RUSSIA - The so-called rules-based order imposed by the US and its allies on the global scene is an unstable structure, which is about to fall apart, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said in an exclusive interview with RT. Creating crises such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in various places is how the US is trying to rule the world, Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, told the broadcaster on Saturday. “So, the more crises they create, the better, they think, the situation is for America... It makes money from weapons, supplies, and by allocating money to its defense industry,” he said.

USA - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is sounding an alarm most would rather not hear: World War III has, he believes, already begun. Dimon points to escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, alongside a strengthening alliance among US adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. This growing geopolitical alignment, according to Dimon, is shifting global power dynamics and increasing the threat of a widespread, potentially catastrophic conflict.

UK - When a nation’s warships avoid the Red Sea because of the Houthis, that nation looks bad. They’ve got the ships and got the men. They didn’t have the money to arm them too. On Monday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius decided that a German Navy task group (of two ships) returning to Europe from the Indo-Pacific would not run the Houthi missile gauntlet in the southern Red Sea. They will instead go south around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa.

IRAN - Iran is preparing a fresh attack on Israel within days, intelligence officials believe. Tehran is expected to launch the attack from Iraqi territory using drones and ballistic missiles, possibly before the US election, Israeli officials told Axios. The attack would be intended as a response to Israeli strikes launched against Iranian military sites over the weekend. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran had the right to defend itself, describing Israel’s strikes as “evil committed by the Zionist regime”.

MIDDLE EAST - Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has declared that Hezbollah’s newly appointed leader won’t remain in charge “for very long.” On Tuesday, October 29, Naim Qassem was named as the successor to Hassan Nasrallah. Naim Qassem has served as Hezbollah’s second-in-command under Nasrallah for decades, Fox News explains. This year, he has also taken on a prominent role as the group’s spokesperson, coinciding with escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. In a post on the social media platform X, Israel’s Defense Minister emphasized that Naim Qassem’s appointment will be “temporary.”

USA - On Friday, the State Department approved two potential arms deals for Taiwan worth about $2 billion, drawing a sharp rebuke from China. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said one deal is for three National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and related equipment and has an estimated cost of $1.16 billion. The other deal is for radar systems and is worth about $828 million. The approval of the arms sales begins a period when Congress could potentially block the deals. But the sales are not expected to face any opposition since there is strong bipartisan support for arming Taiwan. In response to the approval of the arms sales, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that China “strongly condemns and firmly opposes it, and has lodged solemn representations with the US” and warned Beijing will “take all necessary measures to firmly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

RUSSIA - The group of emerging economies currently accounts for 23.3% of world merchandise trade, according to Ernst & Young India. The BRICS group could overtake the G7 countries in terms of its share of global merchandise exports by 2026, Ernst and Young India has projected. According to a report issued on Wednesday, BRICS nations’ combined share of global merchandise exports rose from 10.7% in 2000 to 23.3% last year. In contrast, the G7 share has declined from 45.1% to 28.9%. The share of the rest of the world in global merchandise exports has increased slightly from 44.2% to 47.9% during the same period.

GERMANY - Trust between Olaf Scholz and his coalition partners has hit rock bottom as Germany's economy continues to falter. The future of Olaf Scholz's "traffic light" coalition government hangs in the balance with talk of a break up between parties growing. Germans aren't due to go to the polls until September 28 next year, but relations between the leaders of Germany's coalition parties are said to be frayed. People close to the situation have claimed trust is lost between Mr Scholz, Free Democrats leader Christian Lindner and the Greens Robert Habeck, who is Germany's vice-chancellor. Tensions have been worsened by Germany's economic downturn, with manufacturing struggling against global competition and talk of recession. A slowdown in China, a drop in domestic consumer spending, Germany's ageing society and low productivity have all conspired against a country now dubbed the "sick man of Europe". Since that election, all three coalition parties have lost support in polls, in part prompted by anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by fears about living standards.

GERMANY - On the initiative of the German Defence Ministry, the federal government and the Länder governments are working together in a joint effort to accelerate the realisation of military construction projects. It is part of a wider commitment to massively strengthen the German armed forces. More than 60 billion euros are to flow into the maintenance, upgrading and expansion of Bundeswehr properties and facilities across Germany over the next few years. The expansion of military infrastructure is part of the Bundeswehr's reorientation on a potential war against Russia.

GERMANY - Baerbock calls for German participation in a ‘protection force’ for Gaza. Bundeswehr praises ‘incredibly close’ German-Israeli military cooperation. IDF has helped turn the Bundeswehr into an intervention army. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock does not rule out the deployment of Bundeswehr soldiers as part of an international ‘protection force’ for the Gaza Strip. This move would see Germany engaging in a military intervention designed to oversee a ceasefire. Other politicians in the ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition generally agree but reject – at least for the time being – Bundeswehr involvement in combat operations. If the mission did materialise it would build on what is now a long tradition of German-Israeli military cooperation.

GERMANY - The delivery of another German-built submarine to the Israeli navy is imminent. According to media reports, the vessel is named INS Drakon and is currently being completed by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) at its Kiel shipyard. Work and sea trials are almost finished and the sub – to be the IDF’s most expensive combat weapon – can be handed over very soon. It will be the next in a long line of weapon systems and components that Germany has supplied to Israel’s armed forces. The Merkava tanks that Israel is likely to use in a possible ground offensive in Lebanon are powered by German engines. Experts in the field say that this armaments partnership is essentially based on common interests. The closely woven German-Israeli arms cooperation is, in fact, increasingly accompanied by direct military cooperation – a further intensification of bilateral relations.

UKRAINE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned from his trip around Western Europe, including Berlin, at the weekend without the hoped for PR success and without any real new pledges of support. Zelensky had already been duped by the American cancellation at short notice of the planned Ramstein summit. That was to be his major opportunity to promote his so-called “victory plan”. On his visits to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin Zelensky largely heard Western leaders only repeating long-standing promises. Ukraine not only finds itself increasingly on the defensive militarily, losing more and more territory; Zelensky’s government is also coming under growing pressure at home. There has been a significant rise in army desertion numbers. A sharp tax hike, which Ukrainian politicians admit is likely to be highly unpopular, has become unavoidable to help finance the war.

USA - Dear Faithful American Catholics, I am addressing all of you, a few days before the Presidential Election that will call millions of American citizens to the polls. Even in conditions of relative normality, the exercise of the vote is your moral duty, through which you cooperate in the first person in choosing the person who will lead the Nation for the next four years. But in this coming electoral round – just as in 2020 and indeed much more so – you are not simply called to choose between two candidates who happen to be on different political sides but who both nevertheless have the common good at heart in compliance with the Constitution and the Law. No; in this election you must choose between two radically opposed ways of conceiving the government of your Nation: you are called to choose between democracy and dictatorship, between freedom and slavery.

USA - Rev Franklin Graham exhorted attendees at the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting, an event for faith leaders and others, that God is central to saving the United States from its current state of disarray. Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, began his remarks in Concord, North Carolina, on Monday by asking, “Have you ever thought that our country would be in such trouble? The only hope for this country is God.” Graham then shifted to talking about Trump, who was in attendance, saying that the Republican nominee holds the best political rallies in American history, with massive crowds and lots of energy. “However, rallies and positive poll numbers are not going to win this election. It’s going to be God. There’s a spiritual element that’s at work here. There are dark forces that are arrayed against this man,” the preacher asserted. “They’ve tried to put him in prison,” Graham continued. “They’ve tried to assassinate him twice. He’s attacked every day in the media. And the only hope for Donald J Trump and our nation is God.”

ISRAEL - IDF warplanes launched multiple missiles early on Saturday, targeting a number of facilities in the Islamic Republic. Israel relayed a warning to Iran through several third parties ahead of its missile strike against the Islamic Republic on Saturday, Axios has reported, citing three anonymous sources. According to the media outlet, West Jerusalem indicated what type of targets it would attack, while cautioning Tehran against retaliating.