering moving abroad or ceasing operations. According to Deloitte, 67 percent of German companies have moved some operations abroad, and every third industrial company plans to relocate high-quality areas such as production and preassembly.

Investments in infrastructure, digitalization, and cost-effective energy pricing are essential for securing business locations. The situation is particularly acute in Germany’s mechanical engineering, industrial goods, and automotive sectors, where 69 percent of companies report moderate to large-scale relocation.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

🇵🇸🇮🇱 Gaza condemned to disease and famine by the Israeli siege and bombing

Israel's latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East in decades. Palestinian scientist and human rights activist Mazin Qumsiyeh said the dead were going unburied while the living starve.

Gaza's 2.3 million people are dying of curable diseases and malnutrition thanks to Israel's war on the enclave, a Palestinian scientist says.

Israel placed Gaza under a total siege in response to the October 7 incursion by Hamas and other militants, which left 300 Israeli soldiers and police and 1,100 civilians dead. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the shutting off of electricity and water supplies and the closure of checkpoints, denying inhabitants fuel, medicine and even food.

The Israeli Defense Forces have targeted hospitals, claiming Hamas has subterranean bases beneath them.

👉Follow the link to learn more