UK: to build small modular nuclear reactors

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn

Billionaire to invest £35bn in small modular nuclear reactors rollout across UK

Consortium led by Michał Sołowow planning enough SMRs to power equivalent of 8m homes for more than 60 years

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondentThu 2 Jul 2026 10.11 BSTShare

A consortium led by the billionaire industrialist Michał Sołowow has announced plans to build 14 small modular nuclear reactors on three sites across the UK, including the location of a former nuclear plant in Gloucestershire.

The Polish entrepreneur and rally driver plans to use £35bn of private capital to roll out enough small modular reactors (SMRs) to power the equivalent of 8m UK homes for more than 60 years, or even power datacentre investments alongside Google.

Sołowow’s nuclear development company, SGE, plans to make the “significant investment” of between £2.2bn to £2.5bn in each 300 megawatt reactor alongside a string of industrial partners including the US manufacturer GE Vernova and Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi, which are responsible for the design.

The consortium, known as SGE SMR, hopes to secure three sites for the boiling water reactors (BWRs) by this time next year as well as a government support contract which would guarantee a “competitive” price for its electricity once it starts generating in 2034.

It has not disclosed which sites it hopes to use for the GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 design, or which energy company would be the operator. However, the Guardian understands the consortium has submitted an application to use the Oldbury site in south Gloucestershire which was earmarked earlier this year for the development of SMRs under the government’s advanced nuclear framework.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/02/billionaire-michal-solowow-small-modular-nuclear-reactors-uk

Miliband reveals plans that could mean nuclear power plants built near homes

This article is more than 4 months old

Changes to regulation to speed up development could also make it easier to build on sensitive nature sites

Mark Sweney and Helena HortonFri 13 Mar 2026 13.03 GMTShare

Ed Miliband has unveiled plans that could make it easier to build nuclear power plants closer to homes and on sensitive nature sites, as he attempts to speed up the development of energy infrastructure.

The energy secretary set out changes to nuclear regulation, to be carried out this year, which would mean a “win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment”.

However, ministers were quickly accused of “irresponsible deregulation” and putting nature at risk.

The shake-up means the government will implement the recommendations of a review completed last year by the nuclear regulatory taskforce review, which was led by the former Office of Fair Trading boss John Fingleton.

It said an overhaul of the “overly complex” and “bureaucratic” system which “favoured process over safe outcomes” was needed.

Miliband, the energy secretary, said: “As the current Middle East conflict shows, we need to go further and faster to build the clean energy we need to get off volatile fossil fuel markets and deliver energy security for our country.

“A crucial part of this is ensuring that we speed up the building of infrastructure in a way that reduces costs as well as delivering better outcomes for nature.”

The nuclear regulatory taskforce was set up by Keir Starmer in February after the government promised to rip up “archaic rules” and slash regulations to “get Britain building”.

Starmer accepted the recommendations in December, saying he wanted to use the approach to inform the government’s wider industrial strategy.

The Fingleton review said: “Several changes are required to remove legislative and policy bottlenecks and accelerate project delivery.

“Outdated policies that restrict site selection must be reformed, specifically by revising the semi-urban population density criteria and default outline planning zones.” The criteria aims to avoid siting nuclear plants near areas with large local populations.

In June, Miliband announced a £14.2bn programme to build a new nuclear power station, including a multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, and a drive to build small modular reactors (SMRs).

On Friday, Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, published the regulatory justification for Rolls-Royce’s plan to become the first company to try to build SMRs in the UK.

The government said the introduction of the regulatory reforms meant it was likely to be the last time that this type of mini-nuclear power plant needed to go through such a lengthy process.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/13/nuclear-power-generation-uk-deregulation-plans-ed-miliband

Datacenters focus:


The UK government has announced significant planning reforms to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants, particularly Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs). These changes have implications for the data centre industry, where demand for reliable, inexpensive, abundant power has become a key issue for owners and operators.

Changing Government policies are designed to provide greater flexibility in site selection, reduce bureaucratic delays, and support the country’s transition to a more sustainable energy mix.

SMRs and AMRs are positioned as the future of nuclear power due to their reduced construction time and adaptability compared to traditional, large-scale reactors. The government emphasised these smaller reactors can be deployed in a broader range of locations, including closer to high-demand users such as data centres.

A statement from the Government noted previous policies had restricted technology investment, and that the reformed policies would support advancement, as well as jobs and cheap energy supply.

“Investors want to get on and build reliable, cheap nuclear power, which will in turn support critical modern infrastructure, such as supercomputers to power the UK’s ambitions – but they have been held back,” said the Government.

The UK Government added the plans announced will shake up the planning rules to make it easier to build nuclear across the country, delivering jobs, cheaper bills in the long term, and more money in people’s back pockets.

Greater Flexibility in Site Selection

The National Policy Statement for Nuclear Energy Generation allows developers to identify their preferred sites for nuclear projects, rather than limiting them to pre-approved locations. This will help to prevent projects from being hindered by outdated site restrictions and allow data centre operators to explore colocation with nuclear facilities for direct energy supply.

The new policy also removes arbitrary expiry deadlines, providing investors and developers with greater certainty and flexibility, which encourages long-term planning and investment.

