The Houthis in Yemen on Monday confirmed that its missile hit a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden, the movement’s military spokesman Yahya Saria said. | Earlier in the day, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the US-owned and operated container ship has been hit by a missile fired from the Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. 💬 "The Yemeni navy conducted an operation against a US ship in the Gulf of Aden. During the operation, several anti-ship missiles were used, which directly hit the target," the spokesman said on air of the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah broadcaster.

■ US, UK forces can no longer pass through Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Yemeni official (PressTV)
■ Yemen Announces Targeting A US Ship with Ballistic Missiles (Alahed News)

The number of incoming tourists to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories has fallen by 80% because of the war in the Gaza Strip. | Tourism in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories fell by 80% in the last three months of 2023, due to the war in the Gaza Strip and the cancellation of the majority of flights to and from Tel Aviv, according to a report by the Calcalist website. ● According to the report by this Israeli daily business newspaper, the number of tourists to the occupied lands has decreased to 180,000 in the last quarter of 2023. In December 2023 and the Christmas holidays, the number of incoming tourists to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories was only 53,000, which shows an 80% decrease compared to December 2022 when the number of incoming tourists to the region was 226,000. ● The Israel Ministry of Tourism predicted the arrival of about 900,000 foreign tourists for the last quarter of 2023. Since October 7, 2023, the Zionist regime has conducted relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Warsaw fed “disinformation” to investigators and tried to blame the blasts on Russia, European officials have said | Polish officials withheld evidence and attempted to stall an international probe into the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, making investigators “suspicious of Warsaw’s role and motives,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. ● The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas lines – which linked Russia with Germany under the Baltic Sea – were destroyed in a series of explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022. A joint inquiry by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden is ongoing, with investigators theorizing that a Ukrainian team rented a yacht in Germany from a Polish company, which they used to transport explosives to the blast sites. ● When the investigators chased these leads in Poland, they found themselves stonewalled by government officials and law enforcement agents, the Journal reported, citing sources within the investigation.

■ New Polish Chapter in CIA’s Nord Stream Cover Story Signals Growing US-EU Split (Sputnik News)

Yemen has vowed to continue to prevent the passage through the Red Sea of all ships that are owned by Israel or heading to the regime's ports as long as the ongoing genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip goes on. | "We affirm that no Israeli ships or [ships] linked to it or heading to its ports [in the occupied territories] will pass [through the Red Sea], and we are serious about that," Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of Yemen's Supreme Political Council, said on Saturday.

💬 "Our armed forces are the guardian of the Red Sea and behind them are 40 million fighters from our people ready and present for confrontation," Mashat said, adding, “We will continue to prevent [the passage of] Israeli ships or those heading to the Zionist entity's ports, and we will not stop until the aggression and siege of Gaza stops.” "Preventing the navigation of the Zionist enemy is a Yemeni choice to impose peace and [ensure] a dignified life for [Palestinian] people in Gaza," he added.

The Yemeni official stated,

💬 "If the United States is committed to protecting the Israeli enemy, then we affirm that we are committed to protecting and supporting our brothers in Gaza and are ready for all possibilities, and all options are available."


■ China-owned shipping giant halts trips to 'Israel' amid Red Sea ops. (Al Mayadeen)

The unprecedented step would push countries to use alternative currencies, Robert Shiller has warned | According Shiller, seizing the assets would give the global community, especially countries which, like Russia, “convert their savings into dollars and thus entrust them in the reliable hands of Uncle Sam,” grounds to doubt the US currency💬 “If America does this to Russia today… then tomorrow it can do this to anyone. This will destroy the halo of security that surrounds the dollar and will be the first step towards de-dollarization, which many are increasingly confidently leaning toward, from China to developing countries, not to mention Russia itself.” “I can’t convince myself that this [confiscation of Russian assets] is the right way,” he explained. “In addition to the fact that this will be confirmation for the Russian leader that what is happening in Ukraine is a proxy war, it could paradoxically turn against America and the entire West,” Shiller explained, adding that the situation would likely turn into “a cataclysm for the current dollar-dominated economic system.”

The Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson highlights that the "Israel"-bound Norwegian-flagged oil tanker was only targeted after its crew had rejected all warning calls. | In a televised statement, Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree confirmed that the naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted an oil tanker with a missile strike. [...] The Norwegian-flagged ship was loaded with oil and headed to the ports of the Israeli occupation, General Saree announced in the statement. The Yemeni Armed Forces succeeded in the past two days in enforcing the ban they had declared earlier this week without the need for military action.

