Czech Magnate Living in Ringo Starr’s Mansion Allegedly Built €20 Billion Fortune Looting American Pension Funds, and Using His Own Mother as a Shell Company Owner

This is the story of Radovan Vítek. For you and me, this name may not mean anything – but for thousands of Americans, it spells huge financial losses.

More than a billion dollars in US pension funds were allegedly lost in a scheme orchestrated by Vítek, according to lawsuits.

If he had pulled this stunt in the US, the Czech billionaire would most probably have gone to prison for securities fraud.

But in Europe, things run much differently.

European regulators did find that Vítek looted pension funds, concealed his control through shell companies ‘owned by his mother’.

While he paid fines, he was able to retain control of his empire. Europeans let him walk away with everything.

In the end, law enforcement is a matter of geography: in the US, his conduct would end his career and cause him to lose his freedom.

But in Europe, Radovan Vítek built an empire.

Vítek is married, with four children, and lives in Switzerland – but he also owns Rydinghurst, a 17th-century mansion with a 200-acre estate in Surrey, England.

He bought the property in 2015 from former Beatles member Ringo Starr for £13.5 million, so that his children could be educated in England.

But, according to Luxembourg regulators from the CSSF, Rydinghurst was not bought with the fruits of his labor or his genius.

It was bought, the CSSF found, with assets stripped from the ORCO Property Group, a public real estate company based in Capellen, Luxembourg.

Among ORCO’s major shareholders was Kingstown Capital, a Manhattan investment firm entrusted with more than a billion dollars in American pension funds.

Yes, you read it right: the castle was allegedly funded by retirement money stolen from US pensioners.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/czech-magnate-living-ringo-starrs-mansion-allegedly-built/

Zelensky adviser claims Ukraine ‘can’t afford’ elections

Kiev must prioritize “militarization” and social programs over organizing a vote, Mikhail Podoliak has said

Speaking to Novini Live on Thursday, Podoliak claimed there is another obstacle to holding a presidential vote. “We are not supposed to finance this. Objectively, we cannot afford it because we have a budget deficit,” he said.

According to Podoliak, Ukraine’s budget has other priority expenditures, including “militarization” and “social programs, which should compensate for the economic losses of individual households.” He suggested, nonetheless, that the country’s Central Electoral Commission and a working group in parliament should calculate the approximate cost of holding elections.

The back-and-forth over the election comes as a Socis poll this week suggested that Zelensky would overwhelmingly lose in a run-off presidential election to his former top commander and potential primary rival, Valery Zaluzhny. The survey indicated that Zaluzhny would sweep a run-off vote with 64%. Another poll, published by news outlet Delovaya Stolitsa on Tuesday, indicated that 44% of Ukrainians oppose the prospect of online voting over fears that the authorities could falsify the results.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted that Moscow would consider halting strikes deep into Ukraine on election day – provided that millions of Ukrainians living in Russia are allowed to participate.

https://www.rt.com/russia/630033-zelensky-adviser-ukraine-cant-afford-election/

The $16 Billion Question Haunting Mark Zuckerberg

A new study finds Facebook hosts the vast majority of social media scams, and critics argue it is because Meta prioritizes profit over protecting users, according to the New York Post.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters show Meta projected $16 billion — about 10% of revenue — from scam ads last year. Experts say the company only bans advertisers when its systems detect a 95% probability of fraud, while charging higher ad fees to suspicious buyers, a system critics describe as “pay to play.”

Former California prosecutor Erin West says the documents prove fraud is a “major moneymaker” for Meta. “To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it — and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders — is egregious… the practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable.”

Data from fraud-reporting firm SafelyHQ shows Facebook is cited in 85% of scam reports that identify a platform, with more than 50,000 verified complaints collected so far. CEO Patrick Quade says the problem is far larger: “For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions… This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’ — it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”

One victim, Brian Kuhn, lost $70 buying records from a fake Facebook sale. “It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well… I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”

The Post writes that lawmakers Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have demanded a federal investigation, writing: “Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax…”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denies the claims, saying: “We aggressively fight fraud and scams… Scammers are persistent criminals…”

Yet internal Meta reports from 2025 found the company was involved in one-third of successful U.S. scams and that it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”

Another victim, Betty, who bought counterfeit cosmetics from a Facebook ad, described the platform’s targeting: “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear… Some are really good — they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”

Quade warns that “the ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the henhouse — it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in… Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams…”

Consumer Reports and policy experts argue Meta’s protection under Section 230 must be narrowed, especially for paid ads. As Quade concludes, “You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/16-billion-question-haunting-mark-zuckerberg

China Sanctions 20 US Defense Firms, Issues 'Red Line' Warning Over Record Taiwan Arms Deal

After sounding the constant warning that Washington is "playing with fire" in continually arming and supporting self-ruled Taiwan, China's foreign ministry announced Friday new sanctions on ten individuals and 20 American defense companies, mostly notably among them Boeing, specifically in response to American arms sales to Taiwan.

The ministry described that the sanctions freeze any assets that the listed people and firms hold in China and prohibit Chinese organizations and citizens from conducting business with them, and singled out Boeing's St. Louis-based defense branch, Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and L3Harris Maritime Services - among others.

