Auch am letzten Donnerstag haben Robert Stein und ich wieder eine aktuelle Folge von Tacheles aufgenommen, die seit Freitagabend online ist. Sollte YouTube die Sendung löschen, finden Sie sie auch hier bei NuoViso.

By Nandita Bose and Timothy Gardner Oct 2 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not “jump the gun” on announcing a South Korean investment in Alaska LNG, a liquefied...

By Iqbal Jassat | Press TV | October 3, 2026

The departure of the final US military forces from Iraq marks a profound turning point in the modern history of West Asia.

For over two decades, the narrative of foreign intervention dictated that regional stability was impossible without Washington’s oversight. Today, that narrative lies broken.

The end of the US-led military mission is not the result of a benevolent diplomatic concession or a calculated policy shift by the Pentagon. It is, undeniably, a hard-fought victory achieved through the unyielding resolve of Iraq’s Islamic Resistance and the enduring steadfastness of its people.

Crucially, the withdrawal of American forces delivers a severe blow to the strategic calculations of the Zionist entity. For decades, Israel’s expansionist ambitions and its destabilising campaign of aggression across the region – from Palestine and Lebanon to Syria – have relied entirely on the foundational guarantee of US military backing.

Washington’s illegal military presence in Iraq served as a vital buffer and logistics corridor designed to fracture the Axis of Resistance and project power on Israel’s behalf. With the American shield removed from Iraq, the regional depth that Tel Aviv exploited to enforce its hegemony is rapidly collapsing.

The end of the US occupation severely limits the capability to isolate regional resistance factions, exposing the fundamental limits of Zionist expansionism when stripped of direct imperial protection.

The balance of power has fundamentally shifted, proving that the era of unpunished aggression across West Asia is coming to an end.

For 23 years, Iraq served as the central stage for a flawed experiment in imposed security. The 2003 invasion promised democracy and stability but instead delivered a legacy of institutional fragmentation, economic exploitation, and a vacuum that fueled regional terrorism.

In charting this path towards absolute liberation, none can deny the blueprint for true sovereignty remains Iran’s historic achievement of complete independence.

By expelling foreign military mandates and dismantling external control over its domestic wealth, Iran proved that a nation can cultivate formidable defensive and scientific capabilities entirely from within.

This self-reliant model stands as a direct contrast to the Arab Persian Gulf sheikdoms, which have long tethered their survival to American protection, effectively trading their strategic autonomy for a fragile security umbrella.

While these neighboring monarchies remain dependent on foreign bases and external guarantees, Iraq’s triumph demonstrates that genuine security cannot be imported or bought.

The reality of the past two decades, stretching from the sudden collapse in Kabul to the gradual eviction from Baghdad, proves that dependence on foreign superpowers is an inherently fragile strategy.

When foreign forces occupy bases under the guise of “protection,” they serve primary external geopolitical interests rather than the security of the host nation. The presence of these military installations frequently exacerbates regional polarization, turning host countries into potential flashpoints for broader wars they cannot control.

Iraq’s transition into a new era demonstrates a vital alternative: security is most durable when it is organically derived from national unity, localized defense capability, and regional cooperation. The resistance infrastructure that stood firm against occupation has demonstrated that an organized, highly motivated regional population can outlast the political will of an external superpower.

This moment serves as a stern warning to those Arab regimes tempted by the illusion of the Abraham Accords. Normalising ties with the Zionist entity under the pretext of economic benefit or strategic deterrence is a fatal miscalculation.

Entangling a nation’s destiny with a decaying occupation framework will neither guarantee security nor provide immunity from regional realities.

For the capitals still hosting US military bases or pursuing compromise with Tel Aviv, the message from Baghdad is clear: true stability is forged through regional integration, resistance to imperialism, and self-reliance—not through the permanent invitation of foreign militaries or treacherous pacts that betray the core causes of the Islamic world.

Most profoundly, this historic milestone radiates a powerful ray of hope to the people of Palestine, who have endured decades of devastating cruelty and brutal subjugation since the creation of Israel.

For a population resisting land theft, apartheid, and relentless military assault, the liberation of Iraq offers undeniable proof that even the most heavily funded occupation is not permanent. It demonstrates that when a people refuse to break, the architecture of oppression can be dismantled piece by piece.

The steadfastness of the Iraqi resistance serves as a direct message to the Palestinian struggle: the path of compromise is a dead end, but unyielding resistance eventually breaks the chains of tyranny.

