Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 10
September 17, 2025
Russia’s Hi-Tech Starlink Analog Can Free Global South From US Tech Dominance: Here’s How
Sputnik International
Roscosmos is “moving at a rapid pace” toward fielding an alternative to Elon Musk’s satellite internet empire. Veteran military expert Yuri Knutov breaks things down.
What’s Russia Building?
Bureau 1440 is working on a low-Earth orbit sat net for broadband data delivery:
multiple test vehicles are already in orbitcommunications tested at ranges of 30-1,000 kmfirst stage of series deployment slated to start in December (300 satellites); 900 in stage two~500 base stations plannedhomegrown terminal coming “soon,” per Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanovtrial roll-out planned for 2027What Makes Russia’s Version Better?
Musk’s system works like this: ground-based Starlink Gateways communicate with orbiting satellites using electromagnetic radiation, with signals then communicated back down to Earth-based terminals.
Russia’s system uses laser beams, which “are more modern digital technologies providing faster & higher quality data transmission, as well as improved resistance to interference,” Knutov explains.
Longer Range
An effective range of up to 5,000 km “means far fewer satellites are needed than Elon Musk’s system (hundreds vs thousands),” Knutov explains.
That makes the Russian system not only less costly, but less harmful to the already heavily overcrowded LEO environment.
Doppler Effect: Solved
“We’ve been able to completely compensate” for the Doppler signal frequency issue, occurring from the high speeds (27,000 km/h) at which satellites orbit Earth, “allowing the signal to be maintained virtually free of interference & distortion.”
Global Implications
The system will provide secure, high-speed communications to:
Russian resource sector companies working in remote areasships situated anywhere on Earththe military, for command, control & real-time battlefield reports, ensuring informed decision-makingAlternative to US tech
“Nations of the Global South understand that dependence on the US makes them vulnerable. Internet access via Starlink can be restricted at any time. Availability of a Russian system providing equally good or even better services is crucial,” Knutov says, emphasizing that the new system cannot be deployed too soon.
[…]
British Group Projects Images of Trump and Epstein on Windsor Castle
The arrest of four men after images of Donald Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle on Tuesday was “Orwellian” and “ridiculous”, the group behind the protest has told the Guardian.
The political campaign group Led By Donkeys confirmed that it was behind the stunt, which saw several images of Trump and Epstein projected on to a tower while a soundtrack questioning the relationship between to the two men was played on a speaker.
A letter the US president allegedly sent to Epstein was also projected on to the castle, along with pictures of Epstein’s victims, news clips about the case and police reports.
The police said in a statement that four adults were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after an “unauthorised projection” at Windsor Castle, which they described as a “public stunt”. The four remain in custody.
A spokesperson for Led By Donkeys, which is funded by capped donations, said it was the first time anyone from the group had been arrested for making a projection.
“We’ve done, I reckon, 25 or 30 projections since we’ve been going. Often the police come along and we have a chat to them, and they even have a laugh with us and occasionally tell us to not do it,” they said. “But no one’s ever been arrested before, so it is ridiculous that four of our guys have been arrested for malicious communications.”
He added: “Forgive the cliche, but it is rather Orwellian for a piece of journalism, which raises questions about our guest’s relationship with America’s most notorious child sex trafficker to lead to arrests.”
They added: “We’re constantly told, you know, we need to see peaceful protests. Well, here’s a peaceful protest … We projected a piece of journalism on to a wall and now people have been arrested for malicious communications. I think that, frankly, says a lot more about the policing of Trump’s visit than it does about what we did.”
The group said it was waiting for news about the four men who had been arrested. The spokesperson said they had carried out an “Emperor’s New Clothes” protest.
“Trump is being welcomed to our country, being given the unique honour of a second state visit, and it’s being housed at our expense at Windsor Castle,” they said. “This is like The Emperor’s New Clothes – you’ve got to point at it and say, ‘Hang on. You know, this guy has incredibly close links to America’s most notorious child sex trafficker. We probably need to talk about that.’ And so we decided to build a film that would tell that story.”
Trump has come under increasing pressure over his links with Epstein after the publication of a letter, the existence of which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in July, by Congress’s House oversight committee earlier this month. The letter contains text of a purported dialogue between Trump and Epstein in which Trump calls him a “pal” and says: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
The text sits within a crude sketch of a silhouette of a naked woman. Trump had previously denied writing the letter and the White House has denied its authenticity.
