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Coffee Shorts Get Roasted As Arabica Stages Biggest Jump Since Dot-Com

Arabica coffee futures jumped the most since the Dot Com era as worsening weather in Brazil and shrinking exchange-managed warehouses intensified concerns about near-term supply. This comes as El Niño threats rise across critical agricultural belts worldwide.

New York prices jumped as much as 18.5% on Monday to $3.57 a pound, the highest since January. This was the largest single-session gain since July 18, 2000.

Context on the squeeze: Traders had been expecting a large Brazilian crop, but rains have slowed the harvest, and growers are holding back sales in hopes of better prices.

Bloomberg noted: 

Technical factors also were at play. The Intercontinental Exchange last week raised margin requirements as prices increased, making it costlier for traders to maintain positions and potentially pushing some out of the market, said Judy Ganes, president at J. Ganes Consulting.

"This move is just one of those fear days and people covering," Ganes said. But it's hard to justify it fundamentally."

Bloomberg quoted Rural Clima meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos as saying that rain is forecast for a large part of Brazil in mid-July, which will be "detrimental" to crops, including coffee. "This is directly linked to El Niño, which has been gaining strength week after week," he added.

The rally adds to a broader El Niño-driven surge across soft commodities, with sugar, rice, and cocoa also rising.

Latest El Niño coverage:

• El Niño Heat Wave Fuels HVAC Boom: Goldman Maps The Trade
• Super El Niño: Famine Follows War?

Arabica inventories in exchange-monitored warehouses are at their lowest levels since March 2024.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 05:45

Some of NATO's most prominent countries are struggling to get on track toward the defense spending goal President Trump set for 2030.

The fugitive being hunted for the Monaco bombing that injured a sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch and the woman he was with has been found shot dead in Ukraine, according to reports.

Russia's Oil Windfall Vanishes As Urals Crashes To $42 A Barrel

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Russian crude oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Middle East war, with its flagship Urals averaging just $41.66 a barrel during the first three days of July.

The drop wipes out the revenue boost Moscow received from the conflict and pressures a federal budget that assumes oil prices of about $59 a barrel. 

Urals had averaged more than $59 a barrel every month since March and climbed to $60.92 in June after the U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher prices gave the Kremlin room to replenish its reserve fund for the first time in nearly a year and delay planned spending cuts. With Urals now back near $42 a barrel, that relief could be short-lived. Oil and gas account for roughly one-third of Russia’s federal budget revenues. 

Reuters reported Monday that a European intelligence assessment warned the country’s banking sector is becoming increasingly vulnerable after years of war-driven lending, with rising bad loans and deteriorating asset quality risking a wider financial crisis.

According to the assessment, Russian banks have absorbed much of the financial burden of the war by extending subsidized loans to defense contractors, state-backed companies and households. The report estimates that roughly 10% of corporate loans are now considered doubtful, while some major lenders have retail non-performing loan ratios as high as 15%. It also cites more than 500,000 personal bankruptcies in 2025.

Ukraine also continues with campaigns targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure. Bloomberg reported Monday that drones were intercepted near the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, two of Russia’s key crude export hubs. There were no reports of damage or disruptions to oil exports. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 05:00

An Indiana substitute teacher accused of sending nude images of herself to a 14-year-old middle school student was sentenced to two years in jail.

Hamas Announces Dissolution Of Gaza Government, But Israel Warns It's A Sham

Hamas formally announced Monday the final dissolution of its government in Gaza amid preparations to hand power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.

The hardline Islamist group, which has fought Israel in a war for survival - especially since its brutal Oct.7 2023 terror attacks on southern Israel - has not indicated whether it will fully disarm, however. There's as yet no indication it will comply with handing over security to an international force. A fragile truce has remained in force, but there has been sporadic flare-ups in fighting over the last months, which has also at times seen renewed Israeli aerial assaults.

via The Arab Weekly

For this reason, the development has been met with mixed reactions, with Israeli officials asserting this is a deceptive PR stunt with no real significance. 

"The alleged resignation of the Hamas government, where all of the Hamas members stay in their positions, is a spin that has no significance," an Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

The response came on the heels of Ismail al-Thawabta, general director of the Hamas-run Government Media Office, having announced that "only technical and professional staff" would remain in their positions to run the Gaza Strip's daily administrative affairs.

"All employees working in service provision are 'state employees' and are fully prepared to work under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza," he said at the press event held in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Additionally, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem touted that it marks "a positive step forward on the path to implement the ceasefire deal."

