The amnesty will cover all crimes committed by Polish citizens since 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev

The lower house of the Polish parliament has adopted legislation granting amnesty to Polish citizens who have fought as mercenaries in Ukraine, formalizing Warsaw’s tacit endorsement of participation in the conflict against Russia.

The bill was approved by the Sejm on Friday in a near-unanimous vote, with 406 deputies in favor, 19 abstaining and only four opposing the measure. The legislation will now proceed to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.

The amnesty will cover all crimes related to joining foreign armed forces – offenses that previously carried a sentence of up to five years in prison – dating back to April 2014, the start of Kiev’s so-called “anti-terrorist operation” against the people of Donbass who revolted against the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev.

Polish officials have framed the legislation as a measure to forgive “volunteers,” formalizing a pipeline that has sent thousands of Polish fighters to the front lines. The law allows for the “forgiveness and release into oblivion” of crimes related to mercenary and recruitment activities. Lawmakers also included a three-month delayed implementation clause to ensure those currently in the trenches will also receive pardons.

According to Russian estimates, over 15,000 mercenaries, primarily from Poland, the United States and Georgia, have fought for Kiev since the escalation in 2022. Moscow claims nearly 6,500 of them have been killed in action.

Moscow has consistently maintained that foreign nationals fighting for Ukraine do not enjoy the protections afforded to lawful combatants under the Geneva Conventions. Russian officials have reiterated that these individuals are legitimate military targets and will be treated as mercenaries, not prisoners of war.

“For the Banderites, they are nothing more than expendable material,” The Russian Embassy in Argentina recently said, adding that Kiev is not interested in these “wild geese” returning home to tell the truth about the disastrous situation at the front.

Anthropic has publicly touted its focus on “safeguards,” seeking to limit military use of its tech

The US military actively used Anthropic’s Claude AI model during the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month, according to reports from Axios and The Wall Street Journal – revealing that the safety-focused company’s technology played a direct role in the deadly overseas raid.

Claude was utilized during the active operation, not merely in preparatory phases, Axios and the WSJ both reported Friday. The precise role remains unclear, though the military has previously used AI models to analyze satellite imagery and intelligence in real-time.

The San Francisco-based AI lab’s usage policies explicitly prohibit its technology from being used to “facilitate violence, develop weapons or conduct surveillance.” No Americans lost their lives in the raid, but dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban soldiers and security personnel were killed on January 3.

“We cannot comment on whether Claude, or any other AI model, was used for any specific operation, classified or otherwise,” an Anthropic spokesperson told Axios. “Any use of Claude – whether in the private sector or across government – is required to comply with our Usage Policies.”

Anthropic’s rivals OpenAI, Google, and Elon Musk’s xAI all have deals granting the Pentagon access to their models without many of the safeguards that apply to ordinary users. But only Claude is deployed, via partnership with Palantir Technologies, on the classified platforms used for the US military’s most sensitive work.

The revelation lands at an awkward moment for the company, which has spent recent weeks publicly emphasizing its commitment to “AI safeguards” and positioning itself as the safety-conscious alternative within the AI industry.

CEO Dario Amodei has warned repeatedly of the existential dangers posed by unconstrained use of artificial intelligence. On Monday, the head of Anthropic’s Safeguards Research Team, Mrinank Sharma, abruptly resigned with a cryptic warning that “the world is in peril.” Days later, the company poured $20 million into a political advocacy group backing robust AI regulation. 

At the same time, Anthropic is reportedly negotiating with the Pentagon over whether to loosen restrictions on deploying AI for autonomous weapons targeting and domestic surveillance. The standoff has stalled a contract worth up to $200 million, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowing not to use models that “won’t allow you to fight wars.”

Looks like there’s a new main villain supercharging Brussel’s tax-and-spend narrative

During the Vietnam War, US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger concocted the “Madman Theory.” The idea was to force the North Vietnamese and the Soviet Union to negotiate with Washington by making them think that then President Richard Nixon was so crazy that working things out was a better alternative than not doing so. Hanoi didn’t buy it. But maybe the EU establishment would, in 2026?

Well, they believe there’s a madman in the White House, alright. But the outcome is, once again, probably not entirely what Washington had in mind.

“Let no one be mistaken in thinking that the true intention of the US was simply to confront a geopolitical threat,” French President Emmanuel Macron told El País in a new interview, addressing Trump’s recent threats to take Greenland by force for “national security” reasons. ”It was not the Russians or the Chinese who posed the threat. I can tell you that we have compiled an intelligence tally of the number of Russian and Chinese ships and submarines that were around Greenland and whose presence we detected: it is negligible.”

Seems that Donald Trump has managed to do the impossible and make EU leaders switch out their Russian invasion fantasies for American ones. And wouldn’t you know it, that actually works out better for them, because they’ve spent years trying – and failing – to convince Europeans that Putin is going to kick down the door to the EU sometime around 2030. This looming, abstract invasion fantasy that’s always just far enough away to hope that people will have forgotten all about it by the time they’ve successfully used it as a pretext to steal billions in taxpayer cash.

Meanwhile, Europeans have long been like, “Yawn, yeah okay, let me guess, you need more of our money again, right?” It’s like the guy trying to sell you a home alarm system by having the neighbor – Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in this case – constantly talk about how his place got broken into. And how he was just a totally random victim. Just sitting there, minding his own business, doing nothing at all to do with dodgy neo-Nazis and NATO weapons on the Russian border. So it could have happened to anyone! Even you, Europe! Because NATO’s so fragile, apparently. What have they been buying with all our money? Nerf guns?

No wonder Europeans aren’t really buying it. Not outside of the establishment anyway. And maybe not even them, although it serves them to keep saying otherwise.

So lucky for guys like Macron, they now have a whole new narrative that gives them much better cover for the exact same scheme of washing massive amounts of public funds into defense spending. The new message coming now from Macron effectively marginalizes any existential threat from Russia or China in favor of panic about an American one.

The EU has to become a “power” to fend them off, he now says. And it’s not just a matter of not being able to rely on the US anymore, which is what they were trying to sell back when Russia was the main villain. And this is even better for the EU’s plans, because Europeans actually find Trump attacking the bloc entirely plausible, for one. So that helps.

And on top of that, this new narrative lets EU leaders commandeer tax cash not just for the defense sector but for several other sectors too, since Western Europe is deeply dependent on the US right across the board. And this massive spending spree conveniently boosts their own political survival odds, because it props up their flagging economies.

