American Women Suck

https://lunya.co/blogs/nightstand/the-bedtime-habit-thats-saving-relationships By Michelle Goldstein for Lunya It often begins with a battle. Not over toothpaste caps, late-night texts, or who left the lights on. No, the real culprit is the seemingly innocent, but ever-shrinking duvet. In the darkness, couples engage in a silent nightly war. Tug. Twist. Reclaim. Repeat. The collateral damage is frayed patience, poor rest, and, if science is to be believed, something even more serious. Health. The Sleep Research Society reports that up to 30% of a person’s sleep quality is dictated by their partner’s sleep patterns, from erratic tossing to temperature shifts and seemingly criminal blanket theft. Meanwhile, a review in Sleep Medicine Reviews found that couples in conflict (not necessarily from arguments, but from unrest) experience significantly shorter, more disrupted sleep cycles. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that chronic lack of quality rest can increase the risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and depression. In other words, this really isn’t just about comfort. The way people share (or don’t share) the covers can impact well-being. This is why couples worldwide are quietly turning to a decades-old Nordic custom that redefines what it means to share a bed. Luxury loungewear retailer Lunya explains the Scandinavian Sleep Method. What Is the Scandinavian Sleep Method? For couples in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the concept isn’t revolutionary. It’s simply how people sleep. One bed. Two duvets. Better sleep on both sides of the bed. Instead of treating a single blanket as a symbol of romantic unity, Scandinavian couples embrace separate duvets as a practical act of mutual respect. One partner runs hot, the other cold. One prefers the weighted embrace of down, the other wants a barely-there layer. The method acknowledges a universal truth: comfort isn’t one size fits all. Relationship therapists have likened it to the sleep equivalent of separate bathroom sinks. Think of it not as an act of division, but a strategy for harmony. And sleep experts agree. Dr. Michael Gradisar, head of sleep science at Sleep Cycle, notes that nearly one-third of nighttime disruptions come from a partner’s movement alone, a problem drastically reduced by adopting two separate duvets. “Separate covers don’t drive couples apart,” says one sleep psychologist. “They allow partners to sleep deeply, and paradoxically, connect more.” The result? Less resentment. More rest. And, for many, a relationship that functions better both in and out of the bedroom. Why the Shared Blanket Isn’t Always Romantic In the U.S., the single shared duvet remains a cultural marker of intimacy. A cozy, cinematic shorthand for “look at us, we’re in sync.” But reality paints a different picture. Someone inevitably wakes up freezing and disgruntled while their partner cocoons in comfort, leaving a wake of micro-aggressions. You know the ones. A pointed sigh, a sharp yank, a not-so-subtle shift to the edge of the mattress. Sleep psychologists consistently rank co-sleeping disturbances like snoring, body heat, shifting, cover-hogging among the top contributors to poor rest. And yet, couples endure it, fearing that separating duvets suggests a relationship on the rocks. But as Scandinavian couples have quietly known for generations, sometimes the real marker of closeness is giving each other space. How to Make It Look (and Feel) Effortless Adopting two duvets doesn’t mean resigning your bedroom to an austere, mismatched fate. Scandinavian households have perfected the art of making a double-duvet bed look intentional. One common layout: Fold each duvet lengthwise, lay them side-by-side, and face the openings outward. The result is symmetrical and quietly elegant, evoking the precision of origami. Another approach is to fold the second duvet and drape it across the foot of the bed like an accent throw. To visitors, it’s just a decorative touch; at night, it’s your secret weapon for uninterrupted rest. Prefer top sheets? Keep one for your side. Duvet purist? Skip it. The method isn’t prescriptive, it’s adaptive. “The Scandinavian Sleep Method isn’t a trend or a look,” says one sleep consultant. “It’s a sensibility: intentional, functional, and quietly luxurious.” How to Start Sleeping, Scandi-Style Getting started is simple. If you share a queen or king-sized mattress, pick up two twin-sized duvets. Breathable and temperature-regulating options work best to avoid overheating in your private cocoon. Place them side by side so they meet in the middle, or overlap slightly for a seamless look. Then, personalize. Weighted on one side, airy linen on the other. Matching covers for cohesion, or complementary tones for contrast. The point isn’t to match preferences; it’s to respect them. Not a Breakup, But Relationship Maintenance For the uninitiated, separate duvets may feel like a metaphor for growing apart. But for many, it’s the opposite. Quality sleep leads to improved mood, greater patience, and yes, more interest in physical intimacy. In short, better rest makes people better partners. Separate duvets aren’t about distancing from each other. They’re about closing the distance between how people live, love, and rest. In a culture that equates sacrifice with devotion, the Scandinavian Sleep Method suggests a softer truth. Maybe you don’t need to compromise your sleep to prove your love. Maybe you can each have your own cover and still wake up tangled together, anyway. This story was produced by Lunya and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. — Previously Published on hub.stacker Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: unsplash The post The Bedtime Habit That’s Saving Relationships appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

The summit in the Russian capital would be “unacceptable,” Kiev’s top diplomat has said Kiev has rejected a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Moscow. Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Wednesday, Putin suggested that Zelensky could travel to the Russian capital to negotiate peace terms. Hungary, Switzerland, and Türkiye are among the countries that previously expressed readiness to host the talks. In a post on X, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga said that at least seven countries are prepared to host a potential Putin-Zelensky summit. “These are serious proposals and President Zelenskyy is ready for such a meeting at any time,” he wrote, using the Ukrainian spelling of Zelensky’s name. “Yet, Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals,” Sibiga wrote, calling for “increased pressure” on Russia. Putin has repeatedly said he is open to meeting with Zelensky at the “final stage” of negotiations. He reiterated on Wednesday that a summit could take place if it is “properly prepared and would yield positive results.” “At the end of the day, if Zelensky is ready, he can travel to Moscow,” he said. At the same time, the Russian leader again questioned Zelensky’s status as head of state, noting that his five-year presidential term expired last year and no new election was called due to martial law in Ukraine. Russia has insisted that for a lasting peace, Ukraine must recognize its new borders and abandon plans to join NATO. View the full article

