🇷🇴🇲🇩 Moldova opened a power line to Romania perhaps at the worst possible moment

Romania has been in the midst of an energy crisis for the last 2 years, consistently ranking either first or among the top 3 EU countries with the highest energy prices according to Eurostat data.

2026 was the worst year so far due to a combination of poor weather causing a historic drought in the Danube basin leading to reduced energy production on the Iron Gates I and II hydroelectric power plans shared with Serbia and the shutdown of the Cernavodă nuclear power plant as the plant relies on the Danube to cool down the nuclear fuel but due to the drought the water level couldn't reach the facility anymore.

Prior to the drought, the prices were consistently high due to the Romanian government's commitment to fulfilling the EU net-neutral zero carbon emissions directives (also partly motivated by hundreds of millions of EURs worth of EU funds) which led to the shut down of its coal power plants with a transition planned to natural gas. The power plants running on natural gas suffered delays during construction but are about to become operational in the coming months right when the EU natural gas market is surpassing the record prices it set in the 2022 energy crisis caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

In terms of renewable energy, the Romanian government left private investors build wind and solar farms but as the program wasn't managed by the state, these farms were built with little to no stocking capacity meaning that the surplus energy generated in sunny or windy days couldn't be stored for later use.

Prior to the construction of the 400 kV Vulcănești-Chișinău power line, Moldova relied almost exclusively on the electric energy produced by the natural gas operated, Moldavskaya GRES in the city of Dnestrovsc (Dnestrovsk) under separatist Transnistrian control who was supplied with Russian gas at below-market prices. Russian gas is still reaching the city through the TurkStream pipeline and the energy is far cheaper than what Romania/EU offers.

Until Romania fixes its energy market by building electric batteries to store excess energy produced by renewable sources, leaders in Chișinău will continue to be incentivised to rely on Transnistria for their needs or beg the EU to help them subsidise energy prices for Moldovan consumers.

@CIG_telegram

🇫🇷🗳📊 France, Toluna-Harris poll:

Presidential run-off election

Le Pen (RN-PfE): 68% (-2)
Mélenchon (LFI-LEFT): 32% (+2)

Le Pen (RN-PfE): 58% (+1)
Philippe (HOR-RE): 42% (-1)

Le Pen (RN-PfE): 60% (+1)
Glucksmann (PS/PP-S&D): 40% (-1)

+/- vs. 23 October 2026

Fieldwork: 03-05 November 2026
Sample size: 2,101

🔗 Europe Elects

🇩🇪⚡️🇺🇸 German households face world's highest electricity prices, 2.5 times US level

German households paid 43.5 US cents per kWh for electricity in 2025, the highest of 92 countries and 2.5 times the US price, according to a chart compiled by Bjorn Lomborg from IEA data. The chart says gaps were filled from Eurostat, national tariffs, Statista and GlobalPetrolPrices.

The UK ranked second at 41.5 cents per kWh, followed by Belgium at 40.3 cents, Italy at 39.7 cents and Ireland at 39.1 cents. The EU average was 32.6 cents, against 17.3 cents in the US, 7.7 cents in China and 5.5 cents in India. Prices include taxes and are in current US dollars.

Nineteen of the 20 costliest markets shown are in Europe; South Africa, at 26.5 cents per kWh, is the exception. The chart covers household electricity prices in 2025.

The figures are Lomborg’s compilation and were not independently checked against the paid IEA dataset. The chart cites IEA end-use energy prices and says it fills gaps with other sources.

🔗 https://www.intellinews.com/german-households-face-world-s-highest-electricity-prices-2-5-times-us-level-482887/

🇨🇳🇰🇬🇺🇿 Chinese state media announced the completion of the first of 29 tunnels on the Kashgar (Kashi) — Andijan railway

Construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway is steadily advancing, with work under way on 28 of the 29 planned tunnels and 47 of the planned 50 bridges along the route’s roughly 305-kilometre (190-mile) Kyrgyz section, according to Kyrgyz Railways, a partner in the project.

About 22% of total construction work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, with tunnel excavation currently 21.5% complete, earthworks 67% complete and bridge pile foundations 95% complete, the project’s deputy director general said. The first tunnel, “Kosh-Dobo-2,” was fully excavated in August, and the first bridge structures are expected to be installed in 2027.

The railway is officially scheduled to launch operations in 2031, though contractors are striving to finish work earlier. Once complete, the roughly 530-kilometre line will provide China with a shorter, faster, and cheaper rail route into Central Asia and onward markets.

Kyrgyzstan has, meanwhile, announced that construction is set to begin in Manas on a new airport designed to handle air cargo. With the CKU railway running through Manas, the new airport facility is envisioned as a key cog in a major air, rail and road freight network.

The railway begins in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, crosses into Kyrgyzstan and exits into Uzbekistan through the city of Jalal-Abad and ends in the Uzbek city of Andijan.

🔗 https://eurasianet.org/china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-construction-making-progress

🇾🇪⚔️🇸🇦 The Saudi Ministry of Energy reports that the Houthis struck the Yanbu — Abqaiq East-West pipeline in the Medina region however they claim that the pipeline is still operational.

The Saudi government has a long trackrecord of playing off Yemeni and Iranian attacks on its infrastructure, claiming damage from "falling debris" when in reality the facilities were directly struck by missiles.

@CIG_telegram

🇵🇾 — CRISIS IN PARAGUAY: President Pedro Alliana, who took office three days ago, asked all ministers to resign on Monday as the country faces a severe banking crisis that has left millions of people unable to access their accounts.

🇪🇺🇩🇪🇺🇦 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has threatened to block the EU’s 2028–2034 budget unless all member states agree to help finance Ukraine in 2027 and beyond.

Kiev faces a €70bn funding gap next year, with the EU pledging to cover about €45bn.

Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have signalled opposition to further contributions.

Berlin also wants future Ukraine funding decisions to require a qualified majority rather than unanimity, reducing the risk of vetoes.

Source: FT

📝 Anon: Germany is increasingly becoming discontent with being the powerhouse of the EU, expected to carry the financial weight of every adventure Brussels involves itself in, a burden it can no longer carry with the same ease as before.

Chinese competition, massive bureaucracy and red tape introduced by EU, hysteric environmentalism and most importantly, the loss of cheap Russian natural gas are destroying what remains of German industry and with it will go European prosperity.

France isn't faring any better and having net recipients of EU funds like Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Czechia refuse to play ball on funding Zelensky's expenses is not tolerable any longer as the EU's biggest economies get poorer each and every year.

But with less German and French contribution to the EU budget, how much longer will it take until states in Eastern, Central and Southern Europe decide EU membership with all of its restrictions and obligations is no longer worth the money?

🔗 Clash Report

🛢 The price of paper oil continues to crash with Brent Crude falling to $91/barrel after it was alleged that U.S. Vice-president, JD Vance will meet with SNSC Secretary, Mohsen Rezaei in Qatar, a claim that was denied by Iranian medias who labelled it false.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇷🇺 The summit between Russia, the United States, and China is in doubt because the US and China are unable to agree on the format of a potential meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

Beijing wants to limit the meeting to prepared statements, while Washington wants a free-flowing discussion.

Furthermore, the United States wants to discuss the issue of nuclear arms control. However, Beijing is unwilling to participate in three-way negotiations on this issue, according to WSJ.

According to a representative of the US administration, Xi is not ready for an exchange of views without a pre-prepared script.

🔗 https://www.wsj.com/world/china/u-s-balks-at-chinas-demand-for-tightly-scripted-trump-xi-putin-summit-77001908