Your Gut Microbiome Could Affect Colon Cancer - What You Can Do

Authored by Zena le Roux via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

“Supporting the gut microbiome can help reduce colorectal cancer risk and may even enhance prevention and treatment,” Sachin Aryal, gut microbiome researcher at the University of Toledo, told The Epoch Times.

Rost9/Shutterstock

The microbiome has been linked to many aspects of health and has been shown to also play a key role in colorectal cancer.

The good news is that the microbiome is not fixed and that it can be influenced by everyday habits and choices.

How Gut Bacteria Influence Colorectal Cancer

“We’re learning that the bacteria in the gut matter more than we used to think,” Dr. Cedrek McFadden, colorectal surgeon and medical advisor to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, told The Epoch Times.

Gut bacteria are not just sitting there as bystanders. They interact directly with the lining of the colon, the immune system, and inflammatory processes over time. When the microbial balance is off—a condition called dysbiosis—some bacteria can create a low-level inflammatory state or produce substances that irritate the colon lining. Over many years, that kind of environment can contribute to cancer, McFadden said.

Because the colon is directly exposed to gut bacteria and their by-products, colorectal cancer appears to be more strongly influenced by the microbiome than many other types of tumors, although the microbiome can also affect other cancers indirectly.

“It’s not that one bacterium causes cancer,” McFadden said. “It’s more about the overall balance and what the colon is being exposed to day after day.”

When dysbiosis continues, it can further damage the gut barrier—a condition sometimes referred to as “leaky gut.” The tight connections between gut cells loosen, allowing bacteria and their by-products to move deeper into the gut wall. This keeps the immune system in a constant state of activation and inflammation, Raz Abdulqadir, researcher in microbiome and colorectal cancer at Penn State College of Medicine, told The Epoch Times.

“As a result, inflammatory cells release molecules that increase oxidative stress and can damage DNA in colon cells, raising the risk of abnormal cell growth,” he said.

It’s now clear that gut bacteria influence not only inflammation linked to tumor formation, but also how well the immune system recognizes and attacks cancer cell. This explains why patients with different gut microbiomes can respond very differently to the same cancer treatments.

Bacterial Culprits Identified

Several microbes have been consistently associated with colorectal cancer, including Fusobacterium nucleatum, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Enterococcus faecalis, and certain strains of E. coli, Aryal said.

Fusobacterium nucleatum, for example, is found in much higher amounts in people with colorectal cancer compared to healthy people and is particularly abundant in tumor tissue. Higher levels of this bacterium are also linked to stronger inflammatory signals in the gut and can attach directly to the gut lining using a specialized protein, which helps kick-start cancer-related changes.

“However, we still need well-designed intervention studies to determine whether these microbial changes are true drivers of cancer or simply a consequence of the tumor environment,” Aryal said.

The microbiome’s impact is not only about which bacteria are present, but also what they are doing. Microbial by-products—substances produced by microorganisms such as bacteria as a result of breaking down—and toxins—such as chemicals made by bacteria that can irritate the gut or damage cells—either protect the colon or increase inflammation and DNA damage.

“This is why the microbiome is becoming an increasingly important part of conversations around early detection, prevention, and personalized cancer therapy,” Aryal said.

What You Can Do

Maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is a key factor in preventing colorectal cancer.

Dietary fiber, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics—products combining probiotics and prebiotics—and even fecal microbiota transplantation can help rebuild microbial balance and regulate immune and inflammatory pathways, Abdulqadir said.

Focus on Fiber and Whole Foods

From a dietary perspective, the most important step is to consistently follow an eating pattern that supports microbial diversity, especially one rich in dietary fiber. A high-fiber diet that includes fruits, vegetables, fermented foods, and prebiotic or probiotic sources helps maintain a healthier microbial balance and creates a gut environment less supportive of tumor development, Aryal said.

“Incorporating Mediterranean-style eating patterns is especially helpful because they emphasize whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and healthy fats that support microbial diversity,” he added.

Consider Targeted Supplements

Probiotics may help lower the risk of colorectal cancer. One well-studied strain, Faecalibacterium, has been shown in animal research to reduce gut inflammation and protect against colitis.

Other probiotics, including certain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, help strengthen the gut lining and support healthy cell growth—especially in people with a history of polyps—small growths on the lining of the bowel that can sometimes turn into cancer.

“When probiotics and prebiotics are used together as synbiotics, they help reduce inflammatory mediators and create a gut environment less favorable for tumor development,” Aryal said.

Doses and specific types can vary, so it’s best to talk to a doctor before trying them.

Stay Active

Regular physical activity also plays an important role in optimizing the gut microbiome and lowering colorectal cancer risk, Aryal said.

“Exercise increases microbial diversity, enhances short-chain fatty acid production, and reduces inflammation, all of which help keep the colon healthy.”

Keep It Simple

Gut health doesn’t need to be complicated, McFadden said. His top advice is not to overthink it.

“Eat real food more often. Get fiber in your diet. Cut back on heavily processed foods when you can and don’t chase supplements or trends,” he said.

In his own life, McFadden keeps things simple. He tries to eat balanced meals, stay active, and get decent sleep. He pays attention to stress because of his awareness of its effects on the body, including the gut.

“I’m not perfect, and I don’t expect my patients to be either. I just try to be consistent most of the time.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 21:45

CIA Tells Iranians: 'We Want To Help You' - As US Bombers Loom

The US Central Intelligence Agency has never been shy about letting it be known it is seeking to recruit informants from places like China, North Korea and Iran.

The agency has in the recent past released messages in Mandarin, Korean, and Farsi. As a CIA spokesman once said during a prior recruitment effort, "We want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we're open for business."

On Tuesday the CIA issued a special message once again for Iranians in particular, but now the timing is more interesting, given the Trump administration stands on the precipice of deciding on pursuing war or diplomacy with Tehran. He's also gearing up to give his State of the Union Address, and Iran will be high on the agenda.