By Petro Kotzé Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, the country has become a model of wildlife recovery, and is now famed for its free-roaming herds of megafauna and enigmatic national parks. A key to this recovery is the model of community-based natural resource management, which places much of the responsibility and benefits of wildlife conservation in the hands of rural communities, enabling people to earn income from small-scale hunting and tourism and thus motivating them to conserve wildlife. A recent 11-year dry spell has tested the resilience of the model and the people and natural systems that depend on it — but it also serves as an opportunity to build a more climate-resilient future for desert-adapted megafauna in habitats projected to become hotter and drier. Namibian conservation experts maintain that the key to wildlife survival is to cement their economic value in policies: if the people in the areas they roam can benefit from wildlife, they will stand a better chance in a more inhospitable future. See All Key Ideas SESFONTEIN, Namibia ­­­— “I want my children to see a rhino with their own eyes — not only in Etosha [National Park],” says Sofia /Nuas, a member of the Sesfontein Conservancy Committee, located in Namibia’s arid northwest. She’s sitting in the shade of a large sausage tree, yet even on this winter morning temperatures have quickly soared to more than 30° Celsius (86° Fahrenheit). Life in this hot and dry region is already tough, but climate change will intensify it. With a population of less than 3,000, Sesfontein is a small settlement located in the Northwestern Escarpment and Inselbergs of the Nama Karoo Biome. Cattle and goats meander across dusty roads, but tourists are also drawn to the desert-like outpost for its enigmatic landscapes and a chance to glimpse some of the world’s last free-roaming, critically endangered black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), as well as Namibia’s famed desert-adapted lions (Panthera leo) and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana). Their presence here is no accident. Once near-depleted, the wildlife is protected not only by fences and the government, but by the communities who share the land with free-roaming predators and herds of springboks (Antidorcas marsupialis), giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) and gemsboks (Oryx gazella). The Sesfontein Conservancy is one of more than 80 communal conservancies in Namibia. For decades, these conservancies have helped bring wildlife back from the brink, in a model of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) that has resulted in swaths of land conserving Namibia’s wildlife beyond government-run national parks. The model’s continued success is also what experts say will help buffer the biodiversity against the onslaught of climate change. “It is our duty to conserve the animals,” committee member Paul Kasupi says. “Our ancestors left us the conservancy … and we must protect it for future generations.” However, this will become more challenging as the region is projected to become drier and hotter due to climate change. Already, the resilience of Namibia’s community-based conservation model and the iconic wildlife it protects have been tested during a brutal 11-year dry spell that finally broke last year. The outcomes, especially in the northwest, hint at the potential impact of long-term climate change on desert-adapted megafauna. They also show how to potentially pave the way for species survival. Namibia’s desert-adapted wildlife Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Annual rainfall plunges from approximately 600 millimeters (24 inches) annually in the northeast to less than 50 mm (2 in) in the south and along the windswept Skeleton Coast National Park, a narrow stretch of protected land along the Atlantic Ocean. Only those species adapted to the desert-like conditions survive. The most iconic are perhaps the lions that roam the foggy coast and have learned to hunt seals and seabirds. The desert-dwelling elephants dig wells up to a meter (3 feet) deep with their feet and trunks in the dry sand of the riverbeds. These “elephant wells” are then used by numerous other species like springboks, black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) and chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). However, the most important adaptation strategy of all, says Chris Brown, CEO of the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE), is the ability to roam over large areas to find areas of suitable food and water. For example, male lions cover an immense range of between 1,500 and 2,000 square kilometers (580 to 770 square miles) per year, says John Heydinger, research director and co-founder of the Lion Rangers Program in Namibia. Similarly, the home range of a male brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) in the northwest is approximately 2,200 km2 (850 mi2), according to researcher Emsie Verwey. “They roam incredibly far in search of carrion for themselves and to bring back to their dens and feed their young,” she says. These adaptations evolved over millennia. But colonial-era hunting, guns, farming and fencing nearly wiped out Namibia’s wildlife in the 20th century. Brown, an ecologist and environmental scientist, estimates that, historically, 8 million to 10 million animals roamed Namibia. By the 1960s, those numbers had plummeted to around 500,000. Democracy, and a new dawn for Namibian wildlife Namibia’s independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 marked a turning point. It became the first country in Africa to incorporate environmental protection into its Constitution. Not only did the new Constitution call for the “maintenance” of biodiversity, but also the sustainable use of natural resources. Rural communities on state land were given the right to manage and benefit from wildlife, provided they organized into conservancies. Each conservancy adheres to hunting quotas, based on annual wildlife surveys, says Kenneth /Uiseb, deputy director of wildlife research and monitoring at the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The result was the CBNRM program — and it triggered a quiet revolution. “Before, there was no control,” says /Nuas from the Sesfontein Conservancy. “If someone wanted to kill a giraffe, they just did. Now, if a legal hunter comes, the fee goes to the community.” She points out the electricity wires lining the village’s neat streets. “Our living standards improved,” she says, “and our children are going to school.” Today, Namibia has 86 registered communal conservancies, covering about one-fifth of the country and more than 300,000 community members. Along with national parks and private conservation areas, more than 45% of Namibia’s land — about 37 million hectares (91 million acres), or an area the size of Japan — is under some form of conservation management. And uniquely, Brown points out, Namibia’s entire coastline is protected, from the Orange River in the south, which forms the border with South Africa, to the Kunene River in the north, bordering Angola. Altogether, this protected landscape of more than 25 million hectares (62 million acres) forms the third-largest continuous area of formally managed and protected wildlife land in the world. Wildlife rebounded. Lions and springboks returned to areas where they hadn’t been seen for decades, and gemsboks, greater kudus (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) and Hartmann’s mountain zebras (Equus zebra hartmannae), among others, bounced back, /Uiseb says. The elephant population in Namibia, he adds, swelled from an estimated 7,000 in the 1990s to 26,000 by 2025. Between 2005 and 2010, conservancies released more than 40 black rhinos, expanding the species’ range by roughly 20%. The free-roaming black rhino population in the northwest went up significantly, says Simson !Uri-≠Khob, CEO of Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) Namibia. “It became the biggest wildlife recovery story ever told,” /Uiseb says. Tourism boomed. Lodges sprang up, and communities received direct income, meat, jobs and training. But then the next dry cycle began — an 11-year period of low rainfall that tested the conservation model, people and wildlife to their limits. A decadal dry spell tests the resilience of the northwest “We’ve always had dry cycles every 10 or 11 years,” Brown says. “But this one was longer — and much worse.” Extreme weather events like this in Namibia are consistent with climate change predictions, he says, adding that in parts of the northwest, it hardly rained at all. With vegetation dwindling, wildlife numbers in the conservancies dropped dramatically. This was not only due to animals dying from lack of food, Brown says, but also because some animals migrated out of the conservancies, where there was less competition for food by livestock. But this meant that wildlife survey numbers plummeted in the northwest and Skeleton Coast National Park. Gemsbok numbers plunged from 2,314 in 2011 to just 131 in 2023. Over the same period, springboks decreased from 12,889 to 3,286, and Hartmann’s zebras from 3,361 to 358. !Uri-≠Khob says the black rhino population in the northwest dropped to about half of its size before the drought. “The adults survived. But the cows couldn’t produce enough milk for the calves.” A 2022 survey found 57-60 adult desert lions and 14 cubs, down from a total of 150. With wildlife counts hitting all-time lows, legal hunting permits for conservancies were suspended to protect vulnerable populations, /Uiseb says. Although hit hard, wildlife still fared better than livestock during the long drought, Brown says. Because the land is open — more than 8 million hectares (20 million acres) — wildlife could move to find food and water, he says: “Their resilience is higher.” “We lost all our cattle,” says Kasupi. “Most people did.” As wildlife numbers fell, predators like lions and cheetahs turned to the remaining livestock. Elephants aimed for vegetable gardens and water reservoirs. Conflict between people and wildlife increased. Still, in the conservancies, people didn’t resort to illegal hunting as a means of retaliation against the encroaching predators. “We won’t kill the lion,” Kasupi says, even when they come for their livestock. “The lion is protected. If it eats our goats, we report it to the ministry and we are compensated.” Income from tourism also created a critical buffer. “We survived from the lodges,” /Nuas says. “They gave the conservancies food and income when everything else failed.” Still, for the first time, some people began questioning the benefits of the CBNRM program, as the conservancies were unable to offset the livestock losses, /Uiseb says. However, multiple examples proved the model’s resilience. The heat is rising In 2024, as the dry spell stretched into its 11th year, President Nangolo Mbumba declared a national drought emergency. In September 2024, in line with the country’s constitutional mandate to use its natural resources for the benefit of Namibian citizens, the government approved a mass hunt to feed needy communities and reduce pressure on certain ecosystems. Namibia’s 723-animal quota (a cull also took place in Zimbabwe) included 83 elephants, 300 zebras, 100 elands, 100 blue wildebeest, 60 buffalos, 50 impalas and 30 hippos, along with other animals in five national parks. /Uiseb points out that while there was criticism from antihunting groups, especially internationally, Namibia’s Constitution is pro-sustainable hunting. The activity is seen as integral to cement the economic and social benefits of wildlife, and thus people’s willingness to conserve them. “The culling, as it was called, was part of active management to protect the species and the rangeland on which the species depend,” /Uiseb says. But this may not be the last cull of its kind. Namibia’s climate outlook is sobering. By 2050, the country is projected to warm by 2-3°C (3.6-5.4°F), and by 2080, up to 6°C (10.8°F). Rainfall is expected to decline by 10-30% across different regions. Evaporation, drought, floods and fire risk will all increase. Soil moisture will drop, plant cover will shrink. These effects will combine, compounding each other and accelerating land degradation and declining productivity. Climate models suggest that wildlife may fare better than agriculture, but still face major losses. By 2050, carrying capacity for wildlife in Namibia’s protected areas may fall by 12%, and by 25% by 2080. Similar declines are projected for communal conservancies and private land. That portends a massive drop in Namibia’s signature wildlife. Survival through action Brown is blunt about future choices. “If wildlife doesn’t have economic value, it will be lost,” he says. “Through the correct policy development, we must ensure that wildlife is competitive as a land use. If we cannot, we will struggle. It’s that simple.” The Namibian Chamber of Environment and others say that survival will depend on swift and decisive actions, informed by shifting climatic conditions and ecosystem feedback. Among the steps they recommend are collaborative efforts to expand, connect and manage conservation landscapes, linking national parks, communal areas and private land. Wildlife management, Brown says, must be adaptive and data-driven. Annual game counts and vegetation assessments, tied to rainfall data and monitoring, should inform decisions. These decisions must come early after the rains, informing swift action before vegetation is damaged and overutilized. Furthermore, there should be no rigid guidelines for offtakes — reducing wildlife populations through hunting, culling or translocations. Management should “navigate through highly variable climatic conditions with the vegetation in the best possible condition, with wildlife populations at sustainable levels and in good condition,” Brown says. In good years, he adds, offtakes may be unnecessary. But in extremely poor years, it may be necessary to remove half the animals in a given area, especially after a period of drought. “If the next rainy season is good, the animals can breed up quickly, but if not, the population can be reduced to ensure a food reserve for them.” Brown says it won’t be easy, requiring strong and decisive management without restrictions. But he also says Namibia’s wildlife economy will benefit from diversification. Species such as disease-free African savanna buffalos (Syncerus caffer) could be brought into production, adding as much as 20% to the sector’s value. A legal international trade in rhino horn and elephant ivory, he says, could significantly boost returns per hectare, while supporting rewilding efforts across Africa. But legalizing the trade of either commodity remains controversial. The NCE also recommends a formal wildlife meat trade with Europe and elsewhere. Finally, it recommends an aggressive deregulation of Namibia’s wildlife sector, reducing the intrusion of the state in wildlife management outside of national parks. The government, according to /Uiseb, is already employing a range of management interventions that could be considered in a hotter and drier climate: supplementary feeding, water provision, translocations, reintroductions and, when necessary, culling in line with available resources. Already, boreholes are being drilled in some fenced parks, and reintroductions are helping to restore wildlife populations. Offtakes, including transportation or management hunts, are conducted when conditions demand it. A pilot project is also underway to test landscape-level conservation, involving stakeholders on the borders of protected areas in conservation initiatives to expand the space available for wildlife. In the long term, /Uiseb says he wants to see farmers and conservation agencies pull down their fences to allow much more unrestricted movement of wildlife, in response to changing climatic and rainfall conditions. The hardest part to manage, /Uiseb says, is people. Demands for land, livestock and water are growing. “If farmers can live within what the land can provide, the system will survive,” he says. “But if they push it beyond its limits, we’ll lose everything. “The ecosystem is inherently resilient,” he adds, “but only if it’s allowed to recover.” Other voices in the conservation landscape agree. Heydinger from the Lion Rangers Program sees lessons in Namibia’s desert-adapted wildlife — species that have managed to survive in arid landscapes for millennia. “They are pioneers in terms of potential climatic futures,” he says. And, he adds, they may offer a model for the future of other large-bodied, wide-ranging species. !Uri-≠Khob from Save the Rhino Trust is cautiously optimistic. In principle, he says, black rhinos can be moved to more suitable grazing grounds if needed. But the risk is high as they’re so finely adapted to their habitats. The best option, he says, is to continue to build trust with and give the responsibility to the communities that live with rhinos. “Trust them,” he says. That belief still holds strong in places like Sesfontein, even after the drought. “Even when it gets difficult, we will stay here,” /Nuas says, adding that they want the wildlife to stay with them. Banner image: Elephants are one of the species that have bounced back after Namibia’s independence in 1990. Image by Emsie Verwey. Citations: Stander, P. E. (2019). Lions (Panthera leo) specialising on a marine diet in the Skeleton Coast National Park, Namibia. Namibian Journal of Environment, 3, A:1-10. Retrieved from https://nje.org.na/index.php/nje/article/view/volume3-stander Ramey, E. M., Ramey, R. R., Brown, L. M., & Kelley, S. T. (2013). Desert-dwelling African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Namibia dig wells to purify drinking water. Pachyderm, 53, 66-72. doi:10.69649/pachyderm.v53i.325 Turner, W. C., Périquet, S., Goelst, C. E., Vera, K. B., Cameron, E. Z., Alexander, K. A., … Werner Kilian, J. (2022). Africa’s drylands in a changing world: Challenges for wildlife conservation under climate and land-use changes in the Greater Etosha Landscape. Global Ecology and Conservation, 38, e02221. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02221 Credits — Previously Published on news.mongabay with Creative Commons Attribution — Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock.com The post Climate Change Tests the Resilience of People and Desert-Adapted Wildlife in Namibia appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Sy Boles | Harvard Staff Writer | Harvard Gazette Scientists fear funding cuts will slow momentum in ongoing battle with evolving bacteria In 2023, more than 2.4 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were diagnosed in the U.S. Though that number is high, it’s actually an improvement, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The number of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, decreased 1.8 percent overall from 2022 to 2023, with gonorrhea decreasing the most (7.2 percent). But the number of STI diagnoses is only one part of the problem. One treatment for STIs is doxycycline. It has been prescribed as a prophylactic for gonorrhea, recommended as a treatment for chlamydia since 2020, and used to treat syphilis during shortages of the preferred treatment, benzathine penicillin. But bacteria are living organisms, and like all living organisms, they evolve. Over time, they develop resistance mechanisms to the antibiotics we create to kill them. And according to Harvard immunologist Yonatan Grad, resistance to doxycycline is growing rapidly in the bacteria that cause gonorrhea. “The increased use of doxycycline has, as we might have expected, selected for drug resistance,” Grad said. The pattern of bacteria evolving to overcome our best treatments is one of medicine’s most fundamental problems. Since the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s, antibiotics have radically transformed what’s possible in medicine, far beyond treatments for STIs. They can knock out the bacteria behind everything from urinary tract infections to meningitis to sepsis from infected wounds. But every antibiotic faces the same fate: As soon as it enters use, bacteria begin evolving to survive it. The scope of the problem is staggering. Doctors wrote 252 million antibiotic prescriptions in 2023 in the U.S. That’s 756 prescriptions for every 1,000 people, up from 613 per 1,000 people in 2020. According to the CDC, more than 2.8 million antimicrobial infections occur each year in the U.S., and more than 35,000 people die, as a result of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections. I think of antibiotics as infrastructure. –Yonatan Grad For researchers like Grad, the endless battle against the clock can be a bit like a game of high-stakes Whac-a-Mole — tracking antibiotic resistance, figuring out how it works, and developing new kinds of drugs before the bacteria can catch up. “Being able to treat these infections underlies so many aspects of medicine — urinary tract infections, caring for people who are immunocompromised, preventing surgical infections and treating them if they arise, and on and on,” said Grad. “This is foundational for modern clinical medicine and public health. Antibiotics are the support, the scaffolding on which medicine depends.” Hold or release new drugs? Grad’s research shows how quickly resistance can develop. In research described in a July letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, Grad and colleagues evaluated more than 14,000 genome sequences from Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria that causes gonorrhea, and found that carriage of a gene that confers resistance to tetracyclines — the class of antibiotics to which doxycycline belongs — shot up from 10 percent in 2020 to more than 30 percent in 2024. Fortunately, doxycycline remains effective as a post-exposure prophylaxis for syphilis and chlamydia. It’s an open question why some pathogens are quicker to develop resistance than others. The urgency varies by organism, Grad said, with some, like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, showing “extremely drug-resistant or totally drug-resistant strains” that leave doctors facing untreatable infections. The findings raise alarm bells, or at least questions, in doctors’ offices around the country: As bacteria develop resistance to tried-and-true antibiotics, when should new drugs be introduced for maximal utility before the bacteria inevitably outwit them, too? Traditional stewardship practice has recommended holding back new drugs until the old ones stop working. But 2023 research from Grad’s lab has challenged that approach. In mathematical models evaluating strategies for introducing a new antibiotic for gonorrhea, Grad found that the strategy of keeping the new antibiotics in reserve saw antibiotic resistance reach 5 percent much sooner than quickly introducing the antibiotic or using it in combination with the existing drug. Lifesaving progress halted Extra time could be critical for Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry Andrew Myers, whose lab has been developing new antibiotics, including ones that target gonorrhea, for more than 30 years. “Most of the antibiotics in our ‘modern’ arsenal are some 50 years old and no longer work against a lot of the pathogens that are emerging in hospitals and even in the community,” Myers said. “It’s a huge problem and it’s not as well appreciated as I think it should be.” In my opinion, we can absolutely win the game — temporarily. –Andrew Myers Many antibiotics work by targeting and inhibiting bacterial ribosome, the central machinery that translates the instructions in RNA into a protein readout. Ribosomes are “fantastically complex” 3D shapes, Myers said. Creating new antibiotics means inventing new chemical compounds that can bind like puzzle pieces into their grooves and protrusions. “My lab will spend quite a lot of time, sometimes years, to develop the chemistry — to invent the chemistry — that allows us to prepare new members of these classes of antibiotics,” Myers said. “And then we spend years making quite literally thousands of different members of the class, and then we evaluate them. Do they kill bacteria? Do they kill bacteria that are resistant to existing antibiotics? We’ve been incredibly successful with this, one antibiotic class after another. The strategy works.” But it’s also in danger. The Trump administration ended a National Institutes of Health grant to Myers’ lab for the development of lincosamides, a class of antibiotics whose last approved member, clindamycin, dates to 1970. A second terminated NIH grant may kill a promising new antibiotic on the cusp of further development. Myers’ lab has created a new molecule that has proven effective in killing Klebsiella Pneumoniae and E. coli, both identified by the World Health Organization as among the highest priority pathogens. Without continued funding, the molecule may not make it to the clinical trial phase and may never become an approved drug. “A delusion among people is that these decisions can simply be reversed and these NIH grants restored,” Myers said. “That’s not true. The damage is real, and it’s irreversible in some cases.” Carrying on Paul Farmer’s legacy The funding cuts extend beyond individual labs to a global health infrastructure. Carole Mitnick, a professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, studies multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and has watched about 79 percent of USAID funding for global TB support get slashed this year. “In the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sierra Leone, and no doubt elsewhere, we’ve seen stocks of lifesaving anti-TB drugs sitting in warehouses, expiring, because programs that would have delivered them have been canceled or staff who would have collected them have been abruptly fired,” she said. “Not only is it immediately deadly and cruel not to deliver these lifesaving cures, but it sets the scene for more antimicrobial resistance by not delivering complete treatments. And it very clearly wastes U.S. taxpayer money to invest in the purchase of these drugs and let them sit in warehouses and expire.” Mitnick’s work on multidrug-resistant TB, a form of antimicrobial resistance, builds on the legacy of Paul Farmer, the late Harvard professor and Partners In Health co-founder who revolutionized MDR-TB treatment by rejecting utilitarian approaches that wrote off the most vulnerable patients. “Getting to know Paul and having him advise me, initially on my master’s thesis and ultimately on my doctoral dissertation, gave me a new framework,” Mitnick said. “It allowed me the freedom to use a social justice framework and to say that actually our research should be motivated by who’s suffering the greatest. How do we blend the research, which we’re very well placed to do at Harvard, with direct service and trying to reach the populations who are most marginalized? That shape is still very much in place and still informing the choices that several researchers in our department make in Paul’s legacy.” Our research should be motivated by who’s suffering the greatest. –Carole Mitnick Globally, about 500,000 new people are estimated to have MDR-TB or its even heartier relative, extensively drug-resistant TB, each year. MDR-TB caused an estimated 150,000 deaths worldwide in 2023. TB is the poster child for pathogen characteristics and social conditions that favor selection for drug-resistant mutants. In a single case of TB, the bacteria population comprises bacteria at different stages of growth and in different environments of the body, requiring distinct drugs that can attach to each of these forms. Multidrug treatment regimens are long (measured in months, not days) and toxic, making them difficult for people to complete. And in the absence of any incentives or requirements, there’s a long lag between developing new drugs and developing tests that can detect resistance to those drugs. Consequently, treatment is often delivered without any information about resistance, in turn generating more resistance. The fight against MDR-TB has an unlikely new ally: Nerdfighters, the fan group of prominent video bloggers John and Hank Green — or, more specifically, a subset of that fandom calling themselves TBFighters. John Green’s 2024 book, “Everything is Tuberculosis,” raised awareness about the prohibitive cost of TB diagnostic tests. Mitnick said that in the acknowledgments, Green called his book a sort of love letter to Paul Farmer. “Paul didn’t directly introduce John to TB, but it really is Paul’s legacy that took John Green to Sierra Leone, and then he met this young man named Henry who had multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. It awakened in John the awareness that actually TB was not a disease of the past, but a disease very much of the present.” The TBFighters energized an existing coalition movement to reduce the cost of testing for TB and other diseases from about $10 per test to about $5 per test, based on estimates that $5 covered the cost of manufacturing plus a profit, even at lower sales volumes. “It wasn’t until John Green and the TBFighters entered the fray in 2023 that we made any headway: The manufacturer announced a reduction of about 20 percent on the price of one TB test,” Mitnick said. “So not a full win, but a partial win.” Despite the challenges, researchers remain cautiously optimistic. “In my opinion, we can absolutely win the game — temporarily,” said Myers. “Whatever we develop, bacteria will find a way to outwit us. But I’m optimistic that the molecules that we’re making could have a clinical lifetime of many decades, maybe even as long as 100 years, if they’re used prudently.” Grad sees his work more like the construction crews that repair the city sidewalk or maintain bridges. “I think of antibiotics as infrastructure,” he said. “These tools that we use to maintain our health require continual investment.” — This story is reprinted with permission from The Harvard Gazette. *** Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock The post Racing Against Antibiotic Resistance appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

