Putin Now Has Russia’s Internet Kill Switch To Stop U.S. Cyberattacks(Source forbes.com)

It has been in the works for years, and was signed into law in May. Now the final approvals have been put in place for Russian President Vladimir Putin to disconnect Russia from the world wide web if “required.” Politically, the rationale for this capability is to defend the state in the event of “threats to the stability, security and integrity of the functioning of the internet and the public communications network.” For which you can read a cyberattack emanating from the U.S., its allies or its proxies. When Putin signed the Russian Internet (RuNet) into law, critics immediately honed in on the isolationist and censorship risk, quite apart from any cyber warfare threat, arguing that the country’s lawmakers had opened the door to a Chinese-style firewall disconnecting Russia from the outside world. Unsurprisingly, Russia and China have now become closer as the two countries battle U.S. influence over key technology areas. 

Authorities say 40 pounds of seized fentanyl is enough to ‘kill entire population of Ohio’ multiple times(Source usatoday.com)

raid by law enforcement agencies in southwest Ohio has seized more than 40 pounds of fentanyl – enough to “kill the entire population of Ohio” several times, according to federal, state and local authorities. Authorities said Wednesday that officers also arrested three people and seized 1,500 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 500 grams of suspected heroin, several firearms and over $30,000. They said the raid took place last week.

“Twenty-kilograms (44 pounds) of fentanyl is enough to kill the entire population of Ohio, many times over,” said Vance Callender, Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge for Michigan and Ohio. The three suspects were identified as Shamar Davis, 31; Anthony Franklin, 30; and Grady Jackson, 37, of Dayton, Ohio. They face charges of possession with intent to distribute 400 or more grams of fentanyl as as well as firearms possession charges.

Russia is finding new islands in the Arctic, while the US is still trying to figure out how to get up there(Source Business Insider)

Russia, already the owner of the world’s longest Arctic coastline, has spent the past few years bolstering its presence there. Now changes wrought by climate change are giving Moscow more territory to work with in the Arctic as the US is still looking for ways to get into the high north.

Russian sailors and researchers explored five new islands around the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean off Russia’s northern coast during an expedition in August and September.

The islands, ranging in size from about 1,000 square yards to 65,000 square yards, were first spotted in 2016 but not confirmed until the expedition by Russia’s Northern Fleet and the Russian Geographical Society. In all, Russia has built 475 military facilities in the Arctic over the past six years and deployed personnel, special weapons, and equipment to them, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March. US officials regard Russian activity in the Arctic as “aggressive” and have questioned their Russian counterparts on it.

THE NEW WORLD ORDER IS EMERGING BEFORE US(Source blacklistednews.com)  A new world order is emerging. The liberation in one week of a quarter of Syrian territory is not only the victory of President Bashar al-Assad, “the man who had to leave eight years ago”, it marks the failure of the military strategy aimed at establishing the supremacy of financial capitalism. What seemed unimaginable has happened. The world order has changed. Further events are inevitable.

President Vladimir Putin’s very grand reception in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates testifies to the spectacular turnaround of the Gulf powers, which are now shifting to the Russian side.

The United Kingdom has already withdrawn its special forces from Syria and is attempting to leave the supranational state of Brussels (European Union). After thinking about preserving the Common Market (Theresa May’s project), it decided to break with the whole of European construction (Boris Johnson’s project). After the mistakes of Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, France suddenly lost all credibility and influence. Donald Trump’s United States ceased to be the “indispensable nation”, the “policeman of the world” in the service of financial capitalism, to once again become a great economic power itself. They are withdrawing their nuclear arsenal from Turkey and are preparing to close the CentCom in Qatar. Russia is recognized by all as the “peacemaker” by assuring the triumph of the international law it had created by convening the “International Peace Conference” in The Hague in 1899, the principles of which have since been trampled underfoot by NATO members.

We have to understand what is going on. We are entering a period of transition. Lenin said in 1916 that imperialism was the supreme stage of the form of capitalism that disappeared with the two World Wars and the stock market crisis of 1929. Today’s world is that of financial capitalism, which is devastating economies one by one for the sole benefit of a few super-rich people. Its supreme stage implied the division of the world into two parts: on the one hand, stable and globalised countries, and on the other hand, regions of the world without states, reduced to being mere reserves of raw materials. This model, contested by President Trump in the United States, the yellow vests in Western Europe or Syria in the Levant, is dying before our eyes.