The Lord of the Memes: The Return of the Sausages

British PM Keir Starmer blew up the internet with a freudian flip, calling for the "immediate ceasefire in Gaza" and "the return of the sausages".

Netizens have expressed their hopes that the hostages are also being taken care of.

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Belarusian president highlights modern warfare as ‘battle of drones’

Current military conflicts, especially the one unfolding in Ukraine, have dramatically changed the face of modern warfare, putting drones at the forefront of combat, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during a working visit to Belarus’ Brest region.

“Modern warfare is a battle of drones. There is a huge distinction between the start of the military operation in Ukraine and this point in time. We see that nowadays, no war [can be fought] without UAVs,” he noted.

Lukashenko pointed out that training and equipping a soldier is five times more expensive, than deploying a combat drone.

“They [military drones] have occupied their place, along with counter-battery warfare and electronic warfare systems that thwart drones,” Lukashenko said at the Belarusian Obuz-Lesnovsky polygon.

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Russia's troops pincering Ugledar: What is the town’s strategic significance?

Moscow's forces are walling in Ukrainian troops with “a major pincer attack” in the town of Ugledar, thereby making any troop rotation in the area “impossible,” Igor Kimakovsky, adviser to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, told reporters.

The battle for Ugledar, situated in the Donetsk region, has been raging since 2022, when Russian forces first advanced toward the town.

Sergey Poletaev, a political and military analyst, explained the strategic significance of Ugledar to Sputnik.

▪️From the military perspective Ugledar stands like an outpost stabilizing a very large stretch of the front line for Kiev forces. Seizing Ugledar could add to Russian troops’ offensive on the city of Pokrovsk.

▪️In terms of logistics, Ugledar is situated near a railway from Donetsk to Mariupol, and there is a highway which links it to the town of Volnovakha, an outpost linking it with Mariupol.

▪️Mariupol is a Russian main port in the Azov Sea, which is why taking Ugledar will close Ukrainian forces’ access to Mariupol.

▪️There are at least two coal mines in Ugledar, including the Yuzhnodonbasskaya N3, one of the largest such facilities in Donbass. These coal mines remain the strongholds of defense. The mine makes it possible to control the steppe terrain around it for kilometers. Also, a mine typically has underground areas, which turns it into a mini fortress.

Ugledar can now be likened to “a cauldron with the lid nearly slammed shut, on the verge of being cooked," Poletaev stressed.

The analyst said that part of the Ukrainian forces stationed in Ugledar have reportedly been transferred to Pokrovsk, which means that Kiev has problems with reserves. Russia’s strategy is to bring the Ukrainian forces to the brink of point of exhausted reserves, Poletaev said.

This imperceptible process is of strategic significance, because it should lead us to victory, he concluded.

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Forever young - forever yank

Joe Biden, in his speech to the UN as US President, probably the last speech in such status, did not forget about content creation.

Thanks, Joe, you've provided the world with lots of memorable memes.

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US Navy refueling ship USNS Big Horn sustains damage in Middle Eastern waters

The USNS Big Horn, a refueling vessel for the strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, has reportedly sustained damage while operating in Middle Eastern waters. Sources have indicated that details surrounding the incident remain undisclosed.

Fortunately, the crew onboard was unharmed, and there were no signs of fuel leakage from the vessel. One source mentioned that tugboats are currently assisting in keeping the Big Horn afloat.

Earlier, the navigation portal gCaptain reported that the ship had run aground off the coast of Oman.

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US government agency skips ‘normal process for reviewing’ Soros’ purchase of over 200 radio stations

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fast-tracked the purchase of over 200 stations by Soros Fund Management, a group backed by the infamous Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, this week.

As FCC member Brendan Carr noted, the commission is “not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction” in this case, and is in fact “poised to create for the first time an entirely new shortcut.”

If the deal goes through before November, the entity affiliated with Soros would acquire a powerful tool to influence public opinion in the United States right on the eve of the upcoming US presidential election.

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US announces military surge in Middle East amid growing regional tensions

The United States, apparently adhering to the ‘when in doubt, ramp up the threat’ policy, has decided to deploy even more troops to the Middle East against the backdrop of Israel-Lebanon hostilities.

▪️This week, the US sent several of its warships – two destroyers, a cruiser and the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier – on a regular deployment to the Sixth Fleet area of operations, with AP noting the possibility of Washington retaining Truman and USS Abraham Lincoln (currently in the Arabian Gulf) in the area;

▪️The exact number of the additional US troops to be deployed to the Middle East is still unknown. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder did tell media, however, that a “small number of additional US military personnel” is going to be sent to bolster the US military presence in the region;

▪️The United States currently has about 40,000 military personnel in the region, including some 2,500 in Iraq and 900 in Syria, compared to the 34,000 prior to the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October 2023, the National Review points out;

▪️US military assets in the Middle East are spread across a network of military installations in countries such as Turkiye, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Kuwait, Oman and Egypt.

As Washington keeps funneling arms to Israel and is now sending additional forces to the region as well, it would seem that the United States may be using the current crisis in the Middle East as a pretext to ramp up its military presence there and to tighten its stranglehold.

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❗️Russian troops have entered the outskirts of Ugledar in the Donetsk People's Republic, Vladimir Rogov, head of the Zaporozhye public movement ‘We are together with Russia’, told Sputnik.

"The enemy is under threat of encirclement, mass surrender is possible."

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The New START arms control treaty kept the world safer and the United States wanted to keep it alive, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said.

"New START was important. It kept us both safer. It kept the world safer, which is why the United States wanted to stay, but it wasn't the United States who violated compliance," Kirby said during a press briefing.

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US President Joe Biden intends to discuss the possibility of lifting the ban on strikes deep into Russia with Volodymyr Zelensky this week, the White House said.

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Which US companies are Harris and Trump's biggest donors and what's behind their choice? - Part 1 👉 Part 2

A recent chart by financial tech startup Quiver Quantitative has unveiled a breakdown of donations from major US companies to presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

In August alone, Harris raised $361 million versus $130 million for Trump. Harris has also outspent her rival: the New York Times said that she spent 20 times more on Meta platforms and twice as much on YouTube than Trump in September.

Who’s backing Harris?

▪️Tech giants: Google, Oracle, Nvidia, Apple, Facebook, Broadcom and Amazon threw their weight behind the Democratic nominee. Google disbursed a whopping $1.4 million for Harris. Despite Microsoft donating to both campaigns, its support to Kamala is 17 times bigger than what it sent to Trump. While urbanized Silicon Valley professionals tend to support the Democrats, some of them might also expect Harris to stick to Joe Biden's Chips Act policy envisaging subsidies to US tech giants in a bid to outperform China.

▪️Wall Street is "with her": Wall Street tycoons, including George Soros' son Alex and BlackRock co-founder Ralph Schlosstein, rushed to endorse Harris immediately after she announced her bid. JP Morgan sided with Harris, while Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley put their eggs in both baskets but favored Kamala.

▪️Hollywood: Hollywood tends to back the Democrats, with Netflix and Disney upholding the trend again with $125,961 and $91,402 donations to the Harris campaign. Hollywood stars are frequently employed by Democrats for political events and actions, and many rely on them heavily for soliciting donations during fundraiser gatherings.

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US companies expect big military spending and tax cuts from Trump - Part 2 👉 Part 1

Unlike Democrats, who are mostly backed by the hi-tech and banking sector, Republicans traditionally command support among industrial giants.

Who’s backing Trump?

▪️Defense contractors: despite Trump's vows to withdraw US troops from foreign countries, leave NATO, and halt the US' participation in overseas hostilities, most defense contractors – Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin - back the Republican nominee. Trump is famous for huge military spending and benefits to domestic industrial giants. In 2018, he signed what at the time was seen as the largest military budget in US history worth $700 billion. Boeing, however, which has a record of supporting Democratic administrations, provided Harris with a bigger chunk of donations.

