🛢 Trump not discussing Russia oil sanctions with Xi signals priorities shift — Media

The fact that Donald Trump didn’t pressure China to stop buying Russian oil as part of new US sanctions during talks with Xi Jinping in Busan gives "an early glimpse of just how loosely he was planning to enforce" the restrictions, Bloomberg says.

💬 "It undermines the entire sanctions narrative — you can’t claim to be tough on Moscow while ignoring one of the largest buyers keeping their economy afloat," said sanctions expert Brett Erickson, as quoted by Bloomberg.

The lack of such pressure on the leader of China - despite Trump’s own intent to apply it when rolling out new sanctions against Russian oil companies - "suggests Trump prioritized stabilizing US-China ties," the article concludes.

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🚨🇷🇺🇧🇾‘DON'T PUSH IT’: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that the Oreshnik missile system will go on combat duty in December, with any decision on its use to be made jointly with Vladimir Putin.

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🚨 Moment of truth: Russia checkmates Ukraine’s false conflict narrative

🗣 Kiev is blocking journalists from visiting surrounded Ukrainian military positions in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), since it would quickly reveal that the country is losing across the entire front line, experts tell Sputnik.

💬 "Zelensky’s team claims there are no encirclements, that they’re advancing successfully. All this propaganda about their 'success' is designed to keep massive financial flows coming in, which can then be quietly pocketed," says Andrey Koshkin, retired colonel and expert at the Association of Military Political Analysts, in an interview with Sputnik.

🔶 In the West, no one hides the fact that Ukraine is the most corrupt country. Western politicians are lining their own pockets with billions in aid sent to Ukraine. It is believed that Zelensky himself has long since become a billionaire, according to the pundit.

💬 "If foreign journalists are able to interview representatives of the forces encircled by the Russian Army, the Western public could hear things that, according to Ukrainian leadership, are better left unsaid — including questions about how effectively war funds are being spent," Nikolai Kostikin, expert at the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, tells Sputnik.

🔶 Russia’s offer to give Western journalists access to the encirclements, and the Ukrainian leadership’s resistance, show that Russia has already taken over the narrative from Western media, according to Kostikin.

📍 The unfolding situation is yet another way Russia is pressuring Zelensky toward peace, Kostikin stresses.

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🇵🇱​​ Is Poland heading for EU exit door? Foreign Minister raises alarm

The scenario in which Poland leaves the European Union is realistic, as a lot of right-wing Polish politicians reject any European initiative as something bad, the nation’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorsky, said in an interview with Onet.

🗣 This is the same pattern out of which Brexit emerged, he adds.

Earlier, former Speaker of the Sejm Marek Jurek said that Poland should leave the EU to restore its sovereignty. Additionally, Polish PM Donald Tusk warned the country’s president, Karol Nawrocki, pushed the nation to leave the Union.

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🚨🇺🇸🇻🇪Trump DENIES authorizing strikes on Venezuela after a Miami Herald report claimed attacks on military sites were imminent.

The White House dismissed the story, saying “unnamed sources don’t know what they’re talking about.”

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💀🗣 US nuclear strike survivors blast US for decision to resume nuke tests

Members of the Nihon Hidankyo organization in Japan that unites people who survived the nuclear strikes of 1945 described the US administration decision to resume nuclear weapons tests as "absolutely unacceptable," Le Figaro reports, citing a letter sent to the US embassy in Japan.

👉 The decision of the US president undermines the efforts of world nations to create a peaceful and nuclear weapon-free world, the organization notes.

Earlier Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki also condemned the decision, the Japan Times shared.

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🪖💥💣 Russian strike severs key Ukrainian supply route

Russian forces have destroyed a critical bridge over the Volchya River in the Dnepropetrovsk region.

The bridge was a vital artery for the Ukrainian military, used to transport ammunition and equipment to the Pokrovsk direction.

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🚨🇺🇸The Pentagon APPROVED sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying US stockpiles wouldn’t be affected - CNN

But, according to the CNN, the final word rests with President Trump, who backed off after a call with Putin, saying the US “needs” the missiles for itself — leaving Zelensky waiting, and Europe watching.

