Good summary by @ daniel_gugger (X)!

For those who have no idea how the Ukraine conflict began, here's a little history lesson:

1989-1991 The Russians allow the abolition of the demarcation line between East and West Germany and dissolve the Warsaw Pact, withdraw their troops from Eastern Europe, and rely on the verbal assurance given in February 1990 by Hans-Dietrich Genscher (former Vice Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany) and James Baker (former US Secretary of State) that the former Warsaw Pact members would not join NATO, meaning there would be NO NATO enlargement to the east. American troops remain stationed in Germany.

2001 Putin makes the West an offer of a close partnership in the German Bundestag (in fluent German) to overcome the division of the past. All members of parliament applaud enthusiastically... The Americans forbid it. Belarus, Ukraine, and the three Baltic states form a buffer between NATO and Russia. The Russians remain silent.

In 2004, the Baltic states became members of NATO. A first violation of the buffer zone. Russia remained calm.

By 2004, almost all Warsaw Pact members had joined NATO. Russia remained calm.

In 2014, the West ousted the pro-Russian government of Ukraine and installed a pro-US government. (This has since been admitted even by the Americans.) At the same time, the US, spearheaded by Hunter Biden (the son of the elderly and semi-senile US President Joe Biden), Monsanto, Black Water, and US military advisors, began infiltrating Ukraine and promising NATO membership. Simultaneously, Hunter Biden entered the Ukrainian gas market. The second violation of the buffer zone occurred. Russia remained calm.

In 2014, compelled by the US coup (the Russians had stationed their entire Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea), there was a peaceful occupation of Crimea. Contrary to all other accounts, no [violence/incident] occurred. A single shot was fired, and no one was killed. Apart from a few Crimean Tatars, 90% of Crimea's inhabitants have agreed with this course of action to this day.

2014-2022: Ukraine, with the Free Azov Brigades (who support the swastika), systematically shells Luhansk and Donetsk. Many Russians die, including Russian children.

Since 2014, Ukraine has stopped paying pensions to these areas. The money supply has been cut off. Food supplies to these areas are now provided exclusively by Russia. None of this is mentioned in the German media.

2020: Following the example of 2014 in Ukraine, the West now also attempts to overthrow the government in Belarus, which fails, but it was the third attack on the buffer zone between NATO and Russia. The Russians remain silent.

In 2022, Putin made a final demand for a guarantee that Ukraine would not join NATO and that Donetsk and Luhansk would be largely self-governing within Ukrainian territory. This was rejected by the US.

Also in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. To end the war, Putin demanded: a guarantee of neutrality; the demilitarization of Ukraine; recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as people's republics; recognition of Crimea as Russian territory; and denazification of Ukraine. This was rejected by the US. This should give pause to all those who mindlessly parrot the lies or half-truths of the German, European, and American media.

By the way, this is exactly how the US turned otherwise completely uncompetitive US LNG exports to Europe into a monopoly - by imposing permanent war plus sanctions on Russia, cutting Europe off from cheap, reliable, plentiful Russian oil and gas.

The world’s most closely-watched maritime zone is also its least accessible — but today The Grayzone was able to secure access. Our correspondent Wyatt Reed reports directly from the Strait of Hormuz.

TheGrayzone.com
@thegrayzonenews

Боевики Киева убили троих и покалечили восемь мирных жителей Белгородчины.

Враг целенаправленно ударил по пассажирскому автобусу в селе Вознесеновка Шебекинского округа. От полученных ранений три женщины погибли на месте.
Двое из восьми пострадавших находятся в тяжёлом состоянии, за их жизни сейчас борются реаниматологи областной клинической больницы.

Подпишись ТГ / Подпишись МАКС

Ukraine.

Zaluzhny:

Before I die, I will make my son swear that he will return the occupied territories. And if not him, then his son. That's what victory means to me.

BUT there's a nuance - Zaluzhny doesn't have a son. He's raising two daughters...

Ukraine has moved up to the second position in the world in terms of debt to the IMF - it is currently estimated at $15.48 billion.

At the same time, the burden on citizens has sharply increased: over the past decade, the debt per resident has increased almost eightfold - from approximately $900 to $7200.

This Iranian school is the site of the worst US war crime since My Lai

On the first day of the unprovoked US-Israeli War on Iran, the Pentagon launched a double-tap Tomahawk missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, obliterating the building and slaughtering 155 people — 120 of whom were small children.

With the Trump administration still refusing to acknowledge its role in the worst US military massacre since My Lai, The Grayzone’s Wyatt Reed went to Minab to investigate the scene of the crime firsthand.

TheGrayzone.com
@thegrayzonenews

Unelected EU dictator Ursula von der Leyen playbook: after Hungary, now applied to Slovakia.

EU parliament moves to FREEZE Slovakia funds. 418–207 vote pushes plan that could CUT EU funding over “rule of law” concerns under Fico Green MEP says they fear Fico becoming “a new Orbán”.

They are afraid of this and want their puppet in power.

