MiniBannister

[Frenkie_Woody @Frenkie_Woody]

13 anni fa morivi per lasciare il posto ad una bambina, sulla scialuppa di salvataggio, della Costa Concordia e nessuno ti ha ancora fatto diventare un eroe.

Mi dispiace che a ricordare il tuo grande gesto non ci sia quasi nessuno, ma sono le persone come te che fanno grande e bello questo mondo.

Grazie Giuseppe Girolamo per il tuo gesto ❤

[Slimfit @iSlimfit]

She didn’t lie at all 😂

[Jahanzib Wesa @jahanzibwesa]

This is just one story! More than 1,800 days without education. Afghan girls are being denied their rights, forced into child marriage, driven into mental health crises, and some are dying by suicide. How many more lives must be lost before the UN and the world act? #LetHerLearn

[Benonwine @benonwine]

I worked for Waitrose for 25 years. In the final years, the company installed sanitary product dispensers in the men’s toilets and allowed men who identified as trans even without any surgery into the women’s changing rooms and toilets.

Many female staff, especially the younger women, came to me as I was a Councillor and Rep in distress. They felt uncomfortable and threatened. In one branch, a man was permitted to use and shave in the women’s changing rooms while young girls were getting changed and it was no secret he abused the power he was given because he said he was trans to get away with anything he wished as he knew he was untouchable as he quite often told everyone.

This is the same company that has now decided “not all people who have periods are women” and dropped “feminine” from their sanitary products.

Waitrose didn’t just ignore women’s boundaries they actively removed them. They prioritised the feelings of men over the safety, privacy and dignity of female staff and customers.

After 25 years on the inside, I can tell you this isn’t inclusion. It’s ideology and virtue signalling. Women who spoke out were silenced, intimidated, and sacked just as I was.

The female staff who actually work there are paying the price while being told to stay quiet or be sacked if they speak out.

[Mersiha Gadzo @MersihaGadzo]

"Srebrenica, you are dear to us. May it happen three more times."

This is the song that Serbs are playing after today's commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide.

[Georgios Konstandi @kongeorgios]

As Bosnians gather to honour the Srebrenica Genocide victims, this is what genocide survivors in Brčko (northern Bosnia) were greeted with. Genocide denial (“Srebrenica isn’t a genocide”) and triumphalism celebrating convicted genocidaire Ratko Mladić.

This is the reality in which Bosnians—particularly Bosniaks—are forced to live across BiH. All year round.

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

I invite you to imagine how you would want our government to respond if a single rocket was fired into a neighborhood near you by an enemy sworn to kill you all. Now watch this video and remember it isn't rain you're seeing.

[ME24 - Middle East 24 @MiddleEast_24]

U.S. Study Submitted to Congress Labels Sudan’s "Kizan" Movement Among History’s Most Destructive Regimes

A U.S. study submitted to Congress has characterized Sudan’s Islamist movement—commonly known as the "Kizan" or Muslim Brotherhood—as one of the most destructive models of governance in modern history.

According to The Sudan Times, the study details how the former Islamist-backed regime systematically hollowed out official state institutions to construct a parallel network of political, financial, security, and media power. It establishes that vital national resources, including oil, gold, livestock, and agriculture, were diverted into off-budget financial channels, triggering economic collapse, widespread institutional corruption, and the total erosion of state authority. Notably, the report compares the Sudanese Islamist model unfavorably to criminal syndicates like the Italian mafia, asserting that its unique danger lay in capturing the state apparatus from within rather than operating outside it.

[S Sebag Montefiore @simonmontefiore]

This is grippingly surreal. Heart of Darkness de nos jours.
Wagner’s Remnants Are Running an Opioid Empire in the Center of Africa https://t.co/Fb7aF3jLrj

[For Women Scotland @ForWomenScot]

@AmnestyUK @SexMattersOrg @chiaracapraro @AllianceLGB @ThePosieParker @TheCountessIE @WomensRightsNet @WomensSpaceIre @NotAllGays @Ire_LGBAlliance @TheAkoFiles @iseult @transwidows @ChildrenOfTrans @bellingcat @DarlingtonUnion @MForstater @project_lesbian @jk_rowling @beirasplace Bellingcat & Amnesty: if you are going to accuse women of being part of a global conspiracy awash with evil money, you better back it up.