Macron is now talking about the need to build an entire tech ecosystem independent from the US, phasing out government use of American software like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex, and telling El País that the US is going to “attack” on the digital regulation front in the coming months as well. Probably because Washington doesn’t appreciate that the EU is fed up with Elon Musk using his social media platform (and personal bullhorn), X, and its opaque algorithms, to control online narratives that Europeans get fed. In the same vein, American officials have also openly confirmed their intent to fund pro-Trump European NGOs, in the same meddling style of their nemesis, George Soros.

It’s already starting to sound like a conscious uncoupling. The EU’s banking chief, the ECB’s Christine Lagarde, is talking about the need to come up with alternatives to America’s Mastercard and Visa credit systems. And Macron is also saying how the world wants alternatives to the greenback now that America under Trump is “distancing itself further and further from a state of law.”

Macron calls the current American ideology “blatantly anti-European.” Apparently, it took Trump spelling it out for him, letter by letter, to notice. Decades of actively undermining the EU as an economic competitor just didn’t quite make the point clear enough.

So now that there’s a new main villain supercharging this European tax-and-spend narrative way better than hating on Russia or China ever did, guess what? Sounds like Russia’s getting a soft rebrand.

“Like it or not, Russia will still be there tomorrow. And it turns out it’s right on our doorstep. It’s important to structure the resumption of a European debate with them,” Macron told El País. The Kremlin confirms that technical talks have resumed between France and Russia. So Macron seems to be arriving at the same conclusion that former French President Charles de Gaulle did 60 years ago: the idea of “Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals” as a counterbalance to the US as Europe’s potential overlord.

Remember those security guarantees that Macron was insisting the US provide to Europe against Russia in Ukraine? Well these days, it sounds like he’d rather work those out with Russia than with Washington. “We will have to build a new security architecture in Europe with Russia,” Macron now says. “Tomorrow’s prosperity concerns Europeans. Or would you prefer that American ambassadors and envoys negotiate on your behalf the date of Ukraine’s entry into the EU?”

Know what all this is starting to sound like? Someone trying to dump a bad screenplay half way through filming. In this case, because the hero suddenly got recast as the bad guy. In reality, it was a naive miscast right from the start.

Germany’s growing militarization and anti-Russian rhetoric is worrisome, according to Moscow

The idea of obtaining nuclear weapons is no longer a taboo for German politicians and the military, Russian envoy to Berlin Sergey Nechaev has told RIA Novosti, calling the growing discussions highly concerning.

Berlin is in the process of a massive military buildup, planning to spend $582 billion on defense over the next four years, citing an alleged Russian threat. German officials have set 2029 as the deadline for the Bundeswehr to be “war-ready” for a potential conflict with Russia – something that Moscow has dismissed as “nonsense.”

“The shift in the nuclear discourse is obvious. The topic of Germany’s potential possession of nuclear weapons stops being a taboo and is being increasingly discussed by the media… and gets more and more advocates among the politicians, MPs, the military officials and experts,” the ambassador told RIA Novosti in an interview published on Friday.

Moscow has earlier called Germany’s growing militarization and anti-Russian rhetoric worrisome. Back in September 2025, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it was “not just militarization, there are clear signs of re-Nazification.”

Berlin is explicitly barred from developing, producing or acquiring its own nuclear weapons under the so-called Two Plus Four Treaty that allowed for its reunification in 1990, as well as the 1969 Non-Proliferation Treaty. It still hosts dozens of US nuclear bombs on its territory as part of NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangements.

On Friday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Munich Security Conference he had discussed EU-level “nuclear deterrence” with French President Emmanuel Macron. The issue was raised earlier by Jens Spahn, who leads the chancellor’s joint CDU/CSU party group in the Bundestag.

Berlin should get access to French and British nuclear weapons and lead the charge on the issue of their modernization, Spahn stated in September. “Germany needs nuclear weapons,” the Alternative for Germany’s lawmaker Kay Gottschalk claimed in January, while former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on Berlin to take the lead in the EU’s nuclear rearmament.

The idea sparked concerns among some German politicians, with the leader of the BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, calling such proposals “madness.”

The meeting of Kiev’s European sponsors “lacked substance” without the US Secretary of State, officials told FT

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has abruptly skipped a meeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference “at the last minute,” according to the Financial Times.

The so-called Berlin Format gathering on Friday was attended by Kiev’s European backers – including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as the heads of the European Commission, the European Council, and NATO – who are seeking to insert their vision of a “just peace deal” into the US-led negotiations process.

An unnamed European official described the last-minute cancellation, officially blamed on alleged “scheduling conflicts,” as “insane,” while another told FT that without Rubio the entire meeting “lacked substance.”

Rubio is set to address the Munich conference on Saturday morning and will be “engaging on Russia-Ukraine in many of his meetings” on the sidelines, according to a US official.

The top US diplomat previously skipped a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in December, with no official reason given for his absence. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth did not attend a gathering of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels this week.

Rubio has previously declared that his job is “to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism,” as he vowed to boycott a meeting of the G20 group in South Africa later this month.

Kiev and its European backers have acted to sabotage Washington-led peace efforts, derailing a potential settlement that was “close” following the meeting last year between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this week.

The next trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine round of negotiations will take place in Switzerland on February 17 and 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday.

Fearing the isolation strategy will prevent them from influencing US-mediated talks, some EU leaders called for re-engaging Russia diplomatically Meanwhile, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Brussels is drafting its own demands for Moscow and will not accept any deal unless the conditions of Kiev’s European sponsors are met.

Russia has repeatedly said it will not be pressured into an agreement that undermines its national security or serves as a pause for Ukraine to rebuild its military and renew hostilities.

The US agency recently published a clip urging Chinese military officers to become informants

China will take “all necessary measures” to fight infiltration and sabotage by foreign forces, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing has said, responding to a recent US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruitment ad targeting Chinese military personnel.

The spy agency’s Mandarin-language video, published on its YouTube account on Thursday, urged officers and troops to leak information on top Chinese leaders or regarding sensitive military or technological fields.

“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely combat infiltration and sabotage activities of foreign anti-China forces and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told journalists on Friday, when asked about the CIA video.

The ad came just weeks after Beijing launched an anti-graft probe into its highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia.

Speaking to troops in Beijing on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping described the past year as “a revolutionary tempering” in the fight against corruption for the Chinese army. Beijing has dismissed multiple top officials and more than a dozen generals in the three years since Xi intensified efforts to crack down on top-level corruption in 2023.

