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A second corruption storm in Ukraine, and satanism in its government

By Dmitri Kovalevich | Al Mayadeen | May 30, 2026

This year, May 20 marked seven years since Volodymyr Zelensky came to power in 2019. He and his associates have seized control of the Ukrainian state and canceled further elections required by the Ukrainian constitution.

Seven years ago, Zelensky’s arrival in power followed a corruption scandal that ensnared his predecessor Petro Poroshenko and his inner circle. At the time, Zelensky promised to step down voluntarily if something similar ever happened to him and his inner circle. Poroshenko was elected a mere three months following the violent, paramilitary coup in Kiev. That election featured threats and the banning of candidates and media outlets opposing or even questioning the coup.

Since 2019, corruption scandals have only grown, but Zelensky is showing no intention of ceding to rising calls that he and his regime step down and convene a new, national election. Instead, his regime continues to consolidate its power amid rising opposition to its policies. Above all, they are still waging a proxy war against the Russian Federation, backed by the Western powers.

Western politicians are continuing to turn a blind eye to the regime and its sinking support among the Ukrainian population. They are ignoring the corruption scandals enveloping the regime, including the theft of Western aid (as graciously paid for by Western taxpayers). So long as Zelensky and his regime are at war with Russia, the West will remain content. Zelensky himself understands perfectly well that the war course with Russia is a fight for his political life. If the war ends, he will lose his ‘presidential’ immunity. Zelensky’s electoral mandate expired in April 2024, more than two years ago.

“Why are Europeans silent about the corruption surrounding Andriy Yermak?” asks former legislator of Zelensky’s part/machine Alexander Dubinsky on Telegram on May 17, writing about Zelensky’s former chief of staff. Yermak resigned from his position as the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine after his home was raided by anti-corruption agents on November 28, 2025. In May 2026, Yermak was formally named a suspect in a corruption investigation. He was arrested on May 14 and stayed four days in prison before being released on bail.

“Why the silence over the fact that none of the widespread corruption that Yermak fostered would exist without Zelensky’s usurpation of power? It’s because the regime’s goal is to weaken the Russian Federation, and Zelensky happens to remain the best manager for that.” According to Dubinsky, this also explains why there has been no reaction by European governments to the systemic human rights violations which characterize Zelensky’s regime.

Dubinsky emphasizes that, in contrast, even those Ukrainians who do not wish to fight and are evading military conscription are treated by the European powers as ‘problems’ if not enemies.

In May, a new round of the corruption scandal surrounding Zelensky began. Last year, recordings were published of his associates discussing corruption schemes in the energy generation and transmission industry and also in the procurement of body armor (as this author has previously reported). The main figures involved managed to flee to “Israel” at the time. Yermak formally resigned six months ago but has continued to informally oversee appointments and state policy even while under investigation.

During the now long war with Russia, the presidential office in Kiev has become the primary or sole decision-making center, stripping national legislators, local authorities, and the Ukrainian judiciary of their powers.

Zelensky said that he had come to power with Yermak and would leave with him (another lie). Last year, the Financial Times reported that Zelensky and Yermak had been living together in a bunker since the outbreak of war with Russia in 2022, sleeping in side-by-side beds.

In May, a new batch of audio recordings has been made public in multiple, small releases. In these, Yermak continues to be mentioned. One case concerns the building of personal mansions in an exclusive community near Kiev for Zelensky, Yermak, and two other individuals in their inner circle. The land was illegally acquired from the state.

Anti-corruption authorities are also accusing Yermak of laundering nearly half a billion hryvnia US$11.3 million for his personal gain.

Following these latest revelations, Yermak was placed in pretrial detention for the duration of the investigation, with the right to be released on bail. But just two days later, 140 million hryvnia in bail was made, and Yermak was released. The Ukrainian online publication Strana reported that Zelensky made considerable efforts to organize a fundraiser for his ally’s release, without which they might still be searching for the money to bail the man out.

The corruption case against Yermak is indirectly a case against Zelensky, although as long as the latter remains in office as president, he enjoys immunity from any and all criminal prosecution.

As reported on Telegram on May 15 by Artem Dmitruk, a former legislator of Zelensky who fled to London where he continues to reside, Zelensky responded to a question by Bloomberg News on July 4, 2024 about whether Andriy Yermak had excessive influence. Zelensky replied, “Yermak is a powerful manager, one of the most powerful managers on my team. I respect him for the results. He does what I tell him to do. And he gets the job done.”

Today, Andriy Yermak is officially a suspect in a criminal case involving particularly serious charges. According to the criminal investigation, the case involves the laundering of hundreds of millions of hryvnias, as well as other incidents that have already become the subject of a public inquiry. Thus, Zelensky himself has acknowledged that Yermak has acted on Zelensky’s direct instructions, writes Dmitruk.

