Month: October 2025

A lot of questions and suspicions were immediately raised when on October 21 explosions and fires occurred at large oil refineries in Hungary and Romania. Eyebrows were raised given that both sites have links to Russia.

The Petrotel-Lukoil refinery in Ploiesti (owned by Russian company Lukoil) in southern Romania was damaged, while in Hungary a ‘mystery’ fire also occurred at the country’s largest oil refinery (the MOL-operated Danube Refinery), located in the city of Szazhalombatta – some 17 miles from Budapest – which receives crude oil from Russia.

Despite long efforts of the European Union to phase out Russian energy, a tiny number of states still receive supplies. This is why many have suspected sabotage, possibly linked to Ukrainian intelligence, was behind the twin refinery fires, which had occurred within less than 24 hours apart.

But now, over a week later, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has revealed in a social media statement that authorities haven’t ruled out the possibility of an external attack in investigating the fire at Százhalombatta.

“The investigation is in full swing. We still do not know whether it was an accident, malfunction or outside attack,” Orbán said.

Further, he stated: “The Polish foreign minister advised the Ukrainians to blow up the Druzhba oil pipeline,” before adding, “Let’s hope it’s not that kind of case.”

And according to Politico, “Orbán added Thursday he had instructed his government to inform MOL that it shouldn’t raise energy prices for consumers in response to the fire at the refinery.”

Hungary relies heavily on oil transported through the Druzhba pipeline from Russia through Ukraine and Slovakia. MOL Group, which operates refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, processes 14.2 million tons of Russian crude oil a year.

Orban said he has spoken with MOL Group about the new US sanctions targeting Russian oil this month, which come into effect in November. “We are working on how to circumvent this sanction,” he recently said in an interview with state radio Kossuth.

In 24 hours, serious incidents occurred at two oil refineries: on Monday night a fire broke out at the MOL plant in Százhalombatta (Hungary), and several hours earlier an explosion shook the Petrotel–Lukoil refinery in Romania.

The MOL plant, which is the largest and most modern… pic.twitter.com/xghOedeXP5

— Anatolij Sharij (@anatoliisharii) October 21, 2025

The Treasury has argued that its actions would increase pressure on Russia’s energy sector and degrade the Kremlin’s ability to fight its war against Ukraine. President Trump held off for a long time, but Kiev and the Europeans welcomed the firm anti-Moscow actions.

The sanctions drove up oil prices in the aftermath and raised questions regarding how certain eastern and central European countries will continue to meet their energy needs.

Via Remix News,

The German government has disclosed that a total of 135,668 crimes have been committed by Syrian suspects between 2015 and 2024, amounting to one every 39 minutes over the past 10 years.

The figures, released by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in response to a parliamentary inquiry from the AfD, have reignited the party’s demands for tougher migration controls and deportations.

The data, obtained by Freilich magazine, also shows large numbers of victims of crimes committed by suspects from other countries of origin, including 82,960 linked to Afghanistan, 69,946 to Iraq, 39,918 to Morocco, and 32,383 to Algeria. Altogether, more than 460,000 crimes were recorded in the 10-year period involving suspects from the 10 main countries of origin: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

In respect to Afghan suspects, that’s one crime every 63 minutes; for Iraqis, one every 75 minutes; for Moroccans, one every 132 minutes; and for Algerians, one every 162 minutes.

According to police crime statistics cited by the German publication, the number of Syrian suspects has continued to rise. In 2024, there were 101,265 criminal cases involving Syrians, excluding immigration offenses — up from 94,158 the previous year. The federal interior ministry reported particularly sharp increases in violent and sexual offenses. In 2024, there were 12,512 violent crimes involving Syrian suspects, the highest in 10 years. Cases of rape, sexual coercion, and serious sexual assault rose to 648, more than 60 percent higher than in 2020.

Mehr als jede zweite Frau in Deutschland fühlt sich im öffentlichen Raum nicht mehr sicher. Diese alarmierende Zahl aus der repräsentativen Civey-Umfrage ist ein weiterer Beweis für das Regierungsversagen bei der Migrations- und Sicherheitspolitik: Wie das Bundesinnenministerium… pic.twitter.com/ccerdx7nXY

— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) October 28, 2025

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said in a press release that the figures show “the government’s failure in migration and security policy.” She stated, “More than half of all women in Germany no longer feel safe in public spaces. This alarming figure is further proof of the government’s failure. Between 2015 and 2024, 135,668 Germans were victims of crimes committed by suspected Syrian perpetrators. This development is not only extremely alarming but also the result of government mismanagement and uncorrected political misjudgments.”