Thursday’s video was the fifth Mandarin-language recruitment video the CIA has released since October 2024. In the early 2010s, Beijing reportedly dismantled much of the agency’s spy network in China, capturing or executing more than a dozen agents.

Beijing is a top level threat for the administration of President Donald Trump, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

“No adversary in the history of our Nation has presented a more formidable challenge or a more capable strategic competitor,” he said in an internal memo cited by the media last April. In it, he argued that Beijing was working to “economically, militarily and technologically dominate the world” and “out-compete America in every corner of the globe.”

The two superpowers clashed in an on-and-off tariff war last year after Trump imposed massive levies on China, citing unfair trade imbalances. The conflict went dormant last October following a deal clinched by the US president and Xi at a summit in South Korea.

Trump is expected to meet the Chinese president again in Beijing in April.

Millions in British funding, leaked contracts, and strategic media programs show how a state exports its vision of journalism to sway public opinion abroad

Imagine this: you are a journalist in your country. You are invited to a workshop on ethics, resilience, and methods for countering “disinformation.” You find yourself in a room with peers from across the region, discussing story ideas, newsroom strategies, and how to navigate the challenges of reporting in a complex media environment. Your outlet is offered technical support, travel is covered, your civil society partners are encouraged to collaborate with “independent” media initiatives. Everything seems routine, professional, and benign. 

Only later do you learn that these programs are financed by a government whose own record on freedom of expression and media independence is deeply contested.

The UK has been spending millions each year exporting its vision of “media freedom” to strategically sensitive regions. Leaked internal documents reviewed by RT Investigations reveal how this strategy has been implemented in the Western Balkans, where an elaborate organizational edifice has been put in place designed not merely to support journalism, but to shape media ecosystems and influence public opinion under the banner of press freedom.

When public opinion becomes the problem

In December 2025, it was announced that the UK was slashing 40% of its funding for “countering Russian aggression and misinformation” in the Western Balkans. Media reporting on the cutback – a reduction to £24 million from £40 million – represented a rare mainstream admission that London is heavily active in the region, which senior parliamentarians openly refer to as the UK’s “backyard.” Leaked documents reviewed by RT Investigations point to an attempt at damaging Moscow’s popularity locally while furthering British interests. 

A leaked “target audience analysis” commissioned by the UK Foreign Office in 2018, carried out by polling firm Ipsos, surveyed local attitudes among citizens of the region on geopolitical issues. Problematically, respondents considered Russia “the biggest contributor to the world’s peace, stability and security,” edging out the EU, NATO, and US by some margin – just 2% named the UK. Hostile public attitudes to the UK were also evident in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and, most emphatically, in Serbia.

London’s leading role in NATO’s illegal 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia seems a more likely source of such sentiment than “Russian disinformation.” In fact, Kosovo’s Serb population saw Russia as “a brotherly nation, which gives moral and political support to them” and “a guardian against NATO.” In Montenegro, a majority of young respondents held a negative view of NATO and were unable to see the benefits of integration into the US-led military bloc, despite the country joining in 2017, in highly controversial circumstances.

Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoyed the highest approval rating among world leaders in Montenegro (71%) and Serbia (86%). A desire for balancing relations between the EU and Russia was widespread throughout the region. Rather than attribute such attitudes to enduring cultural, economic, historic, and religious ties between the West Balkans and Moscow, Ipsos concluded these sentiments resulted from Russian “interference” and “propaganda.” Nevertheless, the pollster admitted “pro-Russian news or commentary is often home-grown.”

In other words, what is tarred as Russian “disinformation” imported from Moscow are in fact views with very much local roots, reflective of popular opinion and perceptions. Ipsos still believed there was “significant opportunity” for the UK to extend its influence in the region, to Moscow’s detriment.

NGOs, “independent media,” and the weaponization of press freedom

However, exploiting NGOs for the purpose was warned against on the basis that such organizations are “still struggling to gain significant influence in shaping public opinion and policy in the Western Balkans” – a stark admission of the true purpose of NGOs.

It was noted NGOs were typically funded locally by the now-defunct USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy (a CIA offshoot), Open Society Foundation, and GIZ, Germany’s overseas development agency. Ipsos observed their presence and activities in the region have “been more tolerated than welcomed” locally, and actively “viewed negatively in some circles.” Ipsos argued the UK should focus on funding “independent” media outlets and initiatives countering supposed “fake news,” suggesting that London had a “competitive advantage” in these fields.

In reality, the UK consistently scores poorly in global press freedom rankings. Adding to the hypocrisy, a leaked Foreign Office tender for a project in the West Balkans entitled ‘Supporting Greater Media Freedoms’ highlights the issue of “political pressure” and “legal action” to silence journalists locally. The UK itself is notorious for highly restrictive defamation, libel, and privacy laws that afford wealthy, powerful individuals and organizations numerous legal weapons to shut down critical reporting and prevent damaging truths being published.

There are clear indications that “media freedom” is viewed by the UK as a potent political weapon in the West Balkans. This is not the only region of the world where London finances such projects. A separate leaked file ominously refers to how, “in contexts where elite incentives are not aligned with our objectives/values… an approach that seeks to hold elite politicians to account might be needed… it is critical that the media have the capacity and freedom to hold political actors to account.”

The machinery of narrative control

Participating in the Greater Media Independence campaign was an opaque London-based company called Zinc Network, formerly known as Breakthrough Media, which bills itself as a communications agency. The company reaps millions in UK, US, and Australian government contracts, insidiously perpetuating state propaganda via ‘astroturf’ charities, NGOs, social media platforms, and news outlets. Frequently, individuals recruited to its endeavors are unaware they’re effectively working for the state. While Zinc has been exposed on numerous occasions, it has mostly managed to stay out of the public eye.

Leaked files on Zinc’s Foreign Office-funded work in the West Balkans offer extraordinary insight into the company’s secret operations. For one, Zinc proposed creating a “network of up to 20 campaigning organizations and activists,” while training local journalists that would “partner” with these CSOs and “develop PR strategies to build long-term relationships with appropriate journalists.” 

“This will increase collaboration through: advance story co-planning; using key news hooks to push forward a narrative and story throughout the year; structuring CSO activities to generate ‘exclusives’; and using media opportunities for photo and video that will help them integrate media relations into all their activities,” Zinc pledged. In terms of content that would be produced locally, the firm boasted of working with a partner, Pilot Media Initiatives, described as “experts in the use of humour and satire in media programming.”

