Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed by the US Senate as National Intelligence Director.The decision was made by a vote of 52-48, with only Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voting against.
Gabbard, a presidential candidate and Iraq war veteran, has long criticized the intelligence agency she will lead. After the vote, McConnell said her judgment is “flawed”, making her unfit for the “critical position”.
Since leaving the Democratic Party in 2022, Gabbard has served as an independent. Her nomination was initiated by former President Donald Trump in mid-November, a move that drew strong criticism among establishment leaders who considered her background a security risk. In 2022, she also argued that the conflict in Ukraine might have been avoided if the United States had recognized Russia’s legitimate security concerns linked to Kiev’s ambitions to join NATO.
In October, Gabbard announced her affiliation with the Republican Party during a rally in support of Trump’s presidential campaign. She has been criticized in the past for her controversial positions, including her support for whistleblower Edward Snowden and a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017. During her confirmation hearing, she refrained from calling Snowden a traitor and instead said he had broken the law.
Despite initial concerns about her limited experience in intelligence, Republican voters agreed on her nomination. As National Intelligence Director, Gabbard will oversee 18 intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, which together employ more than 70,000 people.
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During a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with accusations that genocide is currently being committed against white farmers in the country.
To emphasize the seriousness of the situation, Trump ordered the lights in the Oval Office to be dimmed and showed a five-minute film detailing how South African politicians are inciting murder and systematic violence against the country’s white minority.
Trump said he had not yet “made up his mind” whether it was appropriate to use the term “genocide” in this context, but stated that “thousands” of white South Africans had so far sought refugee status in the US and that he wanted to “save lives”.
The film included clips in which Julius Malema, leader of the left-wing populist party Economic Freedom Fighters, can be clearly heard calling for murder and violence.
– Revolution demands at some point there must be killing, the notorious politician claims in the film.
Several sequences showed Malema dancing in front of tens of thousands of spectators while he and his comrades chanted “kill the Boer, the farmer!” and declared that “we are cutting the throat of whiteness!”
HOLY CRAP! President Trump just DIRECTLY confronted the President of South Africa with videos of his government calling for WHITE GENOCIDE
“Turn the lights down and roll the video!”
“These are burial sites — crosses marking murdered White farmers”
In another clip, former president Jacob Zuma (2009–2018) was seen singing a well-known black protest song that includes the same chorus with “kill the Boers”. According to critics, this song has contributed to increased tensions and more attacks on white farmers. The film also showed roadside memorials dedicated to what were said to be dozens of murdered white farmers.
Trump also criticized a new South African law that allows the South African state to confiscate unused land – land that is often owned by the white minority. Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now a close advisor to Trump, was also present at the meeting and listened as the president recounted what an acquaintance had told him:
– They take your land and they kill you if you’re white.
– I will say, apartheid, terrible. That was the biggest story – that was reported all the time. This is sort of the opposite of apartheid. What’s happening now is never reported, the president continued, wondering why Malema was not imprisoned when he called for genocide in front of television cameras and tens of thousands of spectators.
“Not government policy”
Ramaphosa remained very calm during the hour-long conversation held before the assembled press and firmly denied that Malema’s calls for genocide reflect the South African government’s position:
– What you saw, the speeches that were being made, one that is not government policy. Our government policy is completely, completely against what (Malema) was saying, he asserted.
Vi vet vad massmedia hade kallat det här om det hade varit vita sydafrikaner som hade skanderat detta om svarta.pic.twitter.com/Q43H3kAzMV
In an attempt to appease the Trump administration, Ramaphosa chose to highlight the South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, who are popular in the US and accompanied him on the trip, and to thank Trump for the US’s delivery of ventilators during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture Jan Steenhuisen, who is himself white, also attended the conference and argued that the security situation in rural areas is indeed very poor. However, he did not want to call it genocide or even suggest that white farmers were particularly vulnerable.
– It requires a lot of effort to get on top of it. It’s going to require more policing resources, it’s gonna require a different strategy to be able to deal with it. But certainly, the majority of South Africa’s commercial and smallholder farmers really do want to stay in South Africa and make it work, he claimed.
Steenhuisen claimed that his party, the liberal Democratic Alliance, which won 21 percent of the vote in the last election, entered into a coalition with Ramaphosa’s ANC (approximately 40 percent of the vote) precisely to keep people like Malema out of power.
Malema’s EFF and Zuma’s MK, which are significantly more openly hostile and disapproving of the white minority than Ramaphosa’s ANC, together have around 25 percent of the vote.
A “violent country”
Zingiswa Losi, president of the country’s largest trade union, COSATU, had also been flown in and tried to convince Trump that South Africa is a “violent country” – and that people are killed regardless of their ethnic background.
– If you go into the rural areas where the black majority are, you will see women, elderly, being raped, being killed, being murdered. The problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it is about crime, she claimed.
Ramaphosa himself could not deny that senseless violence and murder continue to be part of everyday life in South Africa – but he claims that this is due to “inequality and unemployment” – and that the problems can be solved by improving South Africa’s economy.
– Our main, main, real reason for being here is to foster trade and investment, so that we are able to grow our economy, with your support, and so that we are also able to address all these societal problems.
When Ramaphosa left the White House after three hours, he told reporters that the meeting “went very well”.
Mocked white refugees
However, not everyone is impressed by the South African leader’s defense, and several have pointed out how he recently mocked white South Africans who fled to the US to escape persecution and oppression.
GENOCIDE: South African President Ramaphosa insists that the whites facing genocide do so as men and not flee to America like cowards. White farmers must pay for the sins of their ancestors with their lives. pic.twitter.com/fYAMlEfpVX
In a speech, he claimed before a laughing audience that Afrikaners are fleeing for “fictitious reasons” – and asserted that South Africa is “united in diversity”.
– None of us should ever feel that they have lost courage and now become cowards and want to run, the president said, mocking the white refugees.
Earlier this year, The Nordic Times highlighted the Afrikaners’ uncertain future and their centuries-long history in the country in a lengthy cultural article.
The Trump administration has begun relocating white South Africans to the US. The president himself defends the decision by saying that the group is being subjected to genocide – but that this is being hushed up because it is white people who are affected.
Fifty-nine white South Africans have already been flown into the country and, according to the Trump administration, are the first in a larger relocation of Afrikaners – a white minority group subjected to widespread violence, persecution, and discrimination in their homeland.
The program, which was presented in February, prioritizes Afrikaners who are considered to be in constant danger due to violence and harassment in predominantly black South Africa.
– Because they’re being killed. And we don’t want to see people be killed… it’s a genocide that’s taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white, Trump said in a press statement when a journalist demanded an answer as to why the president wanted to help white refugees in particular.
Afrikaners – mainly descendants of Dutch and French settlers who came to South Africa hundreds of years ago – make up about 2.7 million of South Africa’s 62 million inhabitants.
Many live in rural areas, where violent crime against farmers is common, and although there are no longer any official statistics, it is clear that thousands of white South Africans have been murdered in recent decades.
U.S. officials greet white South Africans to whom the Trump administration has granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination in their home country. pic.twitter.com/JwaVyziofT
Trump and several of his advisers, including South African Elon Musk, have pointed out that the murders are often motivated by racial hatred and that the victims are targeted because they are white.
However, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola rejects the accusations and claims that “there is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans”.
– White farmers get affected by crime just like any other South Africans, he claims.
The South African government further claims that Afrikaners are better off than most people in the country and that misinformation and inaccurate reporting are behind the perception that the group is particularly vulnerable.
Journalists, lobby organizations promoting mass immigration, and political opponents have also reacted with dismay to Trump’s decision to focus on helping white refugees rather than people of non-European descent.
“Brutally killed”
However, Trump stands his ground and emphasizes that he is not helping the Afrikaners because of their skin color, but because they are suffering from something horrific – something that is being silenced by Western media.
REPORTER: Why are you creating an expedited path into the country for Afrikaners but not others?
TRUMP: Because they’re being killed. And we don’t want to see people be killed … it’s a genocide that’s taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. pic.twitter.com/8LV3VmZ296
– Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.
– The newspapers and the media, television media, doesn’t even talk about it. If it were the other way round, they’d talk about it, that would be the only story they talk about. I don’t care who they are. I don’t care about their race, their color, I don’t care about their height, their weight, I don’t care about anything, I just know that what is happening is terrible.
Earlier this year, The Nordic Times highlighted the lives and history of the Afrikaners in a lengthy cultural article.
Donald Trump has announced that he has initiated a process to impose a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the US that are then imported into the country. Critics warn of the consequences and argue that tariffs will worsen the situation for the American film industry.
The decision, which was announced on May 4, is intended, according to Trump, to protect the American film industry, which he believes is on the verge of “a very fast death”, reports industry publication Variety.
– This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Trump said he has instructed the Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to quickly begin the process of imposing the tariffs.
Exact details on how the tariffs will be implemented, such as whether they will also cover streaming services or how the size of the tariffs will be calculated, have not yet been announced.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that the authorities are working on the issue.
Donald Trump claims he is placing a 100% tariff on all films produced outside of America that are brought into the country.
“Any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” pic.twitter.com/EsQ9Pe5T2T
Many American productions are currently filmed in several countries that offer financial incentives for film production, including Canada, the UK, and Australia, and industry representatives are now concerned about how the tariffs would affect ongoing projects and collaborations.
The chair of the Swedish Film and TV Producers Association, Eva Hamilton, called the proposal “incredibly stupid” and warned that it could isolate the US culturally and economically.
– It just sounds incredibly stupid, and I find it hard to see how it could be implemented. He’s right that Hollywood hasn’t kept up, but stopping all foreign expertise sounds like shooting yourself in the foot, Eva Hamilton said in an interview with Schibsted owned TV4.
Trump has previously singled out Hollywood as a “very problematic place” and, in early 2025, appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as ambassadors to promote American film production.
The American film industry has already been affected by Trump’s trade war, and China, among others, has reduced its quota for American films allowed to be shown in response to the new American tariffs on the country.
The US Embassy is demanding that the Stockholm City Planning Office sign a contract committing to immediately stop engaging in left-liberal activism in the form of DEI initiatives on “diversity, inclusion and equality”.
– It’s completely bizarre, says City Planning Councilor Jan Valeskog (S).
Speaking on Swedish state radio SR, he insists that “values such as diversity and gender equality are very important to the City of Stockholm” and that there are no plans to deviate from this line.
The embassy notes that under the Trump administration, a new policy has been introduced whereby all parties from whom the US government purchases goods or services must sign the contract in question, and that the Stockholm City Planning Office has ten days to do so.
– We are absolutely not going to do that, it is contrary to everything we stand for. They should withdraw these absurdities, continues a visibly upset Valeskog in the Bonnier newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
He argues that it is the embassy that is dependent on the city of Stockholm – not the other way around, and that the Americans themselves will suffer the most if the contract is terminated.
“Their headache”
– If the US terminates its relationship with the city planning office, the embassy will have a hard time getting building permits if they want to rebuild, for example. That’s their headache, not ours.
It’s not just the City of Stockholm that has been sent these contracts and accompanying requirements The policy has been introduced on a global scale – and those who don’t sign up risk losing their contracts.
At the same time, there has also been some confusion about what the Americans are really after.
Just over a month ago, the US embassy in Sweden stated that the requirements only applied to companies “controlled by a US employer and employing US citizens”.
DEI stands for "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion". It is an umbrella term for various initiatives and initiatives aimed at quotas or otherwise favoring different minorities in, for example, working life and education.
Critics, however, argue that DEI is based on a left-wing ideological worldview rather than on proven methodology. There are also concerns that focusing on sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity or religion rather than skills risks undermining the meritocracy and that DEI initiatives are used to discriminate against white people.
Several studies also indicate that DEI training programs have almost no or even counterproductive effects. As these programs have become more widespread, the backlash has grown, particularly in the United States, where some universities have begun to phase them out.
