AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling?

Just struck me this has been a very useful thread.
It's had prepping. Climate and looming winter challenges. Politics and war. Putin, Trump, Middle East etc. Much about how the media covers or fails to cover the current situation. Lots of good joined up thinking here.
But it's in Aibu, so once it comes to an end it'll drop off the radar. OP disappeared back on day 1, which was the 10th. I'm wondering if we could get it moved to another board, maybe preppers? So it'll be easier to look back and find it.

Well that’s scary ^ 😶

A number of other European countries have also made comments today.

Meanwhile:
The Trump administration is considering withdrawing 25,000 troops from Europe, which is nearly one-third of all U.S. forces—NBC News reports.

The Institute for the Study Of War released a report today named identifying the threat.

If you want to read the report it's here
https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2100233334244704500

Key paras

ISW has long assessed that the Kremlin considers itself to be in an overt conflict with Europe and the United States.
[RTB: they believe we are at War already - not we will join an existing war]
ISW has long assessed that the Kremlin considers itself to be in an overt conflict with Europe and the United States. The Kremlin has conducted a campaign of irregular actions, military posturing, and nuclear saber rattling against Europe for years, and individual Russian actions are not inherently new.

The Kremlin has increased the intensity of its kinetic actions and statements since Summer 2025, however, such as with the September 9-10, 2025 Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace — and the Kremlin has become even more brazen in Summer 2026.The Kremlin is conducting a series of coordinated kinetic campaigns against NATO member states, and European states must both understand internally and publicly name these campaigns externally for what they are: coordinated kinetic and non-kinetic attacks against NATO military and civilian targets, not isolated incidents or “provocations.”European states must both understand internally and publicly name these campaigns externally for what they are: coordinated kinetic and non-kinetic attacks against NATO military and civilian targets, not isolated incidents or “provocations.”

The German government’s official announcement on September 1 that Russia was directly responsible for the August 5 drone attack targeting Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport marked a turning point in the willingness of European officials to publicly discuss ongoing Russian kinetic actions. German authorities discovered a drone containing explosives near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane overnight on August 4 to 5 and reported that a second drone collided with another cargo plane that was aborting its landing due to the first drone incident. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated on September 1 that Germany and its partners clearly identified Russian involvement in the attack, and noted that the perpetrators used tactics consistent with known Russian modi operandi and technical capabilities. Numerous NATO, EU, and European government officials expressed their agreement with the German assessment, expressed full support for Germany, and denounced future Russian actions against Germany and other European targets. Even so, neither Germany nor any other European state or body has taken meaningful action against Russia in response.

The Kremlin and Russian-linked actors have escalated the pace and intensity of their kinetic actions against Europe over the past year. Russian-linked actors regularly attack critical infrastructure across Europe, such as persistent attempts to sabotage Polish railways. The Kremlin is conducting a campaign of arson attacks against European defense industrial base targets producing material for both European militaries and Ukraine.European intelligence agencies and media outlets regularly report that Russian-linked agents seek to assassinate executives in major European defense companies. Russian and Russian-linked actors routinely conduct cyberattacks against European government and civilian targets.Russian military aircraft routinely probe the borders of NATO airspace to test NATO defenses on a near-daily basis. The Russian navy and intelligence services threaten NATO sea lines of communication and critical infrastructure such as undersea cables. The Russian “shadow fleet” of falsely flagged vessels supports Russian sanctions evasion and likely supports other Russian kinetic actions against Europe such as drone launches. The Kremlin has at minimum accepted the risk of drones and missiles used in strikes against Ukraine entering NATO airspace and injuring civilians, as when a Russian drone struck a Romanian apartment building on May 29 and injured two people. ISW now assesses that some Russian airspace violations in conjunction with strikes in Ukraine are intentional, however, and both intentional and unintentional violations enable the Russian military to test NATO air defenses and erode the meaning of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense provision. The Russians additionally very likely sought to injure or kill current and former European officials in the September 13 drone strike that apparently was meant to hit the train carrying those officials out of Ukraine following a conference in Kyiv.
The Kremlin is conducting these actions against Europe as part of a series of mutually supporting kinetic and cognitive campaigns against Europe, rather than as a scattered collection of individual actions. The objectives of Russia’s campaigns include but are not limited to: physically disrupt NATO support for Ukraine, intimidate European states into halting support to Ukraine through the threat of strikes and the concern that they must reserve military equipment for their own protection, gather intelligence on NATO defenses and responses to Russian actions, raise NATO’s threshold of what kinetic Russian actions are considered normal or routine in an effort to “boil the frog” and normalize Russian attacks, exacerbate political divides in Europe, demonstrate to Russian domestic audiences that Russia can attack NATO, and set conditions for potential future Russian conventional operations against NATO. ISW will present a campaign framework for the Russian campaigns against Europe and will assess major Russian lines of effort in forthcoming papers.

