France and the United Kingdom are reportedly involved in the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the prominent son of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, as he was seen as the man who could reunite Libya after the NATO-backed uprising.

Saif al-Islam was killed by unknown gunmen who stormed his home in the town of Zintan on Tuesday.

Gaddafi's political team said in a statement that "four masked men" killed him in a "cowardly and treacherous assassination," adding that he tried to fight off the assailants, who shut off the security cameras at the house "in a desperate attempt to conceal traces of their heinous crimes."

Lessons on corruption from a Russian, and why Westerners come across as naive

Silent East on YouTube begins his essay on corruption with the following:

When people hear the word corruption, they usually think of money, envelopes, bribes, stolen budgets, officials living beyond their salaries. That image is convenient because it frames corruption as a moral defect, a flaw in character, a problem of bad individuals inside an otherwise normal system. And if that were true, the solution would be simple. Punish the bad people, clean the system, restore order.

But corruption survives for decades, not because people are immoral, and not because enforcement is weak. It survives because it quietly replaces something much more important than money. It replaces the relationship between a person and reality.

He draws on his experience growing up in Russia and the difficulties he had adapting to life in a Western nation — and the perspective this gave him on the nature of corruption. As he puts it, corruption is not something one enters into consciously. Rather, it is absorbed unconsciously from childhood. One learns it through trial and error — what works and what doesn't, which rules apply and which do not. This leads many to a profound disenchantment with official rules, forms, and institutions — with the surface of things in general — which are seen as fake or irrelevant. Outcomes in the real world depend on things like personal connections, timing, leverage, the mood of officials, and informal signals rather than formal processes.

The below transcript is from Prof. Alexander Dugin's latest talk on the Radio Sputnik Escalation Show:

Radio Sputnik, Escalation Show Host: So, the US Department of Justice has finally published the Epstein lists: 3 million files that journalists are now actively sorting through. Some things look terrible, others comical, especially when individual names appearing in these materials are taken out of context. They found Zhirinovsky, Lenin, and even characters from films and cartoons.

Alexander Dugin, last year you mentioned that your name appeared in one of the correspondences. To sum up this whole story, how should it be interpreted, given that the news is spreading rapidly in both Russian and foreign media?

Alexander Dugin: In my opinion, I would not underestimate the significance of what is happening. A global network of pedophiles involved in torture, rape, murder, even cannibalism and "black masses" has now been exposed. This network included the elite of both American parties: from George Bush Sr. to Barack Obama, the Clintons, and Bill Gates. Their own participation as well as that of many European leaders in this structure has been confirmed. Many of them are now resigning because belonging to this group, being part of Epstein's inner circle, and visiting his island are, in principle, a total discrediting for any politician, public figure, person with scientific ambitions, thinker, philosopher, economist, or businessman. In essence, belonging to this criminal network, being acquainted with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and other figures in their circle in any capacity, is tantamount to a full admission of criminal activity.

Therefore, in my opinion, this is extremely serious. First, the most important thing is that the modern Western elite is so immoral that no one in the West has the moral right to lecture their own society or dictate to it what to do, and when it comes to other nations, these degenerates — the pedophile, liberal, globalist elite — simply have no right to open their mouths. In my opinion, it is simply immoral to engage in any negotiations with them or to sit next to people who are tainted by the "Epstein list." People who respect their dignity are forbidden from finding themselves in the same situation as those who openly trample on that dignity. It is a matter of honor: the people on the Epstein list have completely lost any sense of being respectable or ability to interact with decent people. There is a harsh term in Russian criminal slang — byt' zakontachennym — "to be finished," "to be utterly discredited." People who have participated in child abuse are totally discredited in every respect. And that is the first colossal conclusion. Now they are trying to hush up this scandal a little, but it will have truly tectonic consequences.

Cuba just had its first freeze on record, and other records were smashed from the Bahamas to Central America from the same cold outbreak that left Florida and the eastern U.S. shivering last weekend.

On Tuesday morning, the Indio Hatuey weather station in Perico, Cuba, reported a low of 32 degrees, a new national all-time record low, according to Cuba's weather service, the Instituto de Meteorología Cuba (INSMET). The previous record of 33 degrees was set in Bainoa almost 30 years ago on Feb. 18, 1996.

Frost was apparently seen on crops around the weather station, according to a Tuesday Facebook post from INSMET.

Because, well... what if you win?

Dear ICE Protestors,

It's been a rough few months out there. You've shown up. You've resisted. You've rallied. You've organized. You've made signs. So. Many. Signs. You've launched illegal fireworks, damaged property, blocked traffic, broken the law, bashed in windows, assaulted agents, and berated scores of strangers simply for doing their jobs. You must be exhausted. I see you. I feel you. I am in awe of your stamina.

So let's pretend, for argument's sake and to give you a desperately-needed break, you win.

Let's pretend all the chanting, the honking, the whistling, the street-blocking, the papier-mâché puppets, the Sharpie signs, the interpretive screaming, and the celebrity Instagram threats finally break the will of the federal government and ICE collapses under the sheer weight of your moral outrage.

Congratulations. Please enjoy a festive evening of vegan hors d'oeuvres, pronoun-affirming drum circles, and self-congratulatory chanting. You've earned it.

