All posts tagged: interference

Kunstfonds Foundation Accuses Top Culture Official of ‘Interference’

Kunstfonds Foundation Accuses Top Culture Official of ‘Interference’

Published by Jenni Sidey

Jurors from the Kunstfonds Foundation, a prominent German body that funds contemporary art projects, have publicly denounced the country’s top cultural policy official after he requested the names of its current members. In a statement first reported by Der Spiegel, the art fund’s jury described the initial request from Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer, made in March 2025, as “political interference” that had the potential to infringe on artistic freedom of expression. Weimer plays a key role in shaping Germany’s cultural policy and oversees the allocation of millions of euros in federal cultural funding to grants, awards, and projects. The selection of awardees, however, is traditionally the responsibility of independent committees. Related Articles The statement’s signatories questioned Weimer’s nonpartisanship, pointing to his controversial involvement in the German Booksellers’ Award, where nominations are traditionally selected by an independent committee.  In this case, however, Weimer, who was appointed in 2025, reportedly contacted the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, seeking to exclude three bookstores deemed too left-wing. When questioned by …

Vance Stumps for Orbán, Condemns Election Interference

Vance Stumps for Orbán, Condemns Election Interference

Published by Daniella Wilson

U.S. presidential campaigns usually get started at the Iowa State Fair or some other exalted arena of Americana. J. D. Vance chose Budapest. The vice president visited Hungary’s capital today to align himself in the most visible way possible with the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who is fighting to hold on to power in parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday. The U.S. government’s support for Orbán had already been clear. Donald Trump had issued a “Complete and Total Endorsement” on social media. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the most credible threat to Vance’s claim on the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, had traveled to Budapest in February and declared, “Your success is our success.” Vance, not to be outdone, didn’t cloak his endorsement in diplomatic rituals. “I’m here to help him in this campaign cycle,” the vice president said at Orbán’s side. For the prime minister, it was almost too good to be true. He raised his hand to his face as if to stop himself from blushing. Hungary is of relatively little material value to …

From Bush Sr to Trump: the risks, lessons and legacy of US interference in the Middle East | US-Israel war on Iran

From Bush Sr to Trump: the risks, lessons and legacy of US interference in the Middle East | US-Israel war on Iran

Published by Sam Flores

This is the third Gulf war and umpteenth outbreak of conflict since the United States took over as the dominant power and influence in the Middle East at the end of the cold war. And it is arguably the most dangerous, consequential and confused of them all. The destruction and chaos spreading across the region confirms the Middle East’s status as the world’s pre-eminent crisis factory, but it also raises questions as to how US presidents so often declare they are ending US interference in the region, only to be lured back in. Since the second world war the US has set out to oust a government in the Middle East on average once a decade, and on almost every occasion it has left the country, and the US, worse off as unexpected consequences eventually emerge. As Donald Trump embarks on yet another regime change – this time in Iran, a country of 90 million people – the sense of foreboding is profound. Already the timelines are extending, and the sense is growing by the …

Surge in GPS interference around Strait of Hormuz increases shipping risks

Surge in GPS interference around Strait of Hormuz increases shipping risks

Published by Sam Flores

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has almost completely stopped. Since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, hundreds of vessels have dropped anchor on either side of this strategic passage between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday, March 4, that they had “complete control” of the Strait. From the onset of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, they had warned that transit through the waterway was not allowed, threatening to target any ship trying to pass.  Since then, several vessels have come under fire, including from drone strikes. Maritime security agencies raised the threat level to “critical” for the Strait, a key artery which carries 20% of the world’s oil. Physical threats are not the only challenge these vessels face, however. They must also navigate a surge in electronic interference. This video shows the aftermath of an attack on the tanker Skylight in the Strait of Hormuz on March 1, 2026. To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. …

Sudan protecting Africa from foreign interference in war with RSF, says FM | Sudan war News

Sudan protecting Africa from foreign interference in war with RSF, says FM | Sudan war News

Published by Sam Flores

Listen to this article | 5 mins info Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem has said his government is protecting Africa from external plots by confronting foreign interference in his country’s brutal civil war, deep into its third year, as he called on the African Union (AU) for support in its efforts to stabilise the country. In an interview with Al Jazeera in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of the AU’s Peace and Security Council, Salem said the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary was a battle against external intervention. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “The war currently being fought in Sudan is a war against foreign interference. It involves a large number of mercenaries and significant external intervention through funding and advanced weaponry,” he said. “Therefore, in Sudan, we are protecting Africa’s back by confronting this conspiracy. What is happening in Sudan is not only targeting our country, but the entire continent.” He said the AU, through its Peace …