European officials’ increased willingness to publicly discuss Russia’s kinetic campaigns is positive, but the language NATO and individual European states use to discuss the ongoing Russian campaigns will inherently shape Western policy responses, and much of it still obfuscates the coordinated and coherent nature of the Russian efforts.

European officials too often refer to Russian actions, from violations of NATO airspace up to and including blatantly kinetic attacks on European infrastructure, as “provocations.”[18] Calling Russian violations of NATO airspace and direct attacks on European targets “provocations” constrains NATO’s freedom to act by implicitly framing NATO responses to these Russian actions as NATO being “provoked,” a negative term that European states will inherently wish to avoid. Labeling individual Russian actions and entire categories of Russian actions as “sub-threshold” or “sub-Article 5” actions likewise preemptively constrains NATO responses by de facto labeling Russian actions as unworthy of NATO responses by NATO responses by de facto labeling Russian actions as unworthy of NATO collective defense. The Kremlin will rightly read this language as what it is: NATO states attempting to downplay actual Russian attacks for fear that any effort to invoke the Article 5 (or sometimes even Article 4) provisions that the Russian attacks actually merit would fail. NATO and European states must work to avoid using this language and call Russian kinetic attacks what they are, whether the target states choose to invoke Article 4 or Article 5 or not.

European officials most commonly refer to Russian actions as “hybrid attacks” or “hybrid war.” German Interior Minister Dobrindt stated on September 1 that German intelligence perceives the August 5 Russian attack on the Leipzig/Halle airport as having occurred “in conjunction with other hybrid actions” and noted that Germany will be the target of future “hybrid” attacks.[19] Most European statements of support for Germany after September 1 similarly discussed the Russian “hybrid attack” and pledged responses to future “hybrid action,” and the “hybrid” language remains dominant in public discourse around Russian campaigns.[20] The problem with identifying Russian kinetic attacks on NATO states as “hybrid” is that it implies that they are not part of a coherent military campaign, but rather part of something else. Using that term is, again, meant to justify not invoking NATO’s collective defense provisions or taking meaningful action in response, and the Kremlin will read it as Europe’s willingness to accept continued and possibly escalated Russian actions along these lines.

An increasing number of European officials, particularly in frontline states, have correctly directly named Russian actions as “kinetic” or as “attacks” without any qualifier. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated on August 17 that Russian actions against Europe have “turned kinetic,” citing Russian assassination attempts and efforts to sabotage Polish railways.[21] Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys echoed this wording on September 2, stating that Russian attacks against Europe are “no longer hybrid; they are very kinetic.”[22] European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen characterized the Leipzig/Halle Airport attack as “an attack using military-grade material carried out by Russian operatives on European Union soil,” on September 1, characterizing it directly as an attack without the “hybrid” qualifier.[23] This language is much more accurate, even if it downplays the significance of previous Russian kinetic attacks on Europe.

