The saga of the Monaco package bomb attack carried out last week against an exiled Ukrainian oligarch just got even wilder and more mysterious, as the prime suspect has been found shot dead near Kiev.

The Guardian reports that “Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.”

The gunshot victim is reported to be Anastasiia Berezovska, 39-year old Ukrainian national who speaks German – and who has been on the run, and especially since the Friday issuance of a ‘red notice’ by Interpol for her immediate apprehension. There are reports that the would-be assassin had disguised herself as a man while carrying out the parcel bombing.

The victims of the June 29 bombing were Vadym Iermolaiev and his family, which all survived the bombing that took place at the entrance of his luxury Monaco apartment building (however, he and is girlfriend were very seriously injured). The suspected would-be assassin was seen fleeing to the French border, after which a massive police and security search, along with helicopters, ensued across Monaco, France, and even in Italy. Per Euronews:

After the explosion, she is believed to have walked to the nearby French town of Beausoleil, where she retrieved her rental car and drove through Italy to Germany, her last known country of residence, Morgan Raymond, Monaco’s deputy public prosecutor, told reporters.

“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who planted the device did not act alone,“ the prosecutor said, confirming that the individual was “a woman posing as a man.”

Given that Ukrainian businessman Iermolaiev had long ago been declared an enemy of the Ukrainian state, and has been under sanctions for years for his extensive business dealings in Crimea, Ukrainian intelligence has come under the spotlight for possible involvement in the Monaco bomb attack – a first of its kind in the small, wealthy principality.

Le Figaro reported that the investigation focuses on Zelensky’s secret police (SBU) in the Monaco bomb attack: “According to several concurring sources at Le Figaro, investigators are focusing on the possibility that the attack was orchestrated by the SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence service.”

It certainly looks curious that Berezovska fled strait to the Ukrainian capital. According to more details from The Guardian:

Prosecutors said in a statement that Berezovska received cryptocurrency payments from the two men who were later arrested, leading investigators to treat them as “individuals potentially involved in the attempted murder in Monaco”. They added that the serving HUR officer was “acting on his own initiative” and did not inform his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska.

Prosecutors also released footage showing a blood-stained “torture chamber”, containing hammers and other equipment, which they said was discovered during searches of the men’s properties.

So already the Zelensky government is desperately trying to distance itself from the ordeal, claiming that Ukraine’s own intelligence officer was merely “acting on his own”. More details are as follows:

Ukrainian authorities said they detained two men on suspicion of murdering Berezovska “by prior conspiracy.”

Police said that one of the men – a current employee of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate – confessed to the murder of Berezovska and claimed that the second suspect, who is a former law enforcement officer, was an accomplice.

Prince Albert II of Monaco had condemned the bombing as “an odious act” – and this was widely reported to be the first such terror bombing incident on the small, wealthy principality’s soil in history.

❗️🇺🇦 The suspects in the murder of Anastasia Berezovska are a former law enforcement officer and a current employee of State Security Service.

They are also suspected of involvement in the assassination attempt on Yermolaev.

During a search of the former law enforcement… pic.twitter.com/Jp1qObmR6e

— The Ukrainian Review (@UkrReview) July 7, 2026

While Russia has long been accused of deploying intelligence-linked assassin squads in Europe to hunt down political enemies, there’s lately been increasingly acknowledgement that Ukraine has been engaged in its own ‘dirty war’ of assassination hits, both within and outside of Russia.

There has already been an ideological and propaganda campaign to do something about the group of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen and politicians living in exile in Monaco. Government-aligned and independent Ukrainian media has long labelled this group the “Monaco battalion”.

Marine Le Pen can enter the race to become France’s next president after judges confirmed her embezzlement conviction on appeal but handed her a reprieve on an election ban.

Presiding Judge Michèle Agi confirmed Le Pen’s conviction, saying that she and several others at the National Rally party misused European Union funds earmarked to pay for aides.

But the appellate judges reduced her ban to 15 months, thus paving the way for her to lead her party into the next election.

“The court found that the enforcement of this penalty since March 31, 2025, has already remedied the breach of integrity to an extent compatible with the fundamental guarantees afforded to citizens, and that disregarding this would undermine the principle of freedom of candidacy, an essential condition for the democratic exercise of universal suffrage,” Judge Agi said in court.

Le Pen was initially convicted in March 2025 by first-instance judges, who gave her an election ban lasting five years and a two-year jail term that’s on hold while she appeals.

Her party was quick to react, with Bardella quipping on TV against what he described as the “tyranny of judges.”