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🥇 Everyone thinks gold is eternal — But what if it’s running out?

🔥 Gold's on fire in 2025: spot prices hit $4,035 an ounce on October 31, up 60% this year and smashing records at $4,371 just weeks ago.

📈 Analysts at Bank of America see price averages even topping $5,000 in 2026.

🔸 What’s driving the rally?

🔶 Central banks hoarding it — buying up to 900 tons of gold in 2025 - de-dollarization, and ETF inflows.

🔶 But the rally isn’t just about demand: It’s about scarcity.

🔶 Peak gold is in the rearview — annual mining output has flatlined since 2018 at about 3,000 tons.

🔶 Today, 190,000 tons circulate in jewelry, bars, and vaults worldwide, says the US Geological Survey.

🔶 Only 50,000 to 60,000 tons of gold remain in the ground — enough for just 20 years of mining at current rates, according to American Standard Gold.

🔸 New discoveries? Only five majors since 2020, totaling 17 million ounces, with none in 2023 or 2024, says S&P Global Market Intelligence.

👉 And the gold we do find is getting poorer — ore grades have dropped from 10 grams per ton in the 1960s to less than one gram today.

🔸 The world’s main remaining gold hotspots (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025) are:

🇦🇺 Australia - 12,000 tons (Yilgarn Craton)

🇷🇺 Russia - 12,000 tons (Siberian deposits and the Far East)

🇿🇦 South Africa - 5,000 tons (Witwatersrand Basin)

🇺🇸 US - 3,000 tons (Nevada)

🇨🇳 China - 3,100 tons

🇷🇺🇦🇺 Together, Russia & Australia hold around 38% of global unmined gold, valued at over $7 trillion at current prices.

🌏 The Earth's core might hoard more gold — but it's locked away, inaccessible.

🔶 Gold can be recycled — about 25 to 30% of annual supply comes from old jewelry and e-waste.

🔶 But recycling alone can’t replace mining.

🤔 So, are we witnessing the final gold rush — or just the beginning of a new golden era?

📍 Tomorrow’s markets will tell us whether scarcity becomes the ultimate driver…

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🌎 US atomic tests could open Pandora’s Box for 'new arms race & nuclear war'

🗣 A nuclear war risk is growing and Washington's apparent readiness to resume nuclear tests is making it more grave, warns Professor Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, in an interview with Sputnik.

💬 "All nine nuclear powers are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, making them more efficient and more deadly. On top of that, there's pressure to expand the nuclear arsenals," Kuznick tells Sputnik.

📍 To complicate matters further, other countries – including South Korea and Ukraine - are flirting with the idea of developing their own nuclear weapons, the professor notes.

🌍 The world is going the wrong direction and becoming more dangerous.

🟠 US unready for nuclear tests

🔶 If the US resumes nuclear tests, Russia and China will follow suit, according to the professor.

💬 "They actually have more to gain from this than the US does," he says, adding that it would probably take years before the US would be able to conduct new nuclear tests, as the Nevada test site has effectively atrophied.

🔶 At the same time, it would mean the end of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which have not been ratified by the majority of nuclear powers.
Up until now, the US, Russia and China have abided by it: the last Russian nuclear test took place in 1990, China's – in 1996.

🟠 Reaction to Russian wonder-weapon?

🔶 The idea of resuming nuclear tests followed Russia’s trials of its cutting-edge weapons. Could the US boast anything like that? Not yet — and it would take years to catch up, according to the pundit.

💬 "The Burevestnik and the Poseidon [missiles] are new science fiction-like, new generation of nuclear delivery systems. You add that to the Oreshnik test back in November 2024," Kuznick notes.

🟠 Give peace a chance

🔶 The most logical response to Washington's breaking the de facto moratorium on nuclear tests should be “the United States is out of control," Kuznick says.

💬 "That would be what [Russia and China] should say and do and call for new talks to end this expansion, intensification of the nuclear arms race," the professor underscores.

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