When I was a young writer, I spoke to magazine editors, political speechwriters, authors, professors, agents, and book editors. I was told one thing. It was universal counsel. “Find your voice.” It’s seemingly simple advice, right? No. It takes most writers years to find their voice. It takes writing, more writing, editing, writing, editing, and even more writing. There are some individuals born with a voice. Other creatives have to work to develop their unique voice. The one thing that sets them apart from other writers, artists, and musicians. The creatives who live to tell their stories. Who are compelled to share their hearts and vision. The pulsating soul within that they are unable to quiet. I’m not against AI. I use it as a business tool. I’ve also used AI to brainstorm a writing concept I’m developing. I’m a freelance journalist, marketer, former business columnist turned relationship columnist. I see value in AI. AI is a tool we can use in business and writing. We can brainstorm article ideas, ways to market our work, or perfect the main point of something we are trying to say. AI is an exciting tool. AI does not replace a writer. AI can and does render a replica of a writer’s copy. It can reflect a slice of an individual’s voice. Especially with effective prompts. But at best it’s an imitation, not unique art. I don’t use AI when I write articles. Because AI will never capture my voice. I worked hard to earn that voice. It wasn’t easy. The industry professionals were correct. I would need to write endlessly to find it. Only then would my distinct personality evolve, and connect with a reader. That’s when the magic happens. A magazine or book editor will comment on my voice. A reader will glance at my work, and instantly recognize the author. AI is a new frontier. Technology is advancing. There are ways we can use AI as a tool. Especially in the brainstorming arena for ideas, direction, etc. But AI will never replicate a writer’s voice. It will attempt to copy it. AI may even come close. That is all. Here’s another interesting tidbit to consider. The aforementioned industry professionals did tell me that one thing. But I left out the first part of their universal response. “You’re a greater writer,” they said. “Now you need to find your voice.” What does that tell you? AI may regurgitate some decent writing. It might even be great. But I was told I was very good. It wasn’t enough. It didn’t differentiate me. I told a decent story. But my words didn’t stand out. My voice couldn’t be heard, let alone recognized. AI will turn some people into writers. AI will turn some writers into input prompters. AI will cause some upheaval before it levels out. New technology always does. Change scares us, at least many of us. But AI won’t insert the full human voice. AI won’t hear my entire heart. AI will hear a portion of it. AI will research my work to a level that is exciting. AI will have the ability to capture much of me. I will feel known by AI. I will feel understood. But it will never capture all of me. This is where writers and AI don’t completely intersect. This is the human value. This is our voice. — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: MD Duran On Unsplash The post What AI Will Never Do appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

A 31-year-old man diagnosed with schizophrenia allegedly pushed his 16-year-old victim under an oncoming train, the authorities have said An Iraqi migrant in Germany is suspected of murdering a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl, identified as Liana K., by pushing her under an oncoming train, the local public prosecutor’s office has reported. According to a statement released last Friday, the incident took place on August 11 at a train station in Friedland municipality, Lower Saxony. The authorities said police had been called over a report of a man “causing a disturbance.” When the officers arrived, the 31-year-old suspect, reportedly named Muhammad A., is said to have approached them voluntarily and pointed to the victim’s lifeless body, while not admitting to any involvement. Police initially did not detain the man, the prosecutor’s office said. However, hours later he was arrested for displaying “aggressive behavior” at a different location, and taken to a psychiatric hospital. Subsequent tests discovered the man’s DNA on the victim’s body, resulting in a detention order being issued for the suspect, the statement read. The authorities explained that it was not clear whether the Iraqi national, if found guilty, would face a prison sentence or be confined to a mental facility, as he had previously been “diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.” According to the statement, the suspect’s asylum application was rejected as inadmissible in December 2022 and he was ordered deported to Lithuania, from where he had apparently come. After the man’s appeal was struck down, he is said to have gone into hiding. In July 2025, after the fugitive had been located, the German immigration authorities applied for his deportation, only for the Hanover District Court to reject the motion, citing insufficient grounds. Local media has reported that Liana K’s family arrived in Germany in July 2022. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, an estimated 1.2 million Ukrainians have come to Germany. It follows a mass influx of asylum seekers from nations such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, starting in 2015. View the full article

The Russian president says he has been “satisfied” with the performance of the country’s negotiators in the Istanbul talks Moscow is open to bringing the direct negotiations with Ukraine to “a truly high political level,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. The president made the remarks on Wednesday during a Q&A session with the media, which concluded his four-day visit to China. Asked about the performance of the Russian negotiating team during talks hosted by Türkiye, Putin spoke highly about the group and its head, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, in particular. “I am satisfied with Medinsky’s work. If there is a need to do something regarding raising the level [of negotiations], bringing it to a political level, we are ready for it,” Putin said, refusing to name any officials who could potentially participate in such talks. Russia’s negotiating team has become an example of a “reserved, professional approach,” the president said. Direct talks between Moscow and Kiev resumed in Türkiye early this year. The negotiating team has been headed by Medinsky, who also led the ultimately unsuccessful effort to settle the conflict through diplomacy, attempted in early 2022 shortly after the hostilities broke out. Several rounds of the resumed talks have not yielded any major breakthrough but have allowed the two sides to make certain progress with regard to various humanitarian issues. Namely, Moscow and Kiev held multiple major prisoner swaps, as well as exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers. View the full article

Affairs rarely stay hidden forever. Sometimes the secrecy unravels because your partner finds a suspicious text. Sometimes it’s your own guilt that cracks the facade. And sometimes, like a slow leak becoming a burst pipe, you’re simply too emotionally torn between two worlds to keep it together. Regardless of how it happens — discovery, confession, or suspicion — getting caught in an affair sets off a chain reaction you can’t easily stop. If this is where you find yourself right now, take a breath. You’re not alone, and while you can’t undo what’s been done, you can decide what happens next. Learn more about why affairs happen. The Big Three: Terror, Shame, Relief Terror. The fear of being found out often shadows every step of an affair. Once that fear becomes reality, the terror escalates: Will she leave? Is my marriage over? Can this ever be repaired? Most men don’t start an affair to end their primary relationship, but exposure forces a brutal reckoning with exactly that possibility. Shame. Once the secret is out, shame hits hard. Now you’re facing the hurt, betrayal, and anger of someone you vowed to protect. Many men will say anything to stop the bleeding in this moment. But remember: empty promises can backfire. Rebuilding trust is a long game, and every word counts. Relief. Oddly enough, many men also feel a surprising sense of relief. No more double life. No more paranoia. Getting caught often gives you the push you couldn’t muster yourself to end the affair and confront what’s broken at home. Jim’s Story: The Wake-Up Call Take Jim, for example. He drifted from his wife, Liz, and found comfort in Shelly, a coworker who seemed to “get him.” Like many, Jim told himself it helped him cope. He believed the affair made things better at home — until it didn’t. A simple holiday weekend decorating the house with Liz and reconnecting with family jolted Jim awake. He realized what he stood to lose: the family he loved and the life he’d built. That weekend made him see the lie he’d been living — and the man he wanted to be again. Ending the Affair: No Easy Out Cutting things off with an affair partner (AP) is rarely tidy. Jim tried. Shelly didn’t accept it easily. She texted, called, and demanded explanations. She even threatened to call his wife. The truth is: the more time and emotion you’ve shared, the messier the breakup. If you’re in Jim’s shoes, be clear, direct, and decisive. Half measures keep everyone stuck. Avoid excuses. Don’t leave the door cracked open — you’re not doing her (or yourself) any favors by staying “kind” if it’s over. Should You Confess? One question looms large once you decide to end the affair: Should I tell my spouse if she doesn’t already know? Some experts say yes, because secrets corrode intimacy. Others argue that confession without a plan just shifts your guilt onto her. Only you can decide what’s right for your relationship. But know this: if your partner suspects, or if others know, it’s probably only a matter of time before the truth comes out anyway. If you do confess, don’t do it to “feel better.” Do it because you’re ready to be fully honest and fully accountable. And be prepared: real forgiveness doesn’t come overnight. You can’t rush it. You can’t demand it. You have to earn it daily. Your Reckoning: Who Do You Want to Be? At the heart of it all is this: getting caught is not just about damage control. It’s about facing the man you’ve been — and the man you want to be. Like Jim, you might discover that what you truly want has been at home all along, waiting for you to show up, honest and whole. So, you’ve been caught. Now what? Own it. End the affair. Get real about your marriage. Take responsibility. And step up for your partner, your family, and yourself. Check out these essential do’s and don’ts for affair recovery. If you’re struggling to find your next steps, don’t navigate this alone. Talk to a trusted counselor, mentor, or therapist. You can heal — and so can your relationship — but not by staying stuck in secrecy and shame. — This post was previously published on Dr. Jeanne Michele’s blog. *** You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex ..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. Photo credit: iStock The post You’ve Been Caught: What Happens Next? appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