How California is preparing to fend off federal interference in 2026 election

How California is preparing to fend off federal interference in 2026 election

Published by Sam Flores

In recent weeks, Marin County Registrar Natalie Adona has been largely focused on the many mundane tasks of local elections administrators in the months before a midterm: finalizing voting locations, ordering supplies, facilitating candidate filings. But in the wake of unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to intervene in state-run elections, Adona said she has also been preparing her staff for far less ordinary scenarios — such as federal officials showing up and demanding ballots, as they recently did in Georgia, or immigration agents staging around polling stations on election day, as some in President Trump’s orbit have suggested. “Part of my job is making sure that the plans are developed and then tested and then socialized with the staff so if those situations were to ever come up, we would not be figuring it out right then and there. We would know what to do,” Adona said. “Doing those sort of exercises and that level of planning in a way is kind of grounding, and makes things feel less chaotic.” Natalie Adona faced harassment …

Interference: The Invisible Force That Shapes Our Lives

Interference: The Invisible Force That Shapes Our Lives

Published by Jenni Sidey

Years ago, I heard a story about Louis Brown, who went on to win the prestigious U.S. Senior Amateur Men’s Golf Championship, that is a powerful example of the role of interference in sport and our lives. Brown hails from Atlanta and is often teeing it up at my home course in Atlanta, The Ansley Golf Club. On the second hole, a notoriously difficult one, Brown stood on the tee with a golf buddy of mine and asked a simple question: “Tell me what you see.” The player described danger everywhere—sand traps, water along the left side, a narrow fairway, and a small elevated green, and went on to tell him how all of the golf members score very poorly on the infamous hole #2. Brown listened patiently, paused, and then said, “That’s interesting; would you be interested in knowing what I see?” He went on to describe a completely different picture of what he saw as they stood before the second hole: an abundant landing area in the fairway for his drive, a green …

Tensions Between Kiev & Budapest Ramp Up As Ambassadors Summoned Over Election Interference Claims

Tensions Between Kiev & Budapest Ramp Up As Ambassadors Summoned Over Election Interference Claims

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News, Hungary and Ukraine have summoned each other’s ambassadors amid a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accusing Kyiv of attempting to interfere in Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections and Ukraine rejecting the claims as cynical and dishonest. In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Orbán alleged that Hungary had been subjected to “daily threats from Ukraine,” naming President Volodymyr Zelensky, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Ukrainian security services. “This will continue until the elections,” Orbán wrote, claiming that Kyiv wanted “a pro-Ukrainian government in Hungary” and was targeting members of his government, including Szijjártó and himself. “We did not seek conflict, yet Hungary has been the target for days,” Orbán said, as cited by Magyar Hírlap. He added that Hungary would not be distracted from defending what he described as national interests, stating: “We will not send money to Ukraine, because it is in a better place with Hungarian families than in the bathroom of a Ukrainian oligarch.” He …

Two centuries of US interference in Latin America

Two centuries of US interference in Latin America

Published by Sam Flores

In the long history of direct and indirect US interventions in Latin America – historians have counted at least 70 – the current president Donald Trump has accomplished something unprecedented. For the first time, the United States launched a military attack against a South American state, Venezuela. In the past, invasions had targeted the US’s immediate neighborhood: Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; the most recent of which was in Panama in 1989, marked by the abduction of the ruling general, Manuel Noriega. A few troops had also been sent in the 19th century to more distant countries, mainly to protect US citizens. This time, with the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “a threshold has been crossed, and the consequences are unpredictable,” said Jorge Heine, former Chilean minister and diplomat, in Responsible Statecraft, a publication of the Quincy Institute, a think tank based in Washington. According to him, the official justification for the operation – that Venezuela was exporting large quantities of fentanyl to the US – …

Chinese military drills a warning to ‘separatist forces’ and ‘external interference’ in Taiwan

Chinese military drills a warning to ‘separatist forces’ and ‘external interference’ in Taiwan

Published by Sam Flores

China has launched sea and air military drills around Taiwan, which it claims as its own. Riled by a US arms package to the island nation and Japan saying it would intervene in the case of an invasion, it calls its war games a warning against what it calls separatist forces and external interference. The drills are the sixth carried out in Taiwan’s vicinity since 2022, adding to fears an invasion could happen in the next few years. Keywords for this article Source link