🎬🕴 Hollywood's CIA ties exposed: Celebs or special agents?

US filmmakers and movie stars have helped whitewash the image of US spies for years, portraying them as heroes who sometimes have to resort to drastic measures for the greater good.

👇Here’s the list:

▪️Angelina Jolie. She visited CIA headquarters for consultancy while preparing for her role in 'Salt', a 2010 spy thriller. Her activism around the globe, however, makes one wonder exactly how deep her relationship with the CIA might run.

▪️Jennifer Garner. The star of TV series 'Alias' where she played a CIA double agent, Garner was invited to visit Langley. In 2004, she even starred in a short recruitment video for the agency.

▪️Sean Penn. His interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman (also known as “El Chapo”), which was soon followed by the latter’s arrest, fueled speculation that Penn might be a US intelligence asset.

▪️Ben Affleck. He starred as CIA Deputy Director Jack Ryan in the 2002 thriller 'The Sum of All Fears', as well as in 2012, Affleck produced and starred in 'Argo', a film lauding the CIA’s efforts to rescue US diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis.

CIA and filmmaking

There are even claims that Walt Disney himself cooperated with the CIA and aided their anti-communist efforts during the Cold War.

In the 1990s, the spy agency set up a liaison office to woo Hollywood filmmakers and noscriptwriters in order to influence the CIA’s portrayal in their works.

▪️'Zero Dark Thirty', a 2012 dramatization of the manhunt for Osama bin Laden that whitewashed the use of torture by US spies as a tool for gaining valuable information.

▪️Films based on the works of the late Tom Clancy, such as 'The Sum of All Fears' and 'Clear and Present Danger', which The Atlantic once described as “a centerpiece of CIA propaganda in the 1990s.”

▪️'Homeland', a TV series about fictional efforts by the CIA to battle terrorists both at home and abroad.

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📹🇩🇪🇷🇺 Why Germany has to revise its policy towards Russia

“The economic war against Russia has taken its toll on Germany, which is forced to reconsider its attitude towards Moscow and NATO as it enters a completely new multi-polar world”, German journalist Moritz Enders told Sputnik.

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🔍 USAID’s color revolutions destabilized states for US interests - analyst

"USAID played a critical role in influencing color revolutions by providing financial, logistical, and strategic support to opposition movements" in Ukraine, Lebanon, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, Dr. Marco Marsili of the Portuguese Catholic University’s Institute of Political Studies tells Sputnik.

These regime change operations advanced US geopolitical interests but brought NO REAL BENEFITS to the affected nations, he argues.

"USAID’s activities were framed as democracy promotion, electoral assistance, and civil society development," Marsili notes. However, the results tell a different story:

"Ukraine and Georgia faced ongoing political instability, Lebanon remained sectarian, and Kyrgyzstan suffered repeated upheavals," he concludes.

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🇵🇪😳 Environmental alarm: Lima's Rimac River turns pink, sparking concerns among locals

The Rimac River in the Peruvian capital has taken on a strange reddish color, causing concern among residents. Authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of this unsettling change.

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Marco Rubio confirms he will not attend G20 in 2025

"While I imagine the US representation of some kind, I am just not attending it because instead I'll be hopefully travelling to parts of the world... where we can focus on the issues that are directly before us," he said.

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Does Trump’s Somalia strike signal a US expansion in Africa?

US President Donald Trump’s first military strike of his second term targeted Islamic State* operatives in Somalia. But why focus on Africa?

🔶 The IS affiliate in Somalia, formed in 2015 from an al-Shabab splinter group, operates mainly in Puntland's Galgala Mountains. Considered one of the group’s key branches, the strike aligns with US public demand for counterterrorism efforts.

🔶 Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated that the strike “reinforced the strong security partnership” between the two countries.

🔶 The strike comes as the Pentagon loses influence in Africa, as key partners Chad and Niger expelled US forces.

🔶 The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a neocon think tank, argues that expanding US operations in sub-Saharan Africa is crucial to countering China’s growing influence.

🔶 AEI suggests Somaliland—a self-governing but unrecognized entity still legally part of Somalia—could serve as a US outpost in the region.

🔶 In December 2024, Somaliland officials signaled their willingness to host a US military base in Berbera, a strategic deepwater port near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

🔶 A US AFRICOM delegation visited Berbera in May 2022, underscoring Washington’s strategic interest in the region.

*ISIS (Daesh, ISIL, Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.

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🐁 Biden administration spent $2.5 million on transgender mice

Rep. Nany Mace exposed a total of $10 million spent on transgender animal experiments.

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🚨 Ben Gvir's storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque was explosive catalyst for October 7 events, Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant confirmed.

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🚨 Yoav Gallant admits the use of 'Hannibal directive'

"I think tactically in some places it was, in other places it was not, and that is a problem," Former Israeli Defense Minister told Channel 12.

The Hannibal Directive allows the killing of Israeli soldiers and the shelling of vehicles carrying prisoners and abductees. Here's what we know about how it was used on October 7th.

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⚡️ Trump eyes cutting USAID staff by 97% - reports

Trump's administration plans to leave fewer than 300 employees out of the current 8,000 direct hires and contractors, American media report, citing anonymous sources.

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📹🔥 A sky-high show of strength

🇮🇷 Iranian media has shown the launch of the Qaher drone from its Shahid Bagheri aircraft carrier.

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🇪🇬 Egypt says Trump's Gaza plan threatens peace with Israel — reports

Egyptian diplomats are actively working to counter Trump's proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, saying they view the plan as a threat to its national security, AP reported.

Egypt was the first Arab state to normalize relations with Israel in 1978.

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Jared Kushner’s Gaza gamble: The $100B vision for a 'Middle East Riviera'

Donald Trump’s son-in-law may be behind the US president’s recently-announced “the Riviera of the Middle East” project in Gaza. How much could it cost and what stirs Jared Kushner’s interest in Middle East projects?

💰 Estimates of the cost of the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction reportedly amount to a whopping $100 billion.

What’s behind Kushner’s Mideast push?

🔶 Kushner himself was a property developer in New York prior to Trump's first term.

🔶 After Democrat Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021, Kushner retired from politics as senior presidential adviser but continued to pursue his business goals in the Middle East.

🔶 He reportedly used his friendly ties with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to create a private equity fund worth $3 billion.

🔶 During an escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in 2023, Kushner continued to float the idea that mutual economic investments between Israel and the Gulf nations could add to a safer Middle East.

🔶 He hinted about his potential projects in Gaza last year by saying that Gaza's “waterfront property could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods."

🔶 Politically, Kushner is credited with adding to the signing of the 2020 Abraham Accords, landmark peace agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

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