Intel Higher On Report Of $3.5 Billion Chip Deal With Pentagon  Shares of American chipmaker Intel are marginally higher in premarket trading following a Friday evening Bloomberg report indicating the company could secure up to $3.5 billion in federal grants to manufacture chips for US military and intelligence applications. The report was based on sources familiar with the chipmaker’s binding agreement with US officials. They said the secretive Pentagon program, ‘Secure Enclave,’ that awarded Intel $3.5 billion, is a move by the military to produce chips domestically, more especially in several states, including a facility in Arizona.  Here’s more from Bloomberg: The funding could be announced as soon as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. It would add to a possible $8.5 billion in grants and $11 billion in loans that Intel was awarded in March under the Chips and Science Act, a law that President Joe Biden signed in 2022 to revitalize US semiconductor manufacturing and reduce reliance on Asia. Intel is still negotiating the terms of that broader incentive package, which is intended to support facilities in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon. Like other Chips Act winners, Intel hasn’t received any money yet, and its award is considered preliminary. The funding for Secure Enclave also comes from the Chips Act grant program administered by the Commerce Department — following a dispute earlier this year over which agency would be responsible — but was handled outside of the standard application process. The agreement on Secure Enclave comes amid the dumpster fire at Intel under the direction of CEO Pat Gelsinger, who is doing his best to replace Marissa Mayer as the most overpaid and useless ‘turnaround’ CEO in tech history. Last month, the struggling chipmaker reported a devastating earnings report

Escobar: BRICS, The Rise Of China, And How The Hegemon Buried The Concept Of “Security” Authored by Pepe Escobar, The first meeting of security experts/National Security Advisors under the expanded BRICS+ format at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg unveiled quite a few nuggets. Let’s start with China. Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed four BRICS-centric security initiatives. Essentially, BRICS+ – and beyond, considering further expansion – should aim at peaceful coexistence; independence; autonomy; and true multilateralism, which implies a rejection of Exceptionalism. At the BRICS table, the overarching theme was how member-nations should support each other despite so many challenges – mostly unleashed by you-know-who. On India, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu, meeting with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, stressed the strength of the alliance, “confidently standing the test of time”. The larger context was in fact offered in parallel, in Switzerland, at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, by the always delightful Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar: “There was a club called G7, but you wouldn’t let anybody else into it – so we said, we’d go and form our own club (…) It’s actually a very interesting group because if you look at it, typically any club or any group has either a geographical contiguity or some common historical experience or a very strong economic connect.” But with BRICS what stands out is “big countries rising in the international system.” Cut to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, stressing how Russia and Brazil “have similar approaches to key international issues”, emphasizing how Moscow cherishes the current “bilateral mutual understanding and interaction, including in the light of the simultaneous presidencies of BRICS and G20 this year.” In 2024, Russia presides over BRICS while Brazil presides over the G20. The Russia-Iran strategic partnership President Putin, apart from addressing