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Debt Rattle October 24 2026

Oct 242026
 
 October 24, 2026  Posted by at 8:03 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  No Responses »


Pierre Bonnard Nude in an Interior c1935


• The Social Effect of MAGA: The American Nation Breathes (Afanasyev)
• Trump Turns To Cold War-Era Law To Tackle Fuel Crisis (RT)
• Ukraine Says Starlink Still Restricted After Trump Says Limits Lifted (BBC)
• Elon Musk Pushes Back Against Ukraine Narrative (CTH)
• Trump Says It’s ‘Not Looking Good’ For Ilhan Omar (NYPost)
• Here’s One October Surprise, Anyway (James Howard Kunstler)
• America Sails Away, Europe Gets The Bill (RT)
• The Ukraine Conflict Is Entering Its Final Phase (Evgeny Kuznetsov)
• EU Will ‘Inevitably’ Restore Economic Ties With Russia – Putin aide (RT)
• Macron Targets Trump Over French Riots (RT)
• DOJ Brings Criminal Charges Against FBI Officials (CNN)
• Rogue AI Agents Infiltrating Us Bank Accounts – Axios (RT)
• AI Finds Cybersecurity Flaw Affecting 70% of The Internet (CNN)
• Internet Security Threat Is 22 Years Old. Ai Made It A Crisis In 2 Days (CNN)

 

 

 

 


A Russian voice on MAGA. Don’t think I’ve seen that before.

“It is noteworthy that conservative and religious Americans have twice as many children as their liberal and non-religious counterparts.”

“Mikhail Afanasyev is head of research at RT’s Social Well-Being Index project..”

• The Social Effect of MAGA: The American Nation Breathes (Afanasyev)

Despite the disappointment among voters regarding the state of the economy in the US in recent years, there are observable effects and trends of social improvement.


First and foremost, it’s important to note a significant decrease in the level of violent crime. Of course, after President Donald Trump’s controversial firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erica McEntarfer, for publishing weak labor market figures, trust in American statistics has been considerably shaken. Thus, reports of achieving the lowest murder rate in history – 4.3 cases per 100,000 population – may be politically motivated and deliberately boastful.

Nevertheless, a noticeable decline in the rate of murders and other violent crimes has indeed occurred in recent years. This can be attributed to increased federal funding and strengthening of the police force, as well as intensified efforts against illegal immigration during the Trump administration.

A particularly striking aspect of this is the comparison with Canada, which has been and remains a bastion of liberalism in immigration and domestic policy. Unlike the US, where the level of violent crime is traditionally high, Canada has always been perceived as a safe society. But now, everything is changing before our eyes.

Since 2015, the rate of violent crime per capita in the U.S. has decreased by 15.1%, while in Canada, on the contrary, it has increased by 36.9%. As a result, for the first time in history, the land of the maple leaf has surpassed the U.S. in terms of violent crime per capita.

Another significant trend: Gallup polls show that the perception of homosexual relationships as morally acceptable has stopped increasing and even declined in the US The share of those supporting same-sex marriage fell from 71% in 2023 to 64% in 2026. Support for gender transition practices among Americans decreased from 46% to 38%.

The most radical shift has occurred among Republicans. While Democrats’ acceptance of the morality of homosexual relationships remains at 80%, and independent voters have dropped from 74% in 2021 to 64% in 2026, among Republicans, the acknowledgment of homosexual relations plummeted from 56% in 2022 to 35% today (see chart). Only 5% of Republican voters consider gender transition morally acceptable – compared to 42% of independents and 60% of Democrats.

As we can see, the MAGA effect is concentrated within the Republican electorate and primarily manifests in the consolidation of Republicans based on traditional values. At the same time, there is an intensifying value conflict between conservative Republicans and the Democratic Party electorate.

Perhaps the most vivid manifestation of the MAGA effect is that in the summer of 2024, the trend of decreasing births among white Americans was replaced by steady growth, and by spring 2026, the proportion of newborns from white families reached 51.5%, the first increase in five years.

Let’s see if this trend can be maintained, but the mere fact of the growth in births among white Americans is quite remarkable – it demonstrates a surge of optimism in the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) community and proves that they still have fight left in them. In an era of victorious globalization, WASPs in the US were already being metaphorically buried with a derogatory epitaph, yet they suddenly breathed life and showed they are ready to fight for their country, which their ancestors built.

It is noteworthy that conservative and religious Americans have twice as many children as their liberal and non-religious counterparts. Thus, the conservative American community reproduces itself (total fertility rate 2.22), while the liberal American environment naturally shrinks by half in each subsequent generation (total fertility rate 1.02), mainly replenishing itself through immigration.

The descendants of pilgrims and pioneers remember that the primary traditional value is the will to live. Everything one needs to know about MAGA can be boiled down to two points. First, it is the rise of the American spirit. Second, it serves as a visual reiteration of a biblical lesson: the salvation of those who are drowning is in the hands of the drowners themselves.

Read more …

“The US president’s push to curb energy prices ahead of the midterms follows his diesel deal with Russia..”

• Trump Turns To Cold War-Era Law To Tackle Fuel Crisis (RT)

US President Donald Trump has invoked a Cold War-era national security law to boost domestic oil production and refining, as rising fuel prices threaten the Republicans’ chances in November’s midterm elections.


Speaking on Thursday at a Republican campaign rally in Iowa – an agricultural state where farmers have been hit hard by the oil crisis – Trump announced that his administration would use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to provide up to $150 million to expand American refining capacity and produce diesel and gasoline “at record levels.” He also predicted that the Iran and Ukraine conflicts would end soon, sending gasoline and oil prices “tumbling down.”

Enacted in 1950, the DPA allows Washington to financially support industries deemed essential to national defense. In a presidential memorandum, Trump designated domestic petroleum production, refineries, pipelines, and storage facilities as critical to national security, arguing that private companies could not expand capacity quickly enough without federal intervention.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised the funds would be deployed in cooperation with private companies, while the Department of Energy separately projected the initiative would increase refining output by millions of gallons of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other products per day. Vice President J.D. Vance had earlier announced plans to invoke the law to expand a Delek-operated refinery in Tyler, Texas, although such projects typically take months, if not years, to complete.

Trump’s announcement comes as his approval rating has plunged to a record low of 31% – compared with 47% when he began his second term – ahead of the midterm elections on November 3, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday. The survey also found that 68% of Americans disapproved of his handling of the economy.

