🇪🇸🗳 The Ceuta migrant crisis has had little impact on Pedro Sánchez and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party's (PSOE) according to a recent election poll.

If elections were held today, PSOE would lose 15 seats. The big winners are the civic nationalist, VOX Party, who would double their seats in the Spanish Parliament.

The biggest loser is the far-left and pro-migrant Sumar platform who would lose 2/3 of their current seats.

Sánchez and the PSOE were already unpopular. They lost the 2023 general elections to the center-right People's Party (PP) who came first but was unable to form a government due to disagreements with VOX and Sánchez ended up prime-minister for a 3rd time after he managed to win the support of the Basque and Catalan nationalists giving him 179 votes out of the 176 needed for a majority.

With Sumar losing most of its support, the PSOE will not be able to form a new government even if it gains the support of Basque, Catalan and Galician nationalists.

While the next Spanish general elections haven't been scheduled yet, they will be held sometime in the summer of 2027 if not earlier.

🔗 Nowcast EU

🇺🇸🇪🇨❌🏴 — U.S. Southern Command announced that American forces, working with Ecuador, intercepted a vessel in international waters of the eastern Pacific on Wednesday that was serving as a floating refueling station for drug-trafficking operations.

U.S. intelligence linked the vessel to the "violent narco-terrorist organization" Los Choneros. Marines and sailors deployed from the USS San Antonio boarded, searched, and secured the vessel without incident.

Those aboard were transferred to Ecuadorian authorities, after which U.S. forces struck and sank the vessel.

📍 🌹 🛠 The left-wing has a network of hundreds of blogs (and countless Telegram channels) dedicated to doxxing and harassing right-wingers. If you click the link below, you can see how organized this gets: they're grouped in cities, they share addresses and license plate information, they include family and friends.

Disclaimer: Provided for research, educational, and journalistic purposes only. Compiled from publicly available sources and offered “as is” without warranty of any kind; it may contain errors or omissions and is not represented as complete, current, or 100% accurate. Classifications, ownership labels, and associations are automated analytical interpretations, not statements of fact, and nothing here alleges unlawful conduct by any named person or organization. Contacts shown are verified own & allied-movement channels only — doxxing-target, third-party & personal contacts are removed and PII-swept. Doxxing-flagged blogs carry no outbound links. Do not rely on this material without independent verification; the author disclaims all liability for any use of, or reliance on, its contents.

https://datarepublican.com/noblogs/?view=map&f=dox

📎 DataRepublican

🇺🇸❌🇨🇳 Chinese shipper COSCO collects intel for Beijing with concealed equipment, US officials say

China's state-owned shipping giant COSCO uses concealed equipment on board its ships to ‌spy on military communications near the coastlines of target nations including the U.S., two senior Trump administration officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. assessment of the Chinese program, said COSCO has a decades-long intelligence-collection partnership with Beijing. The arrangement allows China to collect communication signals from vessels ​and aircraft operating across Europe, North America and Asia, they said.

The advanced equipment aboard the ships is intended to enable China ​to gather information about "military communications technologies and encryption developments," one of the officials said.

The effort also allows Beijing ⁠to monitor key shipping lanes and maritime routes crucial for trade and military navigation, the official added.

The officials did not detail the type of equipment COSCO ships were allegedly using, but said they were "sophisticated signals intelligence collection" platforms, not routine communications hardware.

They said Beijing uses the information gleaned to bolster its position ​in territorial disputes and provide maritime reconnaissance and early-warning indications of foreign military targets.

The Pentagon put COSCO on its list of companies linked to China's military in January 2025, a designation that carries serious reputational costs for companies ​as well as U.S. government procurement ​bans, but does not entail ⁠formal sanctions.
Chinese law requires the country's firms to support government intelligence work.

Nonetheless, COSCO remains one of the top global shipping companies calling at U.S. ports and has several terminal service joint ventures for container ships ​at U.S. ports.

The Trump administration last year planned to implement billions of dollars in port fees on ​Chinese shipping companies, ⁠including COSCO, in an effort to revitalize the atrophied U.S. shipbuilding and maritime industries.