PMI, which employs a former scriptwriter from The Daily Show, “worked in partnership with the USAID-supported satirical news program Yesterday’s News to provide technical assistance to local satirists and TV producers in creating ‘Kontravesti’ (counter news),” a program that had “steadily increased in popularity” since its first broadcast. Bombarding West Balkans youth with edgy content was a core goal for Zinc, which “[prioritizes] interventions and activities that demonstrate the capacity to target women, young people, and marginalized individuals/groups” – including LGBTQ.

Power plays behind the headlines

One might enquire how governments in the region could allow such meddling in their media ecosystems by the UK. One answer might be that London deliberately misrepresents the nature of the projects it funds in the West Balkans to local officials to secure their acquiescence. One interesting instance occurred in June 2021, when UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace made an official visit to Serbia. Wallace subsequently boasted that a “landmark agreement to counter Russian meddling” locally and help Belgrade resist Moscow’s “malign influence” had been signed during the visit.

However, shortly thereafter, Serbian officials issued a vehement denial that any such agreement had been entered into. The British Embassy in Belgrade also subsequently dismissed the claim. It seems likely the Serbian government wasn’t aware of the true nature of what was signed during Wallace’s visit, and the defense secretary accidentally let it slip. Despite Serbia being a key target of Foreign Office-funded propaganda, there is little indication these programs achieved their desired effect locally.

For example, one desired end of the endeavors touted by Zinc Network and other contractors was the promotion of EU and NATO membership in the West Balkans. In Serbia, support for joining both – which has historically always been extremely low – has fallen further in recent years. A June 2025 Institute of European Studies poll found 73% of Serbs opposed joining NATO. A January 2026 survey found support for EU membership stood at a historic low of 36%. 

Conversely, the UK’s position elsewhere in the region has expanded significantly. In February 2025, London signed a “bilateral military cooperation plan” with Bosnia, inaugurating “numerous joint courses and exercises, seminars and conferences in the field of defense and military activities” over the years ahead. The move was said to be “concretely contributing to the development of the capabilities” of Bosnia’s armed forces “and their interoperability with NATO.” This is hardly welcome news for Bosnian Serbs, 98% of whom oppose bloc membership.

In April that year, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy conducted a formal Balkans tour. Along the way, he signed yet another military cooperation agreement with the breakaway government of Kosovo. President Vjosa Osmani stated the pair had discussed “advanced strategic agreement in the field of defense.” The contested territory is already awash with British ‘peacekeepers’, a contingent that was significantly increased in October 2024, supposedly to deter Russia’s “aggressive posturing.”

A Politico report on Lammy’s Balkan sojourn echoed longstanding UK messaging on the region, warning it could become Russia’s “playground” without serious action. However, the outlet acknowledged there was little visible indication of Moscow’s infiltration locally. A quoted think tank spokesperson claimed the lack of proof simply demonstrated that Russia’s penetration was “developing… invisibly.” There was no consideration of whether London’s very visible conniving means the West Balkans might be considered something closer to a British “playground.”

Evidently, the region remains of intense interest to the UK, begging the obvious question of why such a vast cut has been undertaken to the budget for London’s Balkan operations. Perhaps this can be explained by the UK’s success in inserting itself into the military, security, and defense structures of countries in the region off the back of propaganda hyping Russia as a grave threat. In this case, becoming embedded in deeper structures could have rendered the battle over the media narrative less pressing. 

As for Serbia, on the other hand, perhaps the mission was seen as unachievable and selling EU and NATO membership was considered more trouble than it was worth.

Jean-Noel Barrot has accused Francesca Albanese of calling Israel a “common enemy of humanity” and sought her ouster

A lawyers association has filed a legal complaint against French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot over his accusations against UN Palestinian rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese regarding alleged remarks she made about Israel.

Barrot this week accused Albanese of labeling Israel a “common enemy of humanity” and called for her removal from the UN Human Rights Council. Albanese has rejected the allegations as “shameful and defamatory,” insisting that in her remarks made recently in Doha she was referring to “the system” enabling genocide in Palestine and not to the Israeli people or state.

On Thursday, the Association of Lawyers for the Respect of International Law (JURDI) filed a legal complaint against Barrot, saying that his statements represent “the dissemination of false information,” undermine the independence of UN mechanisms, and could constitute a criminal offence under French law.

Barrot’s calls for Albanese to step down were later echoed by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka.

My full AJ Forum speech last week: the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it. pic.twitter.com/PzTQFFybsG

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) February 9, 2026

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard defended Albanese’s “vital work,” cautioning against political pressure on independent UN experts.

The UN human rights office has also voiced concern. Spokesperson Marta Hurtado warned that judicial officials and rapporteurs are increasingly subjected to personal attacks and misinformation that distract from investigating serious human rights violations.

Albanese has previously labeled Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide,” and called for a full arms embargo and suspension of trade agreements with the country. She has been sanctioned by the US and has faced mounting accusations of bias and anti-Semitism, which she denies.

Her mandate runs until 2028, and she is due to brief the Geneva-based council next month. While there is no precedent for removing a special rapporteur mid-term, some diplomats cited by Reuters say a motion could theoretically be proposed, though strong support for Palestinian rights within the body makes it unlikely to succeed.

The EU needs to rapidly arm itself as the world enters a new era of great-power struggle, the German chancellor has claimed

European nations have to accept that the post-Cold War liberal “rules-based international order” is no more, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Munich Security Conference on Friday. The EU and its members need to rapidly adapt to the new reality by arming themselves, he claimed.

His words came as Berlin seeks to circumvent EU rules governing budget deficits and competition to save Germany’s flagging economy through a massive rearmament program. The bloc’s biggest economy plans to spend $582 billion on defense by 2029 amid an ongoing recession. The nation’s central bank warned last year that the government is on track for its largest budget deficit since the early 1990s.

“The international order based on rights and rules… no longer exists,” Merz declared at the forum. “The United States claim to leadership has been challenged and possibly lost,” he stated, pointing to what he called Russia’s “violent revisionism” and China’s desire to “be a leader in shaping the world.”

The EU needs to “accept this new reality today” that involves “a battle for spheres of influence” and where “natural resources, technologies and supply chains are becoming bargaining chips in the zero-sum game of the major powers.”

“Our biggest priority is to strengthen Europe within NATO,” he said, vowing to “invest hundreds of billions of euros [into the military] over the coming years” and to continue to support Kiev in its conflict with Moscow.

Merz also reiterated his pledge to make the German military the “strongest conventional army in Europe” and to “protect our free democratic order against internal and external enemies.” He also announced talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on the EU’s own “nuclear deterrence.”

