Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

MMA mogul Dana White takes a seat on Meta’s board

Published 10 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Dana White is “a huge believer that social media and AI are the future”.
2 minute read

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta has a new board member Dana White, chairman of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) MMA organization.

The move is said to be an attempt by owner Mark Zuckerberg to flirt with President-elect Donald Trump, who is not only a known UFC fan but also a good friend of White.

In addition to White, industrialist John Elkann and tech investor Charlie Songhurst are also taking seats on the board of Meta and the three are said to bring “a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection“.

– I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board. I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future, commented White.

– I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level.

“Restoring freedom of expression”

Meta’s platforms have long been subject to a very extreme form of censorship, where users who accidentally use the wrong phrases or words risk having their posts deleted or accounts suspended.

Nationalists, conservatives and other dissidents who questioned LGBTQ, feminism or mass immigration have been systematically censored on both Instagram and Facebook, and censorship has long been accused of being ideologically motivated.

Now, suddenly, owner Mark Zuckerberg announces that “free speech will be restored” claiming that it was the media and politicians who forced the censorship. He also admits that Trump’s election win is a factor in the current reversal.

It is worth noting that Dana White and Donald Trump have long been good friends who socialize privately and that the US President-elect is also a big UFC supporter. Many observers therefore believe that the decision to give him a role on Meta’s board is mostly about Zuckerberg desperately wanting to stay on good terms with the president-elect and improve the previously frosty relationship.

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Greene: Ukraine support a betrayal of the American people

The war in Ukraine

Published today 7:21
– By Editorial Staff
Greene is highly critical of the neoconservative "war hawks" within the Republican Party - and their influence.
2 minute read

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene directs harsh criticism at party colleagues and other politicians who continue to want to send American aid to Ukraine.

In a post on X, she describes the support as a “complete betrayal” of the American people – and argues that voters have already said no to financing foreign conflicts.

“Funding, fueling, and ultimately fighting Russia in Ukraine would be a complete betrayal to the majority of Americans”, she writes, referring to the recent presidential election where Trump defeated Joe Biden and returned to the White House.

According to Greene, one of the voters’ clearest signals was to put a stop to US involvement in foreign wars.

“America voted to end funding and fighting foreign wars”, the Republican adds.

Her statement came the day after a new bill was presented in the Senate, where $54.6 billion is proposed to be earmarked for Ukraine for budget years 2026 and 2027.

“Don’t want to pay to murder people”

Greene accuses politicians on both sides of the aisle of ignoring the message voters conveyed in the election. She argues that young Americans in particular feel betrayed:

“Republicans supporting such policies could lose the younger generation of voters and may never get them back”.

She argues that people under 50 increasingly feel unrepresented by both Republicans and Democrats, not least because of how tax money is used:

“Various taxpayer-funded initiatives have made life unaffordable and the future bleak for the vast majority of average American”, she continued.

In the same post, Greene criticizes the moral foundation for American Ukraine support:

“American taxpayers do not want to pay to murder people in some foreign land over a foreign conflict that has absolutely zero effect on our lives”.

Corrupt leadership?

She also supports the president’s line, where European countries are expected to bear greater responsibility for the war in Ukraine. Trump has since his return to the White House opposed continued economic support to Kyiv and has repeatedly questioned how the money is used and warned that billions from the Biden administration’s previous aid packages may have been embezzled.

Trump’s former advisor Steve Cortes has also expressed harsh criticism. He has called Ukraine “corrupt” and warned that its leadership “cannot be trusted,” referring to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acting against independent anti-corruption bodies.

Greene has in previous statements called Zelensky a “dictator” and accused him of blocking all peace initiatives.

The Russian government has in turn repeatedly warned that the Western world’s military and economic support to Ukraine only prolongs the war and leads to more bloodshed. According to Moscow, every new aid package is an obstacle to peace negotiations.

Brazil’s ex-president forced into house arrest after alleged coup attempt

Published yesterday 15:09
– By Editorial Staff
Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro is no longer allowed to use a mobile phone or receive visitors of his choosing.
2 minute read

Brazil’s Supreme Court has decided to place former president Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest. The decision comes in connection with the ongoing trial where Bolsonaro is accused of attempting to overturn the election results after his loss in the 2022 presidential election.

The case has already triggered diplomatic tensions with the US, after President Donald Trump called the legal process a “witch hunt” and responded by imposing 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods – the highest tariff the US currently applies against any country.

It was the heavily criticized judge Alexandre de Moraes at Brazil’s Supreme Court who on Monday made the decision that Bolsonaro should be placed under house arrest. According to the ruling, he is prohibited from using mobile phones and receiving visitors, with the exception of his legal team and persons approved by the court.

The background to the decision is that Bolsonaro has violated previous legal restrictions. According to Moraes, he used his three sons’ social media accounts to spread messages that, according to the judge, “clearly encourage and incite attacks against the federal Supreme Court and openly support foreign intervention in the Brazilian judicial system”.