Snide innuendos about Trump or only being "fronted" by feminists or LGB activist to disguise our "evangelical" intent doesn't cut it.

[Haddock @Kap10Haddock]

Russia/Sovjet on average, one invasion every 6,3 years since WW2...

It's high time this evil imperial schizo-nation is stopped❗️

[Progressive Misogyny @JustMisogyny]

She invented a Munchausen by Proxy patient.

Fictitious Factitious Disorder Imposed On Another Imposed On Another Disorder.

[Globalflyguy @NYflightguy]

@NYTimesPR https://t.co/IgpZ3vFiox

[The Lies They Tell @sarahstuartxx]

'The Derek Jarman lecture is Queer@Kings flagship event and captures the politics of what they aim to do at the University. It is King’s College, of course, who are running the puberty blocker trial for gender dysphoric children.'

My latest blog.

https://t.co/4Ul5O7LQbG

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

On July 9, The Economist gave fifteen minutes of its readers' time to Andrey Melnichenko - a Russian industrialist subject to Western sanctions who decided to "explain" to the world why a "broken" Russia would be bad news for everyone.

This is the main narrative of Russian propaganda. And Melnichenko is by no means a Russian opposition figure. It is the Kremlin speaking through this article.

The author emphasizes right away: he is neither a politician nor an ideologist; his world consists of "complex material systems"; he is simply describing reality. But that's not true.

A person who is "not a politician" is given a platform that politicians dream of. A sanctioned oligarch lectures on the inviolability of sovereignty to the very capitals that have frozen his assets - at a time when the Russian economy enters its most difficult period since the start of the full-scale war. That is why it is not the content of the article that is interesting - it contains almost no new ideas. What is interesting is the very fact that it has appeared right now.

Because this is Russia's weakness and vulnerability speaking. A position of strength doesn't communicate this way. A position of strength remains silent and exerts pressure.

The messenger is part of the signal. This is an old Kremlin practice: when Moscow needs to tell the West something that is inconvenient to say officially, it is not the foreign ministry that speaks, but a formally independent individual. Melnichenko is a modern version of this mechanism: an apolitical technocrat, a "systems physicist."

Even Chornobyl has been woven into his biography as a defining experience - a disaster that occurred in Ukraine becomes part of a Russian's history, while Ukraine itself disappears from the narrative. Let's keep this trick in mind; it will be repeated on a larger scale.

The author's personal interests align perfectly with those of the regime: a man with frozen assets argues that peace requires recognition of Russian sovereignty. He doesn't even need to pretend - the most effective agent of influence is the one who sincerely presents the political line as his own life experience.

This isn't a column. It's a political message conveyed through the editorial staff, a test of the waters that can always be dismissed as a businessman's personal opinion. The only question is: why test the waters if you're convinced you're winning?

The article focuses on four scenarios for postwar Russia: a humiliated Russia will generate revanchism; a Russia dependent on China will simply swap one patron for another; Russia's collapse will trigger a struggle over the nuclear arsenal; and a "fortress Russia," which will make war the state's way of existence.

Four scenarios, and - what an amazing coincidence - all of them are catastrophic. The author does not name a fifth scenario, but he leads the reader right to it: to accept Russia as it is and make it the center of a new security architecture. The reader is intelligent; they will figure it out for themselves.

This is how a false menu works - it's recognized by what's missing from it. There is no experience of Germany or Japan - countries that were defeated, changed, and became part of a new order. Melnichenko dismisses the comparison in a single sentence: "Russia is not a defeated power." It's convenient: the outcome of a war that is still ongoing is declared in advance.

Just beneath that lies nuclear blackmail without direct threats: Russia's defeat is portrayed as impossible without a global catastrophe. Accept our terms now, or the next Russia will be even more dangerous.

The key word of the article is "sovereignty," and the author manipulates its two meanings. The classical one - the equality of states and non-interference. And the Kremlin's version - Russia's right to remain untouchable, yet to influence its neighbors.

