Horrific images of the avalanche which caused flash flooding in Nepal, where the mixture of water mud, rocks and boulders literally destroy everything in its way: Houses and people swept away in seconds.
At least 19 people reported dead so far, with almost 400 tourists missing.
Something has changed in Europe over the last few weeks.
Maybe I'm connecting dots that aren't connected. But there are now enough dots that I think it's worth paying attention.
We have seen suspected sabotage and attacks against critical infrastructure across Europe.
An explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport â a strategically important cargo hub. US intelligence reportedly believes Russia was behind it. German investigators have since found more drones and explosives connected to the incident.
Poland and the Baltic states are increasing protection around dams, power stations and natural-gas infrastructure because of fears of Russian sabotage or false-flag operations.
Britain is openly talking about resilience and preparing its population for major emergencies. British security sources are now reportedly warning that Russia may be preparing some form of action against British interests.
Cyber attacks against European energy infrastructure are becoming part of the same uncomfortable picture.
And in the background, Russia continues testing NATO â in the air, at sea, through cyber operations and increasingly in the grey zone where attribution is deliberately difficult.
Then yesterday something very unusual happened.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe suddenly flew to Moscow.
Not quietly aboard some anonymous government jet.
A USAF C-17 flew Andrews â Riga â Moscow.
Visible enough for half the OSINT community to watch it.
Ratcliffe spent only a few hours there. Neither Washington nor Moscow has explained what was discussed.
Perhaps it was Ukraine. Perhaps prisoners. Perhaps Iran.
But there is another possibility that I find increasingly difficult to dismiss:
Washington may have discovered something serious enough that it wanted to deliver a message directly to the Kremlin.
Not through diplomats.
Not through a phone call.
The Director of the CIA. In Moscow.
We don't know.
But when sabotage, intelligence warnings, military signalling and an extraordinary CIA visit start appearing on the same timeline, I pay attention.
Sometimes the individual dots mean nothing.
Sometimes the pattern is the story.
A horrific scene of severe flooding at the Rasuwagadhi border point on the Nepal-Tibet border.
The strong currents wreaked havoc across the area, leaving 400 pilgrims and 105 Indian tourists also missing in the Nepal floods.
#NepalFloods#Nepal#Rasuwa#FlashFlood#Floods
A series of heat waves broke records and is taking a toll in Europe this summer.
This animation shows the daily max surface air temperature across Western Europe from May 1 to Aug. 19, 2026 using the @NASAGoddard GEOS model. https://t.co/HRvJ05kPLI
MORE: Putin continues to set unrealistic deadlines for the Russian military to seize the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, likely in part because of his misunderstanding of the battlefield realities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on August 23 that Putin most recently ordered the Russian military to complete the seizure of Donetsk Oblast by December 31, 2026 and noted that Putinâs main operational objectives in Ukraine remain the seizure of Kostyantynivka, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk cities in Donetsk Oblast â all part of Ukraineâs heavily fortified Fortress Belt defense line.
Zelensky stated that Russian forces have suffered around 267,000 personnel casualties, including about 155,000 killed, along the entire frontline since the beginning of 2026 and that roughly 70 to 80 percent of all Russian losses occur in the Kostyantynivka direction. Zelensky added that the Kremlin is preparing to mobilize around 300,000 servicemembers following the September 18-20 State Duma elections in part to reinforce Russian positions in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Putin has given Russian forces 15 separate deadlines since 2022 to seize the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, and Russian forces have failed to meet any of them.[10] Russian forces control roughly 21,170 square kilometers (or roughly 79.89 percent) of Donetsk Oblast and roughly 26,624 square kilometers (or roughly 99.77 percent) of Luhansk Oblast, according to the evidence that ISW has observed.
ISW continues to assess that the Kremlinâs deadlines for its military objectives remain divorced from the reality of Russian forcesâ battlefield performance and that Russian forces are highly unlikely to seize Donbas by the end of 2026, if at all.
New Zealandâs Fiordland, an untamed landscape where mist-shrouded peaks plunge into obsidian fjords and glacier-carved granite shelters rare wildlife in a temperate rainforest.
đ· Christian Hartmann
Day or night, some silhouettes remain unforgettable.â
DESTRIER. A one-of-one masterpiece from our Programme Solitaire.â
#BUGATTI#DESTRIER#BUGATTIDestrier#ProgrammeSolitaireâ
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WLTP: https://t.co/mCEE0ghyaw