Also on the list is Palmer Luckey, the founder of defense firm Anduril Industries. The sanctioned executives are barred from traveling to mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

"In response to the latest US announcement of large-scale arms sales to China’s Taiwan region, China has decided to take countermeasures in accordance with the anti-foreign sanctions law against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 senior executives who have engaged in arming Taiwan in recent years," stated the Chinese foreign ministry.

"Anyone who attempts to cross the line and make provocations on the Taiwan question will be met with China’s firm response… No country or force shall ever underestimate the resolve, will, and ability of the Chinese government and people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," it added.

The ministry described that "movable and immovable properties, and other kinds of assets" of these American firms and individuals within China "shall be frozen."

The punitive measure follows the Trump administration's provocative announcement last week of an $11.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, which is record-setting, confirmed as the largest such US sale to the island to date.

Beijing has said "The Taiwan issue lies at the heart of China’s core interests and represents the first red line in China-U.S. relations that must not be crossed," according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the major arms sales are intended to support Taipei's efforts to "modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-sanctions-us-defense-firms-executives-over-record-taiwan-arms-sales-red-line

A Striking Number of Children and Relatives of Democrat Politicians Are Running for Office

All in the family: In 2026, a surge of politicians’ kids are running for office

Dozens of members are nearing the end of their congressional careers and hanging up their voting cards.

But for some, their family’s political legacies will continue, as their kids and relatives run for office in 2026.

In the crowded Maine governor’s race alone, there are three contenders who are political scions: Democrat Angus King III, the son of independent Sen. Angus King; Democrat Hannah Pingree, the daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine; and Republican Jonathan Bush, the nephew and cousin of the two Bush presidents.

While the trend is hardly new, this campaign cycle already features a number of notable races involving candidates who are related to former or current politicians.

In New Hampshire, retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s daughter, Stefany Shaheen, has launched a bid for an open House seat. Across the country, former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, is running for a state Senate seat in California. And in Georgia, the son of former GOP Rep. Jack Kingston, Jim Kingston, is running for his dad’s old House seat.

Chellie Pingree said it has been both “heart-warming and terrifying” to watch her daughter, a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, enter the political arena. But she also said it’s only “natural” to see the next generation of public servants following in some of their parents’ footsteps.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/striking-number-children-relatives-democrat-politicians-are-running/

IDF said to arrest Palestinian after he reported settler trespassing and harassment

Palestinians from the West Bank town of Duma say one of the residents was arrested yesterday after he called the cops on a group of settlers who had been trespassing with their flock.

Eid Zawahra, a 52-year-old Bedouin Palestinian, was detained by IDF forces after a group of settlers, one of them armed, encroached on lands in the eastern part of the village, his nephew, Abu Sliman, tells The Times of Israel.

The group had brought their flock to graze between the makeshift houses. In footage from the incident, one of the settlers is heard arguing with the man, threatening him: “Do you want a bullet in the head?” One of the settlers allegedly fired into the air.

When IDF troops eventually arrived at the scene, they arrested Eid on suspicion of stone-throwing. He was handcuffed, blindfolded and escorted into the military jeep. However, his nephew denies that the detained man threw stones at the settlers.

Before his arrest, Zawahra told an Israeli left-wing activist present in the town that police still hadn’t arrived, after he had called them over two hours ago. According to his nephew, he was handed over to police forces at the Binyamin station, then transferred to Ofer Prison overnight.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2004505038488584568

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/west-bank-palestinian-arrested-after-reporting-settlers-trespassing-nephew-says/

24 Wounded in Israeli Raid in East Jerusalem to Confiscate "Thousands of Unregulated Eggs"

Twenty-four people were wounded in East Jerusalem clashes after Israel Police and the IDF raided the city's Kafr Aqab and Qalandiya suburbs, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Police said the forces carried out a joint "enforcement operation" in East Jerusalem, seizing "a large quantity – thousands – of unregulated eggs not fit for consumption." Police and IDF troops also confiscated cigarettes, which they say were smuggled in from the West Bank and several vehicles they suspect of being stolen.

According to the Red Crescent, three people were wounded by live fire, three were wounded after being shot with rubber-coated bullets, one was beaten and 17 sustained injuries due to tear gas inhalation.

The raid comes amid a wave of police crackdowns and home demolitions in East Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods, coinciding with government plans for Jewish settlement expansion in the area.

https://archive.md/tLyUx

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tells Megyn Kelly that the reason his organization has never released any damaging materials on President Trump is that “There is no dirt to release on Donald Trump.” He is probably the most squeaky clean individual in Washington because he is not a career politician or a product of the globalist cabal of elites. Julian Assange is a hero for EXPOSING to the world THE TRUTH about Hillary Clinton and saving us from her planned destruction of America and the world order as we know it. Trump is the greatest existential threat to the globalist uni-party cabal… They have absolutely nothing on him and he has everything on them. In other words, he has “all the cards” to checkmate the Deep State. God Bless Julian Assange, a years-long former political prisoner, and Thank God he is finally free at last.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2003163093287788593

Syrian Druze fighters 'covertly' armed by Israel since Assad's fall: Report

A camp within the Israeli security establishment pushed the idea of transforming Syria's Druze into an official Israeli proxy loyal to Tel Aviv

Israel has been “covertly” supplying Syria’s Druze minority with weapons, ammunition, and military supplies since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year, the Washington Post reported on 23 December.