For Russia, any external influence is unacceptable; for Ukraine, sovereignty suddenly becomes conditional - it is sovereign as long as its decisions do not conflict with Russian interests.

Similarly, the three "restrained" terms for peace - recognition of territories, protection of Russian speakers, and neutrality - are the demands of February 2022: legalization of annexations, a mechanism for constant interference, and a ban on choosing alliances.

In the text, Ukraine is a "battlefield," a "price," and a "tragedy of the peoples of a shared historical space" (do you recognize the softened version of "one people"?).

There are only two subjects - Russia and the West. It's the same trick as with Chornobyl, only now an entire country with forty million people disappears. Hence the main message to European elites: negotiations must be conducted with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv.

But the article is also addressed to Russia. The passage about business is a public declaration of loyalty to the regime's capital. Here, sovereignty is no longer a characteristic of the state, but a shared responsibility of everyone: citizens, business, and science. Everything else can be put off. For later. After the victory.

Those capable of creating are left with two options: emigration and severing all ties, or working for a project. Staying and not supporting the course is not an option. And since the author never distinguishes between state sovereignty and the preservation of the political system, defending sovereignty means supporting the regime, presented as a nationwide consensus.

And only within this framework does a quiet bargain take place: business does not claim power, but expects a renegotiation of the internal agreement after the war.

The section on China is aimed at two audiences: the West ("Don't push us toward Beijing; we're not lost yet), and China ("Don't count on us as a vassal"). Moscow is trading its geopolitical orientation because it is the last liquid asset it possesses.

Why now? Because strikes on refineries, sanctions, pressure on the budget, and risks in the Middle East all mean one thing: time is no longer on Moscow's side.

The text contains the most candid sentence: "A war of attrition cannot be won by itself." This is written by a side that has already done the math and didn't like the result. You don't test the waters when you're ready for peace. You do it when you realize you're not ready to continue.

The worst response is to argue against individual points - such discussions accept the framework, and the framework is the main product here.

The right response is to read the signal: the Kremlin has acknowledged that it won't win a war of attrition, and is looking for a way out in which defeat will be called architecture.

It's necessary not to rush with the "architecture" that the weaker side is retroactively projecting, as well as not to discuss Ukraine without Ukraine, if only because its subjectivity, which the text so persistently overlooks, is precisely the variable that has shattered all of Moscow's calculations.

And, in conclusion, one simple rule: when the Kremlin takes the Western stage to ask to be recognized as a subject, it has already answered the question of how it sees itself.

[WDI.Afghanistan @WDIAfghanistan1]

🚨Taliban have invalidated all divorces granted under previous Afghan government, forcing divorced child brides to return to their former husbands. Thousands of young women, some of whom married as children, are now legally bound to return to adult husbands they had been freed from. The new rule is being widely condemned as a grotesque violation of women’s rights, trapping many in abusive marriages.💔

[Jane Bradley @jane__bradley]

NEW: How Putin turned Japan into a den of spies to help his war machine –– and the secret military intelligence unit at the centre of his efforts to get the technology Russia needs to keep attacking Ukraine

Latest investigation w @mschwirtz + Adam Goldman https://t.co/0s6Y5h4ypp

[𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 🇮🇷 ✡︎ @NiohBerg]

All of this has sources and evidence for it. I had no idea it's this bad until fairly recently.

https://t.co/YNm309vF63

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

@stripe We have good data for firms a) registered at Companies House, b) paying VAT and c) employing people via PAYE.

But the self-employed/sole traders/partnerships who aren't employing or paying VAT don't show up on the lists. And there are more of them than the others put together.

[Pepel Klaasa @pepel_klaasa]

The ballistic missiles that struck Kyiv were equipped with metal shrapnel. This shrapnel is completely useless if launched against buildings, its sole purpose is to wound and kill living beings

P.S. I know this is a modified surface-to-air missile, either an S-400 or an S-300. In the air, it’s fitted with shrapnel to destroy aerial targets. But when it’s used against a city, that same shrapnel is meant to kill people.