Jordan Bardella, whom she has groomed as her chosen successor for years, is ready to take her spot as the lead candidate for the National Rally.

The 30-year-old would offer voters a somewhat different profile to Le Pen who has gained ground among voters in three successive presidential campaigns.

A recent poll suggested that either would lead the French election after a first round vote.

French bond yields are up modestly after the news, but were already higher before the decision…

For now, prediction markets show Le Pen’s odds of victory improving modestly from an admittedly low level, while Bardella, has consolidated his position as favorite to win…

While Le Pen can still lodge a top court challenge, she has promised to announce whether she’ll run or not after this ruling.

Still, the court gave Le Pen a one-year jail sentence that it indicated she would likely serve with an electronic tag, for at least a portion of the term, and she has indicated she would likely withdraw if she was forced to wear the bracelet during the campaign.

The decision now rests with Len Pen as to her future – she is scheduled to speak in a television interview at 8 p.m. local time.

A fully loaded Qatari LNG tanker was struck by a projectile near the Omani coast while exiting the Strait of Hormuz, raising fresh concerns that disruptions across the key energy maritime chokepoint could persist longer than traders had expected. Brent crude rose more than 1% to $72.76 a barrel as traders reassessed the war-risk premium in the Gulf area.

The Al Rekayyat, owned by Qatar’s state shipping company Nakilat, was struck early Tuesday about 8 nautical miles east of Limah, Oman, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter and an alert from EOS Risk Group.

EOS said the maritime incident involved either an Iranian suicide drone or a missile strike that resulted in a fire on the Al Rekayyat. No casualties were reported.

Al Rekayyat was fully loaded at Qatar’s Ras Laffan export terminal, making it the first Qatari LNG carrier targeted since the US-Iran conflict began in late February. The tanker appeared to be transiting part of the Hormuz chokepoint with its transponder off, indicating it was not on an Iranian-approved shipping route.

Following the attack, another Qatari-loaded LNG carrier, Al Areesh, made an abrupt U-turn before entering the strait and began circling, Bloomberg ship tracking data showed. Other tankers continued to sail through the highly contested chokepoint, including oil tankers and LPG carriers, using both Iran-approved and US-managed routes.

Later today, President Trump heads to a NATO summit in Ankara, where the Iran conflict is expected to be the center of discussion among world leaders.

US-Iran talks remain suspended while Tehran holds funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Qatar has said negotiations will resume after the ceremonies.

UBS analyst Justinus Steinhorst commented on market reaction:

Energy {UBXEENER} is among the best sectors on Tuesday after an LNG tanker was hit at Hormuz, rekindling fears around longer term disruption. Progress to normalise flows through strait appears to be stalling slightly with crossings still well below pre-conflict levels.

UBS analyst Aditi Samajpati noted:

Oil prices may remain under pressure in the near term as additional barrels from previously stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz reach the market. UBS Wealth Management CIO however believes the current price level overestimates how quickly traffic through the waterway will normalize as it takes time for shipping confidence to be fully restored and for tankers to return to the Persian Gulf to load oil for export. The Strait is now accommodating fewer ships than before the conflict began, and the recovery of shut-in production is likely to be slower than expected, CIO says, adding that broad commodity exposure continues to offer diversification benefits in a portfolio.

Vessel flows on the Hormuz chokepoint (transponders on) remain elevated but well below pre-war levels. This may only suggest the normalization process will take longer than expected.

Kpler analyst Muyu Xu said:

The continued use of different shipping lanes suggests that traffic through the strait remains operational, but is fragmented as shipowners adopt different routing strategies based on their individual risk assessments.

Latest Iran and Hormuz headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):

Strait of Hormuz Attacks

• Iran reportedly fired at least two missiles at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night, with both vessels suffering significant damage but no casualties

• A Qatari LNG carrier, Al Rekayyat, was struck by a projectile near the Omani coast on Tuesday morning as it exited the Strait of Hormuz

• Another loaded LNG tanker, Al Areesh, appears to have U-turned in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday following the strikes

• The attacks are testing a late-June US-Iran deal intended to halt attacks in the waterway as the two sides work toward a peace agreement

Diplomatic Developments

• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Tuesday that negotiations on a final deal will not commence if threats continue, referencing a memorandum of understanding with the US

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Iraq on Tuesday to attend funeral processions for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, scheduled for Wednesday in Najaf and Karbala

Market Impact

• European natural gas prices surged as much as 6% on Tuesday, the most in a month, following the attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz

• Oil prices climbed on Tuesday, with Brent trading near $73 a barrel, as the attacks highlighted continued risks to vessels in the critical waterway