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Iqbal Jassat is an executive member of the Media Review Network, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Der Valdai-Klub ist der wichtigste russische Thinktank zur Geopolitik und inzwischen international als eines der wichtigsten Expertentreffen zu dem Thema anerkannt. Zum Erfolg des Valdai-Klubs und seiner hochrangigen Besetzung hat sicherlich beigetragen, dass der russische Präsident Putin jedes Jahr daran teilnimmt. Dabei hält er eine etwa einstündige Grundsatzrede über die russische Sicht auf die aktuelle […]

By Jill Erzen | The Defender | October 2, 2026

Tracy Beth Høeg, M.D., Ph.D., an epidemiologist and sports physician, said her decision to follow the data during the COVID-19 pandemic came at a steep professional price.

Her research challenged policies on school closures, masking and COVID-19 vaccines. She said the fallout included losing her position at the University of California, Davis, being dropped from an NPR interview and being fired from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Høeg said her experience exposed the unwillingness of universities, media and public health institutions to adapt when research conflicted with their accepted narratives.

In an interview this week with investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker on The DisInformation Chronicle, Høeg said institutions too often treated the accepted narrative as settled and then dismissed or attacked people who questioned it.

That approach did more than distort the public discussion about COVID-19, Høeg said. It also created a scientific and institutional culture that could affect how other medical questions are handled long after the pandemic.

For Høeg, the solution is simple: Scientists should follow the evidence wherever it leads.

“It’s a core belief of mine that you have to be objective when you’re doing scientific studies,” she said. “Otherwise, you just shouldn’t do them. It’s pointless if you’re not willing to be objective.”

‘I … didn’t realize the jeopardy that I was putting myself in’

During the pandemic, Høeg published 30 to 40 papers on COVID-19 transmission, masking, youth sports, vaccine risk-benefit, pregnancy, long COVID, visitor restrictions and testing.

Some of her research challenged widely accepted claims.

One study found little evidence of COVID-19 transmission among children in Wisconsin schools, which was consistent with data from Europe. Another examined myocarditis risk in boys after their second Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine dose and found the risks outweighed the benefits in boys who didn’t have underlying health conditions.

Høeg said she didn’t initially understand the professional risks she was taking by challenging the prevailing narrative.

“There was sort of a hesitancy to do this sort of research because I think people were afraid for their careers,” she said. “I actually was blessed with having recently moved from Denmark and didn’t realize the jeopardy that I was putting myself in by doing these sorts of studies.”

At the time, Høeg was conducting research at the University of California, Davis.

She said the university received calls, including from Nature magazine, complaining about her studies on pandemic policies. Eventually, the university asked her not to use her affiliation with the school.

Høeg said the university refused to renew her voluntary position in 2022, after the European Journal of Clinical Investigation published her study on myocarditis risks in boys who received the COVID-19 vaccine.

NPR also dropped an interview with Høeg for “All Things Considered” after she raised concerns about masking children during outdoor sports.

In a pre-interview discussion with NPR, she told the outlet, “We don’t have evidence that these masks work to prevent transmission. … Bottom line is, we shouldn’t be doing these unproven things to children that are harmful.”

Soon after, NPR told Høeg she was no longer needed for the interview.

“It does say a lot about our universities and institutions because it’s like they had been brainwashed to an extent to believe what the media was saying rather than actually look at the data,” Høeg said.

‘They repeated the same wording … even when the data didn’t back it up’

In 2022, Høeg and her colleagues conducted a follow-up analysis of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study on school mask mandates.

Høeg said their analysis used a larger dataset and a longer time period and reached the opposite conclusion about the relationship between mask mandates and COVID-19 transmission among children.

The team’s submission to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) was rejected. Høeg said reviewers described the submission as “rife with polemics.”

“Well, maybe it’s polarizing if you disagree with it,” Høeg said.

The rejection unearthed an underlying problem at the CDC, according to Høeg.

“They have a scientific agenda,” she said. “And so as soon as you have a scientific agenda, science has been thrown out the window. Science doesn’t have an agenda other than to find the truth.”

A 2024 analysis by Høeg and colleagues examined 77 mask studies published in the MMWR beginning in 2020. According to Høeg, 75% of the studies said masks were effective, while only 14% reported statistically significant results and none were randomized studies.

One finding especially stood out to her: She said 5% of the studies found masks were connected to higher infection rates, yet “they still concluded that masks worked.”

“They repeated the same wording over and over again in each of the studies, that ‘masks are necessary to decrease the spread’ and ‘masks are critical in controlling the case rates of COVID-19,’” she said. “They use the same sort of wording even when the data didn’t back it up at all.”

‘Why are we demonizing people for looking into this?’

Those concerns followed Høeg into the FDA in late 2025 when she was named acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).

A leaked memo from then-FDA official Dr. Vinay Prasad said career staff had linked at least 10 child deaths to the COVID-19 vaccine between 2021 and 2024.

Høeg said she reviewed the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports and found that investigations involving medical records and autopsies had already been conducted.