Changing these rules is expected to benefit data centres by promoting reliable and abundant energy to power both traditional and AI data centres. This can help to reduce the risk of outages and downtime, which is critical given the increasing reliance on digital infrastructure. SMRs and AMRs can help to alleviate the pressure that data centres place on local energy grids while reducing transmission fees and operational costs.

Nuclear power is also a low-carbon energy source, aligning with technology company commitments to sustainability and reduced environmental impact.

https://www.techerati.com/news-hub/uk-nuclear-power-reforms-implications-for-data-centres/

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Libya and Chad: historic interventions

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn
Chad is one of those African countries that fills out the “Africa Bingo Card”: Colonialism, Corruption, Civil Wars, Rebellions, Tribalism, Religious Tension, Autocracy, Western Puppeteering, & Famine. Chad, the 5th largest African country, is three times

Chad, Africa’s fifth-largest country by area, sits at a crossroads of civilizations where the Sahara Desert meets the tropical savanna and the vast inland waters of Lake Chad converge. Its history stretches back over nine thousand years to some of the earliest known African civilizations, encompasses powerful medieval empires that rivaled any in the world, and continues through a turbulent modern era marked by colonialism, civil conflict, and the transformative discovery of oil. The name Chad itself derives from the Kanuri word tsade, meaning “large body of water,” a reference to the great lake that has sustained human life in this region since time immemorial.

………………

Chad’s history is a testament to the endurance of human civilization in one of the planet’s most challenging environments. From the ancient Sao artisans who shaped terracotta by the shores of a great lake to the Kanem-Bornu emperors who built one of Africa’s most durable political systems, from the colonial cotton farmers who toiled under French exploitation to the modern Chadians navigating the complexities of oil wealth and democratic aspiration, this nation’s story is woven into the very fabric of African and world history. Understanding Chad means understanding the deep connections between environment, power, culture, and resilience that define the human experience in the heart of Africa.

https://exodus.africa/blog/history-of-chad

Show navigation

Search

How conflict in Libya facilitated transnational expansion of migrant smuggling and trafficking

How the Libyan conflict transformed human trafficking routes in West Africa, and why Europe’s response has so far failed.

Explainer

Published 21 February 2025 —12 minute READ

Migrant smuggling and trafficking has flourished through Libya since its 2011 conflict. This article explains how this happened and why European policies aimed at addressing the issue are inadequate.

Migrant smuggling generally refers to the movement of people with their consent; while Trafficking in Persons (TIP) refers to the movement of people against their will – though the distinction is not clear cut and journeys often combine elements of the two. In particular, women have been disproportionately impacted by trafficking.

The three phases

In the first of three phases, the Libyan conflict led to the emergence of armed factions and an economy dominated by violence that has fostered migrant smuggling and trafficking. This led to a smuggling boom in Niger and Nigeria, supporting economic growth in Niger and worsening violence in Nigeria. Increased flows of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers through Libya further expanded the conflict economy

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/02/how-conflict-libya-facilitated-transnational-expansion-migrant-smuggling-and-trafficking

Libya’s Fragile Peace Faces a New Threat

By Editorial Dept – Jul 31, 2026, 7:00 AM CDT

The mutually beneficial corruption arrangement between the rival Haftar and Dbeibah camps that has kept Libya from returning to civil war could be undone by a third force usually left out of political calculations: the citizens of Libya.

For nearly six years, Libya’s eastern and western power centers have preserved an uneasy equilibrium. Haftar’s family controls the east, much of the south, and the military forces surrounding much of the key oil infrastructure. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and the armed groups aligned with his GNU control Tripoli and the western state apparatus. Neither side has been able to eliminate the other, but both have profited from a division that allows them to distribute government positions, contracts and oil revenues without submitting to a national election. 

The Trump administration is now trying to convert that informal accommodation into a formal power-sharing structure. The deal would preserve Dbeibah’s control of the government but give Saddam Haftar (General Khalifa Haftar’s son) control over a new presidential body. Washington has also pushed the rival administrations toward a unified budget and closer military coordination while encouraging U.S. oil companies to expand their presence around Africa’s largest proven crude reserves. In theory, this would give ruling families what they want most: continued access to the state without an election that could remove either of them.

But it all assumes that Libyans are passively…

See:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Libyas-Fragile-Peace-Faces-a-New-Threat.html

Libya, Chad joint force under Saddam Haftar’s command

LIBYE | LIBYA APA-Tripoli (Libya)17 November 2025 | 21:53

The Armed Forces of the General Command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar have announced the creation of a joint force with the Chadian Army to secure the border between the two countries.

The new structure will reportedly be placed under the supervision of the deputy commander of Eastern forces, Saddam Haftar, the same sources said.

According to reports, Saddam Haftar has instructed the Border Guards and Desert Patrols Administration, linked to the “Subul Al-Salam” battalion, to launch field operations within the framework of the joint mechanism. Haftar’s War Information Division confirmed that the initiative aims to strengthen security cooperation between Libya and Chad, targeting criminal groups, smuggling networks and armed gangs operating in desert areas.

The announcement comes amid major changes within the eastern Libyan military hierarchy. Major General Ahmed Al-Dressi has been appointed Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces, replacing Saddam Haftar, who has now been promoted to Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

According to media supportive of the Haftar camp, this internal reshuffle is part of an effort to consolidate the chain of command.

