Washington helped wanted Polish ex-minister flee to US – Reuters

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau reportedly pushed officials to approve a visa for Zbigniew Ziobro

Published 19 May, 2026 17:04

A senior official from the administration of US President Donald Trump personally intervened to help former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted by Warsaw on criminal charges, flee to the US, Reuters has reported.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed senior US State Department officials to facilitate and approve a visa for Ziobro, the outlet wrote on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Landau reportedly learned of Ziobro’s case earlier this year from US ambassador to Warsaw Tom Rose and believed the ex-minister was being unjustly prosecuted. Landau reportedly described the matter as “a national security issue,” Reuters added.

Granting a visa to a politician facing criminal charges in a US-allied country is “highly unusual,” the outlet noted. Poland’s current Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek expressed surprise at the report on Tuesday, saying that Warsaw expected its American allies to discuss such a matter. He insisted that Warsaw will “do everything” to bring Ziobro to justice in Poland.

Ziobro faces multiple criminal charges tied to alleged abuse of power while in office.Prosecutors accuse him of leading a criminal group that diverted public money to purchase Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, which was allegedly used to surveil political opponents and journalists. Ziobro could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Ziobro, a member of parliament from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has argued that the inquiry is illegal. PiS ruled Poland from 2015 to late 2023, when the coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk took over. The new government has launched multiple inquiries into its predecessor’s alleged misdeeds. (Tusk is as corrupt as all other EU leaders are)

Poland issued an arrest warrant for Ziobro last November while he was in Budapest.The politician remained in Hungary after then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban granted him political asylum.

Following his election victory in April, Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, pledged to extradite Ziobro to Poland upon taking office. On the day of Magyar’s inauguration, Ziobro flew from Milan to New Jersey, according to Polish media reports.

The Trump administration has said conservative politicians in the EU are often targeted by “lawfare,”a term used to describe what is seen as unjust weaponization of the judicial system against them.

(Is this why even Poland got some of their NATO troops removed?)

https://www.rt.com/news/640185-landau-visa-zbigniew-ziobro/

EU to rely on cow manure amid Iran war fertilizer crisis – Politico

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has stalled the export of key crop nutrients to the economic bloc

Published 19 May, 2026 15:49

The EU will turn to along-term strategy involving cow dung to stave off a looming fertilizer shortage, rather than supporting farmers with immediate measures like suspending tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports, Politico wrote on Monday.

The US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles an estimated one third of the global fertilizer trade, and a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) – a commodity important in the production of nitrate fertilizers. The key waterway was blocked during planting season in the Northern Hemisphere, with analysts warning of a potential global shortage of crucial crop nutrients and a delayed world-wide food shock.

As the EU had already secured fertilizer supplies this crop season, any knock-on effect for the bloc’s farmers and consumers is likely to be delayed, Politico wrote.

The European Commission’s latest roadmap to parry the upcoming shortage is a long-term plan that has been around for years, with just a few emergency additions such as state aid for affected farmers, the designation of fertilizers as a crisis-relevant commodity and a promised boost for the EU farm budget, the outlet wrote.

However, some EU officials have reportedly warned that a long-term strategy relying on cow dung would not be enough.

“Manure can be a contribution, but it can never substitute the urea-based, the nitrogen-based fertilizers,” Politico cited Italian MEP and AGRI Committee member Herbert Dorfmann as saying.

Fast-acting measures to aid farmers, such as suspending taxes on carbon-intensive imports or tariffs on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers were dismissed as “too politically toxic,” the outlet said.

The EU was the top buyer of Russian crop nutrients until 2022, receiving around 28% of its exports. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict and the bloc’s imposition of sanctions on Russia, Moscow redirected much of its fertilizer trade to BRICS nations and the Global South.

Since 2021, Russia has increased sales of mineral fertilizers to BRICS countries by 71%, and now holds first place worldwide in exports of the commodities and second place in output, Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers head Andrey Guryev said earlier this year.

(Everything the EU does backfires. Everything they get from Iran and other countries, they can get it more less expensive from Russia. That’s how stupid they are. They will never win the war against Russia. And they certainly can’t win if they attacked Russia. It’s retarted really.)

https://www.rt.com/news/640183-eu-cow-manure-fertilizer-crisis/

‘Not logical’ to give protection to Ukrainian males – EU special envoy

Those “who have no right to leave Ukraine” should leave the EU, Ylva Johansson has said

Published 19 May, 2026 19:37 |

Brussels should strip fighting-age Ukrainian men of “temporary protection” status, Ylva Johansson, the bloc’s special envoy for Ukrainians in the EU, has said.

A total of 4.33 million Ukrainians were living under temporary protection status in the EU as of March 31, 2026, according to the bloc’s statistics agency, Eurostat. Around a quarter of them were men aged between 18 and 64, the data showed, indicating that the bloc could be hosting up to a million of men Kiev deems to be of fighting age.