At the start of this year, back in January, special envoy Steve Witkoff said the second phase of the ceasefire plan would move the Palestinian enclave into a period that will see the demilitarization of Hamas and the establishment of a technocratic governance model.

This phase, now being implemented, is expected to also mark the start of reconstruction for the war-torn territory.

The Board of Peace, which is led by President Trump himself, issued a fresh statement linking any legitimate handover of power with a handover of weapons. "The core principle remains one authority, one law and one weapon," the board said on X. "This means the consolidation of all weapons under the control of the NCAG as provided for in the Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803," it continues.

We have taken note of the announcement today regarding the dissolution of the “Emergency Committee” in Gaza. Ultimately, our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza. Decisions must be comprehensive with respect to the…

— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) July 6, 2026

"A genuine transfer of authority must enable the NCAG to exercise its mandate independently, including taking the administrative and governance decisions entrusted to it," the statement says, which strongly suggests the Board of Peace itself is also skeptical of the Hamas announcement.

As for the committee which is to assume responsibility in the interim, the Associated Press describes that "The committee of technocrats, which is based in Cairo, is chaired by Ali Shaath, a Gaza-born engineer and former official with the Palestinian Authority. It has a mandate to restore essential services and oversee civilian affairs under the supervision of the U.N. and Board of Peace." At this point Hamas militants probably worry they will be massacred if they give up their arms. For this reason not all armed members are likely to agree even if they are ordered to lay down their weapons by commanders.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 04:15

Cuba's Entire Power Grid Collapses As Castro's Grandson Seeks Talks With Trump

Summary:

• Cuba's Power Grid Collapses 
• Castro's Grandson Ready To Talk With Trump 

Cuba Goes Dark

Hours after USA Today published an interview between one of its journalists and Cuban President Castro's grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the communist-run island experienced an island-wide power grid collapse.

The electrical workers' union said the entire power grid went offline and that officials were investigating the cause. Cuba's energy ministry confirmed the blackout and said crews were working to restore service.

"A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System is occurring. The causes are being investigated," the electrical workers' union wrote on X.

🔴 #AHORA || Ocurre una desconexión total del Sistema Electroenergético Nacional. Se investigan las causas.

Se continuará informando al respecto. pic.twitter.com/F7ksTBTakO

— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) July 6, 2026

Time is ticking for the communists in Havana to make a deal with Trump or face further economic collapse, as Havana is a case study in the failure of communism and how that economic system has never succeeded. Yet the Democratic Party is trying to convince people otherwise as it embraces the far left.

"I Can Negotiate": Castro's Grandson Says He's Ready To Discuss Cuba's Future With President Trump 

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, former Cuban president Castro's grandson and one of the more important shadow figures inside Cuba's communist ruling circle, told USA Today in an exclusive interview that he is prepared to speak directly with President Trump, signaling publicly a potential back-channel opening as the Trump administration intensifies economic pressure on Havana.

"I've never been interested in politics. It's never been a calling of mine," Rodríguez Castro told the outlet over the course of several days in June in Havana. "But if at some point the revolution needs me to step up, I will do it." He said that he would never abandon the principles of Cuba's 1959 revolution or the nation's sovereignty.

Rodríguez Castro is a lesser-known figure outside Havana's communist circles. He holds no formal government position, rarely appears on state television and has never spoken to a US news outlet before.

But the Castro family name gives him unique status inside Havana's opaque power structure and the ability to act as a back-channel liaison with access to the island's communist elite.

Now, the younger Castro is signaling he is ready to negotiate Cuba's future, saying he wants to deal directly with President Trump.

"I can negotiate with anyone designated by the U.S.," Rodríguez Castro said. "If given the opportunity, claro que con Trump." Of course, with Trump.

Why would Rodríguez Castro want to negotiate now and not earlier this year? Well, that's because Trump's gunboat diplomacy has unleashed an economic stranglehold on the communist-run island, and it continues to work, with pressure now crushing the already poorly managed economy and collapsing its tourism sector.

The island drew just 360,000 tourists in the first five months of 2026, down 58% from a year earlier, according to Cuban government data. The neighboring Dominican Republic attracted more than 10 times that number over the same period.

The Trump administration says the pressure campaign is aimed at forcing the communist government to open its political system after generations of economic misery under failed communism.

Havana can't turn to help from the socialists in Venezuela because the Maduro regime was taken out by US Delta Force operators. The Chinese and Russians won't dare send their militaries to the island en masse because of the US naval presence in the region.