Germany has been actively hyping up the Russian threat narrative to justify increased military spending. German officials have set 2029 as the deadline for the Bundeswehr to be “war-ready” for a potential conflict with Russia – something that Moscow dismissed as “nonsense.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last year that “with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.”

The bloc’s tech chief has openly endorsed developing new strike capabilities as part of its expanding emphasis on defense

The EU should develop offensive cyber capabilities to enhance its defenses against perceived threats, the bloc’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, has told Politico. 

NATO’s European members have long cited allegedly looming Russian aggression to justify their massive military buildup, including pledges to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP. Moscow has dismissed such claims as “nonsense” and baseless fearmongering. The EU has also raised concerns over alleged cybersecurity risks posed by China.

Speaking to Politico on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Virkkunen signaled that the bloc is considering proactive measures in cyberspace. “It’s not enough that we are just defending ...We also have to have offensive capacity,” she said.

Virkkunen also noted that the EU is seeking to reduce dependence on foreign technology and build a homegrown tech and cyber industry. “We don’t want to have risky dependencies in any critical fields,” she said.

The commission’s cybersecurity proposal, unveiled last month, aims to phase out high-risk technology from supply chains. EU officials have repeatedly warned that Chinese suppliers may pose security risks and could be used to collect sensitive data, claims Beijing has dismissed as “naked protectionism.” 

The push comes as several EU states, including Germany and Latvia, have warmed to the idea of conducting offensive cyber operations. In November, Politico reported citing official sources that NATO’s European members were considering such actions against Russia. In late 2024, the US-led military bloc unveiled plans to establish a new integrated cyber defense center at its headquarters in Belgium, expected to become operational by 2028.

NATO members have accused Russia of hacking government servers, jamming GPS signals of airplanes, and flying drones in their airspace. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as warmongering, and described the West’s sanctions and aid to Ukraine as “hybrid aggression.” 

Moscow has warned that “rabid militarization” risks a broader conflict on the continent. Last week, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia has “no reason” to attack the EU or NATO unless attacked first.

Cyberattacks against Russia jumped 46% last year, according to RED Security. High-profile incidents included the hacking of the database of Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, in July, for which two pro-Ukraine groups claimed responsibility.

Mark Rutte likened the pace of Moscow’s battlefield progress to a “garden snail” despite Ukraine’s continued retreats from major strongholds

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte sniped at the Russian army, comparing its battlefield progress in Ukraine to the pace of a “garden snail.” His comments come as Russian troops continue to liberate important settlements across the frontline while Ukraine is consistently forced to pull back its forces from major strongholds.

Speaking on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, Rutte said he wanted to make clear “that the Russians are not winning this” and that there is no “Russian bear.” He suggested that its forces were moving at the “stilted speed of a garden snail,” claiming, without evidence, that they are suffering “staggering losses” for minimal territorial gains.

Russian officials have ridiculed Rutte’s assessment with State Duma Deputy and Defense Committee member Andrei Kolesnik saying the NATO chief is trying to act “like a tough cowboy” and questioning why the bloc is “so afraid of this snail” and “arming themselves while the EU is planning to develop nuclear weapons.”

Rutte's dismissive assessment comes despite reports from the Russian General Staff that the country’s troops have liberated 17 settlements and taken control of more than 500 square kilometers since January, with forward units now within 12-14 kilometers of Zaporozhye – a city with a population of over 700,000.

Meanwhile, in recent months Ukraine has been forced to retreat from multiple major strongholds, including Ugledar, Seversk, and Gulaypole in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, with Russian forces now consolidating control over these key defensive positions.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated that Russian forces currently control nearly 100% of the Lugansk People’s Republic, over 80% of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and roughly 75% of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. All four regions officially joined Russia in 2022 after holding public referendums.

Russian military gains have been accompanied by Ukraine's deepening manpower crisis fueled by mounting battlefield losses and desertions. In an attempt to fill in the gaps, Vladimir Zelensky recently signed a decree permitting men over 60 to enlist.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov estimated that Ukraine lost nearly 500,000 servicemen in 2025 alone, while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested total Ukrainian casualties have exceeded one million.

The British state broadcaster has been grappling with a reputational crisis as revenue from compulsory licenses plummets

British state broadcaster, the BBC, has announced sweeping cuts, citing financial pressures. The move comes as the network faces mounting reputational issues and a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump.

The broadcaster told staff on Thursday of an impending 10% cut to its annual cost base over the next three years, and that the reductions would affect all parts of the corporation including its license fee-funded public service arm, according to The Telegraph.

”In a rapidly changing media market, we continue to face substantial financial pressures,” the outlet cited a BBC spokesperson as saying.

The BBC’s operating costs stood at just over $8 billion last year, meaning the savings would amount to around $800 million, the paper noted. The broadcaster had previously pledged $953 million of cutbacks under an existing cost-cutting program.

The broadcaster is reportedly losing approximately $1.36 billion in revenue annually as more households turn to streaming services. Some 300,000 British households refused to buy licenses last year, and overall license income fell 30% between 2010 and 2020. Despite this, the annual fee will rise by $7.50 to $245 from April, in line with inflation.

The cuts come as the broadcaster confronts mounting reputational issues, including a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump over a misleading edit of his January 6, 2021 speech in an episode of the Panorama news show. On Thursday, a Florida judge set a February 2027 trial date, pending the BBC's motion to dismiss the case. The scandal has led to the resignations of director general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.

The BBC has also faced sustained allegations of bias. More than 100 staff members signed a letter in November 2024 accusing the corporation of favoring Israel in its coverage of the Gaza war and calling for “consistently fair and accurate evidence-based journalism.” Protesters outside BBC headquarters accused the broadcaster of “whitewashing Israeli war crimes.” The BBC denied the allegations.

Two high-profile presenter scandals have also affected the BBC. Former news anchor Huw Edwards was sentenced over possessing indecent child images, and host Gregg Wallace was dismissed over sexual misconduct.

South Asian nation helds its first general election since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies secured a commanding majority in the landmark national elections in the South Asian nation, 18 months after the former leader Sheikh Hasina was forced out of office.

BNP, a staunch rival of Hasina’s Awami League party which was barred from the February 12 elections, secured 212 out of 300 seats in Bangladesh’s parliament, the Jatiya Sangsad. A minimum of 151 is required for a simple majority. As the count continues, the party said it would form a government by Sunday.

