On October 21, Sanae Takaichi completes her first year as Japan's prime minister. Takaichi's first year reached 2 percent of GDP on defense two years early, ended the ban on lethal arms exports and said out loud that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pull Japan into war. China answered with sanctions. Washington got the ally it wanted.
The US-Canada trade war is stuck. Trump says he is "in no rush," and Washington will hold its position until Canada wants to "get to yes." Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney courts Europe, China and India, even though about 72 percent of Canada's goods exports still go to the United States, and two provinces question Canada itself.
Peruvian senator Mirtha Vásquez will fly to China on the Chinese Embassy's dime, right when senators should be meeting their voters. Beijing courts Peru with free trips, a megaport and more than 30,000 million dollars in investment, while a 2023 paid junket went unpunished and a president lost his office over a dinner with a Chinese businessman. Nobody flies you to Beijing for nothing.
Flávio Bolsonaro finished first in the Brazil elections, 47 percent to Lula's 45, after every major poll had Lula ahead. The runoff is October 25. Behind the numbers: a father serving 27 years, a judge who shut down X, a Congress that moved right, and a candidate offering Washington rare earths and a seat in the Shield of the Americas.
The Buy European initiative favors weapons made in Europe, and Washington is pushing back hard. Ambassador Puzder warned Brussels that "only our enemies benefit," the Pentagon threatened the Buy American waivers, and France and Britain were left out of a NATO meeting. But America's missile stocks run low, and buyers wait.
The Trump-Xi summit in Washington ended with a two-month extension of the trade truce and nothing else: no deal on Iran, Taiwan, chips or rare earths. Xi wanted an end to arms sales to Taiwan; Trump wanted leverage on Tehran and delivery on old promises. Stability beat escalation, but broken promises earn only a shorter leash.
Trump met Delcy Rodríguez for fifteen minutes in New York and told her elections must come "at the end of the day." Rubio explained the order: debt restructuring, institutions and a durable republic before the vote. Lula calls it lost sovereignty. Chomcho.com looks at the Venezuela transition, the diaspora, Colombia, oil and China.
In his Trump UN speech, the president narrowed his Iran choices to two: a deal that lets Iran rebuild, or annihilation. He predicted a deal after the midterms. While he spoke, his envoys met the Iranian delegation for three hours. Oil fell below 100 dollars, and Pickaxe Mountain became the test of any agreement with Tehran.
Trump says he is in deciding mode on Iran, weighing three options: obliterate it, let it rot economically, or reach a deal. This Iran war update covers the UN week ahead, Tehran's seven demands, the war premium in oil prices, China's shrinking oil buffer, and why America's allies are now being asked to pay their own share of defense.
Drones shut Saudi Arabia's main pipeline, and Washington says oil will flow again in days while analysts read the satellite images and say weeks. The global fuel crisis has already reached the streets of Syria, Guatemala, Portugal, and Bangladesh, and the Federal Reserve has raised rates for the first time in three years.
The BRICS summit in New Delhi ended with a 45-page declaration that never names the United States. Modi rebuked China over critical minerals, Russia won silence about Ukraine, Iran left with its existing payment channels endorsed, not defended, and no common currency appeared. Eleven countries, eleven agendas, one photograph.
Putin says European troops in Ukraine would mean a war against Russia, yet calls Europe's fear imaginary. The honest numbers: 450 million Europeans against 145 million Russians, 20 trillion dollars against 2 trillion. So why the fear? Because the globalist establishment thrives on it, and Trump's drawdown ended the free ride.