Last week, US President Donald Trump accused the Brazilian government of human rights violations and unfair treatment of Bolsonaro. In connection with this, he imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods. According to Trump, the measure is a response to the legal process he describes as politically motivated.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Bolsonaro is innocent and subject to a conspiracy. Photo: screenshot/Donald Trump/Truth Social

Trump has also previously threatened an additional ten percent in tariffs directed at member countries in the BRICS cooperation, which includes Brazil. He has accused the bloc of trying to undermine the US dollar’s role as the global reserve currency – a claim that BRICS has rejected, citing that it is the US’s own political decisions that weaken the dollar.

Lula: American coup

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has condemned Trump’s actions. During a Workers’ Party event in Brasília on Sunday, he accused the US of using Brazil’s internal legal processes as a pretext for imposing sanctions and stated that the US has already “helped stage a coup in the country”.

He continued by warning that the US wants to “end multilateral cooperation” and return to “country-to-country deals where the big dominate the small”.

Lula also emphasized that Brazil is no longer economically dependent on the US:

– I’m not going to give up on the idea that we need to build an alternative currency to be able to trade with other countries. I don’t need to remain subordinate to the dollar, he added.

Russia: Britain plotting attacks on oil fleet

The new cold war

Published yesterday 10:47
– By Editorial Staff
According to the SVR (Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service), the goal is to pressure Washington to impose harsh sanctions against buyers of Russian oil.
2 minute read

Britain’s intelligence services are planning to involve NATO in a large-scale sabotage operation targeting the so-called “shadow fleet,” a network of tankers used to transport Russian oil. This is according to Russia’s foreign intelligence service SVR.

“British secret services are planning ecological disaster in international waters. The press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation informs that, according to the information coming to the SVR, the British secret services are planning to involve NATO allies in a massive roundup for the ‘shadow fleet’”, the statement reads.

According to the document, the British goal is to create an incident that provokes strong international reactions involving one or more tankers – an incident that could be used as a pretext for further measures against Russian oil exports.

“The plan involves organizing a major act of sabotage the losses of which would allow the transportation of Russian oil to be declared a threat to all international shipping. This would untie Western countries’ hands in choosing methods of counteraction”, it states.

Ukrainian saboteurs

According to the SVR, Britain is working with two possible scenarios.

The first involves a staged accident with an “unwanted” tanker in a bottleneck of global maritime traffic – for example, a strait – where oil spills and blocking of shipping lanes could give NATO a “sufficient” reason to introduce a new practice of ship inspections under the pretext of safety and environmental protection.

The second scenario involves setting fire to a vessel during loading at a port in a country with good relations with Russia, where the fire is expected to cause major damage to port infrastructure and spread to other ships – something that would in turn trigger an international investigation.

“London is going to entrust Ukrainian security forces with the implementation of both terrorist attacks. Their expectedly dirty work and inability to ‘cover up’ their tracks are considered by the British as a guarantee of impunity for themselves. The international investigation would hold either Russia or at worst Ukraine responsible for the accident, similar to the situation with the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion”, the SVR emphasizes.

Wants to pressure Trump into more sanctions

According to the statement, the timing of a potential attack is strategically chosen to maximize its media impact and put pressure on US President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The aim is to force Washington, in defiance of its national interests, to impose the most severe secondary sanctions against Russian energy resources buyers, making them seen as ‘indirect culprits of the tragedy’”, the intelligence service writes.

“It seems like nostalgia for the lost dominance at sea and for authorized by the Crown pirate lawlessness have completely deprived the British Intelligence of the remnants of common sense. It’s high time for our British colleagues to understand that their increasingly bold attempts not only ‘to get back at’ their rivals, but also to cause damage to the global energy security and ecology are capable to make even their most loyal allies run out of patience”, it concludes.

Maxwell moved to new low-security prison

Published yesterday 10:11
– By Editorial Staff
Police photo of Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice.
2 minute read

Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has once again been transferred to a low-security prison – now in Texas. The decision has sparked outrage among victims’ families and her new fellow inmates, who accuse authorities of giving her special treatment.

It was in 2022 that Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for charges including sex trafficking of minors. Her lawyers considered the sentence too harsh, while prosecutors had sought between 30 and 55 years in prison. Later that same year, Maxwell was transferred to a low-security prison in northern Florida.

Now the 63-year-old Maxwell has been moved again, this time to FPC Bryan – a low-security prison in Texas, reports BBC. Her lawyer David Markus confirms the transfer but declines to comment on the reason.

The facility, located about 160 kilometers north of Austin, has a lower staff-to-inmate ratio than more secure federal prisons. Around 650 women serve sentences there, primarily for non-violent crimes and financial offenses. Inmates have access to language courses, business training, sports activities, television and religious services.

“Disgusted” fellow inmates

Maxwell’s transfer has sparked strong reactions. The family of Virginia Giuffre – one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – expresses in a statement their “disgust and horror” over what they call “special treatment” of Maxwell. They also criticize that the decision was made without notifying her victims.

The 63-year-old’s new fellow inmates are also not happy about the transfer, with several stating they are “disgusted” by the move.

This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders, says Julie Howell, who is serving a 12-month sentence for theft, to Telegraph. Human trafficking is a violent crime, she says and continues:

We have heard there are threats against her life and many of us are worried about our own safety because she’s here.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Maxwell has requested a pardon from Donald Trump in exchange for cooperation in the Epstein investigation, or alternatively a reduced sentence. In July, she also held two meetings with the US Deputy Attorney General, but the content of these has not been made public.

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