RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/the-real-meaning-of-chinas-nuclear-parade/

Beijing’s recent display of military prowess is part of a broader effort to sow instability. The U.S. must push back.

Chinese General-Secretary Xi Jinping has wanted desperately to display his growing nuclear power for all the world to see. Last week, the Chinese military delivered. It is vital that America’s leaders understand just what this means for the security of the West.

Last Wednesday, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) paraded a host of weapons systems through the streets of Beijing. The assembled audience included not only China’s applauding masses, but also a who’s who of America’s enemies, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian. These tyrants hobnobbed as a dizzying array of Chinese military hardware passed by. Putin, in particular, could be seen mixing it up with Xi as the Chinese leader gestured toward a seemingly endless stream of troops, tanks, and aircraft. Afterwards, Xi even led Putin through the parade grounds as the two dictators discussed harvesting organs to extend their reigns and achieve immortality.

Tanks, aircraft and organs aside, however, the most concerning aspect of this military display was the next-generation nuclear missiles that rolled past Xi’s autocratic fraternity. The PLA debuted the land-based DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a missile so large that it is carried on and launched from a 16-wheeled truck. Joining the DF-61 for its maiden stroll through Beijing was the DF-5C, another gigantic land-based missile that can reportedly deliver either several kiloton warheads or one multi-megaton warhead anywhere on earth. The DF-31BJ, designed for China’s hundreds of newly built land-based silos, also appeared for the first time. The PLA even showcased a first-of-its-kind air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM), as well as a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that can strike the continental United States from home waters.

These missiles in themselves will come as no great shock to informed observers, however. Chinese authorities have either hinted at or written openly about them for several years now. The PLA Air Force, for instance, flight-tested an ALBM in 2024. And American analysts have been anticipating China’s next-generation missiles, in one form or another, for some time.

The true significance of Xi’s parade thus lies less in shock value than in what it says about China’s nuclear aspirations — and about America’s faltering modernization program. China is rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons and diversifying the means of delivering them, even as America struggles merely to replace its aging missiles and bombers. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that by 2035, China will have matched or blown past the roughly 1,550 warheads America deploys. Moreover, China has already matched or surpassed America’s 400 ICBMs and enjoys a sizable advantage in medium-range missiles that can hold hostage America’s allies in the western Pacific.

These adverse trends — displayed so prominently in Xi’s parade — spring from the clashing geopolitical aspirations of China and America. For years, Washington attempted in vain to stave off an aggressive Chinese nuclear buildup by engaging Beijing in arms-control negotiations. Washington even enthusiastically invited Beijing into its liberalized global order, hoping that China would become a “responsible stakeholder” and disavow territorial claims against Taiwan and its neighbors. Stability has long been Washington’s guiding principle with Beijing. U.S. officials deliberately constrained their nuclear capability to foster reciprocity.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/our-friends-and-hamass-friends-the-qataris/

I am with Phil and Jim on the Israeli strike against Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood’s (now former) safe haven. Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch.

The importance of this development cannot be overstated, especially if reports are true that the Israelis gave notice to the Trump administration, which alerted the Qatari government but did not thwart the attack.

Qatar has long been a principal aider and abettor of Sunni Islamic jihadists and an ally of the Shiite jihadist regime in Iran. It is the home of al-Jazeera, which propagates the sharia supremacist worldview. It was the longtime home of Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who was, until his death at 96 in 2022, the most influential Sunni sharia jurisprudent in the world — the inspirational beacon of Hamas and the host of a weekly al-Jazeera program, Sharia and Life, that routinely drew an audience of millions.

Hamas is not the only jihadist terrorist organization to enjoy Qatari hospitality. The Obama administration encouraged the Afghan Taliban to open a political office in Qatar to facilitate negotiations, even as the Taliban waged jihad against the American-backed government in Kabul (which the Taliban ultimately ousted in 2021, as the U.S., under Biden, haphazardly withdrew).

The United States maintains a military base — the Al Udeid Air Base — in southwest Qatar, serving as U.S. Central Command’s forward headquarters. (Al Udeid is the base that Iran ineffectually targeted in face-saving strikes after American forces bombed its nuclear program earlier this year.) The Biden administration designated Qatar a “major non-NATO ally,” notwithstanding its open and notorious material support to Hamas, which has been a designated foreign terrorist organization for nearly 30 years (since the designation process began). It is a serious felony offense under U.S. counterterrorism law to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.

President Trump has visited Qatar, enthusiastically lauded its regime, and in May accepted the regime’s gift of a $400 million plane (known as the “palace in the sky”), which is slated to become the new Air Force One.