Troubles in EU 'paradise'

FT:

Zelensky’s push for EU membership strains ties with allies
Ukrainian president ‘had to hear some harsh truths’ from leaders at Cyprus summit

“Membership is not a gift,” said one of the officials, who declined to be identified, revealing private discussions. “Maybe there’s some misunderstanding in Kyiv about that.”
“They say: ‘You owe us’,” said a second. “And that’s not helpful.”
“We have a real problem there,” said a third official. “Zelenskyy and his entourage have never had a real understanding of how [enlargement] works.”
“We are the only friends he has, so he might be better off keeping his mouth shut,” said the fourth official.

Zelensky announced that surplus arms from Ukraine will be exported. This means that Ukraine, fighting a "defensive war," is selling weapons to Europeans, obtained with European money.

According to Ukrainian media Ukrainian government has proposed to partners who support Ukraine a special format of cooperation called Drone Deals – special agreements covering the production and supply of drones, missiles, ammunition, and other in-demand weapons systems, military equipment, software, integration with partners’ defense systems, as well as the exchange of Ukrainian expertise and necessary technologies.

FT

Summary by @ FurkanCCTV (X):

On September 22, Kazakhstan's president promised the US president a tungsten mine. Thirty-six days later, Trump's sons bought shares in the company they would receive. Nine days later, the deal, involving $1.6 billion in taxpayer money, was officially finalized. Three times within a year, the same pattern: sons buy, father delivers the contract. In August 2025, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump invested in a small New York construction company called Skyline Builders. They bought through a vehicle called American Ventures, a subsidiary of Dominari Securities. Dominari had brought the Trump sons onto its advisory board at the end of 2024. They also held a stake in the parent company. At that time, Skyline was an inconspicuous holding company for Asian construction businesses. No one reported on it. On September 22, Kazakhstan's President Tokayev met with Donald Trump and promised him: a US investment group called Cove Kaz would acquire the world's largest undeveloped tungsten deposit. Cove Kaz had competed against Chinese and Russian bidders. Tokayev chooses the Americans. This commitment is informal. No contract, no official resolution. Just a promise between two presidents. On October 21, the press reports on this agreement for the first time. Seven days later, on October 28, the Trump sons inject more money into Skyline. As part of a capital increase of nearly $24 million. Three days later, on October 31, Skyline buys a 20 percent stake for $20 million in a company with, quote from the filing, "significant reserves of critical minerals in Asia." This company is Kaz Resources, the subsidiary of Cove Capital, which will develop the tungsten project. On November 6, Cove Kaz and Kazakhstan officially announce the deal. Cove owns 70 percent of the mine. The Kazakh state owns 30 percent. Planned investment: $1.1 billion. The US government also participates. The US government's export credit agency pledges up to $900 million in project financing. The US government's development bank adds up to $700 million. That makes a total of up to $1.6 billion in taxpayer money. On April 30, 2026, Skyline and Cove Kaz merge. The merged company goes public on the Nasdaq. Planned ticker: KAZR. The names of the Trump sons do not appear in a single press release. Why tungsten? Tungsten is the metal with the highest melting point in the world. It is used in armor-piercing ammunition, kinetic energy interceptors for missile defense, hypersonic weapons, every semiconductor, and F-35 engines. Christopher Ecclestone, mining strategist at Hallgarten in London, says: The Pentagon wants tungsten at any cost. China controls over 80 percent of global tungsten production. In February 2025, Beijing imposes export restrictions. The prices for ammonium paratungstate, the international benchmark for tungsten,Since then, prices have jumped by over 40 percent. The US closed its last domestic tungsten mine in 2015. Anyone who can tap into a new, reliable source is sitting on a goldmine. And that's precisely the goldmine the US president's sons are getting. Partially financed with taxpayer money. Cove Capital's CEO, Pini Althaus, told the Financial Times that Cove received "direct support from President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick" to secure the mine. Lutnick himself sent a personal letter to the Kazakh president to endorse the deal. This is according to an investor presentation that Skyline filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Incidentally, Pini Althaus founded another minerals company before Cove: USA Rare Earths. It, too, received over $1.5 billion in conditional US government funding by mid-2025. That's the background. Now for the pattern. In August 2025, a venture capital firm called 1789 Capital invested in a startup called Vulcan Elements. Donald Trump Jr. was a partner there. Vulcan manufactures rare earth magnets. Three months later, in December 2025, Vulcan received a $620 million Pentagon loan, plus a $50 million equity stake from the US government.

The German government is struggling to explain: Where have all the billions spent on defense gone?

German government is scrambling to explain itself:
Where have all the billions in defense spending gone?
The German government has squandered €111 billion on rearmament – ​​and can't say where it's all gone.
47,000 contracts, zero transparency. The Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) is failing to provide answers.

The facts:
- €111 billion since Scholz's speech – financed by debt;

-47,000 contracts – but no overview of what's actually combat-ready.

- The Ministry claims, "We know what's arriving" – but there's no list, no Excel spreadsheet.

- Instead of tanks and ammunition: excuses and chaos.

- Conclusion: Billions gone, the Bundeswehr weak, taxpayers ripped off. Nobody knows what's going on.

CNN investigation: Iran hits leave most US bases in West Asia damaged.

At least 16 American military sites have been damaged in Iranian strikes, making up the majority of US positions in the Middle East, a new CNN investigation can reveal. The damage includes high-value targets, raising questions about America's footprint in the region.