The Baltic states have increasingly shifted since September 1 towards calling Russian attacks “state-sponsored terrorism,” though this language has not yet reached wide acceptance. Kaupo Rosin, Director General of the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service, directly stated on August 28 that Europe must “abandon euphemisms like ‘hybrid warfare’ and call escalating [Russian] sabotage campaigns and subversion across Europe by its proper name of ‘state-sponsored terrorism.’”[24] EU High Representative Kaja Kallas similarly stated on September 2 that the Leipzig/Halle Airport attack had “all the characteristics of state sponsored terrorism.”[25] Terrorism is a form of war, and an act of terrorism on September 11, 2001 prompted the first and only invocation of NATO’s Article 5 provision to date, so this language is a move in the right direction. It still obfuscates the connection between current Russian kinetic campaigns against Europe and the actual near-term Russian conventional threat, however.

Defining the current Russian challenge will be a difficult and pressing challenge for NATO and Europe, and European states must at minimum understand the assumptions and inherent framing of justifiable responses to Russian actions that the terms they are already using introduce into ongoing policy debates. ISW will assess the policy ramifications of using different labels for Russian actions in a forthcoming paper and is not yet proposing a set of language to use to describe the Russian campaigns, other than a direct statement of what they are: coordinated, state-directed, kinetic attacks on European targets.

NATO must additionally prepare for the possibility of near-term conventional Russian attacks that would not be militarily existential to NATO but could be politically existential by dividing NATO. The Russian military could conduct air, missile, or drone strikes or a limited ground incursion against one or more Baltic states to test and seek to break NATO’s resolve to invoke Article 5 and respond effectively on its basis. A limited Russian attack would aim to create a situation in which NATO is unable to agree how, or if at all, to respond to a Russian attack. Any near-term Russian conventional attack would be tailored to maximize the possibility that NATO states would fail to unify and provide military assistance as an alliance to an attacked member state. A scenario in which NATO does not unanimously vote to honor an invocation of the Article 5 mutual defense clause, or in which a state under Russian attack declines to invoke Article 5 at all out of concern that it would not receive unified support, would significantly damage NATO’s credibility and unity — an outcome that would achieve a longstanding Russian objective and immensely expand Putin’s space to maneuver and plan future attacks against a divided alliance.

It goes on further but you can read that yourself

Main summary: Nato should prepare for war (from as early as 2027) because Russia thinks it's already at war with NATO

We live rurally and have oil based central heating. I had the tank (1000 litres) filled today and it cost over a grand which was fun. When I called the guy was like "oooh it's expensive at the minute £1.11 a litre, you sure you want the full thousand?" To which I was like "you seriously think the price is going back down any time before the spring?!?"

Tim Shipman AT ShippersUnbound
(Old Brexit thread regulars may recognise this guy - write a bunch of books telling the inside story. Chummy with Johnson if memory serves. Currently political editor at The Spectator)

Multiple reports from Europe that Russia has launched a provocation/low Level military campaign against the West (assassinations, violating air space, sabotage). The French govt is bringing opposition parties in for intelligence briefings. Time for the govt here to say something?

I would take this as political commentary politely saying "Where the fuck is Burnham? Why the crickets?" Just like I am. This is only going to get noisier in asking what the fuck is going on.

This is all highly unusual.

I don't even think this.

It's hybrid warfare. That's guerilla type tactics and strategic targeting to produce splits within the public of a country (think opposition for the Vietnam war within America being a key factor in the US withdrawal).

Donald Tusk has done a long speech about what he expects.

This is lifted from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/sep/17/donald-trump-eu-european-union-mark-carney-canada-associate-membership-tariffs-threats-germany-merz-latest-news-updates

Intelligence shows Russian 'plans for hybrid strikes ... against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland,' Tusk says
Tusk says that intelligence assessments show “plans for hybrid strikes using drones and missiles against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland”.

He says the latest intelligence on this is “very consistent and convincing”.

