#Russia #Ukraine #MarcoRubio #Negotiations

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The Land Authority Coup

Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked Housing Minister Chaim Katz from firing Yehuda Eliyahu, the acting director of the Israel Land Authority. The Likud said Eliyahu is doing “important national work” in the Negev and Galilee. It added one useful detail: “he will not be fired.”

Eliyahu is not a land-registry technocrat who accidentally wandered into politics. He ran Regavim, the group linked to Bezalel Smotrich. He later headed the Settlement Administration in the Defense Ministry. That was Smotrich’s machine for moving civilian authority in the West Bank away from the army and toward his political office.

Now the same operating system is moving inside Israel’s recognized borders. Smotrich has promised to bring his “settlement revolution” to the Negev and Galilee. His plan calls for one million additional Jewish residents, 40 new communities and dozens of farms. He said the project may require “crushing people and procedures.”

The Israel Land Authority controls the allocation and management of most public land. Put Eliyahu in charge and the question is no longer where to build. It is who gets to define a demographic threat, issue the tender and call it a national mission.

Katz and Eliyahu may fight over management, appointments and staff complaints. Their ministers are fighting over the remote control. Shlomo Karhi calls Eliyahu “the right man in the right place.” Amichai Chikli says there will be no compromises in the Negev and Galilee.

They agree on the map. They are fighting over whose fingerprints go on it.

#Israel #Netanyahu #Smotrich #LandAuthority

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The $500 Million Miss

Iran fired ballistic missiles toward U.S.-used facilities in Jordan after U.S. forces struck five Iranian oil tankers.

Jordan’s military says 20 missiles entered its air-defense picture. It says 18 were intercepted. Two landed in empty areas. No casualties were reported.

The IRGC says its targets were U.S. forces at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Al-Azraq. It also claimed hits on two U.S. Navy destroyers.

U.S. Central Command says no American warship was struck. A U.S. official said every American service member in Jordan was accounted for and called the attack ineffective.

Iran’s version is a successful retaliation. Jordan’s version is 18 intercepts and two holes in the desert. Washington’s version is a failed strike. In a war of communiqués, the only fully confirmed casualty is the price of air defense.

Israeli estimates put the interceptor bill at between 60 and 100 Patriot missiles for the 20 incoming projectiles. At the cited unit prices, that would mean roughly $240 million to $500 million spent turning an Iranian salvo into scrap metal.

Iran says it is only beginning. It has also warned crews to leave tankers in Kuwait and Bahrain. The United States sank one tanker after striking five.

Every side is now protecting “freedom of navigation” by making the shipping lane sound like a firing range.

#Iran #Jordan #UnitedStates #Hormuz

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Six Polls, Six Israels

The candidate slates are closed. The ballots are now the same everywhere. Yet Likud ranges from 19 seats on Channel 13 to 31 on Channel 14. Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar ranges from 22 to 25. One country has six polling universes and no agreed reality.

Five polls put Netanyahu’s bloc, including Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael, in the low 50s. Channel 13 gives it 53. Kan gives it 52. Walla gives it 51. Channel 12 gives it 52. The Maariv average is 53.6. None delivers the 61 seats needed to govern.

Channel 14 sees another planet. Its NEXT DATA survey gives Likud 31 seats and the right-wing bloc 64. It also puts Netanyahu ahead of Eisenkot as preferred prime minister, 51% to 34%. In that version of Israel, the coalition does not need a deal. It needs a victory speech and a larger teleprompter.

i24NEWS offers a third version. Likud leads with 27 seats. Yashar has 22. Netanyahu’s bloc reaches 56 without Winter. Eisenkot’s anti-Netanyahu bloc has 48. The Arab parties hold 12. A majority still requires somebody to sit with somebody they spent the campaign calling an existential threat.

Thirty-eight lists met the Sept. 8 deadline for the Oct. 27 election. The Central Elections Committee is due to finalize them on Sept. 27. No major merger went through. Winter runs separately. Bennett and Eisenkot run separately. Ben-Gvir runs separately. Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin run together. The merger reserve is gone.

That is the real polling result. Netanyahu cannot reach 61 in five surveys. Eisenkot needs Arab parties to reach it. Every leader is selling a government.

