*SAUDI: EAST–WEST PIPELINE SHUT DOWN AS PRECAUTION AFTER ATTACK
*SAUDI: EAST–WEST PIPELINE WAS HIT BY MULTIPLE ATTACKS THUR.
*SAUDI: EAST–WEST PIPELINE ATTACKS RESULTED IN MULTIPLE INJURIES
All living former presidents and their wives attended this morning’s 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony in New York City. The current president did not attend.
According to a New York Times report, Trump was considering attending but changed his mind after being told he wouldn’t be allowed to speak. Instead, he attended the ceremony at the Pentagon.
Another reason he reportedly decided to stay in D.C. is that he’s scheduled to fly tomorrow to his golf resort in Ireland, where the Irish Open is being held. Leaving from D.C. makes the trip easier than flying out of New York.
Priorities.
Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were spotted giggling as people wept during the annual reading of names during the 9/11 memorial ceremony.
The camera transitioned to Mamdani and Cortez after showing a man weeping as the names were read.
This is the call after the refusal.
In May, Trump announced Project Freedom on Truth Social… US escorts through Hormuz. Saudi hadn’t signed off. Riyadh then closed Prince Sultan and the airspace to the US. Trump had to pause a branded operation within 36 hours and never said why in public.
In July MBS wanted political cover to hit Sanaa and said Saudi did not need American planes. Trump gave it. Then that same month Trump made the nuclear deal contingent on the Abraham Accords. Saudi still said no.
Now the Houthis have Mocha, the Red Sea is the remaining oil route, and MBS wants US strikes after all.
Trump offering intel and keeping US jets out of this is not a mystery. He already got walked back in public once. Saudi embarrassed Trump on a public stage. He is not going to put his name on their air war. And Trump is right to do this. Let the Arabs fight their own wars. They don’t get to pick and choose when they use the US for their convenience.
The oil pumping station on the Saudi East-West pipeline was completely destroyed during yesterday’s attack, according to satellite imagery released today.
This is incredibly important news, as the East-West pipeline can transport up to approximately 210 million barrels of crude per month at full capacity, providing Saudi Arabia with a major alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
The Canadian Press has seriously undermined its moral credibility.
Using the September 11 attacks primarily as a vehicle for discussing Islamophobia demonstrates remarkably poor editorial judgment. Those attacks were perpetrated by 19 Islamist terrorists who murdered nearly 3,000 people, most of them Americans.
For anyone old enough to remember September 11, the day remains profoundly painful and disturbing. Most of us remember exactly where we were when it happened. Anniversary coverage should focus first on the victims, the events themselves and how they changed the world forever—not subordinate that history to a contemporary political narrative.
CP is not simply another newspaper: it is Canada’s national wire service. Its journalists produce stories that are distributed to subscribing newspapers, broadcasters and digital platforms across the country, where they may be published largely unchanged under a Canadian Press byline. That gives its editorial choices enormous reach. A questionable framing does not remain confined to one newsroom—it can be reproduced nationwide and presented as authoritative reporting.
Canada faces a broader problem with the quality, balance and intellectual diversity of its media coverage. This may help explain the increasingly reflexive anti-Americanism shaping our public discourse. When a national wire service amplifies ideology instead of scrutinizing it, the effects reverberate throughout the entire media ecosystem. Informed debate suffers—and our democracy becomes more fragile by the day.
Pakistan turns down Saudi request to strike Houthis.
Pakistan says the Mecca Pact of mutual defense “doesn’t cover a pre-existing condition,” so it only covers wars started after the pact was signed. It also covers only state actors, not non-state actors (and perhaps preferably those within reach of Pakistani power projection).
Saudis won’t ask Turkey (the third partner in the Mecca Pact). If they did, Turks would happily deploy naval assets from their Somalia base. Turks itch to control Bab al-Mandab; a fight with the Houthis would give them an excuse. Saudis are not keen to replace Iranian occupation of Yemen and the strait with Turkey.