[…]
Morocco’s Innovative Desert Farming
Echoes of Water: Morocco
Directed by Adnane Baraka (2025)
Film Review
Farmers in southeastern Morocco have been struggling with a 20 year drought. This film focuses on their efforts to preserve ancient khetteras their ancestors dug to create artificial oases. Khetteras are 10-25 foot wells dug into aquifers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. They rely on gravity and natural contours to channel the water to the surface in nearby valleys.
The filmmakers interview a farming family who continue ancestral practices to keep their oasis alive. They gives up grass (for animals) and legume production in the really dry years to preserve their shrinking date palm orchard. They’re meticulous about pruning dead branches to protect his trees from fire.
Morocco’s kheterras have been added to the UN heritage list to protect them from industrial development.
The government also plays an important role in increasing the country’s water supply b constructing new dams, teaching farmers drip irrigation and transferring water from well-supplied basins to those with a deficit.
They’ve also installed large plastic nets over sand dunes adjacent to oases to keep sand from plugging them up and are planning major desalinization plants along the coast.
September 16, 2025
The Comfortable Collapse: How America Learned to Pretend Obesity Is Norma
By Joseph Varon
Walk into any American airport today and pause. Look around at the travelers waiting at the gate, the families queuing for fast food, the crowds rushing past. You are looking at a country that our grandparents would not recognize. In less than three generations, the very shape of the American body has shifted so dramatically that what would once have been regarded as rare or concerning is now routine. Airplane seats have been widened, retail clothing racks have been extended, mannequins have been reshaped, and soda cups have been enlarged. Entire industries have recalibrated to accommodate a physiology that is neither healthy nor sustainable.
Yet our cultural narrative increasingly insists that this shift is normal—sometimes even desirable. We are told that larger mannequins are a sign of “representation,” that rebranded fashion shows signify “inclusivity,” and that bigger chairs and bigger uniforms are gestures of compassion. But none of this changes biology. A mannequin does not get diabetes. A marketing campaign cannot erase hypertension. And no amount of “body positivity” cancels the cruel arithmetic of metabolic disease.
Obesity is not normal physiology. It is common, costly, and deadly. Pretending otherwise is not kindness—it is cultural anesthesia.
A Nation Grows HeavierThe data tell the story with unflinching clarity. In 1960, the average American man weighed 166 pounds, while the average woman weighed 140 pounds. By 2002, men averaged 191 pounds and women 164 pounds, representing gains of more than 20 pounds per person in a single generation [1-2]. Height increased by about an inch during the same period, which is nowhere near enough to explain the mass increase.
Obesity prevalence, once a marginal condition, ballooned in parallel. In the early 1960s, about 13 percent of adults met criteria for obesity. By 2010, the figure had reached 36 percent. Today, more than 40 percent of American adults live with obesity[3-5]. This is not a slight cultural drift. It is a wholesale population-level transformation, visible everywhere and confirmed by every credible dataset.
The costs are staggering. Annual medical expenditures attributable to obesity are estimated at $173 billion in the United States. Adults with obesity generate, on average, nearly $1,900 more in health costs per year than their normal-weight peers[6-7]. These figures capture only direct medical spending. They do not reflect lost productivity, shortened lifespans, military unfitness, or the millions of families silently managing the downstream complications: diabetes, heart disease, liver failure, sleep apnea, infertility, and cancer.
The Environment That Made Us SickWhat changed so radically between the early 1960s and the present? Not our genes. The human genome has not undergone significant mutation in half a century. What changed was our environment: the way we eat, the way we work, the way we live.
Per capita daily caloric availability in the United States increased by more than 20 percent between 1970 and 2010, a surge driven by the consumption of processed, shelf-stable, calorie-dense foods. [8] Portion sizes, which began to expand in the 1970s and continued to grow in the 1980s, exceeded what earlier generations would have considered a regular meal. Studies consistently demonstrate that larger portions lead to greater intake at a single sitting and cumulatively across days [9-10].
At the same time, the energy we burn at work fell sharply. As manufacturing and agriculture gave way to service industries and screen-bound labor, occupational energy expenditure dropped by more than 100 calories per day since 1960[11-12]. For an individual, that number might sound trivial. For a population of 330 million people, compounded across decades, it is catastrophic.
