The European Union is reconsidering the strategic importance of its oil-refining industry as disruptions to international energy supplies and growing defence requirements force Brussels to examine whether Europe can afford further reductions in domestic fuel production.
On 28 October, the European Commission convened its first high-level dialogue with the European refining industry, bringing together energy companies, technology providers and representatives of NATO.
The meeting was chaired jointly by Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
Its significance extends beyond the immediate increase in fuel prices associated with the conflict in the Middle East.
Brussels is confronting a longer-term problem: Europe intends to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, but its transport networks, industrial infrastructure and military forces remain substantially dependent on petroleum products.
The question is no longer simply how quickly the European economy can decarbonise. It is also how much refining capacity must be retained to guarantee essential fuel supplies during a geopolitical crisis.
Europe’s refining industry occupies an important position in the continent’s energy system.
According to figures published by the European Commission, EU refineries supply approximately 70 per cent of the jet fuel and 85 per cent of the diesel consumed in Europe.
These products are essential not only for civilian transport and logistics but also for military aviation, armoured vehicles and the movement of equipment.
Maintaining adequate production capacity therefore has implications for both economic activity and defence readiness.
Yet European refineries have faced difficult commercial conditions for years.
High energy costs, international competition and declining expectations for long-term fossil-fuel demand have complicated investment decisions.
Refineries require substantial capital expenditure to remain competitive, meet environmental requirements and adapt production processes.
Companies considering whether to modernise facilities must consequently assess the profitability of assets that may be expected to operate in a progressively decarbonising economy.
The resulting uncertainty creates a problem for governments seeking to retain strategically important industrial capabilities.
The immediate catalyst for the Commission’s initiative is the disruption to energy markets caused by the continuing conflict in the Middle East.
Interruptions to supply chains and uncertainty over maritime transport have increased concerns about the availability and cost of refined petroleum products.
Importing crude oil and importing finished fuels are not equivalent from a strategic perspective.
A country with domestic refining capacity can process available crude into the particular products required by its economy.
An economy heavily dependent on imported refined products is additionally exposed to processing capacity, transport availability and commercial decisions outside its jurisdiction.
The distinction becomes particularly relevant when governments must guarantee supplies of diesel and aviation fuel during an emergency.
European policymakers are therefore examining ways to improve output from existing facilities and strengthen the resilience of fuel supply chains.
However, the Commission has not announced a binding production target or a programme to reopen closed refineries.
The 28 October meeting represents the beginning of a policy discussion rather than the adoption of a new industrial strategy.
The participation of NATO gives the initiative a wider security dimension.
Military preparedness requires dependable access to energy products, including during periods when normal commercial supply chains are disrupted.
Aircraft, naval vessels, military logistics and ground operations cannot be reorganised around alternative energy sources at the same pace as some civilian activities.
Furthermore, the ability to sustain prolonged operations depends on reliable industrial production, storage, distribution and transport.
A refinery’s strategic importance may therefore exceed its immediate commercial profitability.
That raises difficult policy questions.
Governments may consider whether critical production facilities require targeted support, whether strategic stockpiles are sufficient and how supply arrangements should function during emergencies.
Any intervention would have to address competition rules, public financing and the risk of subsidising facilities that become commercially unviable.
Brussels has not abandoned its climate objectives.
The Commission has explicitly linked its refining discussions to the development of sustainable biofuels and synthetic fuels, commonly known as e-fuels.
These technologies offer potential alternatives for sectors where direct electrification remains technically difficult, including aviation.
However, their commercial development requires investment, suitable feedstocks, reliable energy supplies and sufficient demand.
Traditional refineries may be able to participate in this transition, although the technical requirements and economic viability vary between facilities.
Jørgensen said the Commission intended to work with industry on a roadmap that would reconcile domestic fuel production with Europe’s longer-term climate ambitions.
The challenge will be translating those objectives into investment decisions.
The initiative illustrates a wider adjustment in European economic policy.
In recent years, the EU has increasingly described industrial capacity as an element of economic security, rather than treating production solely as a commercial activity.
Semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and defence equipment have all attracted attention because of vulnerabilities in international supply chains.
Oil refining is now entering the same discussion.
The Commission must determine how to preserve sufficient capacity for essential civilian and military requirements while continuing to encourage cleaner technologies.
Those objectives are not necessarily incompatible, but they operate over different timescales and involve different commercial incentives.
For European refiners, the central question is whether governments can provide enough regulatory and investment certainty to support modernisation.
For Brussels, it is whether the energy transition can proceed without creating new strategic dependencies.
The outcome of the dialogue will indicate how the EU intends to balance its climate commitments with the industrial demands of a less predictable security environment.