For Havana, the regime's external lifelines have been disappearing one by one over the last six months.

Recall that CIA Director John Ratcliffe was recently in Havana meeting with communist officials. Now, Rodríguez Castro speaking with a US media outlet is another promising signal, suggesting that back-channel talks are likely already underway as pressure builds on the island's ruling elite.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 04:00

Explosive devices blew ​up on Tuesday ‌in Syria's capital Damascus near a hotel ​where French ​President Emmanuel Macron was ⁠meant to ​be staying, a security source ​said.

UK Police Crack Down On Dangerous New Threat – People Standing Around Doing Nothing

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

British policing has reached new depths of absurdity and authoritarianism. Officers are inventing pre-crimes, harassing citizens for lawful filming or standing in public, and deploying to pubs to warn people off tweeting about councillors.

All while the same forces stand guard over brand-new taxpayer-funded houses handed to migrants and turn a blind eye to patterns of two-tier enforcement that have defined recent years.

In one widely shared incident, a female officer was caught on camera confronting a man peacefully filming in a public space.

?UK Police Threaten Arrest for "Future Crime" – Minority Report Comes to Britain

UK police officer threatens to arrest a man for peacefully filming in public, because his presence "might" wind people up and cause someone else to lose their temper.

This is straight-up Minority... pic.twitter.com/ODGxUvNYTm

— Skint Eastwood (@Skint_Eastwood1) July 2, 2026

In the footage she claims his mere presence "might" wind people up and lead someone else to lose their temper, threatening arrest to "prevent a breach of the peace."

No actual crime had occurred. No law was being broken. As the man pointed out, the logic is straight out of the dystopian story Minority Report: punish the law-abiding person in case an offence is later committed.

The man was simply exercising his right to record in public. The response is to treat him as the threat.

This is far from an isolated incident.

Another viral video shows a male officer with wild, agitated behaviour confronting a citizen for filming. He threatens arrest for a "technically public order offence," then pivots to demands for details, ultimately detaining the man.

Observers note the officer appears erratic, with exaggerated facial expressions and eye movements that have sparked widespread comment about his fitness for duty. The citizen was going about lawful business. The officer escalated without clear legal basis.

There's something seriously wrong with British policing. pic.twitter.com/lbezgwy6mP

— Or I'll just!! (@OrIlljust1) July 2, 2026

In Birmingham, police harassed a citizen journalist for filming in public, repeatedly citing "breach of the peace" while one officer grew visibly agitated and another followed the filmer continuing the same vague threat. The man being targeted remained calm and pointed out he was doing nothing illegal. The officers created the tension.

Calm down! Officer! ????????????

"I'll defend myself if you step out of line officer" ?????????????

Birmingham ???????

Out of control....
...Police Harass @AyAudits_c4n for filming in a public place and say he is creating a "breach of the peace" yet it is the Police officer that is clearly the... pic.twitter.com/ZBIiKdbuoU

— ANDY PUBLIC U.K (@Andypublicuk) June 21, 2026

Sheffield saw similar overreach. After police used significant force on a 17-year-old boy during a protest, slamming him into a metal bollard, officers then turned on a journalist filming the aftermath. They put hands on him solely for recording the incident up close. The pattern is consistent: document police actions and you become the problem.

?POLICE OVERREACH IN SHEFFIELD!

This is complete abuse of power by the police putting hands on someone just for filming!

This happened shortly after a 17 year old lad was slammed into a bollard by police protesting in Sheffield. https://t.co/A0Pahfwevg pic.twitter.com/DaR62xN0oj

— Gauci Reports (@GauciReports) June 18, 2026

Even standing still draws attention. London officers moved in on people simply standing around in a public square doing nothing.

London Police cracking down on the scourge of people standing around in a public square doing nothing. Meanwhile, violent barbaric migrants are stabbing people to death practically every day. pic.twitter.com/9oadZrUcA6

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) June 14, 2026

A female Merseyside officer was caught on camera calling a man legally filming in public a "nonce." Public filming remains lawful. The verbal abuse was not. Calls for her dismissal followed, but the incident fits the broader climate where officers feel empowered to insult citizens exercising basic rights.

??? WATCH: FEMALE POLICE OFFICER CALLS MAN A "NONCE" FOR FILMING IN PUBLIC

Outrage as Officer 8614 of Merseyside Police is caught on camera verbally abusing a member of the public who was legally filming.