“My question at the time was … why are these not being made public?” Høeg told Thacker.

Høeg said news leaked that she would present information about the deaths and their possible association with COVID-19 vaccines. She said the media response focused on portraying her as an “anti-vaxxer” rather than asking why the deaths had been investigated but not publicly disclosed.

“If we have these sorts of deaths happening in children due to medical products of any kind, why are we sitting on them for years?” she asked. “That’s the take-home I want people to have from this.”

She also questioned why people who investigate potential safety problems are attacked for trying to expose the dangers.

“Why are we demonizing people for looking into this? … Isn’t that what the public wants?” she asked.

‘The deep state really is a thing’

In May, just days after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned, Høeg said she arrived at work to find media reports claiming she had resigned — something she said she knew nothing about.

FDA lawyers later asked her to resign, but she refused to sign the letter. She was subsequently locked out of the agency’s systems and escorted from the building.

Høeg said she never received a performance-based explanation for her termination. She also said the person identified as the author of her termination memo later denied writing or seeing it.

According to Høeg, agency lawyers told her the order came from “way above their pay grade.”

The experience changed how she viewed other departures from the agency. “It opened my eyes to the fact that maybe a number of the people who I thought had resigned really had not resigned,” she said.

“The deep state really is a thing,” she added.

‘Women who want to get pregnant … should be told about these risks’

For Høeg, the concerns she encountered during the COVID-19 era are not limited to COVID-19.

In 2025, she helped organize an FDA panel examining potential risks associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during pregnancy.

The American Psychiatric Association criticized the panel for what it called “misinterpretation and unbalanced viewpoints.” Høeg said the media also portrayed any discussion of potential risks as “misinformation about SSRI use” and a signal that depression wasn’t being taken seriously.

According to Høeg, the panel discussed risks already addressed in FDA labeling and scientific research, including miscarriage, premature birth, postpartum hemorrhage, congenital heart defects and neonatal adaptation syndrome.

“This should not be controversial that women who want to get pregnant and who are pregnant should be told about these risks,” she said.

She also warned about the lack of ongoing monitoring of drug safety.

“The FDA is not actively investigating the safety of these products in pregnancy or at all after the initial trials are done,” she said.

Høeg said the discussion should not be interpreted as an argument against treating depression. “I don’t think that any of this should be synonymous with not taking depression seriously,” she said. “That’s just nonsense.”

‘There’s just no reporting on this. … People have died taking this drug’

Høeg also discussed Tavneos, the Amgen-manufactured brand name for avacopan, a drug approved to treat a type of blood-vessel inflammation.

While at CDER, Høeg said she raised concerns that the pivotal clinical trial used to approve the drug had included manipulated data.

According to Høeg, at least eight deaths had been attributed to the drug because of liver injury.

The New England Journal of Medicine later retracted the paper detailing the trial, and European regulators withdrew the drug’s authorization. While the FDA has proposed withdrawing Tavneos’ approval, it remains available in the U.S.

Yet, the media barely covered it.

“There’s just no reporting on this,” Høeg said. “People have died taking this drug. … We asked for them to withdraw it from the market, and the media is just totally silent.”

Thacker: ‘There was no real learning in the end. … If anything, we became dumber’

Høeg said it is troubling that some of the most disputed COVID-19 policies are still treated as settled questions.

“How is this still part of our collective conversation that people … are still saying school closures were necessary and mask mandates were necessary?” she asked.

Thacker said the failure to learn from those policies could have consequences during the next pandemic. People who developed a “false sense of safety from masks” during COVID-19 could mistakenly assume masks will protect them from a more dangerous virus in the future, he said.

Thacker also questioned whether the country understands anything about the COVID-19 vaccines. “There was no real learning in the end. … If anything, we became dumber,” he said.

Høeg said the problem stems from the widespread failure to reconsider policies when the evidence changed.

“Once the government decided this is what we have to do, they just kept digging in, even though the data didn’t support it,” she said.

“This is why I keep doing these interviews, because it’s important for people to know the truth.”

Watch Høeg on ‘The DisInformation Chronicle’ podcast here:

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This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | October 2, 2026

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday sued Pfizer and its CEO, Albert Bourla, alleging that the drugmaker misled the public by marketing its COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective while not disclosing the vaccine’s potential risks to pregnant women, children and teenagers.

The 49-page lawsuit alleges Pfizer violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by deceptively marketing its vaccine to the public in turn for making billions of dollars in profit.

According to the complaint, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine marketing campaign focused on two principal themes: that the shot “posed no material safety risks” and that “mass vaccination was necessary to stop the transmission of COVID-19” — even though Pfizer never tested the vaccine’s ability to stop the virus from spreading.