Long-awaited polling

Bangladesh held its first national election since a violent uprising forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from office in August 2024. The polls are seen as a key test for the country’s interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.

“We will move forward collectively toward building an accountable, inclusive, and justice-based state,” Professor Dr Yunus said in a statement after voting concluded on Thursday.

Holding elections was one of the key tasks of his interim government since it came to power on August 8, 2024. It took the Yunus administration almost a year to announce the timeline for the election, with the delay criticized by the main political forces in the country.

Election officials said voting was largely peaceful, though isolated incidents were reported in various locations across Bangladesh. According to local outlets, at least 72 people have been wounded in 14 separate instances of violence on Thursday, and one candidate died after an altercation outside a polling center.

In the rural areas, women voters were seen in larger numbers across Faridpur in southern Bangladesh.

Saleha Begum, a voter at the Tammulkhana Government Primary School center in Faridpur, said she had arrived early in the morning to cast her ballot but still found a large crowd of women ahead of her. The Election Commission put overall voter turnout at 59.44%.

At the Ideal Public School in the Matikata Bazar polling station, 27-year-old Naznin Ayesha shared her excitement. She said, although she became a voter long ago, she was unable to cast her ballot in previous elections. “It feels like the Eid festival. I came here to vote along with some of my friends,” she said, adding that they had started preparing early for the day.

Only 83 of the 2,058 candidates were women, with 273 independents on ballots. 1,755 of the total came from 50 parties.

With a decisive BNP win, party leaders urged supporters to avoid street celebrations and instead offer prayers, framing the election as a moment of national responsibility rather than triumph.

Participation of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, a hardcore Islamist party previously banned by Hasina, was a notable feature of the, election. Jamaat along with its allies, bagged 77 seats, with 68 for Jamaat alone.

Its ally, the National Citizen Party (NCP), a political force formed by students who led the movement against Hasina’s government in 2024, took six seats. NCP's link with Jammaat ahead of polling was a surprising move for many, including the party's own members, many of who objected.

Since Hasina fled to India, key Islamist leaders have been released from prison, and Islamist groups have grown increasingly assertive. Experts note that the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government has triggered a series of developments that have inadvertently contributed to the potential rise of Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh.

With the Awami League barred by the Yunus interim administration, and its registration withheld, the political landscape has altered dramatically, leaving the BNP and Jamaat to realistically vie for former Awami League strongholds where they previously never had a chance.

BNP, founded by former president Ziaur Rahman in 1978, has been out of power for 17 years. Jamaat, banned after independence for collaborating with Pakistan, was revived in 1976 and later joined with BNP in a four‑party alliance in 1999. Together they won in 2001, with two Jamaat leaders becoming cabinet members, but were defeated in 2008.

Notably, it was a double-ballot vote to both elect a new government as well as decide on major constitutional reforms proposed by the interim government that has ruled the country for over 18 months.  

As per the official figures, around 48 million votes were cast in favor of “yes,” while over 22 million voters chose “no,” Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Friday. In the referendum, voters were asked whether they approve the implementation of the so-called July Charter of 2025 package of reforms. The politically negotiated document endorsed by 24 parties consolidates over 80 reform proposals, nearly half of them constitutional, but was marked by significant dissent from key political parties.

A hope for stability?

Since the inception of the interim government, the law and order situation in Bangladesh, a home of 175 million people, has remained mostly turbulent for the last 18 months.

Human rights organizations have reported at least 195 people killed and 11,229 injured in political violence across the country ever since Hasina left office.

Attacks on religious and ethnic minority communities were also recorded with the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS), a local human rights organization, documenting 56 incidents, including vandalism of homes and places of worship. These left one person dead and 27 injured, while 17 temples, 63 idols, and 65 homes were vandalized. Six cases of land grabbing targeting minority communities were also recorded.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Federation of Asia-Pacific Journalists (FAPaJ), and the South Asia Journalists Federation (SAJF) said there can be no resurrection of democracy in the country while journalists remained under threat.

“Despite the hopes of the 2024 dramatic mass student uprising in July 2024, which claimed the lives of up to 1,400 Bangladesh citizens, persecution of the country’s media has not abated. Since then, the IFJ has documented the systematic targeting of journalists through physical violence, legal harassment, intimidation, and other state controls – imposed during the past 18 months under the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus,” the statement said.

Political analysts in Bangladesh generally anticipated that the polls would mark a return to stability, economic recovery and possibly a democratic transition after a turbulent period in the country’s history.

Battlefield for Global Powers

The fall of the Hasina government reshaped the geopolitical scenario in South Asia, and these elections have been closely watched by Bangladesh's closest neighbors and some distant ones as well.

Approximately 400 international observers came to observe the national polls and referendum. Despite an invitation, none came from India, the closest neighbor and key economic and security partner of Bangladesh during Hasina’s rule.

Ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have deteriorated considerably since the ouster of Hasina, with the interim administration pressing for her extradition to face trial.

As the election results were announced, Indian Prime Minister  Narendra Modi offered his congratulations to BNP and its leader. “I convey my warm congratulations to Mr Tarique Rahman on leading BNP to a decisive victory in the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh,” the prime minister said in a post on X. “This victory shows the trust of the people of Bangladesh in your leadership.”

While relations between New Delhi and Dhaka during BNP’s rule back in 2001-2006 were not as stable as during Hasina’s government, ahead of the election Rahman called for “reset” based on “equality and mutual respect.”

Bangladesh remains one of the top priorities for India, but it has also emerged as a point of contention between the US and China. Washington’s ambassador to Dhaka Brent T. Christensen told Reuters before polling day that the US is concerned about China’s expanding presence in South Asia and is planning to offer Bangladesh’s next government US and allied defense systems as alternatives to Chinese hardware.

He added that “The US offers a range of options to help Bangladesh meet its military capability needs, including US systems and those from allied partners, to provide alternatives to Chinese systems,” he said without offering further details.

Beijing reponded by saying “the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh was singing the same old tune again, pointed fingers at China-Bangladesh relations and was mixing black and white. Such remarks are made with ulterior motives.”

Notably, the Yunus-led interim government has signed a trade deal with US just three days before voters went to the polls. While the move benefits some of the country’s vital industries, including exporters of ready-made garments, it also has many hidden pitfalls, including commitment from Bangladesh to step up defense and energy purchases from the US, as well as a ban on purchasing nuclear reactors, fuel rods, or enriched uranium from any country that “jeopardizes essential US interests,” effectively vetoing Dhaka’s future nuclear cooperation with Russia or China.

Russia is currently implementing a giant nuclear energy project in Bangladesh, the Rooppur nuclear power plant, the deal for which was signed back in 2011 under Hasina’s government. After the tripartite memorandum in 2018, India was brought onboard to provide personnel and technical assistance for the development of the plant.

The domestic political turmoil of 2024 raised concerns over the timely implementation of Russia’s Rooppur project, which was in the final stages of completion by mid-2024, although officials from both countries stated that the project won’t be impacted as it is vital for the country’s growth.

On Friday, soon after the announcement of election results, Ziauddin Hyder, adviser to BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, told RT India’s Runjhun Sharma that Rooppur NPP is a “done deal” while BNP could “renegotiate” the deal with the US if it is found “unfavorable” for the country. 

European military assistance to Kiev gives it the right to a voice at the negotiating table, Polish FM Radoslaw Sikorski has said

The European backers of Ukraine who are funding its military have a right to take part in the US-backed peace talks, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has claimed.

The next trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine negotiations will take place in Geneva next week, with “no Europeans” at the table, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Moscow has argued that Western European countries have emerged as the main obstacles to a peace settlement after Washington initiated efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.

“We pay for the war and we don’t even always have the full information,” Sikorski told Bloomberg TV on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

EU countries have already provided Ukraine €200 billion ($237 billion), and pledged €90 billion more, he said. US President Donald Trump has claimed that Washington’s contributions were around $350 billion.

Sikorski argued that Europe is “spending real money, whereas the US is actually making money on this war,” profiting from its arms exports to Ukraine. “That gives us the right to have a voice in the arrangements and the outcomes,” he claimed.

Moscow has maintained that it was European nations that severed all diplomatic contacts following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Europe had “used up its chances” to have a say in the talks long before then, with its bad faith actions during the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, and in the failed 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has argued.

While Russia and the US established a viable peace framework after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska last year, this has been effectively “undermined” by Kiev and its European backers, he said on Wednesday.

One of the biggest points of contention is lobbying by some EU countries to deploy NATO troops in Ukraine once hostilities end, which Moscow has described as an absolute red line.

Several NATO nations will deploy “troops on the ground, jets in the air, ships on the Black Sea” once a peace deal is reached, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week.

Moscow has called this “an undisguised plan for foreign military intervention,” and warned that NATO troops will be considered valid targets.

Some 1.6 million illegal aliens have final deportation orders, the agency’s acting director has said

There are 1.6 million illegal immigrants with final deportation orders in the US, about half of whom have criminal convictions, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons has said.

Lyons announced the figures during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, amid intense criticism by the Democrats and left-wing activists of the crackdown on illegal immigration by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Of those with final deportation orders, approximately 800,000 have criminal convictions, according to the ICE chief.

A final deportation order marks the point when the US authorities are legally allowed to expel a foreigner who has violated immigration laws. However, individuals can still appeal the deportation or request a delay.

The orders in question have not been issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security, but came “through an immigration judge with the Department of Justice separate from Immigration Customs Enforcement,” Lyons clarified.

According to the acting director, there are “16,840 final orders at large in the state of Minnesota,” where tensions have been running high after the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents during recent enforcement operations. The incidents sparked a public outcry and nationwide protests.

During the hearing, Republican Senator James Lankford defended the ICE agents, arguing that they “have stopped that chaos” through their work and that the thousands of arrests are happening by the book.

On Thursday, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced the conclusion of ICE operations in Minnesota. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week,” he said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz welcomed the announcement in a post on X, insisting that “immigration is the core of who we are.” According to the governor, there will be a “long road to recovery” for the state after the recent events.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News earlier this week that Trump is “keeping his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history,” which will focus on “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

Less than half of the respondents believe humans should make life-and-death decisions on the battlefield, a poll commissioned by Politico suggests

One in three Germans favor the use of autonomous AI-powered weapons systems in war instead of human decision makers, a new poll commissioned by Politico has suggested. Less than half of the respondents believe humans should make life-and-death decisions on the battlefield.

The results, which were published on Friday, come amid a massive military buildup, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz seeking to make the German military “the strongest conventional army in Europe.” This reportedly includes contracts worth €900 million ($1.05 billion) for kamikaze drones.

The current coalition led by Merz, in its coalition agreement, no longer explicitly excludes the idea of allowing AI to make lethal decisions without human oversight, unlike the previous government led by Olaf Scholz.

According to the Politico poll, 33% of Germans would prefer AI systems in weapons even if their decision-making process is not entirely transparent; 47% believe humans still need to be in control.

The survey was conducted by London-based polling company Public First on behalf of the media outlet from February 6-9 and involved at least 2,000 respondents from Germany, as well as the US, UK, Canada, and France. In all other nations, the number of those that favor AI-powered weapons did not exceed 22%; the number of those that prefer human control was 52-57%.

The results could indicate a major shift in German public opinion. In 2021, a poll conducted by a campaign against AI-powered weapons suggested that only 19% of people approved of using these types of weapons systems. Around 70% expressed ethical concerns over their use.

German officials have set 2029 as the deadline for the armed forces to be “war-ready,” citing the supposed ‘Russian threat’. Moscow has dismissed the speculation as “nonsense” aimed at justifying increased military budgets.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last year: “with their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich.”

This year’s half-time show was so chock-full of liberal agenda, conservatives decided to create their own alternative

There weren’t just two football teams going head-to-head during Super Bowl LX. There were two distinct cultural movements clashing at a time of great upheaval in the United States.

At a time when American cities are teeming with ICE agents searching for illegal migrants from South America to round up and eject from the country, it doesn’t take a political analyst to predict that Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show would serve as a lightning rod in the country.

Bad Bunny – real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – is a three-time Grammy Award winner from Puerto Rico who was chosen to entertain American football fans during one of the most-watched sporting spectacles in the world. In the past, the entertainer has made critical remarks about the ICE raids so many were anticipating something similar during the Super Bowl.

Earlier this month, for example, Ocasio won a Grammy Award and during his acceptance speech taunted the Trump administration by saying, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out.” He then gave a nod to the millions of immigrants who “leave their home, land, their country, to follow their dreams.” He casually ignored the fact that in their effort to “follow their dreams” so many immigrants chose to break the law and enter the US illegally.

During the Super Bowl halftime show, the Puerto Rican avoided any mention of ICE and the current war on illegal immigration. But that doesn’t mean his 15-minute performance was void of political messaging. Instead, he threw his support behind a different political flashpoint: cultural diversity, the exact thing that an increasing number of political conservatives say is destroying the American way of life.