An unscripted exchange in Beijing featured the leaders talking about life expectancy, biotech, and immortality Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been caught on a live microphone sharing a rare unscripted chat about longevity and biotechnology. The conversation took place on Wednesday, as Putin and Kim joined Xi in Beijing to view a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of imperial Japan’s defeat in World War II. A live feed of the event briefly carried their exchange as they walked up to the Tiananmen Gate, and was quickly flagged by social media users following the event. Bloomberg later published a clip from the broadcast. The audio, patchy and lasting under a minute, began with Xi saying in Mandarin that “these days” reaching 70 years was no longer unusual. A Russian interpreter was then heard relaying his remark: “Earlier, people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 years you are still a child.” Putin then responded with a comment not clearly picked up on the feed, though an interpreter’s Mandarin version suggested the Russian leader spoke about biotechnology. “With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality,” the interpreter was heard saying. The statement rendered into Korean also referenced organ transplants. Xi then said: “Predictions are, this century, there’s a chance of also living to 150.” The camera cut away as he finished. Xi and Putin are both 72, while Kim is 41. Later on, Putin confirmed the conversation when asked about it by Russian reporters. “Modern medical developments, including surgery to replace organs, give rise to expectations that life expectancy will increase significantly,” he said, adding that such changes would have “social, political, and economic consequences.” View the full article

Fearing Emotions and How to Become More Emotionally Allowable If you struggle with anxiety, you might be familiar with that moment when an emotion begins to surface, and your first instinct is to run from it or shut it down. I’ve been there. During my years battling panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression, I became terrified of my own emotions because they would frequently morph into overwhelming anxiety or panic. This fear of emotions is incredibly common among people with anxiety disorders, but it’s rarely discussed. Today, Joanna Hardis and I want to explore the concept of emotional allowability – the practice of learning to coexist with our emotions rather than constantly trying to control or prevent them. Are You Subscribed To My Newsletter? Recovery tips. Updates on recovery resources. Encouragement. Inspiration. Empowerment. All delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here FREE. More Ways To Listen/Watch My Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Amazon Music | Watch on YouTube Helpful Recovery Resources: My Books | FREE Resources | Courses and Workshops | Disordered (with Josh Fletcher) The Problem with Trying to Control Our Emotions Many of us who struggle with anxiety develop a complicated relationship with our emotions. We start believing that if we just try hard enough, we can prevent certain emotions from happening at all. We think that mastering our emotional landscape is possible—that if we could just find the right technique or approach, we could ensure we never have to feel uncomfortable emotions. Here’s the truth: emotions aren’t controllable or preventable. They’re going to show up whether you want them to or not. As my friend and colleague Joanna Hardis puts it, “We can’t control like, you know, emotion. A lot of the times, emotion… we’re going to feel something.” What we can influence, however, is how we respond to those emotions once they appear. When we spend all our energy trying to prevent emotions from surfacing, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. The moment an unwanted emotion appears, we immediately feel like we’ve done something wrong or that something is wrong with us. This adds another layer of discomfort and agitation to an already difficult experience. What is Emotional Allowability? The term “emotional allowability” (coined by Joanna) refers to our capacity to experience the full range of human emotions without resistance. It’s about recognizing that emotions will come and go naturally, and our job isn’t to prevent them but to learn how to be with them. This concept stands in contrast to terms like “emotional availability” or “emotional intelligence,” which can sometimes imply that emotions are something we can master or control. Emotional allowability acknowledges that emotions are simply part of being human—they’re not available or unavailable, they just are. Being emotionally allowable means: Accepting that emotions will show up organically, whether we want them to or not Recognizing that experiencing emotions doesn’t make you weak or broken Understanding that even intense emotions have natural limits—they won’t keep escalating forever Learning to coexist with difficult feelings rather than trying to push them away Why We Fear Our Emotions For those of us with anxiety disorders, there are several common beliefs that feed our fear of emotions: “My emotions are too intense to handle” Many people with anxiety believe their emotional experiences are somehow more overwhelming than other people’s. We fear that if we fully allow ourselves to feel an emotion, it might break us or never end. The truth is, while people may vary in sensitivity, there are physiological limits to how intensely we can experience emotions. As I mentioned in the podcast, “if you hooked a thousand of us up to all kinds of electrodes… and measured the physiology while we were experiencing very difficult emotions, I bet we would see a very narrow range.” What makes emotions feel unbearable isn’t their actual intensity but the stories we tell ourselves about them. “I am structurally incapable of handling emotions” Another common belief is that we’re somehow fundamentally flawed in our ability to process emotions. We think other people can handle difficult feelings, but we’re just not built for it. This belief often stems from past experiences where emotions felt overwhelming. But handling emotions is a skill that can be developed—it’s not an innate quality that some people have and others don’t. “I should be able to master my emotions” Many of us approach emotions like any other problem: something to be solved or fixed. We think if we’re smart or disciplined enough, we should be able to control what we feel and when we feel it. This belief is especially common in Western cultures, where we tend to value mastery and control. But emotions don’t work that way—they’re not problems to solve but experiences to have. How to Become More Emotionally Allowable Becoming more comfortable with your emotions isn’t something that happens overnight, especially if you’ve spent years trying to avoid or control them. Here are some steps that can help: 1. Recognize that emotions aren’t controllable The first step is acknowledging that you don’t get to decide which emotions show up or when. They’re going to appear organically, and that’s normal and human. 2. Notice the stories you tell about your emotions When a difficult emotion arises, pay attention to the narratives that follow: “This will never end,” “I can’t handle this,” “This means something is wrong with me.” These stories often cause more suffering than the emotion itself. Try to separate the actual experience of the emotion from the interpretations you add to it. 3. Practice staying present When an emotion feels overwhelming, try to stay with it for short periods—15 or 30 seconds at a time. Notice the physical sensations without getting caught in the story of what the emotion means. 4. Take the next right step As Joanna suggests, sometimes the best approach is to ask yourself, “What is the next right step for me?” This might be continuing what you were doing before the emotion arose, taking a few deep breaths, or simply acknowledging how you feel. 5. Be compassionate with yourself Remember that learning to be with difficult emotions takes time. As Joanna says, “You got to be bathing in self-compassion… approaching it with a lot of curiosity.” If you find yourself resisting emotions, don’t judge yourself harshly. Notice the resistance with kindness and curiosity. The Freedom in Allowing Emotions There’s a profound burden that’s lifted when we stop trying to control our emotional experiences. When you can reach the point of saying, “I guess right now I’m just going to be angry” or “I guess right now I’m just not going to like myself very much,” you free yourself from the exhausting cycle of resistance. Being emotionally allowable doesn’t mean you’ll never struggle with difficult feelings. It means you recognize that emotions are temporary experiences that pass through you—not permanent states or reflections of your worth. As I’ve learned through my own recovery journey, emotions are like the weather—they come and go, sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes intensely. They don’t define you; they’re just part of the human experience. If today the best you can do is turn slightly in the direction of emotional allowability after years of resistance, that’s a win. Small steps count. Keep going. You can do this. Links Of Interest Joanna’s Website Find Joanna on Instagram Find my “Practical Mindfulness for Anxiety Recovery” Groups My Panic Attacks Explained Workshop My Agoraphobia Explained Workshop My Panic and Agoraphobia Recovery Guidebook Follow me on Instagram My YouTube Channel Disordered – With Josh Fletcher Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help. Are You Subscribed To My Newsletter? Recovery tips. Updates on recovery resources. Encouragement. Inspiration. Empowerment. All delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here FREE. Helpful Recovery Resources: My Books | FREE Resources | Courses and Workshops | Disordered (with Josh Fletcher) | Join My Instagram Subscriber Group Podcast Intro/Outro Music: “Afterglow” by Ben Drake (With Permission) https://bendrakemusic.com — This post was previously published on The Anxious Truth. — Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock.com The post Fearing Emotions – How Anxious People Can Become More Emotionally Allowable appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Emmanuel Macron’s approval has sunk to its lowest since he was first elected president in 2017, according to a survey French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest since he took office in 2017, with 80% of people saying they do not trust him, a new survey has shown. Macron was backed by just 15% of respondents, according to the new poll conducted for Le Figaro Magazine and published on Wednesday. About eight in ten expressed a negative view of his leadership, while the rest gave no clear answer – leaving him with a weaker rating than during the Yellow Vest protests, a mass anti-government movement that erupted in 2018 over fuel taxes and economic inequality. Prime Minister Francois Bayrou fared no better in the survey, with trust in him also hitting record lows. Just 14% said they trust him, while 82% expressed the opposite – his weakest score since taking office as prime minister. Bayrou, who was appointed after Michel Barnier’s government collapsed last year, is now pushing a controversial austerity plan as France struggles with a spiraling budget deficit that hit 5.8% of GDP in 2024 – almost double the EU 3% ceiling. His proposals include scrapping two public holidays to boost productivity, cutting public sector jobs, and freezing welfare payments and pensions, which are typically tied to inflation. Defense spending, however, will increase. France’s military budget is slated to rise to €64 billion ($69 billion) in 2027, double the 2017 level, with an additional €6.5 billion over the next two years. The plan has sparked backlash, with left-wing parties accusing the government of prioritizing military spending over social welfare. The only French politician to see a rise in trust was right-wing opposition leader Jordan Bardella, who now tops the rankings. The survey found he had gained support not only from conservatives but also from left-wing and centrist sympathizers. Bayrou, who has survived eight no-confidence motions, still needs parliamentary backing for his proposals before the budget is presented in October. His push for a new vote of confidence has only added to the turmoil, Le Figaro wrote, which warned that there could be an explosion of social unrest at any moment. View the full article

The Russian president has said he has nothing against providing Ukraine with security guarantees, as long as they are not at Moscow’s expense Wrapping up a four-day visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from the press on Wednesday. Putin clarified that Moscow does not oppose the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine per se, but that they should not undermine the security of other nations, including Russia. The Kremlin continues to insist that Kiev not join NATO, but it could be a member of the European Union, the Russian president stated. He also dismissed claims that Russia and the US had discussed “security guarantees in exchange for territories” during Putin’s meeting with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in Alaska last month. “To be honest, we are not so much fighting for territories – I’d like to stress – as for… the right of the people living in those territories to speak their native language, live within the framework of their culture and traditions,” Putin said. By way of example, he mentioned that the residents of Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions had voted overwhelmingly in referendums to join Russia. “That’s what democracy is all about,” the Russian president declared. Given US President Donald Trump’s “sincere desire to find a solution” to the Ukraine conflict, “there is some light at the end of the tunnel,” he stated. Putin also reiterated his readiness in principle to meet with Vladimir Zelensky, including in Moscow, but said that a huge question mark still hangs over his legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader. Zelensky’s presidential term expired last May, but he has refused to hold elections, citing martial law. Watch Putin’s press conference in full below for these and other topics he covered. View the full article