Pfizer possessed extensive evidence that its vaccine caused serious adverse events — including 1,223 reported deaths following vaccination as of February 2021 and 52 miscarriages among vaccinated pregnant women. However, the company assured the public the vaccine was safe.

“Today we sued Pfizer for deceptively marketing the products as safe — making billions — while pregnant women were miscarrying their babies and teenagers were having heart attacks,” Uthmeier said in a statement.

Florida AG says state has track record of success with similar lawsuits

In a statement, Pfizer said the allegations are baseless, and that the “representations made by Pfizer about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based” and that it “stands behind the safety and efficacy” of the product.

But Forrest B. Saunders, communications director for Uthmeier’s office, told The Defender “the complaint and comments by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speak for themselves.”

Saunders said Florida has a track record of success with such lawsuits, having “recovered millions for Floridians through consumer protection efforts.”

Naomi Wolf, CEO of Daily Clout and author of “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity,” helped release documents in 2023 and 2024 revealing serious adverse events among pregnant women and irreversible harms to reproductive health. She called the lawsuit “a glimmer of potential justice long overdue.”

Florida resident Haley Schwartz, who was seriously injured following her COVID-19 vaccination in 2021, also welcomed the suit. She said injuries caused by the vaccine “have received inadequate attention” for years.

“Finally seeing these issues examined through a formal legal process feels significant and creates an important opportunity for greater scrutiny, transparency, and accountability regarding what was communicated to the public,” Schwartz said.

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of $10,000 for each violation of the state’s consumer protection law — and $15,000 for each violation involving an elderly or disabled person.

Florida seeks to force Pfizer to return some of its profits and is asking for a permanent injunction against further deceptive practices.

Pfizer’s deceptive marketing sought to ‘ensure windfall profits’

According to the complaint, Pfizer engaged in a deceptive and “wide-ranging marketing campaign” to “drive consumer demand” for its COVID-19 vaccine, overcome widespread public skepticism and “ensure windfall profits.”

“This emphasis on the purported safety of the vaccine directly responded to widespread public concerns about a pharmaceutical product that had been developed on an unusually accelerated timeline, with uniquely limited testing and oversight, and employing novel mRNA technology,” the complaint states.

Pfizer’s campaign included public statements by Bourla claiming the COVID-19 vaccine was safe. The complaint cites a January 2023 interview in which Bourla claimed that Pfizer had not detected “a single [safety] signal” linked to the vaccine.

The complaint suggests public skepticism was warranted:

“Pfizer knew that data showed its COVID-19 vaccine was connected to myocarditis and pericarditis among minors; had reason to believe its COVID-19 vaccine would cause adverse events for pregnant women and their unborn babies in the first trimester, including miscarriage [and] thousands of reports of other adverse events including stroke and even death, especially among the elderly.”

By Feb. 28, 2021, Pfizer’s internal adverse event database already contained 158,893 adverse event reports and reports of 1,223 deaths linked to its COVID-19 shot, according to the complaint.

Pfizer by then also “possessed reports for 458 pregnant women exposed to its COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy” — over half of whom sustained at least one adverse event. Of 52 miscarriages, most occurred during the first trimester, “many within days of vaccination.”

Pfizer ended its COVID-19 vaccine trial involving pregnant women early, due to low participation, particularly among women in the early stages of pregnancy. But the drugmaker didn’t disclose “material facts already in its possession showing the risks associated with its COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy.”

Pfizer official admitted vaccine not tested for stopping transmission

Pfizer promoted its COVID-19 vaccine as a means of “protecting … loved ones” through a “wide-ranging marketing campaign” which suggested that the vaccine would stop the spread of COVID-19, the suit alleges.

But Janine Small, Pfizer’s president of international developed markets, said the vaccine was not tested on stopping the virus, according to a 2021 statement cited in the lawsuit.

Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said the “assurances of safety the company gave required knowledge Pfizer simply did not have.”

He cited a February 2021 Pfizer “nonclinical overview” document listing an extensive range of safety studies Pfizer did not conduct.

“Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine may actually have been the least-studied approved product it has made this century,” Jablonowski said.

The lawsuit alleges that Pfizer’s misleading marketing claims translated into a financial windfall for Pfizer and Bourla. Between 2020 and 2023, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine revenue exceeded $80 billion, and Bourla received nearly $102 million in compensation.

Legal liability shield may not protect Pfizer in Florida lawsuit

COVID-19 countermeasures, including vaccines, are protected by a legal liability shield under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) of 2005.

Attorney Ray Flores, CHD’s senior outside counsel, said these protections may not extend to state-level consumer protection cases.

“All states have consumer protection statutes that normally would allow individual consumers to bring suit for fraudulent practices. Under the PREP Act, however, only states have the potential for successful suits,” Flores said.