The CIA posted to X, Instagram, and other officially verified platforms a video in Farsi which encourages Iranians to contact the agency, while featuring instructions for using Tor and other encrypted methods to ensure anonymity, and so local Iranian authorities can't uncover the communications.

The CIA in the message while addressing Iranians in the context of the recent anti-government protests stressed the agency "can hear your voice" and "wants to help you".

According to some of the brief video details:

The video walks viewers through several steps that should be taken to ensure that any contact with the CIA from within Iran will be kept private and to ensure that the identity of the dissident cannot be found out.

It suggests that anyone wishing to contact the CIA should do so from a burner device and using the most up-to-date version of their internet browser of choice.

The person should also use the browser’s incognito mode and clear the browser and device history after making contact, it says.

It also strongly encourages anyone who contacts the agency from Iran to use Tor or a VPN to encrypt the communication, and provides instructions on how to use Tor, warning that without doing so, a visit to the CIA website will be visible to others.

Such outreach efforts, in search of potential future spies, isn't going to help relations between Iran and the US, given Iranian leaders are already on edge about the biggest Pentagon build-up in the region since the 2003 Iraq war.

Tehran has already accused the protesters of being in league with the US, Israel, and foreign intelligence. This fresh CIA recruitment effort is only going to fuel these suspicions and paranoia further. 

Israel has all the while been even more boastful that it had agents "on the ground" during January's deadly unrest, which saw thousands of protesters killed, but also resulted a reported couple hundred police and security personnel killed.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 21:20

A Dozen US F-22 Stealth Jets Land In Israel As Iran Tensions Soar

On Tuesday, TOI and other Israeli media featured some photos of American F-22 Raptors taking off from England's Royal Air Force Lakenheath, which were expected to then fly to southern Israel...

Israel's public broadcaster KAN has reported that at least 12 US F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli air base in the south of the country, connected with the ongoing Pentagon build-up threatening anti-Tehran action.

"Twelve US F-22 fighter jets landed this afternoon at one of the Israeli Air Force bases in the south of the country, as part of the American deployment in the Middle East," KAN said.

The publication added of what is the world's most sophisticated and high-tech stealth jet, that it is capable of "penetrating enemy territory and disabling air defense systems and radar installations."

Local media further described the fighter jets' presence as in anticipation of potential new attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen. The Houthis had previously, in solidarity with Gaza and Iran, pummeled Israel with long-range drones and ballistic missiles.

These projectiles have at times even reached international airports in Israel, but the launches out of Yemen have quieted down of late, especially once a Gaza ceasefire was finally cemented.

Over in Iran, there are reports of some sporadic protests at universities, but nothing yet near in size to what January witnessed: 

The Iranian government has emphasised that protesting students must adhere to the theocratic establishment’s “red lines” as violent clashes took place inside universities for a fourth day.

Iranian students “have wounds in their hearts” and are angry, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani acknowledged to reporters during a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to thousands killed during nationwide protests in January.

The Iranians are meanwhile still hoping for diplomatic resolution to the standoff, and by week's close another round of nuclear and peace talks are expected.

Are the F-22s already active in skies over Gaza and the region?

Breaking | A squadron of U.S. F-22 fighter jets is flying over the skies of the Gaza Strip, deploying thermal flares. pic.twitter.com/zjJu90jylA

— غزة 24 | التغطية مستمرة (@Gaza24Live) February 24, 2026

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 20:30

Anthropic Accuses DeepSeek, Other China-Based AI Firms Of Free-Riding

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, accused three of China’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies of creating more than 24,000 fraudulent accounts to tap into its system and train their own models.

The DeepSeek app on an iPhone screen in San Anselmo, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The three companies—DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax—allegedly used those accounts to send more than 16 million prompts to Claude, siphoning off output to refine their own products, Anthropic said in a Feb. 23 blog post.

“These campaigns are growing in intensity and sophistication,” the San Francisco-based company said.

The tactic, known as “distillation,” involves training a smaller, less powerful “student” model on the outputs, behavior, and knowledge of a much larger, more advanced “teacher” model. This allows the student system to imitate the teacher’s capabilities without the time and money required to develop them independently.

Anthropic said the scale of the three companies’ alleged distillation activities varied. DeepSeek alone generated about 150,000 interactions with Claude, while Moonshot and MiniMax logged more than 3.4 million and 13 million, respectively, according to Anthropic.

Since many China-based models such as DeepSeek’s R1 do not charge a monthly subscription fee, widespread distillation could make it harder for American providers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to monetize products they have spent billions of dollars to build and maintain. That imbalance, the company said, risks eroding the United States’ competitive advantage in AI that export controls are designed to preserve.

Anthropic, which emphasizes its focus on AI safety, further warned that it and other U.S. companies build safeguards to prevent bad actors from using AI to, for example, develop biological weapons or carry out cyber attacks. Illicitly distilled models, by contrast, may lack such guardrails.

“Foreign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems—enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance,” the company warned.

If distilled models are later open-sourced, it added, the risk multiplies as those capabilities “spread freely beyond any single government’s control.”

DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

DeepSeek leaped into the top ranks of AI makers last year with the release of its R1 chatbot, which it says was built at a fraction of the cost of leading U.S. alternatives. The launch sparked a tech stock selloff of more than $1 trillion, as investors fretted that a low-cost made-in-China model could undercut Silicon Valley’s AI lead.

Since then, China-based firms have flooded the market with relatively affordable text, image, and video models. Moonshot last month released a new open source model, Kimi K2.5, and is seeking a valuation of about $10 billion in a new funding round, while MiniMax also made its public market debut at about $6.5 billion.

Anthropic alleged that the three firms used “fraudulent accounts and proxy services to access Claude at scale while evading detection.” Proxy networks can obscure a user’s true location and allow them to bypass regional restrictions to open large numbers of accounts.

The Claude maker said it identified the actors with “high confidence” based on internet protocol addresses, metadata, and “corroboration from industry partners who observed the same actors and behaviors on their platforms.” MiniMax, for instance, was seen in action as the company allegedly redirected nearly half its traffic to siphon capabilities from the latest Claude model when it was launched, Anthropic stated.