The creation of the joint force also coincides with a shift in the regional security landscape. Local sources report attempts by several Chadian rebel movements present in southern Libya to regroup, raising concerns in N’Djamena and eastern Libya. Chadian authorities regularly warn against the use of Libyan territory by armed factions seeking to reorganise.

This dynamic is unfolding against a backdrop of heightened instability in Sudan, where ongoing clashes between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces continue to destabilise border regions.

This situation is pushing countries in the region to reinforce their security mechanisms and develop bilateral cooperation frameworks to contain the risk of spillover.

https://apanews.net/libya-chad-joint-force-under-saddam-haftars-command/

1980s

Khalifa Haftar was a key military figure during the Chadian–Libyan War in the 1980s, serving under Muammar Gaddafi. He commanded Libyan forces in Chad but was captured in 1987, leading to a significant embarrassment for Gaddafi. Majalla Wikipedia

Abu Dhabi’s military and political influence in Libya is starting to cause friction with major regional partners.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have issued a stark warning to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, signalling that his alleged role in facilitating Emirati military support to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) could trigger a major rupture with Cairo, as reported by Middle East Eye and agencies on January 22.

The pressure campaign is part of a coordinated Egyptian-Saudi effort to choke off supply lines that are sustaining the RSF. These routes, some of which pass through eastern Libya, have become a focal point for Cairo and Riyadh.

The message was delivered earlier in January during a visit to Cairo by Saddam Haftar, Khalifa Haftar’s son and deputy commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army. While Libyan and Egyptian media described the meetings as routine military talks, Egyptian officials privately presented evidence that fuel, weapons and equipment had been transferred from Libya to RSF forces, allegedly with Emirati backing.

https://maghrebi.org/2026/01/28/haftar-faces-egypt-saudi-pressure-over-rsf-supply-lines/

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ICE detained 265 and deported 132 young people with SIJS in 2025.

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn

Deported Raleigh resident returns to the U.S. and is currently detained in Texas

WUNC News | By Eli Chen, 

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra

Published August 8, 2026 at 11:34 AM EDT

José Eliezer Martinez-Andino, a young Honduran man and Raleigh resident who was deported last spring, has now returned to the U.S.

Martinez-Andino boarded a plane at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Wednesday. However, his destination was not Raleigh-Durham International – according to his lawyers, he boarded a flight to Harlingen, Texas.

“We have spoken to José since he arrived on August 5, and he is very glad to be back on U.S. soil where he can have the opportunity to seek legal relief again,” said Allison Chan, an immigration attorney representing Martinez-Andino.

Chan, an attorney at Margaret W. Wong & Associates law firm in Raleigh, did not comment further on whose custody her client is under or how soon he could be released.

Martinez-Andino had been living in Raleigh with close relatives since the summer of 2025 and is also the father of a three-year-old who was born in the U.S. The 20-year-old was detained in March this year while traveling on a cross-country trip to Seattle.

He was detained by immigration enforcement officials in multiple facilities in Montana and Arizona, where he said he was pressured to sign voluntary departure forms. He was flown out to Honduras in mid-April and since then had been residing in his hometown of Tela in the coastal state of Atlantida.

Martinez-Andino also possessed Special Juvenile Immigrant Status (SIJS), which is a legal status granted to young people under the age of 21 who have been neglected, abused and/or abandoned by a parent. He had crossed the border into Texas as an unaccompanied minor at the age of 14 and in 2023, a judge granted him SIJS and deferred action while he was living with a cousin in San Antonio.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell ordered the Department of Homeland Security in June for Martinez-Andino to be returned to the U.S. and for his legal status to be restored.

In a June interview with WUNC, attorney Allison Chan said she expected her client’s return to be “an uphill battle.”

Martinez-Andino is just one of many young people with SIJS who have been deported since President Trump’s immigration crackdown began last year. According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security to Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s office earlier this year, ICE detained 265 and deported 132 young people with SIJS in 2025.

https://www.wunc.org/race-class-communities/2026-08-08/jose-eliezer-martinez-andino-deported-return-raleigh-dhs-ice

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove introduced articles of impeachment in Washington, D.C., against Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn

The accusation is of abusing his power over federal funds and failing to faithfully execute the law. Her filing alleges the Trump administration canceled funding for Democratic-led states on political criteria, including how they voted in the 2024 election.

……….Kamlager-Dove’s office says 79 projects in California are at risk of losing funding. Vought faces impeachment articles, but the filing does not remove him from office; it puts Congress’ power over spending and the administration’s handling of federal funds at the center of a growing constitutional dispute.

See:

https://kamlager-dove.house.gov/media/press-releases/kamlager-dove-introduces-articles-impeachment-against-omb-director-russell

See also ProPublica article, some of Vought actions during 2025:

Vought, seen from behind, standing in shadows.

Russell Vought Samuel Corum/Pool via CNP/MediaPunch/Reuters

What You Should Know About Russ Vought, Trump’s Shadow President

Vought is the architect of Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies. Here are some key things to know about the D.C. insider who wants to take a hatchet to the federal government.

by Andy Kroll

October 20, 2025, 6:00 amChange AppearanceAutoLightDark

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Join us Nov. 5 for a virtual discussion about our yearlong investigation into Russell Vought. Register now.

On the second day of the federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video set to the classic song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult. The star of that video, which quickly went viral, was Russell Vought, the president’s top budget adviser. More than that, Vought is the architect of Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies, and he’s a big reason the second Trump administration has been more effective at accomplishing its goals than the first. In the video shared by Trump, Vought appeared as the scythe-wielding Grim Reaper of Washington, D.C.