• Gold fell for a second day on Tuesday, dropping as much as 1.2% to below $4,120 an ounce, as the Hormuz attacks rekindled inflation concerns

• France lowered its 2026 GDP growth forecast to 0.7% from 0.9%, citing the Middle East conflict as a factor holding back output

Oil Trade Developments

• India’s state-run refiners are in talks with traders marketing Iranian crude and preparing to buy barrels if the US extends waivers beyond August or eases restrictions

• Two supertankers hauling Saudi crude are heading to the US for the first time since February, following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

• Russia’s Urals crude price averaged $41.66 a barrel at western ports in early July, falling to pre-Iran war levels and less than half the level during the height of oil market turmoil in April

A fatal crash involving Tesla’s driver-assistance technology has resulted in manslaughter charges against a Texas man after his vehicle slammed into a home near Houston, killing a 76-year-old woman inside, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors say 44-year-old Michael David Butler told first responders he had been using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature while making a DoorDash delivery on June 19. Butler claimed he changed the music on the touchscreen before losing consciousness. Authorities said he was the only person in the car and that toxicology tests found no evidence of alcohol or drugs.

However, data recovered from the vehicle paints a different picture. Investigators said Butler repeatedly overrode the FSD system by pressing the accelerator, with the Tesla reportedly reaching speeds as high as 73 mph in a residential neighborhood. Officials also said there was no braking in the final moments before the vehicle crashed into the home. Investigators further uncovered Google searches indicating Butler had been frustrated that the software was not driving aggressively enough.

The WSJ reported that Tesla has pushed back on Butler’s version of events, stating that vehicle data shows the accelerator was held down by the driver both before and after the collision. The crash is now also under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of its ongoing scrutiny of advanced driver-assistance systems.

The crash is likely to intensify the long-running debate surrounding Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology. Although the software is marketed as capable of handling steering, braking, and acceleration in many driving situations, Tesla has consistently maintained that the system requires a fully attentive driver who is prepared to take control at any moment. Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not an autonomous driving system.

Critics have argued for years that the branding has created confusion among some drivers, leading them to place more trust in the technology than Tesla’s own warnings recommend. Regulators have repeatedly examined whether drivers are using the system as intended, while safety advocates have questioned whether the software encourages a false sense of security behind the wheel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened numerous investigations into crashes involving Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance features over the past several years, including several fatal incidents. Those investigations have fueled ongoing scrutiny of the company’s autonomous driving ambitions as Tesla continues to make artificial intelligence and self-driving technology central to its long-term strategy.

Authored by John Perry via AmericanThinker.com,

July 4, 1976, the American bicentennial.  

Along with other American students at University College, Oxford, I attended a grand banquet celebrating the occasion.  In the high-vaulted dining hall, our familiar, plain wooden tables and benches were awash in linen, china, fresh flowers, silver, silver, and more silver: candlesticks, ewers, wine coolers, chargers, and items a young man from Spring Branch, Texas could not readily identify.  We feasted heartily, drank really good wine, heard speeches, and toasted President Gerald Ford.  It was a great night to be an American.

Looking back at that celebration fifty years on, it’s clear that the U.S. and Britain have gone in very different directions since then.  

Britain in 1976 seemed to this novice traveler like a downtrodden older cousin, tired and worn around the edges yet with a sense of history and purpose, a proud past, a charming personality, and the notion that “there will always be an England.”

Unfortunately, immigration, lawlessness, blind obedience to the global warming hoax, and a fading confidence in their own brilliant history have rendered Great Britain a shadow of its former self.

Britain today seems to have lost its way, given up, and virtually turned itself over to third-world invaders.  Great Britain resolutely held off foreign invasion through two world wars.  But over the past fifty years, in an era of relative peace and prosperity, they have turned one of history’s truly great and accomplished cultures over to gate-crashers who have diluted it almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond saving.

Fortunately, history has shown America a different way, though millions of illegals flooded in before our leaders saw the light.  With its ruinous and indefensible open borders policy, the U.S. nearly went down the same dark path as our British friends.  Only a change of command and a resurgence of common sense saved us in the nick of time.  For now.

In another unfortunate misstep, Britain has spent years destroying itself before the false god of climate change.  Their people freeze and roast while vast and easily extracted stores of coal sit unused.  Their North Sea oil and gas riches wait offshore, largely ignored and untapped today after an initial bonanza of energy production.  Windmills, solar panels, and electric car mandates will do still further damage.  Yes, the climate is changing.  It has always changed.  (Ask the Vikings who lived in Greenland until it got too cold in the 1400s.)  But fossil fuels don’t cause climate change.  And nothing the world does — or doesn’t do — will stop it.