Kansas and Texas have active lawsuits against Pfizer in the 10th and 5th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, respectively. The suits make similar claims to Florida’s — namely, that Pfizer violated state consumer protection laws by marketing its COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective.

“All three cases are remarkably similar, as they are brought under parens patriae,” a legal principle that allows states to file lawsuits to protect state residents, Flores said.

However, he said Florida’s lawsuit may face obstacles, as Pfizer may seek to move the case from state to federal court “to invoke PREP Act protection” — similar to what the company did in the Kansas and Texas lawsuits.

Flores said other states may be waiting on the sidelines for the outcomes of the Texas and Kansas cases.

“I wish more attorneys general would take such legal action,” Flores said. “There was a rumor back in 2024 that Utah, Mississippi and Louisiana were also suing Pfizer. It sounded good, and got lots of press, but it was never true.”

Flores also said he would like to see state attorneys general pressure U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “flex his muscles” by ending the PREP Act’s liability shield for COVID-19 vaccines.

Bourla defended the liability shield for vaccine makers in an interview last year.

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This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

Par Thibault de Varenne

Le 1^er octobre 2026, Vladimir Poutine a pris la parole en séance plénière de la 23^e réunion annuelle du club de discussion Valdaï, sur le thème « Responsabilité pour l'avenir : limites du possible ou possibilités illimitées ? ». La séance, animée par Fiodor Loukianov, directeur de recherche de la fondation du club, a duré trois heures vingt selon l'enregistrement vidéo du Kremlin ; elle a comporté un discours, puis des questions du modérateur et de la salle. Le club indique 120 participants venus de 40 pays. La réunion, tenue à Sotchi depuis 2014, a été déplacée cette année dans la région de Moscou. La transcription anglaise a été mise en ligne par le Kremlin le 1^er octobre à 21 h 30, avec la mention « à suivre » pour la fin des questions ; sa dernière mise à jour datait du 2 octobre à 20 h 31. Le rapport annuel du club, présenté par le modérateur, s'intitule « Don't Panic ».

Le discours, dans l'ordre du texte

Diagnostic. Le monde est « à un tournant décisif de son développement ». Les transformations touchent « pratiquement tous les domaines de la technologie », les structures sociales, le climat, la médecine, la science militaire, la bioéthique, l'énergie, la démographie, la numérisation et l'intelligence artificielle. « Nous entrons dans une réalité entièrement nouvelle et sans précédent. »

Instabilité. Pour tout État, « la stabilité intérieure est toujours plus importante que tout le reste » ; pour la préserver, des gouvernements peuvent « exporter l'instabilité ». « Quel que soit le scénario, les conflits internationaux vont malheureusement probablement se poursuivre. »

Thèse centrale. « À long terme, à mesure que le monde s'éloigne de l'hégémonie occidentale, la situation internationale s'améliorera progressivement, vers un ordre international multipolaire plus stable, plus démocratique et plus libre. » Plus loin : « L'ancien hégémon devra inévitablement reconnaître les réalités d'un monde multipolaire » et « apprendre à coopérer avec les pays de la majorité mondiale ».

Institutions. Les mécanismes de régulation existants « ne remplissent plus pleinement leur fonction », « non parce qu'ils seraient mauvais, mais parce que les conditions dans lesquelles ils ont été créés ont changé ».

Sur l'ONU : « un groupe étroit de pays occidentaux exerce une influence disproportionnée », « une minorité mondiale » qui « cherche à s'approprier des fonctions d'administration ». La Russie « continue de soutenir l'idée d'une réforme équitable des Nations unies », mais « une telle réforme est impossible sans consensus interne, difficile à atteindre aujourd'hui » ; elle plaide pour « un rôle bien plus important » des pays d'Asie, d'Afrique, d'Amérique latine et du Moyen-Orient, et pour une réforme qui porte aussi sur « la substance de l'Organisation, ses priorités ». « Les institutions qui ont bien fonctionné après la Seconde Guerre mondiale ne reflètent plus la réalité du deuxième quart de ce siècle. Est-il possible de les réformer ? La question reste ouverte. »

Les BRICS et les associations régionales ont « de grandes perspectives », mais « beaucoup de travail à faire pour définir leur fonctionnalité » et « les limites de leurs propres capacités ». Le monde n'est pas pour autant « condamné au chaos » : « un monde régulé par des normes clairement définies et des institutions qui les soutiennent est une invention récente, née au siècle dernier. Tous les siècles précédents s'en sont passés. »

Normes. L'absence de « règles universellement reconnues » et d'une « compréhension partagée du principe de sécurité égale et indivisible » encourage « des comportements égoïstes ». « Tous les tabous concevables et inconcevables sont violés. » Les relations internationales exigent « la prudence et le respect non seulement des lois établies mais aussi du droit coutumier, c'est-à-dire non seulement de la lettre mais de l'esprit de la loi ». Le principe de la « raison du plus fort » guide « certains acteurs convaincus de leur exceptionnalisme » ; « l'histoire montre que cela ne finit jamais bien ».

Ukraine. Le texte présente ce passage comme une « digression ». « La vérité est que nous ne voulions pas et que nous n'avons pas été ceux qui ont commencé à se battre. En fait, ce sont eux qui ont commencé à se battre contre nous. » Suit une liste de ce qui « n'aurait pas dû » être fait : encourager « le nationalisme agressif et la russophobie », étendre « l'espace militaire » de l'OTAN aux « territoires historiques » russes, « pousser les radicaux de Kiev à un coup d'État », armer « le régime de facto illégal ». « Je suis convaincu qu'il s'agissait d'un effort intentionnel pour placer la Russie dans une situation où elle était simplement forcée de se défendre les armes à la main. » Sur l'objectif de « défaite stratégique » de la Russie : « Personne ne l'a oublié. En tout cas, pas nous. »

Histoire. L'effondrement de l'URSS est « une véritable tragédie pour des dizaines de millions de personnes ». Il est attribué à « des déséquilibres internes » et aux « erreurs de générations successives de dirigeants », mais aussi à « une certaine naïveté, un idéalisme, voire une insouciance » et à « une confiance aveugle dans les partenaires occidentaux » et dans « les accords de gentlemen ». Le discours cite Egon Bahr, dirigeant social-démocrate ouest-allemand, pour des propos de février et juin 1990 tirés, selon l'orateur, « des archives » de ses entretiens avec la direction soviétique : la crainte que « les cercles de l'OTAN peu désireux de suivre la voie de la coopération paneuropéenne » ne l'emportent, et que l'URSS ne soit « condamnée à l'isolement international ». Après 1991, « ils ont tout fait pour isoler la Fédération de Russie et la démembrer davantage ».

Escalade. « Le point de non-retour peut survenir très vite et de manière inattendue pour tous. » Les grandes puissances possèdent « des armes capables de détruire toute vie » ; « pouvons-nous garantir qu'elles ne seront jamais utilisées ? Nous ne le pouvons pas, bien sûr. » Référence au fusil accroché au mur au premier acte. « Plus l'objectif de "défaite stratégique" de l'adversaire est clairement déclaré, plus grandes sont les chances que la bataille entre dans sa phase la plus violente. »

Intelligence artificielle et guerre. Il existe « des cas documentés d'intelligence artificielle prenant des décisions sur la base de sa propre appréciation ». Récit du 26 septembre 1983 : le lieutenant-colonel Stanislav Petrov, de service dans un centre d'alerte, doute d'un signal annonçant cinq missiles américains et a raison ; « si une intelligence artificielle avait été à sa place, les choses auraient pu tourner très différemment ». « Les limites de l'usage de l'IA dans la sphère de la sécurité sont une question de survie de l'humanité. » Rappel de la conférence de La Haye de 1899, proposée par la Russie. Affirmation : les militaires russes « n'ont jamais été les premiers à attaquer des installations sans lien avec l'infrastructure militaire de l'adversaire ».

Eurasie. Les problèmes globaux (climat, pauvreté, inégalités) sont « mis de côté ». « Notre maison au sens large est l'Eurasie. » Le « Grand partenariat eurasiatique » prend « une signification particulière ». Annonce : la rédaction d'une « Charte eurasiatique de la diversité et de la multipolarité au XXI^e siècle », initiative russo-biélorusse, dont « le travail pratique » a été lancé « la semaine dernière » par les ministres des Affaires étrangères de Russie, de Biélorussie, du Kazakhstan, du Kirghizistan « et de nos autres partenaires », en marge de l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies. L'Eurasie est « largement autosuffisante ».

Conclusion du discours. Le souhait que les manuels d'histoire retiennent le deuxième quart du XXI^e siècle comme un tournant positif, « car si cela n'arrive pas, il y a un risque qu'il ne reste personne pour utiliser ces manuels, ni personne pour les écrire ».

Droit de réponse de M. Usmanov

Droit de réponse d’Ulisher Usmanov.

L’ordre occidental s’affaiblit-il ? Le G7 a répondu vendredi, en barils

Le pape dit multilatéral, Poutine multipolaire. Menacé d’embargo par Washington, le G7 a cédé en deux jours. L’ordre occidental s’affaiblit, mais par le centre.

