Author: BlackMask Financial

Posted on

Putin swipes back at Trump for calling Russia a ‘paper tiger’

  • Russia will respond quickly to any provocation
  • All of NATO is fighting against Russia, Putin says
  • Putin says Russia is no paper tiger
  • Putin dismisses claims that Russia will attack NATO
SOCHI, Russia, Oct 2- President Vladimir Putin swiped back on Thursday at U.S. President Donald Trump for calling Russia a “paper tiger” and said Moscow would respond swiftly if it thinks Europe is provoking it. Trump, who had previously said Kyiv should give up land to make peace with Moscow, reversed his rhetoric sharply last week, saying he thought Ukraine could win back all territory from Russia, and labelling Moscow a “paper tiger”. He repeated the line this week.

Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Group in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said Russian forces were advancing along the entire front in Ukraine, and that almost all of the U.S.-led NATO alliance was now fighting against Russia.

“A paper tiger. What follows then? Go and deal with this paper tiger,” Putin said. “Well if we are fighting with the entire NATO bloc, we are moving, advancing, and we feel confident, and we are a ‘paper tiger’, then what is NATO itself?”
“If anyone still has a desire to compete with us in the military sphere, as we say, feel free, let them try,” Putin said. “Russia’s countermeasures will not be long in coming.” NATO  members, he said, were providing Ukraine with intelligence, weapons and training, and whipping up what he cast as hysteria about alleged plans of Russia to attack a NATO member, which he dismissed as “impossible to believe”. “I just want to say: cool down, sleep calmly, and take care of your own problems. Just take a look at what’s happening on the streets of European cities,” Putin said. Putin said Ukraine’s armed forces had a grave lack of manpower and desertions, while Russia had enough soldiers. He suggested that Kyiv should negotiate an end to the war. Russia, he said, controlled almost all of Luhansk province, about 81% of the Donetsk region, and about 75% of both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Moscow claimed in 2022 to have annexed the four regions, and says it will not end the war until Ukraine withdraws from them entirely.
NN: Putin is far from a peace deal
Posted on

Putin: Russia seeks full-scale restoration of US ties…..Putin agrees Trump could have prevented Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday that his country aims for a “full-scale restoration” of relations with the United States.

“Russia reserves the right to be guided by our national interests, one of which, by the way, is the restoration of full-scale relations with the United States,”

Putin added. “No matter the differences, if we treat each other with respect, then even the most firm, persistent bargaining will still pursue the goal of achieving something beneficial.” He added that contradictions between Russia and the United States are “normal” and “natural,” while noting that Russia is ready to work together with other countries.

NN: Putin is stalling for time… see next story
Putin agrees Trump could have prevented Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he agrees with his United States countrepart Donald Trump’s claims that the Ukraine war could have been avoided with him at the White House. The conflict “could have been avoided had the work been built differently with the US administration back in the day,” Putin stated at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi. He blamed NATO and the European Union for the “absence of peace in Ukraine,” accusing them of turning Kiev into “a destructive weapon in someone else’s arms.” The Russian president also blamed the collective West for the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian people, as well as for the sensitive situation in the entire Middle East region.

 

Posted on

G-7 Nears Agreement to Ramp Up Curbs on Russian Oil Revenue

  • Group of Seven nations are closing in on an agreement to significantly increase sanctions on Russia over its continued war in Ukraine.
  • G-7 nations are working on a range of options, which include new measures on key economic sectors such as energy, finance and the military industry.
  • They agreed to give “serious consideration” to trade and other restrictions for nations and entities boosting the Kremlin’s war effort and helping Russia work around curbs.