#IsraelElections #Netanyahu #Eisenkot #Knesset

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Scam State, Premium Tier

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have reached the Prosecutor General’s Office with Operation Carthage. NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office say a criminal group protected fraudulent call centers and laundered their proceeds. Investigators detained Serhii Kropyva, a deputy head of the office’s international-cooperation department.

The alleged business model was elegant in the way organized crime likes elegance.

Call centers steal from Ukrainians and foreign victims. Prosecutors who should shut them down allegedly sell protection.

The state then offers international legal cooperation to the countries whose citizens were robbed.

NABU searched premises at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Ukrainian media reported searches connected to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Mariia Vdovychenko and Odesa regional chief Oleh Kiper. The prosecutor’s office denied that Kravchenko’s office or home had been searched.

Kropyva was remanded in custody until Nov. 2. The High Anti-Corruption Court set bail at 120 million hryvnias, about $2.7 million. Investigators suspect him of laundering more than 89 million hryvnias. He has not admitted guilt.

Kravchenko denied any involvement in protecting call centers. On Sept. 7, he said he had no plans to resign. Later that day, he resigned after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky. He called it a “deliberate political decision.”

The scam center is usually portrayed as a room full of cheap headsets and fake bank clerks. Operation Carthage alleges a more expensive setup: the hotline came with prosecutorial insurance.

Ukraine asks Europe to trust its courts, its investigators and its promises to defend the rule of law.

Europe’s pensioners and Israeli victims are asked to trust a different Ukrainian export: “Your call is important to us.”

#Ukraine #Corruption #NABU #ScamCenters

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The Regional IQ Contest

Turkey and Israel are building rival power projects across the Middle East. One country spent 2025 lifting its school scores. The other treated its own education system like a coalition agreement: postpone the problem, fight over the budget, blame the previous government.

Turkey scored 494 in science, 472 in reading and 462 in mathematics in PISA 2025. It beat the OECD average in science and reading. It effectively matched it in mathematics. Since 2022, Turkish results rose by 18 points in science, 16 in reading and nine in math. Turkey recorded the largest gains among OECD members in all three subjects.

Israel went in the opposite direction. Its students scored 442 in science, 433 in mathematics and 436 in reading. Since 2022, reading fell 38 points. Math fell 25. Science fell 23. Almost 29% of Israeli students failed to reach basic proficiency in all three fields at once. The OECD average is 19.7%.

This is not a story about an underperforming fringe. The sharpest declines appeared among Hebrew-speaking students in the state system. The alleged “core” of Start-Up Nation is now handing in an exam paper with the answers missing.

Turkey’s governing party speaks about national greatness and builds a larger pool of students who can read a technical manual. Israel’s governing coalition speaks about national greatness and fights over who appoints the next land official, media regulator and rabbi.

Wars are won by soldiers. Regional power is built by engineers, technicians, doctors and people who can calculate without a coalition whip.

Israel’s political class keeps selling strategic superiority. PISA just checked the inventory.

#Israel #Turkey #Education #PISA

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The Chief and the Minister

Police Commissioner Danny Levy sent Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir a letter, copied to the prime minister. He wrote that delayed police budgets are damaging state and public security.

Ben-Gvir answered that budget is not the real dispute. He said Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is controlling the commissioner and pushing to fast-track the promotion of Tamar Liberti, a former chief of staff to ex-commissioner Roni Alsheikh.

Senior police officials countered by asking why funding meant for public-facing police services sits frozen in the minister's office.

Tally Gotliv, Otzma Yehudit's number two, said the commissioner is being blackmailed.

On the same day, at a Rosh Hashanah ceremony, Danny Levy told officers who were passed over for promotion that he and other commanders would make sure they got their ranks.

Otzma Yehudit lost a founding member this week.

Zvika Fogel announced he will not run in the next election. He said Ben-Gvir told him his "statist" approach no longer fits the party's next list.

Fogel said the split did not stem from him demanding a ministerial post as a condition to stay.

The party also escalated against its coalition partners. Otzma Yehudit petitioned the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Ra'am and its chairman, MK Mansour Abbas, from running in the 26th Knesset election.