Many on the political right fear that the US is being destroyed from within by so-called ‘white replacement’ in which immigrants are flocking to America for the precise purpose of making the white population a minority. MAGA adherents are of the opinion that the main reason that the Democrats opened the floodgates to illegal migration in the first place was to bolster the number of Democratic voters.

At the end of his halftime set, Martínez Ocasio’s backup dancers appeared on stage hoisting flags of countries in South America. This also appeared strange and out of place to many conservative commentators, who wondered what place foreign flags have at one of America’s greatest national traditions. In any case, having a Super Bowl halftime show where the main performer sings entirely in Spanish and waves other nations’ flags is an obvious political statement that should not be tolerated at a sporting event where 78% of the viewers speak English.

The only time the performer spoke in English was to say, “God Bless America,” before reading out the names of all countries on both continents.

He also held up a football emblazoned with the words: “TOGETHER, WE ARE AMERICA.”

It’s unfortunate that the message of brotherly love quickly turned into utter degeneracy. Critics were particularly appalled by the immoral lyrics of the music, especially the song “Tití Me Preguntó” (“My Auntie Asked Me”), which sings the praises of promiscuity.

In the song, Bad Bunny celebrates his many sexual conquests, singing “let the ones I already f**ked smile” and brags about a girl who “came by plane” from Barcelona and says his “d**k is on fire.”

The chorus responded in typical libertine fashion, “Today I have one, tomorrow I’ll have another, hey, but there’s no wedding.”

The lyrics were aired live to millions of viewers of all ages.

US President Donald Trump was not impressed with the performance.

“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World,” the US leader fumed on Truth Social.

Today, millions of Americans – many of them born and bred conservatives - share that same opinion. In fact, Turning Point USA, the conservative youth movement founded by the late Charlie Kirk, decided to throw their own alternative halftime party, which was notable by the excess of white faces, both in the audience and on the stage.

“We want to celebrate America; we do not want to crap on it,” Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet said, previewing the organization’s alternative halftime event on ‘The Charlie Kirk Show.’ “When the other guys are doing their queer celebration, speaking Spanish – whatever you want to do, that’s fine – but we’re going to be celebrating this country.”

At the same time, One Million Moms, a Christian group, announced a boycott of Bad Bunny’s performance over his support of LGBTQ+ rights.

It’s unfortunate that the one American tradition that should unite the American people seems to pull them further apart year after year as the halftime show dabbles more and more in utter depravity. Some observers have gone so far as the call it ‘satanic.’ For some reason, the producers of the event willfully push divisiveness and degeneracy on the audience instead of just giving Americans a wholesome show. The solution to the madness of organizing dueling halftime events underscored the notion that the US is, in fact, becoming two separate warring camps inside of one country. Whether all of this ends in some sort of civil war is anyone’s guess, but the current trend does not look promising for the future of the nation.

The restoration of the teams to international competitions would make things “a little bit better,” Luc Tardif has said

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Luc Tardif, has said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition “as soon as possible.”

Since 2022, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian national teams and allowed some individual athletes to compete under neutral status after passing a strict vetting process. The sanctions applied to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the current 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

“We want as soon as possible Belarus and the Russians back. Because first, it will mean that the world will be a little bit better,” Tardif told a press conference in Milan on Thursday.

The hockey boss cited the “geopolitical situation” and concern for the “security” of the athletes as the reasons for the IOC not allowing the teams from the two countries to participate. He admitted, however, that the decision to exclude Russia and Belarus may also be political.

“We try to keep the politics away from our competition, but sometimes that’s not so easy,” he lamented.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of exerting pressure on sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons. President Vladimir Putin has said the IOC leadership is “flagrantly flouting the Olympic ideals they should be defending,” while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of engaging in “sports aggression.”

Pavel Bure, the former NHL great and special representative of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, recently argued that “without Russia, the level of the world championship has significantly decreased.”

Russia has historically dominated international ice hockey, with five IIHF World Championship golds since 1993 and an Olympic gold in 2018. The national team is part of the sport’s unofficial “Big Six” alongside Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and the US. Many Russians compete in the NHL, 65 are currently active, including Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin, who in November became the first player to score 900 NHL career goals.

Hospitals have been suffering from rolling blackouts and stockpiles are reportedly set to run out within weeks

Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid have docked in Havana, challenging a US blockade that has sparked a severe energy crisis in Cuba. Rolling blackouts and enforced fuel rationing have severely disrupted key services, including hospitals.

The Mexican deliveries arrived on Thursday, two weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba. US pressure has halted Mexican oil shipments, while Russia has offered crude and refined oil as a “humanitarian lifeline” to the import-dependent island, whose existing Venezuelan and Mexican fuel stocks are expected to run out within weeks.

In Havana, residents are turning to homemade charcoal stoves, electric motorcycles, and, where affordable, solar panels to cope with power outages of up to 12 hours a day and a deepening fuel shortage, local media say.

The fuel crisis in Cuba deepened after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, cutting off Caracas’s oil exports, a key supply to the import-dependent island.

Six of Cuba’s 16 thermoelectric power plants, including two of the three largest, are offline for maintenance or repairs, cutting thermal generation – about 40% of the country’s energy mix – to half capacity, according to Latin Times.

Another 40% comes from generators, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel said have been offline for a month due to the US oil embargo.

With the island producing barely a third of its energy needs, the government last week imposed emergency measures: diesel sales halted, gasoline heavily rationed, jet fuel unavailable, state offices shortening hours and public services limited to essentials.
Residents are also awaiting humanitarian food shipments to state-run stores, where goods are distributed through ration cards amid severe shortages.

“Some items, like sugar or rice, may not be available for weeks,” local resident and Russian national Elena Lapina told Russia’s Aif newspaper. “Prices in these stores are low, but basic staples needed for daily life are still in short supply.”

Fuel distributors now sell gasoline in US dollars with a 20-liter limit, as tight supplies trigger rolling blackouts, hospital disruptions, and shortages of medicines, including antibiotics.

Earlier this week, Moscow’s embassy in Havana announced that Russia is preparing to send a shipment of oil and petroleum products to Cuba.

International airlines, including Russian carriers, have been warned they may be unable to refuel at Cuban airports for at least a month amid the island’s energy crisis. Hundreds of Russians face canceled flights and disrupted trips, with some returned to Moscow.

Cuba, under a US embargo since 1959, consumes about 100,000 barrels of oil daily, with Mexico, Venezuela, and Russia supplying most imports.