Group of Seven nations are closing in on an agreement to significantly increase sanctions on Russia over its continued war in Ukraine, according to a statement released after a finance ministers’ meeting on Wednesday. “We are aligned on the need to act together and believe that now is the time for a significant coordinated escalation of measures to bolster Ukraine’s resilience and critically impair Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine,” the statement said. G-7 nations — the US, as well as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada — are working on a range of options, which include new measures on key economic sectors such as energy, finance and the military industry. They also agreed to give “serious consideration” to trade and other restrictions for nations and entities boosting the Kremlin’s war effort and helping Russia work around curbs, including “on refined products sourced from Russian oil.” Countries including India have already come under severe pressure from Washington to curb their purchases of Russian crude. “We agreed that now is the time to maximize pressure on Russia’s oil exports, a major source of their revenue,” the statement said. It suggests that the G-7 could move to sanction Russian oil majors, and target its shadow fleet of oil tankers and the wider energy trade. Ministers also discussed Ukraine’s financial needs, including coordinating ways to make further use of frozen Russian central bank assets. They will reconvene in Washington later this month. Separately, European Union leaders met in Denmark as momentum gathers over a plan to use funds immobilized in the bloc to provide Ukraine with €140 billion ($164 billion) in fresh aid. The EU is also working on a new sanctions package, that would see it ban Russian liquefied natural gas by 2027 and impose more restrictions on Moscow’s energy and financial sectors. Both the EU and the G-7 are hoping to conclude their respective sanctions packages this month, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

NN: Sanctions are coming. Europe has no other options besides  all out war. And to make war with Russia takes a big set of hairy balls which they do not have.
Posted on

France Says Detaining Oil Tankers Will Help Kill Russia’s Shadow Fleet

French President Emmanuel Macron said that detaining oil tankers can help put a stop to the shadow fleet that helps Russia skirt sanctions and export barrels around the world. His comments come after prosecutors in northwest France investigated a vessel for failing to provide proof of its nationality and flag, as well as refusal to comply with requests from the navy. The oil tanker Boracay was boarded off the coast on Sept. 27, and the captain has been summoned to appear before a court next year, prosecutors said in a statement. The ship left Russia last month and was sailing to India, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The US, UK and European Union have sanctioned hundreds of tankers for helping Russia export oil to fund its war in Ukraine, while the Group of Seven nations said this week it’s closing in on an agreement to ramp up curbs on Moscow’s oil revenue. Russian oil has mostly continued to flow so far, despite previous measures imposed by the G-7 and its allies. “You kill the business model by detaining, even for days or weeks, these vessels and forcing them to organize themselves differently,” Macron said Thursday in Copenhagen. The Boracay is sanctioned by the UK and EU and has had several different names in the last 11 months, according to the Equasis maritime database. It’s also sailing under a fraudulent flag, Equasis data show. The ship’s manager didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. “It represents more than €30 billion, so it’s extremely important to increase the pressure on this shadow fleet because it will clearly reduce the capacity to finance this war effort for Russia,” Macron said of efforts to pressure the shadow fleet more broadly on Thursday.

Posted on

Hamas said to need two-three days for deal response

Hamas needs two to three days “at most” to respond to United States President Donald Trump’s proposal for peace between the organization and Israel, AFP reported on Wednesday. According to a person familiar with the matter, the group is currently discussing potential amendments to the draft, particularly those referring to disarmament. The source added that Hamas consulted Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar on the matter. Previously, it was reported that Hamas was likely to reject the point of the deal that requested the disarmament of the group in exchange for amnesty.

NN: Hamas is just stalling for time. Its a dangerous game they are playing with Trump
Posted on

Zelensky warns of ‘critical situation’ at Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has entered its seventh day in emergency conditions following Russian shelling. Writing on Telegram, he described the situation as “critical,” stressing that the facility has been cut off from the power grid and is running on diesel generators, one of which has already failed.

Zelensky accused Russia of blocking repairs to the power lines needed to restore basic safety at the site. He warned that no other country had ever treated a nuclear facility in such a way and called it a threat to everyone.

He said he had instructed the energy ministry, alongside the foreign ministry, to urgently draw international attention to the risks posed by the prolonged disruption at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

NN: Russia is creating the worlds largest dirty bomb 
Posted on

OPEC Rejects Media Reports of Major Output Hike Ahead of G8 Meet

OPEC has slammed the brake on speculation, flatly rejecting media reports that the G8 is preparing to hike crude oil production by half a million barrels per day. In a statement from Vienna on Tuesday, the

OPEC Secretariat called the claims “wholly inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that discussions among ministers for the upcoming meeting haven’t even begun yet. 