The composition of our food supply also changed. Today, more than half of all calories consumed by American adults come from ultra-processed foods: engineered products designed for bliss-point palatability and low cost. Among youth, the proportion is closer to two-thirds[13-14]. These foods are calorie-dense but nutritionally hollow, engineered to override satiety mechanisms and promote overconsumption. A growing body of cohort studies links ultra-processed food intake with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, confirming what common sense already suspected.
The epidemic is not mysterious. We eat more, we move less, and the food itself is industrially reengineered to push appetite into overdrive.
Cultural Rebranding of DiseaseEven as the physiology deteriorated, the culture adapted—by redefining what counts as “normal.” This is where mannequins and marketing come into play.
In 2019, Nike unveiled plus-size mannequins in a flagship London store and hailed the move as a gesture of inclusivity and representation. [15] Victoria’s Secret, once the cathedral of a single body type, abandoned its iconic runway show and rebranded with mannequins of different sizes and a new language about empowerment[16-17]. Other retailers quickly followed suit.
No one disputes that people deserve dignity and clothing that fits them well. But retail is not an altruistic enterprise. The introduction of larger mannequins was not a campaign for justice; it was a marketing strategy. Representation has its place. The problem is when representation blurs into normalization—when physiology that carries increased risk of disease is recast as simply another aesthetic option.
This is cultural anesthesia. It reassures without healing. It consoles while condemning. It teaches people to accept a physiology that will shorten their lives and bankrupt their health. That is not compassion. That is capitulation.
The Limits of “Health at Every Size”It is both possible and necessary to treat every individual with respect while telling the truth about obesity. But slogans like “health at every size” cross a line from kindness into denial. Biology is not a social construct. Excess adipose tissue is not a role model.
Obesity is associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, infertility, and several cancers[6-7]. It shortens lives and drains public resources. To insist that these risks are merely inventions of stigma is to lie to patients under the guise of affirmation.
The clinical reality is not pleasant, but it is unavoidable. Physicians must treat disease with honesty, even when the culture demands euphemism. Compassion means helping patients reverse risk, not reassuring them that risk does not exist.
The 1950s BaselineInvoking the 1950s risks nostalgia. That era had its own injustices and inequities. But metabolically, it provides a valuable baseline. Families ate smaller portions, prepared more meals at home, moved more in the course of daily life, and consumed fewer ultra-processed foods. Sugary sodas existed, but they were modestly sized and not consumed by default with every meal. “Large” meant a single cup, not a liter.
The lesson is not that the 1950s were a golden age. The lesson is that, within the same borders and with the same genetic pool, Americans were metabolically healthier before their environment was re-engineered. That proves the point: environment, not destiny, is the driver.
Incentives for ObesityThe obesity epidemic is not an accident. It is the product of incentives. Food companies profit when people eat more often and in larger quantities. “Value” is measured in calories per dollar, not nutrients per life. Pharmaceutical companies profit when chronic diseases linger; lifelong pharmacotherapy for obesity and its complications is now a growth market. Retailers profit when larger sizes are normalized and more units are sold. Politicians profit when difficult policy reforms—such as agricultural subsidies, zoning changes, and school meal standards—are replaced with slogans about inclusivity.
There is no conspiracy here. There is scaffolding. And people, especially children, grow into whatever scaffolding we build. These children will grow up with a variety of chronic diseases, and their lifespan will be limited.
A Different Kind of CompassionThe way forward requires disentangling people from pathology. Individuals must be respected and never humiliated. But the epidemic must be denormalized, not celebrated. That means telling the truth plainly: obesity is not neutral. It is a disease state.
[…]
The myth of Israel’s isolation: the reality of Arab collaboration with Zionism
Lucas LeirozIsrael is supported, not opposed, by the majority of Arab nations.
The narrative construction of Zionism fundamentally depends on two premises: historical victimization and alleged regional isolation. Both are rhetorical weapons designed to justify Israel’s systematic brutality against Palestinians and other native populations of the Middle East. But neither of these narratives holds up under even a minimally honest analysis of the region’s current geopolitical reality. The myth of the “tiny State of Israel surrounded by enemies” is one of the greatest fabrications of contemporary Western propaganda.
The idea that Israel is a solitary bastion in a sea of Arab hostility is, today, completely baseless. With few exceptions, countries in the region not only tolerate Israel but actively collaborate with the Zionist regime — including militarily and diplomatically. The supposed regional resistance has evaporated in recent decades, giving way to a policy of normalization and, in many cases, direct submission to Israeli interests.
