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Europe
Greenland
(21 October 2024 1:37 AM) Making the Arctic territory more accessible than ever before, a new international airport will open in Greenland’s capital Nuuk from the end of November, allowing larger aircraft to land for the first time - paving the way for direct flights from the US and Europe. From 28 November, direct flights to Nuuk will operate from Copenhagen, Denmark, carrying more than 300 passengers. And next summer, United Airlines will begin flying from New York, as Nuuk becomes Greenland’s main travel hub. In 2026, a second international airport will open in the town of Ilulissat, 350 miles north of Nuuk. A new regional airport, in Qaqartoq, the biggest town in the south of Greenland, will then follow. The three airports are together costing more than $800m. More than 140,000 foreign visitors came to Greenland last year. A flight from Europe to Nuuk is a little more than four hours. From the US East Coast is also four hours. A new tourism law will be introduced this autumn. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
Russia
(21 October 2024 1:25 AM) Navalnaya (in exile) intends to be president of Russia. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
(Monday), 2024.10.21. Russian President Putin reportedly submitted a bill to the lower house of parliament on Monday to ratify a treaty to raise its relationship with North Korea to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was agreed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim on June 19 in Pyongyang after summit talks during the Russian president’s state visit. The new partnership includes a mutual defense assistance clause that would apply in the case of “aggression” against one of the signatories. South Korea said the North had dispatched 1,500 special forces troops to eastern Russia for training. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service says North Korean personnel were gathered within Russia’s Ussuriysk military facility, pictured on Oct. 16, 2024. U.S. Defense Secretary Austin said Saturday he could not confirm reports that North Korea had sent troops to Russia ahead of a possible deployment. NATO chief Rutte said Friday the alliance could not confirm the South Korean intelligence agency’s report. (Source: Radio Free Asia - U.S.)
North America
United States
(Monday), 10/21/24 10:11 AM ET Musk on Sunday accused the media in a post on his social platform X of encouraging the assassination of him and former President Trump with 'relentless hit pieces.' The post was accompanied by a screenshot of an article from the German news outlet Der Spiegel labeling the Tesla and SpaceX CEO 'enemy number two,' alongside a photo that combined Musk’s and Trump’s faces. Musk also linked to a clip of similar comments he made at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. (Source: The Hill - U.S.)
October 21, 2024 8:00 am Control over the media ecosystem. In a 3-2 vote sending shockwaves throughout the Republican Party, the Federal Communications Commission in September allowed a nonprofit group funded by Soros to take control over radio giant Audacy after the company went bankrupt. Audacy is the second-largest radio broadcaster in the U.S. after iHeartMedia. It is based in Philadelphia and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas in January to cut its debt by 80%, a product of slower advertising. Soros Fund Management, his New York-based hedge fund, acquired over $400 million in Audacy’s top-tier debt - which is borrowed money a company must repay first should it go out of business. What that means is Soros Fund Management emerged as the largest shareholder in Audacy overnight. The FCC, an independent agency that regulates interstate and international communications by television, radio, wire, cable, and satellite must oversee the Audacy transaction, and in September, it signed off on it. Soros’s ties to the Audacy transaction are raising concerns among Republicans. The deal places the Soros family, namely Alex, the 38-year-old son of George, at the top of a media empire that houses more than 200 radio stations. Alex sits on the board of the Fund for Policy Reform, the group now overseeing Audacy through a labyrinth of corporations. The four-person board of trustees also includes Soros spokesman Vachon, attorney Canfield at Soros Fund Management (the firm that bought Audacy’s debt), and Benardo, a top staffer for the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations philanthropy empire. Along with other left-wing billionaires, Soros, with his money, helps keep the lights on at groups plausibly accused of censoring conservative voices online. Audacy’s portfolio includes right-leaning programs, such as Miami’s Radio Libre, a Spanish-language AM radio station, and Missouri’s KFTK-FM, FCC documents show. The goal: to control as much of the airwaves as possible. According to Republicans, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “fast-tracked” it by bypassing standard procedure. The purported 'fast-track' is under investigation by GOP members of Congress, including House Oversight Committee Chairman Comer (R-KY), Rep. Roy (R-TX), Sen. Cruz (R-TX), and other lawmakers. The FCC’s has a rule against transferring licenses to entities with over 25% foreign ownership. Audacy filed a petition with the FCC, noting that as it was calculated at the time, the company would emerge from bankruptcy with 25% or more in foreign ownership, according to FCC documents. The national security review should have been conducted before the FCC’s granting of the Audacy licenses. In a September letter on Audacy to FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel, a Democrat, Comer and Rep. Langworthy (R-NY) said they were looking into the agency’s 'apparent attempt … to interfere in the 2024 election and politicize the work of the FCC.'Some Republicans argue the 'Soros shortcut' deal will fuel a 'censorship machine.' Funding efforts to suppress disfavored speech, Soros and the U.S. government have both backed the Global Disinformation Index, a British group pressuring advertisers to defund right-of-center news outlets. They did it before the election because they want to affect the election. One of the stations acquired is the old WCAU, which is now WPHT in Philadelphia - one of the original radio stations that got a license in all of the United States. Two years ago, the Soros-backed Latino Media Network purchased Spanish-language radio stations from TelevisaUnivision for tens of millions of dollars. In 2022, Soros Fund Management invested in Crooked Media, a company founded by ex-Obama aides that distributes the popular left-wing Pod Save America podcast. There are four places where you can have a voice in today’s marketplace: internet, radio, TV, and newspaper. left-wing philanthropy built or took over enormous infrastructure to control various cultural chokepoints - especially media, entertainment, higher education, and corporate America. Conservative donors largely do not invest in “culture-shaping” institutions - media chief among them. (Source: Washington Examiner - U.S.)
21 October 2024 Letter from Michigan: No one I know is voting for Harris. Will Trump win the struggling swing state? (Source: New Statesman – U.S.)
by Maçães, a New Statesman foreign correspondent, a former Portuguese Europe minister from 2013 to 2015, the author of “Geopolitics for the End Time: From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis”.
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