“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” — Aristotle I am almost done with my MSc. Clinical Psychology degree, yay me, but I remember my first class so vividly. I sat at the front that day because I came in late and that was the only available seat. The professor asked us to introduce ourselves and share our biggest fear about the program. When my turn came, I heard myself say, “I am terrified that everyone will discover I have no idea what I am doing here.” The room burst into awkward laughter. And then there was silence. One by one, most students in that room of high achievers echoed the same sentiment. We were all brilliant on paper. We all had stellar undergraduate records, glowing recommendations, and impressive research experience. And we were all convinced we were the dumbest person in the room. That day, I learned my first clinical lesson about intelligence. The smarter you are, the more acutely aware you become of everything you do not know. And for many gifted people, this awareness becomes a source of suffering. It was very validating for me because the power that mental health stigma has over us, is the belief that we are alone. When you believe that nobody else will understand what you are struggling through, you tend to self isolate, and feel burdened with the pressure of coming up with solutions. Realizing I was not alone in my struggle made me realize I was not special with my problems. Which meant that I could find workable solutions. This article is for you if you have ever felt like a fraud despite your achievements, if you have ever wondered how someone with your credentials can feel so incompetent, or if intelligence feels more like a burden than a gift. I hope that I am about to help you understand what is happening in your brilliant, tormented mind. … The Paradox of Conscious Competence Dr. David Dunning’s research at the University of Michigan reveals one of the most fascinating paradoxes in psychology. People with lower ability often overestimate their competence, while those with higher ability tend to underestimate it. This phenomenon, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, explains why intelligent people often feel the least confident about their abilities. When you are genuinely smart, you have what psychologists call “metacognitive awareness.” You can think about your thinking. You can observe your thought processes, notice gaps in your knowledge, and recognize the complexity of problems that others might see as simple. This research study published in the National Library of Medicine found that people with higher IQs show increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the brain region responsible for error detection and self-monitoring. Your intelligent brain is literally wired to notice mistakes, gaps, and areas for improvement more acutely than others. This creates what Dr. Carol Dweck calls “the curse of the gifted mind.” When you are used to learning quickly and understanding easily, any moment of confusion or difficulty feels like failure. Your brain, accustomed to clarity, interprets normal learning struggles as evidence of inadequacy. I experienced this firsthand during my research on paternal postpartum depression. While writing academic papers, I would become paralyzed by awareness of everything I still needed to learn. Every research paper I read revealed ten more concepts I had never encountered. Instead of seeing this as natural intellectual curiosity, my brain interpreted it as proof that I was not smart enough to be doing this work. … The Intelligence Trap of Perfectionism Intelligent people often develop what researchers call “brittle perfectionism”. Birttle perfectionism is a form of perfectionism that shatters under pressure because it is built on the need to appear effortlessly competent. Dr. Carol Dweck’s research on growth versus fixed mindsets reveals that many gifted people develop fixed mindset beliefs about their intelligence. They learn to see intelligence as a static trait rather than a developing capacity. When they encounter challenges that require effort, their brains interpret the struggle as evidence that they are not as smart as they thought. This creates a vicious cycle. The more intelligent you are, the more you have been praised for being smart. The more you have been praised for being smart, the more your identity becomes tied to effortless competence. The more your identity depends on effortless competence, the more threatening any struggle becomes. This 2025 research study published at Research Gate shows that people who were labeled “gifted” in childhood are 40% more likely to experience impostor syndrome in adulthood compared to their equally successful peers who were not given that label early in life. I talked a bit about my crippling impostor syndrome, here. I Have a Queen’s Award and Still Google “Am I Successful Enough?” at 3 AM Your intelligence becomes a prison when your sense of worth depends on maintaining the image of someone who just “gets it” without effort. … The Neuroscience of Overthinking Intelligent brains are different brains. Neuroimaging studies show that people with higher IQs have increased connectivity between brain regions, particularly between the prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain. This enhanced connectivity is a gift that allows for complex thinking, pattern recognition, and creative problem-solving. But this same connectivity can become overwhelming. Dr. Nicole Tetreault ’s research on the neurobiology of giftedness reveals that intelligent people often experience “neural hyperexcitability.” Your brain processes more information, makes more connections, and generates more possibilities than the average person. This can lead to what she calls “existential overwhelm.” When I was building Clear Yo Mind, I would lie awake at night with my brain generating endless scenarios about everything that could go wrong. I could see potential problems others missed, anticipate challenges that had not yet emerged, and imagine complications that might never occur. I thought this made me a good leader. In reality, it was making me anxious and exhausted. Your intelligent brain can see multiple sides of every issue, understand complex nuances, and recognize the limitations of simple solutions. While this is intellectually valuable, it can be emotionally draining. Every decision becomes complicated because you can see all the possible outcomes. Every statement feels incomplete because you understand the exceptions and complexities others might miss. … The Social Cost of Being Smart Intelligence can be isolating in ways that are rarely acknowledged. Dr. Leta Hollingworth was an early pioneer of psychology best known for her contributions to the study of intelligence testing and giftedness. Her research on highly gifted people reveals that people with IQs above 130 often struggle with what she calls social disconnection syndrome. When you think differently, process information faster, or see patterns others miss, casual social interactions can feel effortful. You might find yourself explaining things that seem obvious to you, simplifying your thoughts to make them accessible, or staying quiet to avoid seeming arrogant. It reminds me of an episode I watched of the medical drama series, House. Season 6, Episode 9, Ignorance is Bliss, where the patient is a brilliant physicist named James Sidas who tries to become dumber by abusing dextromethorphan (DXM), a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough syrup, to alleviate his depression and feelings of loneliness. He was essentially taking the drug to escape the burden of his intelligence, which had caused him misery and addiction, leading him to his career as a courier. Research from the University of Rochester found that highly intelligent people are more likely to experience cognitive loneliness. This is the feeling of being intellectually isolated even when surrounded by people. Your brain craves stimulation and depth that is not always available in everyday interactions. During my university years, I often felt like I was speaking a different language from my peers. Conversations that excited me about psychological theory or research methodology would cause eyes to glaze over. I learned to tone down my enthusiasm, simplify my interests, and present a more palatable version of myself. This adaptive strategy helped me fit in but left me feeling like no one really knew the real me. The cost of intellectual hiding is intense. When you consistently diminish your natural thought processes to accommodate others, you begin to question whether your way of thinking is valuable at all. … The Comparison Trap That Destroys Confidence Intelligent people are often excellent at analysis and pattern recognition. Unfortunately, they apply these same skills to social comparison, usually to their detriment. Dr. Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory explains that we evaluate ourselves relative to others. But intelligent people often engage in what researchers call upward comparison bias. They consistently compare themselves to people who are more accomplished, more knowledgeable, or more successful in specific areas. Your intelligent brain notices the accomplished professor who has published more papers, the colleague who seems to understand concepts more quickly, or the peer who speaks with confidence about topics you are still learning. What your brain does not account for is that these comparisons are often incomplete and unfair. When I attended my first international psychology conference, I was surrounded by researchers whose work I had studied and admired. Instead of feeling proud to be among them, I felt like a child who had somehow wandered into an adult conversation. I compared my internal experience of uncertainty to their external appearance of expertise, not recognizing that they had likely felt the same way at their first conference years earlier. Research shows that high-achievers are more likely to engage in expertise comparison, comparing their knowledge in one area to others’ expertise in their specialized fields. This creates an impossible standard where you judge your broad competence against others’ specialized excellence. … The Emotional Overwhelm of Deep Processing Intelligence often comes with emotional intensity that can feel overwhelming. Dr. Kazimierz Dabrowski’s research on overexcitabilities reveals that intellectually gifted people frequently experience heightened emotional, sensual, and imaginational responses to their environment. Your intelligent brain does not just process information more deeply; it processes emotions more deeply too. You might feel others’ pain more acutely, worry about global issues more intensely, or become overwhelmed by the complexity of moral and ethical decisions. This emotional depth can make you feel like you are “too sensitive” or “overthinking everything.” In reality, your brain is doing exactly what it is designed to do. It is processing information and emotions with exceptional thoroughness. During my work with trauma survivors through Clear Yo Mind, I would often come home emotionally drained not just from the sessions themselves, but from the complex ethical considerations, the systemic issues I could see but not immediately fix, and the weight of understanding how interconnected human suffering really is. It has taken me time to really understand I was just a victim of my intelligence. … The Perfectionism-Procrastination Cycle Intelligent people often develop a particularly destructive form of procrastination that masquerades as high standards. Because you can envision the ideal outcome so clearly, starting feels impossible unless you can guarantee excellence. Dr. Tim Pychyl’s research on procrastination shows that gifted people are more likely to engage in perfectionist procrastination, which is delaying action because they can see all the ways their work might fall short of their internal standards. Like me in sharing this article. I wonder if the research is comprehensive enough. And then I worry I have referenced too much research. Aaarrghh. Your intelligent brain becomes its own worst enemy. You can see the brilliant paper you want to write, the perfect presentation you want to give, or the flawless solution you want to implement. When you cannot immediately produce that level of work, you delay starting rather than risk producing something merely good. This creates a cruel cycle where the very intelligence that enables you to envision excellence prevents you from taking the imperfect action necessary to develop that excellence. … Reclaiming Your Intelligence as a Gift I think in all this, understanding why smart people like you feel dumb is the first step toward reclaiming your intelligence as a strength rather than a source of suffering. I am assuming only a gifted person, who is nodding along to most of the stuff I have written, would read this far. Practice Intellectual Humility Instead of trying to know everything, embrace what researcher Dr. Mark Leary calls intellectual humility. It is the recognition that your knowledge is always incomplete and that learning is a lifelong process. Your awareness of what you do not know is not evidence of inadequacy; it is evidence of wisdom. Reframe Effort as Intelligence When you struggle with something, remind yourself that effort is intelligence in action. Your brain is doing the complex work of forming new neural pathways and integrating new information with existing knowledge. Honor Your Processing Style Your need to think deeply, consider multiple perspectives, and analyze thoroughly is not overthinking, it is your natural cognitive style. Instead of rushing to match others’ pace, honor the depth and quality of your thinking process. Seek Intellectual Community Find people who appreciate depth, complexity, and nuanced thinking. You need relationships where your natural intellectual curiosity is welcomed rather than tolerated. The Gift You Did Not Ask For Your intelligence is not a burden you must bear alone. The same cognitive abilities that make you aware of your limitations also give you the capacity for profound insight, creative problem-solving, and meaningful contribution to the world. The awareness that makes you feel dumb is actually evidence of your intelligence. Only a sophisticated mind can recognize the vastness of what it does not know. Only a complex thinker can see the nuances and complications that others miss. Your job is not to become less intelligent to feel more confident. Your job is to develop a relationship with your intelligence that honors both its gifts and its challenges. “Giftedness is both about what you can do and about who you are.” — Dr. Ellen Winner Your intelligent mind, with all its complexity and intensity, is a gift to steward. The world needs people who can see problems others miss, ask questions others do not think to ask, and envision solutions others cannot imagine. The world needs your brilliant, complicated, beautifully overthinking mind. … Ready to understand how your intelligent mind works, and why it sometimes feels like your enemy? Take The Not Good Enough Assessment and discover how to work with your brain instead of against it. Let me know in the comments section if you want it. You can join the waitlist for my new book, The Psychology Behind Never Feeling Good Enough, here. — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: iStock The post The Clinical Truth About Why Smart People Feel the Dumbest appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Eighteen more were injured after the iconic Gloria funicular derailed and crashed, emergency services have said At least 15 people died and 18 more were injured when a car on Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railway derailed and crashed on Wednesday, an emergency medical service spokesman has said. According to media reports, the crash occurred around 6pm, at the start of evening rush hour. Carris, the public transportation company that operates the funicular, said it “immediately contacted emergency and security forces” without elaborating on the possible reasons that caused the crash. Footage from the site shows the tram-like funicular, popular among tourists, practically destroyed, while emergency workers can be seen pulling people out of the wreckage. 🇵🇹 Three people killed after funicular derailment in Lisbon In Lisbon, a Gloria funicular car broke loose from its cable and crashed into a building at high speed killing 3 people and injuring about 20. The Elevador da Glória is one of Lisbon’s most popular tourist attractions. pic.twitter.com/wJu7bFpyQX — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 3, 2025 In a statement, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he “deeply regrets the accident that occurred this afternoon with the Gloria Elevator in Lisbon, in particular the fatalities and serious injuries, as well as the several minor injuries.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences to the families of the victims in a statement in Portuguese published on X. The line, which opened in 1885, connects Lisbon’s downtown area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter). According to reports, the tram transports more than three million passengers every year. Its two cars are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors. The car at the bottom of the line was presumably undamaged, but CNN Portugal said passengers had to jump out of the windows when the incident happened. View the full article

