Authored by Timothy Frudd via The Epoch Times,

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that both the Trump administration and American companies “need to be wary” of foreign espionage with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which the government now refers to as super intelligence.

Clayton, who leads the Trump administration’s Super Intelligence Force, told CNBC in a Friday interview that maintaining U.S. leadership in the AI race is critical in the face of potential foreign espionage. He noted that while AI platforms and capabilities can be used for “very good purposes,” they can also be used for “nefarious purposes.”

The intelligence chief’s comments came after President Donald Trump’s Super Intelligence Force held its first meeting at the White House on Thursday. Clayton told CNBC that the meeting was “very good” and that it built on the voluntary accord signed by Trump and multiple technology industry leaders at the White House on Sept. 29.

Asked whether Americans should be concerned about foreign espionage with AI companies, Clayton said Friday that both commercial and state-sponsored espionage are a reality facing the United States.

“It’s something that our private-sector companies need to be wary of, we as a government need to be wary of,” he said.

Clayton told CNBC that it was important for the United States to “stay on the cutting edge” of AI capabilities in order to address concerns regarding AI advances by U.S. adversaries.

“We’re not the only ones developing it. There are vectors in this technology that are coming from some of our known adversaries and competitors,” he said. “The Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, the North Koreans all have significant technical capability. We need to stay ahead of them.“

Many of the risks posed by AI are linked to cybersecurity and digital infrastructure, Clayton told CNBC. He described the U.S. digital infrastructure as critical infrastructure, covering everything from public utilities, such as water and electricity, to national defense.

While cybersecurity risks are not new, the rise of AI “amplifies” those risks, Clayton said. To address the risks, he said the United States is “focused on hardening those systems” and is committed to staying ahead of “nefarious actors” in the AI race.

Clayton’s warning regarding foreign espionage attempts linked to AI came after prosecutors and company officials said on Oct. 13 that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national and software engineer working for OpenAI, was arrested on allegations that he concealed a sophisticated recording device in an OpenAI office.

According to a court complaint, the office Alfozan allegedly planted a recording device in was frequently used to hold meetings involving highly confidential information, including government engagements, commercial relationships, product plans, and strategic decisions.

In a Tuesday press release, Clayton described the incident as a “serious situation [that] underscores why winning the global super intelligence race is a national security prerogative.”

During Friday’s interview on CNBC, Clayton added that the incident involving the Saudi software engineer at OpenAI “shows the lengths that people will go to try and supplant our leadership in this, or at least stay close to us, in this emerging technology.”

The intelligence chief’s warning also followed a series of AI swarm breaches, which has led some industry leaders to suggest that the pace of AI development needs to be slowed down and the technology needs additional oversight.

A report released last month by Anthropic found that the Iranian regime used the company’s AI models to track and target U.S. Navy ships in the Middle East. The report also said that a Chinese-linked operation used Claude to track and attempt to recruit Uyghurs who joined the Syrian army to become spies.

In addition, Anthropic’s report found that individuals affiliated with the Chinese regime used Claude and supporting Chinese AI systems to surveil groups targeted by the regime. Those targeted by the China-linked individuals included members of the Tibetan Buddhist civil society, practitioners of Falun Gong, Catholic cardinals, Presbyterian Church leaders, the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, and NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet.

Trump announced the formation of the Super Intelligence Force earlier this month to oversee U.S. AI policies. Clayton told CNBC that the White House task force took a number of actions during its inaugural meeting on Thursday.

Those actions included outlining a plan to implement the accords signed by technology leaders, tasking the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology with conducting a risk study, establishing committees covering different AI issues, and developing a system for the Department of Labor to regularly report on the impacts of AI on the U.S. workforce and economy.

Geothermal has long been the clean, firm power source that was always a few breakthroughs away from being cheap enough to matter. Numbers buried in a Nevada utility filing suggest that day may have arrived.

Joel Edwards, co-founder and CTO of geothermal developer Zanskar, put it bluntly earlier this month: “to all the geothermal believers out there, the flippening has come.”

to all the geothermal believers out there, the flippening has come in NV Energy’s 2026 filing, 3 geothermal offers came in at $105–107/MWh, below the ~$114/MWh capacity-weighted average for 11 solar + bess offers in Nevada, of all the sunny places the 3 solar + bess projects NV Energy put forward in 2024 averaged ~$94/MWh, but this 2026 slate is pricier, e.g., Boulder Solar III’s levelized price jumped from ~$85/MWh to ~$125/MWh after permitting delays, land carrying costs, higher financing costs, and, of course, big, bad tariffs. could geothermal pull off a solar + wind circa 2010 move and scale faster to come down the cost curve? it now has a much longer tax-credit runway than new solar + wind projects (oh how the tables have turned), plus firm output and higher energy density (all true for nuclear too) and for the 24/7 solar crowd: the ~$114/MWh average covers solar paired mostly with 4-hour batteries, and we all know 12+ hours of storage would cost more and still wouldn’t cover multi-day gaps it might be time for more geothermal, people

— Joel Edwards (@joelhedwards) October 7, 2026

In NV Energy’s 2026 resource plan, three geothermal offers came in at $105 to $107 per megawatt-hour. That’s below the roughly $114/MWh capacity-weighted average for the 11 solar+battery projects in the same filing.