Thank goodness America’s current leadership has the sense to throw out decades of junk science and embrace energy development that keeps Americans comfortable, healthy, and safe.  And gives us freedom to choose.  If you want an electric car, Elon Musk makes the best in the world.  If you can’t resist a scorching V-8, America has some brand-new ones that will make your eyes bug out.  

Even in 1976, the British seemed different from people back home.  Americans appeared more prosperous, ambitious, hopeful, independent, curious, and confident.  They had more sparkle and optimism.  On the train one morning in Oxford, I struck up a conversation with a passenger who was about my age.  Hearing my accent, he pumped me for information about the American West — Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas.  He dreamed of going there to work on a ranch and have his own place one day, he said, because in Britain the land was all bought up and no one had any way to improve his prospects.  No one expected to get ahead.  To him, America was the shining New World of opportunity.

I wrote in my journal that summer about crowds in the street seeming gray and listless, shuffling through the day in a joyless, inevitable sort of way.  I didn’t know exactly how to describe what I felt, but it centered on what my fellow passenger had said about how Americans seemed to have optimism about the future, a sense they could change their lives for the better, while the British were shunted onto a path somehow and that was it.  No New World for them.

Fifty years after my bicentennial celebration abroad, despite all the slings and arrows arraigned against it, the United States is still the United States.  Still the freest, most prosperous country in world history.  Still maintaining the highest per capita income and standard of living in the world (not counting Monaco, Liechtenstein, etc., which have no Democrats).  Still defending its founding principles anywhere and everywhere. 

On the other hand, the Britain of 1976 has disappeared, a victim of irresponsible and short-sighted leadership whose immigration and energy policies have driven the country to its knees.  A nation that was once quirky and a little past its prime, yet still solid at its core and capable of renewal, has devolved into one that is morally and culturally spent, bereft of an identity, embarrassed at its past triumphs, and imprisoned by forces determined to bring it down.

Many noteworthy comparisons between ’76 and today are in the little things.  In 1976, the mail in Oxford came twice a day.  This was of course so one could get a letter in the morning and, like any civilized correspondent, answer it the same afternoon.  Twice-a-day mail delivery is history now.  In fact, unless you pay a premium, routine mail is delivered only every other day and not on weekends.

British trains in ’76 looked as though Hercule Poirot might step off onto the platform at any moment.  Each car had individual compartments connected by an interior corridor along one side.  They were quiet, plush, and easy to get in and out of.  They had plenty of storage, and they lent a degree of British elegance to even the most routine train journey.  It’s all gone today.

Table service in ’76 was a dream for anyone who enjoys the experience and spectacle of dining.  The most mundane meals were enhanced by traditional tea service (strainer, stand, sugar cubes and tongs, milk pitcher), toast racks, fish knives, and an array of spoons from coffee (doll-like, half the size of a teaspoon) to soup (massive; don’t put the whole thing in your mouth).  Even expensive restaurants hardly make the effort now.

At the opera, excellent binoculars were provided in racks on the seat backs.  Those are long gone, I suspect, because they started disappearing.

But the biggest disappearance since 1976 is that in ’76, Britain was full of British people, and in ’26, they have disappeared.  During the course of a day, a visitor can interact with dozens of cashiers, shopkeepers, drivers, clerks, waiters, guards, officials, and strangers at the bus stop without encountering a single native English speaker.  What happened to them?  And why would any business hire employees who cannot clearly speak the local language when it’s the language of the world?

The British today seem embarrassed by their Britishness.  Swamped by a tidal wave of political correctness, they’ve been cowed into submission for even thinking about defending one of the great cultures of the world.

By any reasonable measure, Britain is better than any immigrant homeland.  Their courts, schools, hospitals, law enforcement, business environment, and other institutions are better.  Otherwise, why would hordes of people from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere clamor to get to the British Isles?

Britain has been diluted beyond recognition by foreigners who come not to build a career, but to mooch off the British welfare system.  Rather than compel them to pull their own weight and contribute to the greater good of the Commonwealth, the government allows them to fester, holding on to their third-world ways and customs — sharia courts, Islamic schools — chipping away at all the institutions that shaped Britain, brought it to life, and sustain it today. 

England’s laws are the bedrock of modern jurisprudence.  Its industry has been the template for the modern world.  Its culture and civilization led the way into the industrial age.  Its language is the first international language in history.  Yet somehow the English have allowed themselves to feel inferior to a host of invading cultures and civilizations.  Let us hope that the Spirit of ’26 — or ’76 — will inspire them anew.