The German chancellor tried to divert the responsibility for the Ukraine conflict away from the West, the Russian president has said Chancellor Friedrich Merz sought to shift the responsibility for the Ukraine conflict away from the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, after the German leader called him a “war criminal.” Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, Putin said: “I think that [Merz’s remark] was an unsuccessful attempt to absolve himself, maybe not himself personally, but his country and the collective West… of the responsibility for the tragedy that is currently unfolding in Ukraine.” Merz told broadcaster Sat.1 that Putin was “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time,” expressing skepticism over Moscow’s readiness to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. “We simply have to be clear about how to deal with war criminals. There is no room for leniency,” the German chancellor stressed. Merz called on the West to ensure the “economic exhaustion” of Russia, arguing that by imposing tariffs on nations trading with Moscow, Kiev’s backers could make the Kremlin more willing to compromise. Commenting on the chancellor’s remark, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS that “Merz has made very bad statements vis-a-vis Russian President Vladimir Putin.” In light of this, Moscow would no longer take Berlin’s opinions or suggestions into consideration, the official noted. In 2023, former US President Joe Biden characterized Putin as a “dictator.” He had previously similarly branded the Russian leader a “pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine” and a “war criminal.” Moscow has long condemned Western military aid to Kiev, and views the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war. Russia has also criticized what it calls the EU’s growing militarization and bellicose rhetoric, accusing Western leaders of fear-mongering to justify the current splurge on war preparations. Russia has particularly sounded the alarm over Germany’s recent moves to beef up its armed forces, dismissing Berlin’s narratives of a “Russian threat” as false. View the full article

The Russian president has held a major press conference concluding a four-day visit with his Chinese counterpart and numerous world leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded his four-day visit to China. Ahead of his departure on Wednesday, he held a major Q&A session, speaking to the media on a broad range of topics, including bilateral ties with Beijing, the potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, international security architecture. Here are the key takeaways from the press conference: ‘Very useful’ visit The visit, which was the longest trip for the Russian leader since 2014, combined multiple high-profile events and informal meetings with different leaders. Putin said the format had proven to be “very useful,” not only “good for meeting at the negotiating table but, more importantly, for holding many informal discussions on any issue of mutual interest in an informal and friendly atmosphere.” “So, when we planned my visit, we did it so as to avoid moving a long distance many times. I would like to remind you that the schedule included the SCO summit, a trilateral Russia-Mongolia-China meeting, and a visit to the People’s Republic of China proper,” Putin told reporters. Power of Siberia 2 pipeline China and Russia have reached an agreement on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, concluding years of talks on the major project, Putin said. The resulting deal on the 50 billion cubic meter per year pipeline has had everyone “satisfied” and “pleased,” according to the Russian president. “This is not charity – we’re talking about mutually beneficial agreements based on market principles,” he stressed. End of Ukraine conflict in sight? The potential settlement of the enduring conflict between Russia and Ukraine might have drawn closer thanks to the position of the US, Putin said. President Donald Trump and his administration appear to have a “genuine desire to find the solution,” he noted. “I think there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve all the goals set before us by force,” the Russian president said. West shifting responsibility for Ukraine conflict Asked about recent hostile remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who called the Russian president a “war criminal,” Putin said it was merely a part of the strategy to shift western responsibility for the Ukraine conflict. “I think that [Merz’s remark] was an unsuccessful attempt to absolve himself, maybe not himself personally, but his country and the collective West… of the responsibility for the tragedy that is currently unfolding in Ukraine,” Putin stated, adding that the Western European nations have been pushing the situation towards an armed conflict for a decade by “completely ignoring Russia’s security interests.” Putin ready to meet Zelensky The Russian president reiterated his readiness to meet Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. However, he once again underlined Moscow’s concern that Zelensky lacks legitimacy and questioned whether meeting him would actually be “meaningful.” “It’s a path to nowhere, to just meet, let’s put it carefully, the de-facto head of the [Ukrainian] administration. It’s possible, I’ve never refused to if such a meeting is well-prepared and would lead to some potential positive results,” Putin said. “If Zelensky is ready, he can come to Moscow, and such a meeting will take place.” On security guarantees Putin dismissed rumors of discussions about “security guarantees” for Ukraine in exchange for ceding territories it claims as its own. The territorial issue was never the priority for Moscow, the Russian leader said. The special military operation has been a fight for “human rights, for the right of the people who live in these territories to speak their native tongue and live according to their culture and traditions,” the president stressed. “Security guarantees are natural, I often talk about this. We proceed from the fact that any country should have these guarantees and a security system, and Ukraine is no exception. But this is not connected with any exchanges, especially with territorial exchanges,” Putin explained. View the full article

By Aurora Egbe Dear EarthTalk: Any ideas on how to engage my slacker teenager on issues of climate and environment? —Paula Howe, Strawberry, CA Climate change details the rapid increase of Earth’s temperature resulting from the excessive emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. When relaying this explanation to a teenager, you might describe it as actively threatening the livelihood of the planet humanity calls home, and that if we continue to not regulate the growth of this phenomenon, we will be in very big trouble. Whatever way you explain it, climate change will affect future generations to come. New Jersey was the first state to uphold and require climate education in schools, incorporating climate education in 2020 in the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. Connecticut followed suit right after. However, in the rest of the U.S., climate education, when present, is not primarily focused on in science curriculums. So your child is no slacker if the education being taught is slacking! There are certain ways, however, that your young people can become educated on climate issues, and that is through incorporating genuine entertainment with education. One of the things that interests teenagers are video games, simulations that many people’s eyes are glued to, adults and teens alike. One game, in particular, stands out: Mission 1.5’s mobile game. The game lets a user play for a certain time, and when an ad pops up, instead of advertising a product, the ad serves to educate the user on climate issues. Not only that, Mission 1.5, among others, further asks users to vote on the best ways to lead on in the fight for climate change, prompting further thought. “Fast Forward (to today), we have about six million people that have played the game so far in 58 countries…. when people start it, they really play it, which is something we’re really excited about,” United Nations Development Programme Cassie Flyn explains to UN News. For a more hands on approach, intrigue your youngsters in hand-made projects that are both fulfilling and fun. For example, edible greenhouse projects, which use toothpicks and gumdrops to recreate models of gases that contribute to global warming. These science projects contain simple methodologies that are expeditious for parents to set up for their child. Teen-only focused group settings can stimulate more of an interest in climate issues rather than only with an adult as well. It’s important to still maintain an attitude of companionship and hope between one’s peers regarding issues of our climate to engage youth. Disinterest can go away in an instant if one’s teen is immersed in the material through doing activities that appeal to their way of learning. CONTACTS New Jersey Department of Education We Are Teachers Cassie Flynn EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at https://emagazine.com. To donate, visit https://earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org. — Previously Published on emagazine *** Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo: iStock The post How to Engage Slacker Teens in Climate Activism appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

The desperate search for a “Russian footprint” in the murder of Ukrainian politician Andrey Parubiy is a symptom of terminal self-delusion Power and truth are not natural allies. Indeed, every person and institution – be it a government, a company, a university, or a “think tank” – tends to lie more as they become more powerful. And those who stay weak – have no illusions – must lie, too. Otherwise they’d get trampled even worse by the powerful. The truth may well set us free, as Christ told us. But then, hardly anyone is free in this world. Yet there are real differences. Differences that matter. For instance, with regard to the question of who you can trust a little more or should trust even less. Not to speak of another, often crucial issue: Who can one support or be in solidarity with, even if usually only conditionally? One thing should be clear to anyone not perma-brainwashed out of their mind: The worst – by far – spreader of propaganda, disinformation, fake news, call it what you wish, is the West. Easily, hands down, no contest. Examples to illustrate this simple fact so little acknowledged – in the West, that is – could be adduced ad infinitum and over centuries. From, say, selling the bloody sacking of a fellow Christian capital in 1204 as a “fourth crusade,” to spreading “free trade” and “civilization” by waging a campaign of war and opiate mass poisoning on the oldest empire and civilization around in the mid-nineteenth century, to “liberating” Libya from a functioning state, decent standards of living, and, really, a future in 2011. It makes sense that George Orwell was English and had served the British Empire as a lowly enforcer among its victims in what we now call the Global South: No one competes with the sheer, habitual, deeply ingrained “Orwellianism” of the West. Its most recent – but certainly not the last – horrific peak performance is, of course, co-perpetrating the Gaza genocide with Israel and calling it yet another fight against “terror” or “self-defense,” while smearing those who resist as “antisemites” and “terrorists.” There is an aspect of this intense and unremitting Western addiction to lying that should not be overlooked because it plays a key role in making Western disinformation so persistently toxic: The West never acknowledges, corrects, or regrets its fake news, at least not while doing so would still make a difference. Bewailing, for instance, the “mistake” – really, enormous crime – of the Vietnam War? Maybe, a little, if there’s a self-pitying (Rambo I, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket) or squarely delusional (Rambo II) movie in it that sells. Admitting, on the other hand, that the “Maidan Sniper Massacre” of 2014 was a mass-murderous false-flag operation conducted by ruthless Ukrainian nationalists and fascists, such as, prominently, the recently assassinated Andrey Parubiy? Definitely not. Never mind the painstakingly detailed, conclusive studies of Ukrainian-Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski, which are easily available as an open-access book from one of the world’s most reputable academic publishers. Because if the West were to recognize this fact, a keystone of the edifice of lies erected to justify its cynical and devastating use of Ukraine in a failed proxy war against Russia would crumble: the silly conceit that the regime change operation of 2014 was “democratic,” “from below,” and soaked in national “dignity.” Instead we’d have to face the reality of subversion, manipulation, and the betrayal of a nation to the West’s geopolitics, which is mercilessly cruel as well as bunglingly incompetent. And then, what next: Admitting that Russia was indeed provoked, for over three decades? That the Ukrainian far right is powerful and dangerous: a hotchpotch of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and assorted other fascists which the West has “normalized” and armed beyond their wildest dreams? That Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky is a corrupt authoritarian with a dependency problem? Recently, we have been going through two campaigns of disinformation, which may look unrelated but both of them serve the West’s ceaseless propaganda assault on Russia and its relentless stirring up of war hysteria at home: The de facto autocrat and US viceroy of the European Union, unelected and eternally scandal-plagued Ursula von der Leyen has caused a mainstream media frenzy by claiming that her plane was attacked by Russian GPS jamming. In Ukraine, after the killing of Andrey Parubiy, the authorities initially leaked silly hints trying to blame the assassination on – you know what’s coming – Russia, Russia, Russia. By now, only days after their emergence, both these fake news stories are collapsing. Apprehended, the man who executed Andrey Parubiy on a side street of Lviv’s Stepan Bandera Boulevard has explained his motive in a first court hearing: retaliation. Mikhail Stselnikov, who lived in Lviv like Parubiy, wanted to punish a member of Ukraine’s political establishment for the catastrophic policies that, among other things, led to his son going MIA and most likely dying in one of the most senseless battles of a senseless war, namely in Bakhmut. As acute observers have pointed out immediately, in Ukraine and beyond it, this turn of the Parubiy case must be extremely unwelcome to the Kiev regime. After its daft default attempt to scapegoat Russia, it is now obvious that the real story is about how many Ukrainians have had enough of their leadership selling out their country and lives to the West. That fact alone is something the regime could, if it wished, learn from opinion polls. What the killing of Andrey Parubiy adds is a sense of how far those very disenchanted Ukrainians may now be ready to go to liberate themselves or, at least, get payback. And Ursula’s pernicious plane prank panic? Another infowar dud. It turns out that Fightradar24, a generally acknowledged, reliable flight tracker has data that debunks the whole tale. In detail, too: The GPS signal was not jammed, the flight lasted only minimally longer than scheduled, and, so, the whole narrative spread by the EU, Western mainstream propaganda outlets, and NATO is humbug, nonsense, bull. The West is a place that constantly makes up transparent lies and almost never takes them back, even when they have been exposed. That goes with its toxic tendency to believe in its own stories: it’s a land not only of deception but confusion. But then again, even in the rare instance when the West (quietly) drops one of its stupid tall tales – such as that Russia had nothing better to do than detonate one of its prime assets, the Nord Stream pipelines – the truth won’t emerge. Instead one lie replaces another. No matter if the two aren’t even consistent with each other. In that sad sense, maybe it doesn’t really matter anymore if the West will ever, finally make an effort to stop lying. Come to think of it, probably quite a few things the West may or may not do are not very important anymore. And that’s the only good news here. View the full article

The desperate search for a “Russian footprint” in the murder of Ukrainian politician Andrey Parubiy is a symptom of terminal self-delusion Power and truth are not natural allies. Indeed, every person and institution – be it a government, a company, a university, or a “think tank” – tends to lie more as they become more powerful. And those who stay weak – have no illusions – must lie, too. Otherwise they’d get trampled even worse by the powerful. The truth may well set us free, as Christ told us. But then, hardly anyone is free in this world. Yet there are real differences. Differences that matter. For instance, with regard to the question of who you can trust a little more or should trust even less. Not to speak of another, often crucial issue: Who can one support or be in solidarity with, even if usually only conditionally? One thing should be clear to anyone not perma-brainwashed out of their mind: The worst – by far – spreader of propaganda, disinformation, fake news, call it what you wish, is the West. Easily, hands down, no contest. Examples to illustrate this simple fact so little acknowledged – in the West, that is – could be adduced ad infinitum and over centuries. From, say, selling the bloody sacking of a fellow Christian capital in 1204 as a “fourth crusade,” to spreading “free trade” and “civilization” by waging a campaign of war and opiate mass poisoning on the oldest empire and civilization around in the mid-nineteenth century, to “liberating” Libya from a functioning state, decent standards of living, and, really, a future in 2011. It makes sense that George Orwell was English and had served the British Empire as a lowly enforcer among its victims in what we now call the Global South: No one competes with the sheer, habitual, deeply ingrained “Orwellianism” of the West. Its most recent – but certainly not the last – horrific peak performance is, of course, co-perpetrating the Gaza genocide with Israel and calling it yet another fight against “terror” or “self-defense,” while smearing those who resist as “antisemites” and “terrorists.” Read more Belgium announces sanctions against Israel There is an aspect of this intense and unremitting Western addiction to lying that should not be overlooked because it plays a key role in making Western disinformation so persistently toxic: The West never acknowledges, corrects, or regrets its fake news, at least not while doing so would still make a difference. Bewailing, for instance, the “mistake” – really, enormous crime – of the Vietnam War? Maybe, a little, if there’s a self-pitying (Rambo I, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket) or squarely delusional (Rambo II) movie in it that sells. Admitting, on the other hand, that the “Maidan Sniper Massacre” of 2014 was a mass-murderous false-flag operation conducted by ruthless Ukrainian nationalists and fascists, such as, prominently, the recently assassinated Andrey Parubiy? Definitely not. Never mind the painstakingly detailed, conclusive studies of Ukrainian-Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski, which are easily available as an open-access book from one of the world’s most reputable academic publishers. Because if the West were to recognize this fact, a keystone of the edifice of lies erected to justify its cynical and devastating use of Ukraine in a failed proxy war against Russia would crumble: the silly conceit that the regime change operation of 2014 was “democratic,” “from below,” and soaked in national “dignity.” Instead we’d have to face the reality of subversion, manipulation, and the betrayal of a nation to the West’s geopolitics, which is mercilessly cruel as well as bunglingly incompetent. And then, what next: Admitting that Russia was indeed provoked, for over three decades? That the Ukrainian far right is powerful and dangerous: a hotchpotch of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and assorted other fascists which the West has “normalized” and armed beyond their wildest dreams? That Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky is a corrupt authoritarian with a dependency problem? Read more Are Ukrainian vigilantes rising up against the Kiev regime? Recently, we have been going through two campaigns of disinformation, which may look unrelated but both of them serve the West’s ceaseless propaganda assault on Russia and its relentless stirring up of war hysteria at home: The de facto autocrat and US viceroy of the European Union, unelected and eternally scandal-plagued Ursula von der Leyen has caused a mainstream media frenzy by claiming that her plane was attacked by Russian GPS jamming. In Ukraine, after the killing of Andrey Parubiy, the authorities initially leaked silly hints trying to blame the assassination on – you know what’s coming – Russia, Russia, Russia. By now, only days after their emergence, both these fake news stories are collapsing. Apprehended, the man who executed Andrey Parubiy on a side street of Lviv’s Stepan Bandera Boulevard has explained his motive in a first court hearing: retaliation. Mikhail Stselnikov, who lived in Lviv like Parubiy, wanted to punish a member of Ukraine’s political establishment for the catastrophic policies that, among other things, led to his son going MIA and most likely dying in one of the most senseless battles of a senseless war, namely in Bakhmut. As acute observers have pointed out immediately, in Ukraine and beyond it, this turn of the Parubiy case must be extremely unwelcome to the Kiev regime. After its daft default attempt to scapegoat Russia, it is now obvious that the real story is about how many Ukrainians have had enough of their leadership selling out their country and lives to the West. That fact alone is something the regime could, if it wished, learn from opinion polls. What the killing of Andrey Parubiy adds is a sense of how far those very disenchanted Ukrainians may now be ready to go to liberate themselves or, at least, get payback. Read more EU claim Russia blocked von der Leyen jet GPS is false – Flightradar And Ursula’s pernicious plane prank panic? Another infowar dud. It turns out that Fightradar24, a generally acknowledged, reliable flight tracker has data that debunks the whole tale. In detail, too: The GPS signal was not jammed, the flight lasted only minimally longer than scheduled, and, so, the whole narrative spread by the EU, Western mainstream propaganda outlets, and NATO is humbug, nonsense, bull. The West is a place that constantly makes up transparent lies and almost never takes them back, even when they have been exposed. That goes with its toxic tendency to believe in its own stories: it’s a land not only of deception but confusion. But then again, even in the rare instance when the West (quietly) drops one of its stupid tall tales – such as that Russia had nothing better to do than detonate one of its prime assets, the Nord Stream pipelines – the truth won’t emerge. Instead one lie replaces another. No matter if the two aren’t even consistent with each other. In that sad sense, maybe it doesn’t really matter anymore if the West will ever, finally make an effort to stop lying. Come to think of it, probably quite a few things the West may or may not do are not very important anymore. And that’s the only good news here. View the full article

Moscow could double deliveries to its Asian neighbor by the 2030s, shutting out US exports, Bloomberg has warned Russia’s announcement this week of expanded pipeline gas exports to China could shake the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and squeeze out US suppliers, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. During his visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow and Beijing had reached consensus on a major new pipeline across Mongolia, which would significantly boost existing supplies. Although Chinese officials did not immediately comment, Bloomberg noted that “the ties binding Russia to its most important consumer have undoubtedly tightened.” The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline could be operational by 2030. Combined with other supply increases, Russia could displace up to half of the more than 40 million tons of LNG China currently imports each year, including from the US, Bloomberg estimated. ”Given that China is the largest importer of LNG, this would turn the LNG market on its head,” analysts at AB Bernstein, a Wall Street research and brokerage firm, wrote in a note cited by the outlet. “For LNG projects that are still being contemplated, this would be a big negative.” The report framed the development as a signal from Beijing to Washington that it does not need US LNG for long-term growth, a message sent as relations between the two countries sour. Bloomberg added that China appears comfortable with deeper reliance on Russian supplies, which Bernstein predicted could cover 20% of its gas demand by the early 2030s, up from around 10% today. This week, China also received its first shipment from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, despite US sanctions. Moscow has accused Western governments of prioritizing geopolitics over fair competition, pointing to the freezing of Russian sovereign assets and attempts to curtail its energy exports through economic restrictions. Russian officials argue such actions are pushing Moscow to seek more dependable customers, particularly for pipeline gas, which requires heavy infrastructure investment and long-term cooperation. View the full article