Ukraine announced a general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, barring men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Last year,Kiev relaxed the restrictions, allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border.

(Zelensky said he would send his spies all over Europe, they didn’t listen. They took in the enemy.)

“It does not seem quite logical that many fighting-age men, who have no right to leave Ukraine, immediately get temporary protection once they cross the border, maybe even illegally,” Johansson told the German state-funded DW broadcaster last week.“I think this is a bit of a controversial signal that we are sending to Ukraine, because we are also supporting Ukraine in a military way,” she added.

(Now the EU is showing Ukraine what it be like as a member. They are putting a lot more pressure on Zelensky. Most EU countries do not want anything to do with Ukraine.)

https://www.rt.com/news/640197-not-logical-protection-ukainian-eu/

The EU dug they’re own grave.

NATO state rejects Israeli ambassador

No political or public pressure will change the decision, the Croatian president’s office has stressed

Published 19 May, 2026 18:35 |

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has refused to approve Israel’s new ambassador to Zagreb, citing disagreements with the Israeli government’s actions.

The presidential office announced the decision on Monday.

“The proposed Ambassador of theState of Israel has not received, nor will he receive, the consent of the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovic due to the policies pursued by the current Israeli authorities,” it said in a statement.

Israel deviated from established diplomatic norms by announcing their proposed ambassador before he was approved by the Croatian president, it added. “Public or political pressure, in this case from the Israeli side, will not alter the President of the Republic’s decision.”

The term of Israel’s current ambassador to Zagreb, Gary Koren, expires at the end of the May. Israeli diplomat Nisan Amdor, whom West Jerusalem last year selected to replace him, will instead arrive in Croatia next month as charge d’affaires, a post not requiring presidential approval, Ynet reported on Monday.

Milanovic and Koren have feuded in recent months, with the president summoning the Israeli ambassador after the latter made comments suggesting that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could be conducting espionage activities from within the Iranian Embassy in Zagreb. “We don’t want other people’s infections and germs in Croatia, neither Iranian nor Israeli,” Milanovic said in March after the incident.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by accusing the president of using “hate-filled language about Israel and Zionism.”

Milanovic has long been sharply critical of the Israeli government, accusing it of carrying out “bestial war crimes” in its military operation in Gaza. The enclave’s authorities say the war has left nearly 73,000 Palestinians dead since its onset in October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250.

Moscow has also been critical of the Israeli blockade and bombing of the Palestinian enclave, likening it to collective punishment of both Hamas and the local civilian population.The only way out the crisis is to enact a two-state solution, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

https://www.rt.com/news/640196-croatia-president-rejects-israeli-ambassador/

Most Christian Countries do not want them because they will blame them of being anti Jewish. Good for the countries

Israeli forces storm Gaza-bound aid flotilla

The sister of Ireland’s president was among those detained, according to activists

Published 19 May, 2026 08:00

Israeli forces have seized least 39 out of 51 at boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the organizers of the action have said.

Yachts with more than 420 activists from 39 countries aboarddeparted from the port of Marmaris in Türkiye last week, with the stated goal of breaking the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

On Monday, the organizers of the flotilla issued a post on X, saying that “military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and Israel Occupation Forces are boarding the first ⁠of our boats ⁠in broad daylight.” In a later message, they said Israeli troops had “illegally and violently” seized their ships and “abducted our volunteers.”

Among the hundreds of those detained was Irish doctor Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, the organizers said.

Israeli servicemen boarded the vessels some 250 nautical miles (463 km) from Gaza, off the coast of Cyprus. According to the EU nation’s rescue services, the incident happened outside of Cypriot territorial waters. The country’s president, Nikos Christodoulides, said Israel had not informed Nicosia of its plans to act against the flotilla.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised “an outstanding job” by the commandos involved in the operation, claiming they were “effectively thwarting a malicious plan intended to break the isolation we are imposing on Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

West Jerusalem denies withholding supplies for Palestinians in Gaza, almost 2 million of whom have been displaced since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October 2023. It also earlier dismissed the flotilla as a stunt, saying that the activists had rejected an offer to pass the aid they were carrying to Israel or international organizations so that it could be delivered to Gaza via official channels.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the interception of the flotilla as “piracy and banditry” and demanded that Israel to release those detained, including more than 40 residents of Türkiye.

Israel has intercepted several such flotillas in the past, including dozens of boats in October 2025, whose passengers included climate activist Greta Thunberg. Back then, the activists were taken to the port of Ashdod in southern Israel, where some were processed and immediately deported, while others faced detention before being expelled.

https://x.com/manniefabian/status/2056278757342601374?s=20

https://www.rt.com/news/640156-flotilla-israel-gaza-cyprus/