The Canadian government on Tuesday introduced a bill that would allow Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), Canada’s preferred euphemism for euthanasia, to be conducted on people who have lost the mental capacity to give informed consent for the procedure.
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Two community health workers trying to spread awareness of Ebola in the eastern Congo were attacked by a machete-wielding mob on Friday, further demonstrating the difficulty of controlling the deadly disease among hostile and suspicious rural residents as the total number of cases surpassed 10,000.
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A series of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the western Black Sea has brought the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine increasingly close to NATO territory, prompting additional military surveillance and renewed regional defence cooperation.
France has temporarily deployed an Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft to Romania, while NATO members bordering the Black Sea are strengthening arrangements to monitor shipping routes, identify airborne threats and protect critical infrastructure.
The French aircraft began operating from Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu airbase on 18 October and is scheduled to continue reconnaissance missions until 6 November.
Its deployment follows repeated attacks on merchant vessels near Romania and Bulgaria, both members of NATO and the European Union.
At least eight cargo ships have been struck in the region during October, with approximately 34 sailors reported dead or missing, according to figures reported by Reuters on 27 October.
The incidents have transformed commercial maritime security into an increasingly urgent issue for European defence planners.
The latest escalation has centred on shipping routes serving Ukraine’s Danube ports and commercial traffic passing through the western Black Sea.
Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian maritime infrastructure have increased the importance of alternative export routes, including those connecting the Danube to international shipping lanes.
However, recent incidents demonstrate that geographical proximity to NATO territory does not necessarily provide commercial vessels with protection from the effects of the conflict.
On 23 October, a drone struck a Comoros-flagged cargo vessel near the Romanian port of Constanța.
According to maritime security company Ambrey, the vessel was hit approximately 16 nautical miles east of the port and subsequently capsized.
One crew member was reported dead, nine were rescued and three remained missing in the initial casualty figures.
Ambrey assessed it as highly likely that Russian forces carried out the attack, pointing to the vessel’s links with Ukrainian Danube ports.
That assessment represents an attribution by a commercial security organisation, rather than a final determination by an international investigative body.
Other incidents have similarly raised questions over responsibility.
Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking civilian shipping, while Bulgarian authorities have acknowledged difficulties in conclusively identifying the operators of drones involved in some strikes.
Romania’s Defence Ministry announced on 27 October that the Atlantique 2 deployment followed a request from Bucharest in response to the deteriorating security situation.
The aircraft is conducting surveillance and reconnaissance over the western Black Sea, working with Romanian naval authorities and maritime rescue coordination services.
Its principal responsibilities include identifying hazards to navigation and improving awareness of threats to critical infrastructure within Romania’s exclusive economic zone.
That infrastructure includes offshore energy facilities and maritime installations whose protection is increasingly relevant to European energy security.
The deployment adds to Romanian naval patrols conducted by ships, helicopters and unmanned systems.
Romanian authorities are also providing navigational warnings and recommended routes to commercial vessels.
Nevertheless, additional surveillance does not automatically prevent attacks.
The practical challenge lies in detecting relatively small unmanned aircraft or maritime drones, determining their intentions and responding before they reach civilian targets.
The security crisis was also discussed at a trilateral meeting of defence ministers in Sofia on 28 October.
Romania’s Defence Minister, Ștefan-Radu Oprea, met his Bulgarian counterpart, Dimitar Stoyanov, and Turkey’s Defence Minister, Yaşar Güler, to examine the consequences of attacks on commercial shipping.
According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, the ministers discussed closer intelligence-sharing, improved maritime surveillance and better coordination between their naval forces.
They also reaffirmed the importance of the existing Black Sea mine-countermeasures initiative involving the three countries.
Maritime mines remain a persistent hazard because they can drift beyond their original deployment areas, endangering civilian vessels irrespective of their destination or ownership.
The trilateral format provides a practical mechanism for neighbouring countries to coordinate activities while retaining responsibility for their respective national waters.
It also gives Turkey a central role in regional discussions, reflecting its position on the Black Sea and its control of access through the Turkish Straits under the Montreux Convention.
The attacks raise a complicated legal and operational question: what responsibilities do NATO members have when civilian ships are attacked near their coastlines?
The distinction between territorial waters and an exclusive economic zone is important.
A coastal state’s territorial sea generally extends up to 12 nautical miles from its baseline, while its exclusive economic zone can extend considerably further and confers particular economic and jurisdictional rights.
An attack within a NATO member’s exclusive economic zone does not automatically constitute an armed attack against that member’s territory.
Nor does every strike on a civilian ship near NATO territory automatically trigger the collective-defence provisions of Article 5.
The circumstances, attribution, location and consequences of an incident would all influence the response.
This creates a security problem in which threats can affect European economic interests without necessarily crossing a threshold requiring collective military action.