The allegations come as U.S. chip exports to China attract debate over national security concerns.

In January, the Trump administration published a new regulation that loosened restrictions on the export of Nvidia’s H200 chips, a move that federal officials said is justified to foster China’s reliance on lower-tier U.S. chips rather than the most advanced ones. Critics, however, say that any potential boost to China’s AI computing capacity is a risk too big to accept.

Anthropic, which has consistently called for tighter controls on advanced chips to China, did not explicitly blame the U.S. policy for enabling the alleged extraction, but cited such attacks as further justification for stricter export controls.

“Executing this extraction at scale requires access to advanced chips,” the company wrote in its blog post, stating that restricted chip access would limit “both direct model training and the scale of illicit distillation.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.S. Department of Commerce for comments regarding Anthropic’s concerns.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 20:05

Paula Sambo of Bloomberg reports Canada Pension Plan board names veteran David Colla as credit chief:

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the country’s largest such money pool, named insider David Colla as global head of credit investments, elevating a private-debt specialist after the strategy posted returns in the teens last fiscal year.

Colla, who joined CPPIB in 2010 and most recently led its capital solutions group, will assume the role April 1 and join the senior management team, the pension manager said Tuesday. He succeeds Andrew Edgell, who led the credit platform for five years and nearly doubled its size. Edgell will move to a senior adviser position.

Chief executive John Graham said Colla’s experience across leveraged finance and structured credit will help the unit for its “next phase,” as private debt takes on a larger role within the portfolio.

CPPIB returned 14.4 per cent in the credit asset class in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.

Colla previously oversaw growth in leveraged finance and structured credit and has been closely involved in CPPIB’s relationship with Antares Capital, where he serves on the board. The Chicago-based firm, which was acquired by the pension fund in 2015, is an alternative credit manager that had more than US$85 billion of assets as of last June.

Previously, Colla worked at Oaktree Capital and JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to his LinkedIn page.

Private credit has drawn rising allocations from global pensions as banks pull back from riskier lending. Higher interest rates have also boosted yields on senior secured loans, making the asset class attractive for long-term investors seeking income and downside protection.

CPPIB has maintained an active deployment pace. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, it committed or invested more than US$800 million across credit transactions, including loans to automotive software company OEConnection and real estate restoration firm Servpro. 

Earlier today, CPP Investments announced the appointment of David Colla as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments:

TORONTO, ON (February 24, 2026) – John Graham, President & CEO, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) announced today the appointment of David Colla as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments, effective April 1, 2026. He will join the organization’s Senior Management Team.

Colla succeeds Andrew Edgell, who has decided to step away from his role as Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Credit Investments. After 18 years in a range of senior leadership positions at CPP Investments, Edgell will continue with the organization as a Senior Advisor.

“David is an experienced and highly regarded investor with deep expertise across the credit spectrum,” said John Graham. “Over the past 16 years, he has been instrumental in building and scaling our credit platform, including the growth of our leveraged finance and structured credit capabilities. His strong investment judgment, commitment to partnership and focus on talent development position him well to lead Credit Investments into its next phase.”

Colla joined CPP Investments in 2010 and most recently led the Capital Solutions Group. During his tenure, he has overseen the expansion of the Americas Leveraged Finance and Structured Credit businesses and played a key leadership role in the acquisition and ongoing management of CPP Investments’ investment in Antares Capital. He serves on the boards of Antares Capital and Antares Holdings.

“Andrew has made countless contributions to CPP Investments throughout his career,” added Graham. “Over the past five years, as Global Head of Credit Investments, he has led the continued growth and performance of the credit business, nearly doubling the size of the portfolio. We are grateful for his leadership through the years and are pleased he will continue to contribute to the organization in his new role.”

About CPP Investments

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At December 31, 2025, the Fund totalled C$780.7 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.

Alright, big news at CPP Investments so let me begin by congratulating David Colla, the new Global Head of Credit Investments, effective April 1st.

Was I surprised David was appointed to head up Credit Investments? No, he's a top credit investor with years of experience, I would have been shocked if he didn't get that position.

I think what surprised me was why did Andrew Edgell who led the credit platform for five years nearly doubling its size decide to step down and be a senior advisor to the CEO?

Andrew is a really sharp and nice guy, I have spoken to him a couple of times and like him a lot. 

In fact, I think highly of him and David Colla (they're both first-class on every level). 

So it surprised me that he's decided to step down.

There has been a lot of negative press lately in the private credit industry and some think this may be performance related but Credit Investments at CPP Investments are doing very well, they're the top institutional investor in the world in this space.

I reached out to John Graham for a comment and he graciously replied:

"Certainly a lot of noise about private credit right now, but this leadership transition is totally unrelated. Andrew came to me a year ago and shared that he wanted to move out of the day to day of running a large department, give David Colla a well-deserved opportunity and focus on some other high priority initiatives. Andrew is still with CPP Investments, will continue to serve on investment committees and will lead some CEO special initiatives."

Now, I'm not going to lie, when I read that reply, the first thing that went through my head is they're grooming Andrew Edgell to become the next CEO.

Why? When a senior managing director steps down from a critical portfolio to work on "CEO special initiatives", it typically means he or she is getting the lay of the land and is being groomed for the top job.

I might be off, way off, but I've spoken to Andrew and he can easily be the next CEO of CPP Investments (don't forget, John Graham was his predecessor before assuming the top job exactly five years ago). 

Having said this, I bounced this idea off a senior executive at CPP Investments who shared this with me: 

"I agree that both (Andrew and David) are stars in their own right. Still, the depth of talent at CPP Investments runs deep and wide, and with a Board of Directors taking succession planning very seriously at various key levels and roles, I believe with such a deep pipeline of talent it might be a little too speculative..."

No doubt about it, the depth of talent at CPP Investments runs deep and wide so maybe it's premature to assume anything at this point until an official announcement is made.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on this nomination. I want to reiterate, David Colla is the best person to lead Credit Investments at this time and that's why he was chosen to replace Andrew Edgell who is an equally outstanding leader and investor in his own right.  

