# entry

guid: https://raymcgovern.com/?p=8875
title: In the Midst of a Modern McCarthyism
author: ;Ray McGovern
link: https://raymcgovern.com/2025/05/16/in-the-midst-of-a-modern-mccarthyism/
hash: �L�����f���jzT&K
tags: #-
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content:
<p data-sanitized-class="excerpt">Shame on you, CNN, and on the 9 hired hands who wove this artful web of deceit on Ukraine. Reminds me of the discredited Joe McCarthy and his hollow charges vs THE REDS. “Have you no sense of decency, CNN? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/14/europe/russia-ukraine-meeting-turkey-intl?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us</p><p data-sanitized-class="more-link-p"><a href="https://raymcgovern.com/2025/05/16/in-the-midst-of-a-modern-mccarthyism/" data-sanitized-class="btn btn-default">Read more</a></p>


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165739/celine-dion-eurovision-suisse-louane
title: L’avion de Céline Dion aperçu à Bâle, où se tient le concours Eurovision
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165739/celine-dion-eurovision-suisse-louane
hash: h�x�=:�j�'g
content:
<p>Participera-t-elle à la finale de l'Eurovision samedi, 37 ans après sa victoire avec <em>Ne</em> <em>partez pas sans</em> <em>moi</em>?</p>

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guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747432183
title: Has Donald Trump taken US-Gulf relations to a new era?
content: US President Donald Trump has concluded his three-nation tour of the Gulf region.
hash: ɒ'���J�4��wı?
tags: #TV Shows
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/inside-story/2025/5/16/has-donald-trump-taken-us-gulf-relations-to-a-new-era?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747432563
title: US Supreme Court blocks the Trump administration’s use of Alien Enemies Act
hash: M��˷U6�}@ ��t�
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The court majority once again upheld a ruling that migrants were entitled to due process before their deportations.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/16/us-supreme-court-blocks-the-trump-administrations-use-of-alien-enemies-act?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747435484
title: Moody’s strips US government of top credit rating
hash: ���7F��$��bA
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Moody's cited rising debt saying US had repeatedly failed to end the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and interest.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/5/16/moodys-strips-us-government-of-top-credit-rating?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165777/bisbille-chef-interimaire-npd
title: Trois députées du NPD critiquent le processus de sélection du chef intérimaire
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165777/bisbille-chef-interimaire-npd
hash: �¯hỏM�I�f��
content:
<p>Leah Gazan, Lori Idlout et Jenny Kwan déplorent que les députés n'aient pas été formellement consultés.</p>

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guid: 1031447 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Biden-Hur Tape Drops, And Boy Is It Rough - Listen To All Five Hours Here
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-hur-tape-drops-and-boy-it-rough
hash: b�?䀝���_�h���+
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Biden-Hur Tape Drops, And Boy Is It Rough - Listen To All Five Hours Here</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>Update: Listen to all five hours of the Hur-Biden interview below:</em></p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GNjkE_tDZts?si=x3zeanHsNpkvACXw" title="YouTube video player" width="560" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>

<p>*  *  *</p>

<p>A segment of former President Joe Biden's October 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur just dropped, and boy is it rough.</p>

<p>Biden couldn't remember details such as <strong>when his son Beau died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected, and why he had classified documents in his possession that he shouldn't have had.</strong></p>

<p>According to <em>Axios</em>, which released the recording, Biden frequently slurred words or muttered, and "appears to validate Hur's assertion that jurors in a trial likely would have viewed Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."</p>

<p>Listen:</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ugM76taxz2E?si=nZZoAQyk5OVsI7i_" title="YouTube video player" width="560" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>

<p>Hur elected not to prosecute Biden for mishandling classified documents based partly on the former president's pea-soup brain - angering Republicans as Trump was facing his own charges of mishandling classified information.</p>

<p><strong><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?utm_source=zerohedge.com&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=store_promo" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?utm_source=zerohedge.com&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=store_promo" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?utm_source=zerohedge.com&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=store_promo"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e895d4db-372e-46a1-901d-027b94a37537" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="295" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Memorial%20Day%20Beef%204.jpg?itok=LJB4UYNL" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></p>

<p>It's also of course notable because <strong>the MSM insisted Biden was "sharp," and slammed Hur's assertions as politically motivated. </strong></p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Tapper says here that the footage of Biden freezing on stage was not a "Cheap fake". Exact words.<br><br>
Okay so when he does he pull Brian Stelter on his show and ask him why he called it that, echoing the White house? When does the media pull Karine Jean-Pierre out of hiding and ask… <a href="https://t.co/D0JaXwKv65">https://t.co/D0JaXwKv65</a></p>
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1923428493230211301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The audio was from two three-hour sessions on Oct. 8 and 9, 2023 - which the Biden White House <strong>refused to release, arguing that they were protected "law enforcement materials," </strong>and that Republicans only sought to "chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes."</p>

<p>Let's go to the tape...</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">FLASHBACK: Karine Jean-Pierre attacked Robert Hur — refusing to release the transcript or audio, while claiming he had a partisan agenda to push. <a href="https://t.co/DLdZXa4n3O">pic.twitter.com/DLdZXa4n3O</a></p>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1923511036411253043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Ian Sams:<br><br>
"To suggest that [Biden] couldn't remember when his son died is really out of bounds." <a href="https://t.co/Roj31EBJyN">pic.twitter.com/Roj31EBJyN</a></p>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1756033188575510843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Don’t forget the way the press tried to dismiss Hur’s report. <a href="https://t.co/9Sd2NdVWuw">https://t.co/9Sd2NdVWuw</a></p>
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewHolden360/status/1923516446593687604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>

<p>How long did Axios have this recording? Before the election?</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-18T01:55:36+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 21:55</span>


guid: https://www.mondialisation.ca/?p=5698620
title: Le jeu de « bon flic, mauvais flic » de Trump avec l’Iran
author: ;Drago Bosnic
link: https://www.mondialisation.ca/le-jeu-de-bon-flic-mauvais-flic-de-trump-avec-liran/5698620
hash: ��IJ�M�Z�2��+
tags: #Francais @fr #Mobile
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content:
<p>Jusqu’à il y a quelques semaines à peine, <a href="https://infobrics.org/post/43813">une attaque américaine contre l’Iran semblait presque être une affaire conclue</a>. Ce n’est pas exactement hors du commun pour les gouvernements républicains, car ils ont tendance à être plus agressifs envers …</p>


guid: 1031132 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: The Rise And Fall Of Synthetic Food Dyes
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rise-and-fall-synthetic-food-dyes
hash: Hg��`Ɍ���6V"�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Rise And Fall Of Synthetic Food Dyes</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/the-rise-and-fall-of-synthetic-food-dyes-5855722?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge">Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times</a> (emphasis ours),</em></p>

<p>In 1856, 18-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin was experimenting with coal tar-derived compounds in a crude laboratory in his attic.</p>

<p>His teacher, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, had published a hypothesis on how it might be possible to make a prized malaria drug using chemicals from coal tar, and as his assistant, Perkin was hoping that he would be the one to discover it.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/dyes.JPG?itok=OlG9H-V2" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dyes.JPG?itok=OlG9H-V2"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e3540cf6-c181-4117-9b14-ffd7042d5b80" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="334" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/dyes.JPG?itok=OlG9H-V2" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>The experiment was a failure. <strong>Rather than the prized drug, Perkin created a thick brown sludge. However, when he went to wash out the beakers with alcohol, it left behind a bright purple residue.</strong></p>

<p>The residue became the world’s first-ever mauve synthetic dye.</p>

<p>Before the invention of synthetic dyes, people obtained dyes through organic materials such as plants, clay, minerals, or certain animals such as insects and squid.</p>

<p><strong>Natural dyes such as those from clay tended to fade quickly, and those that were long-lasting, such as natural indigo dyes, required an arduous extraction process that made them expensive.</strong></p>

<p>However, Perkin’s mauve dye was stable and easy to make.</p>

<p>Mauve dye became an instant hit in the UK and globally. Consumers were seized by “<a href="https://researchoutreach.org/articles/mystery-victorian-purple-dye/">mauve measles</a>.” Everyone wanted a piece of it, including Queen Victoria, a fashion icon at the time who ordered mauve gowns, hats, and gloves.</p>

<p>Perkin’s discovery and commercial success prompted chemists in Europe to find more dyes in coal tar; magenta was discovered in 1858, methyl violet in 1861, and Bismarck brown in 1863.</p>

<p><strong>Synthetic dyes would soon be added to everything—clothing, plastics, wood, and food.</strong></p>

<p>The rapid innovation was not without consequences. Many dyes were found to be harmful within decades of discovery. More than a century later, the United States recently announced the removal of synthetic dyes from food.</p>

<h2>Dyes in Food</h2>

<p>For centuries, people have colored food to make it appear more appealing. Butter, for example, is not always yellow. Depending on the cattle feed, breed, and period of lactation, the color of butter can fluctuate seasonally, from bright yellow in the summer to pale white in the winter.</p>

<p>“<strong>Dairy farmers colored butter with carrot juice and extracts of plant seeds, called annatto, to give them a uniform yellow all year round</strong>,” Ai Hisano, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in cultural and business history, <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52032">wrote</a> in the Business History Review.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/butter.JPG?itok=XJAtwkm3" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/butter.JPG?itok=XJAtwkm3"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6efc373f-7931-439e-96c9-6ae56ae46e37" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="171" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/butter.JPG?itok=XJAtwkm3" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Butter is made at a factory in a biological treatment plant in Albertville, France, on April 26, 2016 (L); Butter melts on toast. Jean-Pierre clatot/AFP via Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>Natural colors, unlike artificial ones, are susceptible to changing pH, temperature, and moisture. They can change in hue and intensity, and yellows can become pale.</p>

<p>The practice of mass coloring and striving for uniformity likely emerged as a result of industrialization in the late 19th century, when packaged and processed foods became widely available, according to Hisano.</p>

<p>“<strong>Mass production and industrialization required easier, more convenient ways of making food, and using coal-tar dyes was one of the solutions for creating more standardized food products</strong>,” Hisano told The Epoch Times.</p>

<p>Since packaged foods lose freshness, they may lose color or look less natural. So previously, some companies would add compounds such as potassium nitrate and sodium sulfites to products such as meats to preserve their color. These compounds were relatively harmless.</p>

<p>More lurid <a href="https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2621.2000.00373.x">examples</a> include toxic metals such as lead used to color cheese and candies. Copper arsenate was added to pickles and old tea to make them look green and fresh, and reports of deaths resulted from lead and copper adulteration.</p>

<p>Dye companies started producing synthetic food dyes in the 1870s. Food regulation <a href="https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-history/milestones-us-food-and-drug-law">began</a> in the 1880s. The Bureau of Chemistry, a branch of the Agriculture Department that would later become the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), looked into food adulteration and modification.</p>

<p><strong>Dairy products such as butter and cheese were the first foods authorized by the federal government for artificial coloring.</strong></p>

<p>Just as synthetic food dyes are a prime target of current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, they weren’t popular with Bureau of Chemistry head Harvey Wiley, who <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66164/pg66164-images.html">wrote</a> in 1907, “All such dyeing materials are reprehensible, both on account of the danger to health and deception.”</p>

<p>Despite Wiley’s criticisms, by the time his book “Foods and Their Adulteration” was written, practically all the butter on the market was artificially colored.</p>

<p>“<strong>The object of coloring butter is, undoubtedly, to make it appear in the eyes of the consumer better than it really is</strong>, and to this extent can only be regarded as an attempt to deceive,” Wiley wrote, arguing that if the cows were properly fed during winter, they would naturally produce butter of the appealing yellow shade.</p>

<p>“The natural tint of butter is as much more attractive than the artificial as any natural color is superior to the artificial.”</p>

<h2>The FDA</h2>

<p>The previous year, in 1906, Congress <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consumers/color-additives-foods">passed</a> the Food and Drugs Act, prohibiting the use of poisonous or dangerous colors in food. The FDA was formed on the same day the bill was made into law.</p>

<p><strong>After the prohibition, the FDA approved seven synthetic food dyes—most of which would be banned in the 1950s after new animal studies indicated their toxic effects.</strong></p>

<p>However, the FDA has always given greater scrutiny to synthetic dyes than to natural ones. Synthetic food dyes must be given an FDA certification before they can be used, but there is no requirement for natural dyes. While the FDA regulates synthetic dyes as a food additive, natural dyes can be regulated as generally recognized as safe, which is a less stringent authorization procedure.</p>

<p><strong>In 1938, new laws were passed requiring all food dyes, whether synthetic or natural, to be listed on product labels.</strong></p>

<p>By the 1950s, as oil and gas replaced coal as the main sources of energy, food dyes were no longer made with coal tar derivatives; they were made with petroleum-based compounds instead.</p>

<p>These new petroleum-based food dyes are considered very similar in composition and chemistry to their earlier coal tar counterparts, food scientist Bryan Quoc Le told The Epoch Times.</p>

<p>“<strong>Petroleum is cheaper, safer, and available in greater quantities</strong>,” he said.</p>

<p>The use of synthetic food dyes has been steadily increasing every decade. Data based on FDA dye certification suggest that food dye consumption has increased <a href="https://www.cspinet.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/resource/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf">fivefold</a> since 1955.</p>

<p>A 2016 <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0009922816651621?journalCode=cpja">study</a> estimated that more than 40 percent of grocery store products that were marketed to children contain artificial colors.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/snacks.JPG?itok=mODUWsYQ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/snacks.JPG?itok=mODUWsYQ"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="61160d93-03ed-45e3-9690-a8f897f3215d" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="196" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/snacks.JPG?itok=mODUWsYQ" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Many packaged snacks contain synthetic food dyes. Scott Olson/Getty Images, Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<h2>Cancer Concern</h2>

<p>By the time Wiley became the first head commissioner of the FDA, experts were in contention over which food dye was riskier than the other. Over the following decades, dyes that were initially approved were gradually whittled down to the six remaining dyes of today.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consumers/color-additives-foods">In 1950</a>, many children fell ill after eating Halloween candy containing Orange No. 1, a synthetic food dye. <strong>Rep. James Delaney (D-N.Y.) began holding hearings that prompted the FDA to reevaluate all approved color additives.</strong></p>

<p>The hearing also led to the passing of the Delaney Clause, which prohibits the FDA from approving any food additive that can cause cancer in either humans or animals.</p>

<p><strong>Orange No. 1 and several other approved dyes were removed after evidence of animal carcinogenicity.</strong></p>

<p>The Delaney Clause was what prompted the removal of Red No. 3 in January under the Trump administration.</p>

<p>Professor Lorne Hofseth, director of the Center for Colon Cancer Research and associate dean for research in the College of Pharmacy at the University of South Carolina, is one of the few researchers in the United States studying the health effects of synthetic food dyes.</p>

<p>These dyes are xenobiotics, which are substances that are foreign to the human body, and “anything foreign to your body will cause an immune reaction—it just will,” he told The Epoch Times.</p>

<p>“<strong>So if you’re consuming these synthetic food diets from childhood to your adulthood, over years and years and years and years, that’s going to cause a low-grade, chronic inflammation</strong>.”</p>

<p>Hofseth has tested the effects of food dyes by sprinkling red, yellow, and blue food dyes on cells in his laboratory and observed DNA damage. “DNA damage is intimately linked to carcinogenesis,” he said.</p>

<p>His <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10502305/">research</a> showed that mice exposed to Red No. 40 through a high-fat diet for 10 months developed dysbiosis—an unhealthy imbalance in gut microbes and inflammation indicative of damaged DNA in their gut cells.</p>

<p>“This evidence supports the hypothesis that Red 40 is a dangerous compound that dysregulates key players involved in the development of [early-onset colorectal cancer],” Hofseth and his colleagues wrote in a 2023 <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10502305/">study</a> published in Toxicology Reports.</p>

<p><strong>The mechanism of how food dyes cause cancer remains to be elucidated.</strong></p>

<p>Hofseth speculates that the biological effects of red and yellow dyes may be attributed to the fact that they are what’s known as azo dyes. The gut hosts bacteria that can break down azo compounds into bioactive compounds that may alter DNA. Hofseth said he believes that if these bioactive compounds impair the gut, they may also contribute to the behavioral problems reported in some children after consuming food dyes.</p>

<h2>Behavioral Problems</h2>

<p>While the link between food dyes and cancer may remain elusive, the link between food dyes and behavioral problems in some children is much more accepted.</p>

<p>Rebecca Bevans, a professor of psychology at Western Nevada College, started looking into food dyes after her son became suicidal at the age of 7.</p>

<p><em>Read the rest <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/the-rise-and-fall-of-synthetic-food-dyes-5855722?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"><strong>here...</strong></a></em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T00:00:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 20:00</span>


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165776/michael-j-fox-shrinking-serie-harrison-ford
title: Michael J. Fox de retour dans une série après 5 ans d’absence
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165776/michael-j-fox-shrinking-serie-harrison-ford
hash: p \� ��ȨD5eo�
content:
<p>Il a décroché un rôle dans la troisième saison de <em>Shrinking,</em> avec Jason Segel et Harrison Ford sur Apple TV+.</p>

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guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747436373
title: US announces first ‘terrorism’ charges for supporting a Mexican cartel
hash: ��)�A���.S�3��
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has accused a Mexican woman of furnishing a cartel with grenades and other weapons.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/the-us-announces-first-terrorism-charges-for-supporting-a-mexican-cartel?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031392 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Jordan's King Warned US Against Assassinating Syria's Sharaa Before Trump Meeting
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: p+�8�Pf �/�V&�
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<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Jordan's King Warned US Against Assassinating Syria's Sharaa Before Trump Meeting</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordans-king-warned-us-against-assassinating-syrias-sharaa-trump-meeting"><em>Via Middle East Eye </em></a></p>

<p>Jordan’s King Abdullah II <strong>warned the US against assassinating President Ahmed al-Sharaa</strong> before the new Syrian leader met with President Donald Trump, <strong>a US senator said</strong> on Thursday.</p>

<p>The remarkable statement by a US senator reveals the deep hostility toward Sharaa in some circles of the Trump administration. It reaffirms Trump's own statements that he has been lobbied directly by foreign leaders to give Sharaa a chance, while his own advisors are skeptical. </p>

<p>"I have been concerned by some rumors that I have heard in…some foreign policy circles of the administration that <strong>one option that’s been suggested is assassinating the new leader</strong> of the Syrian government, Ahmed al-Sharaa," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a Senate hearing on Thursday.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/shaheenfile.jpg?itok=1_31wyvY" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/shaheenfile.jpg?itok=1_31wyvY"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d23669dc-70b5-48ad-9451-494e6b49bbea" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/shaheenfile.jpg?itok=1_31wyvY" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, via AP</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>According to Shaheen, Jordan’s King Abdullah II heard about the alleged discussions to assassinate Sharaa and warned against it.</p>

<p>“One of the things that was pointed out to us by King Abdullah was that <strong>a change in leadership of that kind would create an all-out civil war in Syria</strong>. That would not be good to take advantage of the opportunity we have to move that country forward,” Shaheen said.</p>

<p>Shaheen met with King Abdullah in Washington, DC, in May, suggesting that those discussions may have taken place just before Trump cancelled sanctions on Syria and met Sharaa. Shaheen made the remarks <strong>during her questioning of Joel Rayburn, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of state for the Near East</strong>, the top Middle East position in the State Department.</p>

<p>The admission by Shaheen is remarkable, given the events of this week. <strong>Trump surprised his own senior officials and Israel by announcing he was lifting all sanctions on Syria</strong>. Trump then held a meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday.</p>

<p>Speaking to reporters on Air Force One after the meeting, Trump showered praise on Sharaa, saying he was a <strong>“young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter”.</strong></p>

<p>Asked to comment on the assassination "option", Rayburn replied, “I’m not familiar with efforts like that, but<strong> that's clearly not in line with the president's intention</strong>…or his description of Sharaa in the past couple of days.”</p>

<p><strong>Blindsided</strong></p>

<p>Trump’s decision to remove all US sanctions on Syria, <strong>going back to 1979</strong>, was met with thunderous applause in Riyadh, but has annoyed members of the US government. Some in the US State Department who have advocated for sanctions relief also felt sidelined.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">It must have been a tense meeting yesterday in Damascus between HTS chief Jolani and the head of Iraqi intelligence. Especially for the Iraqi delegation a hard pill to swallow as Jolani before his time in Syria was in Iraq with Zarqawi blowing up Iraqis. <a href="https://t.co/mojl2jTmEd">pic.twitter.com/mojl2jTmEd</a></p>
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) <a href="https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/1872575851537248529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2024</a></blockquote>
<p>Just a few days before the announcement, the State Department’s Syrian advisors were briefing foreign counterparts that the Trump administration was set to keep sanctions on the new government in Damascus, one regional official told Middle East Eye.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, hardline members of Trump’s National Security Council have told counterparts privately that they <strong>would try to drag out the sanctions relief process to obtain concessions from Sharaa</strong>, one current and one former US official told MEE.</p>

<p>Democratic Senator Chris Murphy warned on Thursday about members of Trump’s administration working to “undermine” his decision. Rayburn’s hearing was notable because he was seen as hard line on Syria when he served as envoy to the country during Trump’s first term in office.</p>

<p>“I support the President’s goals and his initiative as he laid out,” Rayburn said. “<strong>It offers a golden opportunity to turn the page…the president is taking a bold move</strong>…he has expectations.”</p>

<p>The White House says it wants Sharaa to expel Palestinian fighters and foreign fighters from Syria, and combat the Islamic State militant group. Trump also said he discussed Syria normalizing ties with Israel. "I told him, 'I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ But they have a lot of work to do," Trump said, according to a White House pool report.</p>

<p>Sharaa was the commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, an Islamist group which toppled the decades-long Assad dynasty in December 2024. Sharaa participated in the Iraq insurgency after the US’s 2003 invasion and served time in a US prison. He once pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.</p>

<p>The Biden administration removed a $10m bounty on Sharaa's head in early 2025, but he is still designated a "global terrorist". That designation is likely to be removed now, given Trump's order, experts say. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/jolanitrump.jpg?itok=ji5yS2Iu" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/jolanitrump.jpg?itok=ji5yS2Iu"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="864ae849-c9d5-4e03-888a-d5b10fbaaf0d" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/jolanitrump.jpg?itok=ji5yS2Iu" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Sharaa’s closest foreign ally is Turkey, but his country has also been moving towards the Gulf states. On Tuesday, Trump told the world he was asked to remove sanctions and had two advocates to credit, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/turkey" target="_blank">Turkey</a> and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. </p>

<p>The UAE has been holding indirect talks between Israel and Syria to de-escalate tensions. Israel has been striking Syria for months and occupies a swath of southwestern Syria. The Trump administration lobbied Israel and Turkey to enter deconfliction talks in Syria earlier this year.</p>

<p>Ali al-Rifai, director of public relations in Syria's information ministry, was asked by Kan News after Trump’s announcment about the prospect of his country joining the Abraham Accords, the agreement curated by Trump in 2020 that saw a number of Arab countries recognise Israel. “Peace with everyone, without exception,” he responded.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T00:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 20:30</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/jordans-king-warned-us-against-assassinating-syrias-sharaa-trump-meeting


guid: https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/genocide-don
title: Genocide Don
author: ;John J. Mearsheimer
link: https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/genocide-don
hash: ��B�HP�U��P����#
content:
<div><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/rXS5QWu2iuA" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p>On 15 May 2025, I was on “Judging Freedom” talking with Judge Napolitano about Iran, Ukraine, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.</p>
<p>The Judge frequently ask his guests whether they think the war in Ukraine now belongs to President Trump, given that he has been in office nearly 4 months and there is no sign the war is going to end anytime soon. Virtually all his guests — yours truly included — say that the war in Ukraine is now Trump’s war.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the Judge should now begin asking his distinguished guests whether they think Trump, like his predecessor, is complicit in genocide. Just as Biden was called “Genocide Joe,” does it make sense to call Trump “Genocide Don”? It seems obvious to me, watching Trump fully support Israel’s ongoing genocide, that he deserves that label.</p>
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guid: 1031418 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Federal Contract Activity Slows As DOGE's Cost-Cutting Measures Take Effect
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: �����mzH�h�$
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Federal Contract Activity Slows As DOGE's Cost-Cutting Measures Take Effect</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) have exposed widespread federal waste and mismanagement that Congress long ignored. Despite the existence of oversight bodies like the Government Accountability Office, it took an executive order to uncover billions of dollars in egregious federal waste.</p>

<p>DOGE's drive to cut waste and root out fraud in the bloated federal bureaucracy has already resulted in nearly 300,000 job cuts and an estimated $160 billion in savings. As detailed in our series of reports, <a href="https://doge.gov/">DOGE's actions</a> are delivering tangible results—helping to reduce the nation's overall funding requirements. </p>

<p>The debt-fueled spending spree under the Biden-Harris regime placed the nation on a crash course to financial ruin—but recent corrective actions by the Trump administration and DOGE, for now, have helped steer the trajectory away from a financial crisis.</p>

<p>Readers may recall some of those tangible DOGE-related results:</p>

<ul><li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/march-deficit-unexpectedly-tumbles-5-year-low-doge-cracks-down-democrat-money-laundering">March Deficit Unexpectedly Tumbles To 5 Year Low As DOGE Cracks Down On Democrat Money-Laundering Schemes</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-treasury-unexpectedly-reports-sharp-drop-debt-borrowing-needs-rates-slilde">US Treasury Unexpectedly Reports Sharp Drop In Debt Borrowing Needs, Rates Slide</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-treasury-shocks-second-biggest-budget-surplus-history-thanks-record-tariff-revenues">US Treasury Shocks With Second Biggest Budget Surplus In History</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jobless-claims-jumped-last-week-doge-actions-spark-biggest-ytd-layoffs-2020">Jobless Claims Jumped Last Week As 'DOGE Actions' Spark Biggest YTD Layoffs Since 2020</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/doge-starting-work-deep-tristate-jobless-claims-surged-last-week">Is DOGE Starting To Work? 'Deep TriState' Jobless Claims Surged Last Week</a></em></p>
	</li>
</ul><blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Some progress<a href="https://t.co/hNCBVYB4YV">https://t.co/hNCBVYB4YV</a></p>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1910838330083664126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Everything outlined above points to a solid start for DOGE, which has already uncovered hundreds of billions in waste, fraud, and abuse. However, that progress could be undone unless Congress moves to lock in those spending cuts through the reconciliation bill.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">DOGE has identified hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse, but unless Congress makes those spending cuts permanent through the reconciliation process, all that work will have been for nothing.<a href="https://twitter.com/Paul_S_Mullen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Paul_S_Mullen</a> <a href="https://t.co/7Y8j4T5ehJ">pic.twitter.com/7Y8j4T5ehJ</a></p>
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) <a href="https://twitter.com/Heritage/status/1919471970539713006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Another measure of DOGE's early success is the 20.5% reduction in non-defense federal obligations compared to 2024 levels—a decline that signals reduced future cash outlays as these obligations come due.</p>

<p>"Persistent government-wide contract reviews for wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, are bearing fruit," <a href="https://x.com/DOGE/status/1922724375515513027">DOGE's official X account wrote</a>. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Gq7joTYXMAAFc3f.jpg?itok=cP31Elxe" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Gq7joTYXMAAFc3f.jpg?itok=cP31Elxe"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0fbc9323-97d8-4bba-b382-3e3b26ee7544" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="332" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Gq7joTYXMAAFc3f.jpg?itok=cP31Elxe" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Adding to the visible signs of progress, Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius, along with analysts Alec Phillips and others, noted Thursday that cash withdrawals from the Treasury General Account across several federal agencies continue to fall below 2023 and 2024 levels—yet another encouraging sign of success. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-00.png?itok=BR7wUWf_" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-00.png?itok=BR7wUWf_"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cfa430c5-1de3-45a0-8977-b4e4ed1363af" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="451" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-00.png?itok=BR7wUWf_" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Also, new monthly federal contract obligations have sharply slowed under DOGE after four years of large spikes under the Biden-Harris regime. </p>

<p>"Notably, new federal contracts data has undershot trend in recent months and stood at $18.2bn in April (compared to $31.1bn in April 2024). Total government grant awards remain stagnated at Inauguration Day levels," the analysts said. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-25.png?itok=_IGomE1q" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-25.png?itok=_IGomE1q"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="680c5659-dcb4-4852-86ac-32b45f729323" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="314" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-15-25.png?itok=_IGomE1q" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>More color here. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-17-41.png?itok=PWpGOTkq" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-17-41.png?itok=PWpGOTkq"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="74eecbca-6672-4d04-ad42-888c1e6f6a5e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="334" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-17-41.png?itok=PWpGOTkq" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>However, Hatzius and his team noted that year-to-date cash withdrawals from the Treasury General Account remain $123 billion above 2024 levels.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-34-07.png?itok=O3NmAUm4" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-34-07.png?itok=O3NmAUm4"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4dcaf11e-83d5-44da-aa31-975bb58e3a01" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="244" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-05-16_15-34-07.png?itok=O3NmAUm4" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The early results of DOGE mark a shift in federal accountability. In just months, DOGE has uncovered hundreds of billions in waste, slashed nearly 300,000 federal jobs, and driven $160 billion in savings. Yet why did it take an executive order from the president to have a group take a deep dive into how federal agencies spend their money?</p>

<p>But this progress is not guaranteed. Without congressional action to lock in these cuts through reconciliation, the swamp remains open for the bureaucratic bloat to return. The message is clear: DOGE is working, but can only be sustained through political action.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T01:00:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 21:00</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-contract-activity-slows-doges-cost-cutting-measures-take-effect


guid: 1031130 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: How Legal Immigration Is Keeping Farms Afloat
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/how-legal-immigration-keeping-farms-afloat
hash: ���U���� �Ê��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">How Legal Immigration Is Keeping Farms Afloat</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-legal-immigration-is-keeping-farms-afloat-5853479?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge">Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times</a> (emphasis ours),</em></p>

<p>LAKE VILLAGE, Ark.—<strong>On a breezy day, sun and shadow dance across Mencer farms, turning it into a patchwork of green in the fertile Arkansas Delta.</strong></p>

<p>It is humid here in the deep South, where the clock seems to run slower and the temperature hotter than in other places.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/id5858446-EpochImages-9005191043-xl-w_jpg_92%281%29a.jpg?itok=mBuVMSrr" data-link-option="0" href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/id5858446-EpochImages-9005191043-xl-w_jpg_92%281%29a.jpg?itok=mBuVMSrr"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d9e3b241-07f6-4c69-b55f-b98a5c672970" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/id5858446-EpochImages-9005191043-xl-w_jpg_92%281%29a.jpg?itok=mBuVMSrr" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Joe Mencer, owner of Mencer Farms in Lake Village, Ark., on April 29, 2025. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>Lake Village is a small town sitting along Lake Chicot, an abandoned channel of the Mississippi River. Over thousands of years, flooding deposited rich alluvial soil, making it ideal for crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans, and corn.</p>

<p>As a child, William Mencer’s grandfather handed him a cowboy hat and a garden hoe to dig up the pigweeds growing between the crop rows.</p>

<p><strong>The 31-year-old farmer remembers spending long, sweltering days alongside the farmworkers, his hands growing rough and calloused with the effort.</strong></p>

<p>“So I learned, you know, what it was like for these workers,” he told The Epoch Times.</p>

<p>He vowed to escape the sweat and toil of the fields by going to law school and working in an office. But the family farm drew him back like a love song.</p>

<p>Now he is partnering with his father, Joe Mencer, to keep the farm afloat with temporary agriculture workers through the H-2A visa program.</p>

<p><strong>The fourth-generation family farm, which costs $4 million per year to operate, includes 6,000 acres that they own and lease.</strong></p>

<p>While some may claim agriculture needs illegal immigrants to pick crops and work the fields, Joe Mencer told The Epoch Times that they’ve never had an illegal immigrant come looking for work.</p>

<p>They can’t get anyone local to work either, meaning that if they didn’t have the guest farm workers, they couldn’t stay in business.</p>

<h2>What Is the H-2A Visa?</h2>

<p>It costs more to bring in temporary legal workers than it would if they could find enough people locally to work. But without temporary migrant workers, William Mencer said local farms would go bust, affecting the nation’s food security.</p>

<p><strong>The process has become much more complex since the Mencers began using the guest worker program back in the 1980s.</strong></p>

<p>So much so that the younger Mencer started a small law practice helping other farmers obtain the labor they sorely needed.</p>

<p>He also shares his knowledge with other farmers as a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau.</p>

<p>The process of hiring workers through the program, sometimes called a guest worker program, starts early in the year for the Mencer family.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2848%29_0.jpg?itok=YnRQXg65" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2848%29_0.jpg?itok=YnRQXg65"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5a959b92-0ed5-41bf-aca5-f46e9253ad63" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2848%29_0.jpg?itok=YnRQXg65" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>William Mencer, who works on his fourth-generation family farm, at Mencer Farms in Lake Village, Ark., on April 29, 2025. He partners with his father to keep the farm running with the help of temporary agricultural workers through the H-2A visa program. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>The paperwork needs to be filed 60 to 75 days before their start date, which is mid- to late-February, he said.</p>

<p><strong>It costs as much as $5,000 to bring in several guest workers from Mexico to the United States</strong>, he said, noting that the cost doesn’t include the housing and transportation provided to the workers.</p>

<p><strong>Most return home in mid-December, but they are eligible to stay for up to three years in certain situations when agricultural work is available.</strong></p>

<p>The program requires the Mencers to advertise their farm jobs locally before they can be given to guest workers.</p>

<p>Joe Mencer, 65, noted that the rules call for him to fire any foreign worker he’s brought over if an American shows up and wants the job.</p>

<h2>Tangled in Red Tape</h2>

<p>The process to petition for workers with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is antiquated, with all communications taking place via mail, according to William Mencer.</p>

<p>The government does not offer online services, email, or a phone number. If there’s a problem, then the farm’s labor source is jeopardized because of the lack of communication, he said.</p>

<p>“<strong>Sometimes things get lost in the mail. You know, literally,</strong>” he said.</p>

<p>One of his client’s petition paperwork didn’t arrive in the mail. So they filed a claim for the lost package and resubmitted the paperwork.</p>

<p>This time, the paperwork made it to the Dallas office, but the postal carrier found the original package and shipped it, too.</p>

<p>With both petitions filed with the government, it almost took an act of Congress to clear it up.</p>

<p><strong>The younger Mencer sent a letter explaining what happened with the evidence to the government officials, just like he would in court, but the office didn’t respond.</strong></p>

<p>He enlisted the help of his congressman to clear things up. By the time it was all done, his client was behind by a month in getting guest workers.</p>

<p>It makes him wonder if the difficulty and red tape is “by design.”</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2849%29_0.jpg?itok=BWzU67ZY" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2849%29_0.jpg?itok=BWzU67ZY"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="35b8560e-b80a-43ef-bafd-d6130f7e9628" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2849%29_0.jpg?itok=BWzU67ZY" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Joe Mencer, owner of Mencer Farms in Lake Village, Ark., on April 29, 2025. The Mencer family began using the H-2A visa program in the 1980s to bring in foreign workers. The program, often called the guest worker program, requires employers to first advertise farm jobs locally before hiring foreign labor. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>The workers are so important that the Mencers keep them busy even when the weather is bad, although it doesn’t help their bottom line.</p>