Using the filing’s corrected prices, the three geothermal deals total 180 MW at a weighted $105.56/MWh, versus 4,370 MW of solar-plus-storage at $113.89/MWh.

Geothermal just barely comes in about 7% cheaper.

Part of the story is solar getting pricier. Edwards notes the three solar-plus-storage projects NV Energy put forward in 2024 averaged about $94/MWh.

This time, Boulder Solar III’s levelized price jumped from about $85/MWh to $125/MWh after “permitting delays, land carrying costs, higher financing costs, and, of course, big, bad tariffs.”

The bigger point is what each megawatt-hour buys. A geothermal plant pulls heat from underground and runs day and night, whatever the weather. We said the same thing back in April, that it’s “firm 24/7 power that intermittent renewables struggle to match.”

The solar average, meanwhile, “covers solar paired mostly with 4-hour batteries,” Edwards wrote, “and we all know 12+ hours of storage would cost more and still wouldn’t cover multi-day gaps.”

That’s why data centers are signing up for geothermal. Google is backing up to 150 MW of new Ormat geothermal through NV Energy, and Amazon is backing 100 MW from Zanskar. 

To be fair, geothermal beat the average, not every bid. Sleepy Orange came in at $89.80/MWh and White Pine Solar at $101.92. Two of the three geothermal deals (and two of the solar ones) are also “sleeved” contracts tied to specific big customers rather than open bids.

A longer runway

Edwards asks whether geothermal could “pull off a solar + wind circa 2010 move and scale faster to come down the cost curve.”

Under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, wind and solar projects that didn’t begin construction by July 4 of this year must be in service by the end of 2027 to claim federal tax credits. But geothermal, like battery storage, keeps the full credit for projects that start construction through 2033.

The drilling learning curve is already compounding. In July, we noted that Fervo’s third-generation well design boosted drilling rates 143%, with its latest Cape Station well finished in 21 days. Last month, Big Oil backed Mazama’s $135 million bet on superhot geothermal, whose second well hit 10,350 feet about 80% faster than its first. And as we noted in August, the Trump administration increasingly sees geothermal as an AI power source.

DOE’s “Enhanced Geothermal Shot” aims to bring next-generation geothermal down to $45/MWh by 2035, well under half of what Nevada was just offered.

Public geothermal is getting crushed

Ormat (ORA), one of the only pure-play publicly traded geothermal companies, is down 19% year to date. Fervo (FRVO), which priced its IPO at $27 in May and closed its first day at $36, finished Friday at just over $9, a record closing low and 64% below its IPO price.

Fervo warned in August of transmission curtailment at Cape Station, and on Oct. 6 short seller Morpheus Research alleged thermal decline, water loss and seismicity problems at its sites.

All this came days after Cape Station’s first 33 MW block began commercial operation a day ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, the market is still up over 10% this year, and the energy ETF XLE has soared 51% as the US-Iran war drags on.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

AI capex and earnings are now so tightly tied that spending doesn’t have to fall to hurt profits. It only has to stop accelerating.

Almost half of the S&P 500’s earnings growth this year traces back to one activity: companies buying chips, servers, power gear, and concrete to build artificial intelligence. That’s the estimate Goldman Sachs published on September 23. It’s also the clearest statement yet of how tightly AI capex and earnings are now linked.¹ Most investors read it as a story about the spenders. I think they’re looking at the wrong side of the ledger. Capex leaves one company’s bank account and appears on another company’s income statement, so the “AI earnings boom” depends less on how much is spent than on whether spending continues to grow.

Every Dollar Of Capex Is Someone Else’s Revenue

When a hyperscaler commits $10 billion to a data center, that money doesn’t vanish into a building. It goes to chip designers and memory makers, to the firms making transformers and cooling systems, and to contractors, electricians, and the local utility. Every one of them books it as “revenue.” Then their suppliers book revenue from them.

Jerome Levy worked this out early in the last century, and Michal Kalecki formalized it in the 1930s. For the economy as a whole, profits equal investment, minus household, government, and foreign saving, plus dividends.² I’ve written about the Kalecki profit equation and the coming reversion before, mostly around deficit spending. Investment sits on the same side of that equation.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The seller books the revenue immediately. The buyer capitalizes the purchase and expenses it through depreciation over five or six years. In the year the money is spent, the economy records the supplier’s profit without recording the buyer’s expense. Such is why a capex boom is the most earnings-friendly event in the short run, and why I called it a “golden window” when I wrote about AI capex depreciation risk and record earnings in July.

The cycle runs in three stages. Rising spending lifts supplier revenue, margins and hiring. Flat spending freezes supplier revenue while the buyers’ depreciation keeps climbing, because every dollar that was “free” in year one starts showing up as an expense in years two through six, which is usually when the market has stopped paying attention. Falling spending turns it all into a drag. Only the first stage is fun.

How Big Is The AI Capex Boom Right Now?

