Turmoil and Chaos all over the Planet

[Ravenlocke]

Azerbaijani authorities raid Sputnik office in Baku, detain Russian journalists
——
Azerbaijani authorities carried out a raid on the Baku office of Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency on Monday, with officials confirming multiple arrests during the operation.

According to the ministry, the investigation is tied to suspicions of "illegal financing, despite the suspension of its accreditation in February 2025," and is based on operational intelligence regarding Sputnik Azerbaijan's activities.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that diplomatic personnel have been unable to contact the Russian journalists for over two hours after the raid.

The APA news agency reported that those taken into custody include Igor Kartavykh, the executive director of Sputnik’s Baku office, and chief editor Evgeny Belousov. Some reports also claim that the detained individuals were agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1939740008128110880

[Ravenlocke]

🪖🇺🇸 Croatia, Albania and Kosovo are planning a joint purchase of weapons.

The arms will be bought in the United States.

A military alliance is forming in the Balkans, you can see where this is going right?

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1955714332396019789

[Tintin]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
🪖🇺🇸 Croatia, Albania and Kosovo are planning a joint purchase of weapons.

The arms will be bought in the United States.

A military alliance is forming in the Balkans, you can see where this is going right?

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1955714332396019789

Yup, it's pellucid.

Remember also that Hungary and Serbia had mooted the very same a few months ago. Eyes on this....

[Ravenlocke]

From Telesur English,

Take a look at the most important headlines of the day:

🔴 Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump summit: Lavrov arrives in Alaska and reaffirms Russia's position on Ukraine.
🟠 Venezuelan government deploys troops in the Caribbean Sea to combat criminal groups.
🟢 President Javier Milei is being investigated for threats against a journalist in Argentina.
🟣 President Luis Arce urges the Bolivian people to participate in Sunday's elections.
🔵 Colombia demands that Peru release two nationals detained on the disputed island.

https://x.com/telesurenglish/status/1956389170307289235

[Ravenlocke]

#Spain | Over 30 boats with 600 migrants reached the Balearic Islands, marking a new migratory route from North Africa, particularly Algeria. The surge comes amid controls at other points, such as Mauritania, which reduced traffic to the Canary Islands.

https://x.com/telesurenglish/status/1956423142957551786

https://www.telesurenglish.net/surge...oamp=available

Surge in Migrant Arrivals to Spain’s Balearic Islands Sparks Regional Alarm

More than 30 boats carrying approximately 600 irregular migrants have reached Spain’s Balearic Islands since Monday, marking a sharp escalation in a new migratory route from North Africa, particularly Algeria. The surge comes amid tighter controls at other departure points, such as Mauritania, which has significantly reduced traffic to the Canary Islands.

While overall irregular migration to Spain has declined in 2025, arrivals in the Balearics—comprising Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera—have jumped 170% in the first half of the year, reaching around 3,000 people. The number of boats has more than doubled, and authorities report a growing share of migrants are from East Africa, including South Sudan and Eritrea.

One such migrant, Konestory, a 20-year-old from South Sudan, described his harrowing 46-hour journey from Algeria to Mallorca. “We faced a lot of waves, ran out of food and water, and got lost,” he told Reuters. “Now I’m happy. I’m looking at ways to talk to my mom to tell her I reached here”.

Local officials warn that the Balearics risk becoming a new gateway for migrants, similar to the Canary Islands, which saw 47,000 arrivals at the height of that route in 2024. Arrivals to the Canaries have since dropped 46% in the first seven months of 2025, largely due to Mauritania’s border clampdown.

Balearic regional leader Marga Prohens criticized the central government’s response, posting on X: “Where is the government of Pedro Sánchez?” She called for increased law enforcement resources and greater cooperation with Algeria to manage the influx.

The Spanish government responded last month by pledging to boost the islands’ capacity to handle arrivals, though local media report that newly arrived migrants are often left waiting in public parks for hours due to a lack of shelters before being transferred to the mainland.

The rise in arrivals coincides with a renewed diplomatic thaw between Spain and Algeria, following a two-year freeze over the Western Sahara dispute. In February 2025, Algeria’s Interior Minister visited Madrid to discuss joint efforts against human trafficking, organized crime, and irregular migration.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska praised Algeria’s role in dismantling trafficking networks and emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation. Plans are underway for a Joint Committee on Security and Counterterrorism to meet later this year.

Despite these efforts, smugglers continue to exploit gaps in enforcement. The journey from Algeria to the Balearics is shorter and less monitored than routes to mainland Spain or the Canary Islands, making it increasingly attractive to traffickers and desperate migrants.

The European Union’s border agency Frontex has acknowledged the emergence of new routes, including the Algeria–Balearics corridor, as a consequence of stricter surveillance elsewhere. While overall EU irregular entries are down, regional spikes like this one are becoming more frequent.

As the Balearics struggle to absorb the influx, humanitarian groups warn of deteriorating conditions for migrants, many of whom arrive dehydrated, disoriented, and without access to basic services. The situation has reignited debate over Spain’s migration policy, regional burden-sharing, and the need for coordinated EU action.

[Ravenlocke]

Canada | The Union of Public Employees (CUPE) officially informed Air Canada that approximately 10,000 flight attendants could go on strike within 72 hours.

https://x.com/telesurenglish/status/1956377845048959246

https://www.telesurenglish.net/10000...oamp=available


10,000 Flight Attendants to Go on Strike in Canada

Over the past 25 years, their base pay has only increased 10%, despite inflation rising by 169% over that period.

On Tuesday night, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) officially informed Air Canada that approximately 10,000 flight attendants could go on strike within 72 hours.

RELATED:

Trump Threatens Trade Retaliation Over Canada’s Recognition of Palestinian State

The workers’ decision came after Air Canada declared that negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement had stalled after eight months of talks, prompting the company to propose arbitration. CUPE rejected the proposal because arbitration would have prevented workers from going on strike.

Over the past 25 years, flight attendants’ base pay has only increased 10%, despite inflation rising by 169% over that period. Furthermore, flight attendants are not paid for much of the work they perform on the ground, such as boarding and deplaning passengers.

“While the airline continues to impose extortionate fares on passengers and squeeze the public, it also exploits its own employees by paying flight attendants very low wages or by flat-out refusing to pay them for safety-critical aspects of our work,” said Wesley Lesosky, CUPE representative at Air Canada.

“We’re proud to put on this uniform and help keep the public safe on their journey, but the days of us doing it for free or for poverty wages must end.”

“Air Canada flight attendants from coast to coast came together today to stand up for each other, and for the pride and dignity of this profession. We’re standing together for respect and a fair contract that matches to the professionalism and dedication we bring to work every day,” Lesosky pointed out

On Thursday, Air Canada began canceling flights ahead of a potential strike. More flights will be canceled on Friday, with a complete cessation of flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge on Saturday. About 130,000 customers a day could be affected by the disruption.

Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz and PAL Airlines will continue operating as normal. These regional partners only carry about 20 percent of Air Canada’s daily customers. Currently, Air Canada operates globally to approximately 65 countries on six continents with a fleet of 259 aircraft.Via


🚨 Air Canada strike begins!
✔️ 10,000 flight attendants off the job
✔️ 600+ flights cancelled, 130K passengers affected daily
✔️ CUPE demands fair pay; govt urges talksRefunds & rebooking offered. Avoid airports unless rebooked.#AirCanadaStrike #TravelAlert #BreakingNews

https://x.com/icc_immigration/status...72093372051679

[Ravenlocke]

Iran just throttled the corridor between Baku and Nakhchivan, leaving Azerbaijani truckers stranded without food, water, or fuel.

Azerbaijani Truck drivers said: "Iran says if you don't like it here, go take the Trump route."

https://x.com/iwasnevrhere_/status/1956690732577689685

If You Don’t Like It, Take the Trump Route,’ Iranian Border Guards Tell Azerbaijani Drivers.

Iranian customs officers are reportedly blocking truck drivers from Nakhchivan at the border, leaving them stranded without food or water for days, a move that comes in the wake of the August 8 peace declaration between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

According to the local outlet Gündəlik Naxçıvan, Iranian officials have begun treating drivers transporting goods from Nakhchivan to Baku with open hostility. The truckers say they are forced to wait for days in remote, barren areas far from the Bilasuvar customs crossing, with no shelter, no access to meals or drinking water, and no toilets. To meet basic needs, they must walk several kilometers on foot.

Drivers told reporters that Iranian customs officers have made their motives explicit, saying the delays are retaliation for the U.S.-brokered peace deal signed in Washington. “If you don’t like it, take the Trump Route,” the officers reportedly tell them.

