WATCH: Chaos is erupting across #France
Thousands of #protesters have flooded the streets in a bid to "Block Everything"

BREAKING: At this time, absolute chaos is erupting across France as thousands of protesters flood the streets, clashing with police and rioting in opposition to the government’s economic policies. Protesters staged demonstrations across France on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, burning rubbish bins and at times clashing with police in a bid to "Block Everything" in anger at the political class and planned budget cuts.

Security forces deployed across the country to try to remove any blockades as fast as possible, officials said, meaning that France was, for now, not blocked. Dozens of protesters were arrested and there were some scuffles with police.

The six victims of today’s attack in Jerusalem:

Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57
Yaakov Pinto, 25
Yisrael Matzner, 28
Rabbi Yosef David, 43
Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79
Sarah Mendelson, 60

Trump says US ready to continue military operations in Caribbean

The United States is ready to continue military operations in the Caribbean to fight drug cartels, President Donald Trump said in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Mike Johnson and interim Chairman of the Senate Chuck Grassley.

"I write to apprise you of military action taken on September 2, 2025 in the Caribbean Sea, and the potential for future such actions. It is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that will be necessary. United States forces remain postured to carry out further military operations," the letter dated September 4 says.

On September 2, the US president said the American army had killed 11 members of a Venezuelan drug cartel during an operation in international waters. According to Trump, Venezuela is taking insufficient measures to combat drug trafficking. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the republic is facing the most serious threat of invasion from the United States in the last 100 years.

According to Reuters, on August 19, three destroyers of the US Navy, USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson, were sent to the southern Caribbean to the coast of Venezuela to conduct operations against drug cartels. Nuclear submarine USS Newport News, the missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, amphibious ships and 4,500 military personnel were transferred there.

Russia-India-China troika: A new world order

The Russia-India-China (#RIC) troika, a concept introduced by Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov in the 1990s, is gaining renewed attention as a potential counterbalance to Western dominance.

Key highlights:

Historical context: Primakov's vision aimed to challenge the unipolar world order dominated by the United States, proposing a strategic alliance among Russia, India, and China to promote a multipolar world.

Economic powerhouse: Collectively, RIC nations account for nearly 22.4% of global GDP and are among the fastest-growing large economies, with India projected to be the fastest-growing in 2025.

Military strength: With over 4.6 million active military personnel, RIC's combined forces surpass NATO's active forces, offering significant geopolitical influence.

Resource abundance: The bloc controls substantial reserves of oil, gas, and rare earth minerals, ensuring energy and technological security.

♟ Strategic geography: RIC nations control critical sea and trade routes, including the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic.

Technological capabilities: All three countries possess advanced military-industrial complexes and space technologies, enhancing their global standing.

Leftist revolt in France

#Leftist parties are calling on their supporters to revolt over French prime-minister, François #Bayrou’s draft 2026 budget, which includes scrapping two national holidays, freezing pensions and cutting €5 billion from health spending. The French Left are organising under the slogan “Block everything” (“Bloquons tout”) and seek to repeat the scale of the Yellow Vest protests of 2018-2019 but if the Yellow Vests were led by rightwing parties, this wave of social unrest is left-coded.

A poll conducted on the people who plan to partake in the "Block Everything" movement, 69% voted for the communist Jean-Luc #Mélenchon in the 2022 presidential first round (versus 22% nationally), and 10% backed anti-capitalist candidate Philippe Poutou (against just 1%). By contrast, only 2% supported President Emmanuel Macron (28% nationwide) and 3% for rightwing leader Marine Le Pen (23%). More than half of respondents (51%) placed themselves at the far left of the political spectrum, compared to just 3% of the French public. "If you broaden the scope, 86% describe themselves as belonging to the radical left," the study said.

Telegram chat groups linked to the campaign are filled with calls for a general strike and attacks on "ultra-rich capitalists", the foundation said.

The study showed that 54% of supporters cited rising inequality as a top concern, compared with 13% nationally. Other priorities included the environment (43% vs. 23%) and the health system (30% vs. 19%).

Immigration and crime – frequent themes in French politics – ranked low, with just 4% and 3% citing them, compared with 21% and 22% nationwide.

