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The author condemned the prison sentences of seven years for Temirlan Sultanbekov and four years for Kadyr Atambayev. They said the closed-door trials and prosecution of political opponents raised serious concerns about the rule of law, and said they had joined the Party of European Socialists and Socialist International in a call linked in the post. https://t.co/n2Ff86o09Y #Kyrgyzstan #HumanRights #RuleOfLaw #KZ #KG

BrennpunktUA wrote that the US midterm elections are in three weeks, and by then no Russian diesel will reach the USA. Trump knows this and doesn't really need the fuel but is looking for someone to blame for the high diesel prices, according to the author's assessment. Trump had already tried to blame Ukraine a few weeks ago. This attempt failed because the situation with Iran and in the SoH is 90 percent responsible for price development. Given the poor prospects for the Republicans, Trump is now once again trying to bring a deal with Putin into play. BrennpunktUA advised Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries in the coming three weeks and instead focus on other strategic targets. Otherwise, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could fall into Trump's trap. The author also asked where the diesel was suddenly supposed to come from and wrote that the fuel shortage in Russia is not over, and the country continues to import refined fuel for its own population. From his experience, nothing happens in the last four weeks before a major US election that is not related to the election. Trump will try to lower gas prices with PR actions in the coming three weeks and present this as his own success. If the Democrats get outraged over Trump's push for Russian diesel, they could also fall into the trap, BrennpunktUA wrote. Trump could then present himself as the one ensuring that Americans can afford their fuel fill-up. #Trump #USA #Wahlen (translated)

The post said Democratic Senate candidates were tied or leading in Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, while Democrats’ lead in the generic congressional ballot had widened slightly. https://t.co/VGbr2XTGUQ #Democrats #Elections2024 #Congress #US #AK #GA #ME #MI #NC #OH #TX

The author called for remembering Anna Politkovskaya and other journalists, freedom fighters, human rights activists and democrats in Russia who, they wrote, had stood up to Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship and been imprisoned, tortured or murdered. https://t.co/bShGa0AKNI #AnnaPolitkovskaya #HumanRights #FreedomOfSpeech #RU

The author said the latest national poll in Germany showed that 30% intended to vote for the far-right AfD, describing it as the first time the figure had reached that level. They also said the government was in deep crisis and suggested the result should prompt democrats to make finding a way out their top priority. https://t.co/JNwNPDY6vy #Deutschland #Politik #Wahlen #DE

The author asked whether Berlin was heading for a sharp left turn, saying Die Linke, which the post described as a populist-left party, had won a record 26% in the September 20 elections to Berlin’s House of Representatives. The author wrote that the result could enable a coalition led by Die Linke with the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD). https://t.co/1ORBe3GFen #Berlin #DieLinke #Wahlen #DE

Η πρέσβειρα των ΗΠΑ στην Ελλάδα, Κίμπερλι Γκίλφοϊλ, προκάλεσε πολιτική αντιπαράθεση στη Ρουμανία με δηλώσεις της που ερμηνεύθηκαν ως παρέμβαση στις εσωτερικές υποθέσεις της χώρας, coinciding with the collapse of the Romanian government following the departure of the Social Democrats from the coalition. #Γκίλφοϊλ #Ρουμανία #LNG

TRUMP’S SENATE MAJORITY IS IN REAL DANGER. Republicans hold the Senate today, 53–47. But six weeks before the 2026 midterms, the battlefield has expanded dramatically. Democrats need a net gain of four seats, and Cook Political Report now rates control of the Senate a genuine https://t.co/5nPXVIVKwh #Senate2026 #Midterms #Trump #US

"We're going to outlaw your job working in a coal mine, but give you more government benefits". That’s never worked for the Democrats, that’s exactly what Trump is trying: We're going to mess up your ability to sell your crops, but give you big checks https://t.co/4XzYvIn246 #JobLoss #GovernmentBenefits #Election2024 #Thetweetdoesnotspecificallymentionanycountries.Therefore #therearenocountrycodestoreturn.

