Some Icelanders see joining the EU as the best way to protect the island nation’s sovereignty amid US President Donald Trump’s ambitions to annex Greenland.
Supporters argue closer ties with the EU would strengthen Iceland’s security and influence, while opponents warn membership could weaken national sovereignty and put control of key sectors such as fisheries at risk. The issue has deeply divided Icelandic society ahead of the vote on Saturday.
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Aug 28, 2026The conventional wisdom about Silicon Valley is that over recent years, it drifted from liberalism to Donald Trump. Founders got red-pilled, or incurred petty grievances, or simply got too online. But journalist Gil Durán suggests there’s more to it. In his new book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, Durán pinpoints an insidious theory inside Silicon Valley: that democracy itself is an obstacle to their own freedom – meaning freedom from us, and from society. In this valuable interview, Durán speaks to Prem Thakker about the quiet theories driving Silicon Valley’s attempted global takeover, and explains why JD Vance is no more than a “puppet” of that movement, and how the media and Democrats failed to take these titans seriously – or are in fact working hand-in-glove with them. Durán lays out the big threats to U.S. democracy, highlighting Crypto as the “scammy digital crime tool” that gave billionaires access to Trump, making him the “crypto bro-in-chief.” This interview was published on Zeteo.com on August 25, 2026. If you want early, exclusive access to this kind of independent, unfiltered journalism — subscribe to our Substack here: https://zeteo.com/subscribe Chapters: 00:37 Intro 01:33 The Radicalization of Silicon Valley 03:32 Peter Thiel Says the Quiet Part Out Loud 06:13 Why Billionaires Embrace Fascism 09:14 The Billionaires’ Victim Mentality 12:18 The Crypto Cartel and Politics 15:50 Billionaire-Funded Private Cities 18:50 Billionaires’ Apocalyptic Prophecies 21:00 Billionaires Are Showing Us Who They Are 23:23 Why Tech Bros Court Both Parties 27:02 Trump Is the ‘Crypto Bro-in-Chief’ 29:05 How to Face the Broligarchy 32:02 JD Vance Is a Radical Extremist 34:41 How Fascist Ideals Were Cloaked in Plain Sight Subscribe to Zeteo to support independent and unfiltered journalism: https://zeteo.com/subscribe
Navigate to: Summary– Facts– Nobel Prize lecture– Prize presentation– Nobel diploma– Interview– Speed read– Photo gallery– Other resources Prize announcement Press release Award ceremony speech Award ceremony video
Nihon Hidankyo Nobel Peace Prize 2024
Founded: 1956, Nagasaki, Japan
Residence at the time of the award: Tokyo, Japan
Prize motivation: “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”
Prize share: 1/1
For demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
The two American atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killed approximately 120 000 people. A comparable number died later of burn and radiation injuries. It is estimated that 650 000 people survived the attacks. These survivors are known as Hibakusha in Japanese.
The fate of the survivors was long concealed and ignored. In 1956, local Hibakusha associations along with victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific formed The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations, shortened in Japanese to Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement soon became the largest and most widely representative Hibakusha organisation in Japan.
Nihon Hidankyo has two main objectives. The first is to promote the social and economic rights of all Hibakusha, including those living outside Japan. The second is to ensure that no one ever again is subjected to the catastrophe that befell the Hibakusha.
Through personal witness statements, Nihon Hidankyo has carried out extensive educational work on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Hence the motto “No more Hibakusha”.
Terence Tao has spent decades solving problems most people can’t even state. And he says he’s never had a single eureka moment. In this interview, the legendary mathematician breaks math down into six essential ideas: numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, and dynamics, and shows how they took us from counting sheep to quantum mechanics, wireless networks, and AI.
About the speakers: Terence Tao is a professor of mathematics at UCLA whose work focuses primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, and analytic number theory. The recipient of a Fields Medal, a MacArthur Genius Grant, and a Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, among many other accolades, he is one of the most decorated and prolific mathematicians working today. Tao is the author of several academic books, including Solving Mathematical Problems: A Personal Perspective and Additive Combinatorics, as well as his first popular math book Six Math Essentials, coming out soon.