? Public filming is not a crime
? The officer's conduct is completely... pic.twitter.com/nMI2TuFsKP

— British Intel (@TheBritishIntel) October 26, 2025

Another citizen journalist was arrested at a Chesterfield hotel protest for alleged breach of Section 14. Critics argue the application was selective and aimed at silencing documentation of events authorities prefer not to highlight.

?BREAKING: AY AUDITS HAS JUST BEEN ARRESTED AT CHESTERFIELD HOTEL PROTEST ??

THEY HAVE ARRESTED HIM FOR 'BREACH OF SECTION 14'??

THE BRITISH POLICE ARE ARRESTING AUDITORS FOR FILMING ?? @AyAudits_c4n pic.twitter.com/iJvwCBpYeg

— BRITAIN IS BROKEN ?? (@BROKENBRITAIN0) November 30, 2025

When the situation is inverted and police are standing around or filming the public, complaints have ironically led to further harassment of the public.

Officers have grabbed people and demanded details for the "offence" of shielding their features on the street from facial recognition cameras. Covering your face while walking is not a crime. Yet compliance with mass surveillance is apparently now enforced with physical intervention.

UK Police are now grabbing and harassing people and even fining them for covering up their faces while walking down the street where their 'facial recognition camera' vans are. https://t.co/S8211DEs3V

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 18, 2026

When not targeting cameras or idle citizens, officers turn to social media. In Chiswick, two policemen entered a pub, asked a man to step outside, and threatened him over a tweet criticising a councillor's plan to ban outdoor seating at pubs.

The officers admitted on camera that he had broken no law. Their visit was pure intimidation - a warning to watch what he posted about local officials. This is modern Britain: police resources deployed to police tweets rather than actual crime.

I am having a drink this evening with a friend in a Chiswick pub. Two policemen have just come into the pub and asked me to step outside. I have stepped outside and they have threatened me because I tweeted about a councillor banning seating outside pubs in Chiswick. They admit... pic.twitter.com/r7MDIIdgvc

— Alastair Hilton (@London_W4) July 2, 2026

Similar visits and warnings over "insults" or critical posts have been reported repeatedly. The message is clear: lawful criticism of those in power can bring uniformed officers to your door or local pub for a "chat."

?A man has been arrested in the UK for calling someone a 'muppet'

The Police are out of control.

I wish this was a joke.
It isn't.

Absolute insanity. pic.twitter.com/yHTXPtKFBL

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 8, 2025

?ANOTHER MAN ARRESTED FOR CALLING SOMEONE A 'MUPPET'

An altercation about who is blocking the highway results in the man walking away while saying the Policeman was 'an absolute muppet'

Next thing:??ARRESTED??

The Police in the UK are out of control https://t.co/X9XTLW5i6M pic.twitter.com/uBt0CkSRsW

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 9, 2025

?Man ARRESTED for RE-POSTING somebody else's post

Apparently this caused someone 'anxiety'

The man asks why am I being arrested when he posted it first?

The Police couldn't answer

The UK is a dystopia pic.twitter.com/Q0U6niqIGR

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 22, 2025

SEVERELY ILL MAN ARRESTED FOR COMMENTS ?

He's forcibly searched and handcuffed for making 'Offensive comments' online

They can't even tell him what the comments are for before saying they need to bring his medication with him.

The British Police are drunk on power. pic.twitter.com/oLXSbZqnlw

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) October 2, 2025

These developments arrive against a backdrop of documented two-tier policing. In Birmingham, three black individuals assaulted a white British teenager. Footage shows a female officer shielding the aggressors and directing aggression toward the white victim.

The attackers walked away. Multiple officers then swarmed the victim, used foul language, shoved him into a police car the wrong way, dragged him out after the botched attempt, and restrained him forcefully. A bystander trying to explain that the white lad was the victim was ignored.

West Midlands Police have been accused of trying to limit circulation of the footage rather than addressing conduct. When pressed, they reportedly reviewed material and found nothing wrong.

UK police are trying to cover up for arresting a White victim while letting his attackers go free

Thank God for Community Notes pic.twitter.com/PMqQP6SCMo

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 3, 2026

The same pattern appears in Rotherham, where South Yorkshire Police used aggressive force against teenage girls at a school leavers' event - shoves, batons swung, girls knocked down, a punch, Tasers pointed. Rotherham carries the heavy legacy of grooming gang failures that saw an estimated 1,400 young victