Global public debt hurtling towards $100 trillion by end of 2024 - IMF

Skyrocketing global public debt is set to reach $100 trillion by the end of this year, driven foremost by the US borrowing binge, a new analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed.

This staggering sum represents around 93% of global gross domestic product (GDP). Modeling an “extreme adverse scenario,” the IMF found that the level of future debt could reach 115% of GDP in three years.

Further debt growth is anticipated in the US, Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa, and the UK.

US government debt currently stands at $35.68 trillion, with an analysis by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget indicating that it is only expected to grow amid “large structural deficits, surging interest payments, and the looming insolvency of critical trust fund programs.”

The US budget deficit during the Biden presidency has hit an all-time high at $6.6 trillion, Sputnik’s calculations based on data from the US Treasury Department showed in August. The US government's expenses during the 3.5 years under Biden exceeded revenues by $6.6 trillion — the highest in the entire history of these statistics.

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Initial THAAD components, associated US military personnel arrive in Israel – Pentagon

"[On] October 14, an advance team of US military personnel and initial components necessary to operate the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery arrived in Israel. Additional US military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel in the coming days," the statement said.

On October 1, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel in response to the killings of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and senior IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that his government was not seeking a war with Israel but would confront any threat in a resolute manner.

Israel vowed to respond to the attack at a time and in a manner of its choosing. The United States and other allies have urged Israel to respond proportionately amid concerns that Iran's oil and nuclear facilities may be prime targets, which could potentially spark an all-out regional war.

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Gazan boy appeals to Biden, White House to stop the war

Children are suffering across the Gaza Strip as there is no food or medicine, Ibrahim Abu Shabeikah, a boy trying himself as a young journalist, told Sputnik.

He addressed the US authorities, specifically President Joe Biden and the White House, demanding peace in his country.

"I am appealing to the whole world and to US President Joe Biden, to the White House. I have seen children with their heads torn off, without arms or legs. I have seen enough. I have been speaking about the suffering of children and their torment," he said.

"The Israeli army bombed my house, many were killed and wounded, including children. Before the war, I slept in my quiet room, calmly reading books, but today I sleep in a tent with many insects and diseases," he explained.

The young journo also noted that he had to travel great distances and stand in long queues to get even a little food or water – and sometimes he got nothing at all.

"I call for support for the creation of an independent Palestine, help for Palestinian children, and more food and medicine. I want my message to reach everyone, so that the Israeli war in Gaza ends and all children can safely return to their homes and live in safety," he said.

"I’m a child. I’m from the younger generation, I have risen from the ruins, and I'm demanding peace, I'm stretching out my hands for peace," the boy concluded.

Earlier, Ibrahim recorded a video for Sputnik telling the story of what is really happening in the Palestinian enclave ravaged by Israeli forces.

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WATCH: How did child being treated for cancer survive in today's Lebanon?

Four-year-old Elio el-Baalbaki has been battling cancer for the past two years. His family had to flee from their home village of Haddathah in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil region because of the Israeli air raids.

Samah al Baalbaki, Elio's mother, has told Sputnik the story of their survival.

"Now, Elio is already receiving treatment. I found a place along the way where we were able to go. As we were driving in the car, [missile] strikes were coming in all over the place. We were in the car and missiles were falling right in front of us, behind us, and on the roadside. We were moving on. We slowly made it in one piece. Although we didn't know whether we would make it back alive. Eventually we got there, and Elio started taking his medication. Elio is now finished with his [oncology] treatment and we have left town."

Samah emphasized that her son has “started to recover from the fear and horror he experienced,” as “he used to cry and scream a lot” when he heard the attacks.

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📄To the case: Partnership Agreement between Russia and North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament, a bill to ratify the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Russia and North Korea the day before.

The details of the document were shared with Sputnik by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko:

💬 Russia-N.Korea strategic partnership treaty envisages provision of mutual military assistance in event of aggression.

"There is a fourth article there, which deals specifically with issues of mutual assistance in the event of aggression, that the parties, in the event of aggression against one of the parties, will provide each other with any necessary assistance, including military. If an act of aggression is committed against North Korea, then all necessary measures will be taken in accordance with the legislation of North Korea," Rudenko told reporters.

💬 The Russia-North Korea agreement is a warning for those countries planning to solve regional problems using military means, the treaty is not directed against South Korea or third countries.

💬 South Korea's actions undermine stability on peninsula, lead to escalation, it is time to stop.

"We believe that what South Korea has recently undertaken is provocative actions that seriously undermine stability on the peninsula and lead to an escalation of tension. What will happen later, among other things, is, of course, already a very dangerous development. We think it is time to stop with this," Rudenko told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said that Russia's State Duma may consider the draft bill in the first half of November.

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The US is demanding that Ukraine begin mobilizing people from the age of 18, arguing that 19-year-olds were drafted for the Vietnam War, according to Volodymyr Zelensky's advisor Serhiy Leshchenko.

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Druzhba: Oil mega-pipeline that fed Eastern Europe’s economic boom despite US sanctions and sabotage

October 15 marks the 60th anniversary of the Druzhba (‘Friendship’) oil pipeline built to replace costly rail-based oil deliveries and to forge economic links between the USSR and the Eastern Europe.

Druzhba (including extensions to deliver oil to southern Germany and Austria) holds the record as the longest oil pipeline network in the world, consisting of a whopping 8,900 km of pipe, 84 pumping stations, and reservoirs up to 1.5 million cubic meters of oil.

One of the most technically-sophisticated engineering projects, Druzhba has an estimated capacity to pump up to 2 million barrels per day, or nearly a fifth of Russia’s total oil output. Until recently, it accounted for up to half of all Russian oil exports.

How did Druzhba help Europe?

🔸 Druzhba became a key source of fuel for Europe’s economic prosperity, helping Germany in its effort to build on its status as an industrial powerhouse.

🔸 Hungary’s material national income rose by 62%, East Germany’s by 59%, Poland’s by 73%, Czechoslovakia’s by 57%, and capital construction in these countries grew 1.9, 1.7, 2.2, and 1.8 times, respectively.

Hurdle to friendship

🔸 Members of the Soviet-led economic alliance including Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia helped build the project. From the very beginning, the US imposed sanctions after the Cuban Missile Crisis, restricting Western sales of large-diameter pipes to the Eastern Bloc.

🔸 In 2024, the EU banned Russian oil through the pipeline’s northern route, and Ukraine raised transit fees by over 75%, blocking supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.

🔸 While Russia shifted to new energy partners like India and China, Europe is stuck with costlier, less reliable US energy, threatening its economic growth and industrial competitiveness.

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Unique Russia-North Korea partnership pact will cool Pentagon hotheads, stabilize East Asia

“While this agreement is called a ‘Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, the clause providing for mutual military assistance between Russia and the DPRK in essence makes it a treaty of military-political alliance,” Artyom Lukin, professor of international politics at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, told Sputnik, commenting on President Putin’s submission of the new agreement to Russia’s parliament for ratification.

The strategic partnership pact is “unique,” according to Lukin, with North Korea becoming the first country outside the former Soviet space with which Russia has forged such an agreement (up till now, only Belarus and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization enjoyed similar guarantees).

Among the 23 articles in the pact, signed by Putin and Kim Jong Un, is a section stipulating that “if one of the parties finds itself at war due to an armed attack by one or more country, the other party will immediately provide it with military assistance by all means at its disposal.”

The pact will benefit both countries, and serve to reduce risks of a war in the Korean Peninsula, where increasingly provocative rhetoric and actions by Seoul, combined with efforts to strengthen South Korea’s defense ties with the US and Japan, threaten to unleash a new conflict, Lukin says.

“Of course, the members of this trio can say that they will unite their ranks even more closely against this new ‘Russian-North Korean threat’. But this is hypocrisy, since they would have strengthened their military capabilities and integrated in military-political terms even without this treaty,” Lukin summed up.

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📹Synchronized Bridging

Construction workers conducted a 90-degree turn of two spans weighing more than 14,000 tonnes to complete the Tongyun Bridge on the Liuzhi-Anlong Expressway in Guizhou Province, southern China.

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Russia’s liberation of Toretsk would mark final milestone in driving Ukraine’s forces from Donbass – expert

The potential liberation of the city of Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk) by Russian forces is crucial, as it is a strategic vantage point overlooking the entire Donetsk People's Republic, military analyst Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik.

Russian forces have liberated over two-thirds of Toretsk, regional head Denis Pushilin told Russian media on Tuesday. The full liberation of Toretsk will decline Ukrainian shelling attacks on Gorlovka, he added.

◻️ Toretsk, a major coal mining center, has spoil heaps up to 70 or 80 meters tall around its perimeter, noted the retired Russian Army colonel. The mounds are excellent vantage points for monitoring the area, both with drones and simple optical devices.

“These piles can be fitted with firing positions for artillery guns, snipers, machine gunners, and, in general, be used as strongholds for our assault troops,” Litovkin pointed out.

◻️ The city is an important hub for logistical and tactical support for the Kiev regime’s forces. Taking control of it would cut off the supply of ammunition and fuel, Litovkin stressed.

“If the supply is interrupted, then the front line will run out of ammunition, fuel for mechanized vehicles, tanks, armored personnel carriers,” he said.

“The army would be left without ammunition, immobilized, and begin to suffer one defeat after another,” Litovkin added. “Not to mention diminished morale among its ranks.”

The liberation of Toretsk would open the way to Snezhnoye and Kramatorsk, the pundit said. Kramatorsk is the last major city in Donetsk still being held by the Kiev regime’s forces. Its liberation would signal “the complete liberation of the Donetsk People's Republic,” Litovkin concluded.

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❗“Russian forces repelled a Ukrainian UAV attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant's satellite town, Energodar, destroying two targets; no one was injured,” the plant's press service told Sputnik.

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Reports on Netanyahu’s plans for Iran meant to remind Americans they’re joined at the hip to Israel

Legacy media stories like the recent Washington Post report that Israel plans to strike Iranian military sites before the November election in the US are meant “to remind Americans that they cannot think and countenance thinking about separating American interests from those of Israel,” Dr. Isa Blumi, an associate professor at Stockholm University’s Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, told Sputnik.

“What this proposal of staging another confrontation with Iran just before the elections is designed to do is force the political parties, those who are running for president, those who are running for the Senate, for the Congress to all ‘stand in solidarity’ with Israel,” Dr. Blumi explained, pointing to the immense power the Israel lobby carries with the US political class.

A repledging of loyalty is especially important now, the professor said, given “the fact that the American population is largely conflicted” about the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, with “the images of civilians being murdered, people burnt alive, the bombing of Beirut all now very much complicating the storyline.”

In this light, fresh Israeli aggression against Iran and the inevitable Iranian response would “return American politics, the discourse around American politics into…a campaign to defend Israel from the easy ‘enemy of Western civilization’.” This will be especially true if US troops are put in harm’s way, with any potential escalation “retold” and branded “as ‘a war of self-defense’ for Israel vis-à-vis the Iranians and its allies,” the observer said.

Blumi expects Iran – whose political system is far more complex and nuanced than Western propaganda says, to do its best to avoid an escalation. “If, however, Israel and the Americans actually engage in economic warfare and try to destroy Iranian oil infrastructure, for instance, then we may see the war expand.”

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Iran could wipe out Israeli trade, Mediterranean gas projects if Tel Aviv proceeds with strikes – expert

“When we imagine a scenario where Israel hits oil fields and important institutions like parliamentary buildings, government buildings, sites where large industrial buildings are located, I think Iran’s target is going to be Haifa – a coastal area where Israel’s biggest trade routes are. Haifa’s coastal area is really close to the Leviathan natural gas reserve search area. I think that’s going to immensely impact the Israeli search for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea,” Furkan Halit Yolcu, security expert and researcher at Sakarya University’s Middle East Institute, told Sputnik.

“[Haifa] is really valuable for Israel because almost half of exports and imports are made through that coast. So paralyzing that part of Israel is going to hurt industry and production and the employment market – whatever you can imagine about Israel’s economy,” the observer stressed.

Yolcu’s comments follow reporting by the Washington Post citing anonymous officials indicating that PM Netanyahu has informed the White House that Israel plans to attack Iran before the November 5 elections in the US, and that the attack will target Iranian military, not oil or nuclear-related sites.

“Israeli strikes can have an immense impact on the US elections, depending on the locations that are hit,” Yolcu said, pointing out that an attack on Iranian oil fields may “create a shock in the oil supply,” affecting prices, markets and supply chains.

💬 “That’s increasing energy prices, which is going to help Russia, help China a bit, help Iran immensely. Hitting the oil fields and creating a supply [shortage] in the energy sector is going to help Iran in return. That’s one of the reasons why the United States is trying to avoid Israel hitting oil fields and energy industry institutions and sites,” the observer explained.

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◻️ Unique Russia-North Korea partnership pact will cool Pentagon hotheads, stabilize East Asia

◻️ Gazan boy appeals to Biden, White House to stop the war

◻️ Druzhba oil mega-pipeline marks 60th anniversary

◻️ How did child being treated for cancer survive in today's Lebanon?

◻️ Israeli army reportedly uses detained Palestinians as human shields

◻️ What's lie behind future Russia’s liberation of Toretsk

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