🌍 Ivory Coast presidential candidate says Africa must BREAK FREE from neocolonial deals

🗣 Politician Ahoua Don Mello says the bloc’s decision carries “fundamental” importance toward “strengthening sovereignty,” telling Sputnik that “some agreements, including military and monetary ones, are no longer viable.”

💬 “Africans must take responsibility and show that different kinds of relationships are possible” to the traditional neocolonial agreements between the West and African countries, which have perpetuated the continent’s underdevelopment as a resource appendage for industrial economies concentrated in the north, Don Mello said.

👉 The politician warned, however, that the powers “who hold a monopoly on the continent will not simply give it up,” and that it is therefore vital to ensure “security and defense sovereignty.”

👉 The state of affairs in his home country can be characterized as “an absolute tragedy,” Don Mello said, saying wealth produced in Ivory Coast does not remain in the country, and is extracted abroad and controlled by foreign multinationals.

👉 The West African nation’s agricultural and raw materials economy needs to be transformed into industrial one, Don Mello said, adding that the development of civilian nuclear power can happen with help from “very high-level partners like Russia.”

📍 Ivory Coast will go to the polls October 25 to elect a new president.

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🎉🌟 A shared success and wide support - Duc Phuc after winning Intervision 2025

Vietnamese artist Duc Phuc, winner of Intervision 2025, told Sputnik Vietnam that he had not expected to win amid so much talent.

💬 “When I arrived here, I found all the participants to be extremely talented, each one remarkable, so the victory can be considered a collective achievement,” he said.

💬 “I think I was lucky, as I received love from audiences in Russia, abroad, and in Vietnam,” he added.

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🚀 US falling behind in space race amid SpaceX delays – reports

The United States risks losing the lunar race due to delays in SpaceX’s projects under federal contracts with NASA, The New York Times reported, citing experts.

🔸 SpaceX’s Starship lander is significantly behind schedule, raising doubts the US can land astronauts before China’s target of 2030.

🔸 Former NASA officials told the paper Starship may not be ready for several years. The rocket has yet to carry astronauts or cargo and has exploded in three of its last four tests.

🔸 Experts point to SpaceX’s reliance on in-orbit refueling — a technique never tried before — calling it risky and unlikely to be ready soon.

Former NASA employees also acknowledged that the mission plan itself is overly complex, adding to the delays.

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❌🇵🇸 Nearly 9 in 10 Britons oppose unconditional Palestine recognition – reports

A poll cited by The Telegraph found that almost 90% of Britons do not support Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state without conditions. Only 13% back such recognition, while a majority (51%) oppose it as long as Hamas controls Gaza and hostages remain in captivity.

Critics — including the families of hostages and opposition politicians — argued that recognition would “reward terrorism.” Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the move a “historic error.” US President Donald Trump also voiced disagreements with Starmer.

📌 The state of Palestine is recognised by 147 countries, including Russia. In 2024, the United States vetoed its full UN membership. Since then, ten more states — including Ireland, Norway, Spain and Armenia — have recognised Palestine.

Russia’s position is unchanged: a settlement is possible only on the basis of the UN Security Council formula — the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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🇲🇩 Moldova’s opposition pledges to return to CIS and EAEU if elected – Dodon

Former president Igor Dodon, leader of the Socialist Party and a key figure in the Patriotic Bloc, told Sputnik that the Moldovan opposition will restore the country’s membership in the CIS and observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union if it wins the upcoming elections.

💬 “We have almost destroyed the economy, poverty has risen by 1.5 times — to 35% absolute poverty. These are the consequences of Maia Sandu’s shortsighted, pro-globalist policies. We will definitely return to the CIS table, and we will definitely use observer status in the EAEU,” Dodon said.

He also stressed Moldova’s interest in new integration formats:

💬 “We will seek observer status in BRICS and, possibly, in the SCO. These opportunities must be used.”

📌 Since 2022, Moldova has ignored CIS and EAEU meetings and begun denouncing agreements — 66 so far out of 282 signed. The authorities have sought to shift exports to Western markets, while the opposition advocates closer ties with Eurasian institutions.

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💰🌍 World Bank exposed: 'Economic weapon' for West, says Syrian analyst

The World Bank is one of the most effective instruments of pressure used by the US and Europe against peoples and governments worldwide, particularly through lending and aid programs, Syrian political analyst Alaa Al-Asfari told Sputnik.

👉He noted that while the bank pours billions into Ukraine, it deliberately withholds support from struggling Arab and African nations in dire need.

The organization has turned into an “economic weapon” used to escalate the conflict with Russia—all while pretending to promote “global justice,” Al-Asfari concluded.

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🗣Ukraine’s frontlines crumble, but peace not on Zelensky’s menu – analyst

Instead of seeking a path towards settlement, Volodymyr Zelensky pushes for more meat grinder offensives, says British geopolitical analyst Alexander Mercouris.