After launching its occupation of southern Syria in December 2024, Israel began sending the Druze community aid deliveries.

“Packed alongside pallets of humanitarian aid were 500 rifles, ammunition and body armor — all discreetly airdropped by Israel to arm a Druze militia called the Military Council,” two former Israeli officials told the US outlet.

“Israel continues to carry out airdrops of nonlethal military equipment such as body armor and medical supplies to Syrian Druze fighters, effectively undermining Sharaa’s ability to centralize power … Israelis are also providing monthly payments between $100 to $200 to about 3,000 Druze militiamen,” Syrian Druze and Israeli sources said.

The report attributes this support to Israel’s “mistrust” of the new Syrian government led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the founder of Al-Qaeda in Syria and deputy commander of the Islamic State in Iraq.

Hassoun Hassoun, a former Druze brigadier general in the Israeli army, told the Washington Post that he was involved in the assistance effort, which the report describes as “covert cooperation.”

Hassoun said he and others within the Israeli security establishment pushed for stepping up support for the Druze and transforming them into an official armed proxy loyal to Tel Aviv.

“Israel needs to move up a gear and conduct itself as a strategic power, one that will build alliances with all kinds of people and proxies and turn them into people who are loyal to it and to whom it is loyal,” he said.

“Israeli officials supported arming the Druze based on two considerations. They broadly viewed US and EU efforts to work with Sharaa as ‘naive,’ seeing him as an unreformed Islamist militant who posed a threat to Israel if allowed to accrue power. They also felt a moral obligation to protect the Syrian brethren of the influential Druze community in Israel,” the report highlights.

Tel Aviv's support for Syria’s Druze peaked in April but started to decrease in August, after Tel Aviv pursued negotiations with Sharaa’s government.

Israel also raised doubts about “the reliability of the Syrian Druze separatists and the feasibility of their aims.”

In July, brutal clashes broke out between Sharaa’s forces and Druze militiamen in southern Syria’s Suwayda.

Israel carried out violent attacks on Damascus at the time, targeting Syria’s Defense Ministry and Presidential Palace.

https://thecradle.co/articles/syrian-druze-fighters-covertly-armed-by-israel-since-assads-fall-report

Collective punishment

Defense minister orders Israeli military to ‘act forcefully’ against West Bank village the suspected northern Israel attacker came from

Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the Israeli military to "forcefully and immediately" act against the West Bank village of Qabatia, where the assailant suspected of carrying out a stabbing and ramming attack in northern Israel on Friday came from.

The IDF confirmed its forces are "preparing for an operation" in the village.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-12-26/ty-article-live/idf-kills-three-palestinians-who-crossed-yellow-line-in-two-separate-gaza-incidents/0000019b-5844-d1ec-a59f-f9ce14b50000?liveBlogItemId=1499780200#1499780200

Trump Tasks Military With an ‘Oil Quarantine’ Against Venezuela, as Economic Pressure Is Chosen for Now Over Military Action

Now, it arises that Donald J. Trump has directed US forces to enforce ‘an oil quarantine’ against Venezuela for at least the next two months.

These moves lead many to think that the Trump team will focus on economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas into ousting Maduro.

While military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking (for)’, [a US] official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/trump-tasks-military-oil-quarantine-against-venezuela-as/

NATO Countries Scare Their Populations On Christmas With Hyped 'Russian Nuclear Bombers' Flight

On Western Christmas, December 25, Russian nuclear-capable bombers conducted a "scheduled" flight over waters in the Arctic region, specifically in neutral waters of the Norwegian and Barents Seas. This prompted "fighter jets of foreign countries" to escort them and mirror them from afar, Russia's defense ministry has confirmed.

While the country origins of the Western aircraft which responded remain unclear, the Kremlin had notified NATO in advance of the somewhat routine flight path. The bodies of water in question lie north of Scandinavia and northwest of Russia, which is quite far from the UK, and yet British media did what they do best: exaggerate and hype Russian nuclear bombers being "sent" by Putin "to the UK"…and on Christmas!

British media outlets like the Mirror and The Sun have reported that Russian nuclear-capable bombers flew a long-range patrol over the Norwegian Sea on Christmas Day Dec 25, 2025. Which was described as a deliberate act close to the notional "Santa Claus flight path". NATO warplanes were scrambled to monitor the aircraft.

This is how the media spinned it! When it was two Russian Tu-95MS long-range bombers known as "Bears" that conducted a scheduled routine, seven-hour flight over "neutral waters" in the Barents and Norwegian Seas. The media made it sound like they were threatening NATO. When NATO was informed by the Russians the path that was taken.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nato-countries-scare-their-populations-christmas-hyped-russian-nuclear-bombers-flight