Fuel prices in America sharply rose after the US and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, disrupting global energy supplies. According to the US Energy Information Administration, average gasoline prices have climbed from $2.94 per gallon immediately before the conflict to $4.28 in the week ending October 19, while diesel has jumped from $3.81 to $6.28 over the same period.

The Trump administration has sought to tackle the fuel crisis through several emergency measures, including releasing 172 million barrels from strategic oil reserves, relaxing gasoline-blending requirements, temporarily easing diesel regulations, and announcing additional subsidies for struggling farmers.

In early October, Trump also announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to release more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel onto global markets, with additional supplies expected later. He has also repeatedly pressed Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which he blamed for rising fuel prices.

The president’s pressure sparked pushback from Zelensky, who called Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow “a weak decision” and “not fair and not honest” while refusing to comply with the refineries ultimatum. In response, Trump suggested that Ukraine should “get a new president” instead of Zelensky, whose term expired more than two years ago, while calling continued Ukrainian strikes a “disgrace.”

Read more …

Ukraine uses Starshield on top of Starlink.

• Ukraine Says Starlink Still Restricted After Trump Says Limits Lifted (BBC)

Ukraine is still recording issues with the Starlink network, sources within the defence ministry say, after Donald Trump said limits on the satellite uplink had been reversed by Elon Musk. The sources told the BBC that instances of drones experiencing connection loss at speeds of 161km/h (100mph) were being recorded, hampering military operations.


The US president had denied instructing the tech billionaire to restrict connectivity to Starlink’s military-grade counterpart, Starshield, before saying on Thursday that Musk had “put it back”.mmMusk previously said he was not behind the slowdown, which affected Ukraine’s ability to use attack drones and co-ordinate defensive operations. The Ukrainian defence ministry sources said the military was constantly monitoring the performance of both the Starlink and Starshield networks.

They added that there was “currently no confirmation that these restrictions have been lifted”. Last week, Kyiv said uplink speeds to the low Earth orbit satellites had been restricted, affecting the speed at which drones could travel. Any drone travelling faster than 100mph lost its connection, officials said. Shortly after, Musk said that Starshield, which Ukraine uses for some of its operation, was controlled by the US military and suggested that the Pentagon could be behind the issues.

The White House has since repeatedly denied deliberately placing limits on the network in Ukraine. Trump refused to say whether he had called Musk to ask him to lift restrictions to the service when asked about reports to that end on Thursday, but said: “Bottom line, he put it back.”

Why is Starlink internet so important on the battlefield in Ukraine?
Ukraine uses both the civilian service Starlink and the more secure Starshield, depending on what communications are needed. The networks use 10,000 satellites to provide connectivity, particularly in remote areas and on the battlefield. Starshield allows Ukrainian drone operators to see targets in real time, as well as operate interceptor drones.

Russia is not authorised to use Starlink, so when Ukraine sends long-range missiles deep into Russia to hit oil refineries, the network does not work. One Ukrainian soldier said there was “simply no alternative” to Starshield, adding that earlier in the week, connectivity had been cutting out when his unit had been travelling in a car at 80km/h (50 mph).

“I’ll tell you this much: God forbid they shut it off completely – it would be an absolute catastrophe,” he told the BBC. “We need a backup option for securing communications and internet.” Another soldier said they had reverted to the “proven algorithms” they used before they had Starlink when it initially started playing up, but stressed that Ukrainian forces did need the network, citing its speed. “Even one or two seconds is critical when we can transfer data and orders faster,” she said. “You can really feel that advantage on the battlefield.”

Ukrainian reports of a slowdown to the service came during a tense diplomatic row between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. Faced with midterm elections next month, Trump has waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed a deal to import Russian diesel for the US market – a move criticised by Ukraine and its European allies.

Trump said the strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Kyiv says are crucial to stemming the main revenue source for Moscow’s war effort, have pushed global prices higher. While the attacks have had an impact on global fuel prices, rises seen this year have primarily been due to the Iran war. Zelensky said the US had also threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing if the strikes did not stop, something Trump later denied. The row prompted a war of words between the two world leaders, with Trump suggesting it was time for Ukraine to get a new president and Zelensky implying Trump was not a real leader.

Earlier on Thursday – before Trump’s comments – Zelensky had said the speed of the system had still not been restored fully. “I am waiting to hear from US Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio. He promised to get back to me with information within 48 hours or so.” The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had told Musk that he was frustrated the Starlink system’s speeds were still capped, and that the system was working closer to normal following that conversation.

Read more …

“.., with Some Uncomfortable True Statements ..”

“.. Elon Musk has called the baby ugly..”

Why does Musk want to be an active part of the war?

Especially when Trump does not?

• Elon Musk Pushes Back Against Ukraine Narrative (CTH)

In a series of posts to his X account, Elon Musk has called the baby ugly as it pertains to Ukraine and the DC system that benefits from the continued funding exploits. This response appears to be pushback against those who are blaming him for restricting the use of Starlink systems.


A few hours before this post, the Wall Street Journal published yet another article on the Starlink/Starshield dynamic where they attempted to walk back part of their prior false reporting – yet frame the new information as Musk was still to blame.

(VIA WSJ) – “The Ukrainian military says the disruption of its use of Starlink satellites is having a significant impact on Kyiv’s defenses against Russia’s invasion. The slowdown triggered a wave of finger-pointing, much of it focused on the difference between SpaceX’s better-known Starlink service for consumers and its Starshield service for government users.

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk ordered the slowdown and discussed the decision in a call with President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. U.S. officials said Trump called Musk Wednesday and asked him to lift restrictions. But Ukrainian officials said they were still suffering from low-speed limits early on Friday.

What is Starlink? – Starlink is SpaceX’s global network of more than 11,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites that beam broadband service to terminals around the world. Starlink customers include rural homeowners, recreational boaters, airlines—and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. Many civilians use the relatively cheap satellite service to stay online where the country’s broadband infrastructure is damaged.

What is Starshield? – Starshield is SpaceX’s more secure satellite service for governments. It has two variants: a custom-built satellite network SpaceX launched for the Pentagon; and a lower-tier, military-grade service that connects to commercial Starlink satellites. The more basic service offers encryption features, and allows the equipment to travel at faster speeds than those on a commercial Starlink account.

What service does Ukraine use? – Ukraine is using the more basic Starshield service, which uses Starlink’s equipment. Ukraine’s weapons—attack drones, interceptors and uncrewed boats—need to travel at high speeds to intercept Russian Shahed-type drones, bomb the Russian army’s logistics and stall Russia’s invasion force. Many of those drone missions are now failing because of the speed limit imposed by SpaceX, according to the Ukrainian military.