The plan was paused, however, after Trump reached an agreement last October with Xi for a year-long trade war détente. The agreement expires in November, and a possible extension is expected to feature in the September talks ⁠between the ​leaders.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-shipper-cosco-collects-intel-beijing-with-concealed-equipment-us-2026-09-01/

🇨🇳🇪🇬 China's Xi urges new Middle East security framework during Egypt visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on ​Middle Eastern nations to oppose external interference and consider reshaping the region's security order during a visit to Egypt on ‌Wednesday, as Beijing seeks to expand its influence amid the U.S. war against Iran.

Xi's first trip to the Middle East in four years comes as U.S. partners in the region reassess their strategic relationships after months of conflict that have disrupted trade, shaken economies and raised questions about Washington's long-term role.

Egypt, itself a major U.S. defence partner that receives around $1.3 billion ​annually in military aid from Washington, has been steadily increasing economic and military cooperation with China in recent years.

Welcomed by President Abdel ​Fattah al-Sisi with a military ceremony in Cairo, Xi said countries in the region should be "masters of their own ⁠destiny" and explore a new regional "security architecture", according to China's state news agency Xinhua.

Xi also said China was ready to work with regional countries ​to safeguard shipping routes, an issue that has taken on greater importance after conflict disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb.

The leaders ​agreed to deepen security cooperation and counterterrorism coordination, Xinhua said. The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in data centers, semiconductors and critical metals supply chains and strengthen the use of each other's currencies in trade and investment, according to a joint statement.

For Egypt, stronger ties with China fit a broader effort to diversify international partnerships. ​In an article published ahead of the visit, Sisi said Egypt pursued a policy of "strategic balance" at a time of growing global rivalry.

For China, Egypt's regional influence and ‌strategic location ⁠make it an important partner as Beijing seeks a broader economic role and tries to chip away at U.S. influence in the region.

Growing military ties were on display last ​month during Egypt's "Eagles of Civilization" exercises with ​China, which included a rare ⁠air combat drill involving Chinese-made J-16 jets and French-made Rafale aircraft.

Enthusiasm for the Chinese president's visit has been evident for days in Egypt's capital, where streets have been decked out in Chinese flags and images of iconic sites ​including Egypt's Sphinx and China's Great Wall.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/egypt-welcomes-xi-beijing-expands-influence-middle-east-2026-09-02/

🇮🇷🤝🇱🇧 Iran told the U.S. it will strike Israel if the IDF tries to conquer the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon

Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern ​Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.

The message, delivered last month, highlights Iran's continued direct ‌involvement in the ground fighting in southern Lebanon and its readiness to retaliate against Israeli attacks there as the regional war enters its seventh month.

Hezbollah is believed to have built an underground command center and weapons stores within the Ali al-Taher ridge, which has a commanding view of southeastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese security sources, and has become one of the most contested pieces of ground in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah has said in public statements that it controls the hill and will ​confront any Israeli advances. Its officials have referred to a "facility" there, but have declined to provide details.

The Israeli military has occupied swathes of territory to Ali al-Taher's south and has ​identified the ridge as one of its "primary operational focuses" in public statements.

In its message to Washington, Tehran threatened that any full-fledged Israeli offensive on the ridge ⁠would be met with a large-scale Iranian attack, said the three officials in the region, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The IDF failed several times to conquer the ridge, losing dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles and a few KIA to Hezbollah drones and IEDs.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-warns-us-against-israeli-attack-south-lebanon-ridge-held-by-hezbollah-2026-09-03/

🇺🇸⚔️🇨🇦 Why Trump's trade war with Canada is poised to drag past the midterms

The U.S.-Canada trade standoff is threatening to stretch past the midterm elections. The White House is shrugging off the threat.

With a week to go before Canada imposes its retaliatory tariffs — aimed at key industries in states like Ohio and Texas with competitive Senate elections — tensions between Washington and Ottawa are at a steady simmer, with no sign of de-escalation.

Trump administration officials are united in the posture that the U.S. has the upper hand in the trade war, and risks exponentially less economic fallout than Canada. And they are signaling that the Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, will have to be the one to offer concessions to restart talks.

Privately, Trump officials are telling industry groups that the offer Canadian negotiators rejected on Aug. 21 is now moot, and they are no longer willing to make the same concessions on steel and aluminum tariffs, in particular.