I wish then both well.

Below, private credit, a form of lending by non-bank financial institutions to businesses outside of public markets, was once a niche corner of Wall Street. Now, private credit is going mainstream as it seeks funding from retail investors. CNBC’s Hugh Son breaks down the rise of private credit, why retail investors are looking into private credit and the risks and upsides of investing in the space (a month ago).

Also, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami are joined by Jen Saarbach and Kristen Kelly of The Wall Street Skinny to discuss two major developing market stories ahead of meeting in Miami for the iConnections Global Alts conference. 

The first topic is stress in private credit, centered on Blue Owl’s retail-focused semi-liquid vehicle (Blue Owl Capital Corp II) facing heavy redemptions and gating, highlighting the liquidity mismatch between retail redemption needs and long-dated loan assets. They contrast the gated evergreen structure with Blue Owl’s publicly traded BDC that was trading roughly 20% below NAV, discuss Blue Owl’s reported loan sales near NAV, and explore why the issue is pressuring related stocks like Blue Owl and Blackstone despite an S&P 500 that appears indifferent. 

The group connects the private credit conversation to how AI/data center buildouts are financed, including references to Meta-related structures and concerns about CoreWeave’s ability to raise capital for data center obligations, and notes that credit markets often reprice quickly only after complacency breaks. 

The second topic is prediction markets, focusing on Kalshi and its partnership with Tradeweb to publish analytics and potentially enable institutional trading of binary outcomes on events like Fed decisions and macro data, raising questions about democratized access, liquidity constraints, regulatory gaps, spoofing, and the role of insider information, along with implications for politics and whether more information is always better.

"Anathema In The University Mission": Bari Weiss Canceled At UCLA

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

This week, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was supposed to give the UCLA Burkle Center’s annual Daniel Pearl Memorial guest lecture on “The Future of Journalism.” It was a wonderful opportunity for students to hear from one of the impactful voices in the media. However, they will not be able to do so after a successful cancel campaign supported by faculty members.

The College Fix reports that roughly 11,000 people signed a petition demanding the university cancel the event, and a leader at the center hosting her talk threatened to resign if the journalist spoke.

One of the most outspoken critics was Margaret Peters, associate director of the Burkle Center, who suggested that she would resign even if Weiss were allowed to speak virtually, according to The Daily Bruin.

The LA Times reported that UCLA was turning to the common excuse of security concerns to effectively yield to the heckler’s veto.

Peters told The Daily Bruin:

“that she believes Weiss has used the guise of free speech to attack people on the left whose opinions she does not agree with – and having her speak at a signatory lecture would legitimize these actions...

To invite somebody who is working against that mission in highly powerful places just seems like anathema in the university mission.”

This statement is an example of the culture that is inculcated into students who become intolerant in college. It explains why students feel righteous in shouting down or interrupting speakers.

What is “anathema” to the academic mission is the viewpoint intolerance and orthodoxy shown by Peters and the faculty and students at UCLA. In accusing Weiss of attacking those with “opinions she does not agree with,” Peters demanded that Weiss be silenced as someone with opinions that she does not agree with.

The lack of self-awareness is a common element among many in higher education who claim to support free speech and intellectual diversity while purging universities of conservative or libertarian faculty or speakers.

The fact that UCLA would pick Peters to lead this Center speaks volumes about the culture in higher education. Peters felt complete license to speak as the Associate Director for the canceling of speakers with opposing views.  Her overt intolerance was likely an advantage with other faculty members.

After years of surveys showing the purging of faculty ranks, there is no evidence that faculty members are willing to allow a diversity of opinions.

After years of viewpoint intolerance, schools like Yale have finally reached the point where there is not a single faculty member left who donates to the Republican Party or candidates.

In 2018, a faculty member who called for greater viewpoint diversity at Sarah Lawrence was the subject of threats and vandalism.

Samuel J. Abrams, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, wrote about the problem almost ten years ago. His research showed that, while the faculty was overwhelmingly liberal, the administrators were even more so. In his survey of 900 college administrators, he found that liberal staff members outnumber conservative staff members by a 12-to-1 ratio: “A fairly liberal student body is being taught by a very liberal professoriate — and socialized by an incredibly liberal group of administrators.”

That was almost a decade ago.

This does not happen overnight or by accident. It is the result of faculty and administrators replicating their own views while effectively purging their ranks of conservatives or moderates.

Today, even liberal columnists like Ezra Klein have been subject to disruptive protests. It is rare for libertarian or conservative figures to be invited on campuses and these faculty members have succeeded in deterring others.

It is important for speakers to continue to appear on campuses despite these threats. We cannot yield to the mob.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 19:15

Leftist Media Outraged After USA Olympic Hockey Team Goes Pro-MAGA

Perhaps it's destiny - The last time the USA Men's Olympic Hockey Team won the gold in 1980 they had to first defeat the communist Soviet Union.  It was not the final game of the Olympics, it was the second to final game, but it was the only game that was treated as an epic battle of cultural and political ideals and not just a sports competition.  In 2026, the Team USA finally won again, this time against the increasingly communistic country of Canada. 

Maybe this time around the global audience was not as aware of the political nature of the event, but the woke left was certainly spellbound, poised to exploit the outcome as symbolic of an ideological victory over American conservative principles.  In other words, they expected the Canadians to win, and they planned to gloat about the downfall of the US image at the feet of a far-left country.  Obviously, it didn't work out that way.

To pour salt on their wounded progressive egos, the men's team is largely pro-MAGA and says they are excited to attend Trump's State of the Union Address.  Leftist activists have been pressuring American athletes throughout the Olympics to denounce the Trump Administration.  Particularly, they have called on American representatives to speak against ICE and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. 

The USA Women's Hockey team capitulated and chose to snub Trump's invitation after their gold medal win.  Leftists expected the men to do the same.  Instead, they invited FBI Director Kash Patel and partied with him after the win. Patel is an avid hockey player and was already present in Milan to oversee security for the proceedings.  Donald Trump also made a locker room call to the team to congratulate them.     

You can hear the genuine pride in Donald Trumps voice when he called the Team USA Hockey Team pic.twitter.com/ch6GbXShwh

— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) February 23, 2026

It all seems like good, clean American patriotism, but that's the problem.  Now, the establishment media is running a blitz against the men's team, attacking them in a series of hit pieces and denouncing their support of the President. 

The Nation calls it the "Ugly Underbelly Of The US Men's Hockey Victory", asserting that:

"Trump holds incredible nostalgia for the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team of 1980. This was the squad that, in one of the great Olympic upsets of all time, defeated the USSR in the semifinals before winning the gold. Pundits turned the victory into a right-wing symbol. It showed that the country had moved away from the social struggles of the 1960s and ’70s and embraced the crypto-fascist variant of patriotism best exemplified in the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan..."

In other words, leftists despair over the loss of the communists and their eventual downfall.  They see the victory of capitalism as "crypto-fascist".  The Nation attacks the men's team as if they work for Trump.  This is what leftists do when people don't submit to their demands and refuse to virtue signal for the woke agenda.

"Unlike other US Olympians speaking out against this regime, men’s hockey players chose to be lickspittles..."

"...The real Olympic heroes were the athletes who stood up for each other - and against Trump."

They go on to list the handful of Olympic athletes who decided to pull a "Kaepernick" and politicize their sport with activism instead of simply competing and representing their country.  

Slate raged over Kash Patel's celebration with the team, suggesting he had no reason or right to be at the event (even though he was invited to be there).  The cope and seethe was readily apparent in SBNation's screeching diatribe in which they argued that:

"Instead of trying to carve off football and basketball viewers, the NHL has been marketing itself to non-sports fans, emphasizing women, supporting the LGBTQ+ community with Pride Nights, and making substantial inroads with Gen Z as a result..."

Yes, and this is a detrimental error because hockey fans generally do not like woke nonsense and mentally ill, sexually degenerate activists.  The LGBT agenda has been forced on hockey fans, they never asked for it.  And, just because Gen Z is more inclined to watch hockey does not mean those particular viewers are more inclined to be gay or woke.  They continue:

"We’re left with a sport that’s at odds with itself, during a time of momentous change. A new generation of young, diverse fans running headfirst into a sport that has often held a reputation for being insular, tribal, exclusionary, and prejudiced. Team USA’s celebration was everything the NHL has been trying to push against, now it’s on full display..."

The Guardian played to the deportation angle and the idea that players might receive "backlash" (backlash that the leftist media often generates and fabricates) if they attend Trump's State of the Union, suggesting that they avoid political entanglements.

"Some players will face pressure to be “team players” and go along with the propaganda-driven Capitol Hill invitation. But perhaps some will recognize that they are being asked to give tacit approval to an administration that is denying many US residents and citizens a chance to be a part of Team USA writ large..."

No legal American citizens are being denied their citizenship.  Around 10 anchor babies have been deported along with their illegal parents, but this is not necessarily a denial of their citizen's status.  Regardless, no foreigner is entitled to access the US for any reason. 

Open immigration is a fabrication of the political left, even the "melting pot" narrative was a creation of early socialists.  It is not an integral part of the American tradition.  Migrants have to earn the right to come to the US.  They are not owed anything.

At bottom, hockey has been targeted for co-option by the political left since the early 2020s and they thought they had taken full control of the platform. This is why they are outraged by the behavior of the men's Olympic team.  The leftists assumed that they owned these guys. 

Beyond that, the media was hoping for a Canadian win as a springboard to bag on the US and Trump.  Instead, they lost, and now journalists are accusing Trump and the men's hockey team of politicizing the victory that leftists were planning to politicize.  Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 18:50

Watch: TDS-Riddled De Niro Sobs In Tears Over Trump

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Robert De Niro, the actor whose unhinged rants against President Trump have become a staple of leftist media, took his Trump Derangement Syndrome to new heights by bursting into tears during an MSNBC appearance.

De Niro sobbed while discussing Trump’s alleged “division,” prompting host Nicolle Wallace to tear up as well in a display of peak propaganda.

De Niro spluttered “You have to lift people up. You can’t divide people… this thing (Trump) they’re destroying, attempting to destroy this country and maybe not even understanding why. It’s up to us to protect the country.”

?? Robert De Niro breaks down crying about Trump:

“You have to lift people up. You can't divide people. This thing [Trump] is destroying the country.”

Peak Hollywood sobfest propaganda. https://t.co/VDoDdXbc75

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 23, 2026

Wallace responded: “You’re always about lifting up everybody around you,” and added “You weren’t supposed to make me cry.”

De Niro’s tears underscore the desperation among Hollywood elites as Trump’s America First policies continue to reshape the nation, exposing the hypocrisy of those who claim to champion unity while sowing division themselves.

Robert De Niro crying about “lifting people up” & saying “you can’t divide people”, after for years, calling Trump and his supporters racists, Hitler, fascists, Nazis….is BEYOND INSANE!!

— The Conservative Read (@theconread) February 23, 2026

No actor has been more divisive and disparaging to conservative voters than Robert Deniro over the last 10 years so spare me the crocodile tears BS. He is a state propagandists bc that’s what’s required to be a working actor. Especially when you owe millions in taxes.

— Wokeaholics (@wokeaholics) February 23, 2026

A washed up professional actor doing what he does best: acting

— Rising Eagle (@risingeagleusa) February 23, 2026

Top-tier emotional framing here De Niro taps into fear, empathy, and outrage all at once. Classic media play.

— Valchiz | CLONE (?,?) (@radar_dapp) February 23, 2026

Elsewhere in the interview, De Niro again claimed Trump will “never leave” the White House and has to be gotten rid of.

Robert De Niro says Trump will “never leave” office, so people “have to get rid of him” on their own.

He then calls on people to obstruct Trump’s election integrity measures at the polls in the midterms.