He says that Russia is expected to pretend that any incidents are “accidental” in a bid to “paralyse or at least weaken Nato’s resolve to invoke the relevant provisions” of the Nato treaty.

“There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles could be launched into the territory of one or more Nato countries on the eastern flank, and could even cause damage, and the official narrative will be that this is an accident and that there is no reason for anyone to consider any response from Nato.

The aim … will be to weaken Nato’s integrity in general and, above all, to convince … member states that Article 5 is more theoretical than practical – that is, the assumption that no one will want to die for Latvia or Lithuania, given that we are dealing with incidents rather than a declaration of war.”

He says he expects Russia to use “recurrent” incidents to use them as “an increasingly stark illustration of Nato’s helplessness” to respond in a united manner.

And

Tusk's stark warning about Russian plans for hybrid strikes against Ukraine's allies - summary
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said that intelligence assessments show Russian “plans for hybrid strikes using drones and missiles against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland” in the coming months (17:23).

In a sombre speech in the Polish parliament, Tusk warned that Poland will face ‘provocations ... far more dangerous that those we have faced so far’ (17:33) as Russia is expected to test Nato’s resolve in defending the territory of its members on the eastern flank.

The Polish prime minister cautioned that the coming autumn and winter is likely to be “the most critical moment” in Russia’s full-scale aggression on Ukraine (17:20).

Tusk said the available intelligence suggested Russia will pretend any incidents are “accidental” to further stress test Nato’s article 5.

Tusk also warned that some European parties “currently gaining in strength” are only “looking for an excuse” to not defend Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, calling for a united response to any threat in the region (17:28).

AND

Tusk did not specifically reveal which intelligence agencies he was citing.

However, Poland’s security services minister Tomasz Siemoniak met CIA director John Ratcliffe last week, just days after his much-discussed trip to Russia.

Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz is also planning to go to the US next week for urgent talks with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth.

Make of that what you will.

Tusk and other key ministers also repeatedly quoted Polish intelligence agencies in the past, whether in response to repeated security incidents, airspace provocations near Poland, or arrests of people suspected of planning acts of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services.

AND

Some politicians 'just looking for excuses' to not defend Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Tusk warns
Tusk also talks about Poland’s absolute resolve to defence all other Nato countries.

He says “this is very important, because as. a border country … we are likely to need allied loyalty under Article 5 more than Portugal or Ireland.”

He continues:

“It is not the case that all politicians in the west, in the United States or in Europe, are thinking about how to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and that they are all eager to prove immediately that they are staunch allies and will come to our aid under Article 5.

Far from all of them. There are many politicians, as well as political forces, which are currently gaining in strength and influence in European countries, who are just looking for an excuse: we won’t die for Poland; we won’t die for Latvia or Lithuania.”

He says that’s why Poland must be very openly ready to follow through on its allied commitments.

“Article 5, loyalty within the alliance, and faithfulness to our commitments must become our hallmark,” he says.

AND

In a strong speech, he continued:
“I am from Gdańsk. In May 1939, a certain French politician – a future Nazi collaborator – asked in the French press why anyone should die for Gdańsk. A few months later, the whole of Europe was dying.
To those who say today that this is not our war, I would like to remind them of this lesson from history. In 1939, our alliances existed only on paper, really. We were left on our own. Today, we are members of Nato and the European Union.”
We spend almost 5% of our GDP on defence. This is almost twice as much as Germany and twice as much as France. We are building one of the strongest armies in Europe; we secured €44bn from the EU’s SAFE programme, the most from all EU countries. And Polish borders are today the best marked borders on the entire continent.
Europe, which in 1939 did not want to die for Gdańsk, today funds Polish armaments.
But we are aware that even the largest army is not enough if the nation is not ready.
Therefore, I address all those who look at the future with anxiety:
We are not seeking war, but if anyone dares to attack us, they will face a resolute response from us and our allies. Long live a free and secure Republic of Poland.”

