📰 Iran’s Ayatollah and His Guards Falter After Storm of War and Protests

Weeks after Israeli warplanes pulverized Iran’s military command in the June airstrikes, a new generation of Revolutionary Guard leaders had to step into the void, mourning the men they were now replacing. The regime responded to the latest wave of nationwide protests with unprecedented brutality, confirming what many suspected: the old formula of Ayatollah Khamenei and the Guards is cracking under combined pressure of war, sanctions, and a population in open revolt.

The System on Trial
The bloody crackdown did its job: it preserved the regime’s unity in the short term, centered on the ayatollah and the Guards’ 150,000-strong praetorian guard. But analysts see the violence as a sign of acute weakness, not strength.

“They turned to live fire really quickly because their weakness was acute, and they knew it,”

said an Iran expert at the Naval Postgraduate School, comparing the current situation to the late Soviet Union.
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The Revolutionary Guards are now the core of the system, controlling a vast empire of media, economy, oil, seaports, and even an air force.

“They have everything that it takes to assume power,”

said the International Crisis Group’s Iran project director, meaning the Islamic Republic could evolve into a military-dominated state like Pakistan or Egypt after Khamenei is gone.
​
Generational Rift, Coming War Within
Inside the Revolutionary Guards, a sharp divide is opening. The older generation grew up in the Iran-Iraq war, in sacrifice and hardship, and now enjoys foreign homes, elite schools, and luxury cars. The younger officers rose during Iran’s regional expansion and have tasted little of that wealth, but want to protect “their meal ticket”.

Dismayed by the loss of the Syria–Iraq–Lebanon–Yemen proxy network and the crippling blow to the nuclear program in the June war, a more aggressive, assertive faction has emerged among the younger Guards.

They see the regime as redeemable only through even harsher repression and confrontation — and some fear they may move against the aging ayatollah preemptively, not to save the revolution, but to save their own future.
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The Limits of Terror
The regime has survived four major protest waves, and the ayatollah has shrugged off rumors of terminal illness before. But this time, the pressure is different: economic collapse, a youth uprising, the humiliation in war, and a U.S. president openly threatening to intervene if protesters are massacred.
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“This is not a sustainable situation where you wait for an elderly leader to die to put things back in order,”

says an analyst, comparing today’s Iran to the final years of Mao Zedong or Leonid Brezhnev. The country

“doesn’t have the time to wait him out.”​

#Iran #Ayatollah #RevolutionaryGuards #Protests #MiddleEast #Uprising #RegimeChange

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📰 US Asks Italy to Join Gaza Security Force as Founding Member

The Trump administration has asked Italy to join the proposed International Stabilization Force for Gaza as a founding member, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Rome would not have to send troops; instead, its role would be political — using its ties with Israel, Arab states, and the Palestinians to lend credibility to the U.S.-backed initiative. No final decision has been made by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
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Italy’s Role in the Gaza Plan
Under the proposal, Italy would fulfill its commitment by training Gaza’s future police force rather than committing combat troops. The U.S. is looking for respected, Western-aligned states to anchor the ISF, and sees Italian diplomacy as a valuable asset in bridging divisions between Israel and its Arab neighbors, as well as the Palestinian leadership.
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Trump’s Diplomatic Circus and Italy’s Hesitation
The Gaza stabilization plan has been delayed, and the U.S. has struggled to find countries willing to contribute troops.

Trump’s parallel “Board of Peace” initiative has caused further complications, with its controversial draft charter requiring a $1 billion contribution per seat. Italy, while open to supporting Gaza peace, has expressed constitutional concerns about the Board, and Meloni has so far refused to sign it.
​
Who’s Financing Peace — and on Whose Terms?
Trump wants allies to sign up, but not at their own price. He threatens tariffs when they resist, withdraws invitations when they speak out, and demands billion-dollar payments to stay on his peace board.

So when the U.S. invites Italy to help stabilize Gaza, the real question is: whose peace are they building, and who ultimately gets to call the shots?.
​
#Gaza #Italy #Meloni #Trump #GazaPeace #BoardOfPeace #ISFGaza

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Trump Administration Officials Are Showing Their Bare-Faced Effrontery


Two witnesses to the killing of Alex Pretti have said in sworn testimony that the 37-year-old intensive care nurse was not brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, contradicting a claim made by Trump administration officials as they sought to cast the shooting of a prone man as an act of self-defense.

Their accounts came in sworn affidavits that were filed in federal court in Minnesota late Saturday, just hours after Pretti’s killing, as part of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Minneapolis protesters against Kristi Noem and other homeland security officials directing the immigration crackdown in the city.