After you shake the ethically-sourced, biodegradable confetti out of your hair, I just have one question: Now what?

The shadow government led by former President Barack Obama is working overtime to delegitimize President Donald Trump and his administration. They've accused and even set up Trump's people to tie his administration to "evil" Russia and now Trump's alleging that Obama tapped his phones. There's never been such a concerted effort in modern history, if ever, to overthrow a democratically elected U.S. president by not only the Democrats but by some Republicans aka RINOS as well. The bigger question is why are they so desperately trying to stage this coup and sabotage his presidency? Why is Obama remaining in Washington D.C. and moving his top adviser Valerie Jarrett into his new mansion? Furthermore, why is Trump's opposition so hell bent on tying him to Russia and using the superpower as a scapegoat when they are the actual ones who have far more questionable ties to the Kremlin? As Trump's enemies continue to tell the masses to pay no attention to that man behind the green curtain, let's dare to do just that.

On Feb. 25, I published a column here analyzing why the mainstream media is ignoring Trump's massive sex trafficking busts and his recent press conference addressing the problem. I concluded it's partly because the MSM and the left don't care about protecting children if it doesn't enable them to destroy their political opposition. This story quickly became the no. 1 trending story on Townhall's site. Not only did the MSM continue to ignore this issue, I received dozens of messages from readers complaining that social media forums were censoring my column. In a strange twist, one of the few media outlets that did a follow-up on my story was the Russian state-run Sputnik news outlet. Social media also censored their follow-up on my story. I've written several investigative pieces on how social media has censored conservative voices; however, they now appear to be censoring stories that expose child sex trafficking and pedophiles.

Part 3 of an ongoing documentary series - 'Pedgogate 2020', created and published by 'Mouthy Buddha' - was released on August 24th. We're publishing it here along with Part 1 (released April 14th this year) and Part 2 (released on June 1st).

So-called investigative reporting on 'pedophilia in high places' rarely meets the threshold of 'reasonable speculation' - whatever about generating reliable and factual information. However, we find this particular series useful because the creator is cautious about his claims, aware that this avenue of research is a veritable 'hall of mirrors', and is proactively reporting his more solid findings to law enforcement.

We did some investigation into 'Pizzagate' when it surfaced in 2016, and while we could not establish anything conclusive, we're satisfied that there is substance to the core premise that certain disturbing characters in the Washington DC area can and do call on 'friends in very high places'.

Furthermore, the general claim that politicians and other VIPs from among 'the elites' are themselves sometimes pedophiles, pederasts, and serial child sex abusers is well-established by the historical context of criminal investigations (and, occasionally, successful prosecutions) into child sex crimes in a whole host of countries going back decades.

The ambiguous nature of these 'networks' - part-informal, part-organized - makes proving or at least reasonably suggesting criminality difficult at best. They are at once both 'hidden in plain sight' and 'plausibly deniable', helped by the apparent but recurring impression that the long arm of the law invariably falls on their side.

The content in these videos is not graphic, but the subject matter is nevertheless distressing, so steel yourself before viewing. Finally, take the content creator's advice and DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SEARCH FOR TERMS he looked into. You may only end up incriminating yourself.

Part 1

Bill and Hillary Clinton will be facing prison time if Congress votes to hold them in contempt this week after defying a federal subpoena and refusing to give testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein inquiry. The proof the Clintons were close with and working for Epstein and are involved in child trafficking and other sex crimes against children is overwhelming and the information is publicly available.

Before diving in, it's important for people to understand that sex trafficking and Satanic Ritualistic Abuse (SRA) often go hand-in-hand. It's not uncommon for a sex slave to also be a victim of SRA — especially those trafficked in elite pedophile rings. So it's important to factor in the Clinton's involvement in the occult before I lay out all their ties to pedophilia and child trafficking.

A fifth man has been arrested after two properties and a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer were targeted in north London in alleged arson attacks last year.

Scotland Yard said a 19-year-old male was arrested yesterday in Harlow, Essex, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson.

He was taken into custody at Essex police station for questioning and has since been released under investigation.

The arrest is in relation to a Met Police investigation into a vehicle blaze last year on May 8, a fire at the entrance of a property on May 11 and a fire at a residential address on May 12 that are connected to the Prime Minister.


A fourth man, 48, who was arrested at Stansted Airport in June last year on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life has been released without charge.

Three men have already been charged in connection with the fires: Ukrainians Petro Pochynok, 35, and Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and 27-year-old Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc.

Pochynok has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, Lavrynovych with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life, while Carpiuc has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

They all deny the charges and have been remanded in custody ahead of a trial at the Old Bailey on April 27.

Russia's capital Moscow has this month seen the largest snowfall in more than 200 years, Moscow State University meteorologists said on Thursday.

AFP images from the city of around 13 million people showed residents struggling to make their way through heavy piles of snow on the streets in its central district.

Commuter trains in the Moscow area were delayed, AFP reporters witnessed, and cars were stuck in long traffic jams on Thursday evening.

"January was a cold and unusually snowy month in Moscow," the university said on social media.

"By January 29, the Moscow State University Meteorological Observatory had recorded almost 92 mm of precipitation, which is already the highest value in the last 203 years," it added.