The most emblematic case is Syria. The fall of Assad became an obsession for the West, enabled by Islamist militias with logistical and military support from the West, Israel, and the Gulf petro-monarchies. After Al-Qaeda’s victory, the terrorist regime almost immediately engaged in negotiations with Israel, despite ongoing Zionist bombings of Syrian territory. Today, the so-called “Free Syria” is functionally an ally of Israel. Fragmented and destabilized, the country has lost its national capacity for resistance.
In Lebanon, the scenario is equally ambiguous. Despite Hezbollah’s firmly anti-Israeli stance, the Lebanese government follows a path of conciliation with Tel Aviv. The recent ceasefire agreement, signed without Hezbollah’s consent, makes it clear that the Lebanese elites prioritize accommodation with Israel over national sovereignty. Government pressure for Hezbollah’s disarmament is another indicator of veiled collaboration.
Even the Palestinian Authority — supposedly the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in the West Bank — has acted as a silent partner of the Zionist regime. Its role is increasingly that of a submissive mediator, suppressing popular resistance and ensuring the stability of illegal Israeli settlements. Local authorities in the West Bank seem entirely incapable of challenging the colonial status quo, abandoning any real project of liberation.
Jordan, with its puppet monarchy, is another blatant example of collaboration. While official rhetoric often speaks of “justice for Palestinians,” in practice Amman functions as a key piece in the architecture of regional containment, facilitating Israeli intelligence and surveillance operations. The Jordanian monarchy is essentially an extension of Anglo-American policy in the region and, by extension, an objective ally of Tel Aviv.
In the Gulf, the situation is even more obvious. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar maintain close relations with Israel, both economically and militarily — even if many of them do not formally recognize the Zionist entity. As Brazilian analyst Rodolfo Laterza correctly observed, the effectiveness of Israel’s air defense is not due solely to systems like the Iron Dome, but to a regionally integrated infrastructure supported by Gulf monarchies. These countries not only allow American military presence and overflights but also share intelligence and threat tracking — giving Israel a significant strategic advantage.
Israel’s recent bombing of Qatar reignited talk of a possible “Arab awakening,” but until concrete developments occur, such “Arab solidarity” remains fiction and empty rhetoric. The Gulf regimes — utterly dependent on Western military support and fearful of internal destabilization — are among Zionism’s most useful agents in the Middle East. This is combined with the region’s typical strategic ambiguity, where governments believe they can maintain multiple alignments simultaneously without paying the price.
In the end, the only full-fledged state actor opposing Israel is Iran — which, ironically, is not even Arab. Isolated, blockaded, demonized, Iran continues to take a confrontational stance toward Israeli apartheid and remains the main supporter of resistance movements like Hezbollah and Hamas. Alongside war-torn and divided Yemen, it is the only state actor on the board that openly challenges Israel’s expansionist agenda.
Tel Aviv’s propaganda, amplified by the Western media, insists on portraying Israel as a victim. But the truth is that Zionism has co-opted and bought off nearly all its neighbors. The so-called “Israeli isolation” is a fiction — a lie repeated endlessly to justify the unjustifiable: the continuation of a colonial, supremacist, and genocidal project.
[…]
Iran Rejects Two-State Solution in Palestine
This handout picture released by the Qatar News Agency (QNA) shows Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (C-R) meeting with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C-L) on the sidelines of the 2025 Arab-Islamic emergency summit in Doha on September 15, 2025. (Via AFP)
Press TV
Iran has clarified its stance on a joint statement from a Doha summit held in the wake of the Israeli regime’s assault on Qatar, rejecting the “two-state” solution concerning the Palestinian issue and and US’s self-proclaimed “peace” efforts.
The Foreign Ministry issued the remarks on Tuesday, distancing the Islamic Republic from references made in the statement to the so-called “two-state solution,” reiterating support for Palestinians’ right to resistance, and ruling out any prospect of recognition of the regime.
It also dismissed the existence of any genuine intention on the part of Washington to resolve the situation created by the regime’s barbarity throughout the West Asia region, including across the occupied Palestinian territories.
‘Two-state solution’ a non-starter
Reasserting the Islamic Republic’s continued unwavering support for the Palestinian cause of liberation from Israeli occupation and aggression, the ministry said the country would under no circumstances abandon its staunch belief that Palestinians were absolutely entitled to exercise their inherent right to self-determination.