Les questions-réponses : points saillants

OTAN et origine du conflit (au modérateur). « Cinq ou six vagues d'élargissement » malgré la promesse de ne pas s'étendre vers l'est. « Où tout a-t-il commencé ? Avec l'attaque de l'OTAN contre la Yougoslavie », « sans décision du Conseil de sécurité ». Sur 2014 : Viktor Ianoukovitch « avait tout accepté, y compris des élections anticipées », et « il a été jugé absolument nécessaire d'organiser un coup d'État ». Sur les accords de Minsk : « personne n'avait l'intention de les honorer ». Récit d'un échange avec le secrétaire général de l'ONU lors de sa visite à Moscou : « Bon, d'accord… mais c'est quand même vous qui avez attaqué. »

Kaliningrad. La déclaration et les lettres du ministère russe des Affaires étrangères sont « une réponse à des tentatives de nous intimider ». En cas d'« attaque directe contre la Fédération de Russie », « la question de l'emploi de toutes les armes à sa disposition se poserait inévitablement et immédiatement ». Précision : « ni cette lettre ni la déclaration du ministère ne mentionnent l'emploi d'armes nucléaires ». « La France et le Royaume-Uni sont des puissances nucléaires. Nous le comprenons parfaitement. Mais personne d'autre ne possède les capacités de frappe que la Russie possède aujourd'hui. » L'adversaire potentiel aurait « deux fois notre population ».

Europe. L'escalade verbale européenne est « alimentée par la grave détérioration de leur situation économique et politique intérieure ». « Nous n'avons aucune intention d'attaquer qui que ce soit, ni en 2029, ni en 2030, ni en 2050. » Selon la compilation de TASS, les grands pays européens sont « beaucoup plus hostiles à la Russie que les États-Unis » ; les pays de l'Union européenne « s'effondreront d'eux-mêmes » du fait de leurs erreurs économiques ; la Russie n'a « aucune précondition » à la reprise des relations avec l'Europe.

Usines européennes d'armement. Les livraisons d'armes « ne sont pas nouvelles » et ne préoccupent pas Moscou ; « l'implication d'autres pays dans des opérations de combat directes », notamment par le renseignement spatial, « est une source de préoccupation ». « Je ne dis pas que nous avons l'intention de frapper demain le territoire ou les installations des pays qui fournissent des armes à l'Ukraine. Mais c'est une menace que nous devons comprendre, évaluer et garder à l'esprit. »

Front et économie de guerre. L'Ukraine « perd des éléments de sa souveraineté étatique » et « est gouvernée de l'extérieur ». Selon TASS, plus de 1 300 km² auraient été pris « au seul mois de septembre », soit « 2,5 fois plus » que les mois précédents. Mer Noire : Kiev aurait frappé « 40 de nos navires dans les dix premiers jours » et « plus de 100 » au total ; raffineries : « nous avons perdu environ 1 % du PIB » ; en retour, l'Ukraine n'aurait « effectivement plus d'industrie métallurgique ». Le gazole russe « n'atteindrait pas les marchés mondiaux » du fait des sanctions.

États-Unis. Sur le sommet d'Anchorage d'août 2025 : « Je suis arrivé là-bas pour exprimer notre consentement » aux propositions américaines ; « maintenant, les États-Unis ont demandé du temps pour réfléchir ». Proposition de reprendre le dialogue sur la limitation des armes stratégiques : « il n'y a pas de réponse ». « J'ai d'assez bonnes relations, de longue date, avec le président Trump. »

Iran. « Nous espérons que le détroit restera ouvert et que les sanctions contre l'Iran seront levées. » La proposition de transférer de l'uranium enrichi iranien en Russie « reste sur la table » ; « au départ, tout le monde était d'accord, les Iraniens, les Américains et les Israéliens », puis Washington a exigé un transfert vers les seuls États-Unis. Mention de M. Larijani, « qui a perdu la vie par la suite », venu proposer une coentreprise de dilution en Iran.

Chine, Inde, Japon. Aucune « barrière » avec Xi Jinping ; anecdote d'un tête-à-tête sans interprète dans la salle d'attente du sommet de New Delhi. Déclaration conjointe sur le « dialogue des civilisations » signée à Pékin. Narendra Modi a « de très bonnes idées » sur l'Ukraine. Envers le Japon, « rien n'a changé dans les approches russes ; c'est l'attitude du Japon envers la Russie qui a changé ».

Économie russe. « Notre économie est saine. » Déficit « d'environ 3 % cette année », « 2 % l'an prochain » ; inflation « presque divisée par deux » par rapport à 2025. Les territoires annexés seront reconstruits « sur la seule base de l'opportunité économique » ; de nouvelles usines de défense sont construites « dans les zones les plus sûres possible ».

La transcription complète des questions-réponses était annoncée « à suivre » par le Kremlin au 2 octobre, 20 h 31. Les chiffres cités dans cette fiche restent ceux de leurs émetteurs tant qu'une vérification indépendante n'est pas disponible.