Just to add Germany has closed its Consulate in St Petersburg today (the Embassy in Moscow is still open). And has already accused Russia of attempted sabotage attacks that were unsuccessful as well as there being a mysterious sabotage of the Dutch Railway system yesterday (no one implied on that but would be consistent with what's happened and what's been said.

Obviously France is having it's big internal meeting tomorrow which I'm guessing will include some of this.

Meanwhile BBC and UK Government: Total Crickets.

(And this is why I have posted in full due to this being buried on the Guardian and hidden away on twitter).

Get a life straw and you will have 200 l of drinking water.

There is new technology though. Russia has a new weapon to cut off the undersea cables without leaving any trace. Weapons don’t have to be bombs.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking now, but before the war in Ukraine we were led to believe that they will just blast us off the face of the earth.

But I guess the good old 'boots on the ground' is still the way to go. If they had the technology, they would've used it by now.

Oh thank fuck for that...😮‍💨

Rumblings elsewhere on Mumsnet.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5579540-anyone-else-concerned-about-the-price-of-fuel

Maybe he thinks you're working for 'them' ....

Air raid sirens sounded in a couple of places in Eastern Poland today due to alert mentioned above.

BBC: complete tumbleweeds

I'm actually staggered.

Al Jareeza
BREAKING: Pakistan's defence minister says time has come to implement Mecca pact following Houthi attacks

(Note: If Pakistan helps Saudi may prioritise oil to Pakistan rather than Europe who has so far refused)

The Telegraph
Airports in Poland have suspended flights amid Russian strikes near the border with western Ukraine.

Various Sources
Macron is bringing all party leaders together for a briefing about "the rapid deterioration of the international situation"

One comment on the above about France with further details:
Something unusual is happening in Paris.
Macron has summoned France’s political leaders and presidential candidates to the Élysée tomorrow amid what his office calls a “rapid deterioration of the international situation.”
What makes this particularly noteworthy is who will brief them:
France’s domestic, foreign and military intelligence services, national security officials — and the country’s energy leadership.
The agenda covers the Middle East, Ukraine, energy security and the consequences for France.
French reporting says the meeting follows a DGSE intelligence briefing earlier this week. One diplomatic source described the situation simply:
“We are entering a different world.”
This does not mean Paris expects an imminent war or that every recent incident in Europe is connected.
But governments rarely bring political rivals and intelligence chiefs into the same room unless they believe the strategic environment has changed enough that everyone needs to understand the same picture.
Worth watching very closely.

I'm seeing tweets suggesting there are protests at oil depots about rising prices of fuel demanding something is done so it may be connected to this. Reality is, who ever is in charge, probably can't bring prices down.

Polish PM Donald Tusk:
I fear that by winter we will witness increasingly severe attacks by Russia on energy infrastructure.
And I can only express hope that these provocations and attacks will not go beyond Ukraine’s borders.
But hope, unfortunately, is not certainty.
We are preparing here in Poland for different scenarios.

In further comments he said that "Russia was planning something"

Note: Poland said that Russia was going to bomb close to the border and they did, narrowly missing various EU and Ukrainian politicians plus a Mr Johnson. It has since become apparent they were probably the target.

I had also seen prior to that suggestions that Russia intended to make political assassinations in Europe BEFORE this attack. (Very secretive all this on twitter isn't it?!)

Finnish President Alexander Stubb is urging Finns to mentally prepare for possible sabotage attacks and drones straying into Finland.

Four drones have already fallen on Finnish territory earlier this year.

Speaking to MTV, Stubb said it is worth being mentally prepared for something to happen, while stressing that people should remain calm and avoid overreacting to individual incidents.

He described Russia’s actions against Europe as hybrid warfare and said Finland’s authorities and Defence Forces have significantly improved their ability to respond to drones and other threats.

We can handle these situations, Stubb said.

German Chancellor Merz, looks likely to be forced to resign.

The EX-head of MI6 warned against net-zero being a national security threat as a policy that's ill thought out yesterday and the day before in various speeches.