Therefore, Tehran keeps holding fast to its principled position that the only “true and sustainable” solution to the Palestinian issue rests in the creation of a “unified democratic government” in the occupied territories.
Such a government should receive its mandate from the outcome of a referendum partaken by all Palestinians inside the territories as well as the Palestinian diaspora, and, hence, end up representing “all Palestinians,” the ministry said.
Therefore, it said, Tehran utterly dismisses the “two-state solution,” supported by the United States and its allies, and the concepts proposed as part of such “solution,” including those mentioned in the Doha statement.
It named one of those concepts as “establishment of the State of Palestine along the lines of June 4, 1967,” which ignores the vast Palestinian territories that the regime had already occupied in 1948 and continues to occupy.
Also, the Islamic Republic spurns the idea that Palestinians’ future capital should be confined to just the eastern part of the holy occupied city of al-Quds, the ministry added.
“The so-called ‘two-state’ solution would not resolve the Palestinian issue,” it specified.
‘Israeli barbarity necessitates resistance’
Iran, meanwhile, continues to uphold Palestinians’ entitlement to employ “whatever necessary vehicle” towards realizing their inalienable right to self-determination and ridding themselves of foreign colonialism, the ministry stated.
Those rights that are enjoyed by “any peaceable nation” include the right to resist, it noted, adding, “Given the barbarity exercised by the occupying regime’s forces, nothing should serve to restrict this right.”
“It is also our shared duty under international law to support this aspiration,” it said, and also repeated Tehran’s categorical rejection of any potential recognition of the regime.
‘US no ‘peace’ partner’
Finally, the ministry underlined that the policies and actions of the United States have contributed to the continuation and backing of the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Palestinian people, rather than subduing it.
“In light of this reality, the Islamic Republic holds that the United States cannot be recognized or regarded as a credible or impartial party in advancing a just and lasting peace in this conflict.”
“We request the summit’s secretariat to include the Iranian delegation’s reservations in its final report.”
[…]
Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/09/16/755106/Iran-Israel-Qatar-Doha-United-States
Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza City
Press TV
Gaza City was engulfed in flames before dawn on Tuesday as Israel launched a new ground offensive, killing dozens of civilians and burying families under the rubble.
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across the city overnight, when the military unleashed a massive bombardment as its ground forces moved deeper into the territory’s largest urban hub.
The military said the number of soldiers would rise in the coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas fighters in the area. According to a military official, the offensive is “the main phase of the plan for Gaza City.”
Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighborhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility on Tuesday.
“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press.
“The bombing did not stop for a single moment,” he said. “There are still bodies under the rubble.”
Witnesses said the regime’s overnight bombing reduced a residential block in the north of Gaza City to mounds of rubble.
Palestinian resident Abu Abd Zaqout told AFP that about 50 people — including women and children — were inside a residential building when it was struck overnight.
“I don’t know why they bombed it,” he said. “Why kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts? We pulled the children out in pieces.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s minister of military affairs, Israel Katz, said in a post on X that the military “strikes with an iron fist” at what he described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Gaza City.
He said the offensive is aimed at creating “the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
“We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission,” Katz threatened, saying, “Gaza is burning.”
Israel has long accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City — allegations the resistance group repeatedly denies.
The overnight offensive came only hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio put the Trump administration’s full support behind Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to al-Quds on Monday.
Rubio said Washington’s priorities were the liberation of Israeli hostages and the destruction of Hamas.
However, the UN rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, said the aim of the Gaza City offensive is to make it uninhabitable.
“This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable,” Albanese said on Monday.
Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south.
[…]
Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/09/16/755132/Israel-launched-ground-offensive-Gaza-City-
Billionaire Bill Ackman reportedly convened stormy Israel ‘intervention’ with Charlie Kirk
By Max Blumenthal
Sep 16, 2025A month before Charlie Kirk’s killing, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman arranged an intervention in the Hamptons during which sources say he and others “hammered” Kirk for the conservative leader’s growing criticism of Israeli influence in Washington. Kirk came away fretting about Israeli “blackmail,” sources say, as he contemplated a Catholic conversion.
On September 11, one day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman took to Twitter/X to trumpet his relationship with the late conservative operative. “I feel incredibly privileged to have spent a day and shared a meal with @charliekirk11 this summer. He was a giant of a man.”