<p>When there’s no field work, they cut firewood for use in the winter months.</p>

<p>Joe Mencer said he realized a few years back that his son’s law degree would be helpful on the farm, especially given the increasing complexity of the H2A visa program.</p>

<h2>Guest Worker Success</h2>

<p>The Mencers said their farm couldn’t operate without H-2A visa workers, although the labor cost is higher than using local workers.</p>

<p>Farmers’ margins are already slim because of increased production costs for fertilizer, herbicides, seed, and fuel.</p>

<p><strong>José Mondragon, who started as an H-2A visa worker, is now a green-card holder. He has worked for the Mencer family for nearly 30 years.</strong></p>

<p>Others, such as Gabino Mondragon (no relation to José Mondragon) are H-2A visa holders who have only been working at the farm for a few years.</p>

<p>José Mondragon lives with his wife in a little house on the farm surrounded by flowers and trees. The 57-year-old has deep roots in the land, even serving as a pallbearer when Joe Mencer’s father passed away.</p>

<p>In late April, he operated a self-driving orange Case Magnum row crop tractor, which plowed the earth between the corn rows to improve irrigation.</p>

<p>José Mondragon said he’s seen American workers quit after two or three months, long before the crops are harvested in the fall. The lack of local workers can open the door for temporary visa workers, which is good for everyone, he said.</p>

<p>“<strong>The people [are] asking us if we have some opportunities to come with my boss, and we say we will ask him,</strong>” he said.</p>

<p>José Mondragon said some people come to the United States illegally because they get into trouble with the law back home or to escape the cartels. Others come to make more money to help support their families in their native countries.</p>

<p>Workers from Mexico make $14.83 per hour on the Mencer farm as legal workers, with the wage <a href="https://flag.dol.gov/wage-data/adverse-effect-wage-rates">set</a> by the government for each state.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2850%29a.jpg?itok=3dzSeOSf" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2850%29a.jpg?itok=3dzSeOSf"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3a1e3c6e-21bd-4ea3-8788-e4dafdef4dbb" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2850%29a.jpg?itok=3dzSeOSf" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Green card holder Jose Delores Mondragon operates a tractor at Mencer Farms in Lake Village, Ark., on April 29, 2025.</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>José Mondragon said human smugglers, known as coyotes, charge people big money to cross the southern border illegally.</p>

<p>Gabino Mondragon has been working at the Mencer farm on a guest visa for two years. He is experienced at running a spreader for nitrogen fertilizer for corn. One truckload of fertilizer can cost $20,000, according to William Mencer, so having a skilled operator is critical.</p>

<p>Gabino Mondragon believes that more people in Mexico would like to apply for an H-2A visa. Still<strong>, if they are caught coming into America illegally, they won’t be eligible unless they get a waiver. It would depend on their record.</strong></p>

<p>The Mencers brought Gabino Mondragon’s family over on an H-4 visa so they could live close by while he worked.</p>

<p>The H-4 nonimmigrant visa allows the spouse and unmarried children younger than 21 years of age to accompany the primary visa holder to the United States.</p>

<p>It’s also an excellent opportunity for Gabino Mondragon’s family because his children are going to school and learning English.</p>

<p>“If our people are happy, it just reinforces that it’s a good thing for everybody,” William Mencer said.</p>

<h2>Hanging by a Thread</h2>

<p>The high cost of labor, diesel, and chemicals is making it extremely difficult for family farms to stay in business, according to William Mencer.</p>

<p>“We’ve been in four or five really bad years now,” he said.</p>

<p>Some farmers are faced with losing their farms to foreclosure by banks over crop production loans, finding a different line of work, or selling out.</p>

<p><em>Read the rest <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-legal-immigration-is-keeping-farms-afloat-5853479?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"><strong>here...</strong></a></em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T01:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 21:30</span>


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747295186
title: Malaysia’s ‘fish hunters’ target invasive species, one catch at a time
hash: ����b���Z��{ͳ
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Invasive species are an issue the world over, and waterways in mega-biodiverse Malaysia are threatened by imported fish.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/malaysias-fish-hunters-target-invasive-species-one-catch-at-a-time?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031387 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: House Considers Universal De Minimis Ban As Fees On China Parcels Ease
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: E�9���= �u ��|
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">House Considers Universal De Minimis Ban As Fees On China Parcels Ease</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>By Eric Kulisch of <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/house-considers-universal-de-minimis-ban-as-fees-on-china-parcels-ease?oly_enc_id=7576E4150945E5B">FreightWaves</a></em></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/customs%20agent.jpg?itok=5eszOzXU" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/customs%20agent.jpg?itok=5eszOzXU"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1a5c530a-2741-41e3-990a-1aaa57ea53d6" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/customs%20agent.jpg?itok=5eszOzXU" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The Trump administration this week rolled back the duty for small-dollar shipments from China and Hong Kong as part of tariff deescalation with China, while a House committee advanced legislation to permanently end the duty-free “de minimis” exemption from all countries. </p>

<p>President Donald Trump’s executive order lowering new 145% tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% for 90 days represents a reprieve for popular Chinese shopping platforms and other e-tailers that ship parcels directly from the factory to individual shoppers. E-commerce orders and airfreight shipments plummeted after the U.S. government on May 2 rescinded duty-free treatment for low-value goods, subjecting them to the same duties imposed on all Chinese products.</p>

<p>Before then, U.S. trade law allowed an individual each day to import goods valued at $800 or less and use an informal entry process. The rule helped fuel cross-border shipping from Chinese shopping platforms direct to consumers. About two-thirds of all packages entering the country through the de minimis channel are from China. </p>

<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/modifying-reciprocal-tariff-rates-to-reflect-discussions-with-the-peoples-republic-of-china/">The executive order also proactively lowered fees for low-value shipments</a> from China sent through the international postal system. Postal shipments under $800 are now subject to a 54% tariff instead of 120%. Carriers can opt instead to pay $100 per postal item containing goods. Monday’s order canceled a June 1 increase to $200 for the flat fee.</p>

<p>The revised fees still present a significant cost increase, but the pause provides retailers time to adjust operations.</p>

<p>Logistics professionals say shipping rates could rise as businesses rush to order goods before the next deadline. <a href="https://www.modernretail.co/operations/shein-cuts-prices-amid-temporary-us-china-tariff-relief/">Trade publication Modern Retail reported</a> that fast-fashion retailer Shein on Wednesday <a href="https://us.shein.com/ark/5065?src_module=topBanner&amp;src_identifier=on%3DIMAGE_COMPONENT%60cn%3Dtopbanner%60hz%3DhotZone_3%60ps%3D1_3%60jc%3DwebLink_https%3A%2F%2Fus.shein.com%2Fark%2F5065&amp;src_tab_page_id=page_select_class1747227411802&amp;ici=CCCSN=topBanner_ON=IMAGE_COMPONENT_OI=73137611_CN=ONE_IMAGE_COMPONENT_TI=50000_aod=0_PS=1-3_ABT=0">announced price reductions</a> for U.S. customers following the relaxation of de minimis rules on Chinese imports. Shein had raised prices and cut U.S. advertising after the change in de minimis rules sharply increased delivery costs.</p>

<p>The publication also said that Temu had resumed selling nondomestic items to U.S. customers.</p>

<p><strong>Momentum builds to turn off de minimis</strong></p>

<p>Congress a decade ago increased the de minimis ceiling from $200 to $800 as a way of helping small businesses with an online presence take advantage of international trade. But attitudes began to change when huge Chinese sellers like Temu, Shein and Alibaba flooded the trade facilitation program to minimize costs, putting a strain on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ability to cross-check shipments for trade, consumer safety or security compliance. </p>

<p>Critics say the exemption creates a conduit for criminals to smuggle goods with little scrutiny, gives overseas merchants an advantage over retailers that source domestic products and results in billions of dollars in uncollected tariff revenue. </p>

<p>CBP last year processed an average of more than 4 million de minimis imports per day but says the minimal information supplied on the informal entry makes it difficult to identify and interdict illegal drugs such as fentanyl, as well as counterfeit products and other contraband. It also has found cases of importers misclassifying and undervaluing goods, and misdelivering goods before they are officially released from CBP custody.</p>

<p>The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in December recommended that Congress eliminate de minimis eligibility for imports sold through online marketplaces.</p>

<p>On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a massive tax bill, which includes Trump’s tax priorities and a provision that would permanently end de minimis for commercial shipments from all countries by July 1, 2027.</p>

<p>“As the bill makes its way through the legislative process, we strongly support a more aggressive timeline to implement a permanent ban on de minimis globally given its significant harm to manufacturers, retailers, and the fight against fentanyl and other illegal products. Express shippers have already transitioned to processing all Chinese imports through sophisticated logistics systems, demonstrating their ability to comply with the president’s executive orders and pivot quickly,” said Kim Glas, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, in a statement. </p>

<p> Meanwhile, other efforts are in progress to curb the use of de minimis entries.</p>

<p>Customs and Border Protection is developing a new rule, proposed in the waning days of the Biden administration, that would require certain shippers to electronically submit additional data elements on low-value consignments prior to arrival and would remove de minimis eligibility for imports subject to certain tariffs.</p>

<p>The White House has said it plans to use emergency powers to delete the de minimis exception once systems are in place to collect duties from millions of parcels per day, including ones sent through postal channels.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T02:00:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 22:00</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/house-considers-universal-de-minimis-ban-fees-china-parcels-ease


guid: 1031126 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Russian-Born Harvard Scientist Detained By US Charged With Smuggling Clawed Frog Embryos
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ϸW)���, 3����TL
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Russian-Born Harvard Scientist Detained By US Charged With Smuggling Clawed Frog Embryos</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/russian-born-harvard-scientist-detained-by-us-charged-with-smuggling-5858181?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge">Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times</a> (emphasis ours),</em></p>

<p>A Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University has been arrested and charged with allegedly attempting to smuggle clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples into the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/russian-national-charged-smuggling-biological-material-boston">announced</a> on May 14.</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2842%29_0.jpg?itok=q2e40bn9" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_92%2842%29_0.jpg?itok=q2e40bn9"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8d0e1660-cf05-47ff-91e0-7fd59c38b841" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_92%2842%29_0.jpg?itok=q2e40bn9" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University, in April 2025. Polina Pugacheva via AP</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p>Kseniia Petrova, 31, was charged with one count of smuggling goods into the country.</p>

<p><strong>If found guilty, she faces up to 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.</strong></p>

<p>The charges were announced just hours after a federal judge in Vermont heard arguments in a lawsuit Petrova filed against the Trump administration alleging she has been unlawfully detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana for months.</p>

<p><strong>She was transferred out of the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to a nearby Louisiana parish jail shortly after being charged.</strong></p>

<p>An initial hearing in her criminal case has been set for May 15.</p>

<p>Petrova, a Russian national, was first taken into immigration custody on Feb. 16 after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston following a trip to Paris.</p>

<p>According to prosecutors, she was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after her checked duffle bag was flagged for inspection, revealing biological items including a foam box containing clawed frog embryos in microcentrifuges, as well as embryonic samples in paraffin well stages and on mounted dyed slides.</p>

<p><strong>Such biological products must be declared and require a permit to be brought into the country.</strong></p>

<p>Prosecutors said that Petrova initially denied carrying such material in her baggage but acknowledged she had biological specimens when asked again.</p>

<p>She was then advised that she was ineligible for entry to the United States, at which point prosecutors say she agreed to willingly withdraw her application for admission, prosecutors said.</p>

<p>The Trump administration has indicated it plans to deport her back to Russia.</p>

<h2>Lawyer Says Case Is ‘Meritless’</h2>

<p>Petrova said she fled Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to avoid conflict or possible political repression. She added that she fears she will be imprisoned if she returns because of her political views.</p>

<p>Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, called the case against his client “meritless” and questioned the timing of the charges being announced, noting she was transferred into criminal custody after the judge in her lawsuit set a May 28 bail hearing to consider releasing her.</p>

<p>“<strong>The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her</strong>,” he said.</p>

<p>During an interview under oath, Petrova allegedly claimed to be unsure that she was required to declare biological material when entering the country, prosecutors said.</p>

<p>However, prosecutors said text messages on her phone from an individual identified as one of her colleagues informed her that she was required to declare the biological material.</p>

<p>They alleged that in response to one text message asking how she planned to get through customs with the biological samples, Petrova said: “No plan yet. I won’t be able to swallow them.”</p>

<p>*  *  *</p>

<p><em>Support independent media. Grab a <strong><a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-waxed-canvas-hat">ZeroHedge hat</a></strong> at the ZH Store, or buy <strong><a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-coffee-dark-roast/?m=direct">any 2 bags of coffee</a></strong> and receive a <strong>free <a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-17oz-vacuum-insulated-tumbler/?m=direct">ZeroHedge Tumbler</a></strong>!</em></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="25c4256a-e1fd-42cd-b0a7-8a5dc6a6ceee" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="186" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/ZH_Ad_300x111.5px_ZerohedgeStore5%282%29a_6.jpg?itok=yM44jEB5" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Petrova’s case has drawn criticism from Democrats, including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who filed an amicus brief on May 12 opposing the government’s efforts to dismiss her petition for release.</p>

<p><strong>The brief states that Petrova had been conducting critical research on degenerative diseases at Harvard under a valid J-1 visa prior to her detention 10 weeks ago.</strong></p>

<p>“Ms. Petrova’s case is not an isolated incident—this is just the latest example of the Trump Administration’s reckless and cruel misuse of power to punish and terrorize non-citizen members of the academic community,” Campbell said. “I will continue to fight to defend the rights of our international students and faculty, who meaningfully contribute to the academic and economic success of our communities.”</p>

<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said Petrova was recently employed by the Institute of Genetic Biology in Moscow from 2023 to 2024 and previously served as a bioinformatician of genetic disorders at the Moscow Center for Genetics from 2016 to 2023.</p>

<p>Harvard University said in a statement that it “continues to monitor the situation.”</p>

<p>The Epoch Times has contacted Petrova’s attorney for further comment.</p>

<p><em>The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.</em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T02:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 22:30</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/russian-born-harvard-scientist-detained-us-charged-smuggling-clawed-frog-embryos


guid: 1031438 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: These Are The World's Largest Economies, Including US States
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/these-are-worlds-largest-economies-including-us-states
hash: ޠ�jV���\�u}� ��
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content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">These Are The World's Largest Economies, Including US States</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>It’s in the name really. The United States of America began <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/when-each-state-joined-the-usa-map/">as a union</a> of separate entities coming together.</p>

<p>And while the U.S. is seen as a single global economic and political hegemon today, <strong>many of its 50 states are major economies on their own.</strong></p>

<p>To show just how big they are, <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-worlds-largest-economies-including-u-s-states/">Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao</a> mapped and ranked 30 of the world’s largest economies, including U.S. states, to see how they stack up against entire countries.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/U.-States-vs.-Country-GDPs-Ranke.jpg?itok=OQQM8Mgp" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/U.-States-vs.-Country-GDPs-Ranke.jpg?itok=OQQM8Mgp"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="63b77998-d39b-44ce-9487-ad7a65b9b890" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="528" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/U.-States-vs.-Country-GDPs-Ranke.jpg?itok=OQQM8Mgp" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><em>ℹ️ <strong>The U.S.</strong> is included as a reference point; removing it would make China the largest economy.</em></p>

<p><em>Figures are sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis(<a href="https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state">BEA</a>) and International Monetary Fund (<a href="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD">IMF</a>), both for 2024.</em></p>

<h2>Ranked: World’s Largest Economies, Including U.S. States</h2>

<p><strong>California</strong> is the largest U.S. state by GDP and would <strong>rank 4th</strong> in the world if it was its own country.</p>

<p>Its GDP ($4.1 trillion) is now larger than every other country, barring Germany, China, and of course the rest of the United States.</p>

<table data-sanitized-id="tablepress-5644" data-sanitized-class="tablepress tablepress-id-5644"><thead><tr data-sanitized-class="row-1"><th data-sanitized-class="column-1">Rank</th><th data-sanitized-class="column-2">Countries /<br>
U.S. State</th><th data-sanitized-class="column-3">2024 GDP<br>
(Millions)</th>
</tr></thead><tbody data-sanitized-class="row-striping row-hover"><tr data-sanitized-class="row-2"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">1</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 U.S.</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$29,184,900</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-3"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">2</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇳 China</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$18,748,009</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-4"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">3</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇩🇪 Germany</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$4,658,526</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-5"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">4</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 California</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$4,103,124</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-6"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">5</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇯🇵 Japan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$4,026,211</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-7"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">6</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇳 India</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$3,909,097</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-8"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">7</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇬🇧 UK</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$3,644,636</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-9"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">8</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇫🇷 France</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$3,162,023</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-10"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">9</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Texas</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,709,393</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-11"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">10</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇹 Italy</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,372,059</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-12"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">11</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 New York</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,297,028</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-13"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">12</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇦 Canada</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,241,253</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-14"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">13</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇷 Brazil</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,171,337</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-15"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">14</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇷🇺 Russia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$2,161,205</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-16"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">15</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇰🇷 South Korea</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,869,714</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-17"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">16</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇲🇽 Mexico</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,852,723</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-18"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">17</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇺 Australia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,796,805</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-19"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">18</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇪🇸 Spain</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,722,227</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-20"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">19</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Florida</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,705,565</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-21"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">20</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇩 Indonesia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,396,300</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-22"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">21</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇷 Türkiye</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,322,405</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-23"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">22</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇳🇱 Netherlands</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,227,174</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-24"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">23</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Illinois</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,137,244</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-25"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">24</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,085,358</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-26"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">25</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Pennsylvania</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$1,024,206</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-27"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">26</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇭 Switzerland</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$936,738</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-28"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">27</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Ohio</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$927,740</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-29"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">28</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇱 Poland</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$908,583</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-30"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">29</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Georgia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$882,535</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-31"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">30</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Washington</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$854,683</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-32"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">31</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 New Jersey</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$846,587</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-33"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">32</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 North Carolina</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$839,122</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-34"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">33</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇼 Taiwan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$782,441</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-35"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">34</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Massachusetts</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$780,666</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-36"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">35</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Virginia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$764,475</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-37"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">36</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Michigan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$706,616</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-38"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">37</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇪 Belgium</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$664,965</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-39"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">38</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇷 Argentina</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$632,145</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-40"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">39</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇸🇪 Sweden</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$610,118</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-41"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">40</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇪 Ireland</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$577,216</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-42"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">41</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Colorado</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$553,323</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-43"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">42</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Arizona</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$552,167</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-44"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">43</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Tennessee</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$549,709</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-45"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">44</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇸🇬 Singapore</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$547,387</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-46"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">45</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Maryland</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$542,766</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-47"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">46</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇱 Israel</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$540,381</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-48"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">47</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$537,079</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-49"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">48</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Indiana</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$527,381</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-50"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">49</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇭 Thailand</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$526,411</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-51"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">50</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇹 Austria</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$521,269</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-52"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">51</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Minnesota</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$500,851</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-53"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">52</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇳🇴 Norway</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$483,727</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-54"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">53</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇭 Philippines</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$461,617</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-55"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">54</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇻🇳 Vietnam</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$459,472</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-56"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">55</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Wisconsin</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$451,285</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-57"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">56</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Missouri</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$451,201</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-58"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">57</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇩 Bangladesh</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$451,096</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-59"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">58</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇩🇰 Denmark</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$429,458</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-60"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">59</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇲🇾 Malaysia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$419,617</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-61"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">60</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇴 Colombia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$418,542</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-62"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">61</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$407,107</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-63"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">62</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇷 Iran</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$401,357</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-64"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">63</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇿🇦 South Africa</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$400,191</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-65"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">64</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇷🇴 Romania</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$384,148</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-66"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">65</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇪🇬 Egypt</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$383,109</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-67"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">66</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇰 Pakistan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$373,078</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-68"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">67</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Connecticut</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$365,723</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-69"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">68</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 South Carolina</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$349,965</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-70"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">69</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇿 Czech Republic</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$344,931</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-71"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">70</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Oregon</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$331,029</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-72"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">71</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇱 Chile</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$330,210</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-73"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">72</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Louisiana</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$327,782</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-74"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">73</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Alabama</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$321,238</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-75"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">74</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇹 Portugal</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$308,590</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-76"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">75</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Utah</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$300,904</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-77"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">76</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇫🇮 Finland</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$298,833</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-78"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">77</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Kentucky</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$293,021</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-79"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">78</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇰🇿 Kazakhstan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$284,810</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-80"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">79</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇮🇶 Iraq</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$277,478</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-81"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">80</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Oklahoma</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$265,779</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-82"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">81</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇩🇿 Algeria</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$264,913</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-83"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">82</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Nevada</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$260,728</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-84"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">83</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇳🇿 New Zealand</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$257,728</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-85"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">84</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇬🇷 Greece</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$257,067</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-86"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">85</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Iowa</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$257,021</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-87"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">86</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Kansas</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$234,673</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-88"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">87</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇭🇺 Hungary</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$223,060</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-89"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">88</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇶🇦 Qatar</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$221,452</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-90"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">89</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇦 Ukraine</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$190,426</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-91"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">90</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Arkansas</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$188,723</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-92"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">91</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇳🇬 Nigeria</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$187,640</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-93"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">92</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 District of Columbia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$186,165</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-94"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">93</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Nebraska</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$185,411</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-95"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">94</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇰🇼 Kuwait</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$158,568</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-96"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">95</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Mississippi</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$157,491</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-97"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">96</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇲🇦 Morocco</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$155,350</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-98"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">97</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇪🇹 Ethiopia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$143,123</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-99"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">98</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇸🇰 Slovak Republic</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$140,636</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-100"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">99</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 New Mexico</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$140,542</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-101"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">100</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Idaho</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$128,132</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-102"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">101</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇩🇴 Dominican Republic</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$124,613</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-103"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">102</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇪🇨 Ecuador</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$121,728</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-104"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">103</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 New Hampshire</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$121,189</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-105"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">104</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇷 Puerto Rico</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$120,978</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-106"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">105</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇰🇪 Kenya</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$120,899</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-107"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">106</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇻🇪 Venezuela</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$119,808</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-108"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">107</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇴 Angola</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$115,946</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-109"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">108</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Hawaii</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$115,627</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-110"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">109</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇿 Uzbekistan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$114,962</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-111"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">110</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇬🇹 Guatemala</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$112,575</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-112"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">111</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇬 Bulgaria</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$112,232</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-113"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">112</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 West Virginia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$107,660</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-114"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">113</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇴🇲 Oman</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$106,943</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-115"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">114</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Delaware</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$103,253</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-116"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">115</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇱🇰 Sri Lanka</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$98,964</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-117"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">116</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Maine</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$98,606</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-118"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">117</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇷 Costa Rica</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$95,365</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-119"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">118</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇱🇺 Luxembourg</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$93,169</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-120"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">119</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇭🇷 Croatia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$92,506</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-121"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">120</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇷🇸 Serbia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$89,074</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-122"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">121</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇦 Panama</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$87,688</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-123"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">122</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$87,096</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-124"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">123</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇱🇹 Lithuania</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$84,847</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-125"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">124</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇬🇭 Ghana</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$82,825</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-126"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">125</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇲 Turkmenistan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$82,515</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-127"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">126</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Rhode Island</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$82,493</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-128"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">127</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇾 Uruguay</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$80,961</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-129"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">128</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇿 Tanzania</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$80,171</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-130"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">129</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Montana</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$75,999</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-131"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">130</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 North Dakota</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$75,399</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-132"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">131</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 South Dakota</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$75,179</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-133"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">132</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇦🇿 Azerbaijan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$74,316</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-134"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">133</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇸🇮 Slovenia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$72,463</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-135"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">134</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇾 Belarus</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$71,180</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-136"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">135</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇩 DRC</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$71,011</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-137"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">136</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Alaska</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$69,969</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-138"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">137</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇲🇲 Myanmar</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$61,176</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-139"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">138</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇬 Uganda</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$56,453</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-140"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">139</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇯🇴 Jordan</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$53,428</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-141"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">140</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇹🇳 Tunisia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$53,063</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-142"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">141</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Wyoming</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$52,946</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-143"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">142</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇨🇲 Cameroon</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$52,784</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-144"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">143</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇲🇴 Macao SAR</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$50,182</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-145"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">144</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇴 Bolivia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$48,404</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-146"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">145</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇰🇭 Cambodia</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$47,328</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-147"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">146</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇧🇭 Bahrain</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$46,943</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-148"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">147</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇺🇸 Vermont</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$45,707</td>
</tr><tr data-sanitized-class="row-149"><td data-sanitized-class="column-1">148</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-2">🇵🇾 Paraguay</td><td data-sanitized-class="column-3">$43,989</td>
</tr></tbody></table><p>This comparison uses the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ <strong>newly released</strong> 2024 GDP data, which shows California’s economy is $900 billion larger than Japan’s 2024 print at $4.02 trillion.</p>

<p>Of course the IMF has released <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/WEOWORLD">2025 predictive GDP figures</a>. Japan’s output is higher now ($4.19 trillion), but California’s comparative figures won’t be released for another year.</p>

<p>Another footnote: <strong>India</strong> has also leapfrogged Japan in 2025 by IMF estimates. Depending on how California performs this year, it could retain its spot or slip back down to fifth place.</p>

<p>In total, <strong>nine U.S. states</strong> feature in the world’s top 30 economies as measured by their 2024 GDP. These include financial capital (New York), shale-boom central (Texas), other tech hubs (Washington), as well as population clusters (Florida and Georgia).</p>

<p><strong>Vermont</strong>, the smallest U.S. state by GDP, would rank 147th in the world.</p>

<p><em>Want a one-to-one comparison of which countries could replace U.S. states by their GDP? Check out: <a href="https://www.voronoiapp.com/economy/-Take-a-Look-at-How-US-State-GDPs-Compare-to-Entire-Countries-2913">U.S. State Economies vs. Entire Countries</a> for a quick overview.</em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T03:00:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 23:00</span>


guid: 1031133 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: National Police Week: A Tribute To Our Law Enforcement Heroes
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/national-police-week-tribute-our-law-enforcement-heroes
hash: ���A4'o���h!W�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">National Police Week: A Tribute To Our Law Enforcement Heroes</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/05/14/national_police_week_tribute_to_law_enforcement_heroes_152791.html">Authored by Rep. Elise Stefanik via RealClearPolitics</a>,</em></p>

<p><strong>This National Police Week, we pause to honor the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities.</strong> We remember the brave officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, and we express our deepest gratitude to those who continue to serve with unwavering dedication. It is an important moment to reflect on the courage, sacrifice, and selflessness that law enforcement officers demonstrate daily, particularly in Upstate New York and across our great state.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/686757_jpg_92.jpg?itok=uH3jOjrP" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/686757_jpg_92.jpg?itok=uH3jOjrP"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="817249e7-c830-495a-a5a0-47404ddb7d82" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="379" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/686757_jpg_92.jpg?itok=uH3jOjrP" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><strong>To the law enforcement officers of Upstate New York, the North Country, and everywhere else across our nation: Thank you. </strong>Your service does not go unnoticed, and your commitment to keeping our communities safe is deeply appreciated. I stand with you, and I will continue fighting for policies that prioritize the safety of our communities, ensuring that you have the resources and support needed to do your vital work.</p>

<p><strong>In these challenging times, it’s crucial that we stand up for those who serve us. </strong>While the far left continues to push anti-police rhetoric and policies that put our officers in dangerous positions, it’s more important than ever to back the blue. The far-left “Defund the Police” movement and the dangerous rise of anti-police sentiment threaten the very fabric of our communities. Our law enforcement officers are the backbone of our safety and security, and they deserve the respect, resources, and protection to do their jobs effectively. Their hard work ensures that law-abiding citizens can live in peace, free from fear.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, many on the left in Albany, Washington, and across the nation are taking law enforcement for granted<strong>. Policies like reckless bail reforms and calls to defund the police only endanger our communities. </strong>It’s time we recognize the critical role our officers play in public safety and stop allowing radical left movements to jeopardize their ability to serve and protect.</p>

<p>During my tenure in Congress, I have worked tirelessly to provide officers with the resources, training, and recognition they deserve. I introduced bills aimed at bolstering funding for police departments, improving officer safety, and enhancing mental health services for law enforcement personnel. I also have been a vocal proponent of holding criminals accountable while ensuring that police officers have the necessary protections to do their jobs without fear of unjust retribution.</p>

<p>In Upstate New York, we are fortunate to have some of the most dedicated law enforcement officers in the country. Their work has resulted in our district having one of the lowest crime rates in the nation.</p>

<p><strong>I’m proud to stand with them and will always fight for policies that support law enforcement and keep our communities safe.</strong></p>

<p>National Police Week may only last seven days, but the gratitude and respect we owe to our men and women in blue should echo every single day. Thank you to our heroes in uniform, and may we continue to support and protect them in their mission to safeguard us all.</p>

<p><em>Republican Elise Stefanik represents New York’s 21st District in Congress.</em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T03:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/16/2025 - 23:30</span>


guid: CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17
title: House Calendars, DAILY - House Calendars for May 17, 2025 - 119th Congress, 1st Session
link: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17
hash: O��b(c���5.o�ש
tags: #Proceedings of Congress and General Congressional Publications
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<h2>Content Files</h2>
 <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17/pdf/CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17.pdf">PDF</a><br>
 
 
 
 
 <h2>Metadata download</h2>
 <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/metadata/pkg/CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17/mods.xml">Descriptive Metadata (MODS)</a><br>
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 <h2>All Content and Metadata files, including granules</h2> <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CCAL-119hcal-2025-05-17.zip">ZIP</a>


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165778/sepaq-greve-peche-pourvoirie-maurice
title: Le téléphone sonne dans les pourvoiries en raison de la grève à la SÉPAQ
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165778/sepaq-greve-peche-pourvoirie-maurice
hash: ��Π<2�ꡍ�/WPgF
content:
<p>La grève de trois jours entraîne l'annulation d'une centaine de séjours de pêche dans 13 réserves fauniques.</p>

attributes:
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guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747450052
title: Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,178
content: These are the key events on day 1,178 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
hash: 6G4� �\�ܪ��2 ]
tags: #News
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-1178?traffic_source=rss


guid: 6827d1366660b2000128790e
author: ;Helga Zepp-LaRouche
hash: � �{�T v��_ O
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title:
There Are Consequences to Action, and to Inaction: International Peace Coalition Meeting, Friday, May 16, #102

content:
<p>ANASTASIA BATTLE: Welcome! This is the International Peace Coalition. This is our 102nd consecutive meeting. My name is Anastasia Battle and I will be moderating today, along with Dennis Speed and Dennis Small.</p>
<p>I want to thank our veteran participants for 102 weeks of organizing. The reason we created this forum is to unite the peace movement around the world. Quite frankly, it’s been very dysfunctional, there’s a lot of infighting, a lot of bickering. We want to bring people together into one room, be mature adults, and we’re going to coordinate our activities so we can achieve true peace.</p>
<p>We obviously have a lot going on in this coming week and weeks. We’ve got the Schiller Institute conference next week. Next week’s IPC meeting will be moved to Saturday, at the conference, because many IPC members will be speaking during that first panel of the conference. I also want to make sure people are aware of the massive organizing going on for the June 2-4 Palestinian UN summit. We’ve got to make sure to apply the maximum pressure to get the Oasis Plan through. We’ve had many people on, who will be organizing around that summit. Please continue to organize and distribute that material.</p>
<p>To start us off today, we will have Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who is the founder of the Schiller Institute and the initiator of the International Peace Coalition. Please go ahead, Helga.</p>
<p>HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Let me say hello to all of you. I think the eyes of the world are all directed towards Istanbul, where today is the second day of events there. The meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations finally took place; it was moderated by the Turkish Foreign Minister. The meeting ended after two hours; the result is not yet known, at least not to me. Maybe in the course of this discussion we will find out more.</p>
<p>In any case, there was an enormous amount of international drama surrounding it, where everybody in the West was saying this was a trap for Putin, now Putin is not showing up. However, leaving all the theatrics aside, I think it is extremely important that the meeting took place. This was the first direct discussions between Ukrainians and Russians since March 2022, when also in Istanbul, they had reached an agreement which would have ended the war after only one month. That agreement was sabotaged by Boris Johnson, who flew into Kyiv in order to tell Zelenskyy that he should keep fighting and that all of NATO will back him up. If you consider the enormous number of people who have lost their lives, what an enormous destruction of Ukraine has occurred, it is incredible. Therefore it is very important that these direct negotiations took place.</p>
<p>The Russian delegation consisted of exactly the same team who negotiated in March 2022; therefore, they obviously knew the territory extremely well. They knew the ins and outs of difficulties, and therefore were highly experienced. Zelenskyy denounced the delegation, saying it was a low-level one, and Putin didn’t show up. But the Ukrainian delegation, according to some reports from Russian sources, was not an experienced team. The composition of the team, which was very large, was 80% security officials of various kinds and only 20% politicians or diplomats. So, one could read out of this composition the mindset of both sides. But obviously this is too early to make a judgment. In any case, one can expect that the real result will come only from a direct meeting between President Trump and President Putin. The letter just said that he wants to have this meeting as quickly as it can be set up; and it could be within days.</p>
<p>So, I think this is a major hopeful sign that this will come to an end. I think that the overall dynamic is actually going in the direction of settling conflicts. That is unfortunately not applying for everything. It for sure does apply to the situation around Gaza, whereas of now, the genocide is in full motion. Tom Fletcher, who is the Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, just made a statement saying that the International Court of Justice is reviewing to see if there is genocide going on. He said if they don’t hurry up, it will be too late, because everybody will be dead. As a matter of fact, in the meantime more than 60-day complete shutoff of aid to Gaza means that two days ago the phase five starvation level was true for 22% of all people in Gaza, and phase four—which is just below immediate starvation, but still famine—was for the remaining 80%. So basically, an unbelievable ratio of dying is going on as a result of hunger, thirst, disease. What is being acted out right now is exactly to the letter what Defense Minister had said on the 9th of October, 19 months ago, that there will be a total siege of Gaza, because what Israel is confronted with would be “human animals,” and obviously that would be enough to dehumanize the entire campaign.</p>
<p>So, the situation is beyond description. I think the words of Tom Fletcher that our present world will be judged by future generations and nobody can say we did all we could, because it would be enough to do one single phone call by the United States to stop that. So, the burden of action is on us, on the world community, but especially obviously those powers which could change it with little effort.</p>
<p>The situation there remains one of acute emergency. Now the IDF has extended what they are doing in Gaza to the West Bank. There was an incident where a bomb attack occurred against a car with a pregnant woman who was killed. That was the starting point for the Israeli military to announce that they would level to the ground all the refugee camps and villages where suspected “terrorists” were hiding. So, we have now an extension of the genocide of Gaza into the West Bank. So, that is obviously the burning issue for everybody we have to change.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I would say that President Trump’s efforts may sound difficult to understand because of his obvious zigzag tendencies of saying one thing one day, the next day doing something the other. But if there is any hope, one can conclude then from the fact that the Geneva discussions between the United States and China on the tariffs, resulted after only a very short period of negotiations, with a positive result. Almost all the tariffs were taken back, going down to about 10%, which is a minor amount. The Chinese evaluation was that it was “a surprising success, a stunning reversal surpassing the most optimistic projections. One rare moment of détente in an ocean of tension and friction.” The U.S. tariffs on Chinese products which were on some categories even up to 245%, were all taken back. Obviously the comment by the Chinese was that after negotiation, it turned out the difficulties were not as big as originally anticipated.</p>
<p>One would hope that that is also the case for the settlement of the Ukrainian issue, where, given the situation on the battlefield, despite the fact that Ukrainians mount here and there another attack, they are generally clearly defeated already. All efforts by the so-called Coalition of the Willing to prop up their fighting capability will not result in a change of the war situation, which is basically lost. So, now the only question is, can the dying be ended, and can it be prevented that this is still leading to an escalation. The Coalition of the Willing clearly has not yet capitulated to stop their efforts to sabotage this effort.</p>
<p>The new Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz originally had said in a TV interview that Zelenskyy can completely have confidence with respect to the Taurus with Merz. Then the Social Democrats protested and said they have not reversed their position and will not agree to the delivery of the Taurus because they don’t want Germany to become a war party. After that, Merz toned it down a bit and said it’s not an acute question now. But in any case, if it comes up in the future, we will not discuss it publicly because you should not discuss such things in the open. So, we have to be on total alert, because this would put Germany into the position of being a party to the war immediately. As several Russian experts have said, the certain response from the Russians would be to hit an equivalent target in Germany. Maybe bridges, if the Kerch Bridge [to Crimea] is hit by the Taurus; or maybe the factory where the Taurus missiles are produced, and then you would have a full shooting war right in the center of Europe between Germany and Russia. That danger is not yet ruled out until there is a settlement of the Ukraine crisis which addresses—as the Russians have said many times—the root causes. That is the extension of NATO and offensive weapons on the territory of Ukraine which threaten the national security of Russia.</p>
<p>I think these are some of the developments which are going on. I just would like to mention two things which need to be kept in mind. We are not yet in safe quarters. There is a very astonishing and stunning, and I hope that some of the experts from the VIPS probably can comment on that in the course of this discussion; there is an absolutely stunning video by Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, who is being asked by a reporter if her accusations against Comey, the former FBI director, that he was propagandizing the assassination of President Trump, if she would stick to that. She said she would, because Comey apparently promoted or distributed an ominous sign which is being used as a symbol for assassination—8647. The 86 means a sign for assassination [and Trump is the 47th President].</p>
<p>There was also yesterday in the British press a similar ominous article saying it’s just a question of time when Putin will go down, and in any case, he could be assassinated. So, I’m just mentioning these two things, because we are not yet in safe waters at all, even if we can defuse the immediate crises spots in Ukraine and the tariff war. But obviously we have to be absolutely mobilized as we said before, and as Anastasia just mentioned, on the Oasis Plan to be put on the agenda of the June 2-4 conference in the United Nations. And we have to get the new security and development architecture which lifts the entire international relations to a completely different paradigm, where we replace confrontation with cooperation in the tradition of the Peace of Westphalia. So, this is what I wanted to say in the beginning.</p>
<p><strong>Remarks during the Discussion:</strong></p>
<p><strong>In response to Maoz Inon:</strong> Naturally, I wholeheartedly support what you are doing. I think I can commit most forces of the International Peace Coalition to do likewise. I have a slightly different thing, maybe I should bring this in shortly before you are leaving. That is that I have written an open letter to His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV. Given the fact that Ray mentioned the generosity of Putin by addressing the contribution of the Allied forces to the victory over the Nazis, maybe you can forgive me that I’m not criticizing Pope Francis for what he did not do, but that I’m building on what he did do. Let me quickly read it; it’s very short. And I would actually like people to listen to it and read it, because if we could assemble out of this present discussion as many signatures to it as possible to start to unite all religions and people of good will around this peace idea, to create a real international peace movement, the better.</p>
<p>“Open Letter to His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV</p>
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guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747388256
title: Thousands of Palestinians flee north Gaza amid intensified Israeli attacks
hash: �%:i�/Mݮ{ �`J
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
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Israel kills at least 115 Palestinians since Friday as it intensifies bombardment amid widespread forced starvation.

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guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885347
title: The Istanbul kabuki – decoded
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/the-istanbul-kabuki-decoded/
hash: $�e.�Owe �e�l��
tags: #Russia &amp; CIS #World #Diplomacy #Russia #Ukraine #Vladimir Putin #Volodymyr Zelensky #War
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
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<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>The endgame is clear: the US losing the entire Eurasian land mass. Ukraine, under these immense geopolitical imperatives, is only a sovereign-deprived pawn in the (Great) Game.</em></strong></p>
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<p>Did President Putin really change the game by proposing the resumption of negotiations on the proxy war in Ukraine in Istanbul – over three years after the first ones were scotched by NATO?</p>
<p>It’s complicated. And depends on which “game” we’re talking about.</p>
<p>What the Russian move instantly accomplished was to throw into total disarray the European warmongering Three Stooges (Starmer, BlackRock chancellor, Le Petit Roi) Cocaine Express.</p>
<p>Irrelevant Europe was not even at the table in Istanbul – except via extensive previous briefing of the low-rent, shabby-dressed Ukrainian delegation. That was compounded by the noisy barking threat in the sidelines advocating “more sanctions” to “pressure Russia”.</p>
<p>In March 2022 in Istanbul, Kiev could have stopped the war. Every one of us who were in Istanbul at the time could foresee that Kiev would eventually have to be forced to the table all over again.</p>
<p>So in essence we are back to the same negotiation – with the same top Russian negotiator, competent historian Vladimir Medinsky, heading a delegation composed by pros, but with Ukraine now facing over a million dead; deprived of at least four regions – more on the way; what’s left of its mineral wealth de facto controlled by the US; and a horrendous black hole that passes for an “economy”. We are talking about country 404 territory.</p>
<p>During the negotiations on Friday, Medinsky went straight to the point:</p>
<blockquote><p>“We don’t want war, but we are ready to fight for a year, two, three – as long as it takes. We fought with Sweden for 21 years [the Great Northern War, 1700-1721, as it is known in Russia]. How long are you ready to fight?”</p></blockquote>
<p>That’s the geopolitical/military state of things for Kiev and their “to the last Ukrainian” warmongering backers: either you capitulate, or we’re going to hurt you even more.</p>
<p><strong>What’s the point of these negotiations? </strong></p>
<p>Turkiye under uber-opportunist Sultan Erdogan in fact hosted a P.R. meeting between Moscow, Kiev and itself – with the Ukrainians unleashing a blitzkrieg of infantile tantrums only designed to influence global public opinion. In sharp contrast, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, did his best to put a positive spin on the proceedings.</p>
<p>Istanbul 2.0, Dmitriev asserted, achieved a large exchange of prisoners (1,000 on each side); ceasefire options to be presented by both sides; and a continuation of dialogue.</p>
<p>That’s not much. Well, at least they discussed in the same language: Russian. Nothing was lost in translation.</p>
<p>A serious case can be made that to propose the resumption of these negotiations, under this format, was meaningless. There’s no evidence in the horizon both parties might touch the fundamental issue anytime soon: the whole geopolitical strategic equation in Eastern Europe, from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea and beyond – leading to an “indivisibility of security” new deal with global repercussions.</p>
<p>That implies that whatever track these negotiations may follow further on down the road, they are an objective impossibility. Meanwhile, the proxy war in Ukraine – and the SMO – will go on.</p>
<p>That would also suggest that the Moscow security establishment considers the neo-nazi instrumentalized goons in Kiev at best as a re-enactment of the 6<sup>th</sup> Army of Paulus, with which you negotiate the end of a battle, but not the end of the war.</p>
<p>Even <a href="https://natowatch.org/default/2025/balance-power-russo-ukraine-war?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">NATO semi-realists</a> as retired Commodore Steven Jermy have been forced to admit that “Russia is in the driving seat” and clueless Europeans “appear to believe that the losers should dictate the terms of ceasefire or surrender.”</p>
<p>All the barking by the – European – chihuahuas of war cannot disguise the fundamental geopolitical/military fact: a massive NATO humiliation. Trump’s humongous problem is that he has to manage it – and sell it to domestic public opinion and the global public opinion as some sort of “deal” he struck with Putin.</p>
<p>It’s enlightening once again to go back to Grandmaster Lavrov, always the uber-realist, back in September 2024: “In April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reached agreement in Istanbul. If that agreement had been observed, Ukraine would have preserved part of Donbass. But every time another agreement, always accepted by Russia, is broken, Ukraine shrinks in size.”</p>
<p><strong>The (Great) Game, revisited</strong></p>
<p>Now back to the (Great) Game. Kiev negotiators eventually admitting Ukrainian capitulation means a NATO capitulation and an Empire of Chaos capitulation. That’s the ultimate anathema for the US ruling classes. Even an ultra-negotiated, carefully managed Ukrainian surrender will be an impossible sell – not to mention Washington under Narcissus Drowned Trump acknowledging a strategic defeat.</p>
<p>Because that will mean the Empire of Chaos losing Eurasia for good: the ultimate Mackinder/Brzezinski nightmare. Coupled with the consequential solidification of the <em>multi-nodal</em>, multipolar world.</p>
<p>The Russia-China stategic partnership is very much aware of every nook and cranny in this larger-than-life process. Beyond the current Turkish kabuki, they clearly understand the Big Eurasia Equation.</p>
<p>Beijing is fully aware NATO’s real goal was always to confront it via Russia.  Ukraine was NATO’s pawn to take down Russia then get to China from the West. The goal of the US ruling elites as they configured their thalassocratic empire remains to blockade China from the West by land and sea, using Russia; then use Taiwan as a staging area to blockade China from the East by sea. No wonder control of Taiwan is a Chinese strategic imperative.</p>
<p>Enter Mackinder panic – all over again: the China-Russia strategic partnership can beat NATO hands down – and Russia, by itself, is already doing it. Xi and Putin once again discussed the chessboard in detail, in person, prior to the Victory Day parade last week in Moscow.</p>
<p>The endgame, once again, is clear: the US losing the entire Eurasian land mass. Ukraine, under these immense geopolitical imperatives, is only a sovereign-deprived pawn in the (Great) Game.</p>
<p>As for the tantrum-addicted clown in Kiev, he is merely an actor with no authority whatsoever, negotiations included. He is completely dominated by Ukrainian neo-Nazis who will kill him if and when the war is over. He merely fronts for them and gets paid off. And that’s why – enthusiastically supported by inconsequential London, Paris and Berlin – he’s obsessed to continue a Forever War destroying the very nation he claims to represent.<br>
</p>


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=329834
title: OTD: 17 MAY 1974: Dublin-Monaghan Bombings was used
author: ;Gript Column
link: https://gript.ie/otd-17-may-1974-dublin-monaghan-bombings-was-used/
hash: N��D�gf�[�{�+�
tags: #ON THIS DAY #Dublin #Dublin Monaghan bombings #loyalist #Monaghan #state collusion
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/DublinMonaghanBombings1974_PH_IrishPhotoArchive.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>I was ten in 1974. It was the year that I mainly remember for the fact that Dublin won the All-Ireland and I had been at my first big game – although not my first ever game – in Croke Park, when they beat Cork in the semi-final.</strong></p><p>The other main memory I have is of the day of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. It was a sunny Friday afternoon, and we were all out on the road in Greenhills messing about surrounded by the neighbourhood dogs. Friday was a big day, because my Dad who was working on Nassau Street used to bring us home magazines and comics and other treats assuming he and Paddy Campbell had collected from their customers.</p>
<p>Greenhills is about five miles from the city centre but we heard the explosions at 5.30pm, or so we believe we did. Then there was something approaching panic as radio reports told where the bombs had been detonated, and suddenly the noise of children and dogs had abated and the road was taken over by anxious families waiting for fathers and mothers and siblings to return from work.</p>
<p>My mother must have been particularly worried given that one of the bombs had exploded close to where my father’s tailoring shop was on Nassau Street. There were no buses to the city because of a strike, and it seemed like hours before people started to arrive home having mostly walked.</p>
<p>An hour and a half later, another bomb exploded in the centre of Monaghan. In total 34 people were killed. It was immediately suspected that the bombs had been planted by loyalists who were in the midst of a general strike against power sharing. However, the Ulster Volunteer Force did not claim responsibility until 1993.</p>
<p>That claim was only made in response to growing suspicions backed by substantial investigative findings, that the loyalists responsible had at the very least been security forces informants. The UVF statement was a combination of machismo, threats and – very possibly given their ongoing manipulation by elements of the intelligence services – deflection from any attribution to RUC Special Branch or British intelligence.</p>
<p>Given what we know of the involvement of loyalists who were also part of the Glenanne death squads, and their connections to the various branches of the state, some involvement at several levels in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings seems to be pretty certain. The Mitchell farm at Glenanne was central to the bombing operation.</p>
<p>There is also the fact that Garda files from those years are sparse, and that for many years it would seem that the relatives of the victims were treated by Garda Special Branch as politically suspect, a smear that was upheld by most of the political and media establishment in the Republic.</p>
<p>It seems incredible now that it took a quarter of a century for the Irish state to establish an official enquiry. The Dáil record in which representations by Tony Gregory, Joe Costello and a small number of other TDs were almost dismissed with contempt makes for sorry reading. What became the Barron Report was published in 2003 and concluded that British state agents had been involved at some level, but that their efforts to get to the bottom of this had been hampered by the refusal of the British to hand over documents on the basis of national security concerns.</p>
<p>The report’s conclusions with regard to both the British refusal to cooperate and the missing Garda files is pretty damning:</p>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/home/docs/DubMonFinal.pdf">Final Report</a> from the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights on the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings observed: .</p>
<blockquote readability="16">
<p><em>2.19 In the opinion of Mr. Justice Barron, the fact that the Inquiry never saw original intelligence documents and was only allowed access to sixteen pages of a summary of the documents, was a hindrance to its work.</em></p>
<p><em>2.48 One of the most extraordinary revelations contained in the Barron Report is that there is an amount of official documentation, which has disappeared. Given that this was the largest atrocity in the State, it is astonishing that better care was not kept of these documents and there exists no complete explanation as to their whereabouts.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among the Garda Special Branch files that “could not be located” were ones labelled “Dublin bombings,” “IRA activities,” and two related to suspect cars pertinent to the bombing investigation, and to a file concerning an apparent suspect. Another missing file concerns the appointment of a Special Branch detective, which some believe is part of the cover up of one Garda who was strongly suspected of colluding in various incidents with the northern and British security forces, most likely as a paid agent of one or other. Whether he had any connection to the bombings remains conjecture.</p>
<p>The object of the bombings of course was to frighten people in the south and to undermine any support there was for the IRA. Another motivation was to encourage the Irish state to take more draconian measures against the IRA. Both of those aims were successful. Two years before the bombings, our road had many black flags on houses after Bloody Sunday.</p>
<p>I remember my Dad and one of our neighbours with packets of Christmas cards to be sent to IRA prisoners in Mountjoy and Long Kesh. After 1974 there were few who were openly republican, and those who were had regular visits from Special Branch in their little Ford Capris.</p>
<p>For Dubliners, the bombings brought home what was taking place less than 100 miles up the road. Many more people were to die before it ended. And like all armed conflicts most of the victims died needlessly for no worthwhile outcome.</p>

<p><strong>The report of the Oireachtas Committee also records some of the harrowing memories of the victims.</strong></p>
<p>Mr. John Molloy also detailed the scene of the Parnell Street bomb. He felt he was “looking into hell from what he saw. People were lying on the roads moaning, with bits of pieces of bodies here and there.” So great was his trauma at witnessing these scenes that he did not realise that he had been injured in the blast himself and was in need of medical attention.</p>
<p>Kevin O’Loughlin spoke of the agony of waiting for his mother to arrive home, knowing that her route home from work along South Leinster Street coincided with one of the bombsites… He recalled how his father eventually found his mother’s body in the morgue where he identified her. Because of the horrific nature of her injuries, the rest of the family were prevented from viewing her body. “I did not see my mother’s body when she was killed and I have no memory of what she looked like. She was wiped off the face of the earth in the eyes of myself and my brother. One day she was there and the next she was gone.”</p>
<p>Ms. Marie Sherry described being injured in the Parnell Street bomb and stated that her physical injuries were nothing when compared to the mental turmoil that she has suffered since:</p>
<blockquote readability="13">
<p><em>“I can only describe my life, particularly in my 20s and 30s although not so much now, as one of constant alert. For weeks and months after the bombs I used to go home and say, ‘Mum, any news on those people who did the bombing? Was anybody charged?’ There never was news. There were no names. Nobody was charged. I lived my life thinking ‘These guys are walking around. They could be sitting beside me in the cinema. They could be on the bus. These guys are free to do the same thing again’. It was just awful and it ruined my life. I did not want to go into town to socialise with my friends, I did not like being in a pub and I did not like being at the cinema … Only when one has been through it can one realise how horrific it is to live one’s life like that. I wish it had never happened. It was just awful.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mr. Thomas O’Brien told the Sub-Committee of the anguish suffered by members of his family following the murder of his brother, his sister-in-law and his two nieces in the bombings:</p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p><em>“My father died in 1972 and when Johnny, Anna, Jacqueline and Anne-Marie died, my mother was heartbroken and she is still. Johnny was the eldest brother of 11 and I often wonder what the two kids would be now. They would be in their 30’s and could be married and so on. We will never get over it.”</em></p>
</blockquote>


guid: https://gript.ie/?p=322411
title: “Looking into Hell”: 50th anniversary of British death squad bombing of Dublin and Monaghan
author: ;Dr Matt Treacy
hash: ���b�%����� q|g
tags: #Comment Ireland #Featured #British state #collusion #death squad #Dublin Monaghan bombings #Gardai
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Talbot-Street-RTE-Archives.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. On May 17, 1974 a total of 34 people were killed; 27 in three separate explosions at Parnell Street, Talbot Street and the junction of South Leinster Street and Nassau Street in Dublin; and 7 in a single explosion outside Greacen’s pub in the centre of Monaghan town.</strong></p><p><span>It was the greatest loss of life in a single day of the Troubles. Witnesses described the scene as “looking into hell” and “bits of pieces of bodies here and there” and spoke of the persistent fear and trauma that followed for some survivors. </span></p>
<p><span>The three bombs in Dublin all exploded within a four-minute period between 5:28 pm and 5:32 pm.  The bomb outside Greacen’s exploded at 7:58pm. It is generally accepted that those who carried out the bombings were members of loyalist death squads under the control of elements of the British intelligence services and RUC Special Branch. </span></p>
<p><span>Former British intelligence officer</span> <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/explosive-material-used-in-dublinmonaghan-bombings-acquired-by-loyalists-from-ira-stores-intelligence-agent/ar-BB1mjQJ6?ocid=BingNewsSerp"><span>Colin Wallace</span></a> <span>earlier this week made further claims regarding the extent of the involvement of British operatives in possibly supplying the explosives. Some of those directly involved were serving members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Ulster Constabulary.</span></p>
<p><span>The</span> <a href="http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/home/docs/CommissionOfInvestigationFinalReport.pdf"><span>report</span></a> <span>of the official Irish state inquiry under Justice Henry Barron accepted that loyalists who were under the control of British intelligence and RUC Special Branch had been central without directly naming anyone on the British state side who had been among the organisers. The report did note that its investigation had been obstructed and denied access to relevant intelligence reports by the British state.</span></p>
<p><span>I was ten in 1974. It was the year that I mainly remember for the fact that Dublin won the All-Ireland and I had been at my first big game – although not my first ever game – in Croke Park, when they beat Cork in the semi-final. (The bombings directly impacted on the GAA as the drawn league final between Kerry and Roscommon was supposed to be replayed on Sunday 19 but was postponed because of the bombings until Sunday May 26. Which meant that it was played on the same day in Croke Park as Dublin’s first match in the Leinster championship in which they beat Wexford 3 – 9 to 0 – 6.)</span></p>
<p><span>I do remember well the day of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. It was a sunny Friday afternoon, and we were all out on the road messing about and surrounded by the neighbourhood dogs. Friday was a big day, because my Dad who was working on Nassau Street where one of the car bombs exploded at just after half five used to bring us home magazines and comics and books and other treats assuming he and Paddy Campbell had collected from their customers.</span></p>
<p><span>Greenhills is about five miles from the city centre but we heard the explosions at 5.30pm, or so we believed. Then something approaching panic ensured as radio reports told where the bombs had been detonated, and suddenly the noise of children and dogs abated and the road was taken over by anxious families waiting for fathers and mothers and siblings to return from work.</span></p>
<p><span>My mother must have been particularly worried given that one of the bombs had exploded close to where my father’s tailoring shop was on Nassau Street. There were no buses to the city that day because of a strike, and it seemed like hours before people started to arrive home having mostly walked. At just before 8 that night another bomb exploded in the centre of Monaghan. </span></p>
<p><span>Despite the retrospectively ironic view of the British Ambassador</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050617081418/http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/01/02/story1281.asp"><span>Sir Arthur Galsworthy</span></a> <span>that no-one suspected any British involvement, it was immediately suspected that the bombs had been planted by loyalists who were in the midst of a general strike against power sharing. However, the Ulster Volunteer Force did not claim responsibility until 1993.</span></p>
<p><span>That claim was only made in response to growing suspicions backed by substantial investigative findings, that the loyalists responsible had at the very least been security forces informants. The UVF statement was a combination of machismo, threats and – very possibly given their ongoing manipulation by elements of the intelligence services – deflection from any attribution to RUC Special Branch or British intelligence.</span></p>
<p><span>Given what we know of the involvement of loyalists who were also part of the Glenanne death squads who murdered over 100 innocent Catholics in the “murder triangle” and their connections to the various branches of the state, some state involvement at several levels in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings seems to be pretty certain. The Mitchell farm at Glenanne was central to the bombing operation.</span></p>
<p><span>There is also the fact that Garda files from those years are sparse, and that for many years it would seem that the relatives of the victims were treated by Garda Special Branch as politically suspect, a smear that was upheld by most of the political and media establishment in the Republic.</span></p>
<p><span>It seems incredible now that it took a quarter of a century for the Irish state to establish an official enquiry. The Dáil record in which representations by Tony Gregory, Joe Costello and a small number of other TDs were almost dismissed with contempt makes for sorry reading. What became the Barron Report was published in 2003 and concluded that British state agents had been involved at some level, but that their efforts to get to the bottom of this had been hampered by the refusal of the British to hand over documents on the basis of national security concerns.</span></p>
<p><span>The report’s conclusions with regard to both the British refusal to cooperate and the missing Garda files are pretty damning:</span></p>
<p><span>As the </span><a href="http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/home/docs/DubMonFinal.pdf"><strong>Final Report</strong></a><span> from the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights on the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings observed: </span></p>
<blockquote readability="16">
<p><span>“2.19 In the opinion of Mr. Justice Barron, the fact that the Inquiry never saw original intelligence documents and was only allowed access to sixteen pages of a summary of the documents, was a hindrance to its work.</span></p>
<p><span>2.48 One of the most extraordinary revelations contained in the Barron Report is that there is an amount of official documentation, which has disappeared. Given that this was the largest atrocity in the State, it is astonishing that better care was not kept of these documents and there exists no complete explanation as to their whereabouts.”</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>Among the Garda Special Branch files that “could not be located” were ones labelled “Dublin bombings,” “IRA activities,” and two related to cars believed to have been involved in the bombing and to a file concerning an apparent suspect. </span></p>
<p><span>Another missing file concerns the appointment of a Special Branch detective, which some believe was part of the cover up of a former Garda who was strongly suspected of colluding in various incidents with the British security forces, most likely as a paid agent. Whether he had any connection to the bombings remains conjecture.</span></p>
<p><span>The object of the bombings of course was to frighten people in the south and to undermine any support there was for the IRA. Another motivation was to encourage the Irish state to take more draconian measures against the IRA. Both of those aims were successful. </span></p>
<p><span>Two years before the bombings, our road had many black flags on houses after Bloody Sunday. I remember my Dad and Shay, our next door neighbour, with packets of Christmas cards to be sent to Provisional IRA prisoners in Mountjoy and Long Kesh. After 1974 and with the increasing number of civilian deaths in the north there were few who were openly republican, and those who were had regular visits from Special Branch in their little Ford Capris.</span></p>
<p><span>Many more people were to die before it ended. And like all armed conflicts most of the victims died needlessly for no worthwhile outcome. Derry, Belfast, Monaghan, Dublin, Greysteel, Warrington.  </span></p>
<p><strong>The report of the Oireachtas Committee also records some of the harrowing memories of the victims.</strong></p>
<p><span>Mr. John Molloy also detailed the scene of the Parnell Street bomb. He felt he was “looking into hell from what he saw. People were lying on the roads moaning, with bits of pieces of bodies here and there.” So great was his trauma at witnessing these scenes that he did not realise that he had been injured in the blast himself and was in need of medical attention.</span></p>
<p><span>Kevin O’Loughlin spoke of the agony of waiting for his mother to arrive home, knowing that her route home from work along South Leinster Street coincided with one of the bombsite. He recalled how his father eventually found his mother’s body in the morgue where he identified her. Because of the horrific nature of her injuries, the rest of the family were prevented from viewing her body. “I did not see my mother’s body when she was killed and I have no memory of what she looked like. She was wiped off the face of the earth in the eyes of myself and my brother. One day she was there and the next she was gone.”</span></p>
<p><span>Ms. Marie Sherry described being injured in the Parnell Street bomb and stated that her physical injuries were nothing when compared to the mental turmoil that she has suffered since:</span></p>
<blockquote readability="13">
<p><span>“I can only describe my life, particularly in my 20s and 30s although not so much now, as one of constant alert. For weeks and months after the bombs I used to go home and say, ‘Mum, any news on those people who did the bombing? Was anybody charged?’ There never was news. There were no names. Nobody was charged. I lived my life thinking ‘These guys are walking around. They could be sitting beside me in the cinema. They could be on the bus. These guys are free to do the same thing again’. It was just awful and it ruined my life. I did not want to go into town to socialise with my friends, I did not like being in a pub and I did not like being at the cinema … Only when one has been through it can one realise how horrific it is to live one’s life like that. I wish it had never happened. It was just awful.</span><em><span>”</span></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>Mr. Thomas O’Brien told the Sub-Committee of the anguish suffered by members of his family following the murder of his brother, his sister-in-law and his two nieces in the bombings:</span></p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p><span>“My father died in 1972 and when Johnny, Anna, Jacqueline and Anne-Marie died, my mother was heartbroken and she is still. Johnny was the eldest brother of 11 and I often wonder what the two kids would be now. They would be in their 30’s and could be married and so on. We will never get over i</span><em><span>t.”</span></em></p>
</blockquote>

link:
https://gript.ie/looking-into-hell-50th-anniversary-of-british-death-squad-bombing-of-dublin-and-monaghan/


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747394100
title: ‘Exploding inequality’: The fight for the hearts and minds of Poland’s left
hash: dQ��О���{�
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The left-wing contenders in Sunday’s presidential election are expected to perform better this time - but not much.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/5/17/exploding-inequality-the-fight-for-the-hearts-and-minds-of-polands-left?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885349
title: Il Vietnam stabilisce un Partenariato Strategico anche con la Bielorussia
author: ;A A
hash: ����D�{>�y�7�
tags: #Italiano #Bielorussia #Indo-Pacific #Lukashenko #Vietnam
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>In occasione della storica visita di Stato in Bielorussia, il Segretario Generale Tô Lâm e il Presidente Aljaksandr Lukašėnka hanno innalzato le relazioni bilaterali a Partenariato Strategico, firmando numerosi accordi in materia di difesa, scienza e tecnologia, cultura e commercio.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span><span><em>Segue nostro</em></span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>.</span></a></span></strong></p>
<p>Il recente viaggio del Segretario Generale Tô Lâm a Minsk <a href="https://giuliochinappi.wordpress.com/2025/05/12/in-occasione-della-giornata-della-vittoria-il-vietnam-intensifica-i-legami-con-la-russia-e-le-altre-ex-repubbliche-sovietiche/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ha segnato segna l’ultima tappa di una tournée che lo aveva già portato in Kazakistan, Azerbaigian e Russia</a>, e si è concluso con l’adozione di un nuovo Partenariato Strategico per rinsaldare amicizia e cooperazione bilaterale. Nelle settimane precedenti, come detto, il Segretario Generale del Comitato Centrale del Partito Comunista del Vietnam aveva attraversato la vasta eredità sovietica visitando Kazakistan, Azerbaigian e Russia. In ciascuna tappa, ha sancito l’intensificarsi degli scambi politici, economici e culturali, <a href="https://giuliochinappi.wordpress.com/2025/05/15/viet-nam-e-azerbaigian-stringono-un-partenariato-strategico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delineando una “rete di partenariati” capace di sostenere il Vietnam nella costruzione di un’economia aperta e resiliente</a>. A Minsk, dal 11 al 12 maggio, il leader vietnamita ha coronato questa serie di incontri di alto livello con il suo primo viaggio in Bielorussia da quando ha assunto la guida del Partito, suggellando la partnership con il Presidente Aljaksandr  Lukašėnka.</p>
<p>All’arrivo nella capitale bielorussa, Tô Lâm è stato accolto al Palazzo dell’Indipendenza con una solenne cerimonia d’onore, alla presenza delle più alte cariche statali. Il Presidente Lukašėnka ha rivolto un caloroso benvenuto al suo ospite, sottolineando come «la visita di un Segretario Generale del Partito Comunista vietnamita a Minsk non avveniva da oltre un decennio». L’esercito bielorusso ha schierato il picchetto d’onore, mentre la fanfara ha eseguito gli inni nazionali di entrambi i paesi, evocando simbolicamente la continuità di un’amicizia lunga trentatré anni, dai giorni della caduta dell’Unione Sovietica.</p>
<p>Nel corso delle loro conversazioni private e della conferenza stampa congiunta, i due leader hanno rivendicato il valore storico di rapporti nati nel 1992 e rafforzati grazie a scambi culturali, accordi di cooperazione economico‑commerciale e saldi legami politici. In quest’occasione, Tô Lâm ha dichiarato: «Il Vietnam attribuisce grande importanza alla sua amicizia consolidata con la Bielorussia e desidera approfondire la cooperazione in tutti i settori, per il reciproco beneficio dei nostri popoli e per la pace e lo sviluppo nella regione e nel mondo». Da parte sua, il Presidente Lukašėnka ha sottolineato che «l’innalzamento delle nostre relazioni a Partenariato Strategico risponde alle reali esigenze di collaborazione, testimonia il rispetto reciproco e lo spirito di mutuo sostegno tra Minsk e Hà Nội».</p>
<p>Al culmine della visita, Tô Lâm e Lukašėnka hanno assistito allo scambio di una serie di documenti di cooperazione, tra cui un Memorandum d’intesa sulla formazione militare, un programma culturale per il triennio 2026–2028, e accordi in materia di giustizia, sanità e telecomunicazioni. Il documento di più alto rilievo resta però la <em>Dichiarazione Congiunta sull’istituzione del Partenariato Strategico Vietnam–Bielorussia</em>.</p>
<p>La dichiarazione fissa una visione ambiziosa: innanzitutto, elevare il dialogo politico attraverso consultazioni regolari a livello di viceministri degli Esteri, di Parlamenti e di partiti politici. Sul fronte economico, le parti si impegnano a sfruttare appieno i vantaggi dell’accordo di libero scambio tra il Vietnam e l’Unione Economica Eurasiatica (UEE), di cui la Bielorussia è membro, semplificando l’accesso di prodotti agricoli, ittici e fertilizzanti ai rispettivi mercati. I due Paesi avranno inoltre cura di sviluppare infrastrutture logistiche, trasporti terrestri, ferroviari e marittimi, nonché di favorire l’espansione dei voli diretti.</p>
<p>Nel settore dell’energia, Vietnam e Bielorussia concordano di promuovere progetti di energie rinnovabili e pulite, <a href="https://giuliochinappi.wordpress.com/2025/02/12/i-paesi-dellasean-puntano-sullenergia-nucleare/">esplorare la costruzione di nuove centrali nucleari in Vietnam</a> e sostenere l’uso pacifico dell’energia atomica in conformità alle normative internazionali. La dichiarazione prevede l’istituzione di un accordo intergovernativo sulla cooperazione nucleare, affinché il Vietnam possa accelerare il suo programma di centrali atomiche con il supporto tecnico e scientifico bielorusso.</p>
<p>Sul piano della difesa e della sicurezza, il Partenariato Strategico estende la collaborazione alla formazione di ufficiali, allo scambio di esperti, all’industria militare e alla lotta alle minacce non tradizionali: terrorismo, crimine transnazionale e crimine cibernetico. A tal proposito, Tô Lâm ha affermato che «la nostra cooperazione in materia di sicurezza non è rivolta contro alcun’altra nazione, ma mira a garantire stabilità e sviluppo sostenibile nella regione Asia‑Pacifico e oltre».</p>
<p>La scienza e la tecnologia emergono come un altro asse prioritario: il Vietnam e la Bielorussia si daranno appuntamento nel 2026 per il “Anno della Cooperazione Scientifica e Formativa”, durante il quale Università e centri di ricerca collaboreranno in progetti di intelligenza artificiale, automazione, biotecnologie e infrastrutture digitali. Un Memorandum d’intesa già firmato tra i rispettivi ministeri della Scienza e della Comunicazione prevede l’adozione di programmi congiunti per la trasformazione digitale degli enti pubblici e dei settori industriali.</p>
<p>Nel corso del suo soggiorno a Minsk, il Segretario Generale ha tenuto anche un incontro con i rappresentanti delle associazioni di amicizia e scambio culturale in Bielorussia, insieme con i veterani che avevano aiutato il Vietnam negli anni della guerra. Nel corso di questo evento, Tô Lâm ha sottolineato: «Il contributo dei nostri amici bielorussi, dalle truppe veterane ai ricercatori civili, resta un patrimonio umano insostituibile. Il Vietnam non dimentica mai il sostegno che ci è stato offerto nei momenti cruciali della nostra storia». Inoltre, Lukašėnka ha confermato l’impegno di Minsk a sostenere la comunità vietnamita residente, facilitandone le condizioni di vita, lavoro e studio, in un contesto di piena libertà culturale e religiosa.</p>
<p>Nel complesso, i settori di cooperazione tracciati dal Partenariato Strategico riflettono un ampio spettro di possibilità. In primo piano c’è la complementarietà economica: la Bielorussia potrà fornire al Vietnam macchinari agricoli, veicoli e prodotti industriali competitivi, mentre Hà Nội esporterà in Europa orientale frutta, prodotti ittici e tessile. Il rafforzamento delle rotte commerciali via Eurasia, grazie alla Blue Highway e al corridoio trans‑caspico, promette di incrementare i volumi di scambio e di avvicinare ulteriormente i due mercati.</p>
<p>Il settore energetico, con l’avvio di centrali nucleari vietnamite su tecnologia bielorussa e il potenziamento delle rinnovabili in entrambe le nazioni, risponde alle esigenze climatiche e di sicurezza energetica di entrambe le parti. Dal canto suo, la cooperazione scientifica potrà accelerare la diffusione di start‑up hi‑tech, mentre le iniziative in ambito culturale e turistico renderanno più frequenti i flussi di turisti e studenti.</p>
<p>In materia di politica internazionale, la dichiarazione del 12 maggio riafferma il «rispetto del principio di autodeterminazione di ogni popolo» e la comune volontà di difendere un ordine internazionale multipolare, in cui ogni Paese goda di pari diritti e pari responsabilità. Il Vietnam, ha confermato Tô Lâm, sarà ponte tra la Bielorussia e l’ASEAN, mentre Minsk agirà come hub per l’accesso vietnamita ai Paesi dell’UEE e dell’Asia Centrale.</p>
<p>Il Partenariato Strategico Vietnam–Bielorussia, ratificato dal Segretario Generale Tô Lâm e dal Presidente Lukašėnka, rappresenta dunque un salto di qualità nelle relazioni bilaterali tra le due parti. Radicato in oltre trent’anni di fiducia e cooperazione, il nuovo quadro offre un’agenda ricca di iniziative condivise: da infrastrutture e energia, a scienza e sicurezza, fino ai legami culturali e umani. Con questa visita, il Vietnam conferma la propria politica di apertura e diversificazione delle relazioni esterne, mentre la Bielorussia rafforza il suo ruolo di partner strategico in Asia. L’obiettivo dichiarato di entrambi i leader è chiaro: trasformare la solida amicizia storica in un partenariato moderno, dinamico e sostenibile, capace di generare benessere e stabilità per i popoli di entrambi i Paesi.</p>
<p></p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/il-vietnam-stabilisce-un-partenariato-strategico-anche-con-la-bielorussia/


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747462419
title: Trump says he will call Putin, Zelenskyy to discuss Ukraine ‘bloodbath’
hash: �Fg��x�˳��� Q
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The US leader says he will phone the Russian president, followed by his Ukrainian counterpart and NATO allies on Monday.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/ukraine-says-russian-drone-attack-on-bus-kills-9-hours-after-direct-talks?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747464847
title: Knicks oust Celtics in Game 6 playoffs, make Eastern Conference finals
hash: ��sݻ�]Q� � �
tags: #Sport
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
New York's 38-point victory against Boston Celtics in Game 6 was the largest win in Knicks playoff history.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/17/knicks-oust-celtics-in-game-6-playoffs-make-eastern-conference-finals?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165731/donald-trump-boeing-747-et-la-fissure
title: Analyse | Trump, le 747 et la fissure
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165731/donald-trump-boeing-747-et-la-fissure
hash: �)�����!���W�T�J
content:
<p>Les purs et durs du mouvement MAGA acceptent mal l’idée de voir le Qatar offrir un Boeing 747 à Donald Trump.</p>

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guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165502/comment-trump-interlocuteur-hamas-negociations-otages
title: Libération d’Edan Alexander : comment Trump est-il devenu un interlocuteur du Hamas?
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165502/comment-trump-interlocuteur-hamas-negociations-otages
hash: ~ <+ ��O�0!���T
content:
<p>Des négociations directes entre les États-Unis et le Hamas pourraient marquer un changement de cap.</p>

attributes:
{"enclosures":[{"url":"https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_635,h_357/v1/ici-info/16x9/witkoff.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","length":0}]}


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165756/catholique-eglise-ottawa-international-ukraine
title: Messe inaugurale du pape Léon XIV : foi et diplomatie au menu
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165756/catholique-eglise-ottawa-international-ukraine
hash: �7�V��]5{��A��
content:
<p>Le premier ministre Mark Carney s’envole vers le Vatican pour assister à la messe inaugurale du pape Léon XIV.</p>

attributes:
{"enclosures":[{"url":"https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_635,h_357/v1/ici-info/16x9/mark-carney-avion-famille-rome-vatican.JPG","type":"image/jpeg","length":0}]}


guid: 682738896660b2000128767a
title: Mali Suspends French TV Channel for Fake News
author: ;Dean Andromidas
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/mali-suspends-french-tv-channel-for-fake-news/
hash: kn���AcM����K2
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>The <a href="https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250514/1073065424.html">government of Mali</a> on May 14 announced the suspension of the operations of the Paris-based TV5 Monde for violating Mali’s media laws in its May 3 broadcast, covering an opposition protest in Bamako against the possible dissolution of political parties. “These violations concern imbalance in the presentation of information, and defamation of the armed and security forces,” Mali’s High Authority for Communication stated. The suspension of parties followed the repeal of the Political Parties Charter earlier this month, which was aimed at curbing their proliferation. There were no less than 400 political parties, which will now be reduced through a new regulatory law.</p>
<p>While the Western media and liberal establishment have been quick to claim that the military-backed government of Malii is authoritarian, the reality is that a recent Mali Métre survey revealed that 90% of those polled approved the work of the government. The poll was conducted by the Germany-based Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is the official foundation of the German liberal Free Democratic Party, the poll found that 68.7% of Malians say things are getting better in the country, while 48.5% point to improved security. Transitional President, General Assimi Goïta, enjoys a 72.1% approval rating. Those polled also supported Russia’s strong support, with 78.8% saying Russia will help Mali restore its territorial integrity.</p>
<p>Mali is a member state of the Confederation of Sahel States, along with Burkina Faso and Niger. A strong <a href="https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250514/1073059550.html">92% of Malians support the Confederation</a>. The Confederation of Sahel states has captured popular support throughout Africa, especially in East Africa. The Foreign Minister of Togo recently stated publicly that his country would seriously consider joining the Confederation. According to a recent Afrobarometer survey, 54% of citizens of Togo would support joining the Confederation, while 64%) of Togolese think Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger leaving ECOWAS is somewhat or very justified.</p>


guid: 6827537d6660b200012876bf
title: The EU Is a ‘Dead Man Walking’
author: ;Claudio Celani
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/the-eu-is-a-dead-man-walking/
hash: ۨ@֖���3��(��
tags: #Collapsing Imperial System #Europe #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>While the European Union as an institution still walks and speaks, it is becoming more and more an empty shell, with the rift among its member countries regarding war becoming greater by the day. One of these rifts came out yesterday, when the German daily <em>Die Welt</em> leaked that the Social Democracy government partner did not want Italy to be part of a “strategic alliance” with France and Poland, as CDU’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz had proposed. “In an early draft of the coalition agreement, Rome was still part of a strategic EU axis. According to information from <em>Die Welt</em>, the passage was deleted at the insistence of the SPD. CDU representatives speak unofficially of a mistake.”</p>
<p><a href="https://archive.ph/9wGYc#selection-2521.0-2549.82">According to <em>Die Welt</em></a>, the original wording was: “In the ‘Weimar-plus’ format, other close partners such as the Czech Republic should also be included. As the third largest economy in the EU, Italy is an important partner for us.” The final version, instead, states: “In the Weimar Triangle, we will seek close coordination on all relevant European policy issues in order to act more united in the service of the entire EU. Other close partners should also be included in the ‘Weimar-plus’ format.”</p>
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guid: 682754ae6660b200012876d9
title: The BfV Operation Against the AfD Already Looks Like a Flop
author: ;Claudio Celani
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/is-the-bfv-operation-against-the-afd-already-a-flop/
hash: ��)�Y!��8 wr��
tags: #Collapsing Imperial System #Europe #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>The magazine <em>Cicero</em> has published the 1,000-plus page report ("expertise") of the German intelligence service BfV that ostensibly proves that AfD is a “extremist right-wing” party. It seems that the report contains no information that justified its classification, i.e., no information coming from BfV’s covert intelligence. It has only public statements from AfD rank and file and leadership members, which fit into the category of “discriminating.” This makes the chances for these charges to stand against a vigorous legal challenge quite meager, and may be the reason why the BfV has “suspended” the “extremist” classification until the court issues a sentence on the emergency legal challenge launched by the AfD.</p>
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guid: 6827617e6660b200012876fd
title: Estonians Attempt To Intercept Cargo Vessel to Russia on Baltic Sea International Waters
author: ;Bill Jones
hash: �H� ]���ag���
tags: #Strategic War Danger #Europe #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>Estonia, the “mouse that roared,” is at it again, in its attempt to start a war against Russia. Estonia used a warship to try to divert a suspected “shadow fleet oil tanker,” the <em>Jaguar</em>, which was coming from India, from taking energy supplies to Russia. This is only the latest case of a Baltic country seeking to intercept a vessel servicing Moscow’s energy exports.</p>
<p>The warship, which was supported by NATO aircraft, ordered the freighter to change course, which it refused to do. There was also a helicopter deployed which attempted to land forces on the <em>Jaguar</em>, which did not succeed. A Russian Sukhoi flew to the area, perhaps in response to a call from <em>Jaguar</em>, probably to render support to the freighter if that were needed. The freighter was allowed to continue. The whole incident is said to have taken place in international waters.</p>
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guid: 682767d76660b2000128771d
title: Russian Ambassador to the Vatican Meets with Pope Leo XIV
author: ;Bill Jones
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/russian-ambassador-to-the-vatican-meets-with-pope-leo/
hash: �%�)u=,«�M��
tags: #New World Paradigm #Russia and Ukraine #News
content:
<div><img src="https://eir.news/content/images/size/w1200/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-16-at-9.57.08-PM.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p>Russian Ambassador to the Vatican Ivan Soltanovsky expressed confidence that the new Pope Leo XIV could play an important role in bringing peace to the Ukraine conflict. He made this remark after his first meeting with Pope Leo on May 16. “The potential of the Russian-Vatican dialogue remains solid, the main thing is the mutual desire to work on converting potential energy into kinetic energy,” <a href="https://en.iz.ru/en/1887370/2025-05-16/russian-ambassador-stated-there-potential-dialogue-between-russia-and-vatican"><em>Izvestia</em></a> reported.</p>
<p>He believes that the Pope plans to maintain the course aimed at promoting peace, dialogue, church freedom, and family values. Soltanovsky also stated that the Russian Federation expects to continue cooperation with the Vatican, including with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.</p>
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guid: 682772c96660b20001287739
title: U.S. Secret Service Investigating Former FBI Director James Comey
author: ;Steven Carr
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/us-secret-service-investigating-former-fbi-director-james-comey/
hash: A����Bz�v��Z;
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>On May 15, Homeland Security Secretary <a href="https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1923141313005785365">Kristi Noem posted on X</a>, “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump. DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.” According to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5303091-noem-dhs-secret-service-investigating-comey/"><em>The Hill</em></a> Comey is currently under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and possibly other federal agencies. The White House deputy chief of staff <a href="https://x.com/Taylor47/status/1923128430415184173">Taylor Budowich posted on X</a>, that Comey’s actions “can clearly be interpreted as ‘a hit’ on the sitting President of the United States.”</p>
<p>Comey is under investigation because earlier, on May 15, he had posted a photo on Instagram of a message written in seashells spelling “8647,” complete with a caption that read, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” The number 86 is slang for “throw out,” “get rid of,” or “to kill.” Whereas the number “47” refers to Trump, as the 47th President. Later in the day, Comey deleted his seashell post and issued a statement that he assumed that the image was a political message, but was unaware that the expression could be considered a call for violence.</p>
<p>James Comey has a long history of dirty tricks that backfire on him. To eliminate Donald Trump, Comey used everything from “Russiagate” to his “off the books” 2016 <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/25/fbi-looking-james-comeys-books-honeypot-operation-targeting-2016/">“Operation Honeypot”</a>, in which Comey was reported to have used two female undercover “honeypot” FBI agents to infiltrate the highest levels of the Trump presidential campaign.</p>


guid: 682778eb6660b2000128775d
title: Swiss Joining Latest EU Sanctions Against Russia
author: ;Rainer Apel
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/swiss-joining-latest-eu-sanctions-against-russia/
hash: ]!E��1H7��(�j�h
tags: #Strategic War Danger #Europe #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>Switzerland, which has been neutral until the start of the Ukraine war, has moved closer to the European Union geopolitical views since, by joining its sanctions against Russia.</p>
<p>Moving further from its original neutrality status, Switzerland has joined all measures of the recent 16th package of sanctions against Russia, the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement. “At its meeting on May 14, 2025, the Federal Council decided to adopt the remaining measures of the EU’s 16th package of sanctions against Russia that are relevant to Switzerland. This increases the impact of the EU measures.” The new measures took effect in Switzerland as of May 15, it said. The sanctions are against 48 individuals, 35 entities and 74 vessels.</p>
<p>“Export restrictions on dual-use goods and goods that contribute to military and technological enhancement are being tightened. This includes a ban on exporting chromium ores to Russia, as they may be used for military purposes. The list of goods that benefit Russian industry is also being expanded, for example to include chemicals. There is now also a ban on the purchase and import of Russian primary aluminum,” it said.</p>
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guid: 6827798d6660b20001287771
title: Merz Evades Question About Taurus, Attacks Vance
author: ;Rainer Apel
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/merz-evades-question-about-taurus-attacks-vance/
hash: ��=�~��7����=
tags: #Strategic War Danger #Europe #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>In Germany’s primetime “Maybrit Illner” TV show, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, aware that the Taurus issue is unpopular, made an attempt to claim that nobody in his government is now talking about the issue. But talkmaster Illner countered him, saying, “Yes we are!” with a reference to SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch, who, earlier this week, had categorically rejected a Taurus delivery.</p>
<p>Merz then claimed that “the Taurus is being hyped up a bit, as if it were just below the nuclear threshold. That’s wrong,” trying to portray the Taurus as a “normal missile,” like the cruise missiles France and the U.K. were delivering to Ukraine. A German delivery was not on the agenda right now, as the delivery preparation and training of Ukrainian personnel was required. In any case, he declared not to intend discussing the issue in public.</p>
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guid: 6827842b6660b20001287783
title: Russian Ambassador-at-Large Raises How Ukraine Can Achieve a Truce
author: ;David Shavin
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/russian-ambassador-at-large-the-way-for-ukraine-to-achieve-a-truce/
hash: ��o�,)66�@�VQ�6
tags: #Strategic War Danger #Russia and Ukraine #Ukraine conflict #News
content:
<div><img src="https://eir.news/content/images/size/w1200/2025/05/F_j2yUxXsAAuDFK.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p>Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large, outlined the way forward for Ukraine to obtain a truce, along with the problem with the present way that they have been proceeding. “We definitely realize that the Ukrainian side needs [a pause] to reinforce its positions, build new fortifications, deliver arms, regroup forces, etc. Which means reaching a new level of escalation in a month. Naturally, that would be a move in the direction opposite of a resolution.” For that reason, “a ceasefire not integrated into a broader program for long-term settlement would not satisfy the Russian side,” he was quoted as saying today, by <a href="https://www.rt.com/russia/617673-miroshnik-istanbul-talks-ceasefire/">RT.com</a>.</p>
<p>The negotiators, both Russian and Ukrainian, today decided to detail on paper how they would want a ceasefire to work; and they are to meet again after exchanging their proposals. Otherwise, Miroshnik criticized Kiev’s behavior so far, describing its lack of seriousness, trying to “shift a pragmatic work process of talks towards a show.” He also addressed a way to deal with the legal status of documents signed by Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose presidential term expired in 2024: “There are risks that any agreement signed in an unlawful way would be later fully disavowed. Mechanisms for full legalization need to be part of the negotiations, where the parties could discuss some transition conditions.”</p>
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guid: 682786576660b2000128779c
title: A Trump-Putin Meeting May Be Imminent
author: ;David Shavin
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/a-trump-putin-meeting-imminent/
hash: �įS� �Z�gV�|�B`
tags: #U.S. and Canada #Russia and Ukraine #Ukraine conflict #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump, in affirming that he found no reason for “disappointment” in the Russian negotiating team Istanbul 2.0, also added his view that there would not be substantial progress in negotiations until a direct meeting occurs between Russian President Vladimir Putin and himself.</p>
<p>Later in the day, one of Trump’s deputy assistants, Sebastian Gorka, said that a meeting between Trump and Putin is “imminent.” He was speaking at a security summit arranged by Politico, where he said: “Deals are all about timing. When the time is right, that’s when the president is in the room with Putin”—and the right moment is “imminent.” He did not elaborate, and did not provide any further details about a possible meeting between Putin and Trump.</p>
<p>Today, Trump told reporters in the U.A.E., when asked when he could meet with Putin, that “it’s time for us to just do it. We’re going to get it done.” We’ll meet “as soon as we can set it up.” The world will be “much, much safer” in two to three weeks.” Later, Trump added: “We have to meet. He and I will meet.”</p>
<p>Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov addressed the matter today, saying that a meeting between Trump and Putin is “certainly necessary,” but stressed that such a high-level summit “must be prepared and must be productive.” He explained that such meetings always include “long and intense preparations, including consultations by expert groups from both sides.” Trump and Putin should meet primarily for the furthering of bilateral Russia-U.S. relations, both on international affairs and regional problems, and the Ukraine crisis would obviously be a key part of that.</p>


guid: 6827c6ae6660b200012878fc
title: Trump Returns from Mideast with $2 Trillion in Deals, But Gaza Will Be the Test
author: ;Bill Jones
hash: [A"���ݙ�<8]X� Q
tags: #New World Paradigm #Southwest Asia #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>Trump returned from his visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the U.A.E. with around promises of $2 trillion in commercial deals, largely consisting of purchases of Boeing jets. While these investments, if realized, will no doubt create more employment, it is a far cry from reviving the U.S. economy. He also came back to a number of hurdles for his program with regard to the migrants. The Supreme Court had ruled that he did not have the authority under the Alien Enemies Act to arbitrarily deport illegal aliens. Congress has also failed to support his “Big Beautiful Tax Bill.” Now that he is back he may succeed in pressuring those Republicans who had big trouble passing this legislation.</p>
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guid: 6827d7d36660b20001287922
title: Colombia Joins Belt and Road Initiative, Applies To Join BRICS New Development Bank
author: ;Gretchen Small
hash: cL���`�� ��U �X�
tags: #New World Paradigm #Ibero-America and Caribbean #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>On May 14, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed the Memorandum of Understanding by which Colombia joins China’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative. Two days later, before leaving China to return to Colombia today, Petro met with New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff and her team, and announced afterwards that his government has submitted an application to join the NDB.</p>
<p><a href="https://x.com/petrogustavo/status/1923219400515088830">Petro posted</a> that the project which most interested the NDB team was Colombia’s proposal to build a “120 km rail or canal connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean … linking the Gulf of Urabá with Cupica in Chocó. It could link all of Atlantic South America, to improve its transportation costs, with Asia. A global project that would make Colombia even more the heart of the world.”</p>
<p>These steps by the country which the United States has (ab)used in recent decades as its most reliable client-state in the region, provoked a fit in Washington, D.C. The State Department’s Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau rushed to threaten that the Trump administration will use its power at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and other Western-dominated international financial institutions (the World Bank and IMF) to cut off any loans, even disbursement of already-approved loans, for any Colombian project in which a Chinese company is involved. “These projects endanger the region’s safety and security. American tax dollars SHOULD NOT be used in any way by international organizations to subsidize Chinese companies in our hemisphere,” <a href="https://x.com/WHAAsstSecty/status/1923052472383439134">the Bureau posted</a> May 15. Everyone knows the threat specifically refers to IADB and World Bank financing for the first phase of Bogotá’s metro project.</p>
<p>Ever-so-subtly, the Bureau followed up with a <a href="https://x.com/USEmbPAN/status/1923170559203971541">post</a> referencing the months-old news that “the United States welcomes Panama’s recent official withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.presidencia.gov.co/prensa/Paginas/Hemos-dado-unos-pasos-mucho-mas-firmes-para-que-Colombia-sea-el-corazon-250516.aspx">Petro told reporters</a> before leaving Beijing this morning that his government is not looking for a fight with the United States, but for economic relations with the whole world. “We can talk on an equal footing with the United States,” and now we have done the same with China, he said. “We are going to talk with India, with Japan; we have opened many diplomatic relations with Africa that did not exist before.” We have a good relationship with Europe, the Arab world, “practically everyone…. Unfortunately, (our country) has been blinded in the world by looking exclusively at Miami, and that is very harmful.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.presidencia.gov.co/prensa/Paginas/Colombia-radica-formalmente-en-China-solicitud-de-ingreso-al-banco-250516.aspx">The Office of the Presidency described</a> Colombia’s decision to join the NDB as “a strategic step towards diversifying international financing sources and consolidating partnerships with emerging economies. The NDB will represent for the country a concrete alternative to traditional financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank…. This positions the country as a relevant actor within a financial architecture where the economies of the global south are seeking greater autonomy and equity in decision-making.” By thus associating with the BRICS, Colombia can access increased trade, foreign direct investment and technology transfer, it added.</p>

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guid: 682819936660b2000128795c
title: The Humanity of the Other Is the Secret Weapon of Peace
author: ;Dennis Speed
link: https://eir.news/2025/05/news/the-humanity-of-the-other-is-the-secret-weapon-of-peace/
hash: ���e��hm��:ʘ��
tags: #Daily Lead #LaRouche movement
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>The successful beginning of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine yesterday in Istanbul, is a de facto resumption of the process that had been aborted through the intervention of Britain’s Boris Johnson in early April of 2022. This was initiated by actors in Europe—Starmer, Macron, Merz and Tusk—who had intended to do precisely the opposite. President Putin’s rapid-response counter-offer to re-open negotiations to bring the war to a close was implemented without a 30-day ceasefire “or else.” This has driven Zelenskyy into an apoplectic rage, but without substantive effect, rendering his “no negotiations with Russia” decree of October 2022 irrelevant. President Donald Trump, just returning from Southwest Asia—without visiting Israel—and who also wants to end the NATO-Russia war, has made it clear that the United States endorses the resumption of the interrupted Istanbul process.</p>
<p>There is a lack of vision, however, exhibited in the lack of advanced solution in the realm of physical economy, both with respect to Southwest Asia, including both Gaza and Iran, and the Ukraine conflict. In today’s meeting of the International Peace Coalition, there was an important discussion about whether policies like the Oasis Plan proposal first proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975, exactly 50 years ago, were the new name for peace. At next weekend’s Schiller Institute conference, <a href="https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2025/03/01/conference-invitation/">“A Beautiful Vision for Humanity in Times of Great Turbulence!”</a> such solution-concepts will be presented in the six panels of the May 24-25 gathering.</p>
<p>The beginning of the change that is required comes from understanding and accepting the humanity of “the enemy,” the “Other.” Ray McGovern of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, who just returned from two weeks in Russia representing the better angels of America at various events memorializing the Victory Against Fascism in Europe 80 years ago, offered an insight, by telling a story about Vladimir Putin’s relationship to World War Two, into why this ceremony is so central to Russian cultural life.</p>
<p>“Here’s Putin. Now this is kind of poignant, if you’re open minded. ‘My mother told me stories about the war. And my relatives passed me a letter from my grandfather, during the war, to his son. His son was in the army, and the letter was an account of how my grandfather’s wife got killed. A bullet hit her in the stomach during the war, and she was dying in his arms, and my grandfather … was holding her, and she said, ‘Don’t cry for me. Pursue the battle…. Don’t make <em>me</em> sad. Don’t <em>you</em> be sad.’ So Putin says, ‘This is a quality that many people have, regardless of nationality. Even as they are dying, they are thinking of other people, including Russians.’</p>
<p>“Now, Putin is not living up to his hyper-nationalist reputation here. He would have said, ‘Ah, we Russians, we have this special quality…. No; he says, ‘this is universal. This is a human quality, including the Russians. She knew that she was dying and she said, don’t cry, don’t make me sad in her dying hour. Can you imagine? She was worried about my grandfather.’ At the end of the letter was a little postscript: ‘Smash those bastards!!’ Putin calls that, in the understatement of the century, ‘a motivational phrase.…’</p>
<p>“Now this is the payoff here. ‘I took the letter and I read it. I was an adult. I had been an intelligence officer for nearly twenty years. I did not expect to learn anything new. But when I took the letter and began to read it, I suddenly looked at these past events in a different way, I suddenly felt the fabric of those events. And this must be passed on.’ Fabric of such events.”</p>
<p>The Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon, who spoke immediately following McGovern, put a human face on the Israelis and Palestinians of today’s Gaza. “Hope is an action. I’m an Israeli. I lost my parents on October 7 [2023]. I (also) lost many of my childhood friends. And I partnered with Palestinians that also lost family members and loved ones, over a century-long conflict. And we are saying that hope is an action that we are creating together by envisioning a better future, and working together to make it into a reality.</p>
<p>“And exactly like Ray said, each one of us should be accountable. We cannot wait for the Messiah. We cannot wait for the prophets; we cannot wait for angels. Each one of us, here, … needs to be the Messiah. Each one of us needs to act as an angel. And each one of us needs to act as a prophet. So if enough people will act upon those values, and will be courageous and brave enough, we’re going to achieve peace by 2030. This is our mission.</p>
<p>“We created a coalition because we realized that, if we would not be synchronized, we would not make it. (At) The People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem last week, we rented the most prestigious venue within Israel, in Jerusalem, where usually the far right is doing its gathering. We decided, we are going to bring peace to Jerusalem. We are going to bring peace to the International Conference Center (ICC) in Jerusalem ... it was beautiful to see both Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, Jewish Israelis, youth and elderly, coming together, stating, on the stage, (that) we must end the war, we must end the war now. It is already too late for so many, for too many. We must make a deal, and we must start a peace process. That’s the only way to move forward, and that’s how we created great hope, by envisioning a better future.”</p>
<p>To provide “a beautiful vision for humanity in a time of great adversity,” however, it is essential to provide the physical-economic conditions through which that vision can become reality. The <a href="https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2022/11/30/ten-principles-of-a-new-international-security-and-development-architecture/">Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture</a> written by the Schiller Institute’s Helga Zepp-LaRouche specify how that can be done. The collaboration of nations in the Belt and Road Initiative, like that now being pursued by South America’s Colombia with China, as well as Brazil and others, is the essential prerequisite for peace.</p>
<p>This, however, also identifies the potentially fatal flaw in American foreign <em>and domestic</em> policy. America had abandoned its own American System of promoting technological progress, eradicating poverty, spreading mass literacy, and promoting the General Welfare of the posterity of all nations. The revolutionaries in the early American colonies who decided, 250 years ago, “to take arms against the sea of troubles” caused by the British Empire, “and by opposing, end them,” established that system. And without returning to that system, no amount of good intentions will prevent the United States from pushing the world to the brink of thermonuclear war, from which we may fail to return, as we nearly did last November.</p>
<p>This generation of Americans, now watching the mass killing of innocent people in Palestine, and the pursuit of a senseless war in Ukraine, must rise up and declare their independence from the crimes being committed in their name. The assembly on May 24-25 at the Schiller Institute Conference, “A Beautiful Vision for Humanity in Times of Great Turbulence!” can be the beginning of an “Intercontinental Congress for Peace Through Development” that finally realizes the dream of those who have proudly striven, fought and died for the freedom of all men and women everywhere, not only in our lifetime, but for all time.</p>


guid: 68283c376660b20001287999
title: Trump Says Iran Has Received a Proposal on Nuclear, but Iran Remains Skeptical
author: ;Bill Jones
hash: �~�k��aTb&],f
tags: #Strategic War Danger #Southwest Asia #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p>President Trump insists that he has placed a proposal on the table for resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and that Iran has simply to accept it to prevent military action. While Trump initially said that they had to abandon nuclear energy entirely, it seems now that the only issue of contention is the enrichment of uranium. The new proposal from the Administration seems to indicate that Iran should not enrich uranium at all, whereas the Iranians would agree only to prohibit enrichment to a high level, which would give them a capability of creating weapons-grade plutonium.</p>
<p>Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, get rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.</p>
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link:
https://eir.news/2025/05/news/trump-says-iran-has-received-a-proposal-on-nuclear-but-iran-remains-skeptical/


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747467772
title: Israel’s Gaza ‘disengagement’ that paved the way for conquest
hash: �?L��[=;���r po
tags: #Opinions
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 was not a concession. It was a strategic move to thwart Palestinian statehood. 

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/5/17/israels-gaza-disengagement-that-paved-the-way-for-conquest?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747465317
title: Arab League calls for funds to rebuild Gaza at summit in Baghdad
hash: ׵������A��Z��{�
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The war on Palestinian territory dominated the summit, especially after Israel approves plans to expand its offensive.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/gaza-likely-to-dominate-agenda-as-arab-league-meets-in-baghdad?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165711/pluie-lac-du-bonnet-incendie
title: Feu de forêt : une pluie bienvenue, mais loin d’être salvatrice au Manitoba
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165711/pluie-lac-du-bonnet-incendie
hash: æ�A�SQHq�~�w �
content:
<p>Une petite zone de la municipalité rurale du Lac du Bonnet a rouvert ses portes aux résidents permanents.</p>

attributes:
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title: Festival international du journalisme : les nouveaux visages de l'information numérique
content: <p>Et si les réseaux sociaux étaient une source crédible et rigoureuse d'informations?</p>
hash: ������&sN�Ɗ*�
guid:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165804/festival-journalisme-carleton-sur-mer-information-reseaux-sociaux

link:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165804/festival-journalisme-carleton-sur-mer-information-reseaux-sociaux

attributes:
{"enclosures":[{"url":"https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_635,h_357/v1/ici-info/16x9/panel-caribou-festival-international-jounralisme-20778.JPG","type":"image/jpeg","length":0}]}


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747402450
title: Q&amp;A: Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo on his Olympic triumph; African sprinters
link: https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/17/q-african-sprinters?traffic_source=rss
hash: �֥2}׏�[��sQ�B
tags: #Sport
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Tebogo talks to Al Jazeera about breaking the American and Jamaican dominance, and the future of sprinting in Africa.


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747463884
title: Libyan ministers resign as protesters call for government to step down
hash: �M�r�i�~,��
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Police officer killed as the country sees renewed deadly clashes in the aftermath of the killing of a militia commander.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/libyan-ministers-resign-as-protesters-call-for-government-to-step-down?traffic_source=rss


guid: yt:video:zvFVj_ZcSNs
title: LaRouche: &quot;Laying Down the Laws of Physical Economy&quot;
author: ;The LaRouche Organization
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvFVj_ZcSNs
hash: Y.� J����CR=��mW
attributes:
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guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747470641
title: UK police charge three Iranians with suspected espionage
hash: a�8�G��Ax�ه��
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The men were charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, police said.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/uk-police-charge-three-iranians-with-suspected-espionage?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031440 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Denmark And Italy Lead Pushback Against ECHR On Migration Rulings
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: L�d�q��2��ם[�&
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Denmark And Italy Lead Pushback Against ECHR On Migration Rulings</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://rmx.news/article/denmark-and-italy-lead-pushback-against-echr-on-migration-rulings/"><em>Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix news,</em></a></p>

<p><strong>Denmark and Italy are spearheading a growing coalition of European countries calling into question the role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in migration policy,</strong> according to reporting by French newspaper <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/l-italie-et-le-danemark-envisagent-de-denoncer-l-emprise-de-la-cedh-sur-les-politiques-migratoires-en-europe-20250515">Le Figaro</a>.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-15-232751-e17.jpg?itok=GE117p1k" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-15-232751-e17.jpg?itok=GE117p1k"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f03d57e0-1532-4e9d-baff-b0df72eec748" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="282" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-15-232751-e17.jpg?itok=GE117p1k" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The two nations are said to be finalizing a joint declaration that<strong> denounces the Court’s recent rulings as overreach</strong>, particularly in cases where national efforts to restrict illegal immigration have been struck down.</p>

<p>The move is timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, signed on Nov. 4, 1950. But rather than celebrating the institution that enforces it, the initiative reportedly seeks to “launch a debate” over whether the ECHR’s current interpretation of the Convention is still fit for purpose amid mounting challenges posed by mass illegal immigration.</p>

<p><em><strong>“What was right yesterday may not be right today,”</strong></em> the draft letter reportedly states. Its aim is to gather support from like-minded countries within the 46-member Council of Europe. Besides Denmark and Italy, Czechia, Finland, Poland, and the Netherlands are expected to support the declaration.</p>

<p>Once finalized, the document is expected to form the foundation of an informal alliance pressuring for reform of how the Convention is applied, particularly regarding national sovereignty over immigration control.</p>

<p>The pushback follows a series of rulings by the ECHR that have infuriated national governments. In 2024, Italy was found to have violated the rights of three Tunisian migrants detained in an overcrowded facility on the island of Lampedusa. <strong>The Court described their treatment as “inhuman and degrading,” noting that the detainees had only two toilets for 40 people and that some were forced to sleep outside on mattresses.</strong></p>

<p>Italy was further frustrated by recent domestic court rulings in Rome, citing the ECHR, which prevented the transfer of illegal migrants to reception centers in Tirana, following a bilateral agreement with the Albanian government.</p>

<p>Italian premier Giorgia Meloni has long been critical of the political overreach by the judiciary afforded to them by the European Convention on Human Rights. Speaking to the Italian press in 2023 following a ruling on migrant detention in Lampedusa, she said,<em><strong> “We are seeing a distortion in the application of the European Convention that no longer respects the rights of nations to defend their borders.”</strong></em></p>

<p>Denmark, for its part, was the subject of a precedent-setting ruling in November 2024. In the case Sharafane v. Denmark, the ECHR questioned the legality of the applicant’s expulsion based in part on whether he could realistically expect to return to Denmark in the future. The European Centre for Law and Justice described the ruling as a de facto creation of a “right of return” for expelled foreigners, a move seen as directly undermining Denmark’s efforts to maintain a strict migration policy.</p>

<p>Following the ruling, Social Democrat government minister Rasmus Stoklund said,<em><strong> “The European Court of Human Rights has gradually shifted from defending basic rights to dictating policy decisions that should be left to democratically elected governments.”</strong></em></p>

<p>Several other European conservatives have voiced their criticism of what they suggest is now outdated legislation no longer fit for purpose.</p>

<p>In October 2023, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the Sejm, <em><strong>“Poland cannot accept a situation where unelected judges in Strasbourg decide who can or cannot be expelled from our territory.”</strong></em></p>

<p>Similarly, in February this year, the U.K.’s leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, warned that <strong>Britain will “at some point probably have to leave” the convention if it “continues to stop us doing what is right for the people of this country.”</strong></p>

<p><a href="https://rmx.news/article/denmark-and-italy-lead-pushback-against-echr-on-migration-rulings/"><em>Read more here...</em></a></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T11:00:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 07:00</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/denmark-and-italy-lead-pushback-against-echr-migration-rulings


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747468866
title: Everton’s Goodison Park stages final Premier League match
hash: �0�i�`��v��{�V�
tags: #Sport
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Everton play their final Premier League match at Goodison Park on Sunday at a venue steeped in history and tradition.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/17/everton-vs-southampton-goodison-park-stages-final-premier-league-match?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747233810
title: Poland presidential election 2025: Polls, results, contenders
hash: p�� � W/ ���%�
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Poles head to the polls to elect their next president as incumbent Duda's second term comes to an end.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/poland-presidential-election-2025-polls-results-contenders?traffic_source=rss


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885351
title: È l’ora di dare vita a un Diritto Internazionale Multipolare
author: ;A A
hash: ��=PE��=��fU��
tags: #Italiano #International Law #New World Order #UN #United States
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>Premessa: questo articolo è preludio di una pubblicazione accademica che sarà presto edita da me, dall’eccellente giurista italiano, esperto di diritto internazionale, Vincenzo Pellegrino, e dall’avvocato franco-libanese Elie Hatem. Restate in attesa, sarà un’opera monumentale. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span><span><em>Segue nostro</em></span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>.</span></a></span></strong></p>
<p><strong>Il sistema attuale non funziona più</strong></p>
<p>Nel contesto di un mondo che si avvicina sempre più a una configurazione multipolare – quale una realtà composta da molteplici poli decisionali sovrani, ciascuno espressione di una civiltà distinta e portatore di un proprio sistema valoriale radicato nella propria storia e cultura – appare sempre più evidente l’insufficienza del sistema giuridico internazionale attualmente vigente nel regolare e armonizzare le relazioni tra gli attori globali.</p>
<p>Di fatto, ciò che noi chiamiamo “Diritto Internazionale” è la configurazione giuridica che venne imposta a New York dalla Società delle Nazioni, poi ribattezzata ONU, fondata su alcuni criteri di supremazia politica: da una parte, gli USA, in quanto colonia inglese, avevano la garanzia del più grande impero che a inizio Novecento era ancora in forze; a New York si riuniva il gotha dell’alta finanza ashkenazita e sefardita, garantendo una durevole amministrazione dei mercati; nessun altro Paese al mondo era in grado di confrontarsi su un livello internazionale allo stesso modo, quindi il primato anglo-americano era effettivamente un vantaggio strategico.</p>
<p>Da questa prospettiva risulta chiaro come non sia stata ancora adeguatamente compresa l’urgenza di sviluppare un nuovo paradigma giuridico internazionale, capace di evolversi al passo con la trasformazione globale. Il modello attuale, fortemente centrato sull’Occidente, tende infatti a marginalizzare le altre tradizioni normative del pianeta, concedendo loro un riconoscimento minimo o nullo. Ciò genera, inevitabilmente, un’instabilità sistemica strutturale, acuita dall’emergere del multipolarismo, che porta a un crescente numero di conflitti e tensioni. Diventa dunque indispensabile una riforma del diritto internazionale affinché esso possa realmente svolgere una funzione di garanzia della pace e di promozione dello sviluppo globale.</p>
<p>Molte Civiltà – intese come collettività accomunate da una medesima eredità spirituale, culturale, storica e simbolica, riconosciuta consapevolmente dai loro membri, indipendentemente dalla nazionalità, dalla classe sociale o dalle ideologie – oggigiorno manifestano un crescente interesse ad emanciparsi, essendo state a lungo sottoposte all’egemonia politico-economica dell’Occidente, ed iniziano a rivendicare un’autonomia autentica e una piena dignità nel panorama internazionale.</p>
<p>Parallelamente, la nozione stessa di Stato, quale soggetto principale del diritto internazionale, si sta ridefinendo. L’ordine di Westfalia, prima, e quello di Parigi, dopo, sta crollando. La civiltà tende ormai a superare i confini statali, configurandosi come “grande spazio”, che assume rilevanza crescente nelle dinamiche internazionali. Gli studi giuridici che si discostano dall’approccio occidentalocentrico, però, sono ancora pochi e decisamente insufficienti ad affrontare in modo adeguato questa trasformazione, tanto più se si considera il rischio concreto di uno “scontro di civiltà”, come prospettato da Samuel Huntington. In tale eventualità, potremmo assistere a un progressivo rifiuto, da parte di molti governi, dell’autorità vincolante del diritto internazionale, percepito sempre più come strumento di controllo occidentale.</p>
<p>L’Occidente all’apice del sua crisi si mostra sempre meno aperto ai contributi provenienti da altre parti del mondo, cercando di tutelare ciò che resta del suo dominio di significati. È chiaro che l’assenza di un consenso condiviso sulle regole della convivenza tra gli Stati rischia di condurre a un rinnovato ricorso alla forza come unico mezzo di risoluzione delle controversie.</p>
<p>Questa è stata la prassi per lungo tempo: la logica del più forte come dominatore e regolatore.</p>
<p>Con l’ascesa delle Civiltà come nuovi attori sovranazionali emergono questioni fondamentali: il concetto di sovranità, la definizione di principi universali comuni a tutte le civiltà, il rapporto tra diritto internazionale e diritto interno, la funzione della consuetudine internazionale nella transizione verso un sistema multipolare, la riformulazione del concetto di forza e delle norme che ne regolano l’uso, la regolazione giuridica dei rapporti tra i grandi spazi e, infine, la ridefinizione del fondamento della vincolatività del diritto internazionale.</p>
<p>Uno dei segnali più evidenti del passaggio da un sistema unipolare e dominato all’indomani della fine della Guerra Fredda a uno multipolare, è dato dalla nascita e dal rafforzamento di nuove organizzazioni internazionali regionali. Tali strutture, che già ora appaiono come i futuri “poli decisionali” del mondo multipolare, non si limitano a rappresentare interessi locali: esse propongono approcci alternativi allo sviluppo e alla cooperazione internazionale, spesso in contrasto con le direttrici euro-atlantiche del passato. Il consolidamento di tali organizzazioni solleva interrogativi circa la loro integrazione nel sistema di cooperazione internazionale rappresentato dalle Nazioni Unite. Sorprendentemente, il sistema ONU sembra mostrare apertura verso questi nuovi attori, ammettendo alcune rappresentanze da enti transnazionali di varia natura, come la SCO o la Comunità Economica Eurasiatica.</p>
<p>In questo contesto, tra i nuovi approcci al diritto internazionale, merita attenzione il contributo del gruppo di studiosi riuniti sotto l’acronimo TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law): tale movimento propone una rilettura critica della storia del diritto internazionale, evidenziandone le radici coloniali e il suo ruolo, ancora oggi, nel mantenimento della supremazia occidentale.</p>
<p>I giuristi della prima generazione TWAIL si sono impegnati a dare voce al cosiddetto “Terzo Mondo” nel contesto della nuova architettura giuridica post-ONU, insistendo sull’esigenza di una reale universalità del diritto, che tenga conto di punti di vista plurimi. La seconda generazione ha sottolineato che l’intero impianto del diritto internazionale moderno è segnato sin dalle origini dall’incontro (o scontro) con il colonialismo. È in questo quadro che prende forma la cosiddetta “dinamica della differenza”: avvenuta grazie, per prima cosa, alla giustificazione culturale della missione civilizzatrice all’inizio del colonialismo, quindi con l’istituzione dei mandati e dei fiduciari con finalità statuali e, infine, con l’imposizione di strumenti economici globali, come la Banca Mondiale e il Fondo Monetario Internazionale.</p>
<p>Urge quindi reinterpretare e applicare il diritto internazionale da prospettive diverse attraverso un confronto tra i vari sistemi giuridici del mondo, che potrebbe far emergere punti di convergenza, capaci di dar vita a significati normativi più aderenti alla realtà concreta dei popoli e delle loro culture, ridefinendo così l’attuale egemonia euro-americana in senso più equo e plurale.</p>
<p><strong>Verso un nuovo paradigma?</strong></p>
<p>La visione tradizionale del diritto internazionale si fonda sull’idea che questo costituisca un sistema di principi oggettivi e regole neutrali, derivanti dalla volontà degli Stati, sia attraverso trattati formali sia tramite consuetudini.</p>
<p>Secondo questa impostazione, gli Stati sono i principali soggetti del diritto internazionale, e una norma giuridica è considerata vincolante solo se supera un rigoroso test di validità giuridica. Le considerazioni extra-giuridiche – economiche, sociali, morali o politiche – vengono generalmente escluse dall’analisi, come anche valori e finalità. Il sistema è così concepito come unitario e autosufficiente, in grado di fornire sempre una risposta giuridica corretta ai problemi che si pongono.</p>
<p>Non si tratta di proporre una teoria compiuta o definitiva, ma di avviare un percorso. E ogni percorso, per essere solido, deve partire dal metodo. Perciò che si riveda il metodo con cui si è dato vita al diritto internazionale come lo conosciamo. Il termine “metodo” deriva dal greco <em>methodos</em>, che unisce <em>meta</em> (oltre) e <em>hodos</em> (via), e può essere tradotto come “via per andare oltre”. È a questo “oltre” che il nostro lavoro intende tendere.</p>
<p>Ci sono fattori molteplici che non possono più essere ignorati. L’imperialismo è stato uno dei fondamenti, espliciti o occulti poco importa, del diritto internazionale moderno. Non è superfluo, a questo proposito, chiarire cosa si intenda per imperialismo: si tratta di una relazione, formale o informale, attraverso cui uno Stato esercita il controllo sulla sovranità effettiva di un altro soggetto politico. Questo dominio può essere esercitato mediante la forza, la cooperazione politica, o tramite dipendenze di tipo sociale, economico o culturale. In sintesi, l’imperialismo è la politica o il processo di costruzione e gestione di un impero.</p>
<p>Una lettura critica dei fondatori del diritto internazionale rivela fin dalle origini un’impronta profondamente imperialista. Per lungo tempo (secoli, non anni) la violenza coloniale è stata travestita da intervento umanitario o da azione difensiva, contribuendo a costruire narrazioni potenti che avrebbero permeato lo sviluppo teorico e pratico del diritto internazionale. Nel XIX secolo, la dottrina positivista e il concetto di sovranità rafforzarono ulteriormente la distinzione tra “paesi civilizzati” e “incivili”, giustificando la conquista di territori definiti <em>terrae nullius</em> perché abitati da popoli “privi” di civiltà. La sovranità divenne così la misura ultima della civiltà. Ancora oggi si sente parlare di “missioni di pace” o “peacekeeping” adottate dall’ONU e imposte in specifiche zone del mondo, guarda caso proprio quelle che appartenevano alla vecchia classificazione sotto il titolo di “terzo mondo”, o popoli carenti di quel sistema valoriale occidentale che, in virtù della legge del più forte, era considerato come il migliore.</p>
<p>Il sistema di mandati istituito dalla Società delle Nazioni formalizzò un meccanismo di controllo amministrativo legale che mirava a produrre risultati funzionali agli interessi dell’Occidente. Il paradigma dello Stato-nazione fu imposto a un mosaico di comunità diverse in nome della civiltà occidentale, e l’inclusione avvenne al prezzo della cancellazione della differenza. Anche quando i paesi del Sud globale acquisivano i requisiti formali della statualità, continuavano a percepirsi come “insufficienti”. Questo è il meccanismo della <em>dinamica della differenza</em>: l’entità subalterna si percepisce sempre come in ritardo, arretrata, impegnata a colmare un “divario” creato dalla stessa dicotomia tra civiltà e barbarie, tra sviluppo e sottosviluppo.</p>
<p>Alla luce di tutto ciò, risulta evidente che il diritto internazionale attuale, strutturato su un paradigma imperiale, è incompatibile con la logica multipolare emergente. L’imperialismo, infatti, è l’antitesi del multipolarismo.</p>
<p>La via che intendiamo percorrere parte da questo riconoscimento. Il mondo multipolare rappresenta un’alternativa radicale all’ordine unipolare oggi dominante, poiché afferma l’esistenza di più centri decisionali sovrani e indipendenti, capaci di esercitare un’influenza strategica a livello globale. Questi centri non devono sottomettersi all’universalismo dei valori e delle norme occidentali, ma nemmeno rigettare in blocco l’esperienza giuridica occidentale: devono piuttosto costruire un ordine giuridico che rifletta la pluralità delle culture giuridiche del pianeta.</p>
<p>Un diritto internazionale multipolare dovrà fondarsi su questa pluralità, essere in costante evoluzione e in grado di adattarsi alle nuove sfide del mondo contemporaneo. Sarà un diritto che non parte dall’universalismo imposto, ma dal riconoscimento della differenza, dalla coesistenza dei sistemi e dal dialogo tra civiltà.</p>
<p><strong>Sovranità multipolare con gli Stati-Civiltà</strong></p>
<p>Tradizionalmente, la sovranità è intesa come il potere esclusivo dello Stato di governare internamente (<em>jus vitae ac necis</em>) e di escludere interferenze esterne (<em>jus excludendi alios</em>). Essa è storicamente fondata sul principio vestfaliano, che garantisce a ogni Stato una giurisdizione esclusiva sul proprio territorio e pone gli Stati in condizione di parità giuridica.</p>
<p>Tuttavia, nella prospettiva del diritto internazionale multipolare, questa concezione è considerata superata. La sovranità formale degli Stati nazionali non è più sufficiente se non è supportata da un reale potere strategico, politico ed economico. Il sistema vestfaliano, sebbene esista ancora <em>de jure</em>, non riflette più la realtà odierna.</p>
<p>La nuova visione propone di spostare il fondamento della sovranità dallo Stato all’individuo, inteso come unico soggetto sovrano su se stesso. In questa prospettiva, non ha senso parlare di “cessione” della sovranità, poiché essa è innata all’essere umano. Si parla invece di <em>condivisione</em> della sovranità: gli individui mettono in comune la loro sovranità per costruire un sistema internazionale basato sull’eguaglianza tra soggetti giuridici.</p>
<p>Questo porta a una serie di conseguenze:</p>
<ul>
<li>Nessuno Stato può rivendicare un ruolo egemonico;</li>
<li>Viene valorizzata la diversità culturale tra le Civiltà;</li>
<li>Cambia il rapporto tra Stato e individuo all’interno di ogni civiltà giuridica;</li>
<li>Cresce il ruolo dell’individuo nel diritto internazionale.</li>
</ul>
<p>Di conseguenza, ogni <em>Stato Civiltà</em> ha due obblighi:</p>
<ol>
<li>Partecipare attivamente allo sviluppo della comunità internazionale per il bene comune;</li>
<li>Riconoscere la legittimità della forma di governo degli altri Stati Civiltà, purché non violi i principi fondamentali condivisi dell’ordinamento generale. Non è accettabile imporre standard basati su una sola cultura.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Rimodulare l’uso della forza </strong></p>
<p>Il divieto dell’uso della forza si basa su due approcci: uno idealista, volto a promuovere una “pace universale”, e uno più pragmatista, che mira a controllare i conflitti attraverso la limitazione dell’uso delle armi. Il principio di non utilizzare la forza viene visto come un mezzo per prevenire l’abuso di potere da parte degli Stati più forti, ma la realtà geopolitica spesso sfida questo principio, con le grandi potenze che cercano di aggirare il divieto per perseguire i loro interessi imperialisti.</p>
<p>Il concetto di illecito internazionale è descritto come la violazione di una norma internazionale da parte di uno Stato, senza necessità di provare la colpa o il danno, ma solo la lesione di un diritto soggettivo di un altro Stato. La responsabilità internazionale comporta l’obbligo per lo Stato che ha violato la norma di rispondere alle conseguenze del suo illecito.</p>
<p>Nel contesto di un mondo multipolare, il diritto internazionale dovrà evolversi, non solo per limitare l’uso della forza militare, ma per estendere il concetto di “forza” includendo anche azioni politiche, economiche e culturali che possano destabilizzare o intervenire negli affari interni di altri Stati. Il nuovo sistema multipolare stabilisce che qualsiasi intervento nelle questioni interne o internazionali sarà considerato una violazione. La comunità internazionale dovrà adottare misure non violente per risolvere le controversie tra Stati, con la possibilità di isolare gli Stati coinvolti in un conflitto se non rispettano le decisioni collettive. L’unica eccezione sarebbe se un gruppo di uno Stato richiedesse aiuto per difendere i principi fondamentali del sistema internazionale. Il testo propone quindi un nuovo paradigma internazionale che promuove la cooperazione e la condivisione della sovranità, rifiutando l’imperialismo.</p>
<p><strong>I grandi spazi devono essere riconsiderati</strong></p>
<p>Il concetto di “grande spazio” viene inteso come un’area operativa coerente, strettamente legata a una civiltà, che si afferma in risposta ai cambiamenti nella dimensione geopolitica e culturale del mondo contemporaneo. In una visione multipolare, dove più civiltà coesistono e cooperano, questi grandi spazi rappresentano unità fondamentali di organizzazione e sovranità condivisa, ciascuna fondata su un ordine giuridico interno autonomo ma aperto alla collaborazione esterna.</p>
<p>Per dare una forma giuridica a questo modello, sarà necessario anzitutto considerare che tutte le civiltà condividono lo stesso pianeta, e quindi devono concepire le loro strutture giuridiche all’interno di questo limite comune; in secondo luogo, che il numero dei grandi spazi sarà necessariamente limitato e definito in base ad affinità culturali, sociali e geografiche.</p>
<p>Tre sono i capisaldi: l’indipendenza degli Stati all’interno di ciascun grande spazio; il divieto assoluto di colonizzazione sotto qualsiasi forma, sia essa culturale, economica o militare; e il non intervento di potenze esterne nei conflitti interni. Ogni grande spazio è quindi un’entità protetta, che agisce liberamente secondo la volontà degli Stati-civiltà che lo compongono.</p>
<p>Per garantire un ordine stabile e duraturo, viene avanzata l’idea di adottare come principio giuridico fondamentale quello dell’equilibrio della bilancia dei pagamenti. Questo principio servirebbe a prevenire gli squilibri economici tra Stati e civiltà, che storicamente hanno generato tensioni e conflitti. A supporto di questo equilibrio, sarebbe interessante anche la creazione di una valuta esclusivamente interbancaria, priva di funzione di riserva di valore, che serva solo come unità di conto tra economie, favorendo la stabilità senza consolidare rapporti di forza – e oggi, ci piaccia o no, le criptovalute rendono molto facilmente possibile questo passaggio monetario.</p>
<p>La storia ha mostrato che grandi cambiamenti nel diritto internazionale sono avvenuti a seguito di crisi globali che hanno cercato di evitare la ripetizione di eventi traumatici. Le “emergenze” hanno accelerato tali cambiamenti, ma in questo caso, non si può più ricorrere liberamente all’uso della forza, e quindi si fa affidamento sulla consuetudine, il fondamento più antico del diritto internazionale. La consuetudine, che si basa su pratiche uniformi e vincolanti, è vista come la via per una transizione verso un diritto internazionale multipolare.</p>
<p>Il processo di transizione è già in atto. Il grande lavoro di sviluppo è nelle nostre mani. Spetta a noi decidere di diventarne parte.<br>
</p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/lora-di-dare-vita-un-diritto-internazionale-multipolare/


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747477420
title: Trump’s moment in the Middle East
content: Dissecting the spectacle and substance of Trump’s Middle East tour.
hash: =i�� i��2Mt��a
tags: #TV Shows
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2025/5/17/trumps-moment-in-the-middle-east?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031411 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Macron: Europe Prepping Fresh Russia Sanctions 'In Coordination' With US
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ��$k�.:R������u
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Macron: Europe Prepping Fresh Russia Sanctions 'In Coordination' With US</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Europe is preparing new Russia sanctions 'in coordination' with the United States, according to fresh words of French President Emmanuel Macron.</p>

<p>He said while attending a European security meeting in Albania that the EU will ready these sanctions given that Russia continues to refuse an "unconditional ceasefire" with Ukraine.</p>

<p data-type="paragraph"><strong>"We are continuing to prepare new sanctions in coordination with the United States,"</strong> Macron <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/europe-preparing-new-russia-sanctions-in-coordination-with-us-macron-219fdfb7">told reporters</a>, following Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on Friday, which ended without any significant breakthrough. One <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-intl-05-16-25?t=1747421395425">CNN</a> headline, for example, says that "A whiplash week of diplomacy leaves Ukraine much where it started."</p>
<a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/zandmcn.jpg?itok=8TAu71vP" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/zandmcn.jpg?itok=8TAu71vP"><picture><figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d487de0f-a0b9-4a5c-a23c-8592a33a7954" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/zandmcn.jpg?itok=8TAu71vP" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"><figcaption><em>Via AFP</em></figcaption></figure></picture></a>

<p data-type="paragraph">But the talks - which involved a relatively low level delegation on the Russian side - did result in commitments to <strong>a sizeable prisoner swap, the likelihood of further rounds of talks, and both agreeing to comp</strong><strong>ose their vision of a future ceasefire</strong>.</p>

<p data-type="paragraph">The prisoner exchange pledge is significant, given it would mark the largest since the Russian invasion: there will be an exchange <strong>1,000 prisoners of war</strong>.</p>

<p>However, there's no ceasefire - not even the 30 days that Kiev and Washington have been pushing for.</p>

<p>Earlier in the day Kiev's top European allies blasted Russia's stance as presented in Istanbul "unacceptable":</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, joined by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish leader Donald Tusk, said in a statement on Friday that <strong>“the Russian position is clearly unacceptable, and not for the first time,”</strong> according to Reuters.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>The <em>Wall Street Journal</em> has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-begin-amid-low-expectations-f010d73b?st=sEfTsr&amp;reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink">described</a> that "The talks, in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, came about as the result of President <strong>Trump’s pressure</strong>, so far <strong>mostly applied on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky</strong>, to find an end to the war."</p>

<p>President Zelensky has meanwhile been making clear that Ukraine will not surrender its territory as "this is Ukraine's land" - and he isn't so much as ready to even offer Crimea. Zelensky and European leaders are reportedly holding a phone call with US President Trump in the wake of the Istanbul meeting.</p>

<p><em>Prior statement of Macron two months ago...</em></p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">NEW<br><br>
Macron: Europe's sanctions on the Russian Federation will be lifted only in the event that the regime withdraws behind the borders of 1991.<br><br>
🇪🇺🇺🇦🇫🇷 <a href="https://t.co/HugcikWxwC">pic.twitter.com/HugcikWxwC</a></p>
— Astraia Intel (@astraiaintel) <a href="https://twitter.com/astraiaintel/status/1905006161604071752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>They will likely try to convince the US leader that <strong>attempts to negotiate an end to the war with Putin are futile</strong>. This seems to have been Zelensky's aim all along: getting Washington and Trump back on his side, and securing the unending flow of weapons, cash, and intelligence.</p>

<p>Will the White House at the very least demand that Zelensky will acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Crimea? </p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T11:35:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 07:35</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/macron-europe-preparing-fresh-russia-sanctions-coordination-us


guid: https://medium.com/p/0effb736fa35
title: Imagine If Gaza Was Jewish And The People Bombing It Were Muslims
author: ;Caitlin Johnstone
hash: A�J O\� ��.����
tags: #gaza #news #palestine #propaganda #israel
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*f5zUd9aP7VWsHMVKqn94-A.png"></figure><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIP73zg2ohA"><em>Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley)</em></a>:</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FWIP73zg2ohA%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;display_name=YouTube&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWIP73zg2ohA&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FWIP73zg2ohA%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/b531fbd3d2802703d97c2c62bab72b1a/href">https://medium.com/media/b531fbd3d2802703d97c2c62bab72b1a/href</a></iframe><p>Gaza just endured one of its <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/16/gaza-death-toll-passes-53000-as-israel-drives-towards-conquest">worst days of bombing</a> since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal onslaught, with the IDF ramping up aggressions as it prepares for the full military capture of the enclave.</p><p>On Thursday the United Nations <a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/15/un-rejects-us-and-israeli-backed-aid-plan-for-gaza/">rejected</a> the US-Israeli plan for delivering aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. The plan has been slammed as a transparent attempt to use food to lure Gaza’s starving population southward into a concentrated area to prepare them for deportation, i.e. ethnic cleansing.</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/westonpagano/status/1923202375541510256&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/bc6963edd3530b776427f623549e74f2/href">https://medium.com/media/bc6963edd3530b776427f623549e74f2/href</a></iframe><p>If Gaza was populated by Jews and the people massacring its inhabitants were Muslims, nobody would have any trouble calling this thing what it is. The words “genocide” and “Holocaust” would’ve been appearing in the news every single day for the last 19 months.</p><p>Except we all know it wouldn’t have gone on for 19 months. In the eyes of the western empire, there are some people who may be murdered with mass military violence, and others who may not be. There are some types of children who can be photographed with their ribcages sticking out because of deliberately inflicted starvation without causing much of a stir, and there are other types of children for whom such photographs would shake the earth.</p><p>In the eyes of the western empire, Jews are considered fully human, while Muslims and Arabs are not. A massacre of Jews is a terrible, unforgivable atrocity which cries out to the heavens for limitless vengeance, while Israel’s daily massacres of Palestinians merit nothing more than a footnote.</p><p>If Gaza was populated by Jews and the people conducting these daily massacres were Muslims, the western empire would have long ago intervened to stop this. Instead we get swamp monsters like Steve Witkoff <a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/15/report-witkoff-told-mediators-that-the-us-wont-force-israel-to-end-gaza-slaughter/">recycling</a> the bogus <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/11/biden-administration-powerlessness-israel-gaza-war-military-aid-media">Biden administration line</a> that “the Israeli government is a sovereign government; they can’t tell us what to do and we can’t tell them what to do,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/15/un-rejects-us-and-israeli-backed-aid-plan-for-gaza/">saying he’s “concerned”</a> about the humanitarian situation in Gaza but doesn’t see any alternatives — just like his predecessor <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/05/blinken-says-deep-concerns-about-israeli-rafah-operations-impact-aid">Antony Blinken</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUE9e_saO_Y">constantly</a> <a href="https://www.jns.org/blinken-concerned-over-israels-cutting-of-gaza-aid/">did</a>.</p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//x.com/BarakRavid/status/1923059433199788209&amp;image=" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"><a href="https://medium.com/media/b458484d6f324f47cf4b76a20f7c7134/href">https://medium.com/media/b458484d6f324f47cf4b76a20f7c7134/href</a></iframe><p>It’s so glaringly, painfully obvious what we’re looking at. So completely blatant and undisguised. The only thing keeping people from seeing this genocide for what it is and calling a spade a spade is the fact that its victims happen to belong to a religion and an ethnicity that has been systematically dehumanized for decades in order to justify the acts of mass military violence that have been aggressively normalized in our collective psychology. Westerners have been indoctrinated by <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/05/caitlin-johnstone-15-reasons-why-media-dont-do-journalism/">domestic propaganda</a> into seeing Arabs and Muslims as less than human, in much the same way <a href="https://x.com/_ZachFoster/status/1920950574868001022">Israelis themselves have been</a>.</p><p>It’s so gross and uncomfortable to have to keep finding new ways to say “Imagine if this was happening to a population you actually care about,” but it seems like that’s the only way a lot of people are going to open their eyes and look at this thing. Until you begin to entertain the possibility that the people suffering in Gaza might actually be similar to you and the people you consider human, it’s just going to be a big blind spot for you.</p><p>It should not be necessary to do this. It should be obvious to all of us that humans are humans regardless of their race or religion or any other way they might show up as a bit different from us. We should all have been taught this as young children.</p><p>But that’s where we’re at as a civilization right now. A genocide happening right in front of us, and people like me going “Imagine if they belonged to a religion that you HAVEN’T been trained to fear and despise!”</p><p>It’s undignified, and it says ugly things about our society that this is still one of the most effective ways to get this message across. But we can only begin the journey toward a healthy world from where we are standing here and now.</p><p>________________</p><p><em>My work is </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/05/24/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism/"><em>entirely reader-supported</em></a><em>, so if you enjoyed this piece </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/about"><em>here are some options</em></a><em> where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. </em><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/"><em>Click here for links for my mailing list, social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article</em></a><em>. All my work is </em><a href="https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/reminder-all-my-work-may-be-freely"><em>free to bootleg and use</em></a><em> in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.</em></p><p>Bitcoin donations: 1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2</p><p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_caused_by_Israeli_bombing_of_Jabalia_camp,_Gaza_Strip.jpg">Feature image by UNRWA via Wikimedia Commons</a>.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=0effb736fa35" width="1" height="1" alt="">

link:
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/imagine-if-gaza-was-jewish-and-the-people-bombing-it-were-muslims-0effb736fa35?source=rss-c40ec5bece47------2


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165784/steeve-gagnon-proces-amqui
title: Des témoins racontent l’attaque d’Amqui vécue de près
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165784/steeve-gagnon-proces-amqui
hash: R��g����9�5���
content:
<p>« J’ai eu le temps de crier quatre fois "Oh mon dieu", de plus en plus fort, parce qu’il n'arrêtait pas! »</p>

attributes:
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guid: https://gript.ie/?p=330810
title: O’GORMAN: Why Sinn Fein aren’t fit for government
author: ;Paddy O'Gorman
link: https://gript.ie/ogorman-why-sinn-fein-arent-fit-for-government/
hash: <��%�*��)k���
tags: #Comment Ireland #Featured #Premium #IRA #Paddy O'Gorman #Sinn Féin
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sinn-Fein-shutterstock_1278312862.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><strong>Dear Reader,</strong></p>
<p>It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.</p>
<p>But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.</p>
<p>We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.</p>
<p>But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.</p>
<p>What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.</p>
<p>That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.</p>
<p>With gratitude,</p>
<p><strong>John</strong></p>


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747469858
title: Seven European nations urge Israel to ‘reverse its current policy’ on Gaza
hash: �p�m�w�2c'R�19
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
Israel has halted the entry of food, medication and all other essentials into the Palestinian territory since March 2.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/seven-european-nations-urge-israel-to-reverse-its-current-policy-on-gaza?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031441 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: "We Study Fascism...We're Leaving The US": NYTimes Runs Video Of Yale Profs Fleeing To Canada
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: � h�W��=h����
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">"We Study Fascism...We're Leaving The US": NYTimes Runs Video Of Yale Profs Fleeing To Canada</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/05/16/we-study-fascism-and-were-leaving-the-u-s-the-new-york-times-runs-alarmist-video-of-yale-professors-fleeing-to-canada/"><em>Authored by Jonathan Turley,</em></a></p>

<p><strong>The New York Times continues to work tirelessly to maintain the narrative that the United States is now a fascist regime</strong>. Earlier, the Times demonstrated its view of balanced analysis by running a collection of legal opinions titled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/opinion/trump-constitution-rule-of-law.html">A Road Map to Trump’s Lawless Presidency</a>.” Now, it is featuring three Yale professors fleeing fascism for the safety of Canada, making direct references to the rise of the Nazis. The video is titled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/opinion/yale-canada-fascism.html">These Yale Professors Study Fascism.</a>”</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-16-at-7.05.05.jpg?itok=bKTOYl_c" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-16-at-7.05.05.jpg?itok=bKTOYl_c"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="57463662-2747-4432-b9e0-fe9c37d78d96" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="263" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Screenshot-2025-05-16-at-7.05.05.jpg?itok=bKTOYl_c" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>All three professors are going permanently to Canada to teach at the University of Toronto. It appears that the <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/01/08/with-trudeau-on-his-way-out-can-canadians-get-their-free-speech-back/">systemic rollback of free speech</a> for conservatives in Canada is not a deterrent for Yale professors longing to be free.</p>

<p><strong>The seven-minute <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/opinion/yale-canada-fascism.html">opinion video</a> features the three scholars: </strong> Yale philosophy Professor Jason Stanley and history professors Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder (who are married).</p>

<p>Shore insisted that the United States is now a fascist country replicating the Nazi takeover. Indeed, she mocks those of us who believe that our constitutional system has proven itself for centuries as a guarantor of civil liberties, including our system of checks and balances. Shore dismisses such assurances while suggesting that the American people are a virtual ship of fools in not recognizing the fascists all around them: <em><strong>“The lesson of 1933 is that you get out sooner rather than later.” </strong></em>She added that Americans are</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“like people on the Titanic saying, ‘Our ship can’t sink.’ We’ve got the best ship. We’ve got the strongest ship. We’ve got the biggest ship. Our ship can’t sink,” she said. “And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Professor Snyder declared that Americans are deluding themselves:</strong></p>

<blockquote>
<p>“If you think there is this thing out there called ‘America,’ and it’s exceptional, that means that you don’t have to do anything. Whatever is happening, it must be freedom. Soon, <strong>you are using the word freedom, what you are talking about is authoritarianism.”</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>The <em>New York Times</em> splices in ominous images of migrants being detained, children crying, and anti-Israel protesters being arrested. It also shows the image of Elon Musk’s alleged Nazi salute, <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/01/23/nazispolozza-the-lefts-third-reich-mania-collapses-into-comedy/">a ridiculous claim</a> fostered by the media.</p>

<p>Previously, Snyder did <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/20/trump_defamation_suits">interviews</a> claiming an oligarchic conspiracy led by Musk:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“<strong>we’re shifting from a democracy,</strong> which had some pretty heavy oligarchical streaks running through it, toward something like an oligarchy, in which I think it’s fair to say that it’s not Trump who’s the most important person. It’s Musk. Trump has debts. Musk has money. Trump has debts specifically to Musk for getting him elected. And I think the burden of proof is actually on Trump to show that he has any room for maneuver in this system. And it’s going to be interesting to see how congressional Republicans react, because what this particular oligarch wants is to break the federal government. And whatever their views might be, not — many of them don’t actually want the United States of America to cease to exist so that oligarchs can pick up the pieces.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That is who the New York Times featured in its latest apocalyptic diatribe. What is interesting about one <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/20/trump_defamation_suits">interview</a> is how Snyder predicts Trump will engage in censorship through litigation, noting that it will not involve direct censorship barred by the First Amendment. He entirely ignores the massive censorship system of conservatives fostered by the Biden Administration on social media. That was apparently not something that you would speak out against, let alone leave the country over.</p>

<p><strong>Professor Stanley’s <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/philosophy-professor-calls-homosexuality-disability-christian-conference-condemns/">past contributions</a> to the political debate include his condemnation of “the right-wing hateosphere” in a diatribe that he later reaffirmed:</strong></p>

<blockquote>
<p>I am really, truly, embarrassed by the fact that my mild comment ‘F[**]k those assholes’ is being spread. This wildly understates my actual sentiments towards homophobic religious proponents of evil like Richard Swinburne, who use their status as professional philosophers to oppress others with less power. I am SO SORRY for using such mild language.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the New York Times video, Stanley clinically explains that “you know you’re living in a fascist society when you’re constantly going over in your head the reasons why you’re safe. What we want is a country where none of us have to feel that way.”</p>

<p>It is a curious statement. Most of us fight to preserve our civil liberties to maintain a country that remains the longest, most stable, and most successful constitutional system in history. We do not dramatically pick up our things and stomp out of the country in a self-aggrandizing huff.</p>

<p><strong>Losing elections can certainly make some “feel that way,” but for the rest of the country, it seemed like democracy at work.</strong> In the meantime, our courts are sorting out challenges to Trump executive orders, with many judges, including Trump appointees, ruling against the Administration. Those are the pesky “checks and balances” that Professor Shore blissfully dismissed in the New York Times video.</p>

<p>What is truly striking is that even Yale (which has purged virtually all conservatives from its faculty ranks) is not sufficiently “safe” for these three academic émigrés. They are going to the University of Toronto and Ontario to feel truly safe.</p>

<p>Of course, Ontario is not viewed as a safe space for many conservatives or contrarians. It proved hardly protective for University of Toronto professor emeritus Jordon Peterson when he was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/jordan-peterson-court-case-decision-1.6943845">ordered to take mandatory training classes</a> to curb his controversial writings. That order was upheld by successive Canadian courts.</p>

<p><strong>So now these three academics will relocate to Toronto to teach Canadian students about fascism. They may, however, want to tread lightly on the subject of free speech.</strong></p>

<p><strong><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?c_id=98&amp;m=category&amp;c=Rancher-Direct%20Clean%20Food" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?c_id=98&amp;m=category&amp;c=Rancher-Direct%20Clean%20Food" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/tariff-free-steak-bundle-ebersole-cattle-co/?c_id=98&amp;m=category&amp;c=Rancher-Direct%20Clean%20Food"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="dd73e0b7-f76a-423d-85a6-136cda3d1fe1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="295" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/memorial%20day%20ebersold.jpg?itok=zAcpFO2j" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T19:10:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 15:10</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/we-study-fascismwere-leaving-us-nytimes-runs-video-yale-profs-fleeing-canada


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747476032
title: Iran’s leaders slam Trump for ‘disgraceful’ remarks during Middle East tour
hash: ���, >�[~���S
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The pushback comes after the US president accused Tehran's leadership of being 'corrupt and ineffective'.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/irans-leaders-slam-trump-for-disgraceful-remarks-during-middle-east-tour?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031443 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Forget Seattle, They're Sleepless In Sweden
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/forget-seattle-theyre-sleepless-sweden
hash: �\Wr��A�Q5 R��e2
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Forget Seattle, They're Sleepless In Sweden</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>One in two Swedes are struggling to sleep,</strong> according to data from a <a href="https://www.statista.com/global-consumer-survey/tool/10/gcs_bra_202501?index=0&amp;absolute=1&amp;population=1&amp;missing=1&amp;rows%5B0%5D=v0110a_heal_otcsymptoms&amp;tgeditor=0">Statista Consumer Insights</a> survey.</p>

<p>The new data casts light on the prevalence of the problem in different countries, <strong>affecting more than a third of respondents</strong> in 17 out of the 20 populations surveyed.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/29517/share-of-adults-that-have-trouble-sleeping/" title="Infographic: Four in Ten Italians Can’t Sleep | Statista"><img alt="Infographic: Four in Ten Italians Can’t Sleep | Statista" height="506" src="https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/29517.jpeg" width="506"></a> </p>

<p><em>You will find more infographics at <a href="https://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/">Statista</a></em></p>

<p>Respondents were asked if they had experienced a sleep disorder in the 12 months prior to the survey. </p>

<p><a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/29517/share-of-adults-that-have-trouble-sleeping/">As Statista's Ann Fleck reports,</a> in all of the countries included on the chart, <strong>women were more likely to have experienced a sleep disorder than men</strong> - with many seeing a 9 to 10 percentage point difference between the two. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/sleepless-woman-suffering-from-i.jpg?itok=-WW5Q99m" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/sleepless-woman-suffering-from-i.jpg?itok=-WW5Q99m"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6f96d239-81ee-42b7-a376-450c05dd3d0a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/sleepless-woman-suffering-from-i.jpg?itok=-WW5Q99m" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>This was the case in Sweden, where 56 percent of women had experienced a sleep disorder in the past year versus 46 percent of men. </p>

<p><strong>In the U.S., there was a 6 percentage point difference (39 percent women to 33 percent men).</strong></p>

<p>According to the Sleep Foundation, women and people assigned female at birth are more likely to experience insomnia. Researchers say this is the result of <strong>a combination of sex-based factors such as hormone production as well as gender-based differences, which “<a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/insomnia/insomnia-women">may be driven by social and cultural disparities</a>”.</strong></p>

<p>Predispositions to certain physical or mental health issues are also cited as possible factors believed to lead to higher rates of sleeplessness in women.</p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T12:45:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 08:45</span>


title: Enfants autochtones disparus : la difficile quête de vérité
hash: 𪛯X�O��,��Y��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
guid:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/balados/6108/ca-sexplique-balado-info-alexis-de-lancer/episodes/1071157/enfants-autochtones-disparus-la-difficile-quete-de-verite

content:
<p>Plus de 200 enfants disparus après leur passage dans un hôpital sont recherchés par des familles autochtones.</p>

link:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/balados/6108/ca-sexplique-balado-info-alexis-de-lancer/episodes/1071157/enfants-autochtones-disparus-la-difficile-quete-de-verite


guid: 1031446 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: The 'N' In SNAP Means Nutrition
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/n-snap-means-nutrition
hash: t���b�@��h@��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The 'N' In SNAP Means Nutrition</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/the-n-in-snap-means-nutrition-5858311?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"><em>Authored by Star Parker via The Epoch Times,</em></a></p>

<p><strong>SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, is one of the nation’s largest welfare programs.</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%286%29_8.jpg?itok=Av89EA6-" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20%286%29_8.jpg?itok=Av89EA6-"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="522a61c1-40c8-407b-afee-9a1a50f55b29" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="300" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20%286%29_8.jpg?itok=Av89EA6-" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>And, like all welfare programs, it is massive, it has grown prodigiously over the years and it is inefficient.</p>

<p><strong>One glaring issue, which is gaining attention as a result of new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again campaign, is the kinds of foods that recipients of SNAP funds can purchase.</strong></p>

<p>And here we have convergence of bodily health and fiscal health.</p>

<p><strong>The “N” in SNAP stands for nutrition. </strong>The point of the whole program is to help poor Americans eat and not forgo nutrition as result of insufficient funds to buy food. So why should government funds be used to purchase foods that are not fundamental to meeting the requirements of basic nutrition?</p>

<p>The program is funded by the federal government but administered by the states.</p>

<p>Now three Republican governors—governors of Arkansas, Idaho and Indiana—are joining the governor of West Virginia in <strong>seeking waivers from the federal government to permit them to remove soda, candy, and other sweets from the foods that can be purchased with SNAP funds.</strong></p>

<p>SNAP funds flow from the Department of Agriculture, and new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins showed her support for this move by appearing alongside of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she announced that her state would seek a waiver to eliminate soda and candy.</p>

<p>According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, <em><strong>“Soda is the number one commodity purchased with food stamps. More food stamp money is spent on soda, candy, snacks, ice cream, and cakes than on fruit, vegetables, eggs, pasta, beans, and rice. Purchases of sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, and candy exceed the program’s combined sales of fruits and vegetables by $9.4 billion a year.”</strong></em></p>

<p>FGA goes on to point out that the incidence of obesity is higher among food stamp recipients than among those not on food stamps at similar income levels and that food stamp participants are “more likely to be at very high or extremely high risk” of the many health problems that result from obesity.</p>

<p>Per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, in 1975, federal funding to the SNAP program was $4.6 billion. By 2000, it was $14.6 billion. In 2023, it was up to $111.2 billion.</p>

<p><strong>Per Pew Research, in 1974, there were 12.9 million Americans receiving SNAP funds. In 2023, it was up to 42.4 million.</strong></p>

<p>Most recipients are adults—63 percent are over the age of 18—and of adults receiving food stamps, 62 percent had not been employed at all during the year, 24 percent were employed over the year and 14 percent were employed part of the year.</p>

<p><strong>Among children receiving food stamp payments, 56 percent were in homes with one or no parent.</strong></p>

<p>Much discussion about reform of SNAP involves a more rigorous application of work requirements to receive funding. This points back to importance of health. If SNAP funds permit purchase of foods that are unhealthy, or damage health, so it seems SNAP funds contribute to undermining the ability of recipients to work.</p>

<p><strong>Needless to say, as this initiative gains momentum, as it should, and as more states seek waivers to streamline their SNAP funding to foods that clearly aim to fundamental nutritional needs, the beverage and candy industry can be expected to be all over Congress to block the change.</strong></p>

<p>The Wall Street Journal reported last December about ramped up lobbying by Coke, Pepsi and the American Beverage Association to leave their soft drinks in the purview of SNAP funding.</p>

<p>Some concerns have been expressed by grocers that increased specificity regarding what can be purchased can make administration and monitoring difficult. But surely technology can deal with this.</p>

<p><strong>Removing non-nutritious foods and beverages from SNAP won’t balance our federal budget. But it is a no-brainer for our fiscal and physical health.</strong></p>

<p><em>Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.</em></p>
</div>
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<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T13:20:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 09:20</span>


guid: https://www.mondialisation.ca/?p=5698654
title: La stratégie de Trump : armes et affaires
author: ;Manlio Dinucci
link: https://www.mondialisation.ca/la-strategie-de-trump-armes-et-affaires/5698654
hash: �>���r���ŵ�ވ�
tags: #Francais @fr #Mobile
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content:
Le président Trump a dit que résoudre les conflits est plus difficile qu’il ne pensait. Concernant l’Ukraine, “Vladimir Poutine est particulièrement dur dans la négociation et veut tout”. Concernant Gaza “trouver une solution est difficile parce qu’ils ont combattu pendant mille ans.” Ceci est sa narration. Les faits démontrent quelle est la réalité.


guid: https://www.aljazeera.com/?t=1747483085
title: At least 21 dead after storms hit US states of Missouri and Kentucky
hash: �{>�y�^H���)rl
tags: #News
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
The storms are part of a severe weather system sweeping across the Midwest, leaving thousands without power.

link:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/17/tornadoes-kill-at-least-21-in-southern-us-states-of-missouri-and-kentucky?traffic_source=rss


guid: 1031461 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Nvidia CEO Sees "No Evidence" Of AI Chip Diversion To China As Trump Rolls Back Restrictions
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: z�G���v8C8U*��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Nvidia CEO Sees "No Evidence" Of AI Chip Diversion To China As Trump Rolls Back Restrictions</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has had a very busy week. He first joined President Trump's U.S. delegation to the Middle East, where he <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nvidia-amd-secure-saudi-ai-data-center-deals-during-trumps-gulf-states-tour">secured</a> AI chip deals with Saudi Arabia, and is now in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, on Saturday morning.</p>

<p>Huang spoke with <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-17/nvidia-ceo-sees-no-evidence-of-ai-chip-diversion-into-china">Bloomberg</a> about the pressing issue of diversion tactics used by Chinese AI companies to acquire U.S. chips for their models. He stated there is no evidence that Nvidia's most advanced chips are being smuggled into China through dark supply chains to circumvent U.S. trade restrictions.</p>

<p>"<strong>There's no evidence of any AI chip diversion. These are massive systems. The Grace Blackwell system is nearly two tons, and so you're not going to be putting that in your pocket or your backpack anytime soon</strong>," Huang said. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-03-18%20163210.png?itok=nANpcuCR" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-03-18%20163210.png?itok=nANpcuCR"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="efcd702f-0185-4c46-ba57-0f284a42417c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="290" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Screenshot%202024-03-18%20163210.png?itok=nANpcuCR" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>He added: "<strong>The important thing is that the countries and the companies that we sell to recognize that diversion is not allowed and everybody would like to continue to buy Nvidia technology. And so they monitor themselves very carefully</strong>."</p>

<p>Earlier this week, Huang joined President Trump and other top CEOs across Gulf states where more than a trillion in AI deals were locked in - much of which aligns with the president's 'America First' agenda. </p>

<p>Nvidia secured a deal to supply 18,000 of its cutting-edge <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nvidia-amd-secure-saudi-ai-data-center-deals-during-trumps-gulf-states-tour">Blackwell chips to Humain</a>, an AI startup just launched by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">NEWS: NVIDIA and HUMAIN, an AI subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, announced plans to build AI factories that will transform the country into a global AI leader.<br><br>
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang participated in a state visit today to share how this effort… <a href="https://t.co/4Au6NxvTQ6">pic.twitter.com/4Au6NxvTQ6</a></p>
— NVIDIA Newsroom (@nvidianewsroom) <a href="https://twitter.com/nvidianewsroom/status/1922299087979974742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>President Trump's scrapping of the Biden-Harris era "AI Diffusion Rule," which had been very unpopular with Silicon Valley, stifled U.S. innovation, saddled companies with regulation burdens, and undermined diplomatic relations with many countries, including ones in the Middle East.</p>

<p>"<strong>With the AI Diffusion Rule revoked, America will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the next industrial revolution and create high-paying U.S. jobs, build new U.S.-supplied infrastructure, and alleviate the trade deficit</strong>," a Nvidia spokesperson told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/u-s-scraps-ai-diffusion-rule-in-revamp-of-biden-era-chip-curbs-f5d4ebf5">The Wall Street Journal</a> last week. </p>

<p>Adding more color to Trump's new strategy, Jeffrey Kessler, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, said, "<strong>The Trump administration will pursue a bold, inclusive strategy for American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries</strong>."</p>

<p>However, Shell companies and foreign adversaries have allegedly obtained Nvidia chips through dark supply chain channels, detailed in these reports:</p>

<ul><li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/trade-data-reveals-indian-biotech-firm-supplying-us-ai-chips-russia">Trade Data Reveals Indian Biotech Firm Supplying US AI Chips To Russia</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/did-deepseek-use-shell-companies-singapore-procure-nvidia-blacklisted-chips">Did DeepSeek Use Shell Companies In Singapore To Procure Nvidia Blacklisted Chips?</a></em></p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p><em><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/singapore-probes-nvidia-ai-chip-shipments-middlemen-malaysia-amid-deepseek-scrutiny">Singapore Probes Nvidia AI Chip Shipments By Middlemen To Malaysia Amid DeepSeek Scrutiny</a></em></p>
	</li>
</ul><p>Huang concluded in the interview: <strong>"Limiting American technology around the world is precisely wrong," adding, "It should be maximizing American technology around the world."</strong></p>

<p><em>The focus will now be on how the Trump administration, with the Biden-Harris era rule rescinded, keeps these chips out of the hands of foreign adversaries. </em></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T13:55:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 09:55</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/nvidia-ceo-sees-no-evidence-ai-chip-diversion-china-trump-rolls-back-restrictions


guid: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165822/lac-du-bonnet-revision-protocole-urgence
title: Feu de forêt mortel au Manitoba : vers une révision des plans d’urgence
link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2165822/lac-du-bonnet-revision-protocole-urgence
hash: 6'�EV�Z�;�F"����
content:
<p>Glennda Gould, une résidente, a fui sa maison à cause de la fumée, n'ayant pas reçu d'avis d'évacuation.</p>

attributes:
{"enclosures":[{"url":"https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_635,h_357/v1/ici-info/16x9/lac-du-bonnet-revision-protocole-urgence.JPG","type":"image/jpeg","length":0}]}


guid: 1031445 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Rogan Guest Reveals Facebook's Secret Experiment That Manipulated 700,000 Users
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: f��n�.~3^♟ �
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Rogan Guest Reveals Facebook's Secret Experiment That Manipulated 700,000 Users</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em> <a href="https://www.vigilantfox.com/p/joe-rogan-guest-reveals-facebooks">Via VigilantFox.com</a></em></p>

<p><strong>Joe Rogan sat down with Harvard professor and mind control expert Rebecca Lemov, and it didn’t take long for the conversation to dive into one of his favorite topics: government interference in our digital lives.</strong></p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%285%29_7.jpg?itok=iWBAE5yJ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%285%29_7.jpg?itok=iWBAE5yJ"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3c428b8a-5603-496c-95e6-0cfe33eda0bd" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%285%29_7.jpg?itok=iWBAE5yJ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Rogan opened the conversation by saying, “<strong>There are so many different kinds of mind contro</strong>l.”</p>

<p>“One of the things we’ve talked about a lot on this podcast is, that an enormous percentage of what you’re seeing on social media in terms of interactions and debate is <strong>not real</strong>. It’s not organic,” he explained.</p>

<p><em><strong>“It’s state-run and state-funded, and it’s whether it’s foreign governments or our government or even corporations, you’re getting inorganic discourse that’s designed to form a narrative and which is a form of mind control,” he added.</strong></em></p>

<p>Lemov picked up on that point and took it further. Even when people know something is fake, she explained, our brains still react as if it were real.</p>

<p>“Yeah. I mean, I think even on a basic level, people, it’s known and studies have shown that we respond as if it were organic and real,” she said.</p>

<p><em><strong>“Even when somebody likes a post of yours, the response is the same as, like, in-person interaction,” she added.</strong></em></p>

<p>It’s not just governments pulling the strings, she warned. The platforms themselves are designed to influence how we feel.</p>

<p><em><strong>“I think at the root, there is a kind of way that, on an emotional level, it’s not just manipulation of ideas,”</strong></em> she said, “but there’s a kind of emotional engineering that’s built into the platforms and doesn’t even demand, you know, at first, government involvement.”</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="680" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Joe Rogan’s conversation with Harvard professor and mind control expert Rebecca Lemov quickly zeroed in on one of his favorite topics: government interference in digital life.<br><br>
Rogan opened the door with a warning that’s become all too familiar.<br><br>
“Well, there’s so many different… <a href="https://t.co/XLqekbJL74">pic.twitter.com/XLqekbJL74</a></p>
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1923136949709152581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Lemov peeled back the curtain on DARPA, the government’s controversial defense research agency, and its hidden role in shaping the digital world we now live in.</p>

<p>DARPA, she revealed, wasn’t just involved in building the internet—it may have helped lay the foundation for emotional manipulation on a global scale.</p>

<p><em><strong>“DARPA was involved in the development of the internet and of things like pattern recognition,” she said. “The government has funded many, many studies.”</strong></em></p>

<p>But what concerned her most wasn’t just the technology—it was how that technology is being used.</p>

<p><em><strong>“What I got interested in, in social media and how I connect it with the episodes of brainwashing—it creates states of emotional contagion that aren’t really about convincing people of a different way to think,” she explained.</strong></em></p>

<p>She continued, “But more about how you feel about what you think.”</p>

<p>That emotional shift, she said, mirrors the exact tactics used in cults.</p>

<p><em><strong>“It’s not that it changed my thoughts,” she said. “It’s how I felt about those thoughts.”</strong></em></p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="680" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Lemov peeled back the curtain on DARPA—the government’s controversial defense research agency—and its role in shaping the digital world we now live in.<br><br>
DARPA, she revealed, wasn’t just involved in building the internet. It may have laid the groundwork for emotional manipulation… <a href="https://t.co/C3HvnZ6a67">pic.twitter.com/C3HvnZ6a67</a></p>
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1923137151664885767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p><strong>That’s when Lemov dropped one of the darkest revelations in Big Tech history—a secret Facebook experiment that quietly manipulated the emotions of nearly 700,000 users.</strong></p>

<p>And the users had no idea it was happening.</p>

<p><em><strong>“There’s a famous Facebook experiment I read about that took place in 2012 and was published in 2014, where they announce that they’ve achieved, mass emotional contagion at scale,” </strong></em>Lemov told Rogan.</p>

<p>She explained how Facebook altered people’s newsfeeds without their knowledge or consent.</p>

<p>“Whenever you go on the platform, you agree to be tested or AB testing. So this experiment exposed a group to a more—their newsfeed was altered in a negative direction emotionally, as measured by word counting software,” she said.</p>

<p>The results, she added, were deeply unsettling.</p>

<p><em><strong>“And they discovered that that group that had a negative exposure also responded in a more negative way, as judged through their posts and likes and responses.”</strong></em></p>

<p><em>“The group that was exposed to a more positive newsfeed by altering the algorithm then had also a measurably statistically significant effect of more positive emotional response—and the control group was unaltered by this.”</em></p>

<p>In other words, Facebook wasn’t just studying emotions—they were actively shaping them.</p>

<p>And no one was ever warned.</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="680" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">That’s when Lemov exposed one of the darkest secrets in Big Tech history—a sinister Facebook experiment that quietly tampered with the emotions of 700,000 users.<br><br>
And they never even knew it.<br><br>
“There’s a famous Facebook experiment I read about that took place in 2012 and was… <a href="https://t.co/LLQVXh2IV5">pic.twitter.com/LLQVXh2IV5</a></p>
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1923137660979380593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The full scope of the experiment didn’t come to light until two years later, when researchers finally admitted what they had done.</p>

<p>Facebook’s data scientists had quietly manipulated the feeds of 689,003 users—removing either all the positive posts or all the negative ones to observe the emotional fallout.</p>

<p>If your newsfeed felt unusually bleak or suspiciously upbeat in January 2012, there’s a chance you were part of it—and never knew.</p>

<p>The team behind the study, led by data scientist Adam Kramer, eventually published their findings in a scientific journal and spelled out the results in cold, clinical detail:</p>

<p><em><strong>“When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred,” the paper said.</strong></em></p>

<p>It was undeniable proof: emotions are contagious—and social media could be weaponized to manipulate mood at scale.</p>

<p>The experiment lasted just one week, but for those caught in the algorithm’s net, the emotional ripple effects may have lingered far longer.</p>

<p>Things took a disturbing turn after Lemov explained that when the experiment was finally made public, the backlash was immediate—and in some cases, heartbreaking.</p>

<p><strong>She recalled one particularly chilling response from a user who reached out directly to the research team.</strong></p>

<p>“And on the Facebook page of the research group that did the experiment, at least one user wrote in saying, ‘Could I ever find out if I was in that experiment? Because I was in the emergency room at that time with, you know,<strong> threatening to commit suicide</strong>, and I want to know if my feed was altered and maybe that <strong>pushed me over into that state.</strong>”</p>

<p>But there was no way to trace it.</p>

<p>“Of course, they could never know, and it can’t be traced backwards. And other people had a similar response,” Lemov said.</p>

<p>The revelations were serious enough to spark an investigation by the British government, which considered sanctions due to the international reach of the experiment.</p>

<p><em><strong>“And there was even an investigation by the British government about whether this should be sanctioned because it affected users internationally,” she added.</strong></em></p>

<p>But in the end, no one was held accountable.</p>

<p><em><strong>“Ultimately, there doesn’t seem to have been any sanctions that came out of in anyone associated with it,” she said.</strong></em></p>

<p>No punishment. No warnings. No transparency.</p>

<p>And the question still hangs in the air: how many more experiments are happening right now, hidden in plain sight?</p>

<blockquote data-media-max-width="680" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">But here’s where it gets truly disturbing.<br><br>
Lemov revealed that when the experiment finally came to light, the backlash was swift—and in some cases, tragic.<br><br>
“But, so this is why there was an ethical debate when the experiment was published in 2014,” she said.<br><br>
One user, Lemov… <a href="https://t.co/l96zLAlOTc">pic.twitter.com/l96zLAlOTc</a></p>
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1923138357493641279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDkHCaNAo_w">Watch the full conversation below:</a></p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qDkHCaNAo_w?feature=oembed" title="Joe Rogan Experience #2322 - Rebecca Lemov" width="560" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin"></iframe></p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T14:30:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 10:30</span>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/rogan-guest-reveals-facebooks-secret-experiment-manipulated-700000-users


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885353
title: What Leo XIV represents for American identity
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/what-leo-xiv-represents-for-american-identity/
hash: @�!o�zP�ϚZ?���"
tags: #Europe #World #Christianity #Conservatism #Ideology #Leo XIV #Religion #United States #Vatican
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>Let us hope that his appreciation for the Catholic Social Teaching will serve to shake the liberal Malthusianism that Anglophones call “conservatism”.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
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<p><strong><span>Contact us:</span> </strong><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></u></a></p>
<p>If the cardinals had elected a Chinese pope, many articles would have appeared in the press discussing the historical importance of electing a persecuted religious minority in the country. The problem is that we have become accustomed to a kind of pan-Christian rhetoric that pits the free West against the totalitarian East. In this framework, the opposition between Catholics and Protestants appears as a historical issue that has already been resolved; and even when this antagonism is presented, the Catholic Church always appears as the oppressor and the Protestants as the oppressed.</p>
<p>However, there are two important countries in the West where Protestantism was unequivocally the oppressor and Catholics were the oppressed. These two countries are England and the United States. If in England the persecution of Catholics was extremely harsh and bloody (because the religious issue was also an issue of succession, with the divorce of Henry VIII), in the United States religious tolerance did not prevent anti-Catholicism from being an ideology that shaped national identity. Thus, the mere election of an American pope was important in shaking the identity forged by the WASP elite.</p>
<p><strong>The Unamerican, Enemy of the American</strong></p>
<p>In his work Liberal Suppression, jurist Philip Hamburger also revisits US history in an atypical way. Everyone knows that the Ku Klux Klan was rabidly racist, but few remember that the organization was, above all, anti-Catholic – and that its anti-Catholicism stemmed from both its form of nativism and “theological liberalism”. Protestants in the US were divided into fundamentalists, who clung to the letter of the Bible, which in their eyes did not have an interpretation subject to much controversy, and liberals, who rejected all forms of authority and claimed that each man or woman should interpret the Bible for themselves. Well, this radical subjectivism is closely linked to political liberalism, since it advocates atomization. Any institution with intellectual authority is abominable, because this is an indication that the individuals who compose it lack critical thinking. It goes so far that, for some of its defenders, there should not even be Protestant churches; instead, there are associations of people who have reached the same conclusions on their own.</p>
<p>Thus, the criticism of Catholics by nativists (including the Klan) was that they lacked critical thinking, because they repeated the dogmas of the Church, and that they were Unamerican, both because they submitted to a foreign authority (the Pope) and because being American meant thinking for oneself, being free, etc. (I have already discussed this subject in more detail <a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/08/01/theological-liberalism-the-state-ideology-of-the-unites-states/">here</a>.) But, ironically, the country which subjects Americans because of their religious beliefs is Israel.</p>
<p>This conception was far from being exclusive to radicals like the KKK. Since the 19th century, Harvard had been dominated by Protestants of the denomination that promoted liberalism in the United States, Unitarianism. Imbued with this view, the American elite created legislation that imposed censorship and omission of political participation on exempt philanthropic organizations – which typically included confessional schools. It was a war on “Catholic indoctrination” that, on the one hand, included taking away tax exemptions from confessional schools and promoting Protestant’s public schools as essential to the formation of truly American citizens. Philip Hamburger even mentions that desegregation campaigns targeted segregation between Catholics and Protestants (promoted by Catholic confessional schools) more than racial segregation (which, by the way, did not exist in Catholic schools…).</p>
<p>With the advent of communism, all the anti-Catholic machinery could be used against the communists, the new Unamericans of the time.</p>
<p><strong>He is Creole, but he is American</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Rock_integration_protest.jpg">photo</a> of signs with the phrase “Race mixing is communism” in a protest against racial desegregation in the USA is famous.</p>
<p>One of the few things that communism has in common with Catholicism is the universalist sense of a human community. Like the Catholic, the communist does not divide the world into racial groups with distinct destinies. Instead, historical communism implied support for third-world nationalisms during the decolonization of Africa and Asia. From a philosophical and doctrinal point of view, Catholicism went further in its opposition to racism than communism, as it agreed to take on the label of “obscurantist” when science, in unison, legitimized racism and eugenics. Another way to compare the communist view with that of Catholicism, contrasting it with that of Calvinism, is to compare the way these groups treat Jews: the former treat them as people to be converted and assimilated into the body politic, while Calvinists (like many Jews) see them as a distinct racial group, with the right to a separate nation. Historically, the US has not seen blacks and Jews as belonging to their nationality; instead, WASP Americans have been enthusiastic (like the English) about the prospect of sending them “back” to Africa (see Liberia and Sierra Leone) or to the Holy Land (with the Zionist project). According to this deeply racist view, a descendant of blacks would never be an American like the WASPs. Instead, a single drop of black blood would make a mixed-race person forever black and, therefore, a second-class citizen.</p>
<p>The confrontation by blacks of Protestant background included Pan-Africanism, which is nothing more than a “return to Africa,” and black separatism, a project in line with that of white supremacists. Rev. Martin Luther King was, in fact, a bolt from the blue. (As for communists, the Black Panthers were an unstable ideological hodgepodge that had its periods of rapprochement with more than one branch of communism – even North Korean! However, we can say that the only lasting thing was the racial character, something that brings it closer to Zionism, which was once aligned with the USSR even though it was not communist.)</p>
<p>Well, Leo XIV’s dark complexion is due to his Creole, mulatto ancestry from Louisiana. According to the Jim Crow system, perpetuated in the politically correct era, Leo XIV would be black or African-American. The <em>New York Times</em> even asked the pope’s older brother to classify themselves as black, but it was rejected. And the Pope has simply become an American within the United States, even with his long stay in Peru and greeting in Spanish.</p>
<p><strong>A new UnWASP American identity</strong></p>
<p>Robert Prevost is American because he was born in the United States, and that’s it. He is not white, he is not Protestant, and he is an American without a hyphen. Suddenly the United States accepted this criterion of nationality that is common in Latin America, with which he identifies so much: an America of Catholic and mixed race formation, because in its foundations it believed that the national destiny is shared by all, without distinction of race.</p>
<p>This UnWASP American identity is a humanitarian advance, because it is contrary to Manifest Destiny, which prophesies the growth of the United States based on ethnic cleansing and racial supremacism. This type of thinking is so ingrained in American culture that even a father of the Social Gospel, Josiah Strong, believed that the United States would fulfill God’s plan to repopulate the earth with a superior racial stock, and that Protestantism was an indication of racial superiority. (These ideas are included in the 14th chapter of <em>Our Country</em>, from 1885.) In other words, even the Christian movement that was concerned with the material condition of the worker only did so within the particularism of race – much like left-wing Zionism and Nazism.</p>
<p>Last but not least, Leo XIV will be a conservative force that values ​​social justice, something that, within the Anglophone intellectual tradition, is like a square circle (it is worth remembering that Chesterton spoke of conservatives in the third person, and spoke badly of them). Let us hope that his appreciation for the Catholic Social Teaching will serve to shake the liberal Malthusianism that Anglophones call “conservatism”.</p>
<p></p>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885354
title: From the Philippines to his show trial in The Hague, Duterte’s supporters rattle NATO’s cages
author: ;A A
hash: t��2J{A{�7�un>
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>Duterte has a network of allies, some nice, some not so nice who feel he has been hard done by and who are powerful enough not to let the matter rest.</em></strong></p>
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<p>Although MI6’s BBC give good summaries <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v73192pp3o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk24jxk646o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> of the state of play in the recent midterm elections in the Philippines, they ignore the elephants in the room or, to rephrase that, the American and Chinese navies, which both threaten what remains of the sovereignty of that archipelago.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, the Marcos mob rule in the far north and the rival Duterte clan rule in the far south, with a series of other families and unprincipled Chinese oligarchs occupying the political landscape in between them.</p>
<p>Throw in the Catholic Church, which broadly supports <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57591170" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the powerful Aquino clan</a> and you get a better picture of this very intricate mosaic, where a handful of families and amoral Chinese oligarchs have divided up the country between them and where the people have had no real say since the failed February 1986 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power_Revolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">People Power Revolution</a>, occasioned by the Marcos button men murdering <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Ninoy_Aquino" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ninoy Aquino</a>, which caused the USMC to evacuate the Marcos mob to Hawaii, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corazon Aquino</a>, Ninoy’s widow, to assume the office of President.</p>
<p>Although we can belatedly praise the People Power Revolution, its core problem was that all the rats, who abandoned the Marcos ship, clambered aboard it and, in the words of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Sin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the late Cardinal Sin</a>, though the Philippines had rid itself of Ali Baba, it was still stuck with the 40 thieves or, in its case, the 40 families and associated Chinese oligarchs, who own it. Though the Philippines kicked the Yanks out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Air_Base" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clark air base</a> and their navy out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Subic Bay</a>, the Philippines remained a basket case where remittances from relatives working overseas reached a record US$40 bn in 2024, thereby putting its inflow only behind India (USD $129 billion), Mexico (USD $68 billion), and China (USD $48 billion), but ahead of Pakistan (USD $33 billion) and underlining the point that emigration and emigrants’ remittances are integral parts of the economic model of the mobsters, who rule the Philippines.</p>
<p>Of course, emigrants’ remittances are not the only game in town. Far more crucial to the outside world is the pivotal role the Philippines is playing in NATO attempts to contain China, whose <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/28/asia/china-philippines-sandy-cave-dispute-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">navy continues to grab yet more islands close to the Philippines it has no right to claim</a>. Because the Marcos mob have always been in the pocket of the Yanks, they are quite happy to see their country turned into an armed encampment and, no doubt, they are making plenty of coin out of it, both directly by leasing land and indirectly by taking their cut off the sex services that are a staple of overseas American bases.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Duterte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rodrigo Duterte</a>, for all his brashness, is sitting in a prison cell in the Hague because he supported dialogue with China, rather than turning the Philippines into a shooting range for Chinese, Japanese and American hi-tech ordnance. Although the BBC and other Western intelligence outlets rabbit on that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Duterte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sara Duterte</a>, Rodrigo’s daughter who is currently the vice President of the Philippines, threatened to have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongbong_Marcos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bongbong Marcos</a>, the current President of the Philippines, whacked, that, to me, is hot air. Certainly, Rodrigo was better known for whacking his enemies, rather than threatening to whack them.</p>
<p>And, regarding the charge against him that he had <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/12/asia/philippines-duterte-drug-war-icc-hope-intl-hnk-dst/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some low level drug dealers whacked</a>, only someone, who snorts the levels of cocaine <a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/12/macron-starmer-merz-and-bag-of-cocaine/">Zelensky’s mates</a> put up their snouts, should believe that charge from NATO’s utterly discredited International Criminal Court has any more legitimacy than that overpaid circus of NATO clowns has. If killing a few thousand Asian innocents make Duterte a war criminal, then surely the same should apply to the Biden, Obama and Clinton organised crime families as well as to their tens of thousands of cronies, who should be locked up in the Hague, along with Genocide Joe and NATO Inc’s other psychos.</p>
<p>As for Rodrigo Duterte, he secured 405,221 votes for Davao’s mayor as against 49,000 for his rival. Vice Mayor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Duterte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baste Duterte</a> is now acting Mayor in the absence of his daddy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Duterte" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rodrigo Duterte II</a> — the former president’s namesake and grandson — has been proclaimed as the top councilor in Davao City’s first district and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duterte_Youth">Duterte Youth</a> candidates secured 1,871,546, putting them in second place ranking after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbayan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Akbayan</a>. Although the people of Mindanao have spoken in the Dutertes’ favour, NATO does not want to hear.</p>
<p>So, what should be done with the Philippines? The first thing is that People Power should be given a fighting chance and that the Aquinos should team up with the Dutertes and the Catholic Church to make that happen. As regards Rodrigo, he should, of course, be returned to Mindanao as a hero and should not suffer the belly-of-lead fate the Marcos mob dished out to Ninoy Aquino as soon as his plane touched down at Manila airport. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imelda_Marcos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 96 year old Imelda Marcos</a> should, along with her disruptive family, go back to Hawaii if she is up to it and, though there should be a law debarring any of the Marcos mob from holding office, that would be as impractical as trying to bar the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutto_family" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhutto family</a> in Pakistan or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehru%E2%80%93Gandhi_family" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gandhi-Nehru family</a> in India, the world’s largest democracy (LOL).</p>
<p>Although none of that would get the twin millstones of the Chinese and NATO military off the backs of the long-suffering Filipinos, it would begin the process of giving them a real voice that they can weaponise against one or other or both of those bullies.</p>
<p>Although my proposals, modest though they are, will not cause political tsunamis in the Philippines, they do help to balance the scale against NATO, which has its so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Investigative_Journalism_Network" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Investigative Journalism Network</a> rabbiting on in <a href="https://gijn.org/stories/exposing-disinformation-networks-defending-philippine-ex-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pieces like this</a> about Duterte’s vast disinformation networks. Duterte, unlike NATO, has no such networks. What he does have is a network of allies, some nice, some not so nice who feel, not without the justification adumbrated above, he has been hard done by and who are powerful enough not to let the matter rest, and good on every last one of them for that.</p>
<p></p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/from-philippines-to-his-show-trial-in-hague-dutertes-supporters-rattle-nato-cages/

tags:
#Hague Tribunal #Human Rights #Indo-Pacific #Justice #Philippines #Protests #Rodrigo Duterte #Society


