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Friday, August 29, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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https://nordictimes.com/world/us-seizes-venezuelan-presidents-plane/

World

US seizes Venezuelan president’s plane

Published 3 September 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The US Department of Commerce promises to “identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States”.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

US authorities have seized a plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The United States claims that the aircraft was illegally purchased for approximately $13 million and then smuggled out of the United States in violation of current sanctions, which is why it has now been confiscated.

The plane is a Falcon 900EX and has been described as Venezuela’s version of Air Force One. The plane was reportedly seized in the Dominican Republic and then transferred to the US state of Florida. How the plane ended up in the Dominican Republic in the first place is not entirely clear, the BBC reports.

The Venezuelan government has condemned the US action as an act of “piracy”, with Foreign Minister Yván Gil commenting that the US has justified its actions “with the coercive measures that they unilaterally and illegally impose around the world” It also said it “reserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation”.

According to US officials, the plane was seized for alleged violations of US export control and sanctions laws, and Maduro used a Caribbean shell company to conceal his involvement in the purchase of the plane from a Florida company in late 2022.

“Consequences of misgovernance”

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council also said the action was “an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela”.

– It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States, said Matthew S Axelrod of the Department of Commerce – one of the federal agencies involved in the seizure of the plane.

In addition, the United States supports the opposition in Venezuela and has recognized its candidate, Edmundo González, as the winner of the July re-election, while calling on Maduro to resign immediately.

Back in 2020, the US Department of Justice also accused the president of involvement in narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, among other things, and anyone who can provide information leading to his conviction can be rewarded with $15 million (€13,6 million).

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/world/shocking-reports-about-the-ukrainian-army-1-7-million-dead-wounded-and-missing/

World

Shocking reports about the Ukrainian army: 1.7 million dead, wounded, and missing

The war in Ukraine

  • Russian hackers claim to have accessed and leaked what they allege is information from the Ukrainian General Staff's databases.
  • According to this information, Ukraine has lost over 1.7 million soldiers in the fighting since 2022 in the form of dead, missing and wounded.
Published today 17:02
– By Editorial Staff
According to the hackers' claims, the figure represents a total of 621,000 Ukrainian losses so far in 2025.
4 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The hacker groups Killnet, Palach Pro, User Sec and Beregini claim to have gained access to several terabytes of sensitive information by infiltrating computers and local networks of the Ukrainian General Staff. The database allegedly contains full names of dead soldiers, descriptions of circumstances and locations of their deaths or disappearances, personal data, relatives and photos.

According to these figures, Ukraine is said to have lost 118,500 soldiers in 2022, 405,400 in 2023, 595,000 in 2024 and a record-high 621,000 during the first eight months of 2025. In total, this would amount to approximately 1.7 million lost soldiers.

Three wounded for every killed soldier

Grigory Kryukov, vice chairman of the Russian Union of Afghan and Special Operations Veterans and one of the developers of a mathematical model for calculating losses, emphasizes that the figures should be understood as total losses that include not only dead, but also wounded, prisoners of war and deserters.

According to his calculations, the number of irreversible losses – those who will never return to service – amounts to approximately 400,000. The remainder includes over one million wounded and a smaller proportion of deserters.

Kryukov explained that military assessments typically use a ratio of one to three, meaning that for every soldier killed, three others become unable to continue serving through injuries, capture or desertion.

Ukraine is estimated to be able to mobilize between 1.2 and 1.5 million people. Irreversible losses in the region of 400,000 could thus constitute a very serious problem and risk triggering a systemic crisis in the armed forces and even threaten Kiev’s survival.

Ukraine: “Absurd fake”

In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CBS News that only 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since 2022, with an additional 380,000 wounded. The figures from the hackers thus present a completely different picture than the losses previously reported from Kiev.

Analyses of losses in the Ukraine war otherwise vary very significantly, with the Russian military consistently reporting higher losses among Ukrainian soldiers than Western assessments. From Moscow’s side, they claim that losses increased particularly after Kiev’s failed counteroffensive in 2023 and that in February they calculated that more than 1.08 million Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded.

Suspicions that Ukraine has concealed its losses have recently also appeared in conventional mass media in the West. For example, French newspaper Le Monde reported last month that “the real death toll is likely much higher” and cited Ukraine’s increasing efforts to build military cemeteries.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) under the National Security and Defense Council completely rejects the hackers’ claims, dismissing them as lies.

“Kremlin-controlled propaganda outlets are spreading claims that Russian hackers allegedly breached the General Staff’s database and obtained information about ‘1.7 million dead and missing Ukrainian soldiers’ since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In reality, this is an utterly absurd fake, as Ukraine has never had a standing army of 1.7 million personnel throughout its independence”, writes the CCD in a statement.

“The goal of this fake is to demoralize Ukrainians, convince the world of the ‘exhaustion and ineffectiveness of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,’ and weaken international support for Ukraine”, they further declare.

“Lost several generations”

Ukrainian parliamentarian Artem Dmytruk has also commented on the reported losses and his picture differs drastically from Kiev’s official position.

“The lists of the missing today contain more than a million people, and of course these people are most likely dead, while their families remain in complete ignorance. The situation is tragic, the situation is frightening”, said Dmytruk in an interview with Russian RT.

He warned that villages have been emptied of men, including elderly and disabled people, and that Ukraine faces “huge losses” and a “demographic crisis”.

“We have lost several generations”, he said, calling for peace on the grounds that both Ukrainians and Russians are dying unnecessarily.

It can meanwhile be noted that Dmytruk today has a very strained relationship with Zelensky’s government. He fled Ukraine in August 2024 and is currently wanted. The charges concern alleged assault of a soldier and a police officer as well as attempting to steal a weapon. From exile, he has taken an increasingly critical stance toward the Ukrainian government and their handling of the war and has often appeared as an expert commentator regarding Ukraine in Russian media.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/photojournalist-leaves-reuters-in-protest-western-media-enable-israels-journalist-killings/

World

Photojournalist leaves Reuters in protest: “Western media enable Israel’s journalist killings”

The genocide in Gaza

Published today 7:35
– By Editorial Staff
Zink states that significantly more journalists have been killed in Gaza than during both world wars - and argues that Israel is deliberately murdering reporters.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

After eight years, Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink is resigning from news agency Reuters. She accuses Western media of systematically spreading Israeli government propaganda and of enabling the murders of 245 journalists in Gaza so far.

Valerie Zink published a striking Facebook post on Monday explaining that she can no longer work for Reuters. The decision comes after five journalists, including Reuters’ own cameraman Hossam al-Masri, were killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“At this point it’s become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza”, Zink writes.

She directs very harsh criticism at how Western media has handled reporting from Gaza, particularly the case of Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif who was killed earlier in August.

“Reuters chose to publish Israel’s entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative”, she writes, pointing out that the reporter’s work had previously won a Pulitzer Prize for Reuters itself.

“Reuters’ willingness to perpetuate Israel’s propaganda has not spared their own reporters from Israel’s genocide”, Zink continues in her post.

“Repeats Israel’s genocidal lies”

Zink accuses Western media of “repeating Israel’s genocidal fabrications without determining if they have any credibility” – and thereby abandoning the most basic journalistic principles.

She emphasizes that this submissive attitude from establishment media has “made possible the killing of more journalists in two years on one tiny strip of land than in WWI, WWII, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined, to say nothing of starving an entire population, shredding its children, and burning people alive”.

The attack on Nasser Hospital is described as an example of a “double tap” attack, where Israel first bombs a civilian target and then strikes again when rescue personnel and journalists have arrived at the scene.

“Western media is directly culpable for creating the conditions in which this can happen. As Jeremy Scahill from Drop Site News put it, ‘every major outlet – from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from AP to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes and dehumanizing victims, abandoning their colleagues and their alleged commitment to true and ethical reporting'”, she continues.

“I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief”, Zink concludes her post, calling the journalists in Gaza “the bravest and best to ever live”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/swedish-crisis-preparedness-brochure-gains-unexpected-traction-among-worried-iranians/

World

Swedish crisis preparedness brochure gains unexpected traction among worried Iranians

The escalation in the Middle East

Published yesterday 10:26
– By Editorial Staff
MSB's brochure is available in a range of languages beyond Swedish – including Persian, Arabic, and Somali.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish information brochure “If Crisis or War Comes”, produced by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) in connection with the war in Ukraine in 2022, has gained unexpected distribution in Iran.

The Persian-language web magazine Stockholmian reports that the brochure’s Persian translation is now circulating widely on social media in the country.

The brochure, which was distributed to all Swedish households, contains various practical advice on crisis preparedness, such as storing food and water, following reliable news sources and seeking shelter during crises or conflicts.

Since Sweden has had extensive mass immigration in recent decades, the brochure was also translated into several languages – including Persian. And now the Persian version of the MSB brochure is reportedly gaining unexpectedly wide distribution even among the population back home in Iran.

“What’s interesting is that the Persian version of the brochure is now circulating widely on social media in Iran. Many Iranians, who are worried about the political and security developments in the region, have started spreading and reading this Swedish crisis guide as a concrete and useful tool”, writes the web magazine.

“The Swedish state has thought more about us than our own government”, claims one user, highlighting the brochure as an example of how a state should act to take responsibility for its citizens.

“A source of inspiration”

Despite the advice in the brochure being adapted for Swedish conditions, many of them are perceived as universal and relevant even in other countries in other parts of the world.

“In a time where uncertainty and threats of war have characterized many people’s everyday lives, Sweden’s model for information and preparedness can become a source of inspiration – even for countries like Iran”, Stockholmian concludes.

Although MSB’s brochure has been praised in many quarters, it has also been questioned and met with harsh criticism – not least for its explicit “doomsday rhetoric” where Swedes are urged to prepare themselves for upcoming terrorist attacks, aerial bombings and nuclear war.

In a country like Iran where bombs and war were actually bitter reality quite recently and are still a very concrete threat, however, the alarmist rhetoric is not perceived as equally remarkable.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/14-year-old-sophie-of-dundee-becomes-viral-hero-a-symbol-of-britains-betrayed-children/

World

14-year-old “Sophie of Dundee” becomes viral hero – a symbol of Britain’s betrayed children

Deteriorating safety

Published 27 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
On social media, AI-generated images are spreading where "Sophie of Dundee" is portrayed as Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace from the movie Braveheart.
4 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

A 14-year-old girl from Dundee, Scotland who was arrested for weapon possession after defending her little sister has become a viral hero on social media.

The girl, who wielded an axe and machete to reportedly protect her 12-year-old sister from harassing immigrant men, is now being praised worldwide and has become a symbol of what British children must do when authorities and the adult world have abandoned them.

A 14-year-old girl from Dundee, Scotland has reportedly been arrested for weapon possession after allegedly trying to protect her little sister from adult migrants who reportedly harassed them for weeks.

In a video circulated on social media, the girl, who according to some reports is named Sophie, is seen wielding an axe and a machete while one of the girls screams off-camera:

— Don’t fucking punch my little sister, she’s 12. The confrontation reportedly took place on Saturday afternoon in the Lochee district, where the two immigrant men allegedly filmed the girls as they approached.

Musk: Politicians bear the blame

The incident has caused a major stir on social media where the girl is now being hailed as a Scottish hero, and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn attention to the case.

“Start by condemning the grovelers and collaborators in positions of authority in Britain who aided the rape epidemic of their own people or turned a blind eye to their responsibilities”, the tech billionaire wrote angrily on platform X, referring to the systematic grooming scandals that have shaken Britain over the years.

On social media, images and AI-generated video clips have spread depicting the girl as a modern version of Scottish hero William Wallace from the film Braveheart. She is being called “Sophie of Dundee,” “Braveheart,” and “Sophie the Brave” by her supporters, who see her as an unwilling symbol of citizens’ desperation when the state has failed and abandoned those who are most vulnerable.

Danish data researcher Jonatan Pallesen called the image of the girl potentially iconic: “The UK has catastrophically failed in protecting their 12-year-old girls… and so this 14-year-old sister must do it”, he writes on X.

“Shouldn’t have to live like this”

Podcaster Basil the Great, who was one of the users who first spread the video, states angrily: “She’s a child. A little girl. Someone’s daughter. And she’s screaming at a grown foreign man to leave her alone. WE SHOULDN’T BE LIVING LIKE THIS!”

The girl has quickly become a symbol of what many Britons see as the state’s total failure to protect its vulnerable citizens – and its children in particular.

“Any government that refuses to protect its daughters is illegitimate. The crown is in the gutter, just waiting for someone to come pick it up”, writes user Dale Stark, summarizing the growing frustration over societal developments.

Authorities’ betrayal continues

According to Scottish police, the girl was arrested around 7:40 PM on Saturday following a report of a “female youth with a bladed weapon” on St Ann Lane in Dundee. She has been charged with weapon possession and will be reported to relevant authorities. The men who reportedly harassed the girls for weeks have allegedly neither been arrested nor investigated, which has also increased the already massive public outcry against the authorities’ actions.

The incident has brought renewed attention to the debate about the extensive grooming scandals in British cities like Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford, where thousands of young girls were systematically exploited over decades by mainly Pakistani gangs while authorities actively avoided taking action for fear of appearing racist.

Meanwhile, critics emphasize that although older grooming scandals and organized sexual crimes against children committed by immigrant gangs have after many years begun to receive attention in Britain, there is nothing to suggest this belongs to the past. On the contrary, many believe that children are still being subjected to abuse on a massive scale while politicians and authorities choose to ignore or even silence what is happening.

Although the details are still unclear and reports are sometimes contradictory, both regarding the sequence of events and the age of those involved, the incident with the 14-year-old girl from Dundee is viewed by many as further proof that the same pattern continues – where young girls are left to defend themselves while authorities arrest the victims instead of the perpetrators.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

N

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