This absolutely warrants a Secret Service investigation. pic.twitter.com/Y170JAOevm

— johnny maga (@johnnymaga) February 21, 2026

This latest meltdown comes just months after De Niro’s explosive tirade where he labeled the Trump administration “Nazis” and urged leftists to “fight it out” with them, insisting the President would refuse to leave the White House.

In that earlier outburst, platformed on MSNBC, De Niro blathered, “We see it we see it we see it all the time, he will not want to leave,” adding “He set it up with, I guess he’s the Goebbels of the cabinet, Stephen Miller.”

“He’s a Nazi. Yes, he is, and he’s Jewish and he should be ashamed of himself,” De Niro asserted about Miller.

He continued, “It’s all nonsense. It’s, we know it’s all racist. It’s all, I mean, that’s what he appeals to that’s what Trump is. Everything is what you see is what you get. It’s not going to change with him.”

“Everything, the point is we have to keep fighting and pushing until he is out, period. There’s no other way. He’s not going to want to leave the White House,” De Niro blurted.

“What is he facing? He’s facing certain things no matter what the Supreme Court, they’re going to find a way to go after him for what he’s done, all the awful, monstrous things that he’s done,” he garbled, without specifics.

“You know, I don’t see anyway, he’s not going to want to leave,” De Niro reiterated, adding “We cannot let up on him because he is not going to leave the White House. He does not want to leave the White House. He will not leave the White House.”

“The Republicans, most of all, because they know, but they’re going along with it. It’s a classic bully situation. We see it, and there’s no other way to face a bully. You have to face him and fight it out and back them off and back him down. That’s the only way this is going to work,” De Niro ranted.

He also claimed Americans outside elite metropolitan areas side with Trump because they lack access to truthful media—said on MSNBC, of all places.

De Niro has peddled the “Trump is a Nazi dictator” line for nearly a decade.

He once declared Trump worse than psychopath killers he’s portrayed, and said he’d disown his children if they resembled Trump’s family.

“I don’t want my kids to take this the wrong way, but if my kids did what [Trump’s] kids did, I wouldn’t want to be related to them. I would disown them.” De Niro raged on The View.

“I would have a serious talk with them.” he continued, adding ”if I disagreed with them on things of principle, I would say, and they felt it, and we do now.” he added.

Ironically, one of De Niro’s sons declared himself transgender, citing influence from Black women: “I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me… I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 18:25

Pope Allegedly Labels "Far Right" His Greatest Concern In Private Meeting

Recent reports claim that in November of 2025 during a private meeting with Spanish Bishops, Pope Leo XIV asserted that the "rise of ultra-right ideology" was his greatest concern.  The comments allegedly came in response to widespread criticism of the church by conservatives against its weak response to militant LGBT ideology and its continuing defense of mass immigration.  

The initial claims were published by the Spanish newspaper El País, known as a far-left platform.  The paper says it interviewed some of the Bishops involved in the meeting, and they assert that they were given a directive to "be aware of the intentions of extreme right-wing groups." 

Skeptics suggest that El País may be fabricating or exaggerating the context of the meeting to serve the purposes of the political left, however, it's hard to deny that the recent positions of the Vatican have been decidedly left wing. 

Critics of the church argue that the Vatican "cut a deal" with the Spanish Government for compensation of victims involved in clergy pedophilia cases (the cases were resolved this year in a landmark agreement).  They say part of the agreement requires the Vatican to publicly support Spain's new program giving worker rights to at least 500,000 third world immigrants that entered Spain through open borders over the past several years.

Spanish conservatives believe that this is the first step towards the inevitable creation of a fast-track program (or amnesty) giving all migrants citizenship and legal voting status (which leftist politicians have already called for). 

Spain has suffered a suffocating spike in sexual crime in the past decade, including a 150% increase in assaults since the beginning of the immigration surge.  Spanish citizens assert that the leftist government has attempted to suppress crime data involving migrants in order to push their multicultural agenda forward.  Tensions have triggered a number of riots in the past year. 

       

The Papacy has a long history of working in tandem with progressive and globalist institutions.  Under Pope John Paul the II and Benedict XVI, globalism became the Catholic Church's driving political mantra.  They consistently defended mass immigration from the third world into the west.  They also spread the lie that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were migrant "refugees" (They were actually subjects of the Roman Empire and Egypt was a Roman province.  They were not refugees crossing borders illegally).  

The majority of modern Church policies and statements have leaned in support of the leftist, breaking substantially from Christian teachings of the past and putting the western world at risk of erasure.  One has to wonder, whose side are they really on?

In 2021, the Vatican joined with top globalists, world leaders and corporations to announce the Rothschild founded Council For Inclusive Capitalism.  The organization was devised as, essentially, a proto-global government which linked the United Nations, religious institutions, corporation elites and political elites into one body promoting a new global socialism.  With the failure of the covid lockdown plan, they have tried to bury the memory of the council.

A key agenda of the UN and Inclusive Capitalism is open borders, allowing for the easy movement of large groups in and out of otherwise self contained nations.  This is sometimes referred to as the "Immigrant Rights Movement", an effort which the UN funds and supports, causing chaos in Europe and the US. 

Anyone who opposes this agenda in the name of cultural security is accused of being a "right wing extremist", and it would seem that the Vatican has joined with the people promoting the narrative.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 18:00

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on February 11, 2026

Maryland Sues To Stop DHS From Converting Empty Warehouse Into ICE Facility

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Maryland sued the Trump administration Monday to prevent an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility from being built in the state.

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades on July 4, 2025. Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Anthony Brown, claims the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE’s January purchase of a warehouse to convert to an illegal immigrant holding center was done without required public comment, state consultation, or an environmental review.

“DHS purchased this facility while keeping the State and the public in the dark, spending more than $100 million in federal taxpayer dollars without performing the required environmental review and without giving Maryland or Marylanders any voice in the process,” Brown said in a news release.

