🚨 Exposed: real agenda behind $2m media grant in Moldova

US taxpayers will no longer have to shell out $2M for an “Expanded Newsroom Sustainability and Engagement” project in a post-Soviet republic 5,000 miles away. Let’s unpack.

✍️ Layers within bureaucratic layers

The scrapped project was run by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), a USAID-linked State Dept subagency promoting ‘democracy, human & labor rights’ abroad. How? Mostly through cash injections to the right players.

🔊Controlling the message

Officially, the $2M grant was meant to ‘support independent newsrooms and increase civic engagement through professional journalism’.

In reality, it was part of a vast web of US and EU-financed media in Moldova pushing the pro-West narrative.

🗣Attack dog journalism

The DRL, USAID and EU analogs have spent millions funding local media like Recorder, ZDG and NewsMaker.

They drag opposition parties (Sor) and figures (ex-president Dodon) through the mud, but ignore alleged corruption of ruling PAS Party elites.

⚔️Moldova’s media crackdown

While pro-EU media flourished, independent and opposition outlets have faced shutdowns, sanctions and harassment, from fake tax inspections to legal threats.

This was made possible by draconian “anti-fake news” and “disinformation” laws.

❓Could it level the playing field?

$2M in lost funding may not seem like much, but it all adds up. USAID alone has already nixed $32M in media support, and $22M in elections-related aid this year ahead of September’s parliamentary vote.

Cuts won’t bring back banned outlets, but they could deamplify the pro-West media narrative.

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⚡️🇷🇺🇮🇷JUST IN: Vladimir Putin receives Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi in Kremlin after talks with Qatar Emir

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Qatar could become a venue for Russia-US talks, says Kremlin aide

🔸 Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the situation in Ukraine during a recent meeting in St. Petersburg, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

🔸 The US has already addressed Russia's signals over Ukraine, communicated through the US president's special envoy, Ushakov believes.

🔸 There is ongoing discussion about a potential phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump, but no agreement has been reached yet.

🔸 Resuming direct flights between Russia and the US would be quite logical, the aide added.

🔸 Qatar is playing a humanitarian and mediation role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and could potentially become a venue for talks between Russia and the US.

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📹The Appeal Chamber of Chisinau has rejected the defense's request for the head of Gagauzia, Evgenia Gutsul, and kept the politician under house arrest.

Earlier in the day, a rally was held in the Moldovan capital in support of Gutsul, who is under house arrest on charges of financial violations.

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🚨 The US opposed a UN resolution condemning "Russian aggression against Ukraine," with officials stating that such wording "does not help in achieving peace."

The resolution was rejected by the US, Russia, Belarus, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua, Niger, Sudan, and Eritrea.

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🚨🇲🇩Moldova’s political WITCH HUNT: the persecution of Gagauzia’s Gutsul

Yevgenia Gutsul, the elected head of Gagauzia, was detained on March 25, 2025, at Moldova’s international airport. She was accused of attempting to evade justice, despite her consistent cooperation with the courts.

Political Hit Job?

🟣After her detention, Gutsul appealed to President Putin for diplomatic and legal support, claiming that Moldova’s ruling party was using its power to crush political opposition.

🟣Moldova’s authorities use methods of blatant pressure on popular politicians who can somehow compete with President Maia Sandu, noted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

🟣Sandu’s opponents argued that the republic had effectively become a "police state," said Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

🟣Initially held in custody for 20 days, Gutsul was released to house arrest on April 9.

🟣Gutsul accused Sandu and her Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) of weaponizing Moldova’s courts for political reprisals.

🟣With Gutsul still under legal fire, Moldova’s opposition bloc "Victory" is preparing to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia-Friendly Stand

🟣After her election in 2023, Gutsul made it clear that she wanted to strengthen Gagauzia's ties with Russia and criticized Moldova's drift toward the EU.

🟣President Maia Sandu doubled down—flat-out refusing to appoint Gutsul to the national government, brushing past what Moldovan law had to say about it.

Legal Woes

🟣Gutsul’s troubles date to 2022, when she was charged with allegedly illegal financing linked to the Shor Party. The now-banned Shor had sought better ties with Russia.