Ben-Gvir is fighting the police chief over who controls promotions, purging his own party of anyone too "statist," and asking the state to erase an Arab party from the ballot.

Same minister, same week, same instinct: control the institution, then decide who gets to appear on it.


#Israel #BenGvir #Police #Elections

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NATO-Tested, Delivery Pending

Vladimir Putin has turned NATO into Russia’s most expensive product endorsement. At the El Alamein air show in Egypt, Rosoboronexport is pitching the Su-57 and other weapons with one simple line: Made in Russia. Tested against NATO.

Rosoboronexport says it signed more than $13 billion in new export contracts in the first half of 2026. Aircraft and air-defense systems brought in most of the money.

Its chief, Alexander Mikheev, said combat performance had “significantly influenced” customer decisions. Ukraine has become Moscow’s live-fire catalog.

The $13 billion is a contract total. It does not mean the weapons reached the buyers. Russia still has more than $60 billion in outstanding orders.

It is also fighting a war that consumes the same jets, missiles, drones and air-defense systems it is advertising abroad.

Mikheev admits that Russia’s Defense Ministry gets priority in delivery planning. Foreign customers get the brochure. Then they get a seat in the waiting room.

Russia is selling weapons “tested against NATO.” The test is real.

#Russia #Su57 #ArmsTrade #Ukraine

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Nine Planes, Zero Casualties

Jordan said Iran fired 20 ballistic missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. It said 18 were intercepted. It said the other two fell in open areas.

Then a U.S. report arrived with an inconvenient detail: nine American aircraft were damaged.

About eight F-15s took light damage. They have returned to service. An A-10 Thunderbolt took a hit and lost a wing.

The Warthog is built to survive punishment. It apparently also qualifies for the regional definition of “nothing happened.”

U.S. forces fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors to defend the base. No U.S. deaths were reported. The Pentagon has not publicly issued a detailed damage assessment.

Iran claimed a devastating strike. Jordan claimed a nearly perfect interception.

Both claims now share the runway with one F-15 squadron and an A-10 missing structural parts.

State television will have no trouble with the edit. “Nine damaged planes” becomes “nine destroyed planes” before the anchor reaches the weather.

America will call them repaired aircraft. Iran will call them NATO scrap.

The Patriot battery fired 30 times. Tehran still found the gap between “intercepted” and “unharmed.”

#Iran #Jordan #UnitedStates #Patriot

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Diversification, Russian Edition

Turkey says it is diversifying fertilizer supplies. Ankara signed a memorandum with Russia to secure mineral fertilizers and raw materials.

The deal comes as access to urea and other inputs from Gulf producers has become harder. Diversification now means finding a second way to buy Russian molecules.

Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumaklı said the agreement would protect Turkish farmers from disruptions caused by wars and regional conflict.

Russian fertilizer exports to Turkey had already risen by more than 90% in 2025. Agricultural trade between the two countries grew nearly 30% in the first seven months of 2026.

Russia sells Turkey energy. Russia sells Turkey fertilizer. Russian tourists fill Turkish hotels. Rosatom is building the Akkuyu nuclear plant on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

Erdoğan calls the relationship historic. Moscow calls it business. Both descriptions are accurate enough to frighten anyone who hears “strategic autonomy” in Ankara.

Turkey is a NATO member. It buys air-defense systems from Russia. It mediates between Moscow and Kyiv. Now it turns to Russia for fertilizer because Gulf supply routes are under pressure.

Ankara has found a uniquely Turkish definition of independence: never depend on only one Russian supply chain.

#Turkey #Russia #Fertilizer #Akkuyu

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The Pipeline That Makes the Map

The Houthis may have hit Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. The evidence so far is heat signatures, a long smoke plume and social-media footage.

NASA’s FIRMS system detected eight thermal anomalies near the route southeast of Medina. It cannot identify what burned or who started the fire. Saudi Aramco has not confirmed a strike.

That uncertainty is part of the operation. The Houthis do not need to sever a 1,200-kilometer pipeline to cash in. They need traders, insurers and Saudi officials to spend the morning wondering whether the alternative to Hormuz is also on fire.