Brown alleges that the purchase violates the National Environmental Policy and Administrative Procedure Acts. The former requires the federal government to properly consider environmental impacts before undertaking any major action such as construction for airports, buildings, military complexes, and highways. The latter governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

DHS and ICE violated the National Environmental Policy Act by beginning work on the facility without the required environmental review, according to the lawsuit, adding that the project poses a significant threat to local waterways, the Potomac River watershed, protected animals, air quality, traffic, and public health and safety.

“No administration is above the law. Our people must be heard,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in the news release. “The State of Maryland is filing this lawsuit because DHS must be held to the same legal standard as every other federal agency.”

The lawsuit further accused the agencies of violating the Administrative Procedure Act by giving no explanation for the purchase and failing to consider alternatives.

It was unclear what alternatives the suit potentially refers to.

On Jan. 16, the Trump administration purchased the vacant, 54-acre commercial warehouse near Williamsport, about 80 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., for $102.4 million.

The project involves converting the building into a detention center for criminal aliens, with a capacity of 1,500 individuals, court documents show.

The purchase comes as the Trump administration continues immigration enforcement operations across the country and pushes for transforming sites nationwide into federal detention centers to keep up with the increasing number of illegal immigrants being taken into custody.

“Federal officials have made clear they want deportations carried out with speed and speed only,” Brown said in a post on X.

One location in Surprise, Arizona, meant to hold up to 1,500 individuals, was met with backlash from the community. Locals told The Epoch Times they were disappointed DHS bought the property without public notice or input.

DHS bought the 418,800-square-foot warehouse for $70 million.

Homeland Security’s website shows there are more than 140 active detention facilities across the United States.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Maryland’s lawsuit.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 17:00

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 21, 2026

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 21, 2026

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 21, 2026

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on February 12, 2026

As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on July 30, 2025

Democrats Will Try Not To Act Like Children During Trump's State Of The Union Address

President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, and according to reports, many seats will be empty.

Earlier this month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave his caucus its marching orders in a closed-door meeting: sit in the chamber with "silent defiance" or don’t attend. 

"The two options that are in front of us in our House is to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion," Jeffries told reporters last week.

The directive wasn’t given out of respect for President Trump or the event, but because last year's joint address devolved into a spectacle that backfired on the Democrats. Many Democrats held up signs reading "Save Medicaid" and "False" as Trump spoke. Dozens of members from the Democratic Women's Caucus wore pink. But most notably, Rep. Al Green of Texas stood up during the speech and began shouting, raising his cane toward the president, before Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove him from the chamber. Green was later censured in a largely party-line vote, but many Democrats realized that the protests didn’t make them look good at all.

Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Axios, "Last year didn't really work as envisioned." A senior House progressive, declining to go on the record, confirmed the broader sentiment that “there's just a feeling that it wasn't real effective last time." Another House Democrat even said the behavior was "completely counterproductive and made us look like children. We should be grown-ups, because [Republicans] are not." Jeffries reportedly chewed out some of the most vocal disruptors behind closed doors. 

Now, a growing coalition of members will skip the Capitol entirely and head to the "People's State of the Union," a counter-rally near the Lincoln Memorial organized by MeidasTouch and MoveOn Civic Action, two left-leaning media and activist outfits. The event is designed as counter-programming, featuring former MSNBC anchors Joy Reid and Katie Phang as hosts alongside elected officials and Americans the organizers say have been directly affected by Trump’s policies.

The Senate contingent heading to the rally includes Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Tina Smith of Minnesota. On the House side, Reps. Yassamin Ansari, Becca Balint, Veronica Escobar, Pramila Jayapal, John Larson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Delia Ramirez, Sara Jacobs, Emily Randall, and Bonnie Watson Coleman are all set to appear. Even Greg Casar, who blasted his party’s behavior last year, is participating.

Still, some Democrats are ignoring Jeffries entirely and appear to be planning some protest during the speech. 

"The only question for me is which of his disgusting lines prompts me to get up and leave, because at some point I will,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California said. 

Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan hinted at his intentions to protest during the speech, but refused to offer specifics: "I don't have details to share, but this President is not above [the] law, his massive corruption, unconstitutional actions, his insults to our allies, and despicable acts at Epstein's island must be protested." 

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania previously warned his fellow Democrats not to disrupt Trump’s speech.

“I mean, there’s just no dignity if you have paddles, if you are yelling and saying those kinds of things,” Fetterman told Fox News last week. “I mean, you can agree or disagree on things, but if you’re going to show up, just do it with dignity because, you know, really need to respect the office.”

The Democratic Party heads into Tuesday night's State of the Union address with no unified strategy, a fractured caucus, and a lingering hangover from the last time they tried to make a scene. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 16:40

Cartel Problem Is 'Spilling Over To The United States': Texas Senator

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The cartel problem in Mexico has spilled over into the United States, harming Americans and requiring Washington to take action on the matter, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a Feb. 23 interview with Fox News.

“[Mexicans are] very particular about their sovereignty. And I get that. But if they’re not able to take care of the problem, and it’s spilling over to the United States and killing American citizens, it’s our problem. And we need to do something about it. And fortunately, President [Donald] Trump is willing to take this fight to those cartels,” Cornyn said.

“We, under President Trump, have leaned into providing surveillance ISR to the Mexican elite forces. And now the Senate of Mexico has agreed to allow some of our special forces to go in and train theirs.” ISR, in military terms, refers to Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance.

The lawmaker said Mexico has long been controlled by the cartels, and the corruption facilitated by its government.

Many of the government officials in Mexico have been compromised, Cornyn said, with these officials getting rich and continuing to do so because of drugs, human trafficking, fuel theft, and other activities.

“You name it, they'll do anything for a buck. And these are dangerous and very violent people,” the senator said.

“But fortunately, President Trump has gotten President [Claudia] Sheinbaum to extradite I think approximately 50 different cartel members to the United States. And I’m glad to see them taking the fight to the cartels in Mexico using U.S.-facilitated intelligence,” the lawmaker said.

Cornyn said he was in communication with the State Department to ensure that they can bring Americans currently in Mexico back home safely amid the violence unleashed following the death of a major drug leader.

Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), was killed on Feb. 22 during a Mexican government operation. CJNG is one of the most powerful and fastest-growing criminal organizations in Mexico.

There have been reports of violence across Mexico following El Mencho’s death. On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico issued a security alert, asking Americans in Mexico to “shelter in place.”

The alert asked Americans to follow the instructions of local authorities and call 911 in case of emergencies. It recommended that they monitor local media to remain updated on the situation, and “keep family and friends advised of your location and well-being via phone, text, and social media.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an X post on Sunday that the United States had provided intelligence to the Mexican government in its operation that killed El Mencho.

“The Trump Administration also commends and thanks the Mexican military for their cooperation and successful execution of this operation,” Leavitt said. President Donald Trump wants narcoterrorists sending deadly drugs into the United States to “face the wrath of justice they have long deserved.”

Cartel Threat

The U.S. Department of State said it was offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of El Mencho.

Since 2017, the drug leader has been indicted several times in a Columbia district court. In 2022, he was charged with conspiracy and distribution of a controlled substance for purposes of unlawful importation into the United States, according to the department.

CJNG “has been assessed to have the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity in Mexico, and over the past few years, includes the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States,” the department said.

CJNG and other Mexican cartels were designated as foreign terrorist organizations last year by the Trump administration. The group has attacked Mexican police and military, and conducted assassinations of local officials, the State Department said while announcing the cartel as a terror group.

On Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged the state’s citizens who are in Mexico to closely follow warnings from the State Department amid the security operations, related road blockades, and criminal activity in Mexico, according to a Feb. 22 statement from the governor’s office.

In a Feb. 23 statement, Abbott’s office announced that the governor has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to boost public safety and homeland security operations across the state in response to the rising cartel violence in Mexico.

“Mexican drug cartels pose a significant threat to public safety and national security,” Abbott said.

“By increasing proactive efforts to defend against cartel violence, Texas will continue to utilize every tool and strategy to protect our state and our nation. We will not cower to criminals who impose terror on our fellow Texans and Americans.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 16:20

PayPal Shares Jump Again After "Large Rival" Suitor Revealed As Stripe

Update (1558ET):

Bloomberg reports that payment processor Stripe has expressed interest in PayPal, a day after the outlet first reported that a "large rival" suitor was exploring a takeover of the payments platform.

Bloomberg:

• STRIPE IS CONSIDERING AN ACQUISITION OF ALL OR PARTS OF PAYPAL

• STRIPE HAS EXPRESSED PRELIMINARY INTEREST: SOURCES

Before the first Bloomberg report hit, PayPal shares in New York were at 2017 lows (with a market capitalization of around $37 billion) and were down more than 85% from the 2021 high of $291.48.

Shares have jumped as much as 18% since the initial report was released late Monday morning. 

Bloomberg noted, "The deliberations are still early and there's no certainty they'll lead to a transaction." 

*   *  *

PayPal shares were briefly halted due to volatility and are now up 9% after a Bloomberg report said the digital payments firm is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers, as the stock slid to a decade low. The report, based on unnamed sources, has not been confirmed by PayPal.

Interest in a PayPal takeover is in the early stages, according to people familiar with the matter. They say the company has met with banks amid unsolicited interest from suitors.

The sources described one of the suitors as " "large riv"l" looking to purchase the entire digital payments firm, while others are only interested in certain PayPal assets.

Before the news hit, PayPal shares in New York were at 2017 lows (with a market capitalization of around $37 billion) and down more than 85% from the 2021 high of $291.48. Year to date, shares are down 30%.

Wall Street analysts are largely neutral on the stock, with 1" "Buy"," 3" "Hold"," and si" "Sell"." The average 12-month price target is $50.08. 

PayPal was one of the pioneers of digital payments, but has been losing market share as consumers shift to alternatives like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Bloomberg notes a leadership shakeup of the firm is underway, with board chair Enrique Lores set to become president and CEO on March 1, following the ouster of Alex Chriss earlier this month. The latest earnings have disappointed, with quarter four profit and revenue missing estimates and signs of a continued slowdown in payment volume.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 15:58

Iran Strikes Covert Missile Deal With Moscow In Backchannel Rearmament

Iran is squarely in the Trump administration's crosshairs, and both Russia and China are to some degree coming to Tehran's aid with some significant arms deals meant to potentially stave off future attack.

Most significantly, the Financial Times is reporting that Russia will supply the Iranians with thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles in a deal worth 500 million Euros.

via Reuters

It's said to be part of a broader effort to rebuild Iran's air defenses, which were heavily destroyed and retarded by Israeli-US airstrikes in the last June war. Iran is also greatly limited given years of US-led sanctions targeting its defense and industrial sectors.

Though only coming to light this past weekend, the agreement was inked in Moscow in December, and commits Russia to deliver 500 "Verba" launch units and 2,500 "9M336" missiles over three years.

FT says it reviewed leaked Russian documents the UK publication obtained, which revealed the secretive deal for the Russian anti-air defenses.

The agreement was reportedly negotiated between Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Moscow representative of Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), with for example the the 9M336 missiles going for €170,000 per unit.

As for the Verba systems, for Moscow they represent a relatively low-cost way to shore up Iran's air defenses, bolstering Tehran's deterrent posture without meaningfully draining Russia's own missile inventories, badly needed for operations in Ukraine and as readiness for some potential future engagement with NATO.

Graphic News: the Verba 9K336 MANPADS

Last week, Russian naval power was on rare display near Iran, cooperating in planned joint naval drills with the Iranian Navy and IRGC units, in a bit of muscle-flexing as the Pentagon builds up its forces in the Mideast region.

If the US were to launch a surprise attack on Iran, it remains unlikely that either Russia or China would come to Tehran's direct military aid and engage militarily with Washington. However, Moscow and Beijing would no doubt team up to issue a UN Security Council condemnation, and would seek to rally the globe against another Iraq-style war in the Middle East which would likely sow broader instability. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/24/2026 - 15:45