In other words, all of Yermak’s decisions, actions, and results are not his personal initiative alone, but rather the fulfillment of tasks set by the “president” and his entourage. In light of these scandals, people in Ukraine are asking: who are the ‘instigators’ and who is really behind the anti-corruption activists who have decided to rein in Zelensky’s inner circle?

Strana reports at some length on May 7 that a release of wiretaps concerning businessman Timur Mindich, a close friend and associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky, has predictably sparked renewed pressure on the government. It says the anti-corruption investigation (a key part of what the publication calls an emerging “anti-Zelensky coalition”) is focused on three individuals: National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, another close friend of Zelensky named Serhiy Shefir, and Andriy Yermak. The report notes that anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are linked to and funded by the government of former US President Joseph Biden and by current politicians in Europe.

The report provides more detail on what it terms the ‘anti-Zelensky coalition’. The anti-corruption scenarios are dangerous for the governing elite in Ukraine, risking a loss of funds the West provides for the war and a loss of the levers of power allowing the continued plundering of the Ukrainian population.

Ukrainian political analyst Kost Bondarenko is convinced that any prosecution of Yermak will drag on for a very long time and then fall apart. Yermak will ultimately walk away scot-free, writes Bondarenko, while any court rulings will be temporary in nature, intended merely to calm public outcry while demonstrating that post-2014 Ukraine still has a fair judicial system. “First and foremost, this is a show for the West,” he writes, emphasizing that behind any ‘anti-corruption’ investigations lie other corrupt officials clearing their own paths to power and their own financial flows.

Zelensky’s former press secretary Yulia Mendel speaks out

The filing of criminal charges against the ‘second most powerful person’ (Yermak) in the Ukrainian state coincides with the release of an interview on May 11 with Zelensky’s former press secretary, Yulia Mendel. She was interviewed by right-wing blogger Tucker Carlson. In it, she hints several times that Zelensky uses drugs and is directly involved in corruption schemes. Furthermore, according to her, Zelensky and Yermak are extremely narcissistic individuals.

“Yermak knows he is a narcissist and knows that Zelensky is a narcissist too. They are two malicious, paranoid narcissists. Both are on the defensive. It really is two kinds of sick minds,” says Zelensky’s former secretary, who has fled to the US.

According to Mendel, one minister was invited into an office where Zelensky, Yermak, and one other person were present. There was a bag of dollars on the table. Zelensky suggested that the man receive money informally in cash, in addition to his official salary.

Mendel argues that Zelensky has never intended to step down from the presidency. “We’re here to stay,” Zelensky has said, according to Mendel. She says he has placed particular emphasis on propaganda, demanding an aggressive propaganda campaign and going so far as to cite ‘goebbels’ as a model, referring to Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Ukrainian economist Daniil Monin notes that the arrest and detention of Yermak on May 14 followed Mendel’s interview on May 11. He believes this was not a coincidence. “A systematic process of discrediting Zelensky has begun in Ukraine, and this is probably a good thing from the perspective of bringing the war to an end. But the problem is that the people initiating such actions are themselves ideologically vacuous and typically pursue personal interests rather than the interests of Ukraine,” he writes.

Black magic at work in Kiev

On May 12, more details emerged in the case of Yermak that corroborate long-standing reports that Ukrainian authorities base their decisions in part or in whole on certain ‘otherworldly’ considerations. Prosecutors from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office stated at Yermak’s pretrial hearing that one of Yermak’s items of correspondence mentioned a fortune-teller named Veronika Fengshui, whom the man has reportedly consulted regarding important personnel decisions, including the appointment of prosecutors and ministers.

“While Ukrainian diplomats have been convincing the West of ‘European-quality governance’ prevailing in Ukraine, personnel decisions, conflicts within the government, and strategic issues have reportedly been discussed with an astrologer,” writes the Ukrainian publication Argument on May 17. It notes that Yermak even discussed issues related to gas and energy supplies with the fortune-teller, based on her esoteric beliefs.

In April, the Ukrainian publication Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources close to Zelensky, reported that anti-corruption agencies confirmed the use of numerologists and tarot readers in the president’s office in the making of decisions and key appointments.

Last year, during the NABU’s first investigation into Yermak, former legislator Ihor Mosiychuk reported that a search of Yermak’s belongings had uncovered “voodoo dolls, masks, and satanic stars,” as well as bracelets and tattoos bearing related symbols. “All of this indicates that Yermak belongs to one of the occult sects,” the former legislator claimed.

On January 31 of this year, Yulia Mendel stated that Yermak practiced magic and had even brought certain sorcerers to Kiev. All this mystical nonsense, straight out of a cheap horror movie, has literally entangled Ukrainian politics.

Ukrainian political analyst Kost Bondarenko wrote earlier this year that in times of deep political turmoil and crisis, there is typically a surge in demand for all kinds of charlatans. Think of the mystic Grigori Rasputin, who advised Czar Nicholas II during the dying years of the Russian monarchy. According to Bondarenko, only future historians will be able to understand how many events in Ukraine related to the war and Zelensky’s actions were not the result of external influence or political calculation but rather the consequence of numerological formulas and communication with spirits.