The curious American ties to Doha have, to put it mildly, complicated Israel’s ability to target Hamas leadership, even after it celebrated the October 7 atrocities there. After Monday’s mass murder attack, in which jihadists opened fire on Israeli civilians in Jerusalem, killing at least six, and in light of Hamas’s continuing intransigence as the Trump administration has pushed for a cease-fire, it appears things have changed. While the Netanyahu government took full responsibility for the strike against Hamas in Doha, describing it as “a wholly independent Israeli operation,” unidentified Israeli officials told the Jerusalem Post that U.S. officials knew about and did not object to the attack.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/poland-airspace-repeatedly-violated-drone-type-objects-amid/story?id=125422386

NEW YORK and LONDON — Polish airspace was violated by a “huge number” of Russian drones overnight, the country’s prime minister said, a torrent of activity that triggered a response from the NATO country’s air force, which scrambled and downed several of the drones.

“Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said early on Wednesday on social media. “I am in constant communication with the Secretary-General of NATO and our allies.”

Polish and allied aircraft — including Dutch F-35 fighter jets — were airborne overnight to “help ensure safety in Polish skies,” the military said. Those operations ended early on Wednesday, Warsaw said, adding that the search continued for downed drones and potential impact sites.

The country’s military command described the violations as “unprecedented,” saying they amounted to “an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”

Polish authorities did not report any casualties related to the drone incursion.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was “consulting closely with Poland,” Allison Hart, a spokesperson for the bloc, said on social media. She confirmed “numerous” drones had entered Poland and said that NATO defenses had been activated.

NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe said in a statement to social media that German Patriot surface-to-air missile systems based in Poland were placed on alert and that an Italian airborne early warning aircraft was deployed. A NATO aerial refueling aircraft was also launched.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident as “simply unacceptable.” He in a post to X, “I call on Russia to put an end to this reckless escalation. I reiterate to the Polish people and their government our full solidarity.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in post to X, “Europe is in a fight. A fight for our liberty and our ability to determine our destiny for ourselves.”

“Today, we have seen a reckless and unprecedented violation of Poland and Europe’s [airspace] by more than 10 Russian Shahed drones,” von der Leyen added. “Europe stands in full solidarity with Poland.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/09/the_french_government_fails.html

After only nine months in office, President Emmanuel Macron’s fourth government has collapsed. Prime Minister François Bayrou lost Monday evening’s confidence vote on his austerity budget by 364 to 194 votes. Bayrou announced his resignation for Tuesday. While markets largely remained calm, this does not mean France’s debt crisis has been postponed.

Bayrou Acknowledged the Severity of the Situation

Bayrou took responsibility for the dire state of French public finances and attempted to impose a fiscal consolidation program. With public debt at 114% of GDP and a net borrowing forecast of 5.4% for this year, the plan included €44 billion in spending cuts, frozen pensions, and the reduction of two public holidays — measures intended as a lifeline for the struggling economy.

Both the parliamentary majority and broad segments of French society fundamentally opposed the reform program. Another general strike is already looming.

With Bayrou’s resignation, the wavering Emmanuel Macron faces the task of appointing a fifth prime minister in two years. Until the upcoming elections in April 2027, any government, regardless of composition, will confront the same problems. Any form of fiscal consolidation will be torpedoed by entrenched political factions. France is stuck in a political deadlock, making debt consolidation seem impossible.

The Road to Disaster

This bizarre situation reveals that France’s political elite — and increasingly across all EU states under debt pressure — can no longer put economic necessity above ideological divides. The lost confidence vote is another nail in the EU’s coffin and will soon manifest in markets as a problem for the Eurozone, as investors realize France’s political impotence.

In recent days, Bayrou openly criticized the French lifestyle, identifying the welfare state as a core problem. He now experiences firsthand that anyone challenging the numerous privileges of the sprawling welfare system is ruthlessly punished. France defends its transfer society as a national sacred cow, even though this stance leads straight into fiscal catastrophe.

Europe’s Contagion Risk

For financial markets, the events in Paris are not good news. France’s “OATs” — Treasury bonds — showed little immediate reaction to the government’s collapse. Yet they had been under increasing pressure in recent weeks amid the brewing sovereign crisis. Yields rose, and the spread to German Bunds — Europe’s benchmark — widened to as much as 90 basis points, signaling risk.

French government bonds are now trading with a significant risk premium, much like UK debt. Contagion risk looms for the Eurozone if markets turn to other high-debt nations such as Spain, Italy, or Greece, potentially triggering a chain reaction reminiscent of the prior sovereign debt crisis.