Trump Tilts to Moscow as Bipartisan Senators Push Back — SkimNews
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- Trump announced on Newsmax the US is in denuclearization talks with Russia and China, conceding Beijing 'doesn't seem willing to disarm' even as it races toward matching US and Russian stockpiles within five yearslink ›
- Seven bipartisan senators — Shaheen, Blumenthal, Wyden, Collins, Murkowski, Tillis and Curtis — told Trump his 300,000-ton Russian diesel deal violates a 2022 law banning such trade until Russia ends the warlink ›
- Trump issued an executive order waiving additional Russia sanctions to lower US energy prices, a move Ukraine and EU allies condemnedlink ›
- New Yalu River Bridge opened Oct. 15 after a 12-year delay, linking China's Dandong to North Korea's Sinuiju as the new main cross-border arterylink ›
- North Korea tested its Zam-2.0 AI-guided precision torpedo, with KCNA citing more than 180 rounds of testing over the past five yearslink ›
- China sanctioned Paraguay's communications minister and Belize's foreign minister with visa bans and transaction blacklists over their Taiwan tieslink ›
- Congress passed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act weeks before the diesel deal, granting authority for 100 percent tariffs on Russia's top five oil and gas partners including India and Chinalink ›
Donald Trump used one week to announce denuclearization talks with Russia and China, waive fresh Moscow sanctions, and green-light a 300,000-ton Russian diesel deal — moves seven bipartisan senators declared illegal on Friday. The diesel arrangement, struck after a Putin phone call, violates a 2022 law banning such trade until Russia ends the Ukraine war. Congress had passed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act weeks earlier. The last US-Russia nuclear pact, START, is dead, France is building its own European deterrent, and Trump conceded China 'doesn't seem willing to disarm.' While Washington fights itself over basic Russia policy, China just opened a 12-year-delayed bridge to Pyongyang to pull North Korea back into its orbit.
The stories behind this week
China-North Korea bridge opens after 12-year delayBeijing is reopening physical and diplomatic infrastructure to pull Pyongyang back into its orbit after North Korea sent 2,300+ troops to die for Russia in Ukraine. Even with the new bridge, trade recovery is capped by UN sanctions—last year's $2.2.7bn was almost entirely Chinese exports and unlikely to spike, per the source.
Senators: Trump's Russia diesel deal breaks 2022 lawFour Republican senators broke with Trump on Russia policy, joining three Democrats in a formal demand that the administration reverse the diesel arrangement or face a legal confrontation with Congress, which had reaffirmed its anti-Russia energy posture weeks earlier by passing the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act.
Trump: US in denuclearisation talks with Russia, ChinaThe talks arrive with every major US-Russia nuclear pact expired and France already building an independent European deterrent, leaving the global nuclear architecture essentially ungoverned. Trump himself conceded China won't disarm yet, meaning the negotiations are likely to produce little beyond rhetoric before Beijing's arsenal grows large enough to demand a seat at the table.
North Korea Tests AI-Guided Torpedo SystemNorth Korea’s integration of AI into torpedoes and hypersonic systems shifts the regional military balance by potentially defeating allied countermeasures like decoys, raising the threat level to U.S. and South Korean naval assets even if propulsion stealth remains unproven. The timing underscores a strategic push to appear technologically superior ahead of possible summit talks.
China Sanctions Paraguay, Belize Ministers Over Taiwan TiesBeijing is personally targeting cabinet-level officials from two of Taipei's remaining diplomatic partners with visa bans and transaction blacklisting, raising the personal cost for politicians in those countries who advocate maintaining Taiwan ties — a pressure tactic aimed at eroding Taipei's already small diplomatic footprint.
New China-North Korea bridge to open on Oct 15: Chinese state mediaThe new bridge's four-lane capacity quadruples cross-border throughput over the aging Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, giving China expanded commercial leverage while giving Pyongyang a long-awaited logistics artery — 12 years after the span was first completed. Coming a month after Pyongyang's first road bridge with Russia, the timing points to a pragmatic North Korean re-engagement with both nuclear-armed neighbours on hard infrastructure rather than on ideology.
At least 33 pupils and teacher killed after school roof collapses in PakistanAt least 34 lives were lost in a preventable structural failure, exposing systemic risks in private school infrastructure. The governor’s audit order creates a material obligation for hundreds of schools to prove structural integrity, with non-compliant operators facing closure or legal action.
Trump waives Russia sanctions as rift with Zelenskyy widensThe waiver subordinates Ukraine policy and allied coordination to domestic energy-price goals, handing Moscow a sanctions reprieve while giving Zelenskyy and EU governments fresh grounds to publicly break with Washington.
Why it matters: The bipartisan letter from four Republicans on the diesel deal puts Trump's Russia reset on a direct collision course with Congress, while START is dead and France builds its own deterrent.
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