#OTD 29 August 1991, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan was closed. For over four decades, this site witnessed hundreds of nuclear explosions, leaving lasting scars on the land. Its closure became a symbol of hope and a turning point in global efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3C6brCk
Leaked records show Moscow authorities have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars maintaining and running events at the House of Moscow in Minsk, a hub for pro-Kremlin groups and “Russian world” messaging. Experts warn that institutions like the House of Moscow can serve as tools for the Kremlin to keep Belarus within Russia’s sphere of influence.
A Moscow-funded cultural center in Minsk has operated as an ideological influence hub for the Kremlin, using hundreds of thousands of dollars in Russian state funds to promote the “Russian world” ideology and cement Moscow’s grip over Belarus, according to leaked internal documents.
The cache of more than 270,000 emails from the Moscow House of Compatriots – obtained by Danish public broadcaster DR and analyzed by OCCRP’s Belarusian member center Buro Media – reveals the scale of Russia’s soft-power spending in its neighbor’s capital.
The House of Moscow in Minsk is the Belarusian branch of the Moscow House of Compatriots, a Russian state organization that works with Russian-speaking communities abroad. Although conceived as a business bridge between Moscow and Minsk, it instead hosted events promoting Russian language, joint historical identity, and Kremlin geopolitical priorities.
These efforts mirror Russia’s so-called “humanitarian policy abroad” – a foreign policy doctrine approved by President Vladimir V. Putin that emphasizes defending the ideals of Russkiy Mir, or the “Russian world,” and countering what Moscow labels “Russophobia.”
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the center hosted exhibitions showcasing alleged “crimes of Ukrainian neo-Nazis in Donbas” and held conferences promoting investment in occupied Crimea.
Yan Auseyushkin, a senior analyst at the iSANS international initiative, described the House of Moscow as “an element of the Kremlin’s soft power” and a platform for initiatives, meetings and other activities in Belarus.
“The Kremlin views soft power as one of the tools for transforming Belarus and keeping it within its sphere of influence, and, if necessary, for its outright absorption,” Auseuyushkin said.
The type of events that the Moscow House in Minsk organizes range from publicly celebrating holidays that are vital from Russia’s ideological perspective – like Victory Day and the National Unity Day – to organizing conferences that promote Russian language and culture. In 2023, the institution hosted a series of events promoting tourism and investment possibilities in the annexed Crimea. It also ran an exhibition that showed “the crimes of Ukrainian neo-Nazis in Donbas.”
The leaked records also show the scale of Moscow’s spending. Moscow authorities planned to spend more than 20.8 million rubles, or over $250,000, on maintaining the Minsk center in 2026, with payroll accounting for nearly 39 percent of the total.
Separate budgets for events in Belarus exceeded 32 million rubles in 2021, 41 million rubles in 2022 and a planned 34 million rubles in 2023 — more than $400,000 in each of those years. It remains unclear how much was actually spent. In 2022, the operation in Belarus accounted for about one-fifth of the Moscow House of Compatriots’ entire event budget.
Buro Media also found 13 contracts from 2021 to 2023 under which the Moscow House of Compatriots hired the Minsk-based Center for Modern Social Technologies to organize events such as a festival of Russian films, the celebration of Russia Day or a school for young journalists. One of the speakers at the school was Mikhail Palei, a member of the EU-sanctioned Russia People’s Front – an organization that reportedly owns the pro-war “Z” symbol trademark and raises funds for Russian military forces in Ukraine.
The contracts were worth nearly 19 million rubles, or more than $270,000 at exchange rates on the dates they were signed. The center was founded by Sergei Lushch, leader of Movement Union, which advocates closer ties between Belarus and Russia and has delivered humanitarian aid to Russian troops.
Buro Media previously reported that another Russian state-backed organization, the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad, known as Pravfond, allocated more than 20 million rubles between 2021 and 2024 to launch and operate a legal consultation center in Minsk overseen by Lushch.
The center provided legal help for Russian citizens and their organization in Belarus. After Russia began the full-scaled invasion of Ukraine, the center started providing entrepreneurs with guidance on conducting business in occupied Ukrainian territories.
OCCRP and its partners previously investigated Pravfond as part of the Dear Compatriots project. Its main investigation found that the foundation had funded propaganda efforts and the legal defense of alleged spies and criminals.
The Moscow House of Compatriots declined to disclose specific event budgets for Belarus, saying financing followed approved plans and was subject to financial controls and audits. Neither the House of Moscow in Minsk nor Sergei Lushch responded to Buro Media’s requests for comment.
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