Weidel also criticized Chancellor Friedrich Merz directly, claiming that the governing coalition refuses to “honestly identify the causes of the problems” and instead engages in “ideological debates about racism.” She said the victims are “young women and children, who are often defenselessly exposed to violent attacks,” calling the situation “a declaration of bankruptcy by this federal government in terms of security policy.”

AfD Bundestag member Christopher Drößler, who initiated the parliamentary inquiry, said the figures demonstrate the need for a large-scale deportation campaign. “Numbers don’t lie. The statistics confirm once again: Germans are primarily victims of criminal foreigners from [Middle] Eastern countries,” Drößler told Freilich. “We need a massive deportation offensive that focuses primarily on migrants from the main countries of origin, especially Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Iraq.” He said deportations to all these countries “must finally be possible.”

The AfD argues that uncontrolled migration is worsening social tensions in Germany, including competition for housing, benefits, and public safety, and says it is the only party offering “clear solutions” such as border security, deportation of criminal foreigners, and increased police strength.

This month alone, Remix News has reported on several cases involving Syrian suspects across Germany, including the trial this week of a man accused of attempting to murder his former partner and their infant son by setting fire to her apartment while they were inside.

Last week, five Syrian men aged between 17 and 26 were arrested in connection with the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Heinsberg, near Aachen. The teenage victim was reportedly persuaded by her ex-boyfriend to meet him, but when he picked her up, three other men entered the car. He then drove them to an apartment in Heinsberg, where two additional men were waiting to rape her under threat of a Taser.

Earlier this month, a 14-year-old Syrian boy accused of committing around 200 crimes was arrested in northern Germany after years of violent offenses that terrorized towns in Schleswig-Holstein. Mohamad H. was charged with three counts of grievous bodily harm, but is accused of committing dozens of offenses, including knife possession, attacking police officers, and multiple thefts.

Read more here…

Media reports in Europe, including in The Telegraph and Politico, are this week documenting a new massive surge in young men fleeing Ukraine in order to not be conscripted, in which case they could be sent to front lines and face certain death.

“Almost 100,000 fighting-age Ukrainian men have left the country in the past two months after Volodymyr Zelensky eased departure rules, new figures show,” The Telegraph reports.

The figures are primarily based on the Polish border guard, as the neighboring EU country shares a long border with Ukraine, and has been from the start of the war absorbing refugees and trying to maintain strict counts and records.

“Poland’s border guard said 99,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 22 had crossed the frontier – the primary route out of the country – since regulations to ensure that Kyiv had enough soldiers were relaxed at the end of August,” The Telegraph writes, and then reminds readers: “In comparison, the entire British Army has around 70,000 personnel.”

Even after well over three years of grinding war and a huge loss of men in the fighting, there is yet no mobilization of those aged 18 to 25 in Ukraine. This fact has time and again angered American politicians, who have pressed Kiev to have standards in line with most of the rest of the world’s militaries. 

At the tail end of the Biden administration, Zelensky’s office had the audacity to shift blame onto the West for not getting enough weapons to the front lines, arguing that more manpower would make little difference if there’s not enough weapons and ammo to go around.

“It doesn’t make sense to see calls for Ukraine to lower the mobilization age, presumably in order to draft more people, when we can see that previously announced equipment is not arriving on time. Because of these delays, Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilized soldiers,” a statement said at the time.

But Zelensky’s martial law program had blocked Ukrainian men aged from 18 to 60 from leaving the country. But then just this past summer this restriction was loosened. 

The major change was reported at the time as follows: “Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has revised travel rules and allowed men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram on Aug. 26.”

While men aged 25 to 60 can be conscripted into the military and sent to the front lines, men 24 and under still cannot. Again, this has been hugely controversial as even US members of Congress have complained that Washington is sinking billions into the war effort against Russia, and Kiev won’t even tap into its most eligible fighting-age demographic.

And so the expected drain of young men from the country is happening. The Telegraph explains Kiev’s rationale as: “By granting young Ukrainians more freedoms to leave, it was hoped more would return and volunteer to fight at a later date.” But unless there’s the unlikely scenario of Ukraine going on the offensive and pushing back Russian lines – or else a full and final peace settlement – the trend of young men fleeing Ukraine is unlikely to be reversed anytime soon.

Via Remix News,

An attempt to ban a movie seen as in breach of France’s long-cherished separation of Church and State has turned the film into a box-office success. 

“Sacre Coeur: Son regne n’aura pas de fin” (“Sacred Heart: His reign will have no end”) tells the story of the Sacred Heart devotion through the centuries, up until modern times. A devotion in Catholicism entails prayer, receiving communion, and making acts of reparation for sins. The Sacred Heart devotion revolves around such practices in the name of the heart of Jesus Christ, which serves as a symbol of his divine love, mercy, and compassion for humanity.