The U.S. government owns the physical Starshield satellite constellation that SpaceX operates, but that isn’t the infrastructure that Ukrainian forces are using. Troops there use a kind of “Starshield as a service”—infrastructure owned and controlled by SpaceX. Some of the Starshield links used in Ukraine were bought with U.S. funds, including through a $138 million contract issued in 2024.”:

When you peel all the skin back from the layers of this narrative, what we likely discover is that Ukraine was using the Starlink (“Starshield as a service”) product to launch and guide drones into Russia, thereby using Musk’s network to carry out attacks into Russia likely without authorization.

With all of the deal-making before these Starlink issues, during the Starlink issues and after the Starlink issues, the actual clarity of the situation is muddled. However, if President Trump is trying to leverage both Ukraine and Russia toward a peace agreement, the elimination of Zelenskyy’s ability to weaponize Starlink is likely a shove in the direction of peace.


[VIA X-Platform] – “This technical thread suggests (explains) that the entire Starlink/shield slowdown issue is not a consequence of a political decision in the US or by Musk but the result of Ukrainian engineers hacking the system to bypass it’s controls and do something they are not permitted to do – and when Starlink took steps to prevent the bypassing and ensure the controls remained effective, suddenly the system stopped working in ‘bypass mode’ – and Zelensky then set out to politicise matters. The explanation makes the bits of the puzzle fit together and fits with the New York Times article in which Ukrainians explained that although the system is formally limited to 100 mph they have managed to exceed it.”

[..]

Read more …

” — suggests she should be forced out of Congress for using ‘fake name’..”

• Trump Says It’s ‘Not Looking Good’ For Ilhan Omar (NYPost)

President Trump signaled Thursday that he expects Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to get the boot from Congress if it turns out that she used a “fake name” when she was sworn in.


“It’s not looking good,” Trump said of Omar’s legal predicament after bombshell court filings related to the federal immigration fraud probe against the congresswoman revealed her actual surname – Elmi – is identical to that of her ex-husband, who is also rumored to be her biological brother.

“She used a fake name to be sworn in,” Trump asserted at a rally in Iowa. “I assume she must immediately have to resign from Congress.” US President Donald Trump reacts on stage during a Republican campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa. The president directed rally-goers to “please inform our great Speaker of the House of Representatives … that the Democrat Party has just conceded her seat. That Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, her real name, has openly admitted to fraud, and she will not be legally allowed to be a member of that august body any longer.”

“She won’t be able,” he continued. “I mean, I don’t know: If you get sworn in with a false name, I would imagine that’s pretty tough to remain.” Prosecutors referred to the Minnesota Democrat as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar,” in a Wednesday filing in DC federal court. A source familiar with the investigation confirmed that Omar is not the congresswoman’s “real” last name, meaning she was born with the last name of Elmi. Reps for Omar did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Trump also mocked Omar’s less-than-forceful denial that her ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, may be a blood relative. “Not to my knowledge,” Omar responded when asked directly on MS NOW on Wednesday whether she was related to her former husband. n Trump called it “one of the worst answers I think I’ve ever heard.”

“You know I’ve heard some bad political answers … but that would be about the worst,” the president said, arguing that Omar “didn’t know whether or not she married her brother.” Trump, who has long been critical of Omar, went on to call her a “scammer.” “I’m pretty good at watching that stuff, and she’s been a scammer for a long time,” he said.


Earlier this week, the president suggested Omar could face jail time if convicted of immigration fraud. “She could go to jail,” Trump said Tuesday. “They keep talking about deportation.” The Minnesota Democrat maintains she became a citizen at age 17 through her father, who became a naturalized citizen in 2000, five years after emigrating to the US. She has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

During the rally, Trump also announced plans to use federal dollars to expand domestic diesel and gasoline production.“In more breaking news, my administration is using the Defense Production Act to release $150 million to increase American refining capacity to produce more diesel and more gasoline at record levels,” the president said.

In a statement, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the funds “will be used strategically and in partnership with private industry to rapidly bolster America’s existing energy infrastructure.” “By restoring energy addition policies, we will continue to unleash American energy dominance and lower costs for the American people,” Wright added.

Read more …

“The Left has always preferred the ashes of its own making to the inheritance of better men.” —Celina101 on X

• Here’s One October Surprise, Anyway (James Howard Kunstler)


Erica Chenoweth of Harvard (They / Them?) Master Color Revolutionary

By now, everybody and his uncle interested in public matters has probably read that a claque of current-and-former agency officials, ex-USAID busybodies, military officers, activist academics, Democratic Party paladins, and freelance communist jihadis has been exposed plotting the overthrow of the US government. The plot was reported by the diligent “X” blogger Jennica Pounds under her nom-de-plume “Data Republican,” who lately received an enormous document-and-recording dump courtesy of careless color revolutionaries who recorded themselves and saved doc files against orders, the dumb bunnies.


Ms. Pounds, an experienced software engineer turned political detective, came to public attention early in 2025 when she assisted Elon Musk’s DOGE operation in building a database of NGO money trails emanating from the colossal USAID grant matrix — after which her identity was “doxed” by Rolling Stone and she underwent a harassment campaign.

Of course, USAID was abolished early in the Trump 2.0 admin, and a lot of the “activists” defenestrated from it moved into scores of NGOs, with their salaries switched from taxpayer funding to the bank accounts of George Soros-connected orgs and sundry other shady characters like Shanghai-based Neville Roy Singham. These are the NGOs forever puling about “our democracy,” meaning their drive to punish, persecute, and push around Americans who demur from a communist future. Data Republican says her reporting so far is “only the beginning” of much more detailed and alarming disclosures.

Coincidentally this week, their cover was also blown by Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MN and former CIA analyst), who told an audience at the U. of Chicago that the Democrats intend to go after and wreck any young person who might think about working in the current administration. Ms. Slotkin, you might recall, was in that video put out a year ago — with five other US lawmakers — telling military officers they should-and-must refuse “illegal” orders. Sedition-lite, it looked like at the time.

Before we get into the meat of their playbook for us, and what might happen in response, let’s just dox a few of the characters involved. You should know who they are (and maybe the DOJ should, too). They are not necessarily the usual suspects you’ve read about before like the omnipresent lawfare ninjas, Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, Mary McCord, et al., so busy filing frivolous lawsuits in the federal courts.