The PM has come out today to double double on net-zero.

This news cycle is the gift that keeps giving. Escalation?

Regardless: political instability is not good for long supply chains or the situation over fertiliser, food and oil that we ALREADY have.

This was hidden away on a live feed from Al Jazeera

US relaxes truck driver hours to lower fuel costs and ease shortages
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that the Trump administration is temporarily relaxing hours of service rules for truck drivers handling petrol and diesel shipments to lower fuel costs.

“Short-term supply chain disruptions can delay gasoline and diesel shipments, which in turn can impact freight delivery shipments,” Duffy said in a statement.

By allowing truckers to drive additional hours “if they are not fatigued”, the Department of Transportation is protecting against fuel shortages and increased prices, Duffy added.

Global oil supply chains are experiencing considerable disruptions due to the Strait of Hormuz closure, the ongoing conflict in Yemen and Saudi Arabia’s closure of the East-West pipeline.

I searched it up on twitter to verify it, but found very little - but enough to verify. A tweet with a link to the official government website bulletin.

I then search in a browser:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-temporarily-eases-curb-working-hours-fuel-truck-drivers-2026-09-17/

This is a quote from the reuters article:
The department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it took the action "in anticipation of the need for greater hours-of-service flexibility."
It aimed to "respond to global supply disruptions, anticipated increases in the demand for gasoline and diesel fuels in the late summer and fall," the department added.
The move also sought to mitigate impacts on the costs and availability of fuel for transport providers, agricultural harvesting, and the public as demand grows, it said.
Global diesel supplies are expected to remain tight due to a lack of spare refining capacity, Russia's ban on exports and the approach of peak winter demand.
Motor carriers with conditional safety ratings are excluded from the waiver, however, and a driver needing immediate rest is allowed 10 consecutive hours off-duty before resuming work, the agency said.
Such orders have routinely been issued previously to tackle natural disasters or emergencies such as wildfires, hurricanes or winter storms.
In March 2020, a national emergency order waived service requirements for commercial vehicle drivers transporting emergency coronavirus relief, food for emergency restocks, and supplies and equipment, ranging from masks to disinfectant.

This is us government crisis and contingency planning being actioned.

Us government press release
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-takes-action-lower-fuel-costs

It's September. This isn't normal. And the circumstances are due to government policy not a natural disaster.

Tweets are circulating about gas stations in the US being out of diesel but a little more investigation of this suggests this is still currently within the normal operating range.

I'm also seeing information about how the gulf states are getting better at getting around the blockades using escorted shuttles and STS transfers and volumes are good - not enough but good - but the risk is the workarounds become targets for Iran.

Biuro Prasowe Orlen (translated from Polish)
We inform you that oil deliveries to Poland and the remaining refineries of the ORLEN Group are being carried out on an ongoing basis and fully cover their demand. In connection with the situation on the raw materials market, the ORLEN Group has contracted 16 additional deliveries to the Polish, Czech, and Lithuanian directions since Friday, including from Norway, the United Kingdom, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and both Americas.
The remaining part of the demand is covered, among others, on the basis of the contract signed in August with the Norwegian company Equinor.
The ORLEN Group monitors the situation on the raw materials market and continuously utilizes its diversified supplier portfolio.

To explain this - one of the customers who got their order from the Saudis cancelled is this company. They effectively had to panic but to cover the gap, but it looks like they managed to do so.

United Airlines yesterday warned of a reduced timetable with flights cancelled in December though.

So a mixed bag of bits of information going on here. But definitely significant things that are out of the ordinary.

plus! we have power banks which will be of little value in a total power outtage

my comment of 10th at 11.27 describes our situation

thank you for your concern!
no we don’t have anyone vulnerable in our household
which was why I was surprised to find we are on a Priority list

I think you misunderstood my last comment

We will not know what to expect, that is impossible - we can be
prepared for our own perceived eventualities and be completely wrong.