After following Great Britain up the ladder to prosperity and influence, America came too close to following it back down these past fifty years.  Yet by God’s grace, our history has led us along a different path, upward to an ever stronger, safer, more prosperous nation — a shining New World of opportunity for all. 

On this glorious occasion of America 250, that’s truly worth celebrating.

Arabica coffee futures jumped the most since the Dot Com era as worsening weather in Brazil and shrinking exchange-managed warehouses intensified concerns about near-term supply. This comes as El Niño threats rise across critical agricultural belts worldwide.

New York prices jumped as much as 18.5% on Monday to $3.57 a pound, the highest since January. This was the largest single-session gain since July 18, 2000.

Context on the squeeze: Traders had been expecting a large Brazilian crop, but rains have slowed the harvest, and growers are holding back sales in hopes of better prices.

Bloomberg noted: 

Technical factors also were at play. The Intercontinental Exchange last week raised margin requirements as prices increased, making it costlier for traders to maintain positions and potentially pushing some out of the market, said Judy Ganes, president at J. Ganes Consulting.

“This move is just one of those fear days and people covering,” Ganes said. But it’s hard to justify it fundamentally.”

Bloomberg quoted Rural Clima meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos as saying that rain is forecast for a large part of Brazil in mid-July, which will be “detrimental” to crops, including coffee. “This is directly linked to El Niño, which has been gaining strength week after week,” he added.

The rally adds to a broader El Niño-driven surge across soft commodities, with sugar, rice, and cocoa also rising.

Latest El Niño coverage:

• El Niño Heat Wave Fuels HVAC Boom: Goldman Maps The Trade
• Super El Niño: Famine Follows War?

Arabica inventories in exchange-monitored warehouses are at their lowest levels since March 2024.

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Russian crude oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Middle East war, with its flagship Urals averaging just $41.66 a barrel during the first three days of July.

The drop wipes out the revenue boost Moscow received from the conflict and pressures a federal budget that assumes oil prices of about $59 a barrel. 

Urals had averaged more than $59 a barrel every month since March and climbed to $60.92 in June after the U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher prices gave the Kremlin room to replenish its reserve fund for the first time in nearly a year and delay planned spending cuts. With Urals now back near $42 a barrel, that relief could be short-lived. Oil and gas account for roughly one-third of Russia’s federal budget revenues. 

Reuters reported Monday that a European intelligence assessment warned the country’s banking sector is becoming increasingly vulnerable after years of war-driven lending, with rising bad loans and deteriorating asset quality risking a wider financial crisis.

According to the assessment, Russian banks have absorbed much of the financial burden of the war by extending subsidized loans to defense contractors, state-backed companies and households. The report estimates that roughly 10% of corporate loans are now considered doubtful, while some major lenders have retail non-performing loan ratios as high as 15%. It also cites more than 500,000 personal bankruptcies in 2025.

Ukraine also continues with campaigns targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure. Bloomberg reported Monday that drones were intercepted near the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, two of Russia’s key crude export hubs. There were no reports of damage or disruptions to oil exports. 

First it was Finland which lifted its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, declaring its willingness to host NATO’s arsenal (which is largely provided by the US), and now Lithuania has become the latest European country to move to do the same.

Lithuania, which has been a NATO member state since 2004, has newly declared its willingness to be part of the alliance’s nuclear sharing program. “We would like to be the integral part of this nuclear deterrence,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said at a conference in Berlin on Friday, according to AFP.

“A few days ago, I initiated a constitutional amendment to remove the existing restriction on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania,” Nauseda added.

Soon on the heels of this speech, a group of 50 Lithuanian lawmakers submitted an amendment, but which is still expected to be formally presented before parliament.

Nauseda touted that there is “practically unanimous” support among lawmakers for repealing the ban outlined in Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution.

“Almost all parliamentary faction leaders expressed the view that Article 137 has become obsolete and should not merely be amended but removed,” Nauseda said.

As for the current constitutional prohibition in question: 

Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution currently states that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be located on Lithuanian territory.

Finland’s parliament has already voted on its own reversal last month, after which Russia moved to secure more border areas with NATO countries.

This is expected to further severely impact trade and worsen official relations with these countries:

Russia has closed seven railway border checkpoints with Finland, Estonia and Latvia, according to a government decree published Tuesday.

The suspension, which takes effect July 1, halts the movement of individuals, vehicles and cargo through the designated rail crossings. Five of the shuttered checkpoints are located on the Finnish border, while Estonia and Latvia each have one crossing affected.