The Grayzone has spoken to five people with intimate knowledge of Kirk’s meeting with Ackman, which was held in early August under the guise of a summertime Hamptons lunch. According to one source, Kirk was left upset after the gathering turned into an “intervention” where he was “hammered” for his increasingly skeptical views on the US special relationship with Israel, and for platforming prominent conservative critics of Israel at his TPUSA events.
When his hosts presented him with a detailed list of every offense he supposedly committed against Israel, Kirk was “horrified,” said one person. At one point, according to another source, Ackman angrily chastised Kirk for his disobedience. The Zionist billionaire also allegedly demanded Kirk rescind his invitation for Tucker Carlson to speak at his upcoming America Fest 2025 in December.
The Grayzone reported on September 12, citing an associate of Kirk, that Netanyahu had offered to organize a massive infusion of pro-Israel money into TPUSA, and that Kirk refused. Another longtime friend of Kirk has told The Grayzone that the conservative activist also rejected an offer Netanyahu delivered two weeks before his death to meet with him in Jerusalem.
Kirk, according to one person with inside knowledge of the meeting with Ackman, said he left feeling as though he’d been subjected to “blackmail.”
In a series of text messages with The Grayzone, Ackman described these account of his meeting with Kirk as “totally false.” He pledged to release a public statement providing his own account of the event, but refused The Grayzone’s request for clarification or further details. He would not accept phone calls from this reporter.
“I think I can easily put this to bed,” Ackman promised, “I have receipts as they say.” He did not abide when asked to provide the so-called “receipts.”
In an apparent bid to reinforce the pro-Israel tone at the Hamptons meeting, Ackman hosted a coterie of pro-Israel operatives and conservative influencers at the off-the-record engagement. One was Instagram influencer Xaviaer DuRousseau of Prager U.
Reached by phone by The Grayzone, DuRousseau sounded flustered when asked about his presence at the meeting. He repeatedly demanded to know how this reporter obtained his number, and eventually hung up, refusing to answer questions about the event.
Two weeks after the meeting, DeRousseau was reportedly junketed on an all-expenses-paid trip by the Israeli government to visit a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation “aid” hub guarded by the IDF on the Gaza frontier. There, he recorded an Instagram video denying that the population of the besieged Gaza Strip was experiencing a famine.
The Grayzone received a similarly agitated response from Wilson, known online as Emily Saves America. Following a phone call and exchange of text messages in which this reporter asked her numerous times about her attendance of the meeting in the Hamptons, Wilson refused to comment. Instagram photos place her in the Hamptons at the same time as DuRousseau.
[…]
The strong-arm tactics of the pro-Israel billionaires who helped fuel the growth of TPUSA were said to have contributed to Kirk’s alienation with evangelical Christianity, which emphasizes uncritical support for Israel as a bedrock principle. Several sources with access to Kirk said he had begun attending Catholic mass with his wife, Erika, and was considering a conversion before his death.
Bree Solsdadt, a Catholic Twitter/X influencer, has publicly corroborated this account of Kirk’s religious realignment. Kirk’s friend, the podcaster and former TPUSA personality Candace Owens, also alluded to the shift when she reflected that he was undergoing a “spiritual transformation” before his death.
Israel-centric influencer summit in the HamptonsThe Grayzone has obtained a partial list of attendees alleged to have been in attendance at the Bridgehampton meeting convened by Ackman this August. They include:
[…]
Via https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/billionaire-bill-ackman-convened
September 15, 2025
Parliamentary elections begin in Syria with citizens barred from voting
(Photo credit: İzettin Kasım/Shutterstock)The Cradle
Syrian President and former Al-Qaeda chief Ahmad al-Sharaa will personally select approximately a third of parliament
Syria is set to hold parliamentary elections on 15 September, its first since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government to extremist forces late last year.
The process will continue until Saturday, with the possibility of extension if deemed necessary.
Regional electoral committees will select 140 seats out of Syria’s 210-seat parliament, rather than citizens directly voting for members of parliament. The committees have been appointed by the Supreme Election Committee.
The other 70 MPs are set to be selected personally by Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda chief known previously as Abu Mohammad al-Julani.
The Syrian government recently announced that the elections will not include Suwayda Governorate, where thousands of Druze civilians were massacred by government forces during heavy fighting in the area in July.
It also said the Kurdish-controlled governorates of Hasakah and Raqqa will not be included, stressing that this was for “security concerns.” Kurdish authorities have denounced the decision.