I have not seen a police officer in this smalltown for 5 years, the closest
Police Station is Oxford, 40 minutes away, help would not be immediate.

and the Today programme

@Madamefroufrouyes, we are on the priority list.
If I were you, and you have someone vulnerable in your household, I would make sure of an alternative way to cook ( which you have done), a way of lighting ( I've opted for lanterns and headtorches and a good amount of batteries) and, if you can, an alternative source of heating - if not, warm clothes, blankets, and hot water bottles, and even survival blankets.
I have focused on shelf stable foods ( tins/ pasta/ rice etc rather than freezer goods.
And it's worth considering a power bank for your phone - you can get solar ones too.

This is the most bizarre story (I've ignored it all day until it's hit some sources that seem to have more credibility)

Indian PM Modi paused to ask President Xi of China at the BRICS conference earlier this week "is it ok?" And there comments that it was in reference to his health.

Then we've had this:

Bill Gertz (Washington Post)
Rumors are flying in China over Xi Jinping begin taken ill during his visit to India. They include claims that he suffered a minor illness to experiencing a stroke worsened by by failure to treat early. Some wild claims say rival group armies are mobilizing for civil war. No confirmation but Treasury Sec Bessent is meeting with Chinese counterparts today and we’ll see if the summit for Sept. 24 is still on

Dave Troy (Washington Spectator)
It's now being reported that in addition to Xi, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa also became ill after attending the BRICS summit in India.

TRT Afrika AT trtafrika
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been booked off from public engagements due to ill health, his office said, with the foreign affairs minister expected to lead the country's delegation to this year's UN General Assembly
https://x.com/trtafrika/status/2100273517375758405

Mail & Guardian
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy, Paul Mashatile, have both been declared medically unfit to carry out their official duties due to ill health.
https://x.com/mailandguardian/status/2100261215003893778

(I should add that I saw a tweet a couple of days ago saying the media were complaining about getting a strictly veggie lunch during the BRICS summit, until one journalist found a cockroach in it.)

The timing is not 'ideal' for stability.

I wonder if Putin is shitting himself. (Literally maybe?!)

It's such an odd story. Could be bull(shit).

yes! and that I am on a ‘priority list’ - this was news to me

today I bought a flat camping gas ring and cylinders for power,
gas lighters, long matches, Andrex and ordered water from Tesco

My delivery driver said prices of food are going to be sky high
and stock up my freezer, no idea what he knows that we should
I have a small chest freezer but should the electricity be shut off
it will spoil of course
like many others, I don’t know what to do for the best

Emmanuel Macron AT EmmanuelMacron
(translated from French)
When oil is under pressure, pump prices climb. I know what that means for the French.

What happens thousands of miles from our shores always ends up weighing on our daily lives.

So I'm taking action to reduce tensions, secure our supplies, and ease the pressure on prices.

After my talks with the Iraqi Prime Minister earlier this week, I met today with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Qatar.

The priority: restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for oil transit, protecting the energy infrastructure of our partners, and securing production. It's essential to guarantee our supplies.

We're working on this with our coalition partners for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

We're also working to open alternative routes to reduce our dependence on this strategic passage and secure our supplies.

More routes for oil means less dependence. Less dependence means more security. And more security means less pressure on prices.

Pushing back against tensions. Securing oil. Easing the pressure on pump prices. That's part of protecting the French.

Hmm.

Starting to get serious isn't it?

Spot on, ideally you need to be able to ride out a drop in the market. The unknown of course is how long that takes.

The advice is always to make sure you've got a financial buffer that isn't in stocks and shares (pensions or ISAs). So premium bonds, savings account (but watch to make sure you stay under the taxable interest threshold). That way if the markets are down you don't have to crystalise a loss by drawing money out of an ISA when the value of is lower.

If you have money to invest a low market is exactly the time to put it in stocks and shares but again leave yourself a buffer.

23 pages in and still no sign of OP @bagpuss90 … couldn’t be that interested.