Officials have not disclosed the reasons for the closures or when the checkpoints might reopen.

In Estonia, the Ivangorod freight and passenger crossing will remain open, and in Latvia, the Sebezh crossing will also stay open. However, the closures leave Finland with no open railway crossings with Russia, which normally exports fertilizer to Finland by rail.

Finland shut its eastern vehicle and pedestrian border crossings with Russia indefinitely in December 2023 following an influx of asylum seekers.

Since the Ukraine war began, and in context of ratcheting tensions with NATO over its military support to Kiev, Moscow has steadily militarized its border regions with Baltic and Scandinavian states.

The most significant source of NATO’s nuclear-sharing program remains the United States. But lately France has expressed a desire to station some of its atomic arsenal in partner countries, and this could include in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and others.

Via Remix News,

For the first time in European history, an EU party alliance could be outright banned in the European Parliament, which would mark a major blow to democracy and rule of law.

The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN), which includes nine right-wing European parties, has been relentlessly attacked by the EU establishment since its founding in 2024. The ESN’s largest party member, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has also been the target of efforts for an outright ban at the national level in Germany. While left-wing and establishment parties are struggling to implement a ban on the AfD in Germany, at the European federal level, democratic checks and balances and the rule of law are far weaker.

Now, the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) is seeking to de-register the ESN, which would strip it of all its funding and de facto lead to the end of the party.

German MEP Alexander Sell of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is a founding member of the ESN and has since become the president of the Sovereignty Foundation (SF), the foundation formally associated with the ESN. He said he is speaking as the president of the SF and discussed the efforts his party is taking to fight this de-registration, how much of the APPF’s actions are an extension of the political warfare being waged against the AfD at the national level, and even touches on his own personal motivations for participating in politics as an AfD member despite the massive degree of personal attacks and even physical threats.

There is a lot of discussion about your party facing a potential ban from this European watchdog [Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF)], but how realistic is it that your party will actually be banned in the near future?

It’s a realistic scenario because the authority — the European Authority for Political Parties and Foundations (APPF) — has the power to de-register parties. They register European parties and they also have the authority to de-register a European party, and that is what they are planning to do.They have a couple of accusations against us. They have a 300-page dossier on our party.

So they will start the investigation, but they will give us the chance to answer the accusations. And then they have the authority to ban our party.

And do you have any idea of what the political leanings of the people in this watchdog are? Does your party view a negative outcome as already a foregone conclusion?

Well, there are some indications that this is a political maneuver, because the director of this authority, [Pascal Schonard,] is German and he used to work for the CDU.  He was a member of Klaus Welle’s cabinet. For almost a decade, Klaus Welle was Secretary-General of the European People’s Party and the EPP–ED group in the European Parliament.

So I think there are political intentions behind this attempt to de-register our party. But still, I don’t think it is 100% guaranteed, because in the end you have to acknowledge that on the European level there are many parties like ours. There is a shift to the right all over Europe.You have governments — for example in Italy, the Czech Republic or Slovakia — that are led by patriotic forces. So I don’t think it will be that easy.

The majorities in the European Parliament are also shifting to the right because that is what voters want.They want patriotic, realistic and more free-market-oriented policies, and that is what we are seeing on the European level. We want to get rid of bureaucracy, we want to get rid of climate policy, we want to secure our borders — and we have majorities for that.

So I think this attempt to ban our party will not be easy, because European voters are demanding something else.I mean, you have to take into account that the AfD is the strongest political party in Germany, polling at around 29%, which is a large margin ahead of the CDU. So I think it will be very controversial to ban our European party.

But what real checks and balances are there if they move forward with a ban? Would you appeal?

Yes, we will appeal the decision by the authority. Definitely. And I think we have good reasons to appeal, because what they are accusing us of is that we are not respecting European values. Well, I don’t agree with that. We are very democratic — the AfD is very democratic. Our partner parties from other countries are very democratic. We would never come up with the idea of banning political competition. That is not how we work. We are working for democratic majorities.

So I think we are respecting European values of democracy in a more serious manner than other parties. Also, talking about the rule of law: we have always criticised the European Union for breaking its own laws. For example, in the attempt to rescue the euro and in the migration crisis, they violated the laws that the EU itself had decided on — and that is what we have criticised from the beginning.

So I would say that we are actually the defenders of the rule of law within the European Union, and those are the arguments we will bring forward in court if we have to appeal the decision by the European authorities.

So, during this appeal process, would your grouping be banned right away or would it continue to exist during the appeal?

The authority has the right to ban or de-register a party. So from the moment the authority takes a decision, our party is banned.