Disney’s ‘Tron’ Is Coming out on 4K Ultra HD I have seen Tron before, but it has been many years. The story it tells is an intriguing one, and it takes viewers on a pretty wild journey. Over the years the popularity for this film has only grown and has spawned a few sequels and an animated series. Recently it was announced this movie is being released on 4K Ultra HD and here is my thoughts on this news. (c) Walt Disney Studios You can read the plot for this movie here: When a brilliant video game maker (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing. It’s an epic adventure that everyone will enjoy! (c) Walt Disney Studios I am thrilled to hear this film is being released on 4K Ultra HD. This was a movie that helped set the stage for many of the films we have seen over the years with stunning CGI. The cast is top notch and help bring a pretty action packed story to life. There are many special features here that will take people into the making of this wonderful movie. If you are a fan of this film then you will want to pick it up when it arrives. Tron comes out on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and Digital September 16th. The post Disney’s Ground Breaking Sci-Fi Film ‘Tron’ Is Being Released on 4K Ultra HD appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Liz Carey New research has found that rural LGBTQ+ teens experience significant challenges in their communities and turn to the internet for support. The research from Hopelab and the Born This Way Foundation looked at what more than 1,200 LGBTQ+ teens faced and compared the experiences of those in rural communities with those of teens in suburban and urban communities. The research found that rural teens are more likely to give and receive support through their online communities and friends than via their in-person relationships. “The rural young people we’re seeing were reporting having a lot less support in their homes, in their communities, and their schools,” Mike Parent, a principal researcher at Hopelab, said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “They weren’t doing too well in terms of feeling supported in the places they were living, though they were feeling supported online.” However, the research found that rural LGBTQ+ teens had the same sense of pride in who they were as suburban and urban teens. “The parallel, interesting finding was that we didn’t see differences in their internal sense of pride, which you might kind of expect if they feel all less supported,” he said. “What was surprising, in a very good way, was that indication of resilience or being able to feel a strong sense of their internal selves despite this kind of harsh environment they might be in.” Researchers recruited young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who identified as LGBTQ+ through targeted ads on social media. After surveying the respondents during August and September of last year, the researchers also followed up some of the surveys with interviews, Parent said. According to the study, rural teens were more likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to find support online. Of the rural respondents, 56% of rural young people reported receiving support from others online several times a month compared to 51% of urban and suburban respondents, and 76% reported giving support online, compared to 70% of urban and suburban respondents. Conversely, only 28% of rural respondents reported feeling supported by their schools, compared to 49% of urban and suburban respondents, the study found, and 13% of rural respondents felt supported by their communities, compared to 35% of urban and suburban respondents. Rural LGBTQ+ young people are significantly more likely to suffer mental health issues because of the lack of support where they live, researchers said. Rural LGBTQ+ young people were more likely to meet the threshold for depression (57% compared to 45%), and more likely to report less flourishing than their suburban/urban counterparts (43% to 52%). The study found that those LGBTQ+ young people who received support from those they lived with, regardless of where they live, are more likely to report flourishing (50% compared to 35%) and less likely to meet the threshold for depression (52% compared to 63%). One respondent said the impact of lack of support impacted every aspect of their lives. “Not being able to be who you truly are around the people that you love most or the communities that you’re in is going to make somebody depressed or give them mental issues,” they said in survey interviews, according to Hopelab. “Because if you can’t be who you are around the people that you love most and people who surround you, you’re not gonna be able to feel the best about your well-being.” Respondents said connecting with those online communities saved their lives. “Throughout my entire life, I have been bullied relentlessly. However, when I’m online, I find that it is easier to make friends… I met my best friend through role play [games],” one teen told researchers. “Without it, I wouldn’t be here today. So, in the long run, it’s the friendships I’ve made online that have kept me alive all these years.” Having support in rural areas, especially, can provide rural LGBTQ+ teens with a feeling of belonging, researchers said. “Our findings highlight the urgent need for safe, affirming in-person spaces and the importance of including young people in shaping the solutions,” Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes, vice president of research and evaluation at Born This Way Foundation, said in a statement. “If we want to improve outcomes, especially for LGBTQ+ young people in rural communities, their voices–and scientific evidence–must guide the work.” Parent said the survey respondents stressed the importance of having safe spaces for LGBTQ+ young people to gather in their own communities. “I think most of the participants recognize that you can’t do a lot to change your family if they’re not supportive,” he said. “What they were saying was that finding ways for schools to be supportive and for communities to be supportive in terms of physical spaces (that allowed them) to express themselves safely (and) having places where they can gather and feel safe, uh, were really important to them.” Hopelab seeks to address mental health in young people through evidence-based innovation, according to its organizers. The Born This Way Foundation was co-founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, West Virginia native Cynthia Bisset Germanotta. The organization is focused on ending bullying and building up communities, while using research, programming, grants, and partnerships to engage young people and connect them to mental health resources, according to the foundation’s website. This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. — Previously Published on dailyyonder.com with Creative Commons License *** – The world is changing fast. We help you keep up. We’ll send you 1 post, 3x per week. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo: unsplash The post Report: LGBTQ+ Rural Teens Find More Support Online Than in Their Communities appeared first on The Good Men Project. 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In a dating culture that celebrates “seeing where it goes,” dating with intention can feel almost radical. It’s not about rushing commitment — it’s about knowing what you want, communicating it clearly, and refusing to water down your standards for someone’s potential. Because when you date without intention, you don’t just risk heartbreak — you risk years of your life. … What Does “Dating With Intention” Really Mean? Dating with intention means approaching every stage of connection — from first messages to long-term partnership — with clarity about your needs, values, and non-negotiables. It’s the difference between: Passive Dating: Hoping someone will turn out to be “the one.” Intentional Dating: Knowing what “the one” looks like for you — and filtering for it early. It’s not a checklist of superficial traits. It’s a deep understanding of what kind of relationship will actually make you happy in the long run. Why Most People Don’t Date With Intention 1. Fear of Being “Too Picky” We’re told that having high standards makes us unapproachable. In reality, it makes us magnetic to the right people. 2. Comfort With the Familiar It’s easier to stay in patterns — even unhealthy ones — than to rewrite your story. 3. Lack of Self-Awareness You can’t date intentionally if you don’t know yourself well enough to define your needs. 4. Scarcity Mindset Fear that you won’t meet anyone else often leads to settling for less than you deserve. … The Psychology of Intentional Dating Psychologists call this “selective self-presentation” — being clear and upfront about your values, lifestyle, and long-term goals. A 2018 study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that people who expressed their relationship intentions early were more likely to form satisfying partnerships. Why? Because honesty acts as a filter. It repels people who aren’t aligned — and attracts those who are. … The Core Pillars of Dating With Intention 1. Self-Knowledge Identify your core values (family, faith, career, freedom, growth). Reflect on past relationships: what worked, what didn’t, and why. 2. Clarity Decide what type of relationship you want before you start dating. Write your non-negotiables — and stick to them. 3. Communication Share your intentions early — not as an ultimatum, but as a compass. Ask purposeful questions to gauge compatibility. 4. Boundaries Don’t allow emotional investment without mutual effort. Be willing to walk away if your needs aren’t being met. … Questions Intentional Daters Ask Early “What does a healthy relationship look like to you?” “Where do you see your life in five years?” “What’s most important to you in a partner?” “What’s your love language?” These aren’t interrogation questions — they’re shortcuts to understanding if your life paths can run parallel. … The Cost of Dating Without Intention Without intention, you can: Waste years in mismatched partnerships. Ignore red flags because the chemistry feels good. Lose yourself trying to fit someone else’s mold. A 2021 survey by eHarmony revealed that nearly 40% of singles regretted “settling too soon” in past relationships — and most said it was because they lacked a clear vision of what they truly wanted. … How to Start Dating With Intention Today Write Your Relationship Mission Statement This is a short paragraph defining what you’re looking for, why, and how you want to feel in a relationship. Audit Your Current Dating Habits Are you swiping out of boredom or purpose? Are your dates moving you toward your vision? Stop Entertaining the Wrong Energy If someone’s actions consistently misalign with their words, that’s your answer. Date at the Speed of Trust Move forward when actions match intentions — not before. … The Confidence Factor Intentional dating requires self-confidence — not arrogance, but the quiet knowing that your needs matter. The right person will not be intimidated by your clarity. They’ll be grateful for it. … Why Intentional Dating Feels So Empowering You waste less time. You recover faster from mismatches. You attract higher-quality partners. You feel in control of your love life. When you date with intention, rejection stops feeling like a personal failure. It becomes a form of self-selection — proof that you’re moving closer to someone truly aligned. … Date Like You Mean It Here’s your challenge: This week, write down your top five relationship non-negotiables and your top five relationship goals. Keep them where you can see them. Let them guide every choice you make in dating. Refuse to apologize for wanting something real. Refuse to shrink yourself to fit someone else’s comfort zone. And refuse to settle for “almost” love when you’re worthy of the real thing. Support my work so I can keep creating relationship content that empowers your love life: ko-fi.com/jenmcdougall Listen to my podcast Life Refined: The Art of Personal Development, where I teach you how to combine self-awareness and courage to create relationships worth keeping. Because love isn’t luck. It’s intention, backed by action. — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: Jessica Rockowitz on Unsplash The post Dating With Intention: How to Stop Settling for Less Than You Deserve appeared first on The Good Men Project. 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Ukraine is struggling to hide its involvement in conflicts in Africa Alexandr Ivanov, the director of Russia’s Officers Union for International Security (OUIS), recently told Russian media that Ukrainian intelligence agencies are using embassies as diplomatic cover to deploy military equipment and instructors to terrorist groups in North Africa and the Sahel region. At a UN Security Council session, Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Federation to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said there is concrete evidence that Ukrainian intelligence services, including the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, are involved in subversive activities across the Sahel and in other African regions, including the Maghreb. While this topic has surfaced on various platforms before, it has attracted wide attention following the statements from Russian officials. Concerns about Kiev’s activities in Africa Ivanov told RT that Ukraine’s subversive actions in Africa have attracted international attention. He claims there is evidence that Kiev is dispatching drone pilots to Mali to train fighters from local opposition armed groups. Additionally, reports indicate that Ukrainian intelligence officers are participating in the civil war in Sudan. According to Ivanov, Ukraine has supplied drones to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group. This could further destabilize the region and potentially ignite a new conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. There are concerns that the ADF plans to launch attacks on the DRC from Ugandan-controlled territories, allowing blame to fall on Ugandan military forces. In an interview with TASS, Ivanov noted that Ukrainian drone pilots have been spotted in at least five African countries – Mali, Sudan, the DRC, the Central African Republic, and Chad. In all these nations, they support local opposition groups by coordinating attacks against government forces. “In these countries, Ukrainian militants are working closely with local terrorists, supplying them with drones – including Mavic 3 drones with Ukrainian-made release systems – and providing training. Moreover, they are coordinating the militants’ attacks on the positions of government and allied forces,” Ivanov said. Citing independent experts, he confirmed that Kiev is supplying equipment to Burkina Faso, Somalia, and Libya. Ukraine is conducting its operations in Africa covertly, through its diplomatic missions in third countries such as Algeria and Mauritania. Equipment and specialists are allegedly being transported to Mali from neighboring Mauritania through poorly secured border areas. Ivanov points out that similar schemes are utilized in other countries. “The transfer of Ukrainian instructors and drones to ADS militants is carried out through the Ukrainian Embassy in Kinshasa. It has also recently become known that Ukrainian diplomatic staff in Algeria are overseeing the delivery of drones to Africa.” In this way, Ukraine is engaging in subversive activities in countries that have recently declared their independence from the West, with the intent of turning them into zones of instability. “For African countries, especially those such as Mali or Burkina Faso, which have only recently gained true sovereignty, such harmful Ukrainian interference threatens another round of instability,” Ivanov said. Russia’s stance at the UN On August 20, during a UN Security Council meeting addressing the Secretary-General’s report on threats to international peace and security posed by the Islamic State (IS), Russian envoy Dmitry Polyansky pointed to evidence indicating that Ukrainian specialists and equipment are being deployed to opposition groups in Africa. © Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images “There are concrete facts clearly indicating that Ukrainian intelligence services, including the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence, are engaged in subversive activities in Sahel countries and other regions of Africa. They supply militants with weapons and drones, train them in their use, co-ordinate the actions of terrorists, including the so-called Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims in Mali, and deploy trained mercenaries to act against local governments,” Polyansky said. He noted that this situation necessitates an international investigation involving competent UN mechanisms, especially since IS has been shifting its geographic focus, increasingly concentrating its efforts in Africa, adapting to local conditions and exploiting political instability and armed conflicts. According to Polyansky, some Western powers whose influence in the Sahel region has waned recently are actively supporting local Islamist groups to further destabilize the already fragile situation. “We firmly condemn the use of terrorism by certain Western countries as a tool of neo-colonial policy. African states have repeatedly emphasized that instead of the promised support they have faced subversive activities,” he said. Mauritania’s reaction Mauritanian authorities quickly dismissed claims that Ukrainian weapons and militants are being funneled through their territory into Mali. “The allegations circulated by international media lack substantial evidence. … Mauritania adheres to a collective security framework in the Sahel region, quietly supporting its neighbors during times of instability and unrest through logistical aid, confidential information sharing, and discreet mediation,” stated the country’s Foreign Ministry. The ministry also reiterated its neutral stance regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Mauritania voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution condemning violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while simultaneously opposing the suspension of Russia’s membership in the Human Rights Council. © Patrick ROBERT/Corbis via Getty Images It’s possible that Mauritanian officials may be unaware of the activities of Ukrainian intelligence services on their soil. In May 2024, Kiev announced the opening of its embassy in Nouakchott, which coincided with the escalation of the conflict in Mali. By August 2024, Ukraine officially declared its support for Tuareg separatists and members of the jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Sahel. This announcement came amid a military operation in northern Mali that resulted in casualties among both government troops and some Russian instructors from the Wagner Group. At that time, Andrey Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, stated that Malian rebels had received crucial intelligence that enabled them to carry out the successful military operation against Russian specialists. © Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images Libya and Algeria In contrast to Mauritania, the governments of Algeria and Libya have taken the reports of Ukrainian intelligence activities on their territories more seriously. In Libya, the matter has been taken up by the Prosecutor’s Office. Attorney General Al-Siddiq Al-Sour has called for an urgent investigation and the collection of evidence following reports that some opposition movements operating in the southern part of the country acquired Ukrainian drones through military and diplomatic channels. “The Attorney General’s office treats this information with utmost seriousness. The investigation will include tracing logistical support routes and identifying involved parties both in Libya and beyond. If the information is confirmed, the case will be referred to the appropriate international courts and all individuals whose involvement in violations of international law or threats to regional security is proven will be prosecuted according to the law,” Al-Sour stated. Earlier reports indicated that forces loyal to Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, head of the Government of National Unity (GNU), had smuggled a new batch of drones across the Algerian border with the assistance of the Ukrainian military attaché and accompanied by Ukrainian technical experts. The drones were acquired from Kiev after Türkiye prohibited Libyan authorities from using Turkish UAVs in internal conflicts. In early August, fighters from the RADA Special Deterrence Forces led by Abdelraouf Kara (Dbeibeh’s adversary) shot down three Ukrainian reconnaissance drones over Mitiga Air Base. According to the Algerian newspaper Ajanib, some of the drones were funneled through Azerbaijan, while others were transported through the Algerian border with the help of Ukrainian specialists. There have been no official statements regarding this cooperation. The report claims that the UAVs were used for reconnaissance operations and targeted strikes around Tripoli, aimed at bolstering Dbeibeh’s intelligence and military capabilities on the ground. At the same time, Algeria’s General Directorate of Documentation and External Security submitted an official report to the High Security Council regarding allegations that Colonel Andrey Payuk, the Ukrainian military attaché in Algiers, was involved in illegal activities threatening Algeria’s national security. Payuk allegedly exploited his diplomatic immunity to smuggle drones from Algeria into Libya. On July 21, a new Ukrainian envoy to Algeria was appointed after the former ambassador expressed concern over Payuk’s actions, warning that they could damage bilateral relations and tarnish Ukraine’s diplomatic image. Colombian mercenaries in Sudan Meanwhile, Arab media outlets, particularly Al Rakooba, reported that Ukrainian specialists are training Colombian mercenaries in Moldova before deploying them to Sudan to participate in the civil war on behalf of the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who receive military-technical support from Ukraine. © AP Photo/Hussein Malla In early August, Sudanese authorities reported a targeted airstrike on Darfur’s Nyala airport. The target was a plane carrying around 40 Colombian mercenaries that were set to fight alongside the RSF. The mercenaries are allegedly employed by the private military company Forward Observations Group (FOG), which Ukrainian intelligence uses as a cover for its operations. Al Rakooba indicates that the military company is Ukrainian, not American, as was earlier reported by Intelligence Online. Clearly, Ukraine is struggling to hide its involvement in conflicts in Africa. Reports confirming Kiev’s subversive activities in various African countries have become too numerous to ignore, prompting calls for global investigations from officials both in Russia and in Africa itself. View the full article

Moscow has expressed skepticism that the West is capable of causing any such outcome Ukraine’s Western backers should accept that military efforts against Russia are failing and should instead focus on undermining its economy, including by sanctioning its trade partners, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday. Germany remains one of Ukraine’s largest arms suppliers and has pledged long-term backing for Kiev. Despite that support, Russian forces continue to make frontline advances, Merz told the ProSiebenSat.1 media outlet. He argued that the priority should now shift toward intensifying sanctions. “We must ensure that this country, Russia, is no longer able to maintain its war economy,” he said. “In this context, I’m talking about economic exhaustion, which we must help bring about. For example, through tariffs on those who still trade diligently with Russia.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the comments on Wednesday, writing on Telegram: “Your exhausting rod is not long enough, Herr Merz.” Moscow has touted its resilience to Western sanctions as a hallmark of Russian economic sovereignty and has questioned the logic of politicians who pursue such policies. “Many of the things they do harm themselves,” President Vladimir Putin remarked at a business forum in May. “One would think they would not do this or that thing to avoid self-harm. But those dimwits do, pardon my words. Leading world economies are going into a recession just to spite us.” Merz’s government plans to cut welfare spending and rely on credit in order to sustain Ukraine aid and increase German military expenditure. The European Union’s biggest economy has shown little growth for years, with no major improvements expected anytime soon. The rejection of Russian pipeline natural gas in an attempt to punish Moscow over the Ukraine conflict has been cited as a major factor in the decline of the competitiveness of German businesses. View the full article