An Israeli official told Channel 12 that Houthi control of Bab-el-Mandeb is more dangerous than the current Hormuz situation, and the reason is simple geometry.
The eastern shipping channel past Perim Island is only about 3 km wide.
Ships will pass within visual range of Houthi positions.
Israeli official:
They will be able to fire at whatever they want with anti-tank missiles.
They will be able to see the ships with their own eyes.
That's the difference.
At Hormuz, Iran needs radar, surveillance systems, and anti-ship missiles to threaten traffic.
At Bab-el-Mandeb, a fighter with a basic ATGM on Perim Island can hit a tanker he can physically see.
No sophisticated targeting required. The official said this gives the Houthis "enormous power."
hters on the island.
Bessent on Iran:
The Iranians, if you look at their X accounts, they are trying to create economic problems in the US, either using the bond yields, using the oil price.
And, you know, just because whether it’s Stephanie, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, even the Wall Street Journal, you know, are so unhinged with Trump derangement syndrome, they want to give the Iranians a platform to operate on.
Among the revelations everyone should read in this report:
🇨🇳 CHINA :
• Copied Claude at huge scale to train Chinese AI models • Used Claude to watch social media, find critics, and track people overseas • One government office replaced its human analysts with Claude • Multiple companies hacked • Used Claude to help write software for weapons
🇷🇺 RUSSIA :
• Used Claude like an automated hacking team against Ukraine and Europe (targetting members of governments, military, diplomats) • AI rewrote malware when antivirus caught it • Phishing, hotel Wi-Fi traps, WhatsApp takeovers • Stole drone tech • Tried to design kamikaze drone swarms • Ran influence / propaganda campaigns
🇮🇷IRAN :
• Built tools to spy on Iranians (thousands of people profiled) • Made a fake browser add-on to steal identities • Used Claude to pick U.S. Navy targets • Built a domestic surveillance system • Ran propaganda campaigns
🇲🇱MALI :
• One consultant built a nationwide phone-spying system with Claude • Watched about 25 million SIM cards from all mobile operators • Made target files without the usual court-order step
🇾🇪YEMEN :
• A group in the north used Claude as their software engineer • Worked on a guided rocket, a long-range ballistic missile, and a hypersonic missile design
🇹🇷TURKEY :
• Ran online influence campaigns (same type of election-timed propaganda as Russia and Iran)
An Israeli source warns that a Houthi takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could prove worse than Hormuz, which currently draws most of the world's attention. At the strait's narrowest point, the Houthis would spot passing ships with the naked eye, fire anti-tank missiles, send out suicide boats, or take control of the vessels, all without the radar and sophisticated systems Iran relies on.
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Michael Froman: "Perhaps the most significant, if implicit, subsidy is Chinese manufacturing firms’ access to Beijing’s state-directed financial system, which channels vast credit to prioritized sectors, enabling Chinese firms to expand without the same concern for profit and return as their international peers."
This helps show why rebalancing is so difficult. Raising interest rates and cutting off financing to unprofitable producers would set off a self-reinforcing process in which a large number of producers would have to close down facilities and fire workers which, in turn, would reduce domestic demand further.
https://t.co/dq6jtEwkt9 via @ForeignAffairs
Something very strange is going on with the Saudi Air Force. They have 250 modern aircraft, including Typhoons and F-15Es, but they’re incapable of launching airstrikes on their own border? This bears watching closely.
Fairfax County's new 9/11 teaching guide devotes roughly half its content to creating "safe spaces for Muslim and Middle Eastern students." while mentioning military families just three times and first responders once.
The six-page document, obtained by Fox News Digital's @AsraNomani, contains 30 references to Islam, "anti-Muslim racism," and "Islamophobic rhetoric." It explicitly tells teachers not to "associate the 9/11 attacks with Islam or Muslims" and not to "center the extremists or the acts of the extremists." Only about 15% of the guide actually spells out specific 9/11 instruction.
Retired Vice Admiral Lou Crenshaw, who was inside the Pentagon when al-Qaeda terrorists flew a plane into the building, ripped the guide for failing to convey "the evilness of what actually happened," calling it a sanitized, "vanilla" approach that shaves the facts until students can't figure out what they're learning about.