The statement, which reads more like a hostile rebuke, targets earlier media reports that suggested that OPEC+ was weighing a much larger oil production increase for November–reports that have already sent oil prices lower.

Just hours before OPEC’s pushback, Reuters reported that OPEC+ was weighing a hefty November supply boost of as much as 500,000 bpd. This would be well above the 137,000 bpd production hike that is already scheduled for October. The idea, Reuters sources had suggested earlier, was that OPEC was going to attempt to claw back market share from fast-rising non-OPEC producers and reinforce the group’s relevance.

But OPEC+ has been missing its own targets for months. Despite announcing supply increases between April and August, the group only delivered about 75% of the promised volumes. Some members simply don’t have the spare capacity to ramp up, while others are still repaying previous overproduction through “compensation cuts.” In reality, only a handful of countries—mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE—have meaningful flexibility.

Analysts have been pointing out that much of OPEC+’s recent posturing is more psychological than physical. Yes, the quotas are rising—but the actual barrels aren’t. That suggests that even a half-million-barrel “increase” may not fully materialize, especially if politically fragile producers like Nigeria, Angola, or Iraq struggle to keep up.

For now, the group’s message is unmistakable. OPEC wants the market to stop trading on rumors. Whether that signals a real internal rift or just a tactical effort to kill off speculation before it moves prices, OPEC is fighting to control the narrative as much as the market.

Posted on

Katz: Israel about to seize key Gaza corridor

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday that the military is completing the takeover of the Netzarim Corridor, a strategic route that effectively splits Gaza into two. “This will tighten the encirclement around Gaza City,” Katz said, adding that movement southward will now require passing through IDF inspection checkpoints. He urged civilians to leave, calling it “the last chance” for residents to evacuate. “Those who remain in Gaza will be terrorists and terror supporters,” the minister warned. The corridor’s capture is expected to isolate Hamas fighters in the north as Israeli operations continue despite awaiting the group’s response to the peace plan.

Posted on

HAMAS IS HEADED FOR A SAD END

Trump gives Hamas ‘3 or 4 days’ to agree to White House proposal or face a ‘sad end’

 

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would give Hamas “three or four days” to respond to his proposal to end the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza.The president released a 20-point plan Monday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already agreed. It calls for Hamas to disarm, return all the hostages within 72 hours and relinquish control of power. A diplomat briefed on the matter and granted anonymity to describe the sensitive situation said Qatari and Egyptian officials presented Hamas negotiators with the proposal but there was no timeline for a Hamas response. The negotiators need to communicate it with people in Gaza, the diplomat said, which could take hours or days, depending on the situation on the ground. Trump on Tuesday told reporters outside the White House the U.S.-designated terrorist group has “not much” room to negotiate. “Hamas is either going to be doing it or it’s not, and if it’s not, it’s going to be a sad end,” Trump said. Netanyahu on Monday promised that Israel would “finish the job” should Hamas not agree, and Trump on Tuesday said he would allow Israel to “go and do what they have to do.”

 

NN: SO FAR HAAMAS HAS NOT AGREED
Posted on

Trump: We are under invasion from within

US President Donald Trump described the country as facing what he called an “invasion from within,” warning that internal threats are as significant as those from abroad. Addressing top military leaders in Virginia on Tuesday, Trump said the danger is more complex than fighting a foreign enemy because “they don’t wear uniforms.” He claimed his administration is stopping the threat quickly after what he described as “trillions” spent on national defense. Trump pointed to his past military intervention in Washington, saying it made the city safer, and pledged further increases in the defense budget. He highlighted plans to raise salaries for soldiers and other members of the armed forces, framing the measures as part of a broader effort to strengthen security at home while continuing to protect US borders.