Global South

America’s in Silent Free Fall

By Epic Economist.

Video Description:
“The American economy is crashing right now, and it’s worse than most people realize. From banks refusing cash withdrawals to nearly a million jobs lost to automation, from healthcare premiums doubling overnight to stores packed with inventory nobody can afford, the warning signs are everywhere.

In this video, we’re looking at what’s really happening on the ground. Not the official numbers or media spin, but what everyday Americans are experiencing: being interrogated at banks for their own money, losing jobs at profitable companies, watching healthcare become completely unaffordable, and seeing the retail economy grind to a halt.

This isn’t just a recession. Multiple systems are breaking down at once, and most people don’t realize how connected it all is. The crash is already here, the question is whether you’re prepared when it hits your situation directly.”

Act now while still have options:

• Families need to be extremely selective about spending as every dollar needs to go further in what’s coming
• If have income, built savings fast
• If have a job, create backup income streams
• If have a house, make sure can afford it if your income drops
• Keep cash accessible
• Cut unnecessary spending immediately
• Built relationships locally with people you can count on
• Learn skills that cannot be automated
• Face reality; elites behind this government abrogated the social contract and are engaged in uncontrolled demolition

see: our Prepping and Survival Thread

Global South

Snapback against Iran

From Maria Zakharova

Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement regarding the vote in the UN Security Council on the draft resolution for the technical extension of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This is what Sergey Lavrov spoke about today at the final press conference.

So, what is this problem?

Currently, at the UN, alongside the high-level week of the 80th session of the General Assembly, events are unfolding that many diplomats consider genuinely dangerous.

We are talking about a mechanism with an unusual name: snapback. The word “snapback” has many meanings: it can mean a flip-top, a cap, or a return to something. In modern diplomacy, it refers to a procedure that allows for the rapid reinstatement of old UN Security Council sanctions against Iran.

The process was initiated by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. They claim that Iran is allegedly violating the 2015 nuclear deal and therefore sanctions should be reinstated, as provided for by Security Council resolution 2231.

On August 28, they sent a letter to the Security Council. And now, on September 27, the 30-day period during which this process could have been stopped is ending. The Security Council did not adopt a resolution maintaining the sanctions relief regime, and sanctions against Iran are formally, from the perspective of London, Berlin, and Paris, reinstated. On October 18 (in three weeks), the nuclear deal itself expires, and the Europeans simply had no time: they rushed to push their decision through at any cost before Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council began. Russia and China opposed this. And the issue is not only or primarily political but also about preserving legal integrity.

On September 26, Moscow and Beijing made a last attempt to uphold legality and find a compromise: to extend the validity of Security Council resolution 2231 for another six months, until April 2026. This would have allowed time to seek a diplomatic solution and prevented potentially unpredictable escalation. But the Europeans needed a sharp escalation because they were in a hurry: after October 18, their options would be exhausted. Therefore, the Security Council resolution was not extended — the West voted against it.

The Europeans pulled a cunning trick. Resolution 2231 prescribed a dispute resolution procedure: first, the parties must address claims through the dispute resolution mechanism. Only if everything reaches a deadlock should the issue be brought to the Security Council. This mechanism, contrary to the claims of the “EU trio,” was not activated.

London, Paris, and Berlin skipped these steps and immediately submitted the paper to the Security Council. From the perspective of international law, this looks like cheating: if you yourself violate the rules, you lose the right to use the mechanisms prescribed in them. And they are “serial” violators of resolution 2231. When on October 18, 2023, the terms of several restrictions imposed on Iran expired, they introduced… similar country-specific sanctions.

That is, they violated two fundamental principles of international law: Pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept) and Clean hands doctrine (the doctrine of “clean hands,” which prohibits resorting to legal instruments if one has violated legal purity).

The West itself has for many years failed to fulfill its part of the obligations under the Iran deal; the US withdrew from it altogether in 2018, and now they are trying to use legally flimsy maneuvers to punish Iran.

The system of checks and balances, the foundation of international security created after World War II, is once again being eroded by the West.

On September 27, the 30-day period ends, and the “snapback” formally and automatically comes into effect. Legally and politically, this will be insignificant.

A Russian diplomatic source said: “The steps to restore the sanctions committee are illegal — we do not recognize them and will oppose their creation in every possible way. It will be noisy, loud, with mutual accusations. In the end, there will be two realities — the one promoted by the Westerners, and the one we will promote — Russia, China, and our allies.”

If the “snapback” is pushed through bypassing the rules, a dangerous precedent will be set. All this is no longer just a diplomatic subtlety but a matter of global security and the future of the entire international system.