The Canadians, meanwhile, have drawn a red line at key U.S. demands, like maintaining a 25 percent tariff on medium and heavy duty trucks. And Carney’s decision to stand up to Trump after months of rhetorical attacks and threats have helped produce a surge of Canadian patriotism and support for his Liberal Party, evidenced by their clean sweep of three special by-elections Monday.

The prime minister has little reason to back down ahead of votes in October in two provinces with strong separatist factions, who could challenge his political coalition.

As a result, both governments are digging in and readying for a longer trade war, all but guaranteeing the standoff bleeds into the fall campaign season.

Asked how Washington and Ottawa can find their way back to the table, a person familiar with the talks said, “You’ve got to get past the local elections in Canada.”

In the U.S., many Republicans fear the trade war will cut the other way, hurting the president’s party in the November congressional elections. House Republicans requested a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later this week to discuss Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, amid rising unease in Congress.

The White House doesn’t believe the tariff tit-for-tat with Canada will really be a factor in the elections, however. Greer argued in an interview Monday with POLITICO Playbook that the duties are too small to move the U.S. economy, adding they are “more [Canada’s] emergency than ours.”

But polls show Trump’s trade policies are increasingly unpopular, and Democrats are determined to make them an issue over the next two months, particularly in border states with economies that are tightly intertwined with their Canadian neighbors’. Michigan Democrats launched new attacks Monday on Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers for refusing to denounce the tariffs, with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed calling Trump an “asshole” for launching the trade war.

🔗 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/01/why-trumps-trade-war-with-canada-is-poised-to-drag-past-the-midterms-01059961

🇯🇵 The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is intervening again to prop up the Yen.

The Yen has strengthened against the U.S. dollar yesterday, going back to 156 yen for $1

Its unclear how much did the BOJ spend to prop up the Yen.

@CIG_telegram

🇪🇸🤝🇲🇦 Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, rejected his own police's evidence that Moroccan intelligence agencies were behind the Ceuta migrant crisis

During an extraordinary session of the Spanish parliament called to address the crisis, Sánchez dismissed the report’s allegations that Moroccan security officers guided groups of migrants toward the border with Ceuta.
“I can assure you that no government institution, nor the diplomatic service, nor the European Commission, nor any international organization has provided the Spanish government with solid evidence that Morocco planned or carried out the incident,” Sánchez said.

“No one can deny that this government is not afraid to confront other foreign powers when the situation has required it,” the prime minister added, alluding to his frequent clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “If solid evidence existed, we would act accordingly.”

Sánchez is facing mounting political pressure over the Ceuta crisis. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Spain on Wednesday to protest the government’s handling of the situation, and even members of Sánchez’s coalition government are challenging the prime minister’s narrative.

Ignoring jeers of protest from opposition lawmakers, Sánchez insisted that Spain must “continue cooperating with Morocco” and maintain “a good neighborly relationship” in order to deport the unauthorized migrants that remain in Ceuta and prevent future surges.nment, said it was “hard to imagine that 80,000 people could have been moved to the border without Moroccan authorities knowing about it.”

Prior to entering the parliament Thursday, Youth Minister Sira Rego, a member of the left-wing Sumar group, the junior partner in the gover

She also questioned Sánchez’s long-term “policy of appeasement with Morocco,” adding the strategy had not been beneficial for Spain.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/pedro-sanchez-dismisses-police-claim-that-morocco-instigated-ceuta-crisis/

🇪🇪🇮🇳🇺🇦 Estonian defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, resigned after it was revealed he paid 60-70 million EURs to Indian scammers for artillery shells which were going to be delivered to Ukraine.

The advance payments went to Datasel, a tiny Italian shell company that had been bought by an Indian family business with zero experience in ammunition manufacturing. Neither firm had ever sold an artillery shell.

Some materiel did arrive, but it was unusable, missing fuses and propellant. Even after deadlines were missed, more payments kept flowing. The money has not been recovered.

Pevkur admitted he "did not read the contracts in detail."

The shells were meant for Ukraine, funded mainly from the profits on frozen Russian assets held by the EU.

🔗 https://www.euractiv.com/news/estonias-defence-minister-resigns-after-e70m-ukraine-ammunition-dispute/