Vought’s title is director of the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB directorship is one of the most powerful jobs in Washington, and Vought has used his position to wage a quiet war to change the shape of the entire U.S. government. In Vought’s hands, OMB has acted as a choke point for the funding that Congress approves and agencies rely on to run the government. While he tends to operate behind the scenes as much as possible, his influence in Trump’s second administration is so pronounced that people have described him as akin to a shadow president.

Here are some of the key things you should know about Vought. Read ProPublica’s full investigation here. (Vought declined to be interviewed for the article. A spokesperson for him at OMB would not comment on the record in response to a detailed list of questions.)

1. Vought went from the mail room to becoming the chief antagonist of his own party.

A native of Trumbull, Connecticut, and the son of an electrician father and a mother who spent decades in public education before helping to launch a Christian school, Vought got his first job in D.C. politics working in the mail room for Republican Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, a fierce budget hawk known for criticizing members of his own party for breaking what he viewed as core conservative principles.

As Vought rose through the GOP ranks, eventually going on to advise then-Rep. Mike Pence, he grew disillusioned with members of his party who claimed to care about balanced budgets and spending cuts yet voted to approve bills loaded with pork-barrel spending and corporate giveaways.

In 2010, he quit Congress and helped launch an offshoot of the Heritage Foundation think tank called Heritage Action for America, which was tasked with strong-arming congressional Republicans to act more conservatively.

“I think he thought the Republican leadership was a bigger impediment to conservative causes than Democrats were,” a former Capitol Hill colleague of Vought’s said.

2. OMB’s massive power supercharges Vought’s influence.

While the Office of Management and Budget is part of the White House, Vought is a member of Trump’s cabinet along with the secretary of defense and attorney general. OMB director has little of the cachet of those jobs, but it plays a vital role. Every penny appropriated by Congress first passes through the OMB. It also reviews all significant regulations proposed by federal agencies, vets executive orders before the president signs them and issues workplace policies for more than 2 million federal employees.

“Every goddam thing in the executive branch goes through OMB,” explained Sam Bagenstos, a former OMB official during the Biden administration.

3. Vought’s early work at OMB helped lead to Trump’s first impeachment.

This isn’t Vought’s first stint as OMB director; he held the same position during the first Trump administration.

In 2019, after the Trump White House pressured Ukraine’s government to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, it asked Vought, then acting director, to freeze $214 million in congressionally approved security assistance for Ukraine. He obliged.

This impoundment, later deemed illegal by the Government Accountability Office, would trigger congressional investigations and, ultimately, Trump’s first impeachment. During that process, Vought refused to cooperate with investigators, calling the probe a “sham process that is designed to relitigate the last election.”

After the attempt to freeze the Ukraine funds ultimately failed, Vought and Mark Paoletta, an attorney and close ally of Vought’s, spent the years between Trump’s presidencies developing a legal argument that not only are such impoundments legal, but there is a long history of presidents using the power. (Legal experts have disputed Vought’s version of that history.)

4. Vought played a surprising role in popularizing the phrase “woke and weaponized.”

In 2021, Vought launched the Center for Renewing America, a think tank devoted to keeping the MAGA movement alive and preparing for a second Trump presidency. According to previously unreported recordings obtained by ProPublica, Vought accepted an assignment from Trump to come up with a way for conservatives to counter Black Lives Matter. He popularized the concept of “woke and weaponized” government — a phrase embraced by GOP politicians and activists to disparagingly label policies, people and even agencies that didn’t fit with the MAGA agenda.

“If you’re watching television and the words ‘woke and weaponized’ come out of a politician’s mouth, you can know that this is coming … from the strategies we’re putting out,” Vought boasted in a recording obtained by ProPublica.

When Vought’s think tank released a federal budget blueprint in 2022, calling for $9 trillion in cuts over 10 years, the word “woke” appeared 77 times across its 103 pages.

5. Vought’s vision for what would become Project 2025 began during Trump’s first term.

In 2017, while an adviser at OMB, Vought played a lead role in trying to implement a Trump executive order that called for a top-to-bottom reorganization of the federal government. A former OMB senior staffer said Vought initially wanted to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and to fold the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with food stamps programs, into a new Department of Welfare. “They wanted to call it that because they think it sounds bad,” a former OMB analyst said. “There were very few, if any, debates where Russ wouldn’t take the most extreme option available to him, the most conservative, the most budget-cutting.”

Trump’s Cabinet secretaries at the time resisted wholesale cuts, and few of the plans reached fruition. But Vought’s suggestions now read like a guide to the second Trump administration, which has gutted both USAID and the CFPB and is hollowing out the Department of Education.

“I didn’t realize it then,” the former OMB staffer said, “but I was writing the first draft of Project 2025.”

6. Vought’s role shows Project 2025 has indeed shaped the administration.

Vought was a key figure in the work of Project 2025, the coalition of conservative groups that created a roadmap and recruited future appointees for the next Republican administration. He led Project 2025’s transition portion, which included writing some 350 executive orders, regulations and other plans to more fully empower the president. “I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral,” Vought said in a private 2024 speech.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed to have nothing to do with Project 2025. His campaign aides criticized the initiative, and news reports suggested that Project 2025 leaders would be blacklisted from working in the Trump White House.