The efforts at EU level almost seem to mirror what is happening in Germany itself. Do you feel that this is simply an extension of what is already happening in Germany?

Yes, definitely. I think this is the easier route for them than banning the AfD at national level. There is less attention on the European political party, and in Germany they would need a decision by the Constitutional Court, which is harder to obtain than a decision by the APPF. So I think they chose to attack us at the European level.

There is also still no money for an AfD political foundation, even though this is normally standard for any political party of our size in the Bundestag, right?

Talking about the political foundations, just to give you an idea of the amounts involved: around 700 million euros per year is distributed to the political foundations of the CDU, SPD, the Greens, the liberals and the Communist party (editor’s note: Left Party).

These are incredible figures. They use that money, for example, to recruit in the universities. That is something we are not able to do, because they are denying us those funds and they keep changing the rules on how to obtain the money. It used to be available after two terms in parliament, and they changed it. They are still denying us that money, which puts us at a huge disadvantage, because we would have access to 60 to 70 million euros that we could use for scholarships in universities or to fund research.It is a really important instrument in the political debate, and we are being denied it on an unlawful basis.

That is the situation. You have to understand: they are still talking about banning the most successful party in Germany, according to the polls. We are the strongest party in the polls by a large margin, and the losing parties are seriously considering prohibiting our party and calling it “protecting democracy” while actually prohibiting democracy. That is the situation in Germany.

I think it is an unprecedented case, and it shows that true democracy is still not very well established in Germany, unfortunately.

[Chancellor Friedrich] Merz has already said that he did not want to ban the AfD because it “stinks of attacking a political rival.” There would also be electoral consequences for the CDU, since knocking out the AfD could create a huge vacuum that the left would fill. The CDU could then be sidelined. Do you think it is realistic that the CDU will go along with this?

I think at national level they will not, because there is also international attention on this case. The Americans and others around the world are watching what is happening in Germany. It would be a huge scandal, and I think it would seriously weaken Friedrich Merz’s position internationally if he ended up abolishing democracy in Germany. So I don’t think they will go that far.

But at European level it is a different story. I think the CDU itself — or at least a majority within the CDU delegation in the European Parliament — would very much go along with it. On the other hand, I see that the EPP is not united on this.

You have to remember that some members of the EPP, such as Forza Italia and the Partido Popular in Spain, are already in coalition with right-wing parties — members of the Patriots for Europe or the ECR. So the so-called cordon sanitaire, the firewall as it is called in Germany, is not working at European level.

I think the same will apply to this decision to ban us: they will not have all their EPP members on side. Many of them, especially outside Germany, realize that voters want different policies and that we are driving these new policies. They understand that cooperation will eventually be necessary — and they are already seeing this in Italy, Spain and France.

You had the deportation regulation, where a French MEP worked together with one of our MEPs. So to go so far as to prohibit, for the first time in history, a European political party would create tensions inside the EPP — and rightly so. I hope there are still some democrats left within the EPP.

The APPF even cited the term “remigration” as a basis for this ban. But this term is also being used by the Patriots for Europe grouping. How long before that party is targeted in the same way?

Well, we could talk about a lot of comments. If you look at the left, the way they talk about Israel and the right of the state of Israel to exist, you could also argue that this goes against the idea of human dignity. The same applies to slogans like “From the river to the sea.” It is not as if accusations could not also be made against other parties.

These terms are so vague that you could find something against almost any party. They researched statements by members of our national member parties long before we even founded the ESN. So they are holding us responsible for comments made years ago, when the ESN did not even exist.It is the same for all the other European parties — including the EPP and the Social Democrats.

You will always find some member somewhere, perhaps in Spain or Slovakia, who has said something that could be argued to go against “European values.” It is simply a question of resources. This authority has the resources to produce a 300-page dossier, and we do not. But it would be easy to produce a similar report on any other European political party.

I understand that your grouping wants to give its members freedom of speech and that there are probably differing views among the parties in your grouping. But how much can this watchdog punish the entire party for comments made in the past by individual politicians?

Well, that is exactly what we are doing. I do accept that, as a European political party — and this is also in our statutes — we have to ensure that our national member parties adhere to so-called European values. I also share these values: the rule of law, democracy and respect for human dignity.I think we need better methods to ensure we can sanction members who contradict these values, so that our national parties respect them.

That is what we are doing. We changed our statutes last Friday at a general assembly. For example, we expanded the board. Until now we did not have a representative from each member party on the board. Now we will have representatives of every national member party on the ESN board. So if something controversial is said or published in one of our member states, we will have a contact person we can talk to — someone who is also responsible for taking corrective measures.