🇺🇸 В колонке для The Washington Post бывший глава Google Эрик Шмидт, неоднократно бывавший в Украине и участвовавший в работе над военными технологиями, пишет, что после последней поездки впервые с начала полномасштабного вторжения уехал настолько встревоженным. По его оценке, Россия научилась воевать значительно эффективнее и постепенно переходит к стратегии тотальной войны, соединяя превосходство в людях и промышленном производстве с быстрым технологическим развитием.
Главным преимуществом Украины долгое время была скорость инноваций: небольшие команды военных, инженеров и оборонных компаний могли за считаные недели разработать новую систему, испытать ее на фронте и усовершенствовать. Российская военная бюрократия за этим не успевала. Теперь, предупреждает Шмидт, это преимущество быстро исчезает. Россия не только массово производит оружие, но и сама научилась быстро адаптироваться: на украинские дроны-перехватчики она ответила более быстрыми реактивными "Шахедами", а теперь создает и собственную спутниковую группировку, способную конкурировать со Starlink.
Поле боя при этом изменилось до неузнаваемости. Командиры находятся глубоко под землей, тысячи беспилотников ведут разведку, доставляют грузы и атакуют людей и технику. По данным, которые приводит Шмидт, около 80% украинских потерь происходит при перемещении военнослужащих между позициями.
Но главной проблемой Украины становится уже не способность изобретать новое оружие, а возможность производить его в достаточном количестве. Один украинский командир рассказал Шмидту, что его подразделение перестало искать новые российские цели: обнаруженных уже больше, чем имеющихся дронов для их поражения. Как пишет Шмидт, отличный беспилотник, произведенный сотнями, — это интересно, но ход войны меняет хороший беспилотник, выпускаемый сотнями тысяч.
Россия тем временем наращивает промышленные мощности для тотальной войны. Украина самостоятельно конкурировать с такими масштабами производства не может. Особенно опасной Шмидт считает предстоящую зиму: Россия уже использует нехватку у Украины средств защиты от баллистических ракет, нанося удары по электростанциям и подстанциям.
Главный вывод Шмидта: Украине недостаточно отдельных партий западного оружия. Запад должен фактически включить украинский ВПК в собственную оборонную промышленность — совместно производить оружие, вкладываться в украинские предприятия и массово поставлять перехватчики, боеприпасы и дальнобойные системы.
"Восхищение украинской стойкостью — не стратегия", — заключает Шмидт. За четыре года Украина выиграла для Запада время "кровью своих солдат и изобретательностью своих инженеров". Одного мужества недостаточно, чтобы защищать города и выиграть войну: Запад должен превратить это время в промышленное превосходство.
China Is Not a K-Shaped Economy. It Is an i-Shaped Economy
Using the “K-shaped economy” to describe China has become widespread and is now the mainstream description in many media.
Earlier this month, I came across a new expression from economist Xia Chun, from Hong Kong University, that is starting to spread in China: the “i-shaped economy.” The dot at the top is doing well, but it has little connection with the rest of the economy below.
“i” represents the small part of the economy doing very well — AI, advanced manufacturing, and exports, a relatively small part of the economy.
The vertical stroke represents the much larger traditional economy, middle class, small businesses and ordinary workers.
Most importantly, there is a gap between the dot and the line. Growth at the top is no longer transmitted effectively through employment, supply chains, incomes, taxation and consumption to the rest of society
I think this may actually describe China better than the K.
It is not only about linkage. The K also visually implies that the two halves carry roughly comparable weight. In China they don’t. In GDP contribution, employment and household income, the prosperous “upper arm” is nowhere close to the size of the struggling other part of its economy.
Maybe the media should start thinking seriously about the i-shaped Chinese economy.
BREAKING: The Houthis have swept through the last stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, completing an 18-hour offensive that gives them full control of the entire Red Sea coastline, reports our correspondent on the ground.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/x4hppEUXjX