U.S. prepares plans for world war
Foreign Affairs, 10/27–In its recent National Security Strategy, the White House wrote that “the [People’s Republic of China] and Russia are increasingly aligned with each other,”...the conflict in Ukraine is likely to be protracted…Chinese leader Xi Jinping…could try to seize Taiwan as the war in Ukraine rages on…China’s expanding interests and global footprint suggest that a war with Beijing would not be confined neatly to Taiwan and the western Pacific but instead stretch across multiple theaters, from the Indian Ocean to the United States itself.

A war with China could easily spill from east Asia into the Indian Ocean, which connects China with its sources of energy in the Middle East, and even to the Persian Gulf…even if things go well for Washington, and a Chinese missile campaign or amphibious invasion ends in failure, Beijing would likely fight on…But the presence of nuclear arsenals would also significantly raise the stakes of escalation. It’s not impossible that the war could produce the world’s first nuclear attacks since 1945.

Flooding in Pakistan is worse than terrible
Al Jazeera, 10/28–The catastrophic floods in Pakistan have pushed the country to the brink. These floods follow the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and the most severe heatwave the country has faced in more than 60 years. When he visited in September, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he had “never seen climate carnage on such scale”.

Across 81 districts, a total of 78,000 sq km (30,000 sq miles) of farmland were flooded. That’s an area bigger than the entire Czech Republic. More than 80 percent of crops across the country were damaged, according to the government. Thousands of hectares of standing food crops like rice, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables have been destroyed. More than 6,000km (3,728 miles) of roads and bridges have been damaged, causing significant disruptions to the transport of the food that has survived.

U.N. mulls invading Haiti again
NPR, 10/21–The United Nations Security Council is considering an international intervention in Haiti to open up aid corridors and resolve what the U.N. secretary-general calls "an absolutely nightmarish situation." Armed gangs have blocked the main fuel terminal in the capital since last month and severed access to aid routes…Nearly half the population faces acute hunger. And now the country faces an outbreak of cholera.

In response to this spiraling crisis, [Prime Minister Ariel] Henry has asked the international community to intervene with a "specialized armed force." But the request has been met with horror by many in Haiti, who are more than familiar with the checkered history of foreign intervention and occupation…U.N. peacekeepers brought cholera to the island over a decade ago, causing an outbreak that killed thousands of people.

Many in the U.S. are also wary of Washington's history of occupation and intervention in the Caribbean nation. In 1915, the U.S. invaded Haiti and occupied it for nearly two decades …but it left behind chaos. Then in Operation "Uphold Democracy" in 1994, President Bill Clinton sent in more than 20,000 troops to restore ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

New York politicians call in troops to deal with overflowing shelters
NY Post, 10/27–National Guard members are being deployed to New York City’s homeless shelters to help assist the overwhelmed facilities that are also housing migrants…The city shelter deployment came after Gov. Kathy Hochul mobilized 100 National Guard troops for deployment earlier this month to “provide logistical and operational support” to the city’s controversial migrant tent city on Randall’s Island.

The city Department of Homeless Services’ hit a new occupancy record this month, with 62,174 people living in shelters as asylum-seeking migrants continue to arrive from the southern border. The surge in migrants to the Big Apple forced Mayor Adams to declare a state of emergency and predicted it would cost $1 billion to house and provide social services for the nearly 20,000 new arrivals.