At first, the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan (Socialist Party), sought to ban any promotion of the film in spaces managed by the SNCF (French National Railway Company) and the RATP (Parisian public transport operator).

He then banned a screening of the film in a local municipal cinema — all in the name of secularism. 

The issue was that Payan has always seemed far more open to anything related to Islam. In fact, the mayor has set aside land for the building of mosques, made sure Muslim celebrations have adequate venues, and even visited high schools with Muslim Brotherhood ties, reports France Catholique, citing a report out of Frontières magazine on “mayors complicit with Islamism.” 

During Ramadan this year, he even openly stated: “Many of those who lecture Muslims […] should learn what is written in the surahs, which can enlighten us about the world.” 

The movie has particular significance to the city, as the FC portal also notes that Bishop de Belsunce consecrated Marseille to the Sacred Heart during the Great Plague of 1720, which is said to have then ended right afterward. 

Luckily, there were those who decided to push back against the mayor’s ban. Last week, the senator from Marseille, Stéphane Ravier, formerly of Le Pen’s National Rally party, filed an emergency appeal to overturn the municipal decision. Martine Vassal (The Republicans), president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department and the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan area, also came out publicly in support of the film and attended its screening that same evening. 

On the morning of the 25th, the court overturned the previous decision, with a strong message for Mayor Payant: “The mayor of Marseille has committed a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of freedom of expression, freedom of creation, and freedom of artistic dissemination.”

At the end of the day, as noted by France Catholique, Payant’s attempt to squash this Christian film backfired terribly. More than 200,000 people have now seen the film directed by Steven J. and Sabrina Gunnel since its release on Oct. 1. While the film was initially in just 155 theaters across France, this was increased to nearly 350 in its third week. 

Read more here…

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

US-backed NATO, Pakistan, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent” of Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines are poised to respectively face off against Russia, India, and China across this century.

The US is sending mixed signals about the Sino–Russo Entente, which was strengthened by the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline deal, after Trump said in September that he’s “not concerned” about it while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed that he ordered him to “re-establish deterrence” against them. As was argued here, “Trump 2.0’s Eurasian Balancing Act Has Failed” largely as a result of this development, which importantly involved India’s tacit approval amidst its rapprochement with China.

Far from remaining divided, principally as regards China and India with all the complications that their continued rivalry would entail for Russia’s own balancing act, Eurasia’s three most powerful civilization-states are increasingly coming together to revive their dormant Russia-India-China (RIC) format. This platform is significant on its own but it’s also crucially the core of BRICS and the SCO, which play complementary roles in gradually transforming global governance as explained here.

These RIC-accelerated multipolar processes can’t be countered through direct military force, however, but the way in which the Pentagon might try to slow everything down is through provoking arms races. NATO’s, Pakistan’s, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent’s” (Japan-Taiwan-Philippines) US-backed military buildups (partial in Pakistan’s case) could help achieve this vis-à-vis Russia, India, and China as could reinforced US military presences (or a formal return in Pakistan’s case) in each.

Likewise, the “Golden Dome”, intermediate-range missile deployments in their regions, and more militarization of outer space can place additional pressure on Russia and China to this end, though these moves could also backfire by enhancing those two’s military-technical coordination too. To be clear, Russia and China aren’t allies that would go to war for one another, but their shared military-security and strategic interests raise the chances that they’ll provide support for the other during wartime.

China has thus far eschewed sending military-technical aid to Russia due to its complex interdependence with the West, but Trump’s tariff war, his accusation that President Xi Jinping is “conspiring” against the US, and the Pentagon’s plans for the “Asian/Containment Crescent” might prompt a recalculation. In a similar spirit, Russia might become comfortable sharing cutting-edge military-technical knowledge with China to counterbalance US moves in Japan, which could extend to their shared North Korean ally too.

Although the lion’s share of Pakistan’s military-technical equipment comes from China, the US might break into this market if Chinese exports decrease due to the Sino-Indo rapprochement, which could also lead to a decrease in American exports to India and the need to replace them with exports to Pakistan. Russia might even regain its traditional role as India’s top supplier by far if exports to it spike in response to more US exports to Pakistan in a de facto revival of the region’s Old Cold War-era military dynamics.

All of these strategic dynamics set the stage for a security dilemma between the Eurasian Rimland (NATO, Pakistan, and the “Asian/Containment Crescent”) and the Eurasian Heartland (RIC) instigated by the US in order to “re-establish deterrence” vis-à-vis the Sino-Russo Entente. The purpose is to pressure one of them or their shared Indian partner into capitulating to the US so as to then more effectively divide-and-rule the supercontinent. This hegemonic plot will define Eurasia’s 21st-century geopolitics.