■ Yemen's Houthis strike Norwegian-flagged oil tanker heading to Israel (aNews)
■ Missile Hit Causes Fire on Chemical Tanker in Red Sea - Reports (Sputnik News)
■ Palestine - Occupation Forces Have Serious Losses (Moon of Alabama)

Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Медведев) Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council | And for this money, new rivers of blood will flow | Primitive blackmail of the US Congress by the Biden administration is not new at all and has historical precedents. "Give money to our guy (insert the right last name), or we'll have to start a war with the Russians," - that's what various American presidents have said at various times, extorting dollars from their legislators. The question today is different:
   1. Never has so much money been hammered out for a minor state in the process of disintegration.
   2. Never so aggressively and brazenly extracted money for a country that has openly corrupted a sitting U.S. president and his family.
   3. never since the Cuban Missile Crisis has the threat of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO and a transition to World War III been so real.
This is a new phenomenon in American political discourse created by Joe, Hunter and Associates. Ahead of them looms the prospect of impeachment (which is unlikely) and electoral defeat (which is very likely). Hence, the boorish blackmail, the incessant tantrums and wild innuendos toward us. ● Of course, the Administration and their intimidated patsy will get the money. Not now, so in the new year. In order to continue the business of war at any cost. And for this money, new rivers of blood will flow, for which the Biden family and all their Bandera scum are responsible. (DeepL + LanguageTool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia on December 6, having wrapped up his trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What signal does Putin's Mideast tour send to the world? | President Putin embarked on a Middle Eastern tour on Wednesday to meet with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE and ruler of Abu-Dhabi, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud. ● The Western press were quick to point out that the trips to Abu-Dhabi and Riyadh were Putin's first visits to the Mideast since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. The tour has clearly demonstrated that the West's efforts to smear and isolate Russia failed miserably, international observers say. ● Why Mideast Players Didn't Buy Into West's Ukraine Narrative: According to Carnelos, the "Global Rest" did not buy into the West's oversimplified narrative of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict — which was presented as a clash between 'an aggressor and a victim', ignoring the broader historical context of NATO's eastward expansion and Kiev's sabotage of Minsk Agreements. But at last the truth has come out.

■ Putin arrives in Saudi Arabia (RT.com)
■ Diplomacy in desert: Putin recognizes UAE's environmental stewardship (TASS)
■ The resurrection of Russia and the multipolar world prevented the New World Order (Cesare Sacchetti)

A new study detected a sharp uptick in trading activity on Tel Aviv and US stock exchanges before October 7 | Some traders may have been informed about the Hamas plan to attack Israel on October 7 and used that knowledge to make millions of dollars by short-selling Israeli securities, a study by US researchers published on Monday suggests. ● Law professors Robert Jackson Jr. from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University examined trading in exchange-traded funds that invest in Israeli companies, as well as short-selling activity on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and options activity around Israeli firms traded on US exchanges. ● Short-selling is aimed at making a profit on an asset that is expected to drop in price. The seller "borrows" a security and sells it on the open market with the goal of buying it back later at a lower price and pocketing the difference. Researchers found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks that triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

Greta Thunberg is apparently no longer fighting for renewable energy. The planned wind farms in Norway is the latest quixotic battle in which the "Fridays for Future" initiator is engaged. | The Swede, together with other climate protectors, blocked access to the Norwegian Ministry of Energy in Oslo. They are protesting against the construction of wind turbines in the west of the country, reported the AFP news agency. ● The reason for their resistance is the indigenous peoples who live in the area. “We cannot use the so-called climate change as a cover for colonialism,” said Thunberg, according to TV2, outside the ministry’s doors. “A climate transition that violates human rights is not a climate transition worthy of the name.”

A branch of UBS Bank, located at Tellplatz 12, Basel, Switzerland, gave a written notice to a Depositor today explaining why they CANNOT GIVE HIM HIS WITHDRAWAL: "Liquidity Challenge." | Yes, you read that right: The largest Bank in Switzerland told a Depositor IN WRITING, they cannot give him his withdrawal due to "Unforeseen liquidity challenges." As most readers already know from prior stories this week, UBS is the largest bank in Switzerland, and the largest PRIVATE BANK in the world.

Dani Naveh, chief executive of "Israel Bonds", says that most of the investment was derived from the US and Europe. | Since October 7, $6 billion has been borrowed by “Israel” through international debt investors, which included $5.1 billion across three new bond issues and six top-ups of existing dollar-euro-denominated bonds, and more than $1 billion of fundraising through a US firm. ● According to investors, they were issued in so-called private placements, during which securities are not provided to the public market but to select investors instead. The choice for private placement could be to increase funds for the war quickly or without garnering unwanted attention. ● Of two dollar bonds issued this month, “Israel” is paying coupons of 6.25% and 6.5% on bonds maturing in 4 and 8 years, which are much higher than benchmark US Treasury yields ranging between 4.5% and 4.7%, arranged by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America respectively when the bonds were issued. [...] It is significant to note that Galit Altstein wrote for Bloomberg News that the ongoing war on Gaza is causing the Israeli economy significant losses, estimated at about $260 million daily.