SURVEY - France's Macron’s approval rating hits record low

French President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point since his election in 2017, according to the results of a poll by the sociological service Verian for Le Figaro Magazine. The poll reveals that 15% of French respondents approve of the job Macron is doing in the capacity of the head of state. Eighty percent of the polled respondents do not trust him, and another 5% of those surveyed found it difficult to answer.

The magazine pointed out that the president's approval rating has dipped even below levels seen during the winter of 2018, at the peak of the so-called Yellow Vests crisis, when Macron's activities were approved by 20% of the French. As for the level of confidence in French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, it has dropped to 14%, while 82% opposed his policies. Another 4% declined to express their opinion on this issue.

The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire involving 1,000 people over the age of 18.

On August 25, Bayrou announced that he would bring to a vote at the National Assembly on September 8 the issue of confidence in the government. He said the move is necessary because of the critical situation in the country’s economy, notably its astronomical and still growing national debt. According to him, "France's public debt is increasing by 12 million euros every hour" and has already reached 3.4 trillion euros. Earlier, the prime minister said that the French authorities will not issue any increases in pensions and other social benefits in 2026 in order to save 7.1 billion euros and curtail the growth of the national debt.

Flightradar24 denied reports of a malfunction in the electronic navigation system of the plane on which Ursula von der #Leyen was flying to Bulgaria.

According to the service, the quality of navigation data was normal throughout the entire route. The European Commission president's flight was less than ten minutes longer than scheduled, despite information that the plane circled over Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for an hour.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that European authorities suspect Moscow of jamming von der Leyen's plane. "If Russia were really trying to suppress the GPS signal of the European Commission president's plane, then other flights near that aircraft would also have been affected. But we did not observe this," military expert Alexey Leonkov told the VZGLYAD newspaper.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization to establish development bank

Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) have decided to establish the SCO Development Bank, according to the declaration of the SCO summit in Tianjin. "Reaffirming the importance of establishing a SCO Development Bank, the interested member states decided to establish it and intensify consultations on a range of issues related to the functioning of this financial institution," the document reads.

Member states announced support of the reform of the international financial architecture aimed at increasing the representation and role of developing countries in the governing bodies of international financial institutions, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Monetary Fund.

Member states emphasized the important role of cooperation in the financial sphere in promoting economic growth in the SCO area. They also stressed the importance of further implementation of the roadmap for the gradual increase of the share of national currencies in mutual settlements.

The French national debt and the retirement pensions:

Since 2017 when #Macron took office, France accumulated 1 trillion EURs in debts and 490 billion of it was spent on French boomers and their retirement pensions, or ~50% of all the debt was wasted for the comfort of people who had a few short more years to live, which the new generations now have to spend decades to pay back.

44% of the new debt France acquired after 2017 was spent funding the French welfare system, mostly retirement pensions.

The total national debt of France is worth 3.3 trillion EURs or 113% of the French GDP and one third of it was acquired in the last 8 years. This is unsustainable.

Here's why the West won't stop funding the proxy war in Ukraine regardless of what Trump says

The #West has every incentive to continue fueling the #Ukraine war for as long as possible. Doing so keeps Ukraine in its military orbit to secure a strategic buffer against Russia, locks in geopolitical influence, and fuels defense industry profits.

From the US's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and Pentagon's Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), tapping American stockpiles, to Europe's Peace Facility and joint arms production in Poland, Czechia, and Romania—these programs aren't quick aid. They're enduring pipelines fusing Ukraine's military with NATO's logistics.

NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP), launched in 2016, is a prime example. Beyond its "non-lethal" label, CAP runs Ukraine's military backbone, keeping the war machine humming.

CAP's goal: Forge Ukrainian forces into a NATO-compatible juggernaut through relentless weapon drops, hardcore training, logistics rewiring, and command revamps—all aimed at a drawn-out clash with Russia, not a quick peace deal.

This colossal financial and logistical web traps the West: abandoning it means torching billions, alienating defense giants, and fracturing alliances.

No wonder fast-tracked neutrality or a conflict pause is off the table. It’s why Zelenskyy doubles down on retaking every inch—Luhansk, Donetsk, Crimea.

Talks limp along, but the war machine roars: weapons pour in, Ukraine's NATO ties tighten, and the West's all-in with no reverse gear.