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Some expected a change in Hungary’s pro-Russian foreign policy after Viktor Orbán’s fall. But they failed to take into account the domestic political pressures on Hungary’s prime minister Péter Magyar.

An unexpected source of tension in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations came at a meeting of the newly formed ‘Carpathian Eight’ (C8) in late September. At the meeting in Kyiv, PM Magyar was embroiled in a sharp exchange with Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, who criticised Budapest for not taking part.

Magyar responded to Sybiha by claiming that Hungary had been included in the C8 without his consent.

“To claim that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation (Carpathian Integration) without prior consultation or consent of the country concerned is completely unacceptable,” Magyar said on social media.

This comes after Hungary-Ukraine relations began to improve rapidly following the formation of the Tisza government in May.

Under Orbán’s government, relations had fallen to a historic low, raising the prospect of escalation. In June, Magyar announced that he had reached an agreement with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on settling the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, hailing it as a historic deal.

Ukraine’s Deputy PM Vsevolod Chentsov informed me that legislation on minority education rights will be submitted to Parliament. I welcome this step after weeks of 🇭🇺🇺🇦 expert consultations. Thank you to all Hungarian and Ukrainian colleagues for their constructive work. Looking…

— Anita Orban (@_OrbanAnita) October 2, 2026

Since June, however, Hungary has repeatedly blocked Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations, arguing that progress on settling the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia has fallen short of expectations.

Orbán’s Fidesz party previously used the same argument to block Ukraine’s integration efforts.

Three months after the so-called historic agreement, Ukraine’s foreign minister Sybiha wrote that although Orbán had lost the election, Orbánism (a policy based on isolation and obstruction) prevailed in Hungary.

“Orbanism has done no good, neither to Hungary nor to the broader region, in the past — and it will not do anyone any good moving forward,” said Sybiha on social media.

Domestic Hungarian politics can explain the dispute.

MOL, an oil company, signed a memorandum with Ukraine’s Naftogaz at the C8 meeting on the possible establishment of Ukrainian oil storage facilities in Hungary.

The deal was criticised by Fidesz politicians, and Magyar’s government strongly distanced itself from the deal, too. Fidesz may have contributed to Magyar entering the dispute over C8 participation so very forcefully.

What is the Carpathian Eight?

In August, Zelensky announced the creation of the C8 to bring together countries from the wider Carpathian border region. The Ukrainian president said its members would focus primarily on the economy, security, the environment and investment.

Ukraine described it as a project intended to strengthen cross-border cooperation even with countries that do not provide it with military aid. Alongside Ukraine were to be Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria and Hungary.

Michal Lebduška, an analyst at the Association for International Affairs in Prague (AMO), said that it was one of many regional initiatives. While he did not believe it would trigger “major cooperation”, it could nevertheless be important.

The inaugural summit of the newly formed C8 was held last month (18 September) in Bukovel, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, around 160 km from both the Slovak and Hungarian borders. Zelensky called it “an important beginning” and thanked the countries of the Carpathian region for being among Kyiv’s most reliable allies.

From Ukraine’s perspective, however, the meeting had mixed results. On the one hand, several leaders travelled to Bukovel in person, lending the gathering greater diplomatic weight. Polish PM Donald Tusk, Romanian president Nicușor Dan and Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić all attended in person.

On the other hand, the remaining countries sent lower-ranking representatives. Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico had initially indicated that he would attend, and was originally due to meet Tusk. At the last minute, however, he announced that he could not attend the summit due to sudden illness.

Slovakia was ultimately represented by Marek Eštok, state secretary at the foreign ministry.

Andrej Babiš’s Czech government all but completely ignored the initiative. As Respekt magazine wrote, Babiš declined the opportunity to visit Ukraine and did not send any representative to Bukovel.

So Czechia was represented at the summit only by opposition deputy Senate president Jiří Drahoš.

And Austria was ultimately represented by Christine Schwarz-Fuchs, president of the Federal Council.

Hungary sent Ádám Ceglédi, the acting chargé d’affaires at the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv, as the Hungarian foreign ministry confirmed to Telex.

Ukraine expected stronger support

“There are many different forms of cooperation in this region: the Visegrád Four, the Slavkov format and the Central European Initiative. Ukraine is interested in improving its relations with some countries,” Péter Techet, a foreign-policy analyst and researcher at the Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe in Vienna, said.

According to the analyst, Ukraine may have hoped that Orbán’s fall would bring a clear shift in Hungary’s Ukraine policy. Anita Orbán, as foreign minister, has confirmed this by pursuing a foreign policy moving away from Russia.

However, Ukrainians did not take Magyar’s domestic political interests into account.

Magyar panders to anti-Ukraine crowd

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