For instance (as reported by one Eric Schwalm on “X”), there’s Erica Chenoweth, the transvestite professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of government who acts as chief strategist and hub for the “color revolution” planned by the United Democracy Alliance cabal she is associated with. Ms. (or Mr.?) Chenoweth’s big contribution to Jacobin thought is “the 3.5 rule” which says that if you can get that percentage of people out on the streets making a ruckus, you can successfully overthrow a government.

Then there’s Danielle Reiff, former USAID, now co-founder of the Democracy Renewal Group, Renew American Democracy, and Renew to Thrive orgs. . . very verbal on video laying out the exact procedures for the US color revolution. And there’s Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith (Ret.) who runs a network of over a thousand retired military officers called National Security Leaders for America. He’s in charge of “role-playing” exercises in preparation for post-election hijinks. Then there’s Julia Roig, founder of the Horizons Project who is responsible for “building relational infrastructure so that disparate groups can act in concert without a single hierarchical command.”

Then there’s Maria Stephan, co-author, with Erica Chenoweth, of the sedition tract Why Civil Resistance Works. Then there’s Brenden Halloran, former USAID, now with the Renew to Thrive org, responsible for “accountability ecosystems, overcoming fragmentation among groups, and long-term sequencing of reforms.” Then there’s Walt Roberts, also on the Renew to Thrive team, plus the Mediators Foundation and the Inter-Movement Impact Project.

Then there’s Laura Adams, also former USAID, now in Renew to Thrive and PACT, whose mission is to turn strategy papers into operational plans. Then there’s Zoe Marks, also in Harvard’s Kennedy School, a “scenario-planner for Horizons and United Democracy Alliance. Then there’s “cohesion” strategist Paul Zeitz, co-founder of UnifyUSA. Partner with Danielle Reiff on Renew to Thrive and active in NGOs Renew to Thrive and National Security Leaders for America. There’s the bunch. Now you know.


Top row: Reiff, Smith, Roig; Center row: Roberts, Halloran, Adams; Bottom Row: Stephan, Slotkin, Chenoweth


As to the coup playbook, here goes: The idea is to turn out massive street actions (protests and riots) in the blue cities, based on rumors that President Trump has somehow “interfered” in the election, and create enough chaos so that Mr. Trump would be tempted to invoke the Insurrection Act or some-such national emergency measure. The coupsters mentioned above, and their cohorts and underlings, have been quietly confabbing with blue state attorneys general and governors.

These officials would unite to declare that Mr. Trump’s actions make him illegitimate, and would set in-motion procedures for said governors to declare the president a tyrant and an outlaw and themselves as the “new governing authority.” They would move from that to a new constitutional convention and bring about all the heralded revolutionary changes chattered about for months such as abolishing the electoral college and Senate, changing-up the Supreme Court, etc. Voila! Trump and his government are out! The Democratic Party (and their new DSA commissars) would take over and the punishments would begin. . . .

But. . . what if President Trump doesn’t play along? What if he insists that the blue state governors must ask (or beg) for federal troops to be sent in to control the street violence in their cities before he commits to anything? Then the onus would be theirs, wouldn’t it? They will have asked for help? Mr. Trump will have obliged. How does that make him a tyrant? (It doesn’t, of course.) Or. . . the blue state governors might not ask for federal help and Mr. Trump could just watch their cities burn down.

That would kind of be on the blue governors, too, wouldn’t it — hey, they didn’t ask for federal troops and their own feckless police couldn’t get the job done because: previous “de-funding” and all that nonsense. Then, how about Mr. Trump moves to arrest said blue state governors for sedition and treason (especially if they entertained any collusion with foreign operators, such as CCP-connected Neville Roy Singham’s NGO network or any of Soros’s overseas outfits)?

And how about arresting and likewise charging many of those aforementioned NGO strategists, along with the governors? (And while you’re at it, throw in the lawfare ninjas who have assisted in all this mischief.) And how about after accomplishing that, the president then and only then declares the Insurrection Act, sends in federal troops to quell the street chaos, and moves to indict and try said seditionists and traitors in the military tribunal apparatus? There it is! Just some suggestions. . . .

Read more …

An article I split in two:

As Washington shifts the Ukraine burden to Europe, Andrey Sushentsov examines the EU’s strategic limits and its costly confrontation with Russia

Andrey Sushentsov, dean of the Faculty of International Relations at MGIMO and a member of the Scientific-Expert Council under the Security Council of the Russian Federation, discusses why Western Europe is so afraid of a direct confrontation with Russia, how the US is shifting the burden of the Ukraine crisis onto the EU, why the “pyramid of trust” surrounding Kiev is crumbling, and when the Ukraine conflict might come to an end.

His interview, first published in Russian by TASS, was translated and edited by the RT team.

• America Sails Away, Europe Gets The Bill (RT)

Evgeny Kuznetsov: You have noted that the US is seeking to extricate itself from the Ukraine crisis by shifting the burden onto Western Europe. If Washington does indeed distance itself, are these Europeans prepared, politically and economically, to assume the role of Ukraine’s principal “security guarantor”?


Andrey Sushentsov: The US strategy in the Ukrainian crisis initially reflected its archetype as a maritime power employing a “continental sword” in its confrontation with a major continental power. This involves a neighboring country with military resources, which the maritime power supports in order to weaken its rival.

Ukraine was well suited to this role, as a large state with substantial armed forces, motivated to confront Russia. But the limitation of such a strategy is that you can’t fully control the behavior of the “sword.” Nor is it entirely resource-efficient, there’s a limit to the resources that can be allocated to it, and if no turning point is reached in the confrontation, further support yields no additional gains in effectiveness.

The Americans realized early on that many of their interests in this crisis had been achieved and prepared to withdraw. They did what a maritime power usually does when it decides to turn its attention elsewhere as they sailed back to their own region. The main difference between a maritime power and a continental power lies in the freedom to choose where to deploy military forces. A maritime power can choose where to deploy them and launch strikes across various parts of the world’s oceans. This is usually carried out in the form of raids, as large-scale expeditionary campaigns rarely prove successful. The US decided it was time to leave.

But they didn’t want the withdrawal to be accompanied by the collapse of the Ukrainian regime. The US incorporated its withdrawal and the reorientation of its priorities towards East Asia into its policy towards its NATO allies. It handed over responsibility for supporting Ukraine to them and assumed the role of “moderator” as a negotiator who, rather than being the instigator of the crisis, is steering it towards a resolution. US strategic documents state an interest in bringing the Ukraine crisis to an end.


EU leaders join Zelensky for a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump. August 18, 2025.


Yet the US behaved treacherously toward both Ukraine and its European allies, saddling them with this burden without warning. The Western Europeans lack military resources, technological capabilities, strategic thinking, and awareness of their own interests comparable to those of the Americans, qualities that enable them to weigh up causes and consequences, to discern what is achievable and what is not by military means, and to identify where their bloc’s interests lie in this crisis.

These Europeans currently have a financial instrument of considerable weight at their disposal, in essence, the only one they can draw upon. They are using it wastefully, given the domestic debt of most major European states is approaching or exceeding 100% of GDP. They can’t obtain external compensation for their military expenditure, and there’s no hope of a Ukrainian victory.

If there were any hope, they would be counting on recouping their losses through Russian resources, through new deals with Russia on new terms. None of these hopes is being realized. Moreover, due to a lack of strategic experience, lost as a result of American patronage and the nuclear umbrella, these Europeans are beginning to deny their own geography. To deny that Russia is on the continent alongside them.

Geography is a constant, an immutable part of the foreign policy system. Governments and historical circumstances may change, but geography remains unchanged.

The course towards a long-term confrontation with their largest neighbor, a source of many benefits for the Western European economy, which they have now lost, demonstrates the narrowness of their vision. Domestic political processes in the EU suggest that, following the Americans’ example, it is time for these Europeans to reflect on what their interests are, which of these are achievable in the course of the Ukraine crisis, which are not, and what the possible trajectory might be. So far, the Western Europeans haven’t made any good moves.

When there are no good moves, it is better to pass a turn and stop making mistakes. So far, as our President [Vladimir Putin] put it, it looks like a series of mistakes, one after another.

Read more …


Evgeny Kuznetsov is a TASS correspondent

Andrey Sushentsov is dean of the Faculty of International Relations, MGIMO University

• The Ukraine Conflict Is Entering Its Final Phase (Evgeny Kuznetsov)

Big spending, little strategic power
Evgeny Kuznetsov: Won’t they get tired of playing this game?
Andrey Sushentsov: Western Europeans states don’t possess the full strategic autonomy enjoyed by Russia and the US, and are not entirely capable of acting collectively from a unified position. Every major decision requires the consensus of nearly 30 countries.


The European Commission doesn’t have a very substantial budget of its own but relies on the budgets of the nation states. Despite the single currency, debt is measured separately for each country.

There is no unified army. It’s a far cry from even the most loosely organized confederation. They would carry strategic weight if they were capable of acting in unison, but there’s no sign of this. Western Europeans are terrified of being directly drawn into a military crisis with Russia. Speculation about sending troops into Ukraine always ends with the caveat that this will only happen once a lasting peace and a ceasefire have been achieved.

In part, their enthusiasm is fueled by what they perceive to be the relatively low cost of supporting Ukraine and this proxy conflict. They have no qualms about Ukraine. They are indifferent to what will become of it, its borders or its population. They express rhetorical outrage, flock to summits, pose for “family photographs,” and make categorical statements. But in essence, this is a gathering of onlookers who are not directly involved in the military crisis.

The tool at their disposal is debt financing at Ukraine’s expense, amounting to nearly $500 billion. An astronomical sum which has failed to deliver the strategically necessary results, whilst worsening their own position. All that money has gone up in smoke.

Russia as the glue holding Europe together
Evgeny Kuznetsov: The EU is not abandoning its plans to impose ever more restrictions on Russia. Incidentally, Brussels has also added you to its sanctions list. At the same time, some European leaders are calling for dialogue with Russia. Is that possible at present?

Andrey Sushentsov: Western Europeans are using the Ukraine crisis as a platform for unity, to become a more cohesive entity. Their strategic lack of autonomy, the prominent role of the Americans, and their internal fragmentation mean that the only platform for solidarity is an anti-Russian one.

The relevance varies from country to country. For Southern Europe, it’s not so obvious. For Spain, despite its anti-Russian government, Palestine and the Middle East are more important. The Baltic states and Northern Europe have an alarmist and militaristic outlook. Some share a border with us. The people in charge are a peculiar lot; one can expect all sorts of things. But no one wants to involve their armed forces in the Ukraine crisis, as North Korea has done on our side.

They are using Ukraine to strengthen their own agency and take steps towards coordinated action. These steps are not particularly effective. However, joint plans are being drawn up and substantial funding is being allocated.

One unresolved issue is the restructuring of the Western European defense industry; it’s fragmented and produces around 15 different types of main battle tank with guns of varying calibers. Standardization is a major and difficult challenge. A catalyst is needed. In other words, they are, to some extent, tackling an internal challenge.


Peace alongside Russia – or a strategic dead end
Evgeny Kuznetsov: Do the NATO Europeans want to sit at the negotiating table with Russia, representing a “united Europe,” in order to compensate for their strategic lack of autonomy?
Andrey Sushentsov: Their tactics for establishing agency include providing financial aid to Ukraine, the theft of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, the withholding and disposal of revenues, and an attempt to share the blame for this crime amongst everyone. If it’s a crime, then it’s a collective one, so that no single country is held solely responsible. And they are resolving many technical issues.

The US doesn’t resolve such issues, nor does Russia. We can afford to take strategic, autonomous, purposeful and consistent action. These Europeans take a step back, a step forward, two steps back; they look over their shoulders and seek consensus.

It’s in Russia’s interests to invite them to the negotiating table only if it is clear that these Europeans prioritize a stable world on the continent, based on the principle of “peace alongside Russia,” rather than against Russia. The “peace against Russia” approach is inherently unstable and a dead end for Western Europe. It dooms them to fall behind, to strategic defeat, and to never becoming a true player on the world stage. The more internal contradictions there are within the bloc regarding priorities, the more fragile it becomes, and the Russian question is gradually becoming precisely such an issue.

Ukraine’s ‘pyramid of trust’ is crumbling
Evgeny Kuznetsov: You said that the “pyramid of trust” surrounding Ukraine will soon crumble. When will this finally happen?
Andrey Sushentsov: From the Russian perspective, the logic behind this crisis is that we are waging a war to wear down our opponents and deplete their resources. We are targeting their rear lines and breaking their “continental sword.”

We are demonstrating that their strategy is irrelevant; its objectives are unattainable. And the resources they are expending will, over time, be needed in ever-greater quantities. The existing ones are becoming obsolete, as are the systems for utilizing them on Ukrainian territory. They need to be replenished and rebuilt.