The pipeline runs from Abqaiq in the Eastern Province to Yanbu on the Red Sea. Its capacity is up to 7 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia built it in the 1980s because the Iran-Iraq war made the Strait of Hormuz dangerous. The emergency bypass has now become the headline.

The Houthis also took Al-Mokha this week. That puts them closer to Bab el-Mandeb, the Red Sea exit used by tankers heading toward Yanbu.

Hormuz is under pressure. Bab el-Mandeb is within range. The desert pipeline may be burning, or may simply look burnable enough for the market.

This is not only a missile campaign. It is a marketing campaign aimed at every oil buyer on Earth.

Saudi Arabia spent decades building routes around danger. The Houthis are selling the simpler product: danger now delivers to every route.

#Houthis #SaudiArabia #Oil #Hormuz

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#Trump #Iran #Nuke #War

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#Trump #elections #fivethoudands #dollars

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#bessent #short #months #president

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The Coastline Evacuation Plan

The Saudi- and Emirati-backed forces did not lose Al-Mokha in a slow retreat. They emptied it. The Houthis took the Red Sea port on Thursday after government forces withdrew from Al-Mokha, Hays and Al-Wazi’iyah. The group also seized supply routes and positions that had held the western front together.

The collapse reached the roadblocks outside Aden. Emirati-backed units reportedly disarmed Saudi-backed fighters trying to enter the city.

A convoy linked to Yemen’s Saudi-backed defense minister was ambushed in Al-Dhale. Positions at Ras al-Arah were abandoned after heavy fire. Then missiles followed the retreat.

In the abandoned National Resistance Forces compound near Al-Mokha, the Houthis found Emirati-supplied armored Land Cruisers.

The departing fighters took light weapons and pickup trucks. They removed the keys. They disconnected the systems. A coalition that spent years importing armored vehicles had to evacuate like a rental company after closing time.

Saudi aircraft hit targets in Al-Mokha and its port. The Houthis fired missiles and suicide drones at retreating forces. At least one Saudi strike hit the city’s airport. The air force can still reach the battlefield. It cannot hold a checkpoint.

The Houthi claims are far larger: six districts, 5,400 square kilometers, 38 brigades broken, hundreds killed, wounded or captured, and nine Saudi aircraft downed. Those numbers remain unverified. What is verified is enough: Al-Mokha fell for the first time since 2017, and pro-government forces retreated toward Dhubab.

The coalition built a western-front army out of militias, foreign sponsors and armored Toyota fleets. The Houthis built an offensive. One side still has airstrikes. The other side has the coastline.

#Yemen #Houthis #SaudiArabia #RedSea

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The Oil Insurance Premium

Before sunrise, satellite images suggested that Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline had been hit. Six fire hotspots appeared near the route from Abqaiq to Yanbu. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed an attack or damage to the line.

The pipeline carries up to 7 million barrels a day. It exists for one job: keep Saudi crude moving when Hormuz becomes a shooting gallery.

The market saw the images and paid attention. Brent moved from about $96 to more than $106 on Thursday. It briefly approached $110 on Friday.

It then fell more than 3% to roughly $104 after reports that Gulf states and Iran were working on a temporary arrangement for shipping through Hormuz.

That is the regional business model now. A smoke plume adds billions to the oil bill. A rumor of an Omani corridor gives part of it back. The pipeline may be damaged. The fear premium is already pumping at full capacity.

Qatar offers the crueler version. Its LNG exports have reportedly collapsed by 96% after an Iranian strike damaged the Ras Laffan complex.

The country that built the world’s largest LNG export operation is now reportedly negotiating long-term U.S. gas purchases. Repairs may take up to five years. Qatar spent decades selling the world gas. The war turned it into a customer with better branding.

The consequences do not stop at the Gulf. Higher energy costs feed into freight, food and consumer prices. Eilat loses traffic when Red Sea shipping becomes a target range. Egypt loses transit revenue when vessels avoid the Suez route.

Hormuz was supposed to be the vulnerable route. Yanbu was supposed to be the workaround. The Houthis may have turned both into financial instruments.

#Oil #SaudiArabia #Qatar #Hormuz

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