But Vought deftly navigated the controversy, and Trump brought him back to OMB.Meanwhile, the administration has moved quickly to fulfill many of Project 2025’s policy objectives. Early on in this month’s government shutdown, when Trump announced that he would soon meet with Vought to decide which “Democrat Agencies” to temporarily or permanently cut, he referred to his budget director as “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame.”

7. Elon Musk and DOGE often acted at Vought’s direction, insiders say.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and the world’s wealthiest person, may have grabbed the headlines as his Department of Government Efficiency took a chainsaw to budgets and staffing. But court records, interviews and other accounts from people close to Vought show that DOGE’s efforts were guided, more than previously known, by the OMB director.

“I can’t imagine that the DOGE team knew to target all these little parts of the government without Russ pointing them there,” a former OMB branch chief told ProPublica.

In May, an official with Citizens for Renewing America, a group founded by Vought, credited Vought with steering DOGE’s cuts. “DOGE is underneath the OMB,” the official said, according to a video of her remarks. “Honestly, a lot of what Elon began pinpointing … was at the direction of Russ.”

An administration official who has worked with Vought and Musk told ProPublica that DOGE showed Vought that it was possible to ignore legal challenges and take dramatic action. “He has the benefit of Elon softening everyone up,” the official said. “Elon terrified the shit out of people. He broke the status quo.”

8. Vought has used OMB to try to pressure Democrats into reaching a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown.

Vought has frozen $26 billion in federal funding for infrastructure and clean energy projects in blue states in the days after the federal government shut down on Oct. 1. The government has also followed through on Vought’s earlier threat to fire a massive number of civil servants if the shutdown were not averted.

“We work for the president of the United States,” a senior agency official who regularly deals with the OMB told ProPublica. But right now, he added, “it feels like we work for Russ Vought. He has centralized decision-making power to an extent that he is the commander in chief.”

Corrections

Kirsten Berg contributed research.

https://www.propublica.org/article/about-russell-vought-trump-shadow-president

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Todd Blanche

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn

Under Section 30-24-3 of New Mexico law, knowingly giving anything of value to a person likely to become a witness is a third degree felony, and Maxwell is the central living witness to the trafficking of children at Zorro Ranch, Epstein’s New Mexico property, where the state reopened its criminal investigation in February.

See: Christopher Armitage Substack

New Mexico attorney general sues DOJ over Epstein files he says are needed for state probe

Raúl Torrez is investigating Epstein’s alleged crimes in his state.

ByPeter Charalambous and James Hill

August 5, 2026, 9:48 PM

2:49

Ex-Goldman Sachs lawyer told panel that Epstein made her firm ‘millions’ of dollarsFormer Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Ruemmler told a House panel tha…Show more

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to force the Department of Justice to turn over unredacted Epstein files he says are necessary to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes at the Zorro Ranch property that was formerly owned by the convicted sex offender.

Accusing the Department of Justice of “obstruction,” the lawsuit said that Torrez’s office has asked the DOJ for the records ten times since their investigation launched earlier this year, but have not received the necessary documents. 

“USDOJ and Acting Attorney General [Todd] Blanche are refusing to facilitate the investigation of state law crimes by hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators from Attorney General Torrez and state law enforcement, when New Mexico is one of few jurisdictions that still may have an opportunity to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or otherwise provide some sense of justice to survivors,” the complaint said. 

RelatedNew Mexico reopens investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch

Filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit asked a judge to declare the Department of Justice’s unwillingness to turn over all the records unlawful and force the turnover of the records. Torrez’ office is seeking “complete and unredacted access to the Epstein files.”

“They have continued to tell the public and members of Congress that they are cooperating with this office when they are not, and most importantly, they continue to withhold critical information that we think is essential to delivering justice to the victims and the survivors in this case,” Torrez said in a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon. 

Source: ABC News

https://abcnews.com/US/new-mexico-attorney-general-sues-doj-epstein-files/story?id=135396248

Todd Blanche, after being confirmed as Attorney General:

DOJ releases tranche of Epstein files, says it has met its legal obligations

Updated January 30, 20265:32 PM ET 

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/30/nx-s1-5693904/epstein-files-doj-trump

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When Finland joined NATO in 2022: Russian punishment was invasion of immigrants

Posted on August 9, 2026 by borderslynn

Finland scrambles to close new migrant route via Russia to Europe

By Anne Kauranen and Riham Alkousaa

June 11, 20248:04 AM GMT+1Updated June 11, 2024

Item 1 of 6 Syrian friends Mohammed and Mahmoud, who asked not to be pointed out in this handout picture taken by Finnish Border Guard, stand among a group of migrants who arrived from Russia to Salla border crossing in Finland November 20, 2023. Finnish Border Guard/Handout via REUTERS

[1/6]Syrian friends Mohammed and Mahmoud, who asked not to be pointed out in this handout picture taken by Finnish Border Guard, stand among a group of migrants who arrived from Russia to Salla border… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

  • Summary
  • Finland plans tough new measures to deter asylum seekers
  • Finns accuse Russia of funnelling migrants across border
  • Moscow denies assertion, says Finland and NATO to blame
  • Syrian friends recount how they reached border by bike

HOILOLA, Finland, June 11 (Reuters) – Only the whine of mosquitoes mars the tranquility of this idyllic spot amid the rolling forests and blue lakes of eastern Finland, on the European Union’s longest border with Russia.