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885352
title: C’è qualcuno qui che è stato violentato e parla inglese?
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/ce-qualcuno-qui-che-stato-violentato-parla-inglese/
hash: M\��3w�8���� �"�
tags: #Italiano #Middle East #Saudi Arabia #Syria #Terrorism #United States
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>Come vengono protetti i civili siriani oggi? Risposta semplice: quelli che vengono stuprati, impoveriti e assassinati non stanno andando troppo bene.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span><span><em>Segue nostro</em></span> <a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a><a href="https://t.me/SCF_Italiano" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>.</span></a></span></strong></p>
<p>Quando il corrispondente di guerra britannico <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Behr_(journalist)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Edward Behr</a> sentì un giornalista della BBC gridare “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?fulltext=1&amp;search=Anyone+Here+Been+Raped+and+Speaks+English&amp;title=Special:Search&amp;ns0=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">C’è qualcuno qui che è stato violentato e parla inglese</a>?” a un gruppo di suore che venivano evacuate in elicottero dallo Zaire appena liberato, questo episodio ispirò il titolo della sua deliziosa autobiografia, piena di battute, aneddoti e storie tipiche dei ciarlatani della strada. Che uomo divertente!</p>
<p>Il gigolò irlandese <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peadar_O'Donnell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peadar O’Donnell</a>, che viveva una vita facile appena fuori Barcellona quando scoppiò la guerra civile spagnola, era fatto della stessa pasta depravata. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50724571-salud-an-irishman-in-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salud,</a> il suo libro sulla sua vita da gigolò a Barcellona allo scoppio della guerra civile spagnola, è di gran lunga il libro più malato e depravato mai pubblicato. O’Donnell non solo raggiunge l’orgasmo davanti all’incendio sfrenato delle chiese e ai suoi amici che costringono i bambini a defecare sui paramenti sacri, ma lo giustifica facendo riferimento a eventi simili che immaginava fossero accaduti nell’Irlanda immaginaria della sua giovinezza viziata. Saccheggiando Barcellona con un gruppo di anarchici, O’Donnell si ferma a guardare i “fascisti” che vengono giustiziati sommariamente e gioisce quando i conventi vengono saccheggiati e idioti eloquenti come lui mandano donne analfabete a una morte efferata. Giustifica i crimini di guerra dei suoi amici anarchici mentendo che i preti sono tutti maiali narcisisti e avidi di denaro, e poi ridacchia dicendo che forse c’è qualcosa che non va nella sua bussola morale. Questo gigolò trova esilarante che sessanta suore delle Piccole Sorelle dei Poveri, catturate, si rannicchiassero “come animali selvatici”, come dice questo animale, nella stiva di una nave carboniera, e sostiene di sapere che nei loro conventi erano conservati cimeli di inestimabile valore. A pagina 152, deride i politici irlandesi che «hanno semplificato molto la questione. O eri a favore dell’incendio delle chiese e tutto il resto, oppure eri contro l’incendio delle chiese e tutto il resto», anche se questa è un’analisi molto più incisiva della sua vomitevole tirata, che ha contribuito a diffondere i crimini di guerra commessi dai suoi compari contro il popolo spagnolo in quegli anni.</p>
<p>Il suo cameratismo eroico ha sottoposto il parroco di Navalmoral a una parodia della crocifissione di Cristo. Hanno assassinato il vescovo di Jaén, Manuel Basulto y Jiménez, e sua sorella davanti a una folla di duemila persone che O’Donnell giura essere il sale della terra. Hanno gettato il parroco di Ciempozuelos in un recinto con tori da combattimento, dove è stato incornato fino a perdere conoscenza. In seguito, al sacerdote fu tagliato l’orecchio destro per imitare l’impresa di un matador dopo una corrida vittoriosa. Tra le vittime della compagnia di eroi di O’Donnell figurano i vescovi di Siguenza Lleida, Cuenca, Barbastro, Segorbe, Jaén, Ciudad Real, Almeria, Guadix, Barcellona, Teruel e Tarragona. Lo stesso destino toccò a 4.172 sacerdoti diocesani, 2.364 monaci e frati, 259 clarettiani, 226 francescani, 204 piaristi, 176 fratelli di Maria, 165 fratelli cristiani, 155 agostiniani, 132 domenicani e 114 gesuiti. A Barbastro fu ucciso l’88% di tutti i sacerdoti, a Lleida il 66%, a Tortosa il 44%, a Toledo il 49% e a Malaga il 50%.</p>
<p>Sebbene spero di tornare presto nei campi di sterminio della Spagna e del Congo, per ora mi limito a dire che la situazione è molto peggiore di quella che si sta verificando in Siria, dove <a href="https://taigs.com/universities-expel-all-alawites-druze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gli studenti sunniti hanno cacciato i loro compagni drusi, alawiti e cristiani</a> dai campus universitari, dove <a href="https://taigs.com/save-all-alawite-girls-sold-as-sex-slaves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">le ragazze alawite vengono vendute come schiave sessuali</a>, dove i commercianti sciiti, ismailiti e cristiani vengono cacciati a punta di fucile dai loro negozi e dalle loro officine ad al-Midan, al-Buzuriyah e soprattutto al-Hamidiyah, che appartengono alle loro famiglie sin dai tempi dell’Impero Ottomano, e dove i sunniti siriani laici con cui sono in contatto mi ricordano il narratore laico e umanista di <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Faustus_(novel)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doctor Faustus</a>, ambientato nella Germania nazista nel periodo precedente e durante la seconda guerra mondiale.</p>
<p>Sebbene il Dottor Faustus sia, ovviamente, in parte basato sul <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faust</a>, la classica leggenda tedesca/europea in cui il protagonista baratta la sua anima al diavolo, quel commercio satanico continua ancora oggi in Siria e in Europa, dove Macron, il leader dello Stato fantoccio francese, ha steso il tappeto rosso a Jolani, il macellaio capo della Siria, che fino a pochi giorni fa aveva una taglia di 10 milioni di dollari sulla sua testa da parte della NATO.</p>
<p>Tutto questo è piuttosto divertente, nel senso che gli stupri di gruppo in Zaire e in Spagna erano/sono divertenti. Ecco lo Stato fantoccio francese, che ha lanciato ogni sorta di minaccia legale contro Assad, le cui <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Syria_Civilian_Protection_Act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanzioni Caesar</a> hanno ridotto i siriani alla fame e alla schiavitù e che ora è <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/macron-al-sharaa-handshake-outrage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">felice di trattare Jolani</a> come se fosse un altro Cesare conquistatore, piuttosto che il criminale di guerra rivoltato che lui e tutti quelli come lui sono. Ma, naturalmente, il Cesare originale era un altro criminale di guerra, le cui <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_Wars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guerre galliche</a> coprivano le sue campagne di genocidio contro i Galli, quindi forse non c’è nulla di nuovo sotto il sole gallico.</p>
<p>Ho già menzionato le <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Syria_Civilian_Protection_Act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanzioni Cesare</a>, altrimenti note come Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, che la NATO ha promulgato sulla parola di <a href="https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/09/united-arab-emirates-nato-little-sparta-flexes-its-muscles-against-muslim-brotherhood/">un provato bugiardo seriale dei Fratelli Musulmani</a>?</p>
<p>Domanda semplice. Come vengono protetti oggi i civili siriani? Risposta semplice: quelli che vengono violentati in gruppo, impoveriti e uccisi non se la passano troppo bene, e la colpa è tutta di <a href="https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/05/07/stupefaction-and-dismay-said-lepen-regarding-al-jolanis-visit-to-paris/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKIn9FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETAwV0pxR3ZSdk1rckZLVVpwAR58ft_0FAi30G38VGguvYIw1Wc8GwOBH7ov5I2wtrzZwSVYCQNCJwcuxTQSYA_aem_XHLr86fvCC3Vt2KrGXovPw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">persone come Macron</a>, che ha venduto quella che passa per la sua anima ai tagliatori di teste siriani affinché i suoi finanziatori potessero gestire i porti costieri della Siria.</p>
<p>Nel frattempo, secondo <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/us/politics/eric-donald-jr-trump-family-deals.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questo articolo del New York Times</a>, Eric e Donald Trump Jr stanno incassando miliardi di dollari dalle loro nuove iniziative, che includono “un hotel di lusso a Dubai, un secondo grattacielo residenziale di lusso a Gedda, in Arabia Saudita, due iniziative nel settore delle criptovalute con sede negli Stati Uniti e un nuovo campo da golf e un complesso di ville in Qatar”.</p>
<p>Non che i francesi e i Trump siano gli unici vincitori della guerra, dato che <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=moremillionaires+in+ukraine&amp;rlz=1C1GCEA_enIE1106IE1106&amp;oq=moremillionaires+in+ukraine&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigAdIBCTk1MjhqMGoxNagCCLACAfEFplmrpIhqrRw&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;sei=gN4daJzKMpalhbIPn4Hb4Aw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google ci dice</a> che l’Ucraina, proprio come il califfato di Idlib, sta creando milionari a ritmo serrato. Ma purtroppo non per te o per me, perché non siamo <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=moremillionaires+in+ukraine&amp;rlz=1C1GCEA_enIE1106IE1106&amp;oq=moremillionaires+in+ukraine&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigAdIBCTk1MjhqMGoxNagCCLACAfEFplmrpIhqrRw&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;sei=gN4daJzKMpalhbIPn4Hb4Aw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gli architetti del califfato siriano e non siamo nemmeno l’attuale schiera di Lord Haw-Haws della NATO</a>.</p>
<p>Ho incontrato molte donne siriane che sono state violentate da bande di uomini e parlano inglese, e ne ho incontrate molte altre che sono troppo traumatizzate per parlare. Non sono una storia. Sono vittime della criminalità della NATO tanto quanto lo erano i milioni di persone morte per mano della Wehrmacht, che chiedono giustizia.</p>
<p>Un problema per me o per chiunque altro cerchi di dare loro anche solo un briciolo di giustizia è che il regime britannico mi terrorizzerà e mi incarcererà per aver ferito i sentimenti dei tagliatori di teste della Fratellanza Musulmana. Questi ipocriti lo chiamano incitamento all’odio. Ma alla fine dei conti, non spetta a me tenere alta la bandiera della giustizia europea e americana. Questo è compito di istituzioni prestigiose come la Corte penale internazionale, troppo occupata a radunare africani e asiatici che ostacolano la NATO per fare la cosa giusta, per fare effettivamente qualcosa, in Siria, Libia, Ucraina o in qualsiasi altro luogo. Anche se sono dei buffi coniglietti, lo scherzo non fa ridere i siriani, che sono vittime dei collaboratori del criminale di guerra Jolani.</p>
<p>Ma basta con le battute, le frecciatine e le frasi ad effetto. Se essere violentate in gruppo e parlare inglese fosse degno di nota, allora i media occidentali, insieme a quella che passa per giustizia occidentale, darebbero risalto alla situazione delle donne alawite siriane, il cui inferno è “solo” una replica di ciò che gli stessi selvaggi sostenuti dalla NATO hanno fatto agli yazidi e a molti altri, che devono leccarsi le ferite in privato e in silenzio, proprio come hanno dovuto fare le <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donne di conforto</a> coreane quando è stata ottenuta la “vittoria”.</p>
<p>Macron non è l’unico cretino della NATO che collude con il diavolo. L’intera struttura della NATO, dalla testa ai piedi, si basa su questo e ci sono milioni di vite spezzate e distrutte in tutto il Levante, in Africa, in Ucraina e in qualsiasi altro posto in cui ci si voglia guardare per averne la prova. Anche se possiamo copiare il narratore narcisista del Doctor Faustus di Mann e dire che affrontare le devastazioni di Hitler, Macron, Zelensky e Jolani non è una nostra priorità, a meno che non facciamo di questi problemi e della ricerca di soluzioni la nostra priorità, allora anche noi siamo complici come Macron, Jolani e qualsiasi banderista rapace e sgozzatore che sia mai esistito e, a prescindere dai glorificati lustrascarpe della Corte penale internazionale, io, per quanto mi riguarda, non riesco a pensare a un’accusa più grave di questa.</p>
<p></p>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885356
title: Concluding Middle East tour, Trump reiterates plan for U.S. to ‘take’ Gaza
author: ;A A
hash: 7��� `k��g~k�3�
tags: #Editor's Choice #Donald Trump #Gaza Strip #Middle East #Palestine #Qatar #United States
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
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<p><strong><em>By Andre DAMON</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Join us on </span><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telegram</a><a href="https://t.me/strategic_culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tlg.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875659"></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a><a href="https://twitter.com/SCJournalOnline" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/twitter.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875661"></a><span>, and</span> <a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VK</a><a href="https://vk.com/strategicculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" src="https://strategic-culture.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wk.jpg" alt="" width="25" height="25" data-sanitized-class="alignnone wp-image-875662"></a>.</strong></p>
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<p>US President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East tour in Qatar Thursday by reiterating his administration’s plan to annex the Gaza Strip, on the same day that Israel massacred over 136 Palestinians.</p>
<p>“I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone,” Trump said, referring to Gaza. He added, “It’s not like you’re trying to save something. There’s no buildings.” Trump did not mention the fact that this destruction had been wrought using US-provided weapons.</p>
<p>In February, Trump declared that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip…. We’ll own it.” He said the US will “level it out” and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”</p>
<p>In February, Trump explicitly called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, stating that other countries will “build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.”</p>
<p>In recent days, the US and international media have been full of reports of a “rift” between the US and Israel, which Trump did not visit during his tour of the Middle East. It is clear, however, that the US is fully committed to the Israeli genocide in Gaza. The <em>Times of Israel</em> reported Thursday that the Trump administration was not seeking to pressure Israel to stop the “war” in Gaza, declaring, “The Israeli government is a sovereign government.”</p>
<p>In the three months since Trump made his proposal to “own” Gaza and expel its Palestinian population, the Netanyahu government has made major inroads toward this plan.</p>
<p>Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to place Gaza under permanent military occupation and displace its population to concentration camps in preparation for their removal. Echoing the “final solution,” the Nazi term for the genocide of Europe’s Jews, Netanyahu declared, “It’s time to launch the concluding moves.”</p>
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<aside data-sanitized-class="ph3 ph4-m mb3 mb0-ns">The next day, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich added, “Within a year, … Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone … and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries.”</aside>
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<p>The means by which the Netanyahu government hopes to displace the Palestinians from Gaza is through mass starvation. For 74 days, there has been no food, water, or electricity allowed into Gaza, leading to a surge in malnutrition. The Netanyahu government is hoping to use food as a weapon to force the displacement of the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>This is why its proposal to completely take over the provision of rations in the Gaza Strip is of such significance. Israel plans to effectively ban the operations of all humanitarian organizations, totally monopolizing the distribution of food to force the population to comply with its demands.</p>
<p>According to the US-Israeli plan, after the population is entirely internally displaced, food distribution will be conducted by the US-based “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” with distribution operated by Pentagon contractors and with distribution points guarded by US soldiers of fortune.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” announced that it would begin operating by the end of the month.</p>
<p>Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said that food distribution “will be run by the fund itself, led by the US.”</p>
<p>Beyond these actions, Reuters reported last week that “The United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza.”</p>
<p>All reputable global human rights organizations have denounced the US-Israeli proposal for the creation of “humanitarian zones” as a means to force the displacement of the population.</p>
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<div data-sanitized-class="ph3 ph4-ns mt3 mt4-m">Deputy United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters Thursday that the UN categorically refused to take part in the “humanitarian” plan, saying, “This particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, and independence, and we will not be participating in this.”</div>
</aside>
<p>In a statement Thursday, Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli plan “would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide” in the Gaza Strip. It added that “Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination.”</p>
<p>Al Jazeera, citing medical experts, reported that 136 Palestinians had been killed Thursday in a massive wave of attacks throughout the Gaza Strip. Mass casualties were reported in the Jabalya refugee camp in Northern Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south.</p>
<p>On Monday, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that the entire population of Gaza is at “critical risk of famine.” It found that 244,000 people in Gaza are already facing a food “catastrophe,” the worst classification for mass starvation. This number is an 85 percent increase over the IPC’s earlier report in October 2024.</p>
<p>This week, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that 53,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.</p>
<p>Trump made his latest remarks on the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, or ethnic cleansing of Palestine, which led to the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, and the destruction of 530 Palestinian towns and villages.</p>
<p>In an interview with Al Jazeera, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé said that “The ethnic cleansing of 1948 was incomplete, although it resulted in the expulsion of half of the Palestinian population.”</p>
<p>He added, “This is still an impulse of Israel—to try and have as much as possible with as few Palestinians as possible.” He said the Netanyahu government “believes that now is a historical opportunity to complete what has not been completed in 1948.” Pappé concluded, “We had ethnic cleansing in 1948 and now we have genocide in Gaza.”</p>
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<div data-sanitized-id="signup" data-sanitized-class="roboto mb4"><em>Original article: </em><a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/16/bner-m16.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>wsws</strong></a></div>
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link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/concluding-middle-east-tour-trump-reiterates-plan-for-us-to-take-gaza/


guid: 1031466 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Russia's Maximalist Demands At Istanbul Peace Talks Revealed
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russias-maximalist-demands-istanbul-peace-talks-revealed
hash: ��l5�s�ݚ���G��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Russia's Maximalist Demands At Istanbul Peace Talks Revealed</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Kremlin has said on Saturday that a future meeting between Presidents Putin and Zelensky is <strong>still 'possible'</strong> - despite no breakthroughs at Friday's Istanbul talks by delegations representing the warring sides.</p>

<p>Putin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said a meeting between the Russian president and Zelensky "is possible but only as a result of the work of the delegations of both sides and reaching specific agreements."</p>

<p>Peskov underscored that one of the major hurdles is remains the <strong>question of who Ukraine would authorize</strong> to sign any potential agreements assuming the negotiations could produce firm settlement proposals.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/lavrovrubio.jpg?itok=OliaI1dD" data-link-option="0" href="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/lavrovrubio.jpg?itok=OliaI1dD"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="55b95e89-ceb7-4e84-b85c-1b1279eb5c0f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="312" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/lavrovrubio.jpg?itok=OliaI1dD" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Moscow's stance all along has been that Zelensky is <strong>illegitimate</strong> given he canceled elections under martial law, and has run far past his authorized term in office. Kiev, however, has said that the national constitution allows for this in war time.</p>

<p>As for the content of Friday's talks and reports that Moscow demanded a Ukrainian troop withdrawal from all the four easter territories, including Donetsk, he said, "Negotiations… must be conducted strictly behind closed doors. This is in the interest of the effectiveness of these negotiations."</p>

<p>One key thing the two sides did agree to is a large prisoner swap involving 1,000 POWs - which would be the single biggest of the war.</p>

<p>But Ukraine has <strong>rejected the Kremlin's demand of de-facto recognizing the loss of its territories</strong>. Zelensky has time and again emphasized "this is Ukraine's land" - and has vowed to fight on, despite mounting losses and serious manpower issues. </p>

<p>The following is reportedly among Moscow's top list of demands, which can be described as <strong>maximalist</strong> (at least from the West's perspective), per a new <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-17/kremlin-sets-conditions-for-putin-zelenskiy-meeting-interfax">Bloomberg report</a>:</p>

<ul><li>Ukraine agreeing to neutral status regarding NATO</li>
	<li>No foreign troops in Ukraine</li>
	<li>No nuclear weapons in Ukraine</li>
	<li>De-facto recognition of Crimea and lost eastern territories as now Russia's</li>
	<li><strong>Withdrawal of Kiev forces from these territories <em>before</em> a ceasefire takes effect</strong></li>
</ul><p>But once again, Peskov has not officially confirmed this list, and precise details discussed at Istanbul remain subject of speculation amid leaks to the press.</p>

<p>The US and Russia on Saturday held a phone call, in a post-Istanbul talks <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/russian-fm-lavrov-holds-phone-call-with-us-s-rubio-after-istanbul-talks-cd07bc30">debriefing</a>: </p>

<blockquote>
<p data-type="paragraph"><em>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, to discuss the direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul.</em></p>

<p data-type="paragraph"><em>"Lavrov <strong>noted the positive role of the United States</strong> in helping Kiev eventually accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to resume the Istanbul talks," the foreign ministry statement said, adding that Russia was ready to continue working with the US on the matter.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p data-type="paragraph">Meanwhile: "We didn't say five. We said eight."...</p>

<blockquote data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Story has been making rounds that Ukrainians were outraged when Russia negotiators said that Ukrainian soldiers must leave the four new Russian regions as part of ceasefire, to which the Moscow delegation replied "Next time it will be five."<br><br>
Now, our reporter in Istanbul got to… <a href="https://t.co/4ZafhhR2PN">pic.twitter.com/4ZafhhR2PN</a></p>
— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Simonyan/status/1923384537112789260?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p data-type="paragraph">The White House is likely to latch on to anything positive regarding these talks that it can; however, President Trump has clearly been exerting pressure for more speedy resolution, and is growing impatient.</p>

<p data-type="paragraph">The Europeans are ready to slap more sanctions on Moscow, and Washington has also warned that this would essentially be plan B if Russia doesn't cooperate. But Russia's fresh maximalist demands will be a hard sell.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/rancher-direct-clean-food/"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="76f93342-8549-43c0-b0e9-491f0bd065ad" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="295" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Memorial%20Day%20Beef%203a.jpg?itok=1ITVXAiN" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
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      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T15:05:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 11:05</span>


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885358
title: Military spending of NATO’s European member states
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/military-spending-of-natos-european-member-states/
hash: 'U/2��B���E/܍�z
tags: #INFOGRAPHICS #Military Industrial Complex #NATO
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-class="code-block code-block-2">
<p><strong><em>For years, most European NATO members consistently fell short of the alliance’s 2% GDP defense spending target established in 2014. However, recent years have witnessed a dramatic reversal of this trend, with military expenditures rising sharply across the continent.</em></strong></p>
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guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885361
title: ¿Dónde están los gérmenes más fértiles del trumpismo en Europa?
author: ;A A
hash: ��mj�+��k�b e]�
tags: #Español #Conservatism #European Union #France #MAGA #Society #United States
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>Un estudio revela que muchos franceses adhieren a las ideas fundacionales del trumpismo. La derecha, más que la extrema derecha, podría beneficiarse de ello.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Gérald PAPY</em></strong></p>
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<p><span><strong>Escríbenos: </strong></span><a href="mailto:info@strategic-culture.su"><strong>info@strategic-culture.su</strong></a></p>
<p>Un estudio revela que muchos franceses adhieren a las ideas fundacionales del trumpismo. La derecha, más que la extrema derecha, podría beneficiarse de ello.</p>
<p>Con su manejo de la guerra en Ucrania y su enfoque en las relaciones comerciales transatlánticas, Donald Trump se ha ganado nuevos enemigos en Europa desde el inicio de su nuevo mandato. Pero, ¿podría el trumpismo mismo extenderse dentro de la Unión Europea?</p>
<p>El Centro de Investigaciones Políticas de Sciences Po (Cevipof) en París y la Universidad Libre Internacional de Estudios Sociales Guido Carli (Luiss) en Roma sometieron a evaluación algunas directrices del programa político de la nueva administración estadounidense en muestras de ciudadanos de Francia, Italia, Alemania y Países Bajos entre mediados de enero y principios de febrero, como parte de la 16ª ola del <em>Barómetro de la Confianza Política</em>. Se evaluaron el rechazo al personal político, la desafección con la democracia, la demanda de mayor autoridad, la desconfianza hacia la justicia, la expansión del liberalismo económico y el rechazo a la injerencia pública en la vida privada. Según los resultados de las encuestas, puede afirmarse que existe en Europa un terreno fértil para el desarrollo del trumpismo.</p>
<p><strong>Crisis de la democracia</strong></p>
<p>Para Luc Rouban, director de investigación del CNRS, miembro del Cevipof y autor del informe <em>“El Trumpismo a la francesa”</em> (1), Francia es, de los cuatro países estudiados, el más permeable a las ideas del trumpismo.</p>
<p><em>“Es en este país donde se observan las convergencias más fuertes. Claro que hay diferencias entre Francia y Estados Unidos, sobre todo porque este último es un país federal. Pero las ideas de soberanía, voluntarismo nacional y un Estado fuerte… siempre han estado extendidas en Francia, incluso en la izquierda. No hay que olvidarlo”</em>, analiza Rouban.</p>
<p>Tres marcadores del trumpismo reflejan esta cercanía francesa con la percepción del ciudadano estadounidense: la desconfianza hacia la justicia, la relación complicada con la clase política y la crisis democrática en torno a la noción de eficacia.</p>
<p><em>“La sensación de que la democracia funciona mal y de que, con menos democracia pero más eficacia, las cosas irían mejor, distingue claramente a Francia de Alemania, Italia y Países Bajos”</em>, subraya Rouban. Para él, este fenómeno es tanto coyuntural—<em>“vinculado a la inestabilidad política tras la disolución de la Asamblea Nacional, las elecciones legislativas y las dificultades para formar gobierno”</em>—como de larga data.</p>
<p><em>“Francia lleva años en esta situación. Recordemos el discurso de los chalecos amarillos: ‘Jugué según las reglas, hice todo lo que me pidieron, y aun así no logro salir adelante’. Muchos ciudadanos sienten que hay indiferencia o ineficacia para resolver sus problemas.”</em></p>
<p>La falta de confianza en la justicia es otro indicio de esta particularidad francesa: solo inspira confianza en un 44% de los encuestados, igual que en Italia, frente al 63% en Países Bajos y 66% en Alemania. Francia registra la proporción más alta de quienes la consideran <em>“demasiado permisiva”</em> (69%), <em>“parcial”</em> (77%) y <em>“politizada”</em> (69%). El último episodio judicial—la condena de Marine Le Pen por malversación de fondos públicos y su explotación política—no hará más que reforzar esta tendencia. Salvo en lo que respecta al permisivismo, los italianos expresan un nivel similar de desconfianza hacia el sistema judicial, muy por encima de alemanes y neerlandeses.</p>
<p><strong>Apoyo a los servicios públicos</strong></p>
<p>En cambio, franceses, alemanes, italianos y neerlandeses expresan una confianza relativamente alta en sus sistemas hospitalarios, policía y ejército (entre 64% y 80%). En general, la satisfacción con los servicios públicos en Europa es un elemento diferenciador respecto a EE.UU.</p>
<p><em>“Hay aspectos propios del trumpismo y de políticas aplicadas en América—no solo en EE.UU., sino también con Jair Bolsonaro en Brasil o Javier Milei en Argentina—que combinan mensajes de extrema derecha con posiciones neoliberales o incluso libertarias, buscando reducir el núcleo mismo del Estado”</em>, explica Benjamin Biard, investigador del Centro de Investigación e Información Sociopolítica (Crisp). <em>“En Europa, los partidos de extrema derecha no suelen centrarse en desmantelar los servicios públicos. Algunos, como Agrupación Nacional en Francia o Vlaams Belang en Bélgica, incluso adoptan retórica social para ampliar su base electoral.”</em></p>
<p>Ante una población más apegada a los servicios públicos, resulta difícil para los <em>“herederos naturales”</em> del trumpismo en Europa aplicar las mismas recetas. Sin embargo, el número de encuestados que creen que <em>“debería reducirse el número de funcionarios”</em>—un sello distintivo de la administración Trump—nunca ha sido tan alto en los cuatro países (53% desde 2017).</p>
<p><strong>La extrema derecha no es el único vehículo</strong></p>
<p>Aunque los movimientos de extrema derecha—apoyados abiertamente por Trump, el vicepresidente Vance y el asesor Musk—parecen ser el caldo de cultivo natural del trumpismo en Europa, no son los únicos posibles receptores.</p>
<p><em>“El regreso de Donald Trump a la Casa Blanca ejerce una fascinación innegable en gran parte de la derecha y extrema derecha francesas, al demostrar que una derecha radical y autoritaria puede llegar al poder en un país considerado estandarte de las democracias occidentales”</em>, señala Rouban. Pero las ideas trumpistas se extienden más allá: influyen en Los Republicanos, sectores del macronismo e incluso en la izquierda.</p>
<p><em>“La recepción del trumpismo en Francia podría reconfigurar significativamente a la derecha. Quizá no beneficie a Agrupación Nacional, que no parece la mejor posicionada para satisfacer la demanda de liberalismo y movilidad social que defiende el trumpismo. Los Republicanos podrían ser los principales beneficiados.”</em></p>
<p><strong>Batalla de nacionalismos</strong></p>
<p>En la extrema derecha europea, la adhesión al trumpismo es desigual y depende de sensibilidades divergentes. En el Parlamento Europeo, esta corriente está representada por al menos tres grupos políticos. Sin duda, la primera ministra italiana <strong>Giorgia Meloni</strong> (Hermanos de Italia) simboliza mejor que nadie la convergencia entre una parte de la clase política europea y la administración estadounidense.</p>
<p><em>“Pero está en una posición incómoda”</em>, observa Biard. <em>“Tiene vínculos estrechos con Trump, pero su política comercial perjudica a la UE y a sus Estados miembros, incluida Italia. Es la paradoja de este tipo de alianzas.”</em></p>
<p>También es la paradoja de partidos que promueven nacionalismos que, por naturaleza, pueden chocar con los de otros países, pese a pertenecer supuestamente a la misma familia política. Los optimistas podrán alegrarse viéndolos enfrentarse entre sí. Pero persiste una realidad preocupante, identificada por Rouban: expectativas similares a las que llevaron a Trump a la presidencia en noviembre de 2024 están muy presentes en electorados europeos.</p>
<p>(1) <em>“El Trumpismo a la francesa”</em>, Luc Rouban, Barómetro de la Confianza Política, Sciences Po Cevipof, marzo de 2025.</p>
<p> </p>

link:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/donde-estan-los-germenes-mas-fertiles-del-trumpismo-en-europa/