The implications extend beyond individual vessels.
Repeated attacks can increase insurance costs, complicate shipping schedules and discourage operators from using particular routes.
They can also affect Ukrainian agricultural exports and the wider commercial networks linking Black Sea ports to European markets.
Offshore energy installations face related vulnerabilities, particularly where surveillance and response capabilities are insufficient.
For NATO, the challenge is therefore to strengthen deterrence and protection without unintentionally escalating the conflict.
France’s reconnaissance deployment and the trilateral cooperation between Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey indicate that regional governments are moving towards a more coordinated response.
However, the continuing attacks demonstrate the difficulties of protecting civilian maritime activity against comparatively inexpensive unmanned systems.
The longer-term question is whether increased surveillance, counter-drone capabilities and naval cooperation can make western Black Sea shipping sufficiently secure while the war in Ukraine continues.
The European Union (E.U.) is dropping the move to make Canada an associate member of the 27-nation bloc, multiple sources reported Wednesday.
The post Reports: E.U. Dropping Associate Membership Offer to Canada (for Now) appeared first on Breitbart.
Europe has already learned to better recognize hybrid threats, which is definitely a good thing, but recognition alone is not enough and doesn't serve as sufficient deterrence.
European officials have grown accustomed to scenarios where a cyberattack disrupts public services and critical infrastructure, drones appear over sensitive sites,
Brazilian Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro and his family landed in Florida on Wednesday morning, hours after Argentina confirmed that they legally entered the country and boarded a flight toward Ecuador.
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At least 64 people were killed and dozens more injured after two high-speed trains collided in central Spain on Wednesday morning.
The post Central Spain: 64 Killed, Dozens More Injured in High-Speed Train Crash appeared first on Breitbart.
"We will always protect Social Security, Medicare!" says President Donald Trump.
That would be nice.
But when I look at these programs' balance sheets, I don't see how he's protected anything. Both Social Security and Medicare are on track to run out of money.
Politicians mostly ignore the problem. Worse, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) say they want to expand Social Security benefits.
That's just irresponsible.
My new video points out what we've known for years: These programs are unsustainable.
The problem is that people like me live longer. We like getting monthly Social Security checks and medical care that appears free.
Since we vote more consistently than others, politicians don't want to make us mad by cutting our handouts.
My fellow geezers say, "Social Security is not a handout! I contributed to the 'trust fund' every year. I'm just getting back what I paid in!"
But that's not true. Today, most of us get back much more than we paid in.
In 1935, politicians created the handout, saying, even if you don't save for retirement, government will save for you.
But that was another political lie. They didn't create individual retirement accounts. They didn't save our Social Security payments. They spend every penny as it comes in.
It's why Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme.
Bernard Madoff went to jail because he used new investors' money to pay old investors. That's exactly what our government does.
Few Americans realize it.
"What happens to the money?" I ask people on the street.
"It's held in trust," said one woman.
It isn't.
When politicians started Social Security, there were enough young workers to tax to cover the cost of sending checks to old people.
But now, since we live longer, there aren't enough young workers to fund our payments.
Social Security's costs exceed its income by billions of dollars.
"There is a plan out there to save it, but it requires some tough choices," says the Cato Institute's Romina Boccia. "Commonsense tweaks we can make."
Those include raising the retirement age, capping checks to the affluent, and letting young people opt out of Social Security. Reforms like that require tradeoffs. But ignoring the problem doesn't make it disappear.
We need to act, says Boccia, because Social Security is like the Titanic—gradually heading for disaster.
"Make reforms now," she says, "we can avoid the iceberg. [But] if we wait until the iceberg is in front of our noses and try to turn the ship, we're going to run right into it."
Medicare will hit its iceberg in 2033; then benefits will automatically be reduced. Social Security will hit it the year before.
At that point, incoming taxes will cover only about 78 percent of promised retirement benefits.
Yet irresponsible Democrats say: Spend even more.
"Human wants and needs are unlimited," replies Boccia. "There's always another program that needs more funding."
Sanders says, pay for it by taxing the rich more.
"There isn't enough money even that the rich would have, to pay for the…unfunded liabilities," Boccia points out.
If only politicians had listened years ago, when Cato and the Heritage Foundation proposed letting workers put some of their Social Security money into personal retirement accounts. Instead of relying on future taxpayers, workers could accumulate real assets that grow over time.
Personal accounts give workers something Social Security doesn't: assets we own.
"Even a conservative portfolio of stocks and bonds that got you a 5 percent annual return would have made you many times more [than Social Security]," says Boccia.
Private accounts helped Chile rise from one of the poorest countries in Latin America to one of the richest. Yet leftists still object to capitalists getting a cut of the pie.
"We lack gratitude for what the free market provides," says Boccia.