But Finnish authorities fear the peace and quiet of places like Hoilola could soon be shattered by the arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers – part of what Helsinki sees as a “hybrid war” being waged by Russia against the West.

Finland is deploying more border guard patrols, drones and electronic detectors and is building fences along sections of the border. In Helsinki, parliament is expected to approve before its summer recess tough new legislation that critics say will violate the country’s human rights commitments.

Late last year Finland shut all crossing points for travellers along its 1,340 km (833 mile) border with Russia indefinitely after some 1,300 migrants from nations such as Syria and Somalia arrived via that route.

Reuters Graphics
Reuters Graphics

Since then, only a few dozen asylum seekers have crossed the heavily forested border into Finland, but Helsinki believes the Kremlin stands ready to funnel more migrants across at any time – something Moscow has strongly denied.

Under the planned new legislation, Finnish border guards will be able to call on thousands of reservists to help patrol the frontier, to detect migrants’ phone signals, to send the migrants to detention centres and – most controversially – to push them back into Russia without accepting their asylum applications.

“Finland cannot just allow the opening of such a new route (for migrants) into Europe,” Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, from the nationalist Finns Party, told Reuters.

“But overall this is not about a migrant route: this is about a situation in which the authorities of another country are helping or even pressing and pushing migrants to Finland’s border,” said Rantanen.

Relations with Moscow, once relatively cordial, have deteriorated sharply since Finland’s decision to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finland-scrambles-close-new-migrant-route-via-russia-europe-2024-06-11/

through the Gulf of Guinea, located off the West African coast. The region serves as the main gateway for cocaine shipments from South America to Europe. In recent months, several large-scale anti-trafficking operations have taken place there. In September, the French Navy reported that 54 tonnes of narcotics had been seized in the area since the beginning of the year.

Claesson also emphasized that Moscow is combining “sabotage, special operations, and even attacks against individuals” with strikes on critical infrastructure and the “exploitation of vulnerabilities in the information environment” in an effort “to divide us” and “undermine the cohesion” of the European community.

https://lansinginstitute.org/2025/11/24/the-kremlins-shadow-routes-russias-control-of-migration-and-drug-flows-into-europe/

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

South Korea’s homegrown Iron Dome

Posted on August 6, 2026 by borderslynn

S. Korea to move up deployment of Iron Dome-like interceptor against N. Korean threats to 2029

Button Label

ListenText Size

By Yonhap

  • Published Apr 3, 2026 3:17 pm KST
  • Updated Apr 3, 2026 4:13 pm KST
Hanhwa Systems' Low-Altitude Missile Defense system multi-function radar / Courtesy of Hanhwa Systems

Hanhwa Systems’ Low-Altitude Missile Defense system multi-function radar / Courtesy of Hanhwa Systems

South Korea will advance the deployment of a homegrown interceptor system akin to Israel’s Iron Dome by two years to 2029 in a bid to better counter North Korea’s long-range artillery threats, the state arms procurement agency said Friday.

The country will seek to deploy a prototype of the Low-Altitude Missile Defense (LAMD) system designed to simultaneously intercept incoming artillery rounds by 2029, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The decision was approved at a meeting of a pan-government committee on defense project promotion.

The LAMD system, which consists of a radar, tactical communications component, launchers and interceptors, is designed to intercept simultaneous attacks from North Korea at low altitudes.

The government plans to invest 842 billion won ($558 million) in developing the LAMD system by 2030……………

……..Meanwhile, DAPA also plans to acquire Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) shipborne interceptors to be topped on an 8,200-ton Aegis destroyer of the Jeongjo the Great class via foreign military sales.

The move comes after the government decided to secure SM-3 shipborne missiles through overseas purchases in 2024. The arms procurement agency plans to ink the deal within this year, investing 753 billion won for the project.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/defense/20260403/s-korea-to-move-up-deployment-of-iron-dome-like-interceptor-against-n-korean-threats-to-2029

US troops historic links with South Korea:

United States Forces Korea (USFK) is a sub-unified command of United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). Major USFK elements include Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA), U.S. Air Forces Korea (Seventh Air Force), U.S. Naval Forces in Korea (CNFK), U.S. Marine Forces Korea (MARFORK) and Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR). [Source: Wikipedia]

According to Reuters, there are about 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, the United States’ third-largest military presence outside its country after Japan and Germany, according to data from the U.S. Defense Manpower Data Center. USFK data showed it had about 19,500 Army soldiers, 7,800 airmen and women, 350 Navy sailors and 120 Marines stationed in South Korea. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, is the largest U.S. overseas military base, housing the USFK headquarters and thousands of troops, civilian workers and their family members. Other major bases include Army Garrison Yongsan in central Seoul, Camp Walker in the southeastern city of Daegu, and two air bases in Osan and Gunsan, south of Seoul. [Source: Hyonhee Shin, Joyce Lee, Reuters, March 8, 2021]

https://factsanddetails.com/korea/South_Korea/International_Relations/entry-7358.html

July 2026, cuts to US presence in S Korea:

House version of NDAA further limits US troop reductions in South Korea

By 

Julie Masson

Stars and Stripes • July 28, 2026

Two service members in camouflage uniforms take cover behind a dirt berm during a field training exercise.