Ukrainian political strategist Andriy Zolotaryov says he feels very uneasy knowing that “a Voodoo-type cult has taken root in Koncha-Zaspa” (an elite village near Kiev where rich families of legislators and ministers live). Commenting on Yermak’s fascination with all sorts of occult practices, Zolotaryov notes that the man made state decisions, yet, “at one time he had fortune-tellers, then they brought in Kabbalists, followed by Colombian sorcerers.” In his view, this indicates a lack of knowledge and competence and explains the Ukraine regime’s overall slide into backward-looking, archaic thought.

A great irony of fate lies in the fact that the country named Ukraine once pioneered the building of rockets to explore space, whereas today it is led by obscurantist figures who believe in charlatans, spirits, and all manner of concocted, evil forces.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Corruption | | Comments Off on A second corruption storm in Ukraine, and satanism in its government

Ukraine ‘deliberately’ struck Europe’s largest nuclear plant – Rosatom

RT | May 30, 2026

The Ukrainian military attacked Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), puncturing a hole in the machine hall of one of the facility’s units, Aleksey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has said.

The ZNPP – which has repeatedly been attacked by Kiev forces over the past years – came under a new attack on Saturday, with a fiber-optics-guided drone making it to the machine hall of the sixth power unit of the plant. Given that such munitions are guided by their operators until the impact, the strike was carried out deliberately, and any “theories of an accidental hit” can be ruled out, Likhachev stated.

“One could, if I may put it this way, ‘congratulate’ the entire international community – this is the first-ever deliberate attack on the nuclear power plant’s main equipment, with a penetrative explosion and damage to the machine hall,” he said.

“The Ukrainian armed forces repeatedly cross not just red lines, but the very boundaries of common sense. What to expect next? Strikes directly on the turbine? The reactor hall? The reactor and its safety systems?”

Russia has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the “extremely dangerous behavior” on Kiev’s part, the nuclear chief added. Many appear not to take the continuing attacks on the ZNPP “seriously,” while a potential nuclear incident at the plant could spread well beyond Russia and Ukraine, affecting those believing themselves to be “completely safe,” Likhachev warned.

Radiation levels remain normal at the site, the ZNPP said in a statement. The attack caused no casualties or “critical damage” to the facility, it added. Emergency teams are currently accessing the damage sustained by the machine hall, with the situation remaining under “full control,” the ZNPP stressed.

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has ramped up attacks on the plant, repeatedly striking structures within its perimeter and targeting the facility’s employees. The ZNPP came under Moscow’s control early in the conflict and has been operated by Rosatom after the Zaporozhye Region voted to join Russia in a referendum in the fall of 2022.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Nuclear Power, War Crimes | | Comments Off on Ukraine ‘deliberately’ struck Europe’s largest nuclear plant – Rosatom

Five Americans injured in Iranian missile strike on Kuwait base: Report

Press TV – May 30, 2026

An Iranian ballistic missile attack on a Kuwaiti air base has wounded several American military personnel and caused serious damage to two US MQ-9 Reaper drones, according to a new report.

The American news outlet Bloomberg, citing an informed source, said in a report published on Saturday that the attack on the Ali Al Salem Air Base resulted in minor injuries to approximately five individuals, including US service members and contractors.

It also caused significant damage to two MQ-9 Reaper drones, with one reportedly destroyed and another heavily damaged. Each drone is valued at around $30 million.

According to Bloomberg, Kuwaiti air defences intercepted an Iranian Fateh-110 missile before it reached its intended target. However, debris from the intercepted projectile fell onto the US-operated Ali Al Salem Air Base, causing the injuries and damage.

The latest development comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

On Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed that Iran had launched a missile toward Kuwait, describing the action as a “gross violation of the ceasefire.”

In a statement issued later in the day, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had deliberately targeted the US base, noting that it had been used to launch an earlier American attack.

The IRGC went on to say that US forces had conducted a strike using aerial projectiles against a location near Bandar Abbas airport earlier that morning, describing its missile attack as a warning to the US.

It also vowed that any future acts of aggression would be met with a stronger response, stressing that responsibility for any escalation would rest with the party initiating hostile actions.

The US and Israel started an aggression against Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching a barrage of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.

On April 8, forty days into the war, a Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire between Iran and the US took effect.

Negotiations ensued in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, but stopped short of an agreement amid Washington’s maximalist demands and insistence on unreasonable positions.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , | Comments Off on Five Americans injured in Iranian missile strike on Kuwait base: Report

The Collective West, U.S., EU, and NATO, has morphed into a terrorist network

Strategic Culture Foundation | May 29, 2026

The murder of 21 Russian teenage students at a teacher-training college last week was an abominable moment of truth with far-reaching, grievous implications.

A grim, consequential watershed in the West’s conflict with Russia has arrived.

The victims were mainly girls aged between 14 and 18 who were killed when their university dormitory in Starobelsk, Lugansk, was attacked overnight on May 22.

What is absolutely revealing is how the Collective West has shown no remorse or restraint about the crime, going as far as denying responsibility and adding insult to the memory of the dead. The perpetrators have an obscene sense of impunity and inhumane entitlement.

The attack involved 16 drones that targeted the college in a wave of three assaults. There can be no doubt that the air strike was a deliberate act. That makes it an act of cold-blooded mass murder; an act of terrorism.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, stated: “The blood of the children from Starobelsk is on the hands of the West whose nations are supplying the terrorist regime [in Ukraine] with money, intelligence, weapons, and ammunition for years, inspiring it to commit new crimes against the civilian population, and then covering it up by presenting the Kiev regime as a victim.”

The corrupt NeoNazi regime in Kiev under Vladimir Zelensky and his cronies is only a bit player in this crime. The regime, which, by the way, gave burial honors to a World War Two Nazi collaborator this week, is merely the scum atop the Western criminal organizations behind this and other atrocities, and indeed the entire conflict with Russia.

Several respected international authorities have repeatedly pointed out that the nearly five-year war in Ukraine that erupted in February 2022 is the culmination of a long-term policy to embattle Russia with NATO aggression. Professors John Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Sachs, Alfred de Zayas, among others, have cogently explained how this conflict in Europe – the biggest since WWII – has come about.

The Kiev regime has been armed to the teeth by the United States and its Western partners, bankrolled by Washington and the European Union, and directed by NATO military intelligence. The attacks on Russian civilian centers could not happen without the direct support of the “Collective West”.

More recently, the European Union, which has emerged as the de facto political and fundraising wing of NATO, has stepped up its funding and coordination of drone armaments for the Kiev regime. Britain has also become an important supplier of Ukrainian drone technology, while the Baltic states and Finland are acting as launch sites for deeper strikes into Russia.

A drone crash in Romania this week elicited much theatrical condemnation of Russia as the perpetrator. More likely, given the surge in drones operating from NATO states, the Romanian incident was an own goal or a Ukrainian false-flag provocation. Telling, too, was the paroxysm of Western media coverage blaming  Russia for the “reckless” drone, compared with the negligible reporting by these same media on the massacre in Starobelsk only days before.

The European NATO states are in effect becoming the Luftwaffe of the Kiev regime. As Russia’s envoy, Dmitry Polyansk, to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, warned this week, the drums of war are beating louder across the continent. European politicians like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are calling for more NATO forces to build up along Russia’s borders, while the EU’s so-called top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, disparages peace diplomacy with Russia as a “Kremlin trap.”

Alfred de Zayas, professor of international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and a former UN independent expert, gave the following assessment to Strategic Culture Foundation regarding the NATO alliance. He said that it is now urgent to recognize that “it is a criminal organization” within the meaning of the Nuremberg rulings delivered in 1946 against Nazi war criminals, when aggression was defined as the supreme war crime.

De Zayas notes that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded nearly eight decades ago, in 1949, supposedly to defend the West from the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991, along with its Warsaw Pact military bloc, NATO should have also disbanded at that time.

“NATO has morphed from being a defensive alliance into a war coalition that has committed heinous crimes since the 1990s in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere,” he said. “While NATO forces, since the 1990s, have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, what is important today is that world public opinion recognizes NATO as a threat to the peace and security of humankind.”

From the end of the Cold War, the United States-led military alliance has more than doubled its member states to the current 32, several of which border Russia. Under the UN Charter, regional security organizations are supposed to be subordinate to the UN Security Council. But the NATO bloc presumes to be above the law. It is a rogue force that attacks other nations at will, as we are seeing currently with Russia.

Says de Zayas: “It is not a legitimate regional organization under article 52 of the UN Charter, because it acts against the purposes and principles of the UN and has relentlessly committed the crimes of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”

The mass murder of college students in Starobelsk and numerous other civilian casualties of NATO drone attacks on Russian territory are a testament to the terrorist nature of NATO.

De Zayas adds that it is also important to identify the sinister role of the Western corporate-controlled news media. The media have systematically distorted the conflict in Ukraine as “unprovoked Russian aggression” while whitewashing NATO and the NeoNazi regime for their litany of crimes, the latest being the atrocity at Starobelsk.

“Relentless propaganda and public relations have convinced the Western public that NATO is a good organization, legitimate, respectable, interested in peace and defense. This is total brainwashing,” said de Zayas.

“When the media indoctrination and propaganda about NATO is exposed as false, when the perception in Western countries moves from positive to negative, when people realize that NATO is a criminal institution, it will be possible to wind it down. Ultimately, NATO must be recognized not only as a criminal organization, a blustering vestige of a moribund Western imperialism, but as a mortal danger to the survival of civilization on Earth.”

