The US-led military bloc is choosing the path of confrontation, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko | NATO is no longer hiding that it is gearing up for a potential military conflict with Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has said, pointing to this year's Steadfast Defender drills, the bloc's largest maneuvers since the end of the Cold War. ● The US-led military bloc has been expanding eastward for decades, despite assurances given to the Soviet Union in the run-up to German reunification in 1990 that it would not do so. Russia has repeatedly described the expansion toward its borders as a threat to its security. Speaking to RIA Novosti on Tuesday, Grushko said that...

💬 “...now NATO representatives have stopped hiding that they are preparing for a potential armed clash with Russia.” “Regional defense plans have been approved, concrete tasks for all of the bloc’s military command structures have been formulated. Possible options for military action against Russia are being continuously worked out,” the diplomat added. He cited the Steadfast Defender exercise that ran from January through late May, saying that “for the first time, the enemy was not a fictitious state, but Russia.”

While NATO did not specifically name Russia in its announcement of the drills, it called the exercises preparation for a conflict with a “near-peer” adversary. NATO’s main security document identifies Russia as the bloc’s largest threat.

■ Russia to respond if West approves Ukrainian long-range missile strikes – Lavrov (RT.com) | Moscow would trigger a “contingency plan” outlined by President Vladimir Putin if Ukraine receives permission to use Western-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned. Putin earlier said that any such strikes would be treated by Moscow as a direct attack by the countries that provided the weapons.

■ Ukraine: Geopolitical Background (Swiss Policy Research)
■ Ukraine War: A Geostrategic Assessment (Swiss Policy Research)
✅ The War's Pivotal Impasse Crystallizes as Russia Cements Negotiation Terms (Simplicius)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Tuesday Iran would retaliate against any attack on the country, as Israel prepares a response to Tehran's ballistic missile strike on Tel Aviv earlier this month. | Speaking during the first anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Flood, Araghchi said,

💬 "The Israelis know that our missiles can reach all their targets," adding that Iran would not hesitate to respond to any assault on its institutions or infrastructure. Araghchi reaffirmed Iran's commitment to supporting the "Axis of Resistance" and said the government would maintain this stance until victory is achieved.

On October 1, Iran launched over 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel, claiming the attack inflicted severe damage on military bases and security centers. Iran described the barrage as a "legitimate right" to defend its sovereignty and in retaliation for the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a July explosion in Tehran—a blast Iran attributed to Israel, though Israeli officials have not confirmed responsibility.

Rescue attempts foiled by repeated strikes | Israel’s assassination last weekend of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has put the group in a thorny position, fighting ongoing Israeli invasions in southern Lebanon while scrambling to keep its leadership organized. ● The assumption has been that Nasrallah would be succeeded by Hashem Safieddine. Safieddine is Nasrallah’s cousin and, reportedly, is Hezbollah’s head of intelligence. He is also the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council. Friday’s Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s compound in southern Beirut is thought to have targeted Safieddine. ● However, Safieddine’s fate is unclear following that attack. Hezbollah reports rescue attempts at the site have been prevented by multiple, subsequent Israeli attacks. Israeli media, indeed, speculates that Safieddine has been killed, but there is no confirmation yet.

Former US President Donald Trump said that if he became the president again, the relationship between Israel and the United States would be even stronger than ever before.

💬 "If and when I'm President of the United States, it will, once again, be stronger and closer than it ever was before," Trump said on Monday evening during an event in Florida.

Trump added that he was committed to protecting the Jewish state and American Jewish communities, pledging to prevent threats against Israel and support its fight against terrorism. During the Presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, both candidates attempted to position themselves as the more pro-Israel candidate.

■ Trump visits Lubavitcher Rebbe's grave in honor of October 7 | "We cannot overstate the importance of Trump paying tribute to Schneerson on the anniversary of the Oct 7 attack which kicked off the Cabalist charade leading to WW3. Schneerson basically calls for the collapse of civilization and the genocide of non-Jews. " (Henry Makow)

■ Harris Defends Providing Military Aid to Israel Amid Major Escalations (Antiwar.com)
■ Support for Israel Has Cost US Taxpayers At Least $22.76 Billion in One Year (Antiwar.com)

On Saturday, former US First Lady Hillary Clinton called for increased federal regulation of the internet and repealing Section 230. “If the platforms… don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control,” she said, raising the question of who “we” represents in that statement. | The recent purge of YouTube accounts, including those from Mark Sleboda, Rachel Blevins, Glenn Diesen, DD Geopolitics, Fiorella Isabel, Larry Johnson, and Eva K. Bartlett, it is clear that the Western leaders are scared of their populations finding out the truth about their policies and actions.

💬 “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people,” Former US President John F. Kennedy.

“That’s what they’re afraid of,” Sleboda, an expert in geopolitical relations and a frequent guest on Sputnik Radio, told The Final Countdown. “They don’t trust you to hear an alternate view from the official US government narrative and come to what they consider the right political conclusions.”

Kit Klarenberg | Psychological warfare, stalking, and harassment are all part of the CDU’s clandestine toolkit. The newly-released file reveals British intelligence is exporting this sinister “counter-disinformation” credo to every corner of the globe. | On September 13th, an extraordinary document was released via litigation against the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is an August 2021 slide deck presentation by Britain’s shadowy, spook-infested Counter Disinformation Unit to the White House National Security Council’s Interagency Policy Committee, which regularly gathers Washington’s spying services together to coordinate on national security matters. The contents amply expose how London’s long-running use and abuse of security and intelligence agencies to warp online perceptions is, by design, spreading the world over. The presentation, which has never hitherto been publicly revealed, was delivered by CDU operatives on Aug. 10th 2021.

■ Since February 2022, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the UN Security Council, and the UNGA have repeatedly disseminated detailed data indicating the large-scale use of toxic substances by the Kyiv regime in violation of Ukraine's obligations under the CWC, as well as provocations organized by Kyiv and its Western patrons to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of similar activities.

■ Despite the irrefutability of the information we have presented, Ukrainian armed formations continue to systematically use toxic chemicals (chlorine, ammonia, ammonium nitrate, sulfuric acid), including those included in Lists 2 (Bi-Zet) and 3 (chloropicrin) of the CWCW, as well as the CWCB against units of the RF Armed Forces, civilians, and officials of the civil administration.

■ The reason for this is the political patronage and de facto approval of such crimes by Washington, Berlin, London and Paris. In particular, Russian experts have documented violations by Ukraine of the provisions of the articles: MORE