Goldman puts hyperscaler capex at $800 billion in 2026, up 94% from 2025, heading to $1.2 trillion in 2027 and $1.4 trillion in 2028.¹ FactSet’s July tally also lands near $800 billion for calendar 2026.³

Hyperscaler capital spending rises from about $412 billion in 2025 to an estimated $800 billion in 2026, $1.2 trillion in 2027, and $1.4 trillion in 2028. Year-over-year growth falls from 94% to 50% to 17% over the same stretch. Source: Goldman Sachs Research, Sept. 23, 2026. 2025 implied from 94% growth. Calculations: RIA Advisors

Notice in the chart above that the bars keep getting taller. Spending continues to set records while the growth rate that drives supplier profits collapses.

That’s the relationship between AI capex and earnings in one picture.

So far, the payoff has been enormous. FactSet now expects calendar 2026 S&P 500 earnings growth of 32.8%, with Information Technology at 65%.

Why AI Capex And Earnings Hinge On The Growth Rate

Goldman offers a rule of thumb that does most of the work. A $250 billion surprise in 2027 capex, in either direction, would move S&P 500 earnings growth by roughly 6 percentage points.¹ Goldman’s base case assumes capex rises 50% to $1.2 trillion and delivers about 11% earnings growth. I stretched that sensitivity to a few other outcomes.

Applying Goldman’s sensitivity of about 6 points of EPS growth per $250 billion of capex, 2027 S&P 500 earnings growth would be roughly 1.4% if capex held flat at $800 billion, 5% at $950 billion, 11% at the $1.2 trillion base case, and 17% at $1.45 trillion. Source: Goldman Sachs Research. Sensitivity extended linearly. Calculations: RIA Advisors

If 2027 spending merely matched this year’s record, implied earnings growth would fall to about 1%. Read that again. The linear extension is my assumption, not Goldman’s, and real outcomes won’t be that tidy. The direction isn’t in doubt.

“Spending is still rising, so where’s the problem?” The problem is the size of each year’s increase. Goldman’s path adds roughly $390 billion in 2026 and $400 billion in 2027, then only $200 billion in 2028. The dollar increase drives supplier revenue growth, and that increase gets cut in HALF in 2028. Consensus already sees some of it, with FactSet’s 2027 earnings growth estimate at 16%.⁴

The reversal also hits harder than the spending cut itself, and this is the part I keep turning over. Suppliers expand for the demand they see. A transformer maker whose orders double adds a shift, hires welders and signs its own equipment orders, which becomes revenue for its suppliers in turn, and so on down a chain that runs all the way to the steel mill and the trucking company. That second round is why the boom feels broader than the hyperscaler numbers alone suggest. It works in reverse too. When growth stalls, the suppliers are left holding capacity, payroll, and inventory built for orders that stopped growing, and operating leverage runs the other way.

“The spending doesn’t have to fall to hurt earnings. It only has to stop accelerating.”

Where The AI Money Actually Lands

The flow-through is real, but the pipe is narrower than most assume. Much of the hardware is fabricated in Taiwan and Korea. A July Federal Reserve note found that import surges offset much of the gross investment in several quarters.⁵ An August analysis on Econbrowser concluded the direct GDP effect was roughly a wash outside the second quarter.⁶ Such leakage is part of why I argued that AI capex spending is masking economic weakness. The industrials and utilities Goldman names are real “winners,” but the fattest margins sit with a handful of chip designers.

Two pieces of the earnings number deserve a harder look. Semiconductor gross margins are running near 80%, roughly double their historical average. Goldman expects that boost to fade.¹ Bob Farrell’s Rule #1 applies to margins as much as to prices: excesses revert to the mean. The second piece is stranger.

“Large technology companies recorded roughly $150 billion of unrealized investment gains in private companies in the second quarter of 2026, translating to 12% of S&P 500 EPS.” – Ben Snider, Chief U.S. Equity Strategist, Goldman Sachs Research

Those are marks, not cash. Such is the circular part of this cycle: hyperscalers invest in AI labs, the labs buy compute from the hyperscalers with that money, and the stakes get marked up at each new funding round. A mark can reverse just as quickly, and 12% of index earnings now depends on those rounds going well.

What Could Reverse The AI Capex Cycle?

The bigger risk is funding, not demand. FactSet expects free cash flow to hit roughly zero or turn negative in fiscal 2026 for every hyperscaler except Alphabet and Microsoft. The group already carries about $700 billion of debt and $820 billion of lease commitments.³ That money is being borrowed at rising rates. The Fed hiked on September 16 to a target range of 3.75% to 4.00%, its first increase since 2023. Chairman Kevin Warsh said “inflation is too high and has been for too long.”⁷ The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 5.10% on October 15th, after touching 5.24% on October 9th.⁸

Regulation is the “slow-burn” risk. Moratorium bills were filed in at least nine state legislatures this year. Maine’s passed in April, then died on Governor Janet Mills’ veto.⁹ A federal AI Data Center Moratorium Act (S.4214) sits in a Senate committee with no action.¹⁰ No statewide moratorium has become law yet. However, any bill that does pass can push a project out a year or more, and a year of delay is exactly the kind of drop in capex growth that the earnings math above can’t absorb.