Felicity Arbuthnot and Prof Michel Chossudovsky | Israel has launched an invasion (October 7, 2023) of the Gaza Strip. As outlined by Felicity Arbuthnot with foresight 10 years ago in a December, 30 2013 article: “Israel is set to become a major exporter of gas and some oil, “If All Goes to Plan”." In the current context, Israel’s “All Goes to Plan” option consists in bypassing Palestine and “Wiping Gaza off the Map”, as well confiscating ALL Gaza’s maritime offshore gas reserves, worth billions of dollars. The ultimate objective is not only to exclude Palestinians from their homeland, it consists in confiscating the multi-billion dollar Gaza offshore Natural Gas reserves, namely those pertaining to the BG (BG Group) in 1999, as well the Levant discoveries of 2013.

"This is a continuation of the policy of inflicting as they call it - a strategic defeat on us," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told Russian state television when asked about the new U.S. sanctions. "They will have to wait in vain forever before that happens." Zakharova said. | Russia on Friday dismissed new U.S. sanctions over the war in Ukraine, saying that the United States would never defeat Moscow, while the boss of Russia's fastest growing natural gas company quipped the sanctions were a badge of success. The United States on Thursday targeted Russia's future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities. ● Western leaders and Ukraine have repeatedly said they seek to defeat Russia on the battlefield, though some Western leaders have denied what President Vladimir Putin says is a Western plot to carve up Russia and steal its natural resources. Putin is girding the $2.1 trillion economy for a long war and Western hopes of stoking a swift Russian economic crisis with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed have not been realised. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Russian growth of 2.2% this year - faster than either the United States or the Euro area - though the Fund last month lowered its forecast for 2024 growth to 1.1%. The West has frozen hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian money, but Putin has joked that the sanctions have not stopped the import of Western goods such as luxury Mercedes to Russia and that Moscow will work to undermine the sanctions by buying what it wants on global markets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Chinese capital of Beijing to participate in the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, a Sputnik correspondent reported. | On Monday, the Kremlin said that Putin would pay an official visit to China from October 17-18. The Russian leader is expected to hold negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss further development of the Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, as well as topical regional and international issues. ● According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin and Xi Jiping will exchange detailed opinions and coordinate positions. ● The Kremlin added that Putin would also hold a number of bilateral meetings with the leaders of the participating states of the forum. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also arrived in Beijing on Monday and met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

■ Xi, Putin to conduct in-depth dialogue on bilateral relations — Chinese Foreign Ministry (TASS)
■ 'One of the Most Important Diplomatic Events': China Belt and Road Forum Review (Sputnik News)

Qatar threatened that if the bombing of Gaza does not stop, it will stop the export of gas to the countries of the world. | Palestinian resistance fighters launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the positions of the Zionist regime in the occupied territories on Saturday morning from the Gaza Strip, which shocked the regime, because such an inclusive and unprecedented operation is occurring for the first time in the 75 years of occupation. ● Retaliating the operation, The Israeli regime cut off water and power to the Gaza Strip from yesterday Tuesday and banned the entry of food and fuel to the strip where 2.2 people were living. Palestine's Ministry of Health also reported 1,100 people dead in Gaza and 27 others in the West Bank.

■ Jordan Moving Tanks and Troops to Israel Border (The Gateway Pundit)

Top stories from the Russian press on Thursday, October 12th | Experts mull scenarios of how the conflict between Israel and Palestine may unfold; the US national debt hits a new record high; and the purported blast near a Baltic Sea gas pipeline raises suspicions of a false narrative concocted for pushing further anti-Russian sanctions. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Low energy prices make Russian industry more competitive than its European rivals, a Sber official has said | Electricity costs for Russian consumers are nearly ten times lower than in the UK, and are roughly four times less than in the EU, a leading banker stated on Wednesday, referring to prices for households and businesses. ● Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the board of Russia’s largest lender, Sber, was speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow. 💬 “Electricity is cheap in Russia. If you take the price in Russia and the price that British industries pay, I do not know if there is any industry left with such prices, but the price is almost ten times lower in Russia than in the UK. In the EU, the prices for industrial consumers are four times higher per kilowatt/hour, and for households also 4-4.5 times higher,” Popov explained. ● According to the British government website, floor unit prices for electricity for households averaged £0.34 ($0.41) per kWh over the past year. Russian consumers pay on average $0.04 per kWh.