We should adjust these programs now.
The longer politicians wait, the worse the choices become.
But today's politicians will probably be gone by then.
Our children get the bill.
COPYRIGHT 2026 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
The post Social Security Is Like a Ponzi Scheme. How Do We Fix It? appeared first on Reason Magazine.
An assailant armed with two knives attacked a member of Serbia's Gendarmerie guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade shortly after midnight Wednesday, prompting the officer to fatally shoot the attacker in self-defense, according to Serbian authorities.
The assailant, who was a minor, allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" — or "God is great" in Arabic — as he slashed the officer in the face, leaving the officer "slightly injured."
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, adding that security forces had been monitoring the assailant.
Dacic said the attacker supported ISIS and displayed a black flag bearing the terrorist group's symbol on his Instagram account. The attacker was believed to be Serbian and from the town of Sabac, Dacic added.
HALIMA SALMAN CONVICTED OF RECEIVING ISIS MILITARY TRAINING IN SYRIA, FACES 10 YEARS IN PRISON
Israel's foreign ministry confirmed the "attempted terrorist attack," and said the incident was under investigation by the relevant authorities.
"The attacker was neutralized by local police. No embassy personnel were injured, and the mission was closed at the time of the incident, which occurred late at night," the statement said.
According to Serbian prosecutors, an unidentified person wearing black clothes opened the door to the security booth outside the embassy around 12:15 a.m. local time.
Prosecutors said the attacker then walked toward the officer inside, identified as D.S., and threw one of his knives in his direction, hitting the officer in the left cheek.
D.S. then retrieved his service weapon and fired multiple rounds, killing the attacker on the spot, according to the office of the Higher Public Prosecutor in Belgrade.
Photos from the scene hours after the attack show heavily armed police officers standing at the entrance of the embassy.
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Dacic said Serbia had raised its terrorism threat level to the highest level, prompting an increased police presence at sensitive sites and crowded public spaces across the country.
In June 2024, a crossbow-wielding assailant wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade before the officer returned fire, killing the attacker.
The latest attack comes a day after Israel held parliamentary elections, with exit polls pointing to no clear winner.
Russia has won the war in Ukraine, and American President Donald Trump’s belated peace efforts are largely irrelevant, says Doug Macgregor.
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Russia has won the war in Ukraine, and American President Donald Trump’s belated peace efforts are largely irrelevant, says Doug Macgregor.
Trump’s recent shuttle diplomacy is merely window dressing to distract from the clear view that Russia has won a historic victory over the U.S.-led NATO proxy war.
Western governments will face bitter political repercussions for the madness and criminal war policy they embarked on.
What Russia is doing now is trying to secure a long-term peace. President Vladimir Putin is politely receiving Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, about holding peace talks.
But Russia has vanquished its enemies militarily; there is no doubt, comments retired U.S. Colonel Macgregor. Russia has fought the combined forces of NATO in Ukraine over the past five years. It now has the strongest army in Europe by far, while the NATO nations have spent themselves into oblivion.
Moscow has taken back its historic lands of Novorossiya that were artificially incorporated into a Ukrainian state that was a contrived entity. That’s why it is falling apart and bequeathing a rump state.
Macgregor says the U.S. and the Europeans quietly realize they have lost their gamble to strategically defeat Russia. What Trump is doing is looking for a bit of good news for the U.S. domestic audience with the appearance of peace mediation. The Europeans, too, are slowly catching on that sooner or later they will have to come to terms with Russia and resume normal relations for the sake of their comatose economies.
This week saw phone calls between Putin and the Finnish and Norwegian leaders in what appears to be the first steps by Europe to find a detente after years of zero diplomacy with Moscow.
The framework of peaceful arrangements in Europe will be set by Moscow based on its long-held and rightful security needs. NATO’s threat to Russia will no longer be tolerated. Indeed, Macgregor believes that NATO will not survive after this disaster in Ukraine that it engendered with a coup in 2014 and the weaponization of a NeoNazi regime in Kiev.
Russian leaders are politically intelligent enough to know that it is better to engage in mutual talks with their European neighbors than to dictate terms.
Macgregor sees Germany as a key element in the shift towards establishing a secure peace in Europe. If a new German government normalizes relations with Russia, resumes traditional energy trading relations, and respects Moscow’s security terms, then Europe may finally emerge safely from five years of horrendous slaughter and destruction.
The U.S. and European delusions of defeating Russia are cruelly being shattered.
Colonel Douglas Macgregor is a highly decorated U.S. Army veteran. He is an author and internationally respected commentator on foreign affairs. Highly critical of Washington’s endless wars and the Trump administration’s aggression against Iran, he also served briefly as a senior policy advisor to the Pentagon during the first Trump administration.
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