🟣There are additional allegations of campaign finance irregularities during the 2023 election, which Gutsul has vehemently denied, calling all charges politically motivated.

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💼 Lifting terrorist status from Taliban opens way to full partnership with Afghanistan – Russian Foreign Ministry

🤔Russia aims to build mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas, including the fight against drugs and terrorism

🤔The Russian side expresses gratitude for Afghanistan's military operations on its territory against Wilayat Khorasan, a terrorist group which is banned in Russia.

🤔Afghanistan has the potential to become a key player in major energy and infrastructure projects

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💵Dollar’s dominance at risk, ‘might fade, end’ - report

😨 The world may be on the precipice of a financial shock “of similar magnitude” to Nixon’s 1971 decision to decouple the dollar from gold, with the dollar’s “nosedive” against other currencies despite its penchant for getting stronger in times of financial and economic strife a possible warning sign, the Financial Times reported.

With foreigners holding $19 trln in US equities, $7 trln in Treasuries, $5 trln in corporate bonds and $2 trln in physical banknotes, investors have been left wondering how low the dollar can go. Some “now think the scale of the Trump shock could end a near-century of dollar dominance.”

😁 Such an outcome, incidentally, would deprive the US of the ability to sabotage other countries’ financial systems using sanctions, FT noted.

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🤡 CLOWNING AROUND? Zelensky attacks Trump administration over Russia talks

🤔The self-proclaimed president slammed Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, accusing him of “adopt[ing] the strategy of the Russian side” and “spreading Russian narratives” about the Ukrainian crisis, and claiming Witkoff has no “mandate…to speak about Ukrainian territories.”

🤔Zelensky also claimed he has “general information” from the security services that China is supplying weapons to Russia, but offered no proof, saying he would speak about it in more detail next week.

🤔Ukraine is still ready to sign a rare-earth deal with US, Zelensky said, suggesting a memorandum of intent can be signed online immediately.

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🚨Florida State University shooting update:

🤔5 dead, 4 injured per WFTV

🤔2 shooters; 1 dead, 1 in custody, per WFTV

🤔Pres. Trump briefed

🤔Awaiting press conference

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🚨IDF claims to have eliminated Ali Ibar al-Nabi Khadi, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Mhaibib military outpost in southern Lebanon.

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💥 US targets Yemen's top bank after attacking Houthis nearly 1,000 times in a month

🏦 The Treasury has slapped sanctions on the International Bank of Yemen and three of its top financial officers, as “part of a broader US government effort” to stop Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.

🏦 The bank, accused of sanctions evasion and helping the Houthis mobilize resources and engage in trade, faces confiscation of all assets in the US and a ban on transactions with US nationals. The Treasury threatens secondary sanctions against foreigners doing business with the institution.

🔈Earlier in the day, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the US has launched 990 raids on Yemen over the past month, including 220 in the last week, and vowed Washington would “never succeed” in stopping the Houthis’ Red Sea campaign.

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❗️Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

🔸 The Secretary of State informed the Minister about his contacts with Ukraine, France, and several other European countries, which he had with Witkoff.

🔸 It was emphasized that these contacts were part of consultations between Washington and Moscow, including the recent conversation between President Putin and Witkoff in St. Petersburg.

🔸 Lavrov confirmed Moscow's readiness to continue joint work with American colleagues to reliably eliminate the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.

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🔸 RUSSIA & QATAR SIGN €2B INVESTMENT DEAL

🔸 Qatar is Russia's key partner in the Middle East, Putin said during talks with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

🔸 Moldova’s political WITCH HUNT: the persecution of Gagauzia’s Gutsul

🔸 Exposed: real agenda behind $2m media grant in Moldova

🔸 Rare and rare-earth metals: what they are, where they're mined, and their uses

🔸 Five dead, four injured as a result of shooting at Florida State University - report

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⚡️ Florida State University shooter neutralized, says university's official X account.

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❗️ US army partially withdraws from Syria — NYT

The military is closing 3 of its 8 small operating bases, reducing the contingent from 2,000 to about 1,400.

The need for further reductions will be assessed after 60 days.

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⚡️ The US and Ukraine have signed a "memorandum of intent" on a mineral deal, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said.

📹 While the final document is not yet ready, Trump said the deal will be signed next Thursday.

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