All this confers on our editorial to draw several inescapable implications: the political leaders of the United States and the European Union, who make this NATO aggression happen through deliberate policies, must also face the same indictment. They are war criminals.

The Western media that propagandize for war and war crimes are also indictable as complicit in these crimes.

Furthermore, it is now clearer than ever that Russia is at war with an aggressive Collective West, and its manifestations, including the United States, the EU, NATO, and the Kiev regime. Therefore, Moscow has the legal and moral right to hit the decision-making centers that have Russian blood on their hands. All the more so because these Western decision-making centers presume impunity and the ghoulish right to drench their hands with even more Russian blood.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , | Comments Off on The Collective West, U.S., EU, and NATO, has morphed into a terrorist network

Bulgaria facing EU punishment months after joining eurozone

RT | May 30, 2026

Bulgaria is facing EU sanctions due to an excessive budget deficit, just months after joining the eurozone, Prime Minister Rumen Radev has said. He claimed that the crisis was caused by the previous pro-EU government, which massaged economic numbers to narrowly pass the threshold to join the eurozone in the first place.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Sofia on Friday, Radev, who is widely regarded as an EU skeptic, said that the European Commission would publish its formal report on the country’s fiscal situation on June 3, thus launching the so-called excessive deficit procedure.

Under the procedure, Sofia must bring spending from last year’s 3.5% back below the 3% ceiling by putting a binding cap on the budget deficit. If Bulgaria fails, the EU can freeze funding and go as far as to impose fines of up to 0.05% of GDP every six months on the Balkan country.

Radev blamed the situation on a “difficult legacy” stemming from “negligence, incompetence, voluntarism, populism, and financial misconduct” by the previous center-right and pro-EU Zhelyazkov government, which collapsed in December 2025 following mass anti-corruption protests.

The prime minister also predicted that “this year, the deficit will be even larger” than 3.5%. The European Commission forecasts that the deficit will hit 4.1% of GDP this year, rising to 4.3% in 2027.

“They [the previous government] lied to push Bulgaria into the euro… The bubble has burst,” he said of the budget deficit.

Bulgaria joined the eurozone on January 1, 2026, after barely meeting the criteria, especially in terms of inflation, which was the greatest hurdle. Proponents of the push sought to lock Bulgaria on the pro-West and pro-EU path, with practical monetary consequences deemed minimal as the Bulgarian lev had been pegged to the euro for decades.

However, critics have argued that the Zhelyazkov coalition – which supported eurozone membership – projected an unrealistic revenue growth, with potential to balloon the budget deficit.

A Politico report in 2025 also drew attention to a sudden and “mysterious” 82.8% cut in state-set daily hospital fees in April – a move that helped lower Bulgaria’s 12-month average inflation. At the time, an unnamed former local official told the paper that “the only reason Bulgaria has qualified is… due to state-administered prices.” According to Politico, the previous government also cut inflation by slashing rail fares by over 9%.

Radev – who has advocated for more pragmatic ties with Russia and consistently opposed military aid to Ukraine – was not against the eurozone per se, but insisted that such a decision could be made only on a public referendum.

However, the parliament blocked his request, with critics accusing him of trying to sabotage the process. Radev himself said that Bulgarian citizens were being ignored by an elite “marching toward the eurozone” and that “the representatives of the people denied the people their right to choose.”

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Economics | , | Comments Off on Bulgaria facing EU punishment months after joining eurozone

NATO member blasts ‘irresponsible’ Baltic threat to Russian exclave

RT | May 30, 2026

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic broke ranks with other NATO members as he slammed Lithuania’s foreign minister for his “irresponsible” call to attack the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Milanovic’s comments came after Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys called NATO the “strongest organization ever created” last week, arguing for a more assertive posture toward Russia and saying European NATO members must turn “fear of the threat into a sense of empowerment.”

“We have to show the Russians that we’re capable of penetrating the small fortress they’ve built in Kaliningrad,” he said. “NATO has the capability, if necessary, to raze Russian air defenses and missile bases there to the ground.”

Speaking on Thursday at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the creation of the Croatian Army, Milanovic called out the remarks.

“Equally irresponsible, turning now to our own camp, are the calls and appeals I hear week after week from high-ranking officials of certain Baltic states to attack Kaliningrad Region… Such things should not be said,” he said.

He went on to warn that NATO’s principle of solidarity should not be unconditional: “Readiness to come to someone’s vital assistance on the one hand also presupposes responsibility on the other.”

Following the backlash, Budrys walked back the tone but not the substance, claiming that his remarks were not aimed at Russia but at audiences “less familiar with military matters,” and were intended to counter what he called Moscow’s narrative of Kaliningrad as an impenetrable fortress.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called the interview “not the most successful statement.” Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene urged restraint in public comments.

Kaliningrad is Russia’s westernmost outpost on the Baltic Sea coast and is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, with no land connection to the mainland part of the country. Formerly known as Koenigsberg and the capital of the German province of East Prussia, it was ceded to the Soviet Union after the end of World War II.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and NATO’s expansion, Kaliningrad became surrounded by the bloc from all sides.

Budrys comments triggered a sharp rebuke in Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the remarks “borderline crazy” and a sign of “maniacal” hostility toward Russia.

Asked on Thursday whether NATO could attack Kaliningrad, President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia “has all the means to raze to the ground anyone who tries to do so.”

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Comments Off on NATO member blasts ‘irresponsible’ Baltic threat to Russian exclave

Le Pen leads every major rival in new French presidential runoff polling

By Thomas Brooke | Remix News | May 29, 2026

Marine Le Pen would beat every major rival in a second-round French presidential election runoff, according to new polling that hypothesized her eligibility to stand in the election expected in April next year.

A Toluna-Harris Interactive poll for M6 and RTL, conducted on May 27, found Le Pen ahead in all three tested runoff scenarios when she is the National Rally candidate.

The strongest result came against far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with Le Pen taking 67 percent to his 33 percent. She also defeated former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal by 54 percent to 46 percent, and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe by 52 percent to 48 percent.

The figures are significant because Philippe and Attal are among the most prominent names in the broader Macron-aligned camp, which has long presented itself as the main barrier to a National Rally victory. Le Pen has twice lost runoff elections to Macron, back in 2017 and 2022.

Yet the poll suggests that even the strongest establishment contenders would currently fall short against Le Pen in a head-to-head vote.

Le Pen is currently barred from running after being handed an immediate five-year ban from public office, but she has appealed the ruling. A decision on that appeal is expected on July 7. Should she remain unable to run, National Rally president Jordan Bardella is widely expected to become the party’s presidential candidate.

That would still leave National Rally in a commanding position. Earlier polling this week showed Bardella leading the first round with 32 percent, well ahead of Philippe on 17 percent and Mélenchon on 16 percent. The same May Odoxa political barometer also showed Bardella beating Philippe in a second-round runoff by 52 percent to 48 percent, reversing the result recorded two months earlier, when Philippe had led by the same margin.

Taken together, the surveys point to a deepening problem for France’s centrist and left-wing parties. Whether the candidate is Le Pen or Bardella, the National Rally is now polling not merely as a first-round protest vehicle, but as a party capable of winning the presidency outright.

If Le Pen’s appeal succeeds, she would enter the race as the most formidable candidate in the field. If it fails, Bardella would inherit a political landscape in which the National Rally brand is already ahead of its most likely rivals.

On Friday, Le Pen announced her intention, should the National Rally win the presidency, to offer the French public a referendum on mass immigration.

“The French people have been betrayed. In 2027, we will restore a democratic vitality to France by returning power to the people,” she wrote on X.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties | | Comments Off on Le Pen leads every major rival in new French presidential runoff polling

Immune bootcamp: Training your body to fight cancer, superbugs & more

The HighWire with Del Bigtree | May 28, 2026

New research from Trinity College Dublin shows that “training” immune cells with interferon gamma, rather than vaccinating, can supercharge the body’s ability to kill drug-resistant superbugs like MRSA and tuberculosis. Meanwhile, studies on bee venom and gut microbiota are challenging 50 years of cancer orthodoxy, as scientists increasingly look to nature to do what chemotherapy can’t.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Video | Comments Off on Immune bootcamp: Training your body to fight cancer, superbugs & more

The Strange Case of Ori Solomon

The dismissal of charges against Ori Solomon raises uncomfortable questions about how the US justice system handles Israeli nationals

José Niño Unfiltered | May 29, 2026

On January 31, 2026, FBI agents and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers executed a search warrant at a residence on Sugar Springs Drive in east Las Vegas, near Washington Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. What they found inside triggered one of the strangest criminal cases in recent Nevada history. Authorities discovered what they described as an illegal biological laboratory concealed within the property, complete with a biosafety hood, a biosafety sticker, a centrifuge, multiple refrigerators containing vials of unidentified liquids, red and brown unknown liquids in gallon-sized containers, and over 1,000 containers with unknown substances.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Delzotto described the scene as containing “a bio-safety hood, a bio-safety sticker, a centrifuge, multiple refrigerators, red-brown unknown liquids in gallon-sized containers, and refrigerated vials with unknown liquids.” Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed investigators recovered “evidence of possible biological material, including refrigerators with vials containing unknown liquids” and said the items were “consistent in appearance” with those found in the 2023 Reedley, California case, per a report by ABC30.

A whistleblower reportedly told investigators that people who entered the garage became “deathly ill,” with at least one resident hospitalized for a respiratory illness. Testing of the materials was conducted at both the Southern Nevada Health District laboratory and the National Bioforensic Analysis Center in Maryland. Materials were later determined to be consistent with components for medical diagnostic test kits.

