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The £1m man: why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?

Leaked files offer a glimpse of the ex-prime minister’s relationship with Christopher Harborne.

Tom Burgis. Guardian 10 Oct 25

As he boarded the night train to Ukraine, Boris Johnson had the usual entourage of aides and bodyguards – plus the man who had given him £1m.

Less than a year had passed since Johnson accepted what is thought to be the largest donation ever to an individual MP. It was from Christopher Harborne, one of the UK’s biggest and most private political donors.

Harborne, whose millions helped bankroll Brexit, made the payment to a private company Johnson set up after resigning as prime minister. Now leaked files show that Johnson, a champion of Ukraine in office and since, was accompanied in September 2023 by his benefactor on a two-day visit that included meetings with top officials.

What the files do not explain is why. And neither the former prime minister nor his backer will say.

The organisers of the high-level gathering they attended in Kyiv say Harborne was registered as “adviser, Office of Boris Johnson”.

Harborne has wide expertise: a self-described “digital nomad”, his holdings range from cryptocurrency and a wellness centre to jet fuel and stakes in at least three military contractors. His only apparent connection to Ukraine is as the biggest shareholder in a British weapons manufacturer whose robots and drones are reportedly supplied to its armed forces.

The Boris Files, leaked documents from Johnson’s private office, have exposed how the former PM has sought to enrich himself since leaving office by sitting down with a Venezuelan despot and courting Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince accused of ordering the murder of a journalist.

The Ukrainian cause, by contrast, is “sacred” to Johnson, one political consultant says, an enduring source of moral authority for a politician who was forced out of Downing Street amid scandal.

The leaked files raise questions about whether, even here, he has blurred the lines between public service and money-making.

In an extraordinary statement to the Guardian when asked about his relationship with Harborne, Johnson said: “Your pathetic non-stories … seem mostly to be derived from some illegal Russian hack job. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), the US-based transparency group that obtained the leaked files, said it did not know their provenance.

Johnson added: “Why don’t you just change your name to Pravda? Your stories are rubbish and you are doing Putin’s work.”

‘Boris and Chris only’

In Downing Street, Johnson rallied western powers as Vladimir Putin’s armies poured into Ukraine in February 2022. Since resigning, he has continued to travel there, pledging to maintain allies’ commitment, and remains so popular that he is cheered in the streets.

When he disembarked from the night train in Kyiv on 8 September 2023, Johnson had time for a quick shower at his hotel before heading for the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum, an itinerary in the leaked files indicates. According to a published list of participants, Ukrainian ministers, spymasters and military chiefs mingled with foreign diplomats, politicians, industrialists and executives.

The itinerary has “Boris and Chris [Harborne] only” down to attend the opening session of the high-level gathering. Images show Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Johnson addressed the gathered luminaries and the itinerary suggests they then retired for a private meeting. Zelenskyy’s office did not respond when asked if Johnson’s benefactor joined them…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The £1m donation

………………….He [Harborne]has given £10m to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party – now Reform UK – and £1m to the Conservatives while Johnson was completing the UK’s departure from the EU. And Johnson seems to have nurtured the beneficial relationship while he was in No 10.

Harborne visited Chequers at least twice during Johnon’s premiership. Once, he arrived at the prime ministerial retreat by helicopter. The second time was for a Tory megadonor barbecue in August 2022.

Within days, Johnson’s tenure was over, but his relationship with Harborne endured, and the £1m personal donation followed. A copy of the financial advice Johnson received soon after leaving Downing Street raises questions about it.

While Johnson was still an MP he set up a private company, The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd. The financial advice reveals that he was expecting a “payment to fund the company’s first few years”. He was advised to consider whether this would represent a political donation or if it “might be simpler for the company to invoice the donor’s company for services”.

The following month, in November 2022, Johnson’s entry in the register of MPs’ interests records a £1m donation to his company from Harborne. The payment does not appear on the Electoral Commission’s donation database of money “given towards the recipient’s political activities” as an MP. This appears to suggest it may have been a contribution towards Johnson’s money-making activities.

The month of the £1m payment, Johnson and Harborne dined together twice in Singapore. A January 2023 entry in Johnson’s schedule set aside half an hour for a call with his backer. It was labelled “Ukraine readout”. That September, by which time Johnson had quit parliament, he and Harborne stepped aboard a Dassault Falcon at Stansted airport, the leaked files indicate. The private jet, apparently operated by Harborne, carried them to eastern Poland to catch the sleeper to Kyiv.

Harborne’s lawyers said: “Mr Harborne’s donation was given to enable Mr Johnson to stay actively engaged in mainstream UK politics. It is and was a donation, and its reporting as such is appropriate.”…………

The letter

Harborne’s lawyers did not give substantive answers to questions about why he went on the trip to Ukraine, beyond saying they “appear to have little to no basis in reality”. But there are possible clues in the leaked files.

The itinerary features a “closed meeting at the military-tech R&D centre”. It does not say whether Harborne attended, but this is an area he knows well. While his position as the largest shareholder in QinetiQ, with 13%, does not give him a role in the day-to-day running of the privatised research unit of the UK armed forces, his financial stake in its operations is significant.

QinetiQ has interests in Ukraine, albeit not its biggest. Ukraine’s forces reportedly use the company’s Banshee drones and bomb-disposal robots. In April 2025, the UK Ministry of Defence announced QinetiQ would help Ukraine’s military make kit with 3D printers……………………. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/10/the-1m-man-why-did-boris-johnson-take-his-donor-to-ukraine

October 17, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Idle boasts and blatant lies: Debunking Trump’s egregious distortions in Knesset speech

Press TV, 15 October 2025

US President Donald Trump basked in adulation on Monday at the Israeli Knesset, where he was hailed as “the president of peace,” even as regime lawmakers laughed at his jokes, applauded his idle boasts, and rose for more standing ovations than one could count.

Behind the theatrics, Trump’s address was marked by wilful distortion and obfuscation of facts. We identified a series of false or misleading claims on topics ranging from October 7 to the Iranian nuclear program, Hezbollah, US politics, Israel and the self-fashioned mythology he sought to project

Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif, who was brutally manhandled and whisked out of the hall for interrupting the speech, captured the day’s irony with biting precision. Writing on Facebook, he remarked:

“During the speech of lies by the war criminal Netanyahu — I preferred to read about the truth.”

He was reading noted Israeli historian Ilan Pappé’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, a symbolic act of quiet defiance as Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other masterminds of the genocide in Gaza congratulated each other on killing nearly 70,000 Palestinians over two years.

Trump’s boastful speech unfolded as part show, part sermon, part self-congratulation and blended grandiose claims of “peace” in West Asia with sweeping falsehoods.

He exaggerated ceasefire achievements, distorted economic figures, misrepresented his own diplomatic record, and even belittled serious corruption charges facing Netanyahu.

Fact-checkers worldwide have since flagged his remarks as a performance of fiction than facts.

Here is a breakdown of some of Trump’s most glaring fabrications and distortions from the Knesset podium, including his portrayal of Iran and its nuclear program, his revisionist take on US foreign policy, and his persistent habit of rewriting his own presidency as a miracle of peace.

On Iran

1. “So we dropped 14 bombs on Iran’s key nuclear facilities, totally, as I said originally, obliterating them. That’s been confirmed.”

The Pentagon’s own intelligence assessment contradicts this claim, declaring that US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the country’s nuclear program. The June report confirmed that centrifuges remained “largely intact” and the damage was limited to above-ground structures.

2. “Together we stopped the number one state sponsor of terror from obtaining the world’s most dangerous weapons. They would have it in two months or less.”

The annual US intelligence threat assessment report released in March categorically stated that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, echoing similar reports in the past…………………

3. “They (Iran) want a peace deal. I think they are tired; they want to survive.”

In September, Ayatollah Khamenei rejected Washington’s demands regarding nuclear negotiations.

He warned that talks with the US under current conditions would bring “no benefit” and instead cause “serious and possibly irreparable harms” to the country.

Iran has already denounced Trump’s claims and his offer of friendship, calling them “shameful”, coming just months after a US-Israeli aggression against the country, which killed over a thousand people. https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/10/14/756900/from-idle-boasts-blatant-lies-debunking-trump-egregious-distortions-knesset-speech

October 17, 2025 Posted by | spinbuster | Leave a comment

Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé: Despite Ceasefire, Palestinians Still Face “Elimination, Genocide”

October 13, 2025, Democracy Now – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VBDIaaryG8

Renowned Israeli historian, author and professor Ilan Pappé discusses the postwar prospects of Palestinian statehood and of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under investigation for corruption in Israel and subject to an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Despite the newly implemented Gaza ceasefire, says Pappé, Israeli political leaders have not changed their policy aim to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their remaining territory. “Nothing has changed in the dehumanization and the attitude of this particular Israeli government and its belief that it has the power to wipe out Palestine as a nation, as a people and as a country,” he explains. Pappé’s latest book is titled Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence.

Transcript……………………………..

ILAN PAPPÉ:………………………………………….. I don’t think we are in such an historical moment as President Trump claimed in his speech in the Knesset and beforehand. We are not at the end of the terrible chapter that we have been in it for the last two years. And that chapter is an Israeli attempt by a particularly fanatic, extremely right-wing Israeli government to try and use ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and genocide in Gaza to downsize the number of Palestinians in Palestine and impose Israel’s will in a way that they hope would be at least endorsed by some Arab governments and the world. And so far, they have an alliance of Trump and some extreme right-wing parties in Europe.

And now I hope that the world will not be misled that Israel is now ready to open a different kind of page in its relationship with the Palestinians………………nothing has changed in the dehumanization and the attitude of this particular Israeli government and its belief that it has the power to wipe out Palestine as a nation, as a people and as a country. And I hope the world will not stand by, because up to now it did stand by when the genocide occurred in Palestine………..

…………………………………………….. it is the nature of the Israeli government that was elected in November 2022, this alliance between a very opportunistic politician, who’s only interested in surviving and keeping his position as a prime minister, alongside messianic, neo-Zionist politicians who really believe that God has given them the opportunity to create the Greater Israel, maybe even beyond the borders of Palestine, and, in the process, eliminate Palestinians. I think that his [Netanyahu’s] consideration should all — are always about his chances of survival. …..

………… My greatest worry is that he does believe that his only chance of being reelected is still to have a war going on, either in Gaza or in the West Bank or against Iran or in the north with Lebanon. We are dealing here with a reckless, irresponsible politician, who is even willing to drown his own state in the process of saving his skin and his neck. And the victims will always be, from this adventurous policy, the Palestinians…….

…………………. I do hope that political elites will understand their — especially in the West, their role now is not to mediate between Israelis and Palestinians. Their role now is to protect the Palestinians from destruction, elimination, genocide and ethnic cleansing. ……………………………………………………https://www.democracynow.org/2025/10/13/ilan_pappe_israel_on_the_brink

October 17, 2025 Posted by | politics international | Leave a comment

Nobel Peace Prize winner supports Israel’s genocide & Trump’s war on Venezuela

Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado is a far-right Venezuelan coup-plotter funded by the US government. She supports Israel as it commits genocide and is central to Trump’s regime-change war against President Maduro.

By Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy 13 Oct 25– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9uDtd7Msc

The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to María Corina Machado, a far-right coup leader in Venezuela who has been funded by the US government for decades.

Machado has openly called for the US military to invade Venezuela, in order to overthrow the revolutionary Chavista government of President Nicolás Maduro.

She is at the heart of the war that Donald Trump has waged on Venezuela. Machado has endorsed the US military’s extrajudicial executions of Venezuelans in boats in international waters, echoing the Trump administration’s unsubstantiated, evidence-free claims that it is supposedly killing “drug traffickers”.

Machado also supports the illegal, unilateral US sanctions that have killed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

Likewise, Machado has expressed staunch support for Israel as it carried out genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Nobel Peace Prize for war criminals

The fact that a pro-war, far-right coup-plotter like Machado was given a Nobel Peace Prize demonstrates how extremely hypocritical the award is.

This hypocrisy is far from new.

US imperial planner Henry Kissinger was given a so-called Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, despite the fact that he was one of the worst war criminals in modern history, with the blood of millions of victims on his hands, in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Chile, and beyond.

Former US President Barack Obama also won a so-called Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. His administration then went on to wage nonstop war. Obama bombed seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

This is by no means the first time that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has been hypocritical. But giving the prize to María Corina Machado is especially outrageous, because it comes precisely at a moment when, one, she has been supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza; and two, she is working with Donald Trump to wage war and use violence to try to overthrow Venezuela’s government.

María Corina Machado supports Israel’s genocidal regime

Machado has openly praised Israel as it has carried out a genocide against the Palestinian people.

A United Nations commission led by renowned experts on international humanitarian law stated clearly that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

In January 2025, Machado held a call with Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar. She expressed her “gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel”, adding that she “immensely values the support of the government of Israel”.

The genocidal Israeli regime has refused to recognize the government of Venezuela’s constitutional, internationally recognized President Nicolás Maduro, and has instead recognized US-backed coup leader Edmundo González, who lives in Spain and is a proxy for Machado.

In April 2024, Israel attacked Iran in an act of aggression, and Tehran hit back in self-defense. Machado immediately took to Twitter to condemn Iran. She emphasized her “solidarity with the State of Israel amid the direct aggression by the Iranian regime”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

María Corina Machado is at the center of Donald Trump’s regime-change war on Venezuela

Giving the so-called Nobel Peace Prize for María Corina Machado is even more outrageous considering that she is at the heart of a war that the US government is currently waging against Venezuela.

Donald Trump has launched multiple military attacks, killing dozens of Venezuelans without charge or trial. In flagrant violation of international law, the US military has repeatedly bombed boats surrounding Venezuela in international waters, claiming without any evidence that they were full of people trafficking “drugs”.

Machado has supported Trump’s attacks on her country, including his extrajudicial executions of Venezuelans without charge or trial.

The Financial Times interviewed Machado, and she admitted that she is working with the US government to try to overthrow Venezuela’s President Maduro……………………………………………………….. https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/10/13/maria-corina-machado-israel-genocide-trump-war-venezuela/

October 17, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Palestinians freed from Israeli prison denied reunion with families as Trump claims a ‘forever’ peace

At the end of the prisoner exchange, between 9,000 and 10,000 Palestinians will remain behind bars, including around 5,000 Palestinians who are being held without charge or trial, and without clear release dates, under Israel’s system of “administrative detention.”

Palestinians gathered in the West Bank to reunite with loved ones set to be released as part of the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. But many were devastated to learn that Israel had deported them instead.

Mondoweisss, By Qassam Muaddi  October 13, 2025 

Palestinians in Gaza lived another day without bombs dropping over their heads as the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continued into Monday, which saw the release of Israeli captives from Gaza and the release of 1,718 out of 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

At around 8:00 a.m. local time, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, handed the first group of seven Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, without any ceremonies or media exposure. The second group of 13 Israeli captives came an hour later. Meanwhile, the Israeli prison services moved hundreds of Palestinians out of its detention centers.

Palestinians in Gaza lived another day without bombs dropping over their heads as the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continued into Monday, which saw the release of Israeli captives from Gaza and the release of 1,718 out of 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

At around 8:00 a.m. local time, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, handed the first group of seven Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, without any ceremonies or media exposure. The second group of 13 Israeli captives came an hour later. Meanwhile, the Israeli prison services moved hundreds of Palestinians out of its detention centers.

A total of 1,718 Palestinians were released into the Gaza Strip, all of whom were abducted by Israeli forces from within Gaza during the past two years. In addition, Israel released 250 Palestinians who had been serving high or life sentences in Israeli prisons, 88 of whom were released in the West Bank, while the rest were deported to Gaza and Egypt.

In the town of Beitunia, adjacent to Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians gathered in expectation of the released prisoners, who were announced to be released from Israel’s Ofer detention center just outside of the town. Israeli drones flew over the gathering, dropping leaflets that read “we are watching you everywhere. If you show any support for a terrorist group, you will expose yourself to arrest and punishment.”

At around 11:00 a.m., two Red Cross-marked buses drove through Beitunia as Palestinians waved at the released prisoners along the way, in decidedly smaller numbers than the crowds that had received released prisoners during the previous January-March ceasefire.

At the Ramallah Cultural Palace, prisoners’ families and crowds of Palestinians gathered to receive the released prisoners. In the crowds, the family of a prisoner, Murad Abu al-Rub, 45, including two of his sisters, his cousin, and his paralyzed mother, stood on a sidewalk trying with difficulty to get a glimpse of the Red Cross buses as they arrived.

“He has been in jail for 19 years with a life sentence, and the last time we visited him was before October 2023,” the cousin told Mondoweiss. “For more than two years, we haven’t seen him, and the news we have had about him through lawyers is very limited.”

“His father and one of his brothers died during his time in jail,” the cousin explained. “And his mother suffered a stroke last year that left her unable to move or speak. But we brought her because she has been very anxious to see him.”

The family left Jenin in the northern West Bank at 6 a.m. to avoid the Israeli army’s expected road closures, as it did during the previous ceasefire. “The Israeli Shabak came to our house yesterday and warned us not to show any signs of celebration, and they told us that Murad will be released here.”

After all the prisoners left the bus, the family discovered that Murad wasn’t among them. Minutes later, they received confirmation from the Red Cross that he had been deported to Egypt. 

As the cousin shared the news, the elderly mother broke into tears and random screams in her wheelchair. As her daughters helped her into the car, one of them tried to console her. “He went to Egypt to study! He’ll be back later,” she said. The mother moved her hand in an apparent refusal to hear, continuing to weep.

Meters away, the older brother of Abdallah Barham, 40, one of the prisoners set to be released, had just learned that he, too, had been deported. The brother was in Ramallah by 7 a.m. to wait for Abdallah, who had served 18 years of his life sentence in Israeli prison.

“The family and the entire village are waiting in Kufr Qadoum to celebrate his release,” he explained. “And the Shabak came yesterday and warned us not to celebrate.” 

“Our younger brother and our mother died during his period of imprisonment,” he continued. “And our father has been waiting for this day for the past 18 years. The feeling is tragic.” ………………………………………………………………………………..

At the end of the prisoner exchange, between 9,000 and 10,000 Palestinians will remain behind bars, including around 5,000 Palestinians who are being held without charge or trial, and without clear release dates, under Israel’s system of “administrative detention.”……………………………….

Donald Trump speaks before the Knesset, Sharm al-Sheikh summit

……………………………………. In his speech, Trump said it was a “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and the beginning of a “grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel.” Trump praised Netanyahu, whom he called “hard to deal with.” The U.S. President also lauded special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whom he said was “called in” to draft the plan for the end of the war, all with a wave of applause by the Knesset members. Trump also thanked the Arab and Muslim countries that participated in his plan for the end of the war, which did not receive any applause from the Knesset.

During Trump’s speech, Palestinian Knesset member Ayman Odeh and left-wing anti-Zionist Knesset member Ofer Kasif raised signs calling for the recognition of Palestine as a state, and were forcibly removed from the hall

…………………………………………………………… Israel and Hamas still have to negotiate terms for the definitive end to the war based on Trump’s plan. This includes the body meant to rule over the Strip, which Hamas and Palestinian factions insist must be an independent Palestinian body of technocrats. In contrast, Trump’s plan would include a “board of peace” headed by Trump himself that would be in charge of running Gaza. 

Another point to be negotiated is the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions. Palestinian factions, including Hamas, insist that they would lay down their arms upon the establishment of a Palestinian state, while Trump’s plan would see the resistance movement’s disarmament and makes no mention of Palestinian statehood. https://mondoweiss.net/2025/10/palestinians-freed-from-israeli-prison-denied-reunion-with-families-as-trump-claims-a-forever-peace/

October 17, 2025 Posted by | Atrocities, Israel | Leave a comment

Work to restore link to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant begins this week, Russian official says

 A Russian official said on Tuesday that work would begin this week to
restore external power links to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
station, which has been running on emergency diesel generators for three
weeks.

 Reuters 14th Oct 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/work-restore-link-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-begins-this-week-russian-official-2025-10-14/

October 17, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear: Flamanville EPR unable to resolve all its technical problems

Shut down since June, the new nuclear reactor could restart in mid-October. But for how long? Problems have still not been “definitively resolved,” according to EDF’s own admission. And Greenpeace has become “persona non grata” at the power plants.

Jade Lindgaard, October 9, 2025

LisTHEPieux (Manche).– Soon to be back in operation, but for how long? The Flamanville EPR, the last nuclear reactor built in France and twelve years behind schedule, could start operating again in mid-October, after three months of forced shutdown due to a serious technical 
problem ……….. (Subscribers only) https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/ecologie/091025/nucleaire-l-epr-de-flamanville-n-arrive-pas-resoudre-tous-ses-problemes-techniques

October 17, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The UN nuclear watchdog seeks a local truce to restore power to the Zaporizhzhia plant

By ASSOCIATED PRESS, 14 October 2025

VIENNA (AP) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog is pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to local ceasefires so that external power can be restored to Ukraine´s huge nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, two diplomats familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.

The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

It has been operating on diesel generators since Sept. 23 when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that each side blamed on the other. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest.

The agency is proposing to restore external power to the plant in two phases, according to a European diplomat briefed on the proposal by the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. A Russian diplomat confirmed some aspects of the plan.

Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the confidential negotiations publicly.

During the first phase, a 1.5-kilometer-radius (1-mile-radius) ceasefire zone would be established to allow repair of the Dniprovska 750-kilovolt line, the main power line to the plant that has been damaged in an area under Russian control.

During the second phase, a second such ceasefire zone would be established to repair the Ferosplavna-1 330-kilovolt backup line, which is in area under Ukraine’s control.

IAEA experts would be on hand to monitor the repairs, which originally were proposed for a 7-day period from Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, according to the European diplomat and confidential documents seen by the AP.

However, although the Ukrainian side has given necessary guarantees of safe passage for repair crews, Russia did not give such guarantees in time for the work to start under that timetable, according to the European diplomat.

The Russian diplomat, on the other hand, said that preparations for the repairs are under way and that they can start very soon.

The IAEA declined to comment on the timing, saying only that Grossi was engaging “intensively with both sides” to enable the reconnection of power and to “help prevent a nuclear accident.”

Grossi held talks with both Ukraine and Russia last month. He met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Sept. 29 at the Warsaw Security Forum, following meetings in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 25 and Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev on Sept. 26.

The IAEA warned that if diesel generators fail, “it could lead to a complete blackout and possibly causing an accident with the fuel melting and a potential radiation release into the environment, if power could not be restored in time.”

The latest blackout is the tenth time that the Zaporizhzhia plant has lost all external power, and is by far the longest since the start of the war. The 330-kilovolt backup line was lost in May, and the main line was disconnected on Sept. 23.

The plant is close to the front line and has been occupied by Russia since March 2022. Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for shelling close to the plant……. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-15188795/The-UN-nuclear-watchdog-seeks-local-truce-restore-power-Zaporizhzhia-plant.html

October 17, 2025 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

NFLAs join European anti nuclear groups in urging appeal in taxonomy case

 After helping to halt the introduction of a new taxonomy in the UK, which
would have further favoured wasteful investment into new nuclear, the UK /
Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have joined European anti-nuclear
groups in co-signing a letter to Ministers in Austria and Luxembourg urging
them to appeal a recent retrograde ruling by the European Court of Justice.

The NFLAs have several member authorities in the Republic of Ireland, and a
close tie with partners, Cities for a Nuclear Free Europe, so have an
ongoing interest in nuclear developments in the European Union. The
European anti-nuclear movement is deeply concerned about the dismissal of the lawsuit.

 NFLA 13th Oct 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-join-european-anti-nuclear-groups-in-urging-appeal-in-taxonomy-case/

October 17, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Be prepared: Time to consider emergency planning at Llynfi nuclear site

 The Welsh NFLAs have joined campaign group No Nuclear Llynfi in making an
appeal to the leadership of Bridgend County Borough Council to consider
emergency planning arrangements in advance of a plan to bring a new nuclear
power plant to the borough in 2027. The US developer Last Energy plans to
install four 20MW nuclear reactors on the former Llynfi power station site
near Maesteg. Last Energy has applied for a site-specific licence from the
Office of Nuclear Regulation to deploy the company’s ‘first of a
kind’ design at Llynfi. An ONR senior official told the NFLA Secretary
that the 2027 deadline was ‘very ambitious’ given the ‘immaturity’
of the design, with none previously built or operated in the UK. Local
Councils will be consulted, including the Borough Council as a planning
authority. Last Energy is also currently engaged in community consultation.
As well as a site licence from the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the
company will also need to secure permits from Natural Resources Wales and
ultimately sign off from the Welsh Government.

 NFLA 13th Oct 2025,
https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/be-prepared-time-to-consider-emergency-planning-at-llynfi-nuclear-site/

October 17, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Trump Keeps Admitting That He Is Bought And Owned By The World’s Richest Israeli

Caitlin Johnstone, Oct 14, 2025, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/trump-keeps-admitting-that-he-is?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=176098622&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

It’s bizarre how little mainstream attention is given to the fact that the president of the United States has repeatedly confessed to being bought and owned by the world’s richest Israeli, especially given how intensely fixated his political opposition was on the possibility that he was compromised by a foreign government during his first term.

During a speech before the Israeli parliament on Monday, President Trump once again publicly admitted that he has implemented Israel-friendly policies at the behest of Israeli-American billionaire Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon, this time adding that he believes Adelson favors Israel over the United States.

Here’s a transcript of Trump’s remarks:

“As president, I terminated the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, and ultimately, I terminated Iran’s nuclear program with things called B2 bombers. It was swift and it was accurate, and it was a military beauty. I authorized the spending of billions of dollars, which went to Israel’s defense, as you know. And after years of broken promises from many other American presidents — you know that they kept promising — I never understood it until I got there. There was a lot of pressure put on these presidents. It was put on me, too, but I didn’t yield to the pressure. But every president for decades said, ‘We’re going to do it.’ The difference is I kept my promise and officially recognized the capital of Israel and moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

“Isn’t that right Miriam? Look at Miriam. She’s back there. Stand up. Miriam and Sheldon [Adelson] would come into the office and call me. They’d call me — I think they had more trips to the White House than anybody else, I guess. Look at her sitting there so innocently — got $60 billion in the bank, $60 billion. And she loves, and she, I think she said, ‘No, more.’ And she loves Israel, but she loves it. And they would come in. And her husband was a very aggressive man, but I loved him. It was a very aggressive, very supportive of me. And he’d call up, ‘Can I come over and see you? I’d say ‘Sheldon, I’m the president of the United States. It doesn’t work that way.’ He’d come in. But they were very responsible for so much, including getting me thinking about Golan Heights, which is probably one of the greatest things ever happened. Miriam, stand up, please She really is, I mean, she loves this country. She loves this country. Her and her husband are so incredible. We miss him so dearly. But I actually asked her, I’m going to get her in trouble with this. But I actually asked her once, I said, ‘So Miriam, I know you love Israel. What do you love more? The United States or Israel?’ She refused to answer. That means — that might mean Israel, I must say, we love you. Thank you, darling, for being here. That’s a great honor. Great honor. She’s a wonderful woman. She is a great woman.”

Sheldon Adelson reportedly gave Trump and the Republicans over $424 million in campaign funding from 2016 up until his death in 2021. His widow Miriam continued her husband’s legacy and poured a further $100 million into Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

On the 2024 campaign trail Trump also admitted to being controlled by Adelson cash. Here’s a transcript of those remarks:

“Just as I promised, I recognize Israel’s eternal capital and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. Jerusalem became the capital. I also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

“You know, Miriam and Sheldon would come into the White House probably almost more than anybody outside of people that work there. And they were always after — and as soon as I’d give them something — always for Israel. As soon as I’d give them something, they’d want something else. I’d say, ‘Give me a couple of weeks, will you, please?’ But I gave them the Golan Heights, and they never even asked for it.

“You know, for 72 years they’ve been trying to do the Golan Heights, right? And even Sheldon didn’t have the nerve. But I said, ‘You know what?’ I said to David Friedman, ‘Give me a quick lesson, like five minutes or less on the Golan Heights.’ And he did. And I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ We got it done in about 15 minutes, right?”

Legitimizing Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem were two of the most controversial moves Trump made in Israel’s favor during his first term, which have now been eclipsed by his backing the genocide in Gaza and his bombings of Iran and Yemen.

And here is his, openly admitting that his billionaire Zionist megadonors have been using the access their donations bought them to push him to take drastic action in favor of Israel.

Just imagine for a second if someone had leaked documents to the press proving that Trump and received extensive financial backing from a Russian oligarch to whom he doled out favors of immense geopolitical consequence. It would be the biggest scandal in the history of American politics, bar none. But because it’s an Israeli oligarch, he can admit to it openly and repeatedly without anyone batting an eye.

During Trump’s first term his political rivals spent years pushing a bogus conspiracy theory that he was controlled by Vladimir Putin, despite his having spent that entire term aggressively ramping up cold war hostilities against Russia. Entire political punditry careers were birthed trying to create a scandal out of a narrative that could be plainly seen as false just by looking at the movements of the US war machine and Washington’s actions against Moscow.

But here’s Trump openly admitting to bending over backwards to give an Israeli oligarch whatever she wants because she gave his campaign huge sums of money, while pouring weapons into Israel to facilitate its mass atrocities and engaging in acts of war on Israel’s behalf. And it barely makes a blip in mainstream western politics or media.

This is because mainstream western politics and media understand that we are living in an unofficial oligarchic empire to which both the US and Israel belong. They never acknowledge it, they never talk about it, but all high-level politicians, pundits and operatives in the western world understand that they serve a globe-spanning power structure run by a loose alliance of plutocrats and empire managers. They understand that states like Israel are a part of said power structure, while states like Russia, China and Iran are not. So they spend their time normalizing the corruption and abuses of imperial member states while facilitating the empire’s efforts to attack and undermine the states which have successfully resisted being absorbed into the imperial power umbrella.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only thing I like about Donald Trump is his infantile tendency to say the quiet part out loud. He advances the same kinds of abuses as his predecessors who were no less corrupt and controlled, but he exposes the underlying mechanics of those abuses in ways that more refined presidents never would.

October 15, 2025 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

  Democratic lawmakers request probe into Jared Kushner after Reuters Saudi report

By Aram Roston and Alexandra Ulmer, October 25, 2024

  • Summary
  • Wyden and Raskin request special counsel to investigate Kushner
  • Concerns over Kushner’s influence on U.S. foreign policy and potential conflicts of interest

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – The Democratic chair of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and a prominent Democratic congressman asked the U.S. attorney general on Thursday to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was functioning as an unregistered foreign agent for Saudi Arabia, according to a letter from the lawmakers.

The letter from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin cited an Oct. 4 Reuters report that revealed that Kushner on multiple occasions had discussed U.S.-Saudi diplomacy concerning Israel with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since leaving government.

“This revelation is deeply disturbing, as Mr. Kushner appears to be influencing U.S. foreign policy by acting as a political consultant to the Saudi government while also accepting their money,” Wyden and Raskin wrote in the eight-page letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter has not been previously reported.

“Mr. Kushner’s proximity to President Trump and the potential for political interference warrants the appointment of a Special Counsel,” the letter added.

Saudi Arabia has invested $2 billion into a private equity fund, Affinity Partners, that Kushner, who was a top adviser on the Middle East during Trump’s administration, founded in 2021 after leaving government, according to congressional investigators………………………

The Department of Justice acknowledged receipt of the letter but declined further comment.

The Saudi Arabian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Arabia’s investments in Kushner’s fund have been criticized by ethics experts, Democrats in Congress and some Republicans, who have expressed concern that Saudi Arabia’s stake can look like a payoff since Kushner worked on Saudi issues before leaving Trump’s White House.

“There is substantial reason to believe,” the letter wrote, “that the Saudi government’s decision to engage Affinity for investment advice is a fig leaf for funneling money directly to Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump.”……………………………………..https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democratic-lawmakers-request-probe-into-trump-son-in-law-after-reuters-saudi-2024-10-24/

October 15, 2025 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Putin and Trump, between the war of deadly Tomahawks and the peace of disarmament “START 3”.

by Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, Translation, Maria Poumier
Source La Jornada (Mexico) The world’s largest Spanish-language daily newspaper. Voltaire Network | Mexico City (Mexico) 
| October 11, 2025, https://www.voltairenet.org/article222961.html

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are trying, against the instincts of their administrations, to end the confrontation between their two countries since the Cold War. The American president is balancing threats and peace proposals, while his Russian counterpart is showing patience. Will the two men succeed in freeing their countries from the trap they have built for eighty years and which is closing in on them?

The relationship between Putin and Trump has reached a turning point that will decide between war and peace, between the two greatest nuclear superpowers in the Milky Way  [ 1 ] . Catholic Vice President JD Vance told FoxNews Sunday that “the United States is reviewing Ukraine’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles” that would strike deep into Russian territory. The young millennial vice president added that President Trump would make the “final decision 

On the other hand, retired General Keith Kellogg, 81, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, has byzantinely declared that Russia—against all tangible evidence on the battlefield where Ukraine is currently being thrashed—”lost the war” because “it failed to destroy Ukraine  [ 3 ]  .” It should be noted that General Kellogg’s daughter is addicted to the illegitimate regime of Khazarian comedian Zelensky, who is also delusional, trying to make people believe that he is “winning the war.”

If Ukraine, a vassal of NATO and the European Union, was indeed “winning the war,” why would it need the help of the fearsome Tomahawks, which can carry US-NATO nuclear weapons? At the same time, the genocidal Netanyahu is planning to deliver Patriot defense systems to his Khazarian coreligionist in kyiv….

Russian philosopher and geopolitician Alexander Dugin claims that “delivering the Tomahawks to Kiev would be a pure disaster” that “would irreversibly damage Russian-American relations”: the “neoconservatives’ dream would be to drag the United States into a third world war 
 [ 4 ]  “, which would tragically be nuclear in nature.

Contrary to the drums of war that are sounding more forcefully within the European NATO countries, President Putin, during his participation in the plenary meeting of the Valdai Club in Sochi, invited Trump to “peaceful coexistence  [ 5 ]  “.

Regarding the hypothetical delivery to Ukraine of deadly Tomahawk missiles—with a range of 2,500 kilometers and a cost of $1.3 million each, capable of reaching Moscow and beyond—Putin said that this would not change the irreversible course of the war, which is now favorable to Moscow, but that it would constitute “a new step in the escalation,” because Ukraine cannot use these sophisticated missiles without the control of the US military.

India ‘s Economic Times speculates that “the US is unlikely to send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine” because “it faces obstacles related to stockpiles committed to its navy operations.” This appears to be a Trump-like bargaining chip.

Since last year, the neoliberal think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has denounced the sharp decline in the number of these deadly US missiles, already widely used in Yemen against the Ansar Allah guerrillas 
 [ 6 ] .

China ‘s Global Times highlights Putin’s warning about delivering Tomahawks to Ukraine, as the Russian president “praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to help broker peace in Ukraine,” calling his August summit in Alaska “productive,” while “reiterating Russia’s confidence in its nuclear shield. ”  [ 7 ]

Putin told members of the Russian Security Council that “Moscow will respect the limits set on nuclear weapons for one more year, after the expiration on February 5, 2026, of the “START 3” nuclear treaty (Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Nuclear Arms) with the United States  [ 8 ] . Trump responded that Putin’s nuclear proposal was “a good idea”  [ 9 ] .

The world is anxiously awaiting Trump’s final decision on the Tomahawks, a decision he appears to have already made, but which he will keep secret until he deems the time opportune  [ 10 ] , while waging a veritable “civil war” from Oregon to Illinois against what he calls the terrorist group Antifa, financed by George Soros and his son Alex.

References ……………………………………………………………………………..

October 15, 2025 Posted by | politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Israeli Soldiers Torched Food, Homes, and a Critical Sewage Treatment Plant in the Wake of Ceasefire Announcement

Soldiers called the mass arson of Gaza City their “final touches.”

Drop Site, Younis Tirawi and Yaniv Cogan, Oct 13, 2025

In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s announcement on Thursday that both Hamas and Israel had signed off on an agreement to stop the fighting, the Israeli military launched an arson spree, setting fire to civilian infrastructure, including the destruction of an essential sanitation plant in Gaza City. After publication, the Israel Defense Forces told Drop Site it “is aware of the incident and it is being reviewed.”

The destruction of Palestinian structures following the departure of soldiers who had used them as temporary bases has been a hallmark of Israel’s approach to Gaza for two years. In July, Israeli reporter Yuval Abraham collected testimonies from soldiers describing a myriad of arson methods. “Every Arab house we entered had olive oil […] We poured the oil on the sofas, on anything flammable in the apartment, and then we ignited [it] or threw in a smoke grenade. This was a common practice,” one of them described.

The agreement came after months of a concerted effort to render Gaza uninhabitable by destroying residences and civilian infrastructure, culminating in the ground invasion of Gaza City and the leveling of several high rises in Gaza City. In September, Israeli government minister Gila Gamliel told Channel 7 News, “We have already completely annihilated 75% of the entire [Gaza] Strip. There remains 25%, which, as you know, it too…we are now taking over [the city of] Gaza—there will be nothing left there that would really [have] the potential to be habitable.”

The scope of the arson perpetrated in Gaza City on the night of October 9th and early morning of October 10—Thursday night into Friday, just after the ceasefire was agreed to but before Israel’s cabinet approved it—was broader than at any other time Drop Site has tracked during the assault on the strip. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Torching of Gaza City’s Sewage Treatment Plant: “[One] last memory”……………………………………………………………………………………………

Mass Arson Campaign Around Sheikh Radwan Market, Gaza City……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Burning Homes Across Gaza City Israeli troops also shared photos of torched houses in other locations accompanied by captions musing about the arson. One soldier dubbed the burning of several buildings the “finishing touches.”……………………………………………………………………………………..

As the ceasefire takes hold, Gaza has already been rendered largely uninhabitable. One Israeli colonel recently bragged to the Israeli media, “We are leaving behind us only dust. There’s nothing here.” For officials like Gamliel, who have expressed satisfaction with the level of destruction in Gaza, the upshot is clear:

“Look at the hypocrisy of all European countries. They constantly go ‘starvation, starvation’ Well…? Open [your] doors! Why, when it was about Ukraine, it was fine, when it was about Syria, it was fine. When it comes to the Palestinians, they want to perpetuate this conflict structurally.

Now, just for your information: one million and seven hundred thousand inside the Gaza Strip are defined as UNRWA refugees. Meaning, once they get out of there, they are not coming back! Because as refugees, this is not the place where they actually have the right of basic belonging.” https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-idf-soldiers-set-fire-food-homes-sewage-treatment-plan-after-ceasefire-announced

October 15, 2025 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza, Israel | Leave a comment

URGENT ACTION NEEDED to Help Protect the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board!

Nuclear Watch, Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Scott Kovac, Research Director, Sophie Stroud, Digital Content Manager and Youth Specialist, 13 Oct 25

The government is still shut down (unfortunately). But it does mean there’s still time to ask Congress to get a provision in the pending Continuing Resolution to keep the government running that will help save the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).

Background: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is an independent agency within the executive branch of the Federal Government. The DNFSB is chartered with the responsibility to provide recommendations and advice to the Secretary of Energy regarding public health and safety issues at Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons facilities, including with the health and safety of employees, contractors, and nearby communities (for more see www.dnfsb.gov).

Congress established the Board in 1988 in response to increasing reports of nuclear safety risks impacting workers and the public. Since early this year, the Board has been reduced to just two Members out of five, with a temporary one-year statutory bridge to constitute a quorum that is drawing to a close. In addition, the current Acting Chairman’s term expires this October 18, ending the Board’s functioning quorum. Without it, the DNFSB cannot effectively carry out its critical nuclear safety oversight mission. The public would simply not know about the DOE’s chronic nuclear safety problems without the Board. This is critically important today given expanding production of nuclear weapons.

Specific request: There should be a provision in any Continuing Resolution for FY 2026 that would temporarily extend the authority of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board by allowing the Acting Chair to serve until the end of January 2027. The overriding purpose is to enable the Safety Board to fully continue operations and provide more time for the President to nominate, and the Senate to confirm, new Safety Board Members.
Congress must take action to protect nuclear safety by preserving DNFSB’s quorum! 

Contact Senator Martin Heinrich through his official website, his Washington, D.C. office, or any of his New Mexico State offices:…………………………………………………………

Contact Senator Ben Ray Luján through his official website, his Washington, D.C. office, or any of his New Mexico State offices:………………………………………………….

Contact Senator John Thune through his official website, his Washington, D.C. office, or any of his South Dakota State offices:…………………………………………….

Contact Senator Chuck Schumer through his official website, his Washington, D.C. office, or any of his New York State offices:……………………………………………. https://nukewatch.org/action-item/urgent-action-needed-to-help-protect-the-defense-nuclear-facilities-safety-board/

October 15, 2025 Posted by | Events, politics, safety, USA | Leave a comment

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