One witness is a woman who filmed the clearest video of the fatal shooting; the other is a physician who lives nearby and said they were initially prevented by federal officers from rendering medical aid to the gunshot victim.

The names of both witnesses were redacted in the publicly available filings.

In her testimony, the woman who filmed the shooting from just behind Pretti wearing a pink coat identified herself as “a children’s entertainer who specializes in face painting”.

She testified that she came to the scene on her way to work because “I’ve been involved in observing in my community, because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors”.

The woman testified that she saw no sign of Pretti holding a gun at any point.

She said: “The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them – he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up.

I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him.

They shot him so many times (…) I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him (…)

The witness testimony, combined with video evidence reviewed by American Observer, directly contradicts claims by senior Trump administration officials, including the president, the homeland security secretary and Greg Bovino, a border patrol commander, who called Pretti a “gunman” who approached federal officers “brandishing” a gun and threatened to “massacre” them.

#pretti #minnesota #gunshot #trump #officals

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📰 The 10‑Minute Call That Soured Starmer’s Bromance with Trump

The special relationship, that old fiction, doesn’t die in a grand speech. It dies in a 10‑minute phone call. Sir Keir Starmer in Chequers, Donald Trump in Davos: 8000 miles apart, a few minutes on the line, and suddenly the illusion of brotherhood between London and Washington has cracked open like cheap plaster. Trump’s tariff threats over Greenland forced Starmer to choose between flattery and principle, and he chose stage one of the fight: dignity, but not yet defiance.
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The Gamble in Chequers
Trump’s “beautiful piece of ice” — Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory — collided with Starmer’s carefully crafted image of the responsible statesman. On the call, the Prime Minister was “clear and cordial”: no, threatening allies with tariffs is not acceptable. The president, accustomed to deference, rang off after minutes, citing a prior engagement. From the transatlantic elite, that was read as a snub; in London, as a signal that the game had changed.
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Starmer then scrapped his planned cost‑of‑living speech and held an emergency press conference rejecting Trump’s position. In Parliament, he doubled down:

“I will not yield, Britain will not yield, on our principles.”

The move drew applause from fellow European leaders, especially as Trump, after a week of bluster and market chaos, backed down, dropping tariff threats and mumbling about a “deal” that, in substance, barely alters the status quo.
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Behind the Policy: Who’s Really in Charge?
Inside Whitehall, the takeaway is brutal: no one imagines Starmer can “whisper in Trump’s ear” like some magical fixer. When Trump was looking for an off‑ramp, he reached not for Starmer, but for NATO’s Mark Rutte (“daddy”) and the EU’s collective machinery. The British Prime Minister didn’t even attend Davos in person to lobby — the one place where Trump’s ego is currency.
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Meanwhile, power in Downing Street is shifting. David Lammy, who once laughed off Trump’s Greenland fantasies, has moved on. His replacement, Yvette Cooper, pushed for a tougher line, and a growing faction inside the Foreign Office now wants the UK to act like France: assertive, independent, and less supine. The vacuum left by Lord Mandelson’s departure as ambassador to Washington only deepens the sense of disconnection, with his replacement barely arriving in Washington after months of delay.
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The Royal Family as Diplomatic Cover
The real safety net for the special relationship, it seems, is not the Prime Minister, but the Crown. Trump’s inexplicable affinity for the British monarchy — birthday calls to the late Queen, private letters to King Charles, a state visit looming in April — creates a separate channel that no elected government can control. British officials privately admit that while politics with Trump can be a clown show, the Royals are the one thing he genuinely respects; so no serious policymaker would risk weaponizing the state visit as leverage, even on Greenland. The instinct is the same as always: let the toffs in the palace be the friendly diplomats, while the politicians in Downing Street just try not to disgrace the family name.
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The Domestic Game Trump Doesn’t See
Starmer’s sudden spine over Greenland also has a domestic price tag: leadership is weakening, the local elections loom, and new rivals like the Green Party’s Zack Polanski and the Lib Dems’ Sir Ed Davey are eager to appear tougher on Trump than the PM. Standing up to the president, at least in the carefully calibrated way he did, is a way to reassert authority at home. But that’s a short‑term fix: every time Starmer must choose again, the question is whether he fights for his country’s image, or for his own — and whether Trump is just another backdrop in a domestic political survival game.
​
#UKPolitics #Starmer #Trump #Greenland #SpecialRelationship #Diplomacy #NATO

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Trump Has Taken a Tumble in an Economic Tug of War With Xi Jinping

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If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month.

Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.

“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.

China is on a charm offensive with western leaders, a path cleared by Trump’s increasingly erratic and destabilising power grabs on the global stage.

Although Europe breathed a sigh of relief this week when Trump withdrew the threat of using military force in Greenland and said he would not impose tariffs on opponents of his plans in the Arctic, the US no longer seems like a reliable partner.

An editorial in the Chinese newspaper the Global Times made Beijing’s pitch clear: headlined “Europe should seriously consider building a China-EU community with a shared future”, the state media article said the world risked “returning to the law of the jungle” and that China and the EU should cooperate in building “a shared future for mankind”.

No country can afford to cut ties or truly antagonise the world’s biggest economy. But in the search for stability, US allies are turning to the country that many in Washington see as an existential threat: China.

“With US policy again looking unpredictable – underscored by tensions and tariff threats over Greenland – European leaders are making sure to keep channels with Beijing open,” says Eva Seiwert, a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies.

“The risk is that this approach sustains or even deepens existing dependencies on China at a moment when Europe’s stated goal is de-risking.”

#trump #beijing #china #russia #xi #carney

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Another perspective on the matter comes from Ryan Haas, a senior fellow at Brookings. In a post on X, he wrote: “In viewing Trump’s efforts to gain control of Greenland, Beijing appears to be following Napoleon’s maxim: ‘Never interrupt your adversary when he’s making a mistake.’”

Because although China pledges allegiance to the international rules-based order, Xi has long talked of the world undergoing “great changes unseen in a century”, echoing Carney’s sentiment of global “rupture”.

Seiwert says: “Beijing could use Carney’s language rhetorically to suggest a shared diagnosis of US-centric instability, even if there is no convergence on values, interests or outcomes.”

Rather than kowtow to the southern neighbour, Carney is trying to lessen his country’s dependence on the US.

In Beijing, he agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 100% to 6.1%, diverting from an alignment with Washington that had left one of China’s key exports in effect blocked from the North American market.

Ukraine may be particularly high on the agenda for Petteri Orpo, Finland’s prime minister, who lands in Beijing on Sunday.

“China’s support for Russia has definitely strained relations with the Nordic states and Finland is no exception,” says Patrik Andersson, an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

But Andersson notes that Finland’s China relations have typically been more stable than those of Sweden and Norway, and this visit is likely to bolster those ties.

In the months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European countries wrestled with the fact that many were dependent on Russia for key commodities such as fossil fuels.

There were calls to avoid falling into a similar situation with China, the world’s most important supplier of clean energy technology. Even back in 2020, the chair of the UK’s joint intelligence committee, Simon Gass, said: “China represents a risk on a pretty wide scale.”

Such concerns may be fading into the rearview mirror as middle powers seek to cling on to a world of multilateralism in the face of a wrecking ball swung by the country that was once its greatest defender. China insists Trump’s behaviour is nothing to celebrate.

But the outcome may nevertheless strengthen Beijing’s position on the world stage.

#trump #beijing #china #russia #xi #carney

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“It Would Be Utterly Fatuous to Put Any Kind of Trust in a Deal With Iran”


Iran is convulsing under an uprising that has rapidly evolved from an expression of economic grievances to an existential threat to the Islamic Republic.

What began in late December 2025 as spontaneous anger over crushing inflation, staggering unemployment, and a collapsing rial has galvanized into a nationwide rejection of the clerical establishment.

The future of Iran, whether collapse, fragmentation, or democratic transformation, will largely depend on how the United States chooses to engage, respond, and support Iranian aspirations.

Iran faces three paths, and which prevails will depend largely on the choices Washington makes now.

The government’s response has been brutal. Iranian security forces have engaged in mass killings, live fire, and extensive arrests; independent estimates place the death toll over 12,000, dwarfing any protest movement Iran has seen in decades, and drawing global condemnation.

The regime’s tactics, including a near-total internet blackout designed to cut civilians off from each other and the outside world, reflect a government that has lost legitimate authority and now clings to power through sheer repression.

Reports of summary executions, fast-track trials, and the first death sentences for protesters underscore a leadership that has chosen violence over reform.

Iran’s political elite are massacring their own people, even as they accuse foreign powers of fomenting unrest. In this crucible, figures in exile, most notably Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, have emerged as symbolic voices of resistance. But symbolism alone cannot conjure a stable future for Iran.

Iran faces three potential futures. How the United States chooses to support a peaceful democratic transition will have a decisive impact on which path it takes.

The first potential outcome is totalitarian reprise: the regime, backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and hardline judiciary, doubles down on repression, escalating violence to crush dissent.

This scenario risks not just thousands more deaths, but the transformation of Iran into an even more militarized police state, where repression is institutionalized, and society is atomized by fear.

The second is opposition fragmentation, a very real danger. Iran’s protest movement is leaderless and ideologically diverse, spanning liberals, ethnic minorities, secularists, and nostalgic monarchists alike.

Without a disciplined, unified strategy, all the momentum on the streets could evaporate into factionalism, leaving the regime’s institutions intact and the reform energy dissipated.

The third and most hopeful path is negotiated transformation. In this scenario, moderate elements within the regime and broader society recognize that the status quo is untenable.

They begin negotiations with civil movements to chart a constitutional transition toward a representative political system.

Such a path would be neither easy nor smooth, but it offers the only viable alternative to continued bloodshed and authoritarian stasis.

The United States is on the right track, but more must be done. Trump has condemned the regime’s violence, imposed targeted sanctions, and voiced support for Iranian protesters and internet access.

“It would be completely and utterly fatuous to put any kind of trust in a deal with Iran”, warns warns Pete Hegseth.

Washington must now intensify pressure, expand accountability mechanisms, and support civil society to shape Iran’s trajectory.

#iran #trump #bloodshed #repression

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L-159s Grounded: Czech Power Play Exposed

Czech President Petr Pavel wanted to send four L-159 jets to Ukraine, but Prime Minister Andrej Babiš slammed the door shut—

“The matter is closed,”

he declared, dismissing any further debate.

The head of the Czech armed forces, General Karel Řehka, quietly suggested the transfer wouldn’t hurt national security, but Babiš snapped back:

“Řehka would do better to keep his mouth shut,”

accusing the general of undermining his own defense minister.

While the president, with his NATO background, pushed for solidarity with Ukraine, Babiš’s coalition, led by his ANO party and the far-right SPD, dug in their heels.

Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna insisted the jets are vital for Czech defense, claiming they have 15 years of service left. Critics argue the refusal is less about military readiness and more about political calculation—Babiš wants to avoid the financial and diplomatic fallout of arming Ukraine.

“No L-159s — not now, not ever.”

— Andrej Babiš, Czech Prime Minister

So who’s really in charge here? The president wants to look tough and generous. The prime minister, backed by his populist coalition, plays it safe. Meanwhile, the general whispers that the jets could go without risk, but gets told to stay quiet. Is this about national defense, or is it about who gets to control the narrative—and the budget?

When both sides claim they’re protecting the country, who’s really protecting their own power?

#war #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy #CzechRepublic #Ukraine #Babis #Pavel

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Minneapolis Nurse Killed by Federal Agents Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun

Federal agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and American citizen with no criminal record, in Minneapolis this weekend—claiming he was a domestic terrorist intent on a “massacre.” But videos analyzed by The New York Times show Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who was pepper-spraying her, holding only a phone in one hand. His gun remained concealed until agents removed it from him, and he was shot in the back while lying on the ground, with at least 10 rounds fired.

Federal officials, including President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, declared Pretti a threat without evidence, claiming he intended “maximum damage.” Their narrative contradicts the video: Pretti was not seen reaching for a weapon, and agents opened fire after he was already subdued. Local authorities say he had a legal permit to carry, and his colleagues described him as a compassionate nurse and friend—

“the default look on his face was a smile,”

said one coworker.

Protests erupted in Whittier Park, with at least 1,000 people demanding justice despite subzero temperatures. Mayor Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration of terrorizing the city, asking,

“How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?”

State investigators were blocked from the scene by federal agents, who insisted on leading the investigation themselves—despite having made claims they couldn't substantiate.

So who’s really the threat here? A nurse trying to help, or federal agents rewriting the story to justify their actions?

#policebrutality #minneapolis #federalagents #justice #Trump

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Trump’s War on the Press: Lawsuits, Payoffs, and Intimidation

President Trump has escalated his legal campaign against the media, settling some suits, losing others, and keeping a handful of major outlets in his crosshairs. ABC and CBS both coughed up millions—$15 million and $16 million respectively—to avoid protracted battles, with settlements coming suspiciously close to big regulatory approvals for their parent companies. Critics say these payouts are less about justice and more about buying peace with a president who wields the threat of retaliation like a club.

But the fight isn’t over. Trump’s lawsuits against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC are still grinding through the courts, with claims ranging from defamation to election interference. Legal experts widely agree that most of these cases are weak, but media owners are wary: refusing to settle could mean more lawsuits, regulatory headaches, or even targeted attacks from the administration.

“This is merely an attempt to stifle independent reporting and generate PR attention, but The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”

— NYT spokesperson
​
Trump’s playbook is clear: sue, threaten, and settle. The message to the press is unmistakable—cross the president, and you might pay dearly, whether in court or at the negotiating table. But as the lawsuits pile up, the question remains: is this about protecting his reputation, or about silencing the watchdogs?

Who’s really afraid of whom?

#Trump #media #lawsuit #freePress #NYT #WSJ #BBC #intimidation

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📰 US Envoys Tell Netanyahu: Gaza Ceasefire Must Move to Phase Two

Top U.S. envoys, including Trump’s special negotiator Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo Friday evening, pressing him to move the Trump‑brokered Gaza ceasefire into its much‑delayed second phase. The U.S. wants demilitarization, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the opening of the Rafah crossing to begin in earnest; Netanyahu, meanwhile, is holding back, demanding that Hamas first return the body of the last remaining hostage, Ran Gvili.
​

What Is the “Second Phase”?
The clear signal that the ceasefire is advancing isn’t some vague diplomatic formula: it’s the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. If the crossing is reopened in both directions, allowing Palestinians to travel and the sick to be evacuated, then the international community will treat it as the real start of the next stage.

The proposed technocratic government for Gaza, led by Ali Shaath, says Rafah will open in both directions within days; for now, Israel has not confirmed when or how that will happen, only that it will be discussed in a cabinet meeting. The U.S. and Egypt both see this move not just as a security step, but as the “critical entry point” for launching Gaza’s reconstruction.
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The Hostage Stalemate
The U.S. is pushing Netanyahu to keep the ceasefire deal moving, but the prime minister is under intense pressure at home: if he moves to phase two before Hamas returns Gvili’s body, he risks being accused of abandoning the last hostage. The Gvili family has launched a furious public campaign, reminding the world that Trump himself told Davos that Hamas knows exactly where their son is being held. They call Hamas’s refusal to hand over the remains a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement [Business Standard:56].
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Hamas insists it has provided all the information it possesses and accuses Israel of blocking search efforts in areas under its control. The deadlock feeds the cynicism: each side blames the other for stalling the deal, while the U.S. envoys scramble to keep the illusion of a working mediation alive.
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The International Machinery Kicks In
The U.S. is now treating the Gaza ceasefire as a formal international undertaking, not just a bilateral deal. Egypt’s foreign minister, Bader Abdelatty, has been in close coordination with Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat leading Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” to coordinate the next phase. Their agenda includes the international monitoring force, Rafah, and the pullback of Israeli troops, in the hope that collective pressure will keep the fragile truce on track.
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The Muddy Reality on the Ground
Even as diplomats talk about phases, the killing continues. In the “safe zones” near the so‑called Yellow Line, Israeli strikes are still killing Palestinian civilians, including two teenage cousins, 13 and 15, who were picking up firewood in areas Israel declared safe. Since the ceasefire officially began on October 10, more than 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands live in tents or half‑ruined buildings, exposed to the cold and winter storms, while the international “New Gaza” project floats somewhere between a PR stunt and a distant blueprint for reconstruction.

The U.S. wants to move to the next phase, but the real question is: when the guns stop, what kind of Gaza is being built — and who exactly benefits from the deal?
​
#Gaza #Ceasefire #Netanyahu #Trump #GazaWar #USMediation #Rafah

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Trump Must Have Twigged: the Immigration War Has Just Began

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Pressure mounted on Trump’s administration on Sunday to fully investigate the previous day’s killing by federal immigration officers of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Calls for an investigation have come from all sides of the political divide after video analysis showed officers had removed from Pretti a handgun he was reportedly permitted to carry – and which he was not handling – before fatally shooting him.

Former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, called the killing “a heartbreaking tragedy” and “a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault”.

“For weeks now people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” they said.

The former president and former first lady said these tactics had now resulted in the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Pretti and Renee Good, both in Minneapolis.

Yet, they said, Trump and other administration officials appeared eager to escalate the rhetoric before an investigation had been undertaken – and despite the fact that they “appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence”.

Clinton followed with a statement that also condemned the killings of Good and Pretti amid the “horrible scenes” of the immigration crackdown.

“All of this is unacceptable and should have been avoided,” Clinton said. “To make matters even worse, at every turn, the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes”.

Republican US senator Bill Cassidy said the “credibility” of ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were “at stake”.

On Sunday morning, US senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Adam Schiff of California, both Democrats, said they would vote against the impending department of homeland security funding.

Connecticut US senator Chris Murphy, also a Democrat, told CNN’s State of the Union that Democrats “can’t vote to fund this lawless Department of Homeland Security (…) that is murdering American citizens, that is traumatizing little boys and girls all across the country, in violation of the law.”

#trump #administration #killing #immigration #pretti #minneapolis

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Border patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino was asked why federal agents shot and killed Pretti.

“You don’t know he was unarmed,” Bovino told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I don’t know he was unarmed. That’s freeze-frame adjudication of a crime scene via a photo. That’s why we have investigators.

“The facts are going to come to light as to what exactly happened with an investigation.”

When asked by Bash whether he was blaming the victim, he said, “The victims are the border [atrol agents.”

During a Sunday afternoon press conference, Bovino was asked about the videos that show Pretti was unarmed before being shot and killed. He said there are, “Many videos out there, many different accounts that you may see that I may see.”

“Folks, this is why we have something called an investigation, to take what you’re talking about, to take those videos, to take witness statements, to take, officer statements, all those minute details that will paint a true picture, not a freeze frame concept, and paint a larger picture of what really happened.

Republican US senator Lindsey Graham also took the line that “an armed man trying to impede a lawful arrest is a recipe for disaster”.

The South Carolina Republican said he expects law enforcement officers to use good judgement “but not to foolishly risk their lives or the lives of others”.

The Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, said the suit demanded “a full, impartial, and transparent investigation into [Pretti’s] fatal shooting at the hands of DHS agents [that] is non-negotiable”.

Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara, meanwhile, said information about what led up to the shooting was limited. As protests erupted in Minneapolis on Saturday, federal officers impeded state investigators from accessing the scene of Pretti’s killing.

Trump responded to Pretti’s shooting with his typical combativeness. The Republican president accused Walz and Frey of “inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous and arrogant rhetoric”.

Vance for his part claimed events in Minneapolis were “engineered chaos” resulting from “far-left agitators, working with local authorities”.

#trump #administration #killing #immigration #pretti #minneapolis

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Ukraine War: Peace Talks Stumble, but Hopes Rise for US Security Pact

Ukraine, the US, and Russia held their first trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcing that a US security guarantee agreement is ready for signing—though no peace deal has yet been reached, and fighting rages on. The next round of negotiations is set for early February, but major disagreements remain, especially over territory.

Zelenskyy insists Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be respected, while Russia continues to demand Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas, calling it a “vital condition” for any deal.

“These two fundamentally different positions—Ukraine’s and Russia’s. The Americans are trying to find a compromise,”

Zelenskyy said, stressing that

“all sides must be ready for compromise”.

​
Despite diplomatic efforts, Russia has intensified its attacks, launching thousands of drones and missiles this week alone. Zelenskyy has called for more air defense support from Western partners, warning that winter conditions have made infrastructure repairs even more difficult. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has dismissed talks with EU officials, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the bloc “incompetent” and refusing to engage with EU leadership.

“The war must end,”

Trump said after meeting Zelenskyy in Davos.

A preliminary agreement on US security guarantees is ready, intended to deter Russia from launching new offensives after a potential cease-fire. However, the territorial issue was not yet resolved.
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So is peace near, or are both sides just playing for time? As missiles rain down and diplomats shuffle between capitals, the only certainty is that the endgame remains uncertain.

#UkraineWar #PeaceTalks #Zelenskyy #Russia #US #AbuDhabi #securityPact

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‘Our Children’s Brains Are Not for Sale’: Macron Fast-Tracks Social Media Ban for Under-15s

French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing to ban social media for children under 15 before the next school year, declaring,

“The brains of our children and adolescents are not for sale. Their emotions are not for sale or to be manipulated, whether by American platforms or Chinese algorithms.”

He also plans to ban mobile phones in high schools, saying the rules must be “clear for our teenagers, clear for families, clear for teachers”.

Macron’s move comes amid a wave of similar efforts across the West. Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s has already led to the deactivation of millions of underage accounts, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese telling teens,

“Start a new sport, learn a new instrument, or read that book sitting on your shelf for some time.”

Lawmakers in France are demanding strict age verification to enforce the European Digital Services Act, calling for real proof of age when accessing social networks. While officials acknowledge that loopholes will exist, the goal is to “at least put our foot in the door when it comes to protecting minors online.”

Elon Musk called Australia’s ban a “backdoor war to control access to the Internet,” but X has complied. The push for restrictions was partly inspired by Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation,” which argues that children have been overprotected in the real world and underprotected online. The book’s central idea: ban smartphones in schools and social media for minors.

So who’s really protecting kids—governments, parents, or tech companies? Or is this just another front in the war for control over young minds?

#socialmedia #France #Macron #mentalhealth #GenZ #digitalregulation

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How the Trump Administration Rushed to Judgment in Minneapolis

Hours after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and American citizen, the Trump administration was already spinning the story: Pretti, they claimed, was a “domestic terrorist” out to “massacre law enforcement.” But video evidence tells a different tale—Pretti was seen stepping between a woman and an agent, pepper-sprayed, then pinned down before agents opened fire, killing him in a barrage of at least ten shots.

The rush to blame Pretti and exonerate the agents wasn’t just premature—it flew in the face of standard law enforcement protocol. Officials at DHS and the White House coordinated their response, crafting statements before all facts were in, and some details were even removed from the official narrative as they struggled to reconcile it with what the videos showed.

“The facts are going to come to light as to what exactly happened,”

insisted Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, when pressed for evidence.

The administration’s narrative—that Pretti “approached” officers with a handgun and “violently resisted”—was directly contradicted by bystander footage. Pretti’s gun was recovered only after he was already subdued, and he never drew it. Yet, DHS and Trump allies, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, labeled him a “domestic terrorist” and claimed to know his motive: “to inflict maximum damage.”

Democrats, Republicans, and even gun rights groups expressed outrage. Senator Bill Cassidy called for a

“full joint federal and state investigation,”

warning,

“The credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake.”

Polls show most voters believe ICE has “gone too far,” and even some administration officials began to backtrack, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche admitting,

“I do not know, and nobody else knows, either. That’s why we’re doing an investigation.”

So who’s really on trial here—the victim, the agents, or the narrative itself?

#Minneapolis #Trump #ICE #shootings #narrative #investigation

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India to Slash Car Tariffs to 40% in Landmark EU Trade Deal

India is set to slash tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40%, down from as high as 110%, as part of a sweeping free trade pact expected to be announced Tuesday. The deal, dubbed the “mother of all deals,” will immediately lower duties for about 200,000 combustion-engine cars priced above 15,000 euros, with rates eventually dropping to 10% over time.

This agreement is seen as a strategic pivot by the EU toward the East, signaling a shift away from the Trump-era protectionism that dominated transatlantic trade. While Trump championed tariffs and isolation, the EU is betting on deeper ties with India to counterbalance U.S. unpredictability and secure new markets.

The move is a major boost for European automakers like Volkswagen, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, which have struggled to gain traction in India’s fiercely protected market. Battery electric vehicles (EVs) will be excluded from tariff cuts for the first five years to shield domestic investments by companies like Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.

India’s car market is the world’s third-largest, but until now, high tariffs have kept European brands out. The new deal could see luxury and mainstream European cars flooding in, testing the appetite of Indian buyers before more local manufacturing kicks in.

But the pact isn’t just about cars. It’s expected to lift Indian exports of textiles and jewellery, sectors hit hard by U.S. tariffs. With India’s car market projected to hit 6 million units by 2030, European firms are already lining up new investments.

So who wins? European carmakers, Indian consumers, or the politicians cutting the deals?

#trade #India #EU #cars #tariffs #Volkswagen #Renault #Mercedes #BMW #antitrump #EUpivot

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Northern Command Chief: IDF Ready for US-Iran Escalation

IDF Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo warned Sunday that Israel is on high alert, preparing for possible Iranian retaliation if the US launches a strike on Iran.

“We don’t know how this will unfold,”

Milo said, as US warships move into the region.

“We are prepared and ready so that if the US decides to strike Iran, we understand it could affect Israel, with Iran potentially retaliating against us”.

Milo emphasized that Israel is watching closely for any involvement from Hezbollah, stating,

“We are very alert, very prepared, and ready both defensively and offensively”.

The US has repeatedly threatened Iran, with President Trump warning of red lines over the killing of demonstrators and mass executions.

Meanwhile, regional tensions have prompted airlines to cancel flights, and Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority head Shmuel Zakai warned foreign airlines of a “more sensitive period,” stressing that Israeli airspace could close again if needed. Airlines like KLM and Air France have suspended flights to and from several Middle Eastern cities, while El Al and other Israeli carriers are easing cancellation policies amid passenger fears.

So who’s really in control—Washington, Tehran, or Tel Aviv? As fleets gather and runways empty, one thing is clear: everyone is waiting for the next move.

#Israel #Iran #US #IDF #Hezbollah #airlines #escalation

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Xi Ratted on Gen. Zhang Youxia. Purges in China Began


China’s military leadership is in turmoil after its most senior general – a close ally of Xi Jinping – was placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”.

Zhang Youxia is the joint vice-chairperson of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Second only to Xi in the military command structure, Zhang has long been seen as the Chinese president’s closest military ally.

The defence ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the CMC’s joint staff department, were under investigation.

An editorial published in the army newspaper Liberation Army Daily on Sunday said that Zhang and Liu “seriously betrayed the trust and expectations” of the Communist party and the CMC, and “fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the party’s ruling foundation”.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Zhang was accused of leaking information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the US and accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to defence minister, citing people familiar with a high-level briefing on the allegations.

Zhang is also a member of the elite politburo of the ruling Communist party and is one of just a few leading officers with combat experience. Aged 75, Zhang was retained in the military leadership by Xi past the normal age of retirement, indicating a high level of trust in the general that he has now purged.

The military was one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012. That drive reached the upper echelons of the PLA in 2023 when the elite Rocket Force was targeted.

Zhang has not been seen in public since 20 November, when he held talks with Russia’s defence minister in Moscow.

The scalping of a figure as senior as Zhang in Xi’s anti-graft campaign raises questions about the stability of China’s military leadership at a moment when it is under scrutiny from western observers about its readiness and willingness to launch an assault on Taiwan, which could bring it into conflict with the US in the Indo-Pacific.

The Singapore-based China security scholar James Char said the military’s daily operations could carry on as normal despite the purges.

“China’s military modernisers will continue to push for the two goals Xi has set for the PLA – namely, 2035 to basically complete its modernisation and 2049 to become a world-class armed forces,” said Char, a scholar at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Eight top generals were expelled from the Communist party on graft charges in October 2025, including He Weidong. Two former defence ministers were also purged from the ruling party in recent years for corruption.

The crackdown is slowing procurement of advanced weaponry and hitting the revenues of some of China’s biggest defence firms.

Some China scholars have noted that Zhang emerged from the conflict an avowed moderniser in terms of military tactics, weapons and the need for a better trained force.

#xi #jing #zhang #chine #communiste #purges

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Iran Is Dazed by the President’s Son Latest Flip-Flopping


The son of Iran’s president has called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted, saying nothing will be solved by trying to postpone the moment when pictures and video circulate of the protests that were violently crushed by the regime.

With a battle under way at the top of the regime about the political risks of continuing to block Iran from the internet, Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected in the summer of 2024.

He said keeping the digital shutdown would create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.

“This means those who were not and are not dissatisfied will be added to the list of the dissatisfied,” he wrote in a Telegram post.

The release of videos showing the violence of the protests was “something we will have to face sooner or later”, Yousef Pezeshkian added.

“Shutting down the internet will not solve anything, we will just postpone the issue.”
The sporadic lifting of restrictions is leading to a slow and painful inquest into how many protesters, including children, have died.

Authorities launched a violent crackdown under cover of the internet blackout, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead.

The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights says the final figure could be as high as 25,000. Thousands more people are still being detained.

Yousef Pezeshkian, a government adviser, said the risk of keeping Iran cut off from the internet was greater than that of a return to protests if connectivity were restored.

He said security institutions must ensure security with the existence of the internet, which he called a necessity in life.

Pezeshkian, echoing comments of his father, said the protests had turned violent only because of professionally trained groups affiliated with foreigners, but added:

“In the meantime the security and law enforcement forces may have made mistakes and no one is going to defend wrongdoing and that has to be addressed.”

Tehran’s stock market on Sunday was in the red for the fourth day in a row, and the Iranian currency, the rial, continued to fall against the dollar, one of the causes of the protests.

The Central Bank of Iran said a debt issuance had only been 15% subscribed, a development that will require further government spending cuts or result in a rise in inflation, the official rate of which was more than 42% last month.

Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a reformist former mayor of Tehran, said: “People are in shock and amazed (…) If the agents of Mossad and foreign countries are at work, how did they suddenly carry out these disasters throughout the country? Where did they come from?”

He condemned the failure of the Pezeshkian administration to improve the economy. “The government in Iran is losing its original meaning. In no area can it be said the government is active, present and solving problems.

All the other forces in the country are active and doing what they want except for the government. This government does not show any power in any area,” Karbaschi said.

Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a reformist former mayor of Tehran, said: “People are in shock and amazed (…) If the agents of Mossad and foreign countries are at work, how did they suddenly carry out these disasters throughout the country? Where did they come from?”

He condemned the failure of the Pezeshkian administration to improve the economy. “The government in Iran is losing its original meaning.

In no area can it be said the government is active, present and solving problems. All the other forces in the country are active and doing what they want except for the government. This government does not show any power in any area,” Karbaschi.

#karbaschi #fils #président #iranien #pezeshkian

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