The man at the center of this investigation is Ori Solomon, a 55-year-old property manager who had been living in Las Vegas for over 20 years at the time of his arrest. Officers found an Israeli passport in the name “Ori Solomon” and a French passport in the name “Ori Salomon” at his residence. He was present in the United States on a non-immigrant visa. His primary occupation was managing short-term rental properties, and court records indicate he oversaw approximately 37 such properties in the Las Vegas area. He is not a trained biologist, and court documents note no publicly confirmed expertise in biological sciences. In a significant development, federal charges against Solomon were dropped in May 2026, with prosecutors stating “the Government has concluded that the interests of justice require dismissal of the complaint.”

Solomon managed properties for Chinese national Jia Bei Zhu, also known as David He and Jesse Zhu. Investigators described Solomon as an “agent and conspirator” with Zhu, noting that Zhu made 467 calls to Solomon in the weeks leading up to the raid. Zhu was already in federal custody in California linked to a 2023 illegal biolab in Reedley, California—a case that had attracted the attention of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. That committee found the illegal California lab was run by a PRC citizen who was a wanted fugitive from Canada and had evaded a multi-million million Canadian court judgment for stealing American intellectual property.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Elayna Youchah, who is of Sephardic Jewish extraction, presided over the initial federal detention hearing on February 6, 2026. She ordered Solomon’s release on his own recognizance, finding that the allegations were concerning but not severe enough to require detention, noting Solomon had no prior criminal history. She imposed conditions including surrender of all passports, travel restricted to the continental United States, required notification before leaving Clark County, and prohibition on possessing any firearms or weapons.

The federal prosecution was led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, then headed in practice by Sigal Chattah—an Israeli-born attorney who bore the title of First Assistant U.S. Attorney after a federal judge ruled her interim appointment had been made illegally. A criminal complaint charged Solomon with one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Multiple firearms were recovered at his residence, including handguns and rifles.

Then came the twist that has fueled speculation. Chattah’s office filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice the federal firearms complaint against Solomon. The motion stated only: “After a careful review of the evidence and additional information provided by defendant, the Government has concluded that the interests of justice require dismissal of the complaint at this time.” A spokesperson declined to explain the rationale. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning federal prosecutors retain the legal option to re-file.

Solomon still faces the Clark County felony charge for improper disposal of hazardous waste. With the federal case dismissed, there is public concern that Solomon could potentially regain his passports and leave the country before the state case is resolved.

This concern is not hypothetical. The Solomon case mirrors a separate, high-profile case involving an Israeli cybersecurity official charged with child sex crimes in the Las Vegas area in 2025. Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38, the Executive Director of the Cyber Defense Division at Israel’s National Cyber Security Authority, was arrested on August 6, 2025, in Henderson, Nevada, as part of a multi-week joint undercover sting operation targeting child sex predators. Alexandrovich was among eight men arrested. He allegedly used WhatsApp and the dating app Pure to communicate with an FBI decoy posing as a 15-year old girl, agreeing to meet for “sexual contact” and bringing a condom to the meeting location.

Alexandrovich was attending the annual Black Hat USA 2025 cybersecurity conference at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas,which ran August 2-7, 2025, at the time of his arrest on August 6. He was booked at the Henderson Detention Center and charged with luring a child with a computer for sex acts, a Class B felony carrying 1 to 10 years in prison.

What happened next sparked immediate international controversy. Alexandrovich posted $10,000 standard bail, set without review by a judge at the time of booking, and flew back to Israel the following day, August 7, 2025. U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah, publicly stated Alexandrovich “should have had his passport confiscated by state authorities” and must be brought back to face justice. The U.S. State Department denied any federal intervention, declaring Alexandrovich “did not claim diplomatic immunity and was released by a state judge pending a court date.”

Alexandrovich’s case proceeded through the Nevada courts. Judge Barbara Schifalacqua, ordered remote appearances after he skipped his initial arraignment. He appeared via Zoom before Judge Schifalacqua in September 2025 and was barred from contact with minors and dating apps. A grand jury indicted him on one count of luring children with technology for sexual conduct. He pleaded not guilty via video before District Judge Tina Talim and a trial was set for March 2026. Judge Talim denied a motion to dismiss in November 2025, ruling the prosecution had established probable cause.

Meanwhile, the man at the center of the original biolab investigation has faced his own reckoning. On May 5 and 6, 2026, Jia Bei Zhu was found guilty on all 12 counts for fraudulently selling COVID-19 tests and lying to the FDA. His sentencing was scheduled for August 24, 2026, with a potential sentence of up to 31 years in prison.

To say that strange things are taking place in Sin City would be an understatement. When the layers of the Las Vegas biolab investigation are peeled back, it becomes evident that the “interests of justice” cited by prosecutors are effectively code for the protection of Jewish interests under the current American regime. Solomon’s immediate release and subsequent dismissal are not aberrations but consistent features of a system that has long been captured by Jewish interests hostile to the Historic American Nation.