We have implemented these changes because we recognize our responsibility for all our national member parties, and the new structure will allow us to intervene more effectively when necessary.

Just a personal question. AfD members and politicians face a constant stream of attacks, and this potential ban could be seen as an extension of that. In Eastern Europe, even parties considered more right-wing operate in a more right-leaning environment without a large Antifa scene that wants to set your car on fire. As an AfD politician, how do you deal with the psychological pressure of facing extremely high levels of personal attacks and even the threat of physical attacks on an almost constant basis?

One of the main characteristics of the German mindset is conformism — a conformism that can even extend to violence against non-conformists. That is what we are seeing now. They burn our cars, they attack our houses. They try to debank us. We are still looking for a bank account for the foundation.

For foreigners it is sometimes hard to understand how this can happen in Germany. Germany is a very conformist society: you are not supposed to step out of line. The AfD is stepping out of line because too many things are going wrong in Germany. It started with migration, well, actually it started with the euro crisis, I recently saw figures from UBS in Switzerland on average wealth distribution in Europe. Germany is behind Greece and far behind Spain, Italy and France — yet we remain the biggest net contributor to the European Union, even though we are significantly poorer than those countries.

If you travel to Italy, Spain or France, you can see there is more wealth there. But people are not allowed to say this.

The same applies to migration. The problems are obvious if you look at German cities, but we are not allowed to point them out. This is due to the very strong conformism in Germany. You are supposed to support the European Union, open borders and migration. You are supposed to support Ukraine against Russia. It is very hard for Germans to object to any of this.

This differentiates us from countries like France, which has a history of revolution, or the Anglo-Saxon world, which has a tradition of healthy mistrust towards government. Germans have very high trust in their government. They do not dare to criticize those in power.

That is one of the reasons I can live with the attacks and the social ostracism. I am convinced that we have the better arguments. People are suffering, and eventually the suffering will become so great that they will realize they have been betrayed by their government. They will understand that we were right from the beginning — and we are already seeing this in the polls.

In some eastern German states we are polling at around 42%, at least above 40%.This is also because East Germans have already experienced one government collapsing. They saw socialism fail and they saw that all the propaganda produced by the socialist regime was a lie. That is why they do not believe the propaganda of the current German government, and they are voting for the opposition — which is us.

Read more here…

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The CIA has investigated thousands of personnel and contractors for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new lawsuit.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees and contractors. Shortly after, the CIA’s chief operating officer directed the CIA’s Counter Espionage Department to investigate all unvaccinated contractors and workers within the agency, plaintiffs said in the suit, which was filed on June 30 in federal court in Virginia.

“Any employee or contractor who refused the vaccine was treated by the Agency as a threat to the United States government and ordered to be investigated as the same,” the suit reads.

A cross-agency group established by former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard learned in 2025 from a whistleblower of the order and asked for confirmation from the CIA. The CIA responded by confirming the investigation of thousands of employees and contractors, according to the legal complaint. The CIA declined to cite an authority for the investigation order.

James Erdman III, one of the unvaccinated employees, formally asked the CIA to remove all material from the investigations and information in employee files that stemmed from the probes, lawyers representing unvaccinated CIA employees said. The agency never responded, leading to the lawsuit.

Erdman, who worked with Gabbard’s group, recently testified to the Senate about the CIA spying on the group as it worked on a number of matters, including the CIA’s change in its assessment of the origins of COVID-19.

The suit seeks certification of a class of employees who did not take a vaccine and were investigated. Plaintiffs also want the court to declare the order from the chief operating officer illegal and force the CIA to remove any information yielded from the investigation from employee and contractor files.

The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.

None of the workers affected by the investigations has been fired.

“The fact that the investigation occurred in the first instance, and the fact that there has been no assurances that anything stemming from that investigation has been essentially wiped clean, it does, unfortunately, set conditions—precedent—for where if there is any reason or need to investigate any of these individuals at any future date, this could be used as a basis to do so,” Carol Thompson, one of the lawyers representing the officers, told The Epoch Times.

“So it kind of unfortunately puts them in—the employees and contractors—in a precarious situation where they otherwise never should have been.”

Feds for Freedom, a group cofounded by Erdman, is supporting the lawsuit.

“Federal employees serving at the highest levels of our national security apparatus should never face counterespionage investigations simply for exercising a personal medical choice,” said Olivia Degenkolb, vice president of the organization, in a statement.

“These officers were targeted solely for their vaccination status. That is unacceptable. We are seeking justice in federal court to protect their rights and ensure our government upholds the rule of law.”