Tensions have escalated recently between Damascus and the US-backed Kurdish militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is closely linked to the de facto autonomous administration that governs parts of north and east Syria.
The SDF had signed an agreement in March to integrate its forces into Syria’s extremist-dominated military. However, it has demanded that it remain under Kurdish command and enter the army as a bloc, rather than dissolve and be conscripted regularly.
No SDF members were included when Damascus announced the formation of the Syrian government in March.
Monday’s election process has reinforced concerns about the lack of inclusivity in post-Assad Syria.
Khaled Jabr, a lawyer and legal expert from Hasakah, told North Press Agency (NPA) on 11 September that the elections “do not reflect the people’s will” and instead represent “another form of dictatorship under a different guise.”
“The Damascus government monopolizes decision-making, excluding the people from every process – whether drafting a transitional constitution, forming transitional justice bodies, or even appointing the president. All these measures constitute clear violations of the law,” he added.
Jabr went on to say that people in north and east Syria “are not at all concerned with this electoral mechanism imposed by Damascus, as there is ongoing pressure to exclude them from participation.”
“Essentially, the government seeks to reinforce authoritarianism, far removed from democracy and human rights.”
Months before the massacres of the Druze in July, Syrian government troops killed thousands of Alawite civilians during a brutal and indiscriminate military operation on the country’s coast.
Syria has enjoyed sanctions relief from Europe, and will also soon be relieved of US Caesar Act sanctions despite failing to form an inclusive government and persecuting minorities.
Political corruption has also emerged as a concern in the current Syrian government. A Reuters investigation from July revealed that Syrian leadership has quietly taken control of over $1.6 billion in assets formerly held by businessmen linked to the Assad government.
The asset takeover, conducted outside public view, is part of an economic overhaul directed by Hazem al-Sharaa, the older brother of the self-appointed interim president. Sources told Reuters the committee has negotiated directly with sanctioned and unsanctioned tycoons, demanding that they hand over substantial parts of their wealth in exchange for immunity and permission to resume operations.
Syria’s president formerly led Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front and was personally involved in war crimes against civilians in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The Nusra Front was later rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Alongside a long list of other crimes, HTS would stole humanitarian aid bound for civilians during the Syrian war and resold it for exorbitant prices on the black market.
[…]
EU plotting Ukraine-style coup in Serbia
Protesters against the ruling party’s policies march onto Bulevar Mihaila Pupina and block traffic in Novi Sad, Serbia, on September 14, 2025. © Maxim Konankov / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesRT
The bloc is fueling the protests in order to install a loyal government in the country, the SVR has said
The EU is seeking to orchestrate a Ukraine-style ‘Maidan’ in Serbia by fueling the violent protests that have swept the Balkan country since late last year, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.
The unrest erupted in Serbia in November 2024 after a roof collapse at the railway station in the city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people. The incident triggered public backlash, with activists accusing the government of corruption and demanding accountability. The list of demands later expanded to holding snap elections and the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic.
The latter has branded the protesters “terrorists” seeking to “bring down the state” under foreign influence. In response to public pressure, the Serbian authorities also agreed to some concessions, including the resignation of several ministers and the publication of documents related to the Novi Sad canopy collapse.
In a statement on Monday, the SVR said that the unrest is “largely a product of EU subversive activity,” adding that the main goal of Brussels is to bring “a compliant and loyal… leadership to power in one of the largest countries in the Balkans.”
The agency said EU efforts had radicalized youth, pushing them “from peaceful protests to more revolutionary methods of struggle and violence.” It argued, however, that attempts to reproduce a Western-backed “color revolution” in Serbia were faltering due to “patriotic sentiment, the unifying influence of the Orthodox Church, and memories of NATO aggression and the bombing of the country.”
According to the SVR, Brussels plans to exploit the anniversary of the Novi Sad disaster on November 1 to intensify pressure. It claimed EU institutions were “brainwashing” Serbian youth with promises of a “bright European future” while using supposedly independent media outlets as vehicles for influence.
The goal, the SVR said, is to mobilize protesters and stage a “Serbian Maidan,” referring to a series of Western-backed protests in Ukraine in 2013-2014 that resulted in a coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich.
EU officials have said they are closely monitoring the situation in Serbia while denouncing what they describe as excessive use of force by law enforcement.
[…]
Via https://www.rt.com/russia/624676-eu-plotting-ukraine-style-coup-serbia/
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