guid: https://strategic-culture.su/?post_type=article&amp;p=885362
title: O «Dia da Europa» esconde a ameaça nazifascista
author: ;A A
link: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/05/17/o-dia-da-europa-esconde-a-ameaca-nazifascista/
hash: �����_�|�Ԙ��j@�
tags: #Português #Germany #Russia #USSR #Victory Day #World War II
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p><strong><em>O  dia 9 de Maio não significa o mesmo para todas as nações da Europa. O que poderia ser surpreendente, até mesmo absurdo.</em></strong></p>
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<p>O  dia 9 de Maio não significa o mesmo para todas as nações da Europa. O que poderia ser surpreendente, até mesmo absurdo, uma vez que a data representa a derrota do nazifascismo, o maior flagelo continental dos últimos séculos.</p>
<p>Dia 9 de Maio é o Dia da Vitória, a evocação de uma jornada de alegria incontida de todos os povos do continente europeu. Celebrações próprias de um acordar leve e aliviado depois de uma interminável noite de pesadelo.</p>
<p>Essa alegria extravasou sem restrições, por momentos sem quaisquer manchas ou sombras nos rostos, apesar de quase todos os que celebraram a liberdade terem pelo menos um familiar morto ou ferido durante os seis anos de conflito; aos quais devemos acrescentar os três catastróficos anos da guerra civil de Espanha, primeira e sangrenta imagem carimbada pelo terrorismo nazifascista.</p>
<p>Apesar do acto de liberdade, humanismo, esperança e democracia que foi a assinatura da paz sobre o escombros do regime hitleriano celebram-se agora duas efemérides evocando o dia 9 de Maio: os povos da Europa e os governos de nações que mais contribuíram e mais sofreram para que a paz fosse possível, assinalam os 80 anos do Dia da Vitória; os governos dos “aliados ocidentais”, que esbracejam tentando salvar-se do naufrágio dessa entidade artificial que denominaram União Europeia, celebram o Dia da Europa. Não os 80 anos da derrota do nazifascismo, mas os 75 anos de uma chamada Declaração Schumann, por eles considerada o primeiro passo no processo de integração europeia. É caso para perguntar o que há para celebrar. E os povos dos 27 fá-lo-iam se lhes fosse dada a possibilidade de alguma vez se pronunciarem sobre o assunto.</p>
<p><strong>Fugir à celebração da derrota do nazismo</strong></p>
<p>Os governos da União Europeia limitam-se a assinalar a derrota hitleriana em cerimónias burocráticas e restritas das suas desclassificadas classes políticas e nas quais o povo não cabe nem poderia caber. E fazem-no com zero de convicção, zero de emoção, zero de memória e cem por cento de História falsificada; e, simultaneamente, com um espírito provocatório, confirmando na actualidade as intenções traiçoeiras e mistificadoras com que as potências ocidentais se viram obrigadas, por uma questão de sobrevivência e de terror perante o aparelho triturador de Hitler, a fazer uma aliança com a União Soviética.</p>
<p>Não valerá a pena, aqui chegados, falar de ingratidão dos governos  que excluem a Rússia das suas celebrações de plástico. Organizam-nas para fazer de conta, talvez receosos da imagem de insensibilidade que a omissão ainda poderia acarretar; e também com intuitos propagandísticos óbvios, para dar largas à sua patologia esquizofrénica, e já muto enraizada, induzida pelo culto da descabelada “ameaça russa”. A campanha de publicidade paga das televisões portuguesas sobre as extremosas virtudes do “Dia da Europa” – com a participação desadequada da UNICEF, totalmente à revelia do estatuto da ONU – não escondeu as intenções de proceder a uma lavagem cerebral sobre uma evocação desconhecida por toda a gente. O que traduz a irremediável certeza dos autocratas da União Europeia de que existe uma desconexão total entre eles e os povos do continente.</p>
<p>Estes procedimentos das castas políticas da União Europeia revelam, simultaneamente, a ambivalência  dos seus governos e antecessores perante o nazifascismo. Usando-o nos anos trinta e quarenta do século passado como instrumento para tentar concretizar a ideia fixa de destruir a União Soviética; uma estratégia que acabou por fracassar em termos militares e que, apesar disso, foi retomada agora contra a Federação Russa, de braço dado com o nazi-banderismo ucraniano, por sinal herdado e inspirado no nazismo assassino do Terceiro Reich. Negar esta evidência é uma prática governamental e mediática tornada obrigatória para construir a opinião única militarista e militarizada que nos querem impingir e também uma razão para vulgarizar a perseguição contra os cidadãos que demonstram, sem apelo, o carácter nazi do regime de Kiev e defendem uma solução negociada do conflito.</p>
<p>Por todas estas razões, os governos União Europeia não se sentem confortáveis para assinalar a queda do nazifascismo ao lado dos actuais representantes de um povo e um país sem o qual não seriam quem são. Ou talvez fossem, quem sabe, porque um nazismo vitorioso poderia reciclar-se, com o andar dos tempos, na forma de uma democracia liberal como a de hoje, aplicando o neoliberalismo como receita de exploração máxima dos povos. Sentimos bem isso à nossa volta.</p>
<p><strong>Os alvores da liberdade custaram 26,6 milhões de mortos</strong></p>
<p>Quando consideram necessário, ainda que a contragosto, falar do desfecho da Segunda Guerra Mundial, os governos da União Europeia e o seu aparelho mediático totalitário enchem-nos os olhos e ouvidos com o estrategicamente sobrevalorizado desembarque da Normandia.</p>
<p>Um assinalável feito militar, sem dúvida, no qual as tropas norte-americanos, depois de anos a verem em que paravam as modas, acabaram por desempenhar um importante papel contra uma máquina nazi muito enfraquecida e desmoralizada pelos fracassos a Leste.</p>
<p>Não haveria, porém, desembarque na Normandia sem que mais de 26,6 milhões de soviéticos se tivessem sacrificado para conter a esmagadora progressão hitleriana para Leste, com o objectivo primordial de conquistar a União Soviética. Mais de 26 milhões de pessoas… duas vezes e meia a população actual de Portugal. E, embora pareça cruel evocá-lo, porque se trata de recorrer a uma aritmética sangrenta, quatro vezes mais do que as vítimas do Holocausto. O despudorado sequestro sionista desta tragédia obriga a que seja absolutamente necessária uma reflexão deste tipo sobre números usados para justificar uma sinistra propaganda expansionista. São números que os nossos governos não deveriam esquecer, se tivessem consciência, um bem raro nestas terras.</p>
<p>Quando as tropas hitlerianas enfrentaram o desembarque na Normandia a amputação das suas tropas decorrente da campanha a Leste atingira 8,6 milhões de efectivos; tinham perdido na União Soviética cerca de 75% dos seus tanques e dos seus aviões, mais 74% dos canhões de artilharia e morteiros. Durante os seis anos de guerra o povo soviético arrasou 607 divisões alemãs; os aliados ocidentais viriam a esmagar 176 divisões.</p>
<p>As condições para o desembarque na Normandia tornaram-se possíveis a partir da contenção das tropas nazis às portas de Moscovo, no Outono de 1941, a primeira derrota militar do Reich e que pôs fim ao mito da “guerra relâmpago”</p>
<p>A população de Leninegrado, por seu lado, resistiu vitoriosa a 872 dias de cerco selvático, no qual um milhão de pessoas morreram de fome, doenças e na sequência de bombardeamentos alemães. Os hipócritas governos ocidentais da actualidade recusam-se a reconhecer o genocídio contra o povo soviético, mas a Alemanha ufana-se de fazer reparações materiais aos herdeiros de famílias que foram vítimas do cerco: desde que se declarem judeus. A cumplicidade germânica com o fascismo e o segregacionismo sionistas não poderia ser mais repugnante.</p>
<p>A partir da derrota nazi na longa e mortífera batalha de Estalinegrado, na qual as tropas de Hitler perderam milhão e meio de efectivos entre 1942 e 1943, inverteu-se o rumo da Segunda Guerra Mundial; na sequência do martírio e da prolongada resistência soviética, a derrota total do Reich tornou-se possível a partir de então.</p>
<p>Seguiu-se a terrível e decisiva batalha de Kursk em 1943, que envolveu o maior número de carros de combate de sempre e cuja consequência próxima foi o desembarque de tropas norte-americanas e britânicas para acelerar a libertação da Itália e tirar de campo o fascismo mussoliniano. A Operação Bagration, que permitiu depois à União Soviética libertar a Bielorrússia, a Polónia e a Lituânia, em 1944, teve um peso estratégico incalculável nos êxitos da ofensiva na frente ocidental, iniciada em Junho desse ano.</p>
<p>Na cavalgada vitoriosa para Berlim, libertando a Polónia, a Hungria, a Jugoslávia, a Checoslováquia, a Noruega, a Bulgária, a Roménia, a Áustria, grande parte da Alemanha, salvando os sobreviventes de muitos dos infernos dos campos de concentração nazis, a União Soviética perdeu mais um milhão de soldados.</p>
<p><strong>A História revista por mercenários e falsários</strong></p>
<p>A história revista por alguns mercenários e falsários historiadores ocidentais afirmando que só os aliados ocidentais libertaram campos de concentração nasceu nas catacumbas onde conspiram mentes transtornadas que tudo fazem para tentar substituir a realidade factual pelas suas mentiras.</p>
<p>Quando excluem a Rússia das comemorações da derrota nazi, os governos das potências ocidentais explicam quem são e o que realmente os move: assinalam apenas as próprias vitórias,  que seriam impossíveis sem o sacrifício do povo soviético, mas não deixam de demonstrar que não foram capazes, até hoje, de disfarçar o desencanto com o facto de a União Soviética ter sobrevivido à invasão nazi. Pelo que não nos custa perceber a sanha actual do império norte-americano e do colonialismo da União Europeia contra a Federação Russa e a disponibilidade para fazerem os possíveis e os impossíveis com o objectivo de a desmantelar. Em termos práticos, arriscam-se a originar a devastação do continente, no limite a extinguir a vida no planeta para tentar alcançar o que nem as hordas de Hitler, Napoleão e outros antes deles,  os suecos, por exemplo, conseguiram.</p>
<p>É um comportamento natural e que nada tem de surpreendente a circunstância de a União Europeia preferir celebrar 9 de Maio não como Dia da Vitória mas como o “Dia da Europa”, neste caso o 75º aniversário da “Declaração Schumann”, considerada o pontapé de saída da integração Europeia.</p>
<p>Percebeu-se então, como continua a verificar-se, que esse  processo não era mais do que uma via para eternizar o controlo militar, económico e político dos Estados Unidos sobre a Europa. De tal maneira assim é que bastou o lunático Trump ameaçar que essa tutela pode acabar e logo a União Europeia se enterrou numa crise de orfandade com vocação suicida.</p>
<p><strong>A falácia dos Estados Unidos da Europa</strong></p>
<p>Os chamados “pais da Europa” ou avós da Europa, melhor dizendo, dois dos quais – o próprio Schumann e o italiano Alcide de Gasperi, estão em vias de ser canonizados pela Santa Sé, santificando assim o nascimento da desumana da União Europeia – associaram o processo de integração continental à criação de uns Estados Unidos da Europa. Ideia retorcida, oportunista, nada democrática e, sobretudo, artificialíssima.</p>
<p>Como se fosse possível fundir num magma federativo países, nações e povos da Europa com as suas identidades, culturas, tradições, línguas e ainda rivalidades nacionais, cada qual com uma personalidade arreigada e, além disso, muitos deles com séculos e séculos de independência. Fazer esse paralelismo e pretender dar-lhe forma gerou uma situação impossível de materializar e que continua a sair-nos muito cara em dignidade humana e social. Um processo desse tipo só pode ser imposto de cima para baixo, através da mentira e do autoritarismo, no sentido contrário ao da democracia.</p>
<p>O regime e o Estado federativo norte-americanos nada têm a ver com a Europa profunda e real. Nasceram sobre o extermínio dos povos nativos e foram-se consolidando, em  apenas 250 anos, através da união de Estados não soberanos, quase todos eles – excepto os roubados aos vizinhos – demográfica e culturalmente homogéneos, sem história e com a mesma língua. E, ainda assim, este processo apenas atingiu a unificação depois de uma sangrenta guerra civil entre as opções confederal e federal.</p>
<p>Só idealistas ou, muito mais provavelmente, conspiradores mentirosos e oportunistas do pós-guerra  ao serviço de interesses opostos aos dos povos europeus poderiam impôr este caminho para uma integração impossível. Daí que, afinal com a consciência absoluta das suas intenções fraudulentas, tenham erradicado as consultas populares e os referendos de qualquer etapa que conduziu à União Europeia e até a uma moeda única. Konrad Adenauer, o primeiro chanceler da Alemanha Federal pós-nazi, ele próprio rodeado de nazis reciclados, inclusivamente na formação da polícia secreta, apressou-se a declarar que os referendos eram inconstitucionais.</p>
<p>Até a ideia de criar, em alternativa, uma confederação de Estados soberanos, como chegou a propôr o general De Gaulle, foi liminarmente posta de lado pelo núcleo fundador da integração, porque “subvertia a NATO” ao criar um exército europeu – sem tutela norte-americana – e estruturar uma política externa comum.</p>
<p>Vale a pena recordar intenções manifestadas pelos avós fundadores e acólitos, como Winston Churchill, e compará-las com a realidade de hoje. Não será difícil concluir que vivemos há 75 anos uma ficção, transformada hoje numa realidade paralela cultivada pelo orwelliano aparelho de propaganda, que opera a anos de luz da vontade e dos interesses dos povos.</p>
<p>Dizia Robert Schumann, ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros de França: “a criação de uma federação europeia é indispensável à preservação da paz.”</p>
<p>Jean Monnet, historicamente considerado o principal progenitor da União Europeia e também o inspirador da Declaração Schumann, não emergiu, porém, dos ambientes políticos. Era um comerciante de conhaque e banqueiro com interesses dos Estados Unidos, personalidade sombria de bastidores que nunca se candidatou a qualquer cargo político. Dizia ele: “só uma federação europeia poderá tornar a guerra impensável e materialmente impossível.“ Além disso, “não haverá paz na Europa se os Estados forem reconstituídos com base na soberania nacional e tudo o que ela implica.”</p>
<p>As ideias de Churchill eram coincidentes, mas sempre embrulhadas num fraseado imaginativo. Segundo o ex-primeiro-ministro britânico, “só a supranacionalidade poderá eliminar os males europeus dos  nacionalismos e do belicismo.” Acresce que os Estados “são demasiado pequenos para prosperarem isoladamente” e dentro de uns Estados Unidos da Europa os “trabalhadores poderão recuperar a alegria e a esperança.” Enquanto o chanceler alemão Adenauer proclamava que a reconciliação das nações “só é possível com a sua integração numa associação supranacional.”</p>
<p>Será que os nossos pais ou avós fundadores se enganaram nas previsões ou estavam já a meter-nos numa camisa de onze varas usando falinhas mansas e venenosas, no que são seguidos pelas classes políticas de hoje, tornadas autistas e autossuficientes na sua mediocridade, analfabetismo e autoritarismo melífluos e suicidas?</p>
<p><strong>O dia em que “não vai haver Portugal”</strong></p>
<p>Um exemplar bastante meritório do actual estado de coisas e militante dos delírios imperiais – hoje “globalistas” – dos avós fundadores é o apátrida que desempenha paradoxalmente o lugar de ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros da República Portuguesa, de seu nome Paulo Rangel. Há uns tempos, numa conferência realizada no Porto a propósito dos 127 anos do “Jornal de Notícias”, o indivíduo profetizou que “há-de chegar o dia em que não vai haver portugueses e não vai haver Portugal”. Nessa ocasião, Rangel era eurodeputado do PSD, o partido que pretende continuar a governar Portugal e, pelos vistos, conduzir o país até à extinção. Passando por  cima do zelo do ministro candidato a ministro para acabar com a língua portuguesa antes de acabar com a pátria, assinale-se a franqueza do dito Rangel ao confessar que “os governos e os parlamentos já não têm capacidade para resolver os problemas”; ficando assim por explicar porque insiste ele em governar e deputar quando tudo em redor “tem uma dimensão extraterritorial”.</p>
<p>Mais inusitada é a reflexão que o conduziu à conclusão de que “os votos valem menos hoje do que valiam no passado”. Porque andará Rangel tão empenhado na caça ao voto?</p>
<p>Os fundadores, pelo contrário, tiveram o decoro de não abusar da palavra democracia – foram até bastante comedidos. Os herdeiros, porém, proclamam em seu lugar uma corruptela, a democracia dita liberal, adjectivo que serve para tudo, até para tentar matar qualquer resquício democrático.</p>
<p>Os iniciadores do processo de integração europeia assumiam abertamente o federalismo; os seus sucessores de hoje praticam-no mas escondem-no, roubam-nos as soberanias invocando a defesa dos interesses nacionais, em suma, na sua inaptidão e com a ajuda da manipulação autoritária são ainda mais hipócritas e mentirosos.</p>
<p><strong>Promessas falsas de nascença</strong></p>
<p>Os antepassados da União Europeia garantiam que a integração era uma mezinha contra os nacionalismos e o belicismo. O que temos hoje? Mais nacionalismos, belicismo e o nazifascismo de regresso, em formas antigas ou actualizadas, olhados com benevolência pelas nossas classes políticas, prontas a usá-los como instrumentos dos seus interesses. São sete décadas e meia de mistificação, manipulação e mentira que os governos da União Europeia festejam, em vez da derrota do nazifascismo.</p>
<p>A aliança entre as cúpulas europeístas e as várias formas de nazifascismo em afirmação  não é coisa embrionária nem contra natura. Em causa não está apenas o envolvimento na defesa do banderismo de Kiev; o apoio implícito, frequentemente explícito, ao genocídio praticado pelo sionismo contra o povo palestiniano, aceitando Israel como “única democracia do Médio Oriente” e representante da “civilização e da superioridade cultural do Ocidente”, torna os governos da União Europeia coautores de uma matança que nos devolve aos tempos dos horrores do holocausto. Israel é o sionismo e o sionismo é uma doutrina supremacista, racista, de apartheid e fascista – as palavras existem para ser usadas. E não são antissemitas, são antissionistas, conceitos não apenas diferentes mas opostos.</p>
<p>Os avós fundadores desta agora moribunda União Europeia insistiram no papel fundamental da integração europeia e do federalismo na defesa da paz e na criação de condições para tornar a guerra impossível. Setenta e cinco anos depois, os governos da União Europeia investem o que têm e, sobretudo, o que não têm num vergonhoso esforço de guerra em defesa de um regime fascista, não hesitando em desmantelar as já precárias estruturas sociais da maioria dos 27 países membros; e mergulhando as populações europeias em níveis de pobreza aviltantes, na supressão de muitos dos seus direitos cívicos e humanos e em situações gritantes de desigualdade.</p>
<p>Pretendem assim preparar-se, sem resquício de humanismo, para lançar uma geração de jovens europeus na fogueira de uma guerra, tragédia que dizem prezar como um virtuoso caminho para a paz. Bruxelas e quase todos os governos dos 27, essa plêiade “cristã e ocidental”, são autistas até perante os Papas, tanto Francisco como o actual Leão XIV que, nas primeiras intervenções, fez um apelo lancinante à paz e ao “fim da terceira guerra mundial aos pedaços”, que reforçou com o grito de “guerra nunca mais”. Paz, como se sabe, tornou-se uma palavra maldita na União Europeia. Não faltará quem em Bruxelas e por essas capitais fora, sem esquecer o tal Rangel, profira a sentença de que o novo Papa vai por mau caminho</p>
<p>A União Europeia não pode, e não poderá enquanto existir, celebrar o 9 de Maio como Dia da Vitória. É a ordem natural das coisas.</p>
<p>Neste quadro temos todos um grande desafio entre mãos: fazer o que estiver ao nosso alcance para tornar desnecessária a celebração daquilo a que chamam o dia da Europa, o que significa livrar os povos europeus dos grilhões da União Europeia.</p>
<p>*Intervenção proferida na Conferência 80 Anos sobre a Queda do Nazifascismo” promovida pelo Canal Multipolar TV em 9 de Maio na Casa do Alentejo.</p>
<p></p>


guid: 1031471 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Recession Probabilities Decline
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/recession-probabilities-decline
hash: ���9��TC�<�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<span property="schema:name" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Recession Probabilities Decline</span>

            <div property="schema:text" data-sanitized-class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/recession-probabilities-decline/"><em>Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,</em></a></p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-the-can-t-stop-won-t-stop-rally"><strong>The “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” Rally</strong></h2>

<p><a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/earnings-revision-shows-sharp-decline/"><strong><em>Last week,</em></strong></a> we discussed how the rally had repaired much of the previous damage following <em>“Liberation Day.”</em> However, we also made competing cases for the bulls and bears on the market’s next move.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>“It is always difficult to say whether this is a ‘bear market’ rally while you are in the midst of it. In hindsight, these things are easy to identify, and investors have plenty of reasons to play the ‘could’ve, should’ve’ game. However, some valid arguments exist about why the recent correction was just that, and may now be over.”</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>This past week, the market continued its advance. There is little reason to be bearish with key overhead resistance levels broken. However, as shown, the markets are reaching decently overbought levels after being extremely oversold. This suggests that at least for now, the <em>“easy money”</em> has been made. With the market above the 200, and above the 50 and 20-DMA, pullbacks should be between 5600 and 5800. Investors can use such a pullback to increase portfolio equity exposures and reduce hedges accordingly. Conversely, 5000 to 5200 becomes the next critical target if those lower supports are violated. However, such would require some unexpected event to unfold.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-144-1024x757.jpg?itok=qgnF1Uu2" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-144-1024x757.jpg?itok=qgnF1Uu2"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="40bf5ef8-5f12-4e68-9c2a-5c888cedf861" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="370" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-144-1024x757.jpg?itok=qgnF1Uu2" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Given the reduction in tariff-related risk and stable economic data, we suspect the market will hold bullish support. That statement follows our<strong><em> <a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/executive-order-on-drug-prices-rattles-healthcare-sector/">analysis from earlier this week</a></em></strong>, which discussed whether we have returned to a bull market or if this is still a bear market rally. That analysis compared the current market advance to the 2022 corrective cycle. However, that article elicited quite a few comments about why the recent “<em>tariff”</em> sell-off could be like the 2020 COVID-pandemic decline and recovery. It’s a fair question and worth a few words.</p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-2020-vs-2025"><strong>2020 vs 2025</strong></h2>

<p>As shown, there is an analogy between the current market recovery and that seen in 2020 following the pandemic. However, it is worth remembering that there are many competing differences between the current macroeconomic backdrop and that of 2020.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-145.jpg?itok=rlUpo4rq" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-145.jpg?itok=rlUpo4rq"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="658d35fd-b2bb-475c-9657-14d9cf96f525" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="148" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-145.jpg?itok=rlUpo4rq" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>However, as we discussed in that previous analysis, even a <em>“can’t stop, won’t stop bull market” </em>gives those who can be patient better risk/reward opportunities to increase equity exposures.<em> </em>For example, after the initial rally off the March 2020 lows, the market pulled back and consolidated briefly before rallying further. Then, another longer consolidation process that year provided another entry point for bullish investors.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-146-1024x655.jpg?itok=TNBBMBC7" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-146-1024x655.jpg?itok=TNBBMBC7"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="41a44c27-6d32-4440-a38b-589a7133b9e8" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="320" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-146-1024x655.jpg?itok=TNBBMBC7" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The weekly Technical Gauge we produce each week in this newsletter below follows the same path as 2020. While not yet back to bullish technical extremes, it is moving quickly higher to more elevated levels. When those readings reached 80, the market went through a longer consolidation process in 2020.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-147.jpg?itok=vRDIhhmd" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-147.jpg?itok=vRDIhhmd"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="48740053-2c0d-4b34-ab5e-027be2aa7132" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="339" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-147.jpg?itok=vRDIhhmd" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>So, is this 2022 where the recent rally will fail and test lower levels? Maybe. Or, is it more like 2020, where the rally continues with only mild pullbacks along the way? Possibly. <strong>The true answer is that I don’t know.</strong> However, it is worth considering that there are many macroeconomic differences today compared to 2020. That lack of fiscal and monetary support, slowing economic growth, and tighter monetary policy are headwinds to higher stock prices. But, it is logical that the latest bullish market action has investors questioning a more cautious approach to the markets.</p>

<p>The same is true for us. We are currently underweight equities and hedged. However, the need for hedges is quickly declining, and the need for equity exposure is increasing. It’s a tough battle between creating portfolio performance and risk management. We are sticking with risk management until things become more certain, at least for now.</p>

<p>This week, we will discuss why another bearish case is fading – <strong><em>recession probabilities are falling.</em></strong></p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-coliseum"><strong>A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Coliseum</strong></h2>

<p><em><strong>“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Coliseum”</strong></em> is a hysterical play by Craig Sodaro. In the play, Simplcuss, a naive Swiss farmer, heads for Rome to follow his dream of becoming a stand-up comedian; little does he know what adventures are in store. Stumbling into the house of General Spurius Sillius in search of food and water, he’s mistaken for the dreaded gladiator, Terribilus, who is due to fight in the Colosseum the following day. Simplcuss has to figure out how to save himself, and he overhears the General’s wife, Drusilla, and Senator Publius Piscious plotting to kill the Emperor’s daughter and the Emperor himself!</p>

<p>Without telling you the ending, there are many similarities to the current market. Over the last several months, the media headlines have been filled with stories of<strong><em> “Recessionus Terribulus</em></strong>.” Whether President Trump planned to deport illegal immigrants, Elon Musk and DOGE cutting government spending, or lately the fears of tariffs, all played into the media headlines of an impending recession.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-148.jpg?itok=LNXXqlel" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-148.jpg?itok=LNXXqlel"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="01f59dd6-2439-4b51-aa37-4ccb17620f7c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="396" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-148.jpg?itok=LNXXqlel" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Of course, there was also economic data to help support those claims. As discussed in the <strong><em>“<a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/the-consumer-is-tapping-out/">Consumer Is Tapping Out,</a></em></strong>” rising delinquency rates are problematic. Particularly, for an economy driven by personal consumption. To wit:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“<em>The current data point toward a recessionary risk. Deflation is highly correlated to economic growth rates, wages, and rates. Unsurprisingly, recessions reduce inflation as demand for goods and services collapses. While inflation may be “sticky,” the recent decline in bond yields and wages suggests consumer demand will decline this year. When tariffs, an additional tax on consumers, increase the cost burden, the reaction historically is not expansionary.”</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-74-1024x707_0.jpg?itok=9YUnm_c2" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-74-1024x707_0.jpg?itok=9YUnm_c2"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="61410fea-a5ef-4421-aeb6-a100115589e1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="345" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-74-1024x707_0.jpg?itok=9YUnm_c2" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Furthermore, last weekend’s <em><strong><a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/earnings-revision-shows-sharp-decline/">#BullBearReport</a></strong></em> noted the rather sharp negative revisions to earnings estimates for the S&amp;P 500 index.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>“Given the slowdown in economic growth rates, it is unsurprising that, as of May 1st, S&amp;P Global finally acquiesced and revised earnings estimates lower. However, this wasn’t a mild earnings revision but a slashing of estimates from their April 15th expectation of $292/share in 2026 to just $274. Furthermore, full-year 2025 reported earnings estimates were cut by nearly $20/share from $258/share to just $238/share.”</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-70_2.jpg?itok=Bk3G6OvS" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-70_2.jpg?itok=Bk3G6OvS"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6ca10b8b-38a1-409e-8567-5b5c333b9995" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="353" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-70_2.jpg?itok=Bk3G6OvS" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>However, what is interesting is that despite these and several other indicators suggesting an increase in recessionary risk, the financial markets are currently putting in one of the strongest rallies we have seen since the COVID pandemic. Of course, much of that rally came on the heels of the relief of the sharp reduction of tariffs on China, one of the U.S.’s key trading partners.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/US-Tariffs-AAA2505130542.jpg?itok=7t7I_KoX" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/US-Tariffs-AAA2505130542.jpg?itok=7t7I_KoX"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a99213f4-e404-484f-8e6e-7c9ce21ce2ed" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="391" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/US-Tariffs-AAA2505130542.jpg?itok=7t7I_KoX" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>As such, while Wall Street analysts and economists were slashing economic growth and earnings estimates just a month ago, striking fear into investors’ hearts, that has now reversed.</p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-recession-probabilities-are-falling"><strong>Recession Probabilities Are Falling</strong></h2>

<p>Following the announcements of trade deals with both the UK and China, recession probabilities for 2025 declined. Now, economists are rushing to reverse those previous recession calls.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-149.jpg?itok=zkkCmEiS" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-149.jpg?itok=zkkCmEiS"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="98202489-86b2-43b2-88ab-bfed7ee22f90" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="377" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-149.jpg?itok=zkkCmEiS" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The reality is that the onerous tariff levels initiated by the Trump administration were never permanent. This was a mistaken assumption by the mainstream media. Furthermore, the<em> “inflation impact” </em>from tariffs, which was expected to cause the recession, has yet to appear. Such is evident in both inflation reports this past week. The chart below shows the composite CPI/PPI index and whether inflation is above or below the long-term average inflation rate. Currently, inflation is 2% below its long-term average.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-150-1024x609.jpg?itok=Y5B3ph9E" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-150-1024x609.jpg?itok=Y5B3ph9E"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7b140b1f-f420-49cb-8c85-6d480fe24e6f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="297" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-150-1024x609.jpg?itok=Y5B3ph9E" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Inflation failing to appear is unsurprising and something we discussed in detail in <em><strong><a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/tariffs-roil-markets/">“Tariffs Roil Markets.”</a></strong></em> In their rush to undermine the current administration, the media also failed to consider two important facts we discussed previously.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>“The first is that Trump’s tariffs are a ‘stick and carrot’ for negotiating an agreement with both Mexico and Canada. As you will see, all he wanted was assistance in securing the borders, reducing illegal immigration, and arresting the illegal flow of drugs, especially “Fentanyl,” into the U.S. Therefore, any assistance provided by Canada or Mexico would lead to a reversal of those tariffs. Secondly, we stated the market’s opening would likely be the worst level of the day, so any “panic selling” of positions early in the morning would likely be a mistake.”</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>That same logic applies to China and every other country dependent on U.S. trade. Given that China depends on roughly $50 billion in annual trade <em>(16.2% of total exports worldwide)</em> to the U.S. for its economic growth, President Trump was correct in assuming he had a stronger hand in the negotiations.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-131_0.jpg?itok=aUXo3b7O" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-131_0.jpg?itok=aUXo3b7O"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="aee546cd-547d-459b-878d-b3fb4dcadded" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="274" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-131_0.jpg?itok=aUXo3b7O" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>With those tariffs vastly reduced, the risk of the recessionary impact from an excess <em>“tax”</em> on consumers is fading. However, even with the tariffs reversed, the economic data, while slowing, does not suggest that a recession risk is imminent.</p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-a-recession-proof-economy"><strong>A Recession-Proof Economy?</strong></h2>

<p>Doug Cass made a valid point this past week, asking if the<em> <strong>“economy is now recession-proof.”</strong></em></p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>“Is the economy now recession-proof? Is this also now a syntax question as opposed to a practical question?</em></p>

<p><em>By a syntax question, this is what I mean. Recession is measured by reported GDP and reported employment. GDP is in part a function of reported inflation. If inflation is understated, GDP is overstated by the same amount. Employment includes jobs going to immigrants, second jobs, jobs created by the birth/death model, and jobs going to government employees that often have negative productivity and whose roles (regulatory and bureaucratic nonsense) end up harming the country and the economy, even though they help GDP in the short term.</em></p>

<p><em>The country thought we were in recession in the middle part of the Biden term. This includes very prominent financial minds and the average Joe. There is a reason the election went the way it did: “It’s the economy, stupid.” But, as measured by the official stats, there was no recession, and things were pretty good. Now, we are still not in recession, and as measured by the same stats, <strong>it still seems 50% likely we will not be in recession, and if we ever enter one, it feels like it might be mild, at least as measured by those same statistics.</strong></em></p>

<p><em>So, is the economy now recession-proof? If we don’t go into a recession now, with the shaky foundation that was in place, including an overspent consumer, all the debt, global tensions, and all the uncertainty, it feels like we will never have a recession.”</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>It seems that way, but the one contributing factor that broke all pre-existing models was the flood of monetary and fiscal stimulus post the COVID pandemic. It may take us years to determine if the previous historical models and indicators, such as inverted yield curves, ever function as they did previously to gauge recession probabilities. Maybe they won’t.</p>

<p>However, as noted above, economists are rapidly reversing their predictions about the recession and now suggest that President Trump’s actions, while previously thought to be an economic disaster, might be beneficial. Furthermore, financial conditions are improving, which also supports economic activity. If that trend continues, particularly if the Fed resumes cutting interest rates, it should start to feed into consumer confidence. If consumer confidence strengthens, which would be logical following recent tariff resolutions, this should reduce recession probabilities further.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-130%20%281%29.jpg?itok=vzxUPacl" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-130%20%281%29.jpg?itok=vzxUPacl"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="eca5cd56-dadd-4074-900e-a415f587a5d4" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="398" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-130%20%281%29.jpg?itok=vzxUPacl" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Understand the message here. As discussed two weeks ago, <strong>the economic growth rate is slowing, but recession probabilities remain low.</strong></p>

<p>That does not mean that a recession is permanently avoided.</p>

<p>However, therein lies the problem with recession probabilities and predictions in the first place.</p>

<h2 data-sanitized-id="h-the-problem-with-recession-predictions"><strong>The Problem With Recession Predictions</strong></h2>

<p>It is wise to remember that in 2022, we had the <a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/a-recession-is-coming-or-is-it/"><strong><em>most anticipated recession</em></strong></a>, which failed to occur and preceded one of the strongest bull markets in recent history.</p>

<p>The problem with predicting recessions is that economists always work off lagging economic data. Such is particularly the case with GDP, which is revised three times following the end of the quarter, 12 months, and 3 years later. Historically, given that lag, the timing of U.S. recessions can be off by 9 to 12 months before they are recognized by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The chart below shows the lag between the onset and recognition of previous U.S. recessions.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-73-1024x633_0.jpg?itok=qCPqBkAz" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-73-1024x633_0.jpg?itok=qCPqBkAz"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="68291c06-a814-45fc-8d40-67a67ffa1b2a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="309" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-73-1024x633_0.jpg?itok=qCPqBkAz" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The following table better shows the lag between the start and recognition of previous U.S. recessions. I have also noted the impact on financial markets as investors reprice earnings growth for a reversal in economic growth rates.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-74-1024x320_0.jpg?itok=0wu8oijC" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-74-1024x320_0.jpg?itok=0wu8oijC"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="230e3522-aadc-4c6e-a33a-6a8d028bed5c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="156" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-74-1024x320_0.jpg?itok=0wu8oijC" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Investors must decide whether the current correction is <em>“just a correction”</em> or whether the risk of a U.S. recession is increasing.</p>

<p>Currently, few indicators suggest recession probabilities are rising. The Economic Composite Index <em>(a comprehensive measure of economic activity comprised of more than 100 data points)</em> is in expansionary territory. The EOCI index confirms the improvement in the 6-month rate of change in the Leading Economic Index (LEI), one of the best recession indicators, and current levels of economic growth. While economic growth will undoubtedly slow as all of the excess governmental spending under the previous Administration reverses, there is currently no recession warning in the data. That does not mean that it can not change in the future. However, for now, the risk of recession is extremely low.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-133_0.jpg?itok=iasKbjH8" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-133_0.jpg?itok=iasKbjH8"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5f556cba-0841-45b5-ac5a-ba1b877ad6d4" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="279" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-133_0.jpg?itok=iasKbjH8" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Adding to that analysis, the economically weighted ISM composite index is also in expansionary territory, suggesting no current risk of recession. <a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/signs-signs-everywhere-signs-but-no-recession-yet/"><strong><em>This composite index (80% service / 20% manufacturing)</em></strong></a> is why we wrote that there was no recession risk in 2023 or 2024 despite inverted yield curves.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-132-1024x518.jpg?itok=66CK3gfR" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-132-1024x518.jpg?itok=66CK3gfR"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3541a13a-6606-4796-ab75-a10239a6b658" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="253" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-132-1024x518.jpg?itok=66CK3gfR" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Lastly, Government spending remains robust, which fuels economic growth. While the current Administration is looking to cut spending and reduce the deficit, which would weaken economic growth rates, they are making very little headway.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-151_0.jpg?itok=7UDMLyxC" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-151_0.jpg?itok=7UDMLyxC"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8999ca1f-f910-44d5-a345-0a11eac1cf1b" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="289" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-151_0.jpg?itok=7UDMLyxC" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Furthermore, despite the hopes that DOGE would cut Federal spending, it has only returned to the post-financial crisis exponential growth trend as the Government continues to use “Continuing Resolutions” to fund the Government. These resolutions automatically increase government spending by 8% annually. In other words, spending doubles every nine years, so debt levels continue to rise, feeding into economic growth rates.</p>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-152.jpg?itok=95ZRgk0A" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-152.jpg?itok=95ZRgk0A"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="79b713e3-e75a-4eeb-a2f0-df8b2755f562" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="288" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-152.jpg?itok=95ZRgk0A" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<h2><strong>Conclusion: Staying Grounded Amid Market Volatility</strong></h2>

<p>While recession probabilities have resurfaced in the headlines following the recent market sell-off, the economic data does not yet support the narrative of an imminent downturn.</p>

<p>As I discussed in <a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/the-risk-of-a-recession-isnt-zero/"><strong><em>“The Risk Of Recession Is Not Zero,”</em></strong></a> the government is currently engaged in activities that will impact economic growth. If those actions are combined with those of an already struggling consumer, the risk of recession will undoubtedly increase. Thus, economists are now scrambling to reverse their recession calls.</p>

<p>Historically, recession calls tend to be premature, often relying on lagging indicators that confirm economic contractions only well after they have begun. Current indicators point to a slower economic expansion, not contraction. Although growth is slowing, a slower growth environment does not equate to a recession—a distinction investors must keep in mind.</p>

<p>The more significant concern for markets is the inevitable impact of slowing economic growth on corporate earnings expectations. With analysts projecting continued double-digit earnings growth into 2026, there is an apparent disconnect between these forecasts and the economic reality. History suggests that <strong>earnings will eventually revert to levels that align with economic activity</strong>, which could lead to further bouts of market volatility.</p>

<p>For investors, the key takeaway is to <strong>stay informed, focus on fundamentals, and avoid being swayed by short-term noise</strong>. While volatility and corrections are natural in market cycles, history shows that panic-driven decisions often lead to missed opportunities. As long as economic indicators remain expansionary, the risk of a recession remains low, though careful monitoring is warranted. Investors should continue to assess their portfolios, manage risk prudently, and position themselves for a gradual slowdown rather than an economic collapse.</p>

<h2><strong>How We Are Trading It</strong></h2>

<p>As noted last week, we continue to manage our portfolios in a manner that allows us to participate in the market while still hedging against underlying risk. As such, we have started rebalancing risk as necessary and adjusting portfolio holdings to improve relative market performance. Notably, the breadth of the market has improved, but as noted above, the short-term overbought conditions suggest the <em>“easy money”</em> has been made. We will wait for corrections to reduce cash balances further and remove portfolio hedges entirely. That is, of course, unless some other unexpected event surfaces that substantially increases market risk.</p>

<p>As noted, while the risk of recession has fallen, recession probabilities are not zero. As we said in <strong><em><a href="https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/bank-regulators-will-help-the-treasury/">Friday’s Daily Market Commentary</a>:</em></strong></p>

<blockquote>
<p><em>“However, patience will likely pay off here. As noted previously, we are still on a weekly sell signal, which has historically led to short-term market underperformance. As shown, previous periods of historical weekly moving average crossovers typically involve a more extended period of consolidation or corrective price actions. The main exception to that rule was 2020, when the Federal Reserve intervened with massive monetary support. With yields rising and the Fed on hold, no excess support is coming into the market other than a surge in corporate buybacks. However, those are due to decline starting next month.</em>“</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image-141-1024x559.jpg?itok=QmE8A0jZ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image-141-1024x559.jpg?itok=QmE8A0jZ"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8028f11e-8fa6-4c05-822e-5029cf72c4d8" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="273" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image-141-1024x559.jpg?itok=QmE8A0jZ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Continue to follow the rules and stick to your discipline. </p>
</div>
      <span rel="schema:author" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="" data-sanitized-class="username">Tyler Durden</a></span>
<span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-05-17T15:40:00+00:00" data-sanitized-class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 05/17/2025 - 11:40</span>


