© Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Hundreds of Labour activists and MPs have ‘made the pilgrimage’ to the seat, where they are pounding the streets
For a few short weeks, the centre of political gravity in Britain has shifted from the Palace of Westminster to the bar of a former Labour club in Wigan.
In London, even as Keir Starmer insists he will fight to stay in No 10, the walls seem to be crumbling around him, especially with Thursday’s resignation of the defence secretary, John Healey.
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© Photograph: Jon Super/AP
© Photograph: Jon Super/AP
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As this week got underway, the public saw Donald Trump abruptly end his latest “Meet the Press” interview when NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked the president whether he had evidence to support his election conspiracy theories. “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” the Republican told the host instead of answering the question like an adult who wasn’t making stuff up.
Unprompted, Trump returned to the subject Wednesday at an unrelated White House event, telling reporters:
They rigged the election, the second election, as you probably heard and probably know, most of you know, that happened and now it’s been proven, and it will be proven as time goes by, even more so. We have things that you won’t believe. When we release the full files, you’re not going to believe how crooked the second, the 2020 election was.
He made the comments while surrounded by congressional Republican leaders, who simply nodded along.
Trump: "They rigged the election. Now it's been proven, and it will be proven even more as time goes by even more so. We have things that you won't believe. When we release the full files, you won't believe how crooked the 2020 election was."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-06-10T16:04:29.518Z
There’s probably no point in rehashing what reality-based observers already know: The election wasn’t rigged; it isn’t “proven”; Trump and his team haven’t found “things”; there is no “they”; etc.
What I found notable about this, however, was the idea that there might still be people out there who are willing to believe that the president may yet uncover and release some evidence of a conspiracy that did not and does not exist.
Six months ago, for example, Trump sat down with Politico’s Dasha Burns, and when she brought up the president’s views on Russia’s war in Ukraine, his brain quickly shifted to what he described as the “rigged election.” Trump declared at the time, “It’s going to come out over the next couple of months too, loud and clear, because we have all the information.”
A couple of months came and went. The “information” never surfaced, because there is no such information.
For nearly six years, Trump and his team, like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, have said the evidence to support the election conspiracy theories really is on the way. Any day now. Just you wait. It’ll be awesome.
My advice for those waiting for the president to follow through on his vow: Stop. He can’t produce that which does not exist.
The post Hoping to persuade the gullible, Trump vows to share proof of 2020 conspiracy theories appeared first on MS NOW.
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Colombian lawmakers are considering a proposal that would temporarily suspend President Gustavo Petro from office amid an investigation into allegations that he improperly intervened in the country's presidential election.
Gloria Arizabaleta, president of Colombia's Commission of Investigation and Accusation, filed a motion Wednesday seeking to suspend Petro from his duties through June 21, according to a document published by the commission.
The proposal stems from an ongoing probe into allegations that Petro engaged in political meddling during the campaign and cites conduct described as "extremely serious or serious."
Petro, whose four-year term is set to expire in August, has been accused of involvement in the presidential campaign of leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda, who represents Petro's Pacto Historico coalition.
US SANCTIONS COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT AND FAMILY OVER DRUG TRAFFICKING ALLEGATIONS
Cepeda is scheduled to face conservative attorney Abelardo De La Espriella in a June 21 runoff election.
The race is being closely watched in Washington because Colombia remains one of the United States' closest security partners in Latin America and a key ally in counternarcotics efforts. The country has long been central to U.S.-backed efforts to combat drug trafficking and organized crime throughout the region.
The suspension proposal faces significant hurdles before it can take effect. Lawmakers and legal experts said the measure would first need approval from all 16 members of the Commission of Investigation and Accusation before advancing to Colombia's Senate for further consideration.
ANTI-CARTEL HARDLINER CHANNELS TRUMP IN BID TO END COLOMBIA'S LEFTIST ERA IN PIVOTAL ELECTION
"President Gustavo Petro has not been suspended; he remains in office," commission member Miguel Silvera Padilla said in a video statement, according to Reuters.
The Commission of Investigation and Accusation, which operates within Colombia's lower house of Congress, is responsible for reviewing complaints and potential criminal or disciplinary charges against high-ranking government officials.
Petro has repeatedly faced scrutiny from political opponents during his presidency, though the latest proposal comes less than two weeks before Colombians head to the polls to choose his successor.
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The runoff election between Cepeda and De La Espriella is expected to help determine whether voters continue Petro's leftist political project or shift toward a more conservative approach to security and governance.
Representatives for Petro did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
© Sophie Park for The New York Times, Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times
Donald Trump’s recent record on U.S. attorneys and other federal prosecutors is a rather embarrassing mess. Some of the Republican lawyers have been purged for political reasons, some have resigned and some were forced out by the courts.
But perhaps most important of all are the president’s prosecutors who have actually tried to do their jobs in line with the White House’s agenda.
In Nevada, Sigal Chattah, a member of the Republican National Committee, has led a U.S. attorney’s office for the last year, and according to a Bloomberg Law report published last week, she’s used her office to “launch investigations at the behest of former clients and friends,” and also “opened a probe targeting her past political foe.”
In Illinois, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ tenure has become highly controversial, as evidenced by the intensifying mess surrounding his office’s handling of the “Broadview Six” case.
In Wyoming, interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith botched some criminal cases so badly that federal judges had to intervene. (Senate Republicans soon after rewarded Smith with a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.)
But let’s also not overlook Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney who’s leading the office in the Central District of California.
Essayli, a former Republican state lawmaker, has cultivated quite a reputation, reportedly ignoring the recommendations of senior prosecutors and demanding that the office pursue MAGA-aligned cases without regard for insufficient evidence. Last year, he also dropped a fraud case against a fast-food chain owner who just happened to be a major Trump donor.
This week, Essayli apparently thought it’d be a good idea to appear on Glenn Beck’s program, where he vowed to bring criminal charges in “one to two months” related to his party’s conspiracy theories regarding California elections. The Republican prosecutor seemed to suggest that he hasn’t yet collected real evidence, though he apparently plans to address this problem by turning to the public for help. The New Republic reported:
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli — who oversees 500 attorneys — went on The Glenn Beck Program on Monday to beg listeners to help him find evidence of election fraud.
“I expect people will be charged. … We have set up a tipline. I’ve set up a dedicated email. … We are looking for any sort of widescale conspiracy, if you will. … If anyone knows anything … if you’ve witnessed anything … if you saw someone collecting ballots in a suspicious way, or doing something odd with ballots, we wanna know about that.”
The circumstances were, among other things, bizarre. Federal prosecutors rarely appear on programs such as Beck’s; they almost never predict future prosecutions against alleged criminals who haven’t yet been identified; and it’s even more unusual for them to effectively try to crowdsource evidence collection.
What’s more, this is not a comprehensive list. Other Trump-appointed prosecutors in other jurisdictions have failed in other embarrassing ways.
The longer the list becomes, the worse it is for the rule of law and law enforcement. If you voted for the Republican ticket because you expected Trump and his team to be “tough on crime,” I have some bad news for you.
The post Trump-appointed federal prosecutor seeks public help on election conspiracy theories appeared first on MS NOW.
© Sophie Park for The New York Times
By Kit KLARENBERG
Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su
Leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone expose how the Soros-run Open Society Foundations plotted to “prevent the continuation” of Indonesia’s elected government by bankrolling opposition media, youth activists groups and lawfare operations to remove President Prabowo Subianto.
Ever since the election of Prabowo Subianto as Indonesia’s President in February 2024, Jakarta has faced continuous waves of anti-government protests. Activists enraged by harsh economic conditions and elite corruption have taken to the streets in vast numbers, often engaging in fiery clashes with police and the military. A series of leaks obtained by The Grayzone indicate this upheaval has unfolded according to a well-honed plan to take down Prabowo, which drew on organic grievances but which depended heavily on funding the Open Society Foundations.
Founded by anti-communist billionaire George Soros in 1993, OSF has been described by The New York Times as “a sprawling political and philanthropic empire,” which “seeks to advance a liberal, democratic agenda.” The Washington Post described Soros as part of a network of “overt operators” carrying out “spyless coups” that were once the purview of the CIA during the Cold War. OSF has acknowledged its central role in numerous insurrections throughout the Global South.
The leaked files reveal how from 2019 onwards, OSF began pumping large sums into projects designed to promote “resistance and dissent” against Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Much of this money has been distributed by the Jakarta-based Kurawal Foundation, the single largest recipient of OSF contributions between 2019 and 2024. Founded in 2019, Kurawal describes itself as “a social justice philanthropy…[endeavouring] to promote dignified and benevolent democracy in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.”
The organization sponsors “individuals and agents,” who can be relied upon to advance Western liberal values locally. In the leaks, Kurawal described its efforts to develop an ideal voter who would be impervious to the scourge of Prabowo-associated disinformation. This meant “cultivating a wise and virtuous democrat – as political subject – who adheres to the essential principles of democracy.” The leaks show the intended subject was anything but.
Kurawal’s OSF-funded activities intensified in late 2023, as Indonesia geared up for the Presidential election in February the next year. Prabowo, Joko’s chosen successor, won by landslide in a vote international observers judged legitimate. However, the leaks show Kurawal used its local assets to whip up a frenzy over supposedly “massive” fraud by Prabowo, fomenting so much public pressure that authorities changed electoral rules to allow more parties to run for office in 2029. (Kurawal did not respond to a request for comment from The Grayzone).
In order to topple Prabowo, OSF has financed the grooming of prospective future politicians, outreach to existing political parties, and the creation of new movements and factions that could field candidates for office locally. Simultaneously, OSF bankrolled a range of self-proclaimed ‘independent’ media outlets and activist groups, who they sought to train “to become agents of change.” In leaked documents, Kurawal boasts that its “youth political engagement” activities mean young Indonesians are “at the forefront of most social and political movements… shaping conversations on national policies.”
Kurawal’s meddling in Indonesia has global implications. Mass “Gen Z” protests that erupted in July 2025 and raged for weeks have been hailed by Western corporate media as a revolutionary inspiration for anti-government activists elsewhere. It was in Jakarta where protesters first waved cartoon Jolly Roger flags inspired by Japanese manga One Piece. A map found in the tranche of leaks notes that Kurawal is active in several countries where these flags have appeared, including in protests which have produced regime change, such as in Nepal.
Kurawal encourages ‘agitation and pushback’ against Joko
A leaked February 2025 Kurawal document called “Building Bridges, Filling Gaps,” charts a clear “strategic plan” for regime change in Indonesia and beyond, 2024 – 2029. The file was produced after five years of systematically undermining President Joko’s administration, “by providing support to civil society groups, social movement actors, and thought leaders as well as change makers who do not shy away from politically sensitive issues.” This was motivated by “Indonesia’s growing political and economic clout”, and regional influence, under his rule.
The document describes Joko scathingly, as a “pilferer” and “opportunist”, while slamming his supposedly “inward looking foreign policy.” In reality, Joko prioritized protecting Indonesia’s sovereignty, irritating Western powers by rubbishing bogus CIA-disseminated claims of “genocide” in Xinjiang, refusing to recognize Israel, and pushing for peace in Ukraine.
By “promoting dissent” during his last term in office, Kurawal sought to lay foundations for even greater attacks against Prabowo. As a leaked file explains, “the agitation and pushback was needed to show that dissent is both necessary and possible.” Resultantly, “vibrant citizen movements” that could “challenge power” and “organize and influence change” sprouted locally, with OSF help.
Kurawal’s “program taxonomy” between 2019 and 2024 focused heavily on driving “youth political engagement,” encouraging young Indonesians to attend protests, join civil society campaigns and hone social media skills. As such, the organization’s students “actively set a higher standard of accountability of political leaders,” while “shaping conversations on national policies,” and “challenging traditional political organizing.” These efforts were to be enhanced by what Kurawal called “networks or alliances among social justice groups,” legal advocacy and a new lobbying machine.
Kurawal also financed local media outlets to promote stories of purported malfeasance and other abuses of power by authorities. For example, the organization sponsored a “series of in-depth reporting on police corruption and brutality cases in prominent public interest media,” combined with “social media campaigns” while “forming a national coalition for police reform” to “ramp up public pressure.” This was cited as “one of the bright spots” in Kurawal’s work in Indonesia, during the pre-Prabowo period.
For example, in 2021, Kurawal launched TempoWitness, an online portal which claimed to connect “citizen journalists at community level with mainstream local and national media.” By contrast, Tempo has been a vehicle for slanderous attacks on independent journalists raising questions about Western financing of anti-government media outlets and NGOs in Indonesia. Among its top targets is Brian Berletic, a US citizen who resides in Thailand and specializes in exposing covert Western funding of opposition political forces in the region.
Kurawal has also sponsored documentary films, photography, and experimental art in Indonesia. The purpose is to “elicit action from citizens and community.” This included the Jakarta International Photo Festival, the region’s largest. The events attracted tens of thousands of visitors, enabling Kurawal to shepherd them into a “side event” on the subject of democracy. During these sessions, attendees were given instruction on how to use “photography and visual storytelling” in the pursuit of “democracy and human rights.”
National ‘roadshow’ to ‘radicalize’ Indonesians
When Joko left office, he enjoyed record-high approval ratings. In its “Building Bridges, Filling Gaps” document, Kurawal reluctantly acknowledged the outgoing president was “able to maintain popular public support” in an organic fashion through what they described as “populist social welfare policies.”
The leaked document notes Prabowo would continue his predecessor’s legacy, “emphasizing policies to enhance social welfare, reduce poverty, and eliminate hunger.” A dedicated section called “Bracing for the Prabowo years” outlines the new president’s likely stances and strategy over his first term in office, and how his rule can be undermined.
The leaks reveal how Kurawal released a documentary called “Dirty Vote” immediately upon Prabowo’s election claiming to expose “how instruments of power are used to manipulate elections, undermine democratic order, and maintain the status quo,” and calling “for collective action to safeguard democracy.” The video racked up over 20 million views on YouTube as Kurawal screened it across Indonesia’s university campuses throughout February and March 2024. The dedicated “roadshow” was promoted as “a moral call to protect democracy’s future from systemic abuse and electoral fraud.”
The “Dirty Vote” documentary’s narrative tracked closely with claims of fraud in the February 2024 Indonesian elections by opposition elements. While Jakarta’s Constitutional Court rejected all formal legal challenges to the vote’s results in April that year, Kurawal boasted that its propaganda efforts cemented “widespread voter grievance” over what it called “massive election fraud.” The outcry successfully triggered reforms to Indonesian electoral laws, which previously required parties receive 20% of parliamentary votes to field presidential candidates.
When authorities caved to the opposition’s pressure in January 2025, Kurawal declared, “this means that at the next election, for the first time in the country’s history, political parties big and small will be free to nominate candidates on their own.”
The newly leaked documents echoed the contents of leaked files revealing that in June 2023, the US Embassy in Jakarta privately expressed concern about Prabowo’s almost inevitably impending victory, and planned to overturn the 20% threshold in response.
If the threshold were removed, “there will be more candidates in the election,” US embassy officials noted. In such a scenario, they concluded “the US will have more options” within the field of local candidates.
After the 20% rule was changed, Kurawal said it was well-placed to “set up alternative political groupings among civil society actors,” placing special emphasis on “women, youth, environmental rights defenders.” If successful, Kurawal would oversee “their possible transformation [into] new political parties.” The group wrote that it sought to use “infiltration or pressure” to “transform and radicalize” existing parties and “mobilize the masses against the established party system.”
The document concludes by fretting that the Global South is moving “from the periphery of the international political and economic arena towards the centre,” with countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia cultivating “enough economic and political clout to emerge as regional or global powers,” and “active agents” in the international order. In turn, this has precipitated a global shift towards “multipolarity at a faster speed.” Kurawal lamented that many of these emerging powers do not subscribe to neoliberal Western governance models.
However, the organization expressed optimism about the prospects for insurrectionary change in troublesome countries, noting how Asia “witnessed some extraordinary demonstrations of ‘people power’ in 2024,” courtesy of “civil society leaders and pro-democracy activists.” Cited examples included the removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and the August student-led military coup in Bangladesh.
The Grayzone has exposed how the latter was the handiwork of individuals and organizations sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy, a known CIA cutout.
Exploiting ‘Gen-Z’ to block Prabowo’s re-election
Other leaks show how in August 2025, Ekspedisi Indonesia Baru was awarded tens of thousands of dollars by Kurawal for a project titled “Expedition to Discover New Voices”. The purpose is to transform “younger generations” of Indonesians “to become agents of change.” This is to be achieved by “[mainstreaming] alternative ideas about a ‘New Indonesia’ by distributing public knowledge through documentary films, books, and community discussions that are widely accessible to the public, especially young people.”
Among the initiative’s explicitly stated “desired outcomes” is “stronger engagement from younger generations (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) in public discourse, along with greater courage to dream, speak up, and take action for Indonesia’s future.” This will hopefully precipitate “rising interest in alternative political actors” among the public, prior to Jakarta’s 2029 general election, “with an aim to elect political leaders dedicated to democracy and social equity,” so as to “prevent the continuation” of Prabowo’s rule.
“Key activities” to be conducted include “producing a documentary series” for YouTube channel Indonesia Baru “and other digital platforms,” a “public presentation roadshow” throughout the country to “spread ideas”, and “developing factual short-form content (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) on violent suppression by military and police forces, government corruption, forced land acquisition, and youth resistance to undemocratic policies.” For the latter initiative, Ekspedisi Indonesia Baru seeks to enlist “young creatives who can bring fresh perspectives and formats aligned with their peers’ digital behavior and preferences.”
Another key programming strand was publication of a book, Restart Indonesia, released in October 2025 under the revised title Reset Indonesia. A local media report on the forthcoming work quoted its lead author: “Reset is a more fitting description of the book’s content, which indeed proposes a reprogramming of Indonesia, not just a restart.” While only 2,000 copies have been printed to date, another contributor hoped many more would read the book.
“If a horror film in theaters can attract four million viewers, here’s a book that’s just as horrific,” they explained.
In July 2025, Sophia Nusantara Association was also furnished with tens of thousands of dollars in Soros financing through Kurawal, for a project titled “Guardian of Ecological Democracy” in Papua. Leaked documents described this student group as part of “the vanguard of resistance” against Indonesia’s government. Leaked documents related to the project boast how OSF’s local campus-based proxies have access to media, national networks, and modern documentation tools that can mobilize broad support.”
Kurawal foresaw its student footsoldiers “using art, research, and technology as tools of creative resistance,” managing “online campaigns and offline campaigns,” and convening “cultural festivals as a symbol of resistance.” In particular, Indonesian environmental protection issues were to be exploited as an “intellectual weapon,” to stoke public anger and “policy pressures” within Indonesia’s Presidential palace. Predicting such activity would create a potentially dangerous environment for students, Kurawal pledged to provide them with “security training” and to establish “safe houses on campus.”
‘Fighting authoritarianism with legal weapons’
In late August 2025, large-scale student-led demonstrators erupted across Indonesia. After days of extraordinary clashes, the government pledged concessions in response to protesters’ demands. The upheaval was one of Jakarta’s largest since the ousting of the CIA-installed dictator Suharto in 1998. Unrest quickly turned violent, with rioters attacking police, torching multiple government building, and looting the homes of elected parliamentarians. Local security forces initiated a heavy crackdown on the violent riots which claimed lives, leading to condemnations from groups including the OSF-funded Human Rights Watch.
At the forefront of the campaign to prosecute officials – whether nationally or internationally – was the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organization has received enormous sums from OSF, via Kurawal Foundation. The leaks show YLBHI received a substantial grant from Kurawal just one month prior to the protests, to provide “critical legal education” to civil society groups, student organizations and indigenous communities to document purported abuses by authorities, and launch litigation “at the national level and through international human rights law mechanisms.”
Moreover, YLBHI’s OSF-bankrolled lawfare operations are explicitly intended to undermine the National Strategic Project instituted under President Joko in 2016. The project’s aim is to finance local infrastructure in order to generate economic growth and regional development. The effort has ignited controversy, however, due to concerns over land rights, potential environmental damage, and displacement of indigenous communities. With OSF financing, YLBHI aims to “raise critical awareness” of issues related to the National Strategic Project’s implementation.
Another target of the grant is “fighting authoritarianism with the use of legal weapons.” YLBHI is to “collaborate with local [and international] legal teams and legal experts to establish a legal aid team that can provide a rapid response, aiming to provide necessary legal assistance to social activists experiencing pressure” from authorities. These efforts will be “continuously” promoted, in order “to gain support and response from the Global South, thereby protecting the legitimate rights and interests of indigenous peoples and activists.”
With millions pumped into Kurawal over the years, it is evident Soros’ foundation is determined to stymie Prabowo in the next election. While he may not remain in office to face his opponents at the ballot box, one thing is clear: his replacement will be owe a debt of gratitude to some powerful forces overseas.
Original article: thegrayzone.com
© Sophie Park for The New York Times
© Meg Kinnard/Associated Press
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