One of the agreement’s key provisions calls for the creation of the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” a U.S.-monitored transport corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan. Iran has publicly opposed the project.


https://x.com/AzeriTimes/status/1956007263547650290

[Ravenlocke]

🇺🇬 Uganda–U.S. Deportee Deal Sparks Outrage

Uganda is under fire for quietly agreeing to accept U.S. deportees, including Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Opposition MP Mathias Mpuuga slammed the deal, calling it “a scheme that stinks,” noting it bypassed parliament and offers Uganda little in return.

Critics say Museveni is trading national dignity for favors from the Trump administration, as his regime faces sanctions and global isolation.

“Uganda can barely care for its own people,” said Mpuuga. “Let alone serve as America’s dumping ground.”

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1960620803537690700

[Ravenlocke]

From Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/...e-us-deportees

‘The whole scheme stinks’: Ugandans question deal to take US deportees

The East African country is being pushed as a deportation location for high-profile US detainee Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Ugandans have criticised an agreement with United States President Donald Trump’s administration to receive deportees from the US, questioning the lack of approval from the East African country’s parliament and suggesting the deal is a means to ease political pressure on President Yoweri Museveni.

After facing sanctions from Washington that have targeted many government officials, including the parliamentary speaker, “Museveni will be happy” to transact with the US, said Ibrahim Ssemujju, a lawmaker who is a prominent opposition figure. “He will be asking, ‘When are you bringing them?'”

Ugandan officials have released few details about the agreement although they have stated that they prefer to take deportees of African origin and do not want people with criminal records.

However, the country is being pushed as a deportation location for high-profile detainee Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man and an El Salvador native charged with human smuggling.

Abrego Garcia has become the face of Trump’s hardline anti-immigration policies. He has an American wife and children, has lived in the US state of Maryland for years and has been under protected legal status since 2019 when a judge ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador because he could be harmed in his home country.

He was detained on Monday by immigration officials in Baltimore. The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Abrego Garcia “is being processed for removal to Uganda”.

He already has been deported as one of more than 200 people the Trump administration sent this year to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison as part of Trump’s crackdown on refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers in the US. His case remains a major flashpoint for the Trump administration in its anti-immigration crackdown. Department of Justice lawyers admitted that the Salvadoran citizen had been wrongly deported due to an “administrative error”.

Abrego Garcia was severely beaten and subjected to psychological torture in the El Salvador prison, his lawyers say.

‘The whole scheme stinks’

Without parliamentary oversight, “the whole scheme stinks,” said Mathias Mpuuga, until recently the leader of the opposition in Uganda’s Parliament.

He said the agreement with the US left him “a little perplexed” because Uganda is struggling to look after refugees fleeing conflicts in neighbouring countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.

The agreement, some Ugandans said, makes sense only as a matter of “economic expediency” for the Ugandan government. But it remains unclear precisely what Ugandan authorities are getting in return for accepting deportees. Analysts speculated that Uganda is seeking better trade deals and wants to be in Trump’s good books.

Okello Oryem, the deputy minister in charge of international relations, told The Associated Press news agency that such a deal was “complete rubbish”. He made the comments a day before his permanent secretary confirmed an agreement was in place to accept individuals who are “reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin”.

Negotiators for Uganda are believed to have been reporting directly to Museveni, who has been in power in the country for four decades and who, human rights groups said, oversees a government that conducts unlawful killings, arrests of opposition members and attacks on journalists.

For much of his time in power, Museveni was widely seen as a strong US ally, especially for his support of counterterrorism operations in Somalia when he deployed troops there to fight the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab.

But his stock in Washington has seen steep falls in recent years. Former President Joe Biden’s administration piled pressure on his government over corruption, LGBTQ rights concerns and other rights abuses, and a growing list of Ugandan officials faced sanctions.

Uganda’s LGBTQ community is facing intensified persecution after the enactment of a harsh anti-gay law two years ago, according to a report released in May by Human Rights Watch, which said Ugandan authorities have “perpetrated widespread discrimination and violence” and “spread misinformation and hatred against LGBT people” since the 2023 law was enacted.

In addition to Speaker Anita Among, a key ally of Museveni’s, Ugandan officials sanctioned by the US include the current prisons chief, a former police chief, a former deputy army commander and former government ministers.

For Museveni, the deal with the US to accept deportees is desirable “for political and perhaps economic reasons”, said Marlon Agaba, the head of a leading anticorruption group in Uganda.

The deal eases pressure on Museveni and may come with trade opportunities, said Agaba, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda.

“The Trump administration is about deals, about deal-making, and any strongman would welcome that,” he said.

In July, the US deported five men with criminal backgrounds to the Southern African kingdom of Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan. Rwanda has also said it will receive up to 250 deportees from the US.