Soldiers with the Theater Air Naval Ground Operations, or TANGO, security force fire from cover at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, June 25, 2025. (Trevares Johnson/Stars and Stripes)

The $1.15 trillion defense policy bill passed by the House last week places further restrictions on the use of federal funds to reduce the number of U.S. service members stationed on the Korean Peninsula.

The House on July 22 approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027, which authorizes appropriations for the Pentagon, military construction and defense-related Department of Energy activities. The measure squeaked by, 216 to 212.

The bill’s provision on U.S. military posture in South Korea amends language from the current fiscal year’s version to further limit the use of federal funds to reduce the U.S. military presence on the peninsula.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-07-28/usfk-congress-house-ndaa-south-korea-22386400.html

Meanwhile the N Korea threat is assessed:

Kim Jong-un wears a white shirt and sits in front of a white wall with red and yelow flags while men sit facing him wearing tan jackets.

North Korea Crisis

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the first enlarged meeting of the 7th Central Military Commission of the Workers‘ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released on May 18, 2018. Korean Central News Agency via ReutersTYPE

Interstate

IMPACT ON U.S.Critical

STATUS Unchanging

North Korea

South Korea

Updated August 2, 2026

Overview

Under leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea has pursued nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to guarantee regime survival, posing an acute threat to South Korea and Japan—both key U.S. allies. Kim has deepened ties with Russia, providing artillery and troops for the war in Ukraine, while silencing domestic opposition through mass detention and political purges.

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/north-korea-crisis

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Epstein money laundering technique continued by Trump

Posted on August 5, 2026 by borderslynn

5th Aug 2026

Capital One dismissal bid puts Trump’s JPMorgan Chase political debanking lawsuit in sharper focus

Story by Zachary Bynum

 • 6h

A new filing in Trump’s Capital One case highlights the legal hurdle facing a separate $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase: proving political discrimination when bank agreements grant broad authority to close accounts……….

Capital One asked a federal judge in Miami to dismiss with prejudice a lawsuit brought by Trump’s trust and affiliated businesses, which accuse the bank of closing more than 300 accounts because of political bias following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/capital-one-dismissal-bid-puts-trump-s-jpmorgan-chase-political-debanking-lawsuit-in-sharper-focus/ar-AA29qbvU

Remember payments Epstein sent out via JP Morgan Chase via hundreds of accounts:

How Chase bank executives aided Epstein and funneled his money – despite staff concerns about the pedophile

JPMorgan Chase’s spokesperson called the bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein a ‘mistake’

Katie Hawkinson in Washington, D.C.Monday 08 September 2025 18:47 BST

A new investigation reveals how Jeffrey Epstein worked with JPMorgan Chase while carrying out his sex-trafficking operation.

JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s top banks, worked with Epstein from the late 1990s until 2013, even as employees raised concerns about him, according to a new report by The New York Times. Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.

JPMorgan Chase processed more than 4,700 transactions for Epstein, which totaled more than $1.1 billion and included payments to his victims, the Times reports. It wasn’t until 2019 thatJPMorgan opened an internal investigation – called Project Jeep – and filed a report with federal regulators, retroactively flagging these transactions as suspicious, according to the outlet.

Epstein was also regularly withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars in cash nearly every month, which should have set off internal alarms, the Times reports. The bank also set up accounts for women who turned out to be Epstein’s victims, according to the Times.

JPMorgan spokesperson Joseph Evangelisti told the Times the bank’s relationship with Epstein “was a mistake and in hindsight we regret it, but we did not help him commit his heinous crimes.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jeffrey-epstein-jpmorgan-chase-bank-b2822445.html

Report:

Big banks enabled Epstein sex trafficking, US senator says

Story by Alissa Gary, oregonlive.com

 • 18h

Several major Wall Street banks ignored or failed to report Jeffrey Epstein’s suspicious financial transactions, enabling his extensive sex trafficking operation, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden concluded in a Tuesday report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/big-banks-enabled-epstein-sex-trafficking-us-senator-says/ar-AA29omjY

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

2015 and the rise of ISIS

Posted on August 4, 2026 by borderslynn

After the disastrous US led coalition onslaught on Iraq, supposedly to remove the ruler, Saddam Hussein and all his Sunni faith Baath Party, we saw terrible consequences in the Middle East:

The 2003 Iraq War began on March 20, 2003, when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military forces, capturing Baghdad by April 9, 2003. The war followed a U.S. ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, which he refused, and was justified by claims of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism. Wikipedia Encyclopedia Britannica

The world learned later Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, even though he may have aspired to have them.

Of course Halliburton became famous:

Halliburton was awarded a $7 billion no-bid contract during the Iraq War, which raised significant controversy due to its ties with former Vice President Dick Cheney, who was CEO of the company prior to taking office. The company has been criticized for profiting from the war and for alleged misconduct related to its contracts. Wikipedia corpwatch.org

See today the extent of Halliburton locations globally:

https://www.halliburton.com/en/software/smartdigital

Over the next 12 years the exiled Baath Party emerged as ISIS and wreaked havoc across the region as they fought, and nearly succeeded, in creating a Sunni Islamic Caliphate, enemies of Iranian Shia. See:

https://shiarightswatch.org/untold-stories-the-suffering-of-shia-muslims/?amp=1

The Baathists

How Saddam’s men help Islamic State rule

From military forces to spying, former Baathists are a powerful factor in the rise and control of Islamic State. A look inside the group’s surveillance operation shows how

MALA QARA, Iraq – Mohannad is a spy for Islamic State. He eavesdrops on chatter in the street markets of Mosul and reports back to his handlers when someone breaks the militant group’s rules. One man he informed on this year – a street trader defying a ban on selling cigarettes – was fined and tortured by Islamic State fighters, according to a friend of Mohannad’s family. If the trader did not stop, his torturers told the man, they would kill him.