The ease with which Solomon, a foreign national holding multiple passports, has navigated federal jeopardy exposes the double standard inherent in our society. While common citizens and those who vehemently oppose the Judeo-American order are relentlessly pursued by the state, those embedded within the trans-national Jewish network enjoy a tacit, systemic immunity. This is the hallmark of Empire Judaica—a framework that treats the security of the American people as secondary to the preservation of a Jewish tribe that acts with the same impunity in Nevada as the state of Israel does on the global stage.

May 30, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , , | Comments Off on The Strange Case of Ori Solomon

Iran Won’t Back Down, They’ll Endure All Suffering /Nima Alkhorshid

Daniel Davis / Deep Dive – May 29, 2026

May 29, 2026 Posted by | Video, Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on Iran Won’t Back Down, They’ll Endure All Suffering /Nima Alkhorshid

Russia urges Armenia to hold EU membership referendum

Al Mayadeen | May 29, 2026

Russia and several of its regional allies called on Armenia to hold a referendum “as soon as possible” on potential membership in the European Union, as tensions continue to grow over Yerevan’s expanding ties with Brussels.

Speaking during a summit in Astana on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Armenia would ultimately have to choose between deeper integration with the EU or remaining within the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan himself said that he considers it right to hold a referendum on this issue,” Putin said. “We would like this to be done as soon as possible.”

Russia warns against dual alignment

In a joint statement issued alongside the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, Moscow warned that Armenia’s pursuit of EU membership could pose “significant risks” to the economies of EAEU member states.

The statement emphasized that Armenia should clarify whether it intends to remain within the Eurasian bloc or pursue integration with European institutions.

Putin argued that participation in both systems simultaneously would be difficult to sustain, saying it was “impossible to reconcile the two.”

Armenia deepens Western ties

The pressure from Moscow comes as Armenia continues gradually distancing itself from Russia following years of tensions over regional security issues and the conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan.

In 2024, Armenia froze participation in aspects of its Russia-led security alliance, accusing Moscow of failing to adequately support Yerevan during confrontations with Azerbaijan.

The Armenian government later passed legislation declaring its intention to seek eventual EU membership, further straining relations with the Kremlin.

Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has pursued what officials describe as a policy of “diversification,” aimed at balancing ties between Russia and Western powers.

Despite growing cooperation with the EU, Armenia remains formally part of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Moscow-led economic bloc that includes several former Soviet republics.

Regional competition intensifies

The dispute reflects broader geopolitical competition in the South Caucasus, where Russia’s traditional influence has increasingly faced challenges from Western political and economic engagement.

While Moscow has warned against Armenia drifting toward Western institutions, Armenian officials have argued that expanding relations with Europe does not necessarily require severing ties with Russia.

Putin nonetheless stated that any decision taken by Armenia would not undermine humanitarian or political relations between Moscow and Yerevan.

May 29, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , , | Comments Off on Russia urges Armenia to hold EU membership referendum

Putin calls for data on Romania drone incident to be shared

RT | May 29, 2026

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for an “objective investigation” into a drone incident in Romania in which two people were injured. Moscow is ready to share its assessment if it is provided with either the debris of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or the data about it, he told journalists on Friday.

A drone crashed into an apartment block in the eastern Romanian city of Galati near the Ukrainian border early on Friday. The Romanian Defense Ministry claimed the UAV had originated from Russia.

Putin noted that drones have previously crashed in various EU nations, including Finland, Poland, and the Baltic States.

“A short time later, it would emerge that these incidents had nothing to do with Russian aircraft at all. Rather, they involved drones of Ukrainian origin that had gone off course due to electronic warfare… or technical shortcomings,” the president said during his visit to Kazakhstan.

Putin called on the Romanian authorities to share “objective evidence” with Russia, adding that Moscow did the same when the Ukrainian military targeted a Russian presidential residence in a drone strike. “Let them [Romanians] do the same and provide the evidence to us,” he added.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan, who visited the drone crash site on Friday, told journalists that the incident could have been caused by Ukrainian air defenses. According to him, the drone was a part of a group of Russian UAVs deployed against targets in Ukraine.

“Some of them were shot down over Ukrainian territory, and one of them was probably hit above the city of Reni. Its trajectory changed and it came toward Galati,” he said, adding that the Romanian authorities have data on the drone’s movement. According to Dan, the incident was not considered a deliberate attack by Russia but rather the consequence of military operations not far from the Romanian border.

Russia has previously been blamed for drone and missile incidents in EU nations. One of the most high-profile incidents involved an S-300 air defense missile killing two people in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border in 2022.

Kiev was quick to frame the incident as a Russian attack “on the collective security” of NATO while Warsaw eventually determined that the projectile had been fired by Ukraine in a bid to repel a Russian strike on targets inside Ukraine.

May 29, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Comments Off on Putin calls for data on Romania drone incident to be shared

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