History has a template. From early 1996 to late 2000, U.S. communications equipment investment more than doubled, from about $62 billion a year to over $135 billion.¹¹ Within one year, it fell by nearly a third.

U.S. communications equipment investment rose from about $62 billion in early 1996 to more than $135 billion at the fourth-quarter 2000 peak, then fell to under $93 billion a year later, a drop of roughly 31%. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Economic Quarterly, Fall 2003

The fiber was real. Internet traffic eventually showed up. Shareholders of the companies that built it still got wiped out. Such is how capex cycles usually end, with the asset intact and the “investment thesis” in pieces.

Where The Bulls Are Right

The bulls have a strong case. The S&P 500 trades at 19x forward earnings, right on its 10-year average of 19.1x, because earnings have outrun prices.⁴ Those spenders are among the most profitable companies in the world, and Goldman sees 11% earnings growth in both 2027 and 2028.¹

I like the AI trade. Mostly. What keeps nagging me is that the “reasonable” 19 multiple sits on an “E” that includes the capex flow-through, record chip margins, and a mark-to-market gain on private stakes, none of which is likely to repeat at this pace. A normal P/E on an abnormal E isn’t cheap; it only looks that way. Goldman itself notes that the cyclically adjusted P/E sits near record highs.¹

What AI Capex Means For Your Portfolio

I’m fairly confident 2027 holds up, since the dollar increase in spending is still about $400 billion. Past that, my confidence drops sharply. The practical move is to watch the rate of change in AI capex and earnings, which few investors track. Each earnings season, compare the increase in capex guidance with the prior year’s increase, not the prior year’s level. Watch hyperscaler free cash flow and credit spreads, because financing tends to crack before demand does. Watch chip margins for the first sign of reversion.

Then check your own exposure. A “passive” S&P 500 index fund owns this cycle whether you meant to or not, because the spenders and the suppliers crowd the top of the index, which means the same few companies sit on both sides of the trade. Rebalancing to your targets after a run like this is risk management, not a market call. The trade-off: trim too early, and you give up return if Goldman is right. I’d rather pay that cost than the one the AI capex bill could bring later. The open question remains whether AI capex spending leads to positive outcomes that beat its cost of capital.

The link between AI capex and earnings carried roughly half of this year’s profit growth, and that support fades once spending stops accelerating, even at a record level.

The earnings bill doesn’t arrive when the spending stops. It arrives when the spending stops growing.

If your portfolio has quietly become a bet on the AI capex cycle, it’s worth knowing how much of your return depends on spending that has to keep accelerating. That’s the conversation we have with investors every day at RIA Advisors. Schedule a complimentary portfolio review, and let’s pressure-test your exposure together.

Questions This Article Answers

How does AI capex affect S&P 500 earnings? One company’s capex is its suppliers’ revenue, while the buyer spreads the cost over years through depreciation. Goldman Sachs estimates that almost half of the 2026 S&P 500 earnings growth comes from AI investment.

Can AI capex hurt earnings without falling? Yes. Supplier profits track the yearly increase in spending. Applying Goldman’s sensitivity, flat 2027 capex at $800 billion implies roughly 1% S&P 500 earnings growth.

How much are hyperscalers spending on AI? Goldman Sachs estimates hyperscaler capex of about $800 billion in 2026, up 94%, rising to $1.2 trillion in 2027 and $1.4 trillion in 2028. FactSet’s estimate for 2026 is similar.

What could end the AI capex boom? Higher interest rates, tighter financing as free cash flow shrinks, state limits on data centers, weak AI returns, and falling chip margins.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

France’s streets burned, shops were looted and stripped bare and a historic town hall collapsed under arson. Yet the most striking images from Saturday night were not the fires. They were the people who carried on as if nothing was happening.

One woman jogged straight through thick black smoke past a burning barricade, treating the chaos like an outdoor treadmill session.

Groups of French boomers kept dancing while buildings were torched around them, and a tour guide was filmed continuing her routine for visitors, smiling and pointing out landmarks while flames literally engulfed the city right in front of tourists.

?French locals prefer to keep dancing while watching their country being fully destroyed… ??

meanwhile! French President Macron joins a Celine Dion concert ..

?FRANCE IS DONE !?#France #Macron #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/sQw9zr81Ku

— TruthTrencherX (@TruthTrencher) October 18, 2026

Meanwhile, the so called leader of France President Emmanuel Macron was filmed at a Celine Dion concert.

The most dystopian fitness video on the internet just dropped. ??

Paris is literally burning, protesters are shutting down the streets, and this woman is casually jogging past a burning barricade like it’s a treadmill session. She is literally running through thick black smoke… pic.twitter.com/KBhFmkRsVV

— Atulya (@DesiMemesTweets) October 18, 2026

La guide touristique qui fait semblant que tout va bien alors que Paris est en feu ??????? pic.twitter.com/ZWyjjgfQyh

— Nasss?? (@NassimMTL) October 18, 2026

This is the backdrop to the worst night of rioting and unrest in years. Authorities reported roughly 550,000 people on the streets (others claimed 800,000). The day produced between 1,200 and 1,800 arrests and more than 500 injured police, gendarmes and firefighters. One person died of cardiac arrest in Paris.