Russia’s influence operation arrives ahead of the US midterms With weeks remaining before America's November midterm elections, a familiar type of content has begun appearing online. Videos resembling reports from CNN, the BBC and The New York Times accuse candidates of corruption, antisemitism and misconduct. Hollywood actors appear to denounce Democrats. Other clips claim that warnings about Russian interference are themselves a Democratic disinformation campaign. The reports are fabricated. Graphika, which tracks online influence operations, says it has identified a coordinated campaign targeting candidates in competitive US Senate races. It assesses with high confidence that the material was produced by Operation Overload, also known as Matryoshka – a long-running Russia-aligned influence operation previously active against elections and political debates in Europe and the United States. The activity coincides with a broader warning from American intelligence officials. Classified assessments reported by The New York Times conclude that the Kremlin has authorised another digital influence campaign ahead of the 2026 midterms, aimed primarily at exploiting existing divisions and undermining confidence in American democracy. There is an important distinction. US officials have not reported evidence that Russia is attempting to manipulate voting machines or alter the counting of votes. The operation is about influencing the information environment surrounding the election. Fake scandals for competitive Senate races Graphika traced a concentrated wave of activity between 10 and 14 September. Likely inauthentic or repurposed accounts distributed videos accusing Democratic politicians of corruption, antisemitism and other misconduct. The targets included Senator Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Representative Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and Texas state representative James Talarico, as well as Senate candidates Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Mary Peltola in Alaska, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Joshua Turek in Iowa and Troy Jackson in Maine. The selection was not random. These were politicians involved in Senate contests where the result could matter to control of the chamber. The campaign did not rely on a single political narrative. Instead, it attached different accusations to different candidates – corruption, social issues, antisemitism or personal misconduct – while maintaining a consistent production and distribution model. That model is characteristic of Matryoshka: create apparently independent pieces of evidence, disguise them as journalism and distribute them through networks of disposable accounts. Hollywood celebrities who never said what the videos claimed One of the campaign's more distinctive techniques involved genuine footage of American actors. Videos featuring celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts were altered with captions and other material to suggest they were promoting the slogan #AllDemocratsAreCriminals. The technique continued in subsequent material. Fact-checkers identified fabricated New York Times-branded videos using footage of Alyssa Milano, Sean Astin, Rachael Harris, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden, Annie Potts and Patrick Fabian. Some of the original footage came from Cameo, where actors record personalised video messages. Their authentic images were retained while fabricated audio, captions or surrounding material changed the meaning entirely. Lead Stories compared several of the clips with the originals and found that the supposed political statements did not appear in the genuine recordings. Eric Braeden's representative separately confirmed that the claim he had joined the anti-Democratic campaign was false. The advantage of the technique is straightforward. Generative AI does not need to create a convincing celebrity from nothing. The operator can begin with authentic footage of a recognisable person and manipulate only the elements necessary to manufacture a political statement. Stealing the authority of real newsrooms Celebrity impersonation was only one layer. The operation repeatedly borrowed the visual identity of established media organisations. Graphika identified material impersonating or falsely citing the BBC, CNN and Politico, alongside references to France's VIGINUM foreign-interference agency and journalist Brandy Zadrozny. Other material reproduced New York Times-style branding. Some fabricated reports made an unusual claim: that Democrats themselves were organising disinformation or “false-flag operations” and then blaming Russia. This creates a defensive layer around the influence operation. Instead of merely distributing false political allegations, the campaign also attempts to discredit future reporting about the manipulation itself. If successful, evidence exposing foreign interference can be reframed as part of the conspiracy. Graphika says it assesses with high confidence that Operation Overload produced these videos. The technique is well established. Earlier investigations by CheckFirst and Reset Tech documented hundreds of falsified pieces of content produced by Operation Overload, often impersonating journalists, institutions and major media brands. AI-generated or manipulated material has increasingly become part of that production system. What US intelligence says Russia is trying to achieve The broader strategic picture comes from American intelligence assessments reported on 18 September. According to US officials familiar with classified findings, the Kremlin has authorised a covert digital influence campaign aimed at Americans during the 2026 election season. Its apparent objective is to seed or amplify domestic divisions and weaken confidence in the political process. Some officials described the principal aim as creating disorder rather than helping a single political party. The publicly identified Matryoshka material examined so far, however, has targeted Democratic candidates. Those two findings should not be treated as contradictory. An operation can exploit partisan divisions while serving the broader objective of making the electoral system appear corrupt, chaotic or illegitimate. US officials also reportedly assess the current Russian campaign as less extensive or coordinated than some previous election operations. Moscow is considered less focused on congressional elections than presidential contests and remains heavily occupied by its war against Ukraine. Russia has denied previous US accusations of election interference. An operation with limited reach – so far There is another reason for caution: producing large quantities of disinformation is not the same as successfully influencing voters. Matryoshka has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to manufacture content at industrial speed, but much of its material receives little genuine engagement. Researchers monitoring the network have previously warned against confusing automated distribution and platform view counts with authentic audience penetration. There are exceptions. A fabricated New York Times-style video featuring Jamie Lee Curtis had accumulated nearly 200,000 views on X by the end of 17 September, according to reporting by The New York Times. Other pieces attracted considerably less attention. There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that the campaign has changed voting intentions or will affect election results. What the September activity demonstrates is something narrower but important: a Russia-aligned influence infrastructure previously used against European elections has now turned significant attention towards the American midterms. The basic method has changed little – impersonate trusted media, manufacture scandals and use networks of inauthentic accounts to distribute them. What has changed is the production technology. Authentic celebrity footage, synthetic voices, manipulated video and rapidly generated fake journalism allow the same operation to produce more tailored material for more candidates at lower cost. The objective does not require Americans to believe every fabrication. Creating uncertainty over which videos, news reports and public statements are authentic can itself degrade trust in the information environment surrounding an election. Sources - Graphika — Russia-Aligned Influence Operation Targets US Midterm Candidates, German State Elections https://www.graphika.com/insights/russia-aligned-influence-operation-targets-us-midterm-candidates-german-state-elections - The New York Times — Russia Aims to Inject Chaos Into Elections, U.S. Intelligence Finds https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/us/politics/russia-election-disinformation-us-intelligence.html - Kathimerini / The New York Times — Russia Aims to Inject Chaos Into Elections https://www.ekathimerini.com/nytimes/1315792/russia-aims-to-inject-chaos-into-elections-us-intelligence-finds/ - CheckFirst — Operation Overload: An AI-fuelled escalation of the Kremlin-linked propaganda effort https://checkfirst.network/operation-overload-an-ai-fuelled-escalation-of-the-kremlin-linked-propaganda-effort/ - CheckFirst — Operation Overload targeting the US election https://checkfirst.network/operation-overload-a-growing-disinformation-threat-now-targeting-the-u-s-presidential-election/ - Lead Stories — Fake NYT videos: Alyssa Milano, Rachael Harris and Sean Astin https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2026/09/fact-check-fake-new-york-times-videos-of-alyssa-milano-rachael-harris-sean-astin-falsely-claim-they-support-all-democrats-are-criminals.html - Lead Stories — Fake NYT videos: Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden and other celebrities https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2026/09/fact-check-fake-new-york-times-videos-of-leonardo-dicaprio-eric-braeden-other-celebs-falsely-claim-they-support-all-democrats-are-criminals.html - Brennan Center for Justice — AI Is Changing Foreign Election Influence https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/ai-changing-foreign-election-influence - ODNI — previous US intelligence assessment of foreign election information operations https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NICM-Declassified-Foreign-Threats-to-US-Elections-After-Voting-Ends-in-2024.pdf - FBI / ODNI / CISA — previous joint assessment of Russian election influence operations https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/joint-odni-fbi-and-cisa-statement-110424 #DISINFORMED #Episode9 #Russia #UnitedStates #USMidterms #Midterms2026 #USElections #ElectionInterference #ForeignInterference #RussianInfluence #RussianDisinformation #OperationOverload #Matryoshka #Disinformation #InformationWarfare #InfluenceOperations #FIMI #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AIPropaganda #Deepfakes #SyntheticMedia #MediaImpersonation #FakeMedia #FakeNews #PoliticalDisinformation #CelebrityDeepfakes #SocialMediaManipulation #DigitalInfluence #ElectionSecurity #CognitiveWarfare #Graphika #OSINT #Democracy #WRLD

Thirty-one Democratic members of the U.S. Congress accused the Trump administration of a “sustained, multifaceted” effort to interfere in Brazil’s election, citing tariffs and pressure linked to Jair Bolsonaro’s prosecution https://t.co/SUnU0l0bU0 #TrumpAdministration #BrazilElection #Democrats #US #BR