▪️US airlines: US aviation companies also tend to support Trump, with American Airlines at the top of the donor list. United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Airlines are also among top donors. Besides supporting domestic producers and services, Trump is remembered for bailing out some big airlines who donated large sums to his re-election in April 2020, according to Salon.

▪️US retailers: the chart features Walmart and Costco which have supported Trump since his first election tenure. In 2018, Costco hailed Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - a major tax code overhaul that considerably cut taxes for both individuals and businesses - as a big win for US retailers, their investors and customers.

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▪️Russia's troops pincering Ugledar: why is it significant?

▪️‘It was like a horror movie’: Lebanese revealed their story fleeing Tyre

▪️Which US companies are Harris and Trump's biggest donors and what's behind their choice?

▪️Aussie Cossack: globalist elites seek total internet censorship

▪️Check out the latest developments amid Israel-Lebanon tensions

▪️How US elites capitalize on celebrities to sway voters

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Millionaire exodus from UK spells new problems for ailing British economy

A growing number of Britain’s ultra-wealthy either mull fleeing the country or are already doing so in light of Keir Starmer’s government’s plans to fill the budget by taxing the rich, Bloomberg reports, citing a number of “wealth advisers and high-net-worth individuals.”

The plan that apparently spooked the moneybags involves a 40% tax on offshore wealth and a tax rate of up to 45% (as compared to the current 28%) on carried interest.

Who’s leaving?

▪️Businessman and philanthropist Jeremy Coller, founder of Coller Capital, has already moved to Switzerland, ostensibly due to personal reasons;

▪️Francois De Mitry of the London branch of French private equity firm Astorg now resides in Italy;

▪️Billionaire and telecom mogul Bassim Haidar also opted to move from the UK to Greece;

▪️Hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard is considering moving to Switzerland;

▪️Ricardo Leiman of the KLI Asset Management is now allegedly mulling a relocation to Italy.

Despite boasting a disproportionate number of dollar millionaires until now, Britain is expected to lose 9,500 of them this year, Bloomberg claims, citing investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.

This impending and considerable loss of wealthy citizens predictably raises questions about how the UK is going to deal with its exorbitant debt, which now reached 100% of the country’s GDP, without the taxes previously paid by the departing rich.

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❗️ Syrian air defense systems repelled missiles off the Mediterranean coast in Tartus, Syria, a Sputnik correspondent reported

Russia operates two military facilities in Syria – the naval facility in Tartus and the Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate. Khmeimim has come under terrorist fire repeatedly since its establishment in 2015.

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📹 Russian T-80BV tank crews destroyed Ukrainian strongholds and troops in the Donetsk People's Republic

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Zelensky opposes holding talks with Russia to resolve Ukraine conflict at UN Security Council meeting

Volodymyr Zelensky rejected holding talks with Moscow to resolve the Ukraine conflict during his speech at a UN Security Council meeting.

Zelensky criticized those “in the world” who “want to talk” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve a resolution of the conflict.

“This conflict cannot be solved by negotiations, actions are needed,” Zelensky said, once again refusing to reach a diplomatic solution in his quest to sacrifice the entire population of Ukraine.

Moscow has made numerous attempts to reach a diplomatic solution with Kiev both before and after it launched its special military operation in early 2022, but the Kiev regime has imposed a ban on negotiations with Russia at the legislative level.

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House panel moves to hold Blinken in contempt over Afghanistan subpoena

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a report to recommend finding Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena.

The panel advanced the report favorably to the House of Representatives in a vote of 26 in favor and 25 opposed.

"On September 24, 2024, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken failed to comply with a duly served subpoena issued by the Committee on Foreign Affairs on September 18 for his testimony before the Committee pertaining to the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs’ investigation into the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent noncombatant evacuation operation," the contempt report said.

Blinken’s testimony is a vital component of the panel’s investigation into the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, the report said. Blinken’s refusal to comply with the subpoena - despite months of notice and offers of accommodations - warrants contempt, the report added.

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