Riots across France today.

Looting, fires, vandalism and attacks against policemen and firefighters reported from cities across the country. pic.twitter.com/ZpVnuXTvC3

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 17, 2026

This isn’t St Petersburg or Belgorod in Russia. And it isn’t Kiev in Ukraine…

This is Paris.

But at the moment it’s pretty hard to tell the difference.

Video: Media BBG pic.twitter.com/U6y09Cfwdv

— Mor Edge Insight (@MorEdge_Insight) October 18, 2026

In Limoges the 143-year-old city hall was deliberately set alight; its spire and roof collapsed. Prefect Maurice Barate called the attackers “a wild horde.”

BREAKING:

The town hall of Limoges, built in 1873, didn’t survive today’s riots.

The building’s spire has now collapsed pic.twitter.com/yleJx8MKCo

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 17, 2026

Mayor Guillaume Guérin said those who entered threatened staff, telling them they would be killed. The building had survived two world wars.

In Lyon the tourist office, described as a heritage building in the heart of the city, was set ablaze, with officials calling the loss a tragedy.

?? | URGENTE: Oficina de turismo incendiada en Lyon: “Es un edificio patrimonial en pleno corazón de la ciudad (…) perder de esta manera esta oficina, para nosotros, verdaderamente, es una tragedia”. pic.twitter.com/oPr71UdrwX

— Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) October 17, 2026

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government would not be “intimidated” and blamed the “ultra-left” and criminals. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez pointed to “far-left” protesters joined by “criminals who looted and ransacked.”

Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire stated that “whole streets have been devastated.” Macron, while still claiming there were legitimate protesters who should not be ignored, later said those who broke into buildings, attacked prefectures and looted town halls “will be prosecuted and punished.”

In Marseille, rioters forced their way into city hall, toppled a bust of Marianne and raised Palestinian flags.

Marseille city hall has fallen & they have put up Palestinian flags inside
pic.twitter.com/VzqM0em2Wo

— Shai Goldman (@shaig) October 17, 2026

Rolex, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and other stores were emptied in daylight.

A Rolex store was looted in Marseille, France amid the violent protests. pic.twitter.com/RafKsK9Qdr

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 18, 2026

? UPDATE: Rioters in France just raided LOUIS VUITTON

They’re looting businesses, attacking cops and BURNING DOWN TOWN HALLS

“Student protests” MY A*S!

The media is REFUSING to acknowledge that this is a leftist-Islamist allied riot meant SOLELY to cause destruction and…

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 17, 2026

Looters also broke into the Centre Bourse shopping mall and began taking everything they could carry.

BREAKING:

The looters have managed to break into Centre Bourse shopping mall in Marseille and are now stealing everything they can pic.twitter.com/OpQxn63nir

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 17, 2026

Prefect Jacques Witkowski said the people involved “ne sont pas venus pour manifester, mais piller” – they did not come to demonstrate, they came to loot.

In Paris a woman who had joined the marches was filmed shouting “This isn’t the cause” as others began looting; she was pushed aside and told they had “urgent shopping” to do.

Cultural relativism playing out here again. They don’t give a crap what “the cause” is. https://t.co/oS4zF7E90q

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) October 18, 2026

Restaurant owner Aline of La Barrique was beaten, her face bruised, her place sacked and burned.

??? ????? ???? — En pleurs et le visage tuméfié, Aline, gérante du restaurant La Barrique à Paris, raconte avoir été tabassée par des émeutiers.

Son établissement a été saccagé et entièrement calciné : elle a tout perdu. pic.twitter.com/ZmvlUVZip2

— Bastion (@BastionMediaFR) October 18, 2026

A phone-shop owner sat among the shattered remains of his business.

??? Dude, all of this is genuinely INFURIATING.

A phone shop owner sits with his head in his hands, surrounded by shattered glass and debris after rioters LOOTED and DESTROYED his store in France.

Just look at him… trying to process what happened.

How can anyone watch this…

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 17, 2026

In Nice a person connected to an attacked store was assaulted after confronting the rioters.

Nice, France (Oct. 17) — France is experiencing similar mass leftist violence and looting like the U.S. did after George Floyd.

A person associated with a store that was attacked gets assaulted after going outside to yell at the rioters. pic.twitter.com/jUqYlA0suw

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) October 18, 2026

Groups also hijacked tourist train cars.

It’s complete anarchy on the streets of France

They’re now hijacking tourist traincars and joyriding them pic.twitter.com/iiJjzyglH7

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) October 17, 2026

Another clip shows supposed student protesters pausing to loot a jewellery store.

French students protest but take a well deserved break to loot a local jewellery store. pic.twitter.com/lVtj1oswpz

— HJB News (@HJB_News__) October 18, 2026

Footage of the looting and street chaos has been widely shared as the direct outcome of left-wing policies and education that prioritised ideology over basic order.

This mob are not ‘protesters’ and they’re not ‘French’. pic.twitter.com/MEQfgtb57h

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) October 18, 2026

“Protesters” https://t.co/A3ttaDOKv5

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) October 17, 2026

“Protesters” pic.twitter.com/5ImdOCEzvg

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) October 17, 2026

WILD SCENES: Chaos erupts at Place de la République in Paris. pic.twitter.com/LfztwshXTW

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 17, 2026

This is the result of left wing politics and left wing education in schools .. it’s time for people to wake the Fk up and go back to conservatism.. which stands for common sense and law and order pic.twitter.com/50Nuz2nUdb

— WeGotitBack ??????????? (@NotFarLeftAtAll) October 18, 2026

Footage from multiple cities shows few French flags among the most violent crowds. Islamic and Palestinian flags dominate.

Ni una sola bandera de Francia en las “protestas” “estudiantiles”. Solo banderas de entidades islámicas. pic.twitter.com/ejwj7J7Rdw

— Kalina Ann? (@KalinaAnnGG) October 17, 2026

One clip shows men pausing the looting and violence in a Paris street to pray, then continuing.

? UPDATE: Muslim rioters STOP their violence and looting to pray to allah in the streets of Paris, France, before they keep going ?

And so there it is. WAKE UP!

Don’t the people of France see what this is about?

The media for WEEKS told us this was “STUDENT PROTESTS” when…

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 17, 2026

A Spanish journalist was confronted by two men making throat-slitting gestures; reports described them as second- and third-generation migrants.

? NEWS ALERT: A Spanish journalist reporting from the riots in Paris was confronted by two men who heckled her and made throat-slitting gestures toward the camera.

The men were described in circulating reports as second- and third-generation migrants.#France #Paris #Protests…

— Today’s News (@TodaysNewsco) October 18, 2026

An image of a Joan of Arc figure in a hijab holding a Palestinian flag circulated widely.

Eén foto, duizend woorden.

Jeanne d’Arc met hijab en Palestijnse vlag.#Frankrijk #Frankrijk #Frankrijk #Frankrijk pic.twitter.com/aJTkH9o3zn

— widtvoet (@widtvoet) October 17, 2026

A circulating account from journalist Paul Amar claimed groups arrived with addresses of town halls and Jewish-owned shops and that, on one Marseille street, businesses owned by Jews were burned while those run by Muslims were not.

French journalist Paul Amar:

“They came prepared. They had the addresses of town halls. They had addresses of Jewish shop owners.

In a street in Marseille, all businesses owned by Jews were set on fire. Businesses run by Muslims weren’t” pic.twitter.com/zudahbmw7p

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 18, 2026

Organised Networks, Not Spontaneous Students

This is not a spontaneous student protest that got out of hand.

A Fox News Digital investigation found that of roughly 50 organisations active around the unrest, only about one-third were actual student or youth groups. The rest included labour unions, communist and socialist organisations, the French Communist Party, La France Insoumise and a Palestinian advocacy group.

The same reporting traced funding and amplification to networks linked to Shanghai-based tycoon Neville Roy Singham, including outlets such as BreakThrough News.

The violence is being amplified by a red-green alliance of communists, socialists and Islamists using “student” grievances as cover for broader disruption.

? NOW: Communist, socialist and Islamist-linked dollars are ORGANIZING and AMPLIFYING the major riots in France, falsely called “student protests” by the fake news

“There are organizations with names like Breakthrough News sounds very innocuous, People’s Forum, the Party for… pic.twitter.com/CvtCzOVaW0

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 17, 2026

A clip circulating on X shows pallets of bottles appearing on the street as if staged in advance, suggesting the chaos was organised and rioters were being equipped rather than acting spontaneously.

Well well well… https://t.co/FzLWMvyL5F

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) October 18, 2026

The original complaints about teacher shortages and ageing school buildings are now just a footnote.

France spends above the EU average on upper-secondary education. None of that explains why luxury stores were emptied, why a 19th-century town hall was torched, why people are being beaten in the streets or their own places of business, or why large sections of the crowds waved foreign flags and paused to pray in the street.

The media continues to centre “education reform” and cost-of-living framing. The videos show something else entirely: organised destruction enabled by decades of open borders, with first-, second- and third-generation migrants doing the smashing and burning.

While the country was being looted and set alight, people danced, jogged through the smoke, gave guided tours and the president attended a concert. That is the clearest picture of how detached the official story has become from what is actually happening on the ground.

St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, came under heavy drone attack early Sunday – resulting in huge fires over what is also the second most important civic center after Moscow.

An oil depot and oil export facility suffered direct hits, despite President Trump multiple times making it known that he’s vehemently opposed to such attacks, given the diesel supply crisis.

One person was killed and at least five more were injured in this latest long-range drone wave, Aleksandr Beglov, the governor of St. Petersburg, announced on Telegram. He also added that a dozen apartment buildings and two private residences suffered damage in the attack. A large bridge was also targeted.

Extensive blazes have been observed at the Petersburg oil terminal and the Ruchyi oil depot, and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky District. Some 20,000 residents in the area were also left without power after a pair of electrical substations were hit. State media later updated the number of injuries to at least ten.

The Wall Street Journal underscores the symbolism of a major Ukrainian attack on “Putin’s hometown” in the following:

Ukrainian drones unleashed early Sunday the biggest attack on St. Petersburg since the start of the war, hitting a major oil terminal and other critical targets in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hometown following the collapse of a fragile energy ceasefire.

Kyiv had refrained from hitting energy targets inside Russia for days following President Trump’s announcement last week of a ceasefire on such strikes which have degraded Russia’s ability to refine fuel, turned the country into a net fuel importer and pressured an already tight global fuel market.

A data center of Russia’s largest social media platform VK, formerly known as VKontakte, was also struck – though the company said its services remain operational. 

Trump Sunday afternoon Truth Social: “I WANT THIS WARN [TO] END!”

In the attack aftermath, media reports have tallied that some 1,000 drones or more were sent against St. Petersburg.

Ukraine’s President Zelensky has stated in response to Trump pressure that the Russians are continuing their own strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

He said that over the last week alone Russia had launched nearly 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles.

“The Russians are trying to cause a blackout,” he wrote in a Sunday social media post. “And America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements.”

Firefighters are still working at the Ozon warehouse in St. Petersburg after it was struck by Ukrainian drones. The facility has been heavily damaged by the resulting fire, with little appearing salvageable. #Russia https://t.co/dr0fxRen69

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) October 18, 2026

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday denied claims from Kiev that the White House ordered the throttling of SpaceX’s military-grade Starshield satellite network used by Ukraine.

“I don’t know what Zelensky said, I’m not sure Zelensky knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” Rubio said on Saturday. “We had nothing to do with that. I don’t, the United States, nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored, it’s back to what it was before.”

“Starshield is a contract with the US military, it has nothing to do with Ukraine. I know Ukraine wants access to Starshield, they do not have Starshield now. They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia. They do not have access to it at this moment. Those are two different products,” he added.

At least one person was killed and 15 injured after Ukrainian drones struck oil facilities, logistics and data centers in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region https://t.co/6ebQ2N4rSG https://t.co/Zv9GCkucnq

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 18, 2026

In follow-up, on Monday Rubio broadly addressed the diplomatic stalemate related to peace talks and a potential resumption.

“We see nothing good coming from this war,” Rubio said. “We see a lot of downside to it, including the very real risk of escalation and spread of this thing… into another country because of a failed sabotage attack, because of drones that are hit with electronic warfare and they wander into a neighboring country.”

By Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabobank

US stocks defied a strong lead from Europe and Asia on Friday to close broadly in the red. IT, telecommunications and the consumer discretionary sector led declines while energy, materials and consumer staples performed well. Oil prices surged following further reports of attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran claiming that two tankers carrying up to 4 million barrels of crude were struck by marine mines. The BBC reports UKMTO figures noting that the number of ships being attacked in and around the Strait hit a new high of 12 vessels in the week to the 11th of October.

Rising oil prices helped to see ten-year Treasury yields close 1.5bps higher at 5.07% after a big drop on Thursday. Two-year yields fell by 3bps, causing a steepening of the yield curve that might have provided a slight tailwind to financial stocks. Higher oil prices and rising long yields were not helpful for the consumer discretionary sector that was perhaps still trading off the signal of a weaker-than-expected retail sales report released the day before, which gave the impression that spending on automotive fuels is cannibalising demand for other goods.

Following market close on Friday news emerged that President Trump is enacting a waiver of steep Graham Act sanctions and tariffs that were due to come into effect. The Act requires the imposition of secondary sanctions in the form of 100% tariffs against the top five buyers of Russian crude oil and gas products while also placing 500% tariffs on Russian energy products being imported into the United States. Active Brent crude futures are down by $1.80/bbl at time of writing.

Depending on how the calculation is performed, the top five buyers of Russian energy products are likely to include China, India, Turkey and the European Union. The imposition of 100% tariffs on China would certainly torpedo the truce in the trade war that was extended to January only a few weeks ago and would risk a response in the form of renewed export restrictions on rare earth minerals. 100% tariffs on the EU and Turkey would be a major strike against NATO allies at a time when the Trump administration wants Europe to contribute more to collective defence and Turkey to play ball with US interests in the Middle East. Striking India would antagonize an emerging great power that the USA would like to use as a geopolitical counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, an investor in new US production, and a customer for US defence and nuclear energy exports.

Of course, the imposition of Graham Act sanctions would also directly contradict recent efforts of the administration to reduce fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections. Relations between Moscow and Washington appear to be in an upturn following the recent controversial deal for the US to import Russian diesel sanctions-free over the coming months. That deal drew condemnation from Ukraine and several members of congress, as did Friday’s decision to waive the Graham Act sanctions. In a post to Truth Social on Sunday President Trump said that his decision was aimed at avoiding anything that will “drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated over the weekend that the waiver was only for a period of 60 days to give the US time to “analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even the US economy”. Some might detect an implied threat that while buyers of Russian energy have avoided the sanctions for the time being, the Sword of Damocles still hangs, and the administration now has greater powers to coerce other countries into doing what it wants.

Rubio’s 60 days would expire after the midterm elections, which is the line in the sand that President Trump has repeatedly nominated when saying that the US would not engage in fresh strikes against Iran before that date. Once the midterms are out of the way, it looks like all bets are off and we can expect a dramatic ramping up in geopolitical volatility. That impression was seemingly confirmed last Thursday when President Trump again implied in an interview with Newsmax that the United States was considering striking Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain complex, where nuclear centrifuges from the Natanz site are thought to have been relocated.

An IRGC spokesman said in a post on X that any attack on Iranian energy infrastructure would trigger a “scorched earth” response against Israel, with other Iranian sources suggesting a ‘nuclear for nuclear’ attack on Israeli reactors if Pickaxe Mountain were to be struck. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – freshly endorsed for re-election at next week’s poll by Donald Trump – said that the Islamic Republic must be toppled and that he had directed Israel’s security agencies to pursue that goal, without US support if necessary.

While the world grapples with the energy shock emanating from hot wars in Europe and the Middle East, French President Macron continues to grapple with political unrest at home. Tensions ran high over the weekend as widespread protests erupted into rioting and looting, with images of the burning of the historic town hall in Limoges circulating on social media and about 1000 police officers reported injured.

President Macron said in an address to the nation that a distinction must be drawn between the actions of the rioters and the legitimate concerns of protestors demonstrating against rising living costs and decaying public services. Marine Le Pen, the right-wing frontrunner for the upcoming presidential election, railed against what she called “exhausted Macronist power” saying that France faces a crisis of confidence and authority that now poses a threat to democracy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar echoed sentiments expressed by Donald Trump blaming the riots on uncontrolled immigration, claiming that the scenes in France vindicated Hungary’s tough approach. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – avoiding explicit mention of France -similarly extolled the virtues of his own country’s hardline stance on immigration, saying that Poland would “neither repeat nor pay for” other countries’ mistakes. The Euro is this morning trading lower despite a broad US Dollar selloff.

Keeping with the theme of democracy, today is an important date in the Canadian province of Alberta. A non-binding referendum will be held where voters are asked to indicate whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or commence the constitutional process to secede. Voters will also be asked a series of questions about their views on control of immigration, voter ID, and to what degree non-citizens should have recourse to public healthcare and other social programs.

Needless to say, the results of the vote will be closely watched in Ottawa, and in Washington D.C.

After President Trump previewed that he’s mulling the resumption of a major US bombing campaign of Iran for after the November midterm elections, Iranian officials are busy pushing back with their own warnings and red lines. Trump has even lately teased potential new offensive action even before the US Congressional elections.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday warned against the US restarting attacks, saying that Tehran has “unfinished jobs” too – while also alleging Israel is dragging Washington along into more needless conflict.

“Last time you wanted to ‘finish the job’, Iran emerged even stronger. Want to try your luck again? Be our guest. But be careful; we have unfinished jobs too,” Araghchi wrote on X. “Netanyahu is driving America into another war to stay out of jail, whatever the consequences for Israel—let alone POTUS,” he stressed.

The reference to stay out of jail is a nod to the upcoming Israeli elections, which will happen in under two weeks. If Netanyahu’s mandate isn’t extended by becoming prime minister again, his corruption trials will resume in full swing.

On Monday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) followed with its own parallel warnings. Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi declared that Washington is simply in no position to renew the conflict.

As reported in state Tasnim, the IRGC spokesman said, “Most of America’s bases in the region have been deactivated. Its forces are worn out and exhausted and are hundreds of kilometers away from Iran.” He stressed that “if the region becomes unsafe for Iran, there will be no more security in the region.”

The reference was to widespread reporting that over a dozen American bases and their personnel have essentially had to be folded up, and troops moved much further back, following Iran’s devastating retaliatory missile and drone waves early in the war.

Read our: ‘13 US Bases Uninhabitable’: Pentagon Admits Much Of Iran War Overseen By Personnel ‘Working Remotely’

Mohebbi continued, “Technically and militarily, America does not have the capacity to create a new conflict, but since the elections are near, they may want to make achievements. We do not ignore the possibilities and are prepared to respond, and this time our response will be much more severe.”

He warned further: “Even if America’s action is limited, the world will face a serious energy crisis.”

Other top Iranian officials are also saying ‘regional war’ will be assured if there is another US attack:

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says Tehran will seek to escalate any renewed conflict to a regional war. Mohammed Mokhber, who was interim president after Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, said Iran’s “deterrence” had prevented the US and Israel “from using all their capabilities”.

Mokhber said it was “a joke to say that Europe and NATO didn’t stand with America. The bases in Britain are in America’s hands, and America has bases in most European countries. That’s where they got involved [and] fired missiles.”

All of this comes after a weekend where Iran touted that it hit two tankers which were trying to traverse the Strait of Hormuz through ‘unauthorized’ routes. The IRGC said the ships caught fire after hitting mines.

Iranian hardliners say the time for nuclear weapons has come Killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who prohibited atomic bombs, has prompted calls to weaponise enrichment programme https://t.co/aHD6LCEPmx

— Giovanni Staunovo🛢 (@staunovo) October 19, 2026

On the stalled peace negotiations front, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir is expected to visit Tehran again this week. Presumably, he’s likely to deliver Washington’s latest messaging, assuming there are any ‘offers’ still on the table.