Mohannad is paid $20 for every offender he helps to catch.

He is 14.

The teenager is one cog in the intelligence network Islamic State has put in place since it seized vast stretches of Iraq and neighbouring Syria. Informers range from children to battle-hardened fighters. Overseeing the network are former army and intelligence officers, many of whom helped keep former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party in power for years.

Saddam-era officers have been a powerful factor in the rise of Islamic State, in particular in the Sunni militant group’s victories in Iraq last year. Islamic State then out-muscled the Sunni-dominated Baath Party and absorbed thousands of its followers. The new recruits joined Saddam-era officers who already held key posts in Islamic State.

The Baathists have strengthened the group’s spy networks and battlefield tactics and are instrumental in the survival of its self-proclaimed Caliphate, according to interviews with dozens of people, including Baath leaders, former intelligence and military officers, Western diplomats and 35 Iraqis who recently fled Islamic State territory for Kurdistan.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/mideast-crisis-iraq-islamicstate/

Netanyahu advising Congess 2003, then 2022:

He says he told then-US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld ahead of the 2003 Iraq invasion that “you will finish this very quickly. But your primary goal is the Iranian regime. And the Iranian regime is trying to develop a nuclear weapon, even then.”

He says Israel had no evidence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was trying to develop a nuclear weapon then, apparently contradicting congressional testimony he gave in 2022 in which he said there was “no question whatsoever that Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Netanyahu has been ridiculed by some in the American press over the past week, which has been airing footage of that congressional testimony during which he urged the US to invade Iraq, insisting that it would stabilize the region.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-says-he-told-us-in-2003-that-invading-iraq-would-lead-to-quick-fall-of-saddam-hussein/

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Egypt: Damietta, LNG export terminal, now a net importer of US LNG

Posted on August 4, 2026 by borderslynn

Built to export LNG from the Middle East, the war on Iran has caused the cessation of exports and made Egypt in need of LNG from the US.

The illegal war on Iran by the US-Israel in February 2026 has pushed many Egyptians into poverty, with increasing food insecurity.

The Houthis launched a drone attack to hit a US LNG tanker which caused a sufficient fire for it to need to be pulled by tugs 13 miles from the port into a part of the Mediterranean away from shipping lanes. If it had ignited the gas tanks it would have blown up like an atom bomb and caused the incineration of the port plus thousands of Egyptians living in the region

Egypt had previously been an LNG exporter — Damietta hosted one of the Arabic-speaking world’s first LNG export terminals — but declining domestic gas production turned the country into a net importer.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/drone-hits-us-lng-vessel-094551195.html

Damietta Alliance Container Terminal Begins Operations With First Vessel Call

By Marek KowalskiFebruary 17, 2026

Updated:

March 8, 2026

Share

Credit: Contship

The Damietta Alliance Container Terminal has officially started commercial operations after receiving its first vessel call from the Essen Express, a 13,117-TEU container ship operated by Hapag-Lloyd.

The launch marks the opening of a new Mediterranean–North Africa transshipment hub built with more than $600 million in investment. The terminal is designed primarily to handle transshipment cargo and has an annual capacity of up to 3.3 million TEU.

According to the developers, about 80% of the terminal’s throughput is expected to come from transshipment operations, while the remaining 20% will support import and export flows serving Damietta, Cairo and nearby regional markets including the Levant and the Black Sea region.

The facility spans about 93 hectares and includes a 1,670-metre quay with a depth of 18 metres. Equipment at the terminal includes 12 fully electric ship-to-shore cranes with 25-row outreach and 40 hybrid rubber-tyred gantry cranes. The site also features rail infrastructure with six train lanes, two of which are operational at launch.

https://maritimemagz.com/damietta-alliance-container-terminal-begins-operations-with-first-vessel-call/amp/

SUEZ CANAL and pipeline to Damietta:

Drone Strike on Egypt’s Damietta Port Exposes European Energy Fragility

BYMUFLIH HIDAYATON AUGUST 1, 2026

Damietta Port Drone Strike: Egypt's Energy at Risk

The Eastern Mediterranean’s Fragile Energy Architecture and What One Drone Revealed

Energy infrastructure has always been the silent variable in geopolitical risk modelling. Markets price crude oil, natural gas futures, and shipping rates against a baseline assumption that the physical systems moving these commodities remain largely intact. That assumption is increasingly difficult to defend along the Eastern Mediterranean corridor, where a single drone strike on July 29, 2026 exposed the structural fragility sitting beneath Europe’s post-Russia gas diversification strategy.

The drone strike on Egypt’s Damietta port was not simply a regional security incident. It was a stress test applied to one of the most consequential energy chokepoints in the world at a moment when that chokepoint was already operating under historically elevated load.

https://discoveryalert.com.au/damietta-port-drone-strike-eastern-mediterranean-lng-cronos/

Posted in anthropocene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment