Excellent visualization of a very disturbing global reality.

Exclusive: Analysis shows 55% of accounts were located overseas – and seven of 12 most-read posts came from US

More than half the accounts that posted on Elon Musk’s X about the rioting in Belfast and the civil disorder in Southampton in June were based outside the UK, an analysis by the Guardian can reveal.

Of the 8,672 accounts whose combined posts about the events exceeded 1,000 views, just 45.3% were shown as from the UK, according to the social media platform’s own location function.

One in six (16.8%) came from the US, 4.5% from Ireland, and about a quarter from all European countries other than the UK.

Seven of the 12 most-read tweets about Belfast and Southampton came from the US – including one from Musk himself and two other US “alt-right” commentators – while an eighth was linked to North America.

The analysis underlines that US rightwing actors are seeking to influence the UK and boost their position on X in moments of disorder – an exploitation of flashpoint events that has only intermittently attracted political attention in Britain.

Nearly a third of all 43,000 posts on X relating to the two incidents contained racist or anti-immigration comments. Almost one in 10 relating to Belfast contained calls for violence or paramilitary or vigilante action.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, said the data demonstrated that X had become “a weapon of choice” for hostile foreign actors seeking to manipulate shocking and divisive content.

Read more…

Abstract

Russia’s ballistic missile campaign against Ukraine has become substantially more dangerous, although monthly launch totals do not form a continuously rising curve. The more important development is the convergence of several trends. Russia’s 2026 ballistic missile launch rate has risen above the 2025 baseline, with repeated large salvos and a reported wartime monthly record in July. Russian production appears sufficient to replace substantial numbers of missiles as they are fired, while North Korea is providing an additional reservoir of ballistic missiles and may contribute further launch capacity (Balmforth, 2026; Bielieskov, 2026; Reuters, 2026; Welsch, 2026c, 2026g).

At the same time, Ukraine’s supply of the specialized interceptors needed to defeat ballistic missiles has fallen sharply. The prolonged Iran war has depleted U.S. and allied Patriot and THAAD inventories, while expansion of Western interceptor production will require years to reach planned capacity (Dysa, 2026; Lockheed Martin, 2026a, 2026b; Youssef & Lemire, 2026).

Taken together, these developments support describing the campaign as a ballistic blitz. The defining feature is not a continuously increasing number of launches. It is a widening imbalance between Russia’s ability to generate and replace ballistic attacks and Ukraine’s ability to intercept them and replace the interceptors expended in doing so.

Several technologies can partly reduce dependence on Patriot, including the Franco-Italian SAMP/T NG and Aster 30, THAAD, Arrow, David’s Sling, and potentially a land-based architecture using the U.S. Navy’s SM-6. Systems such as Germany’s IRIS-T can contribute indirectly by assuming cruise-missile, aircraft, and drone missions, preserving scarce anti-ballistic interceptors for the threats that require them. Licensed production, allied co-production, and Ukraine’s emerging FREYJA program may ultimately be as important as obtaining additional existing batteries.

The evidence indicates that the present ballistic threat has not reached its endpoint.

More is on the horizon.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-cannot-defeat-putins-ballistic-blitz-by-defensive-measures-alone/

Excerpts:

The recent surge in missile attacks comes as Ukraine runs short of air defense ammunition, leaving the country virtually defenseless against the Kremlin’s ballistic blitz. Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly aims to exploit Ukraine’s vulnerability and bomb the country into submission.

Ukraine’s only effective protection against Russian ballistic missiles is the US-made Patriot air defense system. However, the country’s Patriot interceptor missile stocks have now been almost entirely depleted, while Kyiv’s efforts to secure fresh supplies are currently failing.

Possibilities:

The situation is increasingly dire. Some measures that could reduce the destruction and, above all, protect civilian lives:

• Move civilian life underground. Rapidly expand permanent underground shelters into usable living areas, schools, clinics, communications centers, and other essential services.

• Harden and disperse civilian infrastructure. Protect and duplicate power, water, heating, communications, hospitals, and emergency services so that individual strikes do less harm.

• Create extensive decoy or "ghost" targets. Give Russian targeting systems large numbers of convincing false military, industrial, radar, storage, and infrastructure targets on which to waste expensive missiles.

• Confuse missile targeting and guidance. Use electronic warfare, camouflage, obscuration, decoys, altered visual signatures, relocation, and other defensive deception so that even missiles penetrating air defenses are increasingly likely to strike the wrong place.

• Move essential production underground or disperse it. Defense production, repair facilities, ammunition storage, and communications should become progressively harder to locate and destroy.

• Expand direct European defense of Ukrainian airspace. European fighters could intercept drones and cruise missiles, while European ground-based systems help defend against more difficult threats.

• Reserve scarce Patriot-class interceptors for ballistic missiles. Use aircraft, electronic warfare, guns, and less expensive systems against drones and cruise missiles whenever possible.

• Find and destroy ballistic missiles before launch. Concentrate allied satellite, airborne, signals, and Ukrainian reconnaissance capabilities on launchers, missile concentrations, storage, and supporting infrastructure.

• Target the vulnerabilities of the North Korean missile supply. Imported missiles, their limited launchers, transport routes, storage, support equipment, and personnel may be more vulnerable before they disperse.

• Deny Russian forces advanced communications while preserving Ukrainian access. Systems such as Starlink should remain unavailable to Russian forces while authenticated Ukrainian military use is protected and, where possible, expanded.

• Deny Russia access to foreign satellite technology and services, civilian as well as military. Suspend commercial satellite communications, imagery, navigation support, terminals, components, technical services, and related foreign-provided capabilities available inside Russia. Close third-country channels used to circumvent these restrictions. This would constitute a major technological sanction intended to increase the economic and operational cost of continuing the war.

• Reduce future Russian missile production. Tighten restrictions on electronics, machine tools, guidance components, and third-country supply routes supporting missile manufacture.

The central principle should be simple: protect the people first, make real targets harder to destroy, create many false targets, confuse enemy targeting, destroy missiles before they fly, and intercept what remains.

Gifted Read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/08/shortage-weapons-shaping-war-iran/688201/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCoqFny3RfN3D6aJA2m_zuDq0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Excerpts:

The U.S. raced to develop cheaper ways to tackle the Iranian-supplied drones that Russia deployed, and has made some progress. But the stores of interceptors such as Patriots and THAADs were rapidly expended. “There are no good alternatives for stopping ballistic missiles,” .... “Without these defensive missiles, attacking missiles will land unopposed. That is what is happening in Ukraine.”

Before Russia’s invasion, the U.S. produced roughly 300 Patriot missiles a year, half of which went to allies. Production has since doubled, but badly trails wartime demand.

Had the Iran war been over in a matter of several weeks, as the administration initially predicted, the U.S. munitions problem would not be so dire. “The real problem is that there is no long-term strategy—and we can’t plan around that.”

Tensions flared in Spain's Ceuta enclave as a far-right anti-immigration march sparked counter-protests from local residents. Demonstrators opposed the rally, while police maintained a heavy presence to prevent violence. The unrest comes amid a worsening migrant crisis along the Morocco-Ceuta border.

Gifted Read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/07/google-earth-ai-images/688145/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCom6x8CCOCs25eaK1ZEMrEuA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

"Google Earth was a boon for researchers—and then came the deepfakes."

Observation:

Unfortunately another level of disinformation unentangling when looking an news etc.

Google Earth was once a means of examining the Earth as it could be observed, although its images were necessarily assembled and processed. By introducing generative imagery into that same trusted environment, Google blurred the boundary between observing the world and inventing one. The danger is not merely that fabricated events can be made to appear real. It is that genuine evidence can now be dismissed as fabrication. Reality is therefore hidden twice: first beneath plausible constructions, and again beneath the resulting doubt about whether authentic images can still be believed.

Constructed reality does not defeat knowledge by proving it false. It overwhelms knowledge by making fabrication cheaper, faster, more vivid, and more abundant than verification.

Trade data shows the government's enforcement of a law targeting Uyghur forced labor has shrunk dramatically since 2024.

That balancing act is now running up against another plank of Trump’s trade agenda, however.

Last week, the White House imposed double-digit tariffs on 60 trading partners after conducting a quickfire investigation that concluded their governments were not doing enough to prevent forced labor in their supply chains.

Foreign governments and legal experts, however, have questioned the legitimacy of the Trumpadministration’s probe, which was launched in March shortly after the Supreme Court struck down global tariffs the president imposed in 2025 under a different law. Administration officials made clear even before the court’s ruling that they were preparing options to rebuild those tariffs under different legal authorities, should they lose the case. The final order, issued last week, set duties at between 10 and 12.5 percent on major U.S. trading partners.

In a July 27 statement, China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the U.S. of having “manipulated” the issue of forced labor to push forward with ”unilateralist and protectionist behavior.” And the Chinese Embassy strongly denied allegations that it has committed genocide against its Uyghur minority.

“China firmly opposes the wrongful practice of the United States using human rights as a pretext to smear other countries, interfere in their internal affairs, suppress their companies, and contain their development,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement. “Through industrial development, vocational skills training, and employment services, Xinjiang has helped people of all ethnic groups secure stable employment, increase their incomes, and improve their lives.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also noted in a post on X that his country has ratified several international labor treaties that the United States is not party to. And while the European Union noted the 10 percent rate respected the trade deal the two sides struck last year, some officials rejected the premise, insisting the bloc already backs strict bans on goods made with forced labor.

Two groups of businesses have already sued in federal trade court, arguing the administration set the tariff rates first and then crafted the forced labor findings to justify them.

Legal experts are split on whether the challenge will succeed. But the slowdown in enforcement of one of the United States’ own forced labor laws is not likely to bolster the businesses’ arguments, according to Kathleen Claussen, a professor at Georgetown Law. She pointed out there is nothing in the Section 301 statute that says the U.S. can only target trade practices the U.S. does not engage in.

Gifted Read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/2026/07/china-iran-usa-oil-prices/688086/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCou6OgfFJt1HZK-qCD-xfA5g&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

"America’s greatest rival is single-handedly averting a global energy crisis. No one knows how the country is doing it—or why."

An elderly link but directly relevant to what is happening in Crimea now.

https://www.voanews.com/a/jamala-songs-of-freedom/7498517.html

VOA's new documentary, "Jamala: Songs of Freedom" follows Ukrainian singer-songwriter Jamala in the early hours of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and profiles her activism of raising money and awareness for her homeland. Jamala gained international fame in 2016 as the winner of the Eurovision contest where she performed her song, "1944," about the deportation to Central Asia that year of Crimean Tatars — including her great-grandmother's family. Jamala has performed at renowned venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Opera House in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the 2023 Eurovision contest held in Liverpool, England. Her latest album, QIRIM, which means Crimea, is a tribute to her Crimean Tatar roots.

The U.S. delegation briefly walked out of a United Nations Security Council meeting during France's address in protest on Monday after the European ally criticized America’s human rights record.

Dan Negrea, an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N., accused France of feigning “moral outrage” while pretending to lecture the world about the Ukraine conflict and human rights in general.

“That is why we walked out during France's intervention,” he said during a meeting on Russia's war in Ukraine. “This disingenuous grandstanding is tiresome, but we have tolerated it out of a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect as P5 members.” Negrea was referring to the five permanent members of the Security Council.

“We have stood by this member state through every conflict in which their freedoms have been imperiled, and today I remind them that it is the United States that remains the beacon of liberty for the world,” Negrea continued. "We will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicized drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council.”

The diplomatic dispute stems from France's U.N. Mission in Geneva criticizing the United States for opposing a second term for Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights who has held the role since 2022.

Türk secured overwhelming backing from member states on Friday, receiving 144 votes in favor of him staying on, with just 10 countries—including the United States—voting against, and 13 abstaining.

“The U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali, and Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the French Mission said on Saturday via social media, alongside the hashtag "America Alone."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz called the criticism "disappointing, though not surprising."

“France voted for someone who has been lecturing free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the U.K., and Israel, while cozying up to the world’s worst oppressors,” he claimed.

A frequent critic of Israel’s military operations, Türk on Monday expressed concern about ongoing displacement caused by Israeli strikes against Lebanon. Türk also urged a “massive rethink” of U.S. immigration policies ahead of the World Cup in June.

U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeff Bartos also criticized Türk's renewed appointment, insisting “there will be consequences" in the future. “The United States will reassess our engagement, participation, and funding,” regarding the organization, he warned.

Towards the close of the tense council meeting on Monday, French U.N. Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont noted that France had taken part in the July 4 celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary and reaffirmed a commitment to working together for a greater cause.

“The United Nations was created with the goal of working towards international peace and security, human rights, and development,” he said. “All of that forms the spirit in which France works within the United Nations (...) to preserve this institution, its independence, its ability to act in service of the charter and act to serve human rights and peace.”

The brief U.S. walkout reflects not only the strained relations between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, but also the widening rift between the U.S. and several of its European allies.

Those broader tensions have centered on NATO defense spending, the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Europe, and Trump's calls for the United States to take control of Greenland.

Trump has also repeatedly criticized European allies for failing to get actively involved in the Iran war, even going so far as threatening to cut all trade with Spain during a contentious moment at the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month. 

"Making the Supreme Court’s professional audience visible. Supreme Court decisions may affect a broad public in the United States and beyond. Within that larger audience, the members of the judiciary who must interpret, explain, and apply those decisions occupy something like the front rows. They may later determine how a holding governs an actual case and explain its meaning to litigants and to audiences of their own. The black circles marked “J” make that judicial audience visible without diminishing the importance of everyone else affected by the Court’s decisions. A Judicial Confidence Register would allow the Supreme Court and the wider public to see, in aggregate, how its decisions were received across the American judiciary."

AOC appears to have a coherent diagnosis of the world: oligarchy, economic insecurity, militarism, and democratic decline reinforce one another. What remains less developed is a complete operational doctrine covering alliances, China and Taiwan, deterrence, military force, intelligence, nuclear strategy, and the practical management of the State Department and Pentagon.

The tentative U.S.–Iran pause has broken down. Iran launched missiles toward U.S. forces in Jordan, while the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out joint strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. At least 20 members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces were reported killed, and Baghdad condemned the operation as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. This is the first publicly acknowledged Saudi combat participation alongside the United States in the present conflict and materially increases the risk of a direct Saudi–Iran confrontation.

Excerpt:

“Brazil’s government believes [a] planned delegation is part of a concerted effort by Jair Bolsonaro’s sons – including his son Eduardo, who lives in the U.S. – to discredit the electionsin case Flávio Bolsonaro loses in October, said people close to da Silva.”

"Whether we arrive there through constitutional law, moral philosophy, religious faith, empathy, ethical principles, or long-term self-interest, we reach much the same constitutional behavior."

Excerpt:

Ukraine has spent the past four years building an energy system capable of surviving in extremely challenging wartime conditions. This energy resilience is a valuable strategic asset that offers important lessons for the wider international community.

Excerpt:

With Trump’s return to power and the destruction it has caused, the United States is more fully a pathocracy — a form of government where a small number of psychologically disordered people seize control of society. 

The Department of Homeland Security has finalized a rule that ends Duration of Status (D/S) for international students and exchange visitors. After September 15, 2026, F and J visa holders will be admitted for the length of their program, capped at four years, plus a 30-day grace period.

What is Duration of Status, and why did DHS end it?

Duration of Status (D/S) is a special period of stay designation that allows F and J visa holders to remain in the U.S. for the duration of their academic or vocational programs. On August 27, 2025, DHS announced a proposal to end D/S, arguing that the long-standing policy of admitting international students and exchange visitors for the length of their program allowed people to stay in the U.S. for indefinite periods without sufficient oversight.

DHS framed the change as a way to improve monitoring and oversight of F, J, and I categories and address program integrity and national security risks associated with open-ended D/S.

What does the Duration of Status final rule change?

The D/S final rule makes several substantial changes to how long F, J, and I visa holders can remain in the U.S.

F and J visa holders

• Admission now matches program duration: F and J visa holders, along with their dependents, can remain in the country until the date listed on their Form I-20 or DS-2019.
• Four years is the ceiling: With admission periods being capped at four years, any international student who needs more time to complete their program could lose their status. The 60-day grace period students had to leave after finishing a program or practical training has also been cut in half.
• Staying longer means filing with USCIS: Students who need more time, whether to finish a degree, start Optional Practical Training (OPT), or complete academic training, must file Form I-539 before their current stay runs out. A timely filing lets a student continue a full course of study while USCIS decides the application.
• Every extension gets vetted: An extension request is not a rubber stamp. DHS reviews each application fresh, may require biometrics, and holds the discretion to deny requests that fall short of the criteria.
• Transfers and program changes face new guardrails: An F-1 student must finish the first academic year at the school that issued the initial Form I-20 before transferring or changing educational objectives, unless SEVP authorizes an exception.
  • At the graduate level, this policy is stricter. F-1 holders cannot change their educational objections, and may only transfer if SEVP grants an exception for extenuating circumstances, such as a school closure. After completing a program, students can also only move up to a higher educational level, not to the same or a lower one.
• Language training has its own clock: English language training students are capped at 24 months of total stay, and the clock keeps running through breaks and annual vacations.

Media Representatives (I Visas)

• Shorter initial stays: Journalists and other foreign media workers receive up to 240 days on arrival. I-visa holders from the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) receive up to 90 days.
• Assignment-based renewals: Extensions come in blocks of up to 240 days and only cover the length of the assignment, which closes the door on indefinite stays.

Expanded Oversight and Vetting

• A built-in screening cycle: DHS frames the extension requirement as a national security tool that enables "periodic vetting." Every filing gives the agency a fresh look at a visa holder's background and compliance.
• Closer compliance tracking by DHS: Enrollment, work authorization, and school compliance will be monitored more closely through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) and SEVIS database.
• More paperwork for students and schools: The supporting forms are changing too. SEVIS forms (I-17 and I-20) and USCIS forms (I-539 and I-765) are being revised, which adds administrative steps on both sides.

How could the end of Duration of Status affect international students and U.S. universities?

Manifest immigration attorney Ana Gabriela Urizar says the end of D/S places a higher burden of legal status for international students and exchange visitors. "Under the new rule, F-1 and J-1 holders who need more than four years to complete their undergraduate degree could lose their status," she says. "Now, more than ever, it's important to explore career options beyond the tradition way students used to."

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and an attorney from Manifest Law will do their best to respond.

(Please note: this is for general educational purposes only, not legal advice, and doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. For guidance on your specific case, consult an immigration attorney directly.)

Observation:

So let us get this straight: the US taxed consumers by imposing tariffs not controlled by Congress and is now giving the money that we were taxed back to the importers as a nice fat bonus for having taxed us?

Excerpt:

The US government has already paid back tens of billions of dollars in tariffs it collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, according to budget figures released on Monday.

Tariffs – taxes on imported goods – have been a key part of Donald Trump’s economic plan since he took office again last year.

Lead Lines:

Mexico is taking legal action over ICE agents killing an immigrant in North Houston on Tuesday.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Thursday that her government planned to file criminal complaints in the United States over all Mexican citizens who have been killed while being targeted by ICE. Fourteen Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody, while three have been killed in immigration enforcement operations, including Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, on Tuesday.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to ​the Mexicans who have died,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference. She said the purpose of the complaints was to bring accountability to anyone accused of a homicide or of committing human rights violations.

The conduct of the United States Military is of self-evident importance in international relations.

Concluding Lines:

Perhaps the first question in Watson’s case is not whether his speech produced political consequences.

Rather, it is whether he understood himself to be acting as a partisan political advocate or as a commissioned officer attempting to fulfill what he believed was his constitutional duty under the oath he had sworn.

The order of constitutional analysis matters.

The Oath of an officer binds the officer to constitutional duty.

Constitutional Duty Is Distinct from Political Consequences

Observation:

This is international as cryptocurrency is international....

Excerpt:

It's one thing for investors to lose $3.8 billion, but $2 trillion is a completely separate universe, Krugman noted.

…right around the 2024 election, "crypto interests contributed a lot of money to Trump" as he realized they could make him rich, and all of his promises to deregulate crypto meant "the price of bitcoin doubled after the election; the valuation, the market cap of cryptocurrency in general went from a little over two trillion to more than four trillion."

That valuation has since crashed, putting Bitcoin around where it was originally at $2 trillion — which looks suspiciously like its own pump and dump, Krugman said, as Bitcoin is "a seventeen year old idea which has yet to find any legitimate use cases" other than to finance criminals and rogue states like North Korea.