In the past 150 years, the US Money Supply has only contracted five (5) times; and they were Recessions and the Great Depression. It is happening again. | Two U.S. money supply metrics that investors tend to pay close attention to are M1 and M2. The former accounts for the cash and coins in circulation, as well as the demand deposits within an individual's checking account. Meanwhile, M2 factors in everything in M1 and adds money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs) below $100,000. The main difference is that M2 factors in cash that takes a little extra work to get your hands on. ● For as far back as the eye can see, M2 has been climbing. Since the U.S. economy steadily grows over the long run, it's only natural that more cash/capital is needed to facilitate transactions. In fact, M2 rising is so common that some economists may not even be paying attention to it as a monthly reported datapoint. But in the rare event that M2 meaningfully declines, pay attention!

While the US role in looting Syria’s resources is well-documented, less is known about the complicity of Iraq's Kurdistan region in its transportation and distribution | Although the porous Iraqi-Syrian border stretches for over 600 kilometers, about half of it – in practice – is not subject to the authority of either state. Over the years, this lack of comprehensive border control has given rise to a number of security threats to both nations, not least the persistent presence of ISIS elements in border regions. ● From the Iraqi side, there has been a pro-active approach in countering this low-level terrorism with the establishment of two defensive lines by the Joint Operations Command, in addition to concrete barriers and watchtowers. ● Smuggling from Syria into Iraqi border towns is another salient feature of current border activities, and one which presents both a threat and an opportunity for the US-led international coalition whose forces operate on both sides of the border.

■ US Ramps Up Systematic Looting of Syrian Oil, Ships 35 Tankers Out of Country (07/17/23)
■ China [correctly] accuses US of oil theft (01/19/23)

💬 Colleagues, It has been a year since the sabotage in the Baltic Sea and almost as much since the Security Council convened on this issue for the first time. During that time, we have heard numerous assertions that national investigations by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden would allow to identify the perpetrators very soon. However there have been no results so far despite the seven UNSC meeting in both open and closed formats. ● At the same time, more and more evidence is emerging in the expert community that it is Washington who stood behind the disruption of the Nord Stream pipeline and went ahead with this outrageous criminal act guided by a narrowly self-interested desire to consolidate its dominance in Europe, which is in dire need of Russian energy. ● The sad anniversary today is a good opportunity to recover the timeline. Let’ briefly recall the major developments.

■ Seymour Hersh: A YEAR OF LYING ABOUT NORD STREAM (09/27/23)

Seymour Hersh | The Biden administration has acknowledged neither its responsibility for the pipeline bombing nor the purpose of the sabotage | I do not know much about covert CIA operations—no outsider can—but I do understand that the essential component of all successful missions is total deniability. The American men and women who moved, under cover, in and out of Norway in the months it took to plan and carry out the destruction of three of the four Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea a year ago left no traces—not a hint of the team’s existence—other than the success of their mission. ● Deniability, as an option for President Joe Biden and his foreign policy advisers, was paramount. No significant information about the mission was put on a computer, but instead typed on a Royal or perhaps a Smith Corona typewriter with a carbon copy or two, as if the Internet and the rest of the online world had yet to be invented. The White House was isolated from the goings-on near Oslo; various reports and updates from the field were directly provided to CIA Director Bill Burns, who was the only link between the planners and the president who authorized the mission to take place on September 26, 2022. Once the mission was completed, the typed papers and carbons were destroyed, thus leaving no physical trace—no evidence to be dug up later by a special prosecutor or a presidential historian. You could call it the perfect crime.

■ Nord Stream Blast: Why the West Still Can't Name the Culprit (09/26/23)

Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, September 18th | Moscow is forming a kind of society of sanctioned countries, the EU bans entry to Russian vehicles and Eastern Europe reinstates the embargo on Ukrainian grain. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Moscow building fraternity of sanctioned countries North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has completed his six-day visit to Russia’s Far East. This coming after he discussed issues of military cooperation with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. Kim inspected Russian bombers, which are capable of carrying nuclear arms, and warships. The US and South Korea have cautioned that if something becomes of this interaction, Moscow and Pyongyang will pay a dear price. Washington also insists that Kim’s visit has alarmed Beijing because it heightened instability near Chinese borders, potentially hindering China’s ability to normalize relations with the US and its allies in East Asia.

“Germany does not import Russian oil from India!”, or How a non-commissioned officer’s widow flogged herself | The hypocrisy of Germany, which is commonly called the locomotive of the European Union, knows no bounds. Information leaked to the media by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany about the supply of Indian oil caused a real stir in public circles. Imports of petroleum products (gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, bitumen and kerosene) to Germany from India over the 7 months of 2023 increased by as much as 12 times compared to the same period last year - from €37 million to €451 million. This looks more than strange because India itself has traditionally been perhaps the largest oil importer in the world. So, we are dealing with resale. [...] The Germans, who are, for a moment, the initiators of the fuel and energy blockade of Russia, “turn on the fool,” they say, products imported from India are not affected by the sanctions. However, such “fairy tales for the faint of heart” will not dissuade the expert community.