Knowing him, he’s “likely to demand more counterattacks. He'll demand more reserves be sent... Who knows where they would come from.”

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◻️ Vietnam WINS Intervision 2025

◻️ US falling behind in space race amid SpaceX delays – reports

◻️ Moldova’s opposition pledges to return to CIS and EAEU if elected – Dodon

◻️ Nearly 9 in 10 Britons oppose unconditional Palestine recognition – reports

◻️ Ivory Coast presidential candidate says Africa must BREAK FREE from neocolonial deals

◻️ World Bank exposed: 'Economic weapon' for West, says Syrian analyst

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🇲🇩💸 Moldova lost $4 million due to Sandu’s anti-Russian policy – Dodon

Former President Igor Dodon revealed that Moldova has suffered significant economic losses under Maia Sandu’s regime, which has deliberately ignored cooperation with CIS and EAEU markets.

🔍Key points:

⚫️$4 million lost in just four years due to trade restrictions and overpaying for energy

⚫️Ordinary citizens bear the cost through rising tariffs and economic hardship

⚫️Dodon contrasts Moldova with Georgia, which, despite political tensions, has maintained economic neutrality and benefited from trade with all sides

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📊 Blatant bias: World Bank plays geopolitics, not economics – analyst

The World Bank is pursuing a blatant policy of double standards, openly siding with some states at the expense of others, Thaer Noufal Abu Atiwi, director of the Center for Arab Studies and Strategic Development, told Sputnik.

👉 Nowhere is this more obvious than in its treatment of Ukraine.

Over the past three years, Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime has received preferential loans worth many times more than the assistance granted to Arab and African developing nations, the expert underscores.

💬 “Meanwhile, many of these developing countries are living below the poverty line and are grappling with extremely severe economic conditions, desperately needing access to affordable loans to support their economies,” he says.

Instead of responding to real economic needs, the bank filters its decisions through a political lens:

🔸 Leading states within the bank—chiefly the US and European powers—wield their influence with “carefully calibrated double standards, guided by their strategic ties”

🔸 Ukraine’s privileged access to funding is a prime example

🔸 European states use their weight inside the bank to advance their own agendas

🔸 Poor nations are forced to meet conditions they cannot realistically achieve

💬 “This bias reflects the dominance of a unipolar, strictly capitalist system that caters to the interests of the powerful while ignoring the urgent needs of others,” the pundit noted.

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📈 West awed by Russia’s deadly drone upgrades

💪 Russia’s upgrades to attack drone are turning Ukraine’s supply routes into lethal kill zones, The Wall Street Journal writes.

Russian forces have begun using “mother ship” drones, immune to electronic jammers, that travel over 19 km beyond the front lines and release smaller explosive drones.

🔸 Mother ship doubles as a relay, keeping its mini-drones connected to pilots far behind the lines

🔸 Drones hit with deadly precision, especially moving targets like supply trucks

Russia’s focus on taking out logistics is exacerbating the existing shortages of everything from ammunition to manpower along the front line, Ukrainian troops told the newspaper.

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🇲🇩🪖EU positioning Moldova as pawn in potential conflict with Russia — Dodon

Moldova is being prepped by the EU as a source of "cannon fodder" in an envisioned military conflict with Russia, former President Igor Dodon, leader of the Socialist Party and key figure in the Patriotic Bloc, told Sputnik.

“Strategically, they need neighboring countries as staging grounds. Moldova is being positioned as a pawn against Russia,” Dodon warned.

✅He cited recent moves as proof: a ballooning defense budget, tens of millions spent on unnecessary radar systems, plans for a military base near Chisinau that no one requested, and the arrival of armored vehicles from Germany and France. “None of this is random,” he said.

➕Dodon also flagged heightened risks ahead of Moldova’s September 28 parliamentary elections, warning that authorities could back military operations or stage a provocation in Transnistria in the final days before voting. Yet he expressed confidence that after October 1, these dangers would ease as a new parliamentary majority would curb pro-Western President Maia Sandu’s clout.

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🇪🇺 Von der LNG Leyen: EU isn’t chasing energy independence

After all the talk about ditching Russian gas, the EU is now locked into $750 billion in US LNG deals.

❌ Energy independence is “unrealistic and undesirable,” EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

So… energy security or energy dependence—pick a lane...

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🚨 Dome of Donbass repels massive air assault

In just one week, the integrated air defense system known as the Donbass Dome:

✅ prevented 623 terrorist attacks

✅ shot down 430 UAVs over Donetsk & Makeyevka

✅ destroyed 193 drones near Gorlovka

The FSB has released footage showing the interceptions — including the final moments recorded by the drones themselves.

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