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“The recent US-Russia diesel deal could prompt European countries to adopt a more pragmatic approach toward Moscow, Kirill Dmitriev believes.. “

• EU Will ‘Inevitably’ Restore Economic Ties With Russia – Putin aide (RT)

European countries will inevitably resume economic cooperation with Russia, following Washington’s lead, Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev has predicted. Politicians who continue to blame Moscow for their domestic problems rather than address them risk losing power, he warned.


Dmitriev, who also heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, made the remarks on Thursday at the 19th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum in Istanbul. The Russian official hailed Trump’s readiness to restore dialogue with Russia and reverse a “very dangerous situation where top nuclear powers don’t communicate.”

He said the recent Russia-US diesel deal could lay the groundwork for broader cooperation between Moscow and Washington, potentially paving the way for further agreements on energy and fertilizers. Under the deal, Russia has agreed to release more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to US and global markets, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and additional supplies thereafter.

Commenting on Europe’s problems, including high energy costs and mass migration, Dmitriev accused European politicians of “using Russia as a boogeyman” to distract from more fundamental issues, warning that they have come to believe their own narratives and are unwilling to correct their mistakes.

However, Dmitriev argued that attitudes within the EU were beginning to shift, with more voices calling for renewed dialogue with Moscow. “Cooperation with Russia economically will be inevitable,” he said, adding that “as soon as we do more deals with the US, European companies” will want a piece of the action, too.

Dmitriev suggested that European politicians who stubbornly refuse to change course, such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, would be replaced by “new forces” that are more realistic and pragmatic. He also predicted that the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, three of whose four strings were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022, would “inevitably” resume operation “at some point in the future” for economic reasons.

“Once people start paying double, triple their bills of energy in Europe, the resumption of energy supplies from Russia is absolutely inevitable and politicians who refuse that will lose in any way possible,” Dmitriev argued.

“Once people are rational, once people stop reading fake stories in the media, once they stop sort of living in this matrix of fake narratives…, they’ll understand that only through dialogue, through cooperation, through working together, we can go forward successfully.”

Dmitriev also argued that many of today’s “great leaders,” including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prioritize national sovereignty over what he described as the “failed policy of globalism.”

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“The US president accused his French counterpart of failing to secure his country’s borders and letting migrants and radicals wreak havoc..”

• Macron Targets Trump Over French Riots (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron has slammed as “stupid” and “unacceptable” remarks by foreign leaders about the unrest gripping France, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump, who blamed the violence on Paris’ lax border policies.


France has been rocked by some of its worst riots in years, sparked last month by teacher shortages and crumbling schools before escalating into nationwide protests over inequality, soaring living costs and public service cuts.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets over the weekend as demonstrations descended into clashes with police, arson and looting. Nearly 2,400 people were arrested, around 1,000 officers injured, hundreds of businesses looted and buildings torched, with damage estimated at “hundreds of millions of euros.”

Trump claimed that “migrants, jihadists, and communists” had “conquered, looted, and burned” France, accusing Macron of failing to secure its borders. He urged European leaders to “close their borders,” before seizing on the unrest to rally Republicans ahead of the November 3 midterms, warning that scenes of “burning steeples and raging fires” were “what the Radical Dumocrats want to do to AMERICA” with their own migration agenda.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Macron accused outside actors of manipulating information about the events to their gain. “There was foreign manipulation of information, which gave rise to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign leaders,” he said. “We have had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false… These people annoy me.”

Asked whether he was referring to Trump, Macron replied: “Among others.” President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that foreign leaders — including those “on the other side of the Atlantic” — were seeking to exploit France’s tense social climate for political gain following a weekend of street violence and looting.

While there is no clear evidence that migrants have played a disproportionate role in the unrest, multiple videos posted online have shown protesters waving Palestinian flags alongside French ones. They said the riots and destruction in France were about the cost of living and schools. Then explain the Palestinian flags and keffiyehs. Allowing mass third-world migration is why France is done.
— TaraBull (@TaraBull) October 19, 2026

French authorities have largely blamed the violence on radical far-left groups and opportunistic criminals, without linking its organization to immigrants. Meanwhile, politicians across France’s political spectrum blamed Macron and his government for the unrest, accusing the administration of undermining public services and failing to maintain order.


Macron leaves the building
Macron made his remarks during a Middle East trip that he refused to postpone despite the turmoil at home, leaving his government to deal with the fallout. He tried to defend his decision, insisting that changing his plans would have signaled “nervousness” and that he had given his government a “sufficient roadmap.” Yet with just six months until France’s presidential election and his approval rating at a record-low 15%, the trip has only fueled perceptions of a lame-duck presidency as Macron quite literally left the scene as Paris and other cities burned.

His absence drew criticism of an “absent president” and left rivals Marine Le Pen, who leads first-round polling for April 2027 with 32-36% support, and Jean-Luc Melenchon, to dominate the debate at home.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has ordered curfews ahead of fresh protests, with gatherings banned near Paris landmarks including the Louvre and Champs-Elysees for three days. France also plans to deploy 1,000 counterterrorism troops to reinforce police on Saturday, October 24. Lecornu is due to meet mayors of riot-hit cities on Thursday to coordinate efforts to prevent further violence.

In his remarks, Macron also dismissed suggestions of foreign interference in the unrest itself, citing a lack of evidence. His remarks followed a flurry of Western media speculation seeking to blame the riots, which spread from France to Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Albania, on outside meddling – with Russia once again cast as the usual suspect.

Outlets such as The Financial Times and the Telegraph, citing “anonymous” sources, reported that several EU governments had asked intelligence agencies to investigate possible Russian involvement. The FT expanded the suspect list to Iran and Algeria, claiming some officials had even demanded a formal EU probe.

European officials also joined the finger-pointing. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto suggested the riots were part of a “hybrid war” waged through social media by an unidentified actor. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama went further, accusing Russian and Iranian intelligence services outright.

Yet the allegations have apparently failed to convince even Brussels. According to Euronews, the European Commission has declined to launch an investigation, citing insufficient evidence.

The speculation follows a familiar pattern of EU officials invoking “hybrid warfare” and the alleged “Russian threat” amid domestic turmoil. Just this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Moscow and Minsk of “weaponizing migration,” linking them to the summer crisis in Spain’s Ceuta, where an estimated 70,000 migrants crossed from Morocco, sparking a border emergency and political fallout over EU migration policies. However, yet again, she presented no evidence connecting either country to the crisis.

Moscow says look closer to home
Moscow routinely dismisses allegations of interference and claims of a Russian threat as “absurd” fabrications, accusing EU leaders of using the narrative to deflect blame for their own policy failures and distract from mounting domestic crises. Responding to Rama’s accusations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told him to look closer to home.

“These are citizens of your own country who took to the streets to protest. Don’t shift your responsibility onto others. Deal with your own domestic problems,” she said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, described the unrest sweeping the EU as evidence of “a major crisis… bordering on chaos.”

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“.. it believes hampered Biden corruption investigation..”

• DOJ Brings Criminal Charges Against FBI Officials (CNN)

Two former FBI officials are facing charges for allegedly lying to Congress as part of a probe that focused on whether FBI investigators sought to minimize allegations of Biden family corruption and evidence of Hunter Biden’s laptop, according to people briefed on the matter and court documents.


Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, both former top Washington-based intelligence specialists, are charged with one count of making a false statement. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said in court on Friday the charges are related to “Hunter Biden’s laptop and allegations around that.” The charges relate to statements Floris and Benavides made to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 as Republicans questioned an FBI election-interference task force’s involvement in the Hunter Biden investigations.

A charging document unsealed in DC’s federal district court Friday accuses the pair of “concealing [the task force’s] engagement with and communications about the Hunter Biden investigations and impeding the congressional investigation.” DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the charges in a social media post on Friday, saying the alleged false statements were “about their roles on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election.”

Pirro added that “when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them.” According to Pirro and the criminal complaint, Benavides then told Congress he learned about the investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop from Wikipedia.

Republicans have repeatedly criticized the FBI for its early handling of investigations into Hunter Biden as part of long-running theories about corruption in the Biden family and so-called “deep state” right-wing narratives about the federal government. The two defendants made their first appearance in the federal district court in DC Friday morning. They will not be detained as they await trial.

A hearing for the former FBI officials is scheduled for Tuesday morning. Faruqui noted that both agents have “sparkling backgrounds” and told prosecutors the “alleged context happened years ago” and noted the prosecutors should be ready to move forward with the case given that they “brought this serious charge against two decorated agents.”

The judge also noted the charge was “rare” and made note that it was charged by complaint from prosecutors, and not approved by a grand jury. Faruqui also said on the bench Friday the charges were “straight forward” and that the agents, with otherwise sterling records, are now charged in federal court, which will “follow them for the rest of their lives”

FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that the charges are the result of an investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force.He also says Floris is “on record privately claiming” to be running a shadow government.

“Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was the FITF Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election,” he said on X. “Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony.”

“Lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system. No one is above the law,” he continued. Patel noted how during his time leading the FBI, the investigative squad known as CR-15 was dismantled. Patel has repeatedly been attacked for these firings because FBI officials lost their jobs for working on assignments related to past probes into Trump.

Charges come less than two weeks before Election Day
Defense attorneys for Floris, in a statement following her appearance in court, said she is being falsely accused “on the say-so of politicians” and “is a patriot.” “It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election,” the lawyers said in their statement.

“The government’s reasons for charging Nikki are as transparent as they are unjust: to push a false narrative for a shot at political politics.” The charges come less than two weeks before Election Day. Biden’s son Hunter was ultimately convicted of federal tax and gun charges then pardoned by his father around Thanksgiving in 2024.

And one conservative politician who is running for Michigan governor has repeatedly accused Floris of running a “shadow government” against Trump in 2020.Trump and Republicans have accused the Bidens of corruption, especially after IRS whistleblowers claimed the FBI had slow-walked an investigation into Hunter Biden while his father was in office.

A special counsel thoroughly investigated the Republicans’ allegations against Hunter Biden and didn’t recommend any additional charges past the gun and tax charges. A separate government informant was charged by that special counsel, David Weiss, for providing false information alleging bribery in the Biden family.

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“Major lenders are restricting outside assistants amid fears they could act beyond customers’ instructions and move money…”

• Rogue AI Agents Infiltrating US Bank Accounts – Axios (RT)

Major US banks have detected outside artificial intelligence agents operating inside customer accounts, with some appearing to attempt actions beyond users’ instructions, Axios reported on Thursday. AI agents are designed to complete tasks on users’ behalf, potentially making purchases, paying bills or moving money. Customers often give them permission and login credentials, but this can violate banks’ rules requiring account holders to log in themselves.


Lenders including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are racing to contain the risks, according to Axios, citing people familiar with the matter. Some have tracked agents contacting call centers or apparently acting independently of customer instructions. Bank executives described the situation as “horrifying,” according to the outlet. One said lenders struggle to distinguish between authorized assistants and agents that have gone rogue.

JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citi have now started restricting outside agents’ access, while Morgan Stanley has reportedly begun blocking them from its platforms. Chase has also urged customers not to share usernames and passwords with AI agents. Banks generally allow, or are developing, limited access that lets outside tools view balances and other account information without moving money. However, they are now also preparing emergency plans to protect accounts and restore customers’ access if something goes wrong, Axios reported.

The banks have also expressed fear of losing profitable deposits. The Financial Times reported last week that AI assistants could move customers’ cash to banks offering better rates, forcing lenders to pay more interest to keep those customers.

The concerns come amid a string of reports of AI agents acting beyond their instructions and accessing outside systems without permission. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that OpenAI shelved its planned GPT-6.1 Astra model after testing revealed more deceptive behavior than its predecessors. The system sometimes failed to disclose its actions to human operators and attempted to use potentially unsafe external tools.

Earlier incidents included OpenAI agents escaping their testing environment and accessing servers belonging to Hugging Face, an online repository for AI models and datasets. Financial regulators have warned that autonomous systems could also destabilize markets. Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden warned in June that agents reacting alike to the same signals could buy or sell simultaneously, making market swings more severe.

She urged regulators to consider emergency “kill switches” that could halt trading if faulty AI systems triggered a market meltdown.

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Too complex for humans, but not for AI models.

• AI Finds Cybersecurity Flaw Affecting 70% of The Internet (CNN)

Governments and companies around the world are racing to fix vulnerabilities revealed by artificial intelligence that could affect 70% of the world’s websites.Some websites and services briefly went dark after the set of vulnerabilities were announced Wednesday.The US National Security Agency and Europe’s cybersecurity agency advised companies to take immediate action to address two critical flaws in PHP, a programming language that powers 70% of the world’s websites.


The flaws in PHP were uncovered and addressed by teams at OpenAI, Google-owned cybersecurity company Wiz, and another cybersecurity company, Calif. The underlying flaws had existed for a decade, but exploiting them involved a complex set of steps “at the edge of what human researchers could practically achieve,” according to Wiz. Researchers then deployed AI to adapt techniques for taking advantage of those vulnerabilities – known as as “exploits” in cybersecurity – and analyze the results.

The bugs, collectively called PHP2Shell, could allow attackers to break into websites and read memory that could contain sensitive information, like passwordsThe PHP Foundation, the organization behind the coding language, has released a patch for the bugs, which have been hidden in their software for years, and is urging website operators to update their systems immediately. The CEO of Cloudflare said on X that his company’s network has observed millions of attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities in the past couple of days.

“With PHP behind such a vast share of the web, the exposure could reach almost everywhere people spend money online,” said Nigel Green, the CEO of deVere Group, a financial advisory firm. “Booking platforms, marketplaces, subscription services, ticketing sites, delivery apps and utility portals could all be holding card details on systems built with the same kind of code,” he added.

‘AI inflection point’
The vulnerabilities involve an issue with how the PHP language works with a computer’s memory. When a website request unexpectedly ends, PHP could leave data behind in the memory that can be accessed and potentially corrupted or exposed later.

The flaws could allow attackers to remotely execute code, disrupt services and expose customer data, according to web infrastructure provider Cloudflare, which has been working with the PHP Foundation, Calif, OpenAI and Wiz to address the issue. “Think of a hotel room where you check out, but your key still works,” Patrick Fussell, global head of adversary simulation at IBM, told CNN. “And so you can just go back into that hotel room later, and now somebody else’s stuff is there.”

The bugs were discovered in late August but were disclosed to the public only on Wednesday, after PHP had come up with a fix.AI played a crucial role in identifying and fixing vulnerabilities “that had remained hidden in the PHP codebase for more than a decade,” according to Wiz. The company called PHP the “backbone of the web” and said the episode marks an AI inflection point.

“What AI changed was the ability to understand the weaknesses,” Wiz researchers wrote in a blog post Wednesday, and then quickly exploit those weaknesses into a way to attack. “With frontier AI models and the right tools, a single researcher completed in a week what previously would have taken a world-class team months of work,” they added. Researchers at Wiz used Google’s Gemini 4 Argon, Wiz Atlas and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol during the research process.

World leaders weigh in
Global leaders urged organizations to take action. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said that his cabinet was “closely monitoring the situation surrounding the vulnerabilities in PHP.”

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said companies should consider suspending services if necessary in order to reduce their exposure. “Please check if your publicly available websites use PHP, and prepare to apply the fix patch that will be released tonight… as soon as possible,” she posted on X Wednesday. Japanese airline ANA, railway operator JR West and the country’s largest bank, MUFG, were among companies that reported some webpages and services temporarily suspended.

In Europe, government websites in France, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, including the Dutch cyber security agency, were temporarily taken offline while security fixes were implemented.The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, told CNN Thursday that it was “in the process of addressing security vulnerabilities in PHP,” and that a number of its systems had been taken down as a “precautionary measure.”

Nearly three dozen UK government services are unavailable and four are “partially unavailable” while security upgrades take place, UK government minister Elizabeth Lloyd told the House of Lords Thursday. The Journal, Ireland’s second most-popular news outlet, was temporarily offline Thursday morning while it bolstered its “defences,” it said in a notice.

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“The internet is held together with shoestring and bubblegum.”

• Internet Security Threat Is 22 Years Old. Ai Made It A Crisis In 2 Days (CNN)

In July 2004, security researcher Stefan Esser sent a warning. A critical flaw in PHP, the programming language that powers 70% of the world’s websites, could allow an attacker to do some seriously nefarious stuff: read passwords, steal databases or even take over entire websites.


But Esser’s warning went mostly ignored for decades. In 2020, another researcher discovered a related problem, and the PHP overseers issued a partial fix. A similar PHP vulnerability was uncovered in 2024 – but was left unfixed. Why was one of the most severe threats to the foundation of the internet left unresolved for 22 years?

Because it would have taken mind-numbing work for a human to figure out how to take advantage of it: tedious, time-consuming, monotonous coding. That rendered the PHP vulnerability impractical to exploit. AI just figured out how to do it in two days. On Wednesday, OpenAI’s public revelation of the exploit was announced in conjunction with a security update to fix the problem.

Why AI agents keep breaking loose
Phew, you might think. The good guys got to it first. But the AI-assisted discovery deeply concerned cybersecurity researchers, because the next one might come from someone who wants to weaponize it. And AI doesn’t care who’s pulling the trigger.

Security by exhaustion
The internet is held together with shoestring and bubblegum.

An apt xkcd cartoon visualizes “all modern digital infrastructure” as a giant Jenga tower supported by one, thin, vertical block with the label: “a project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003.”On July 30, researchers at AI security company Calif, in conjunction with OpenAI’s new Patch the Planet security initiative, decided to point a large-language AI model at one of those Jenga blocks – PHP – and see what came of it. It didn’t expect to find anything critical.

On August 1, it found a method to attack PHP’s vulnerabilities. Days later, it found another. Then another. Later that month, Google-backed security company Wiz – another Patch the Planet participant – discovered new exploits for PHP vulnerabilities, too. The patch went out Wednesday, and the companies publicly disclosed their findings. Wiz called it one of the most severe vulnerabilities in software history.

The security community lit up social media with I-told-you-sos.
“The security industry has long been warning about the coming security apocalypse, because AI can do these things very, very quickly – better than humans,” said Vyas Sekar, professor of computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. “This may be the first of many. This is a wakeup call.” Sekar says there are more PHP-like vulnerabilities out there to discover and exploit. A lot more. Some are known, and many are unknown.

The wide availability of AI tools has significantly lowered the barrier to entry for hackers to take advantage of potential security vulnerabilities. That fact freaked out Anthropic enough that the AI company paused deployment of its Mythos model in June, as it was so good at exposing security vulnerabilities and finding vectors for attack that the US government labeled it a national security threat.

But Calif researcher Ryan Austin noted in a blog post that the company didn’t use any special AI models that weren’t generally available to the public. That democratization of AI tools made clear that “security by exhaustion” is no longer a viable safeguard against bad guys, said Nick Rogers, CEO of Fieldwork AI.

For 22 years, PHP was like a bank with no security guards. Anyone could walk down to the vault and make off with the cash – if they had the time to try every code. It was such arduous work, it wasn’t worth anyone’s time. But AI doesn’t get tired. And it can crack safes way faster than humans. “Taking a theoretical (vulnerability) and proving you can exploit it is quite tedious and mechanical work,” said Rogers. “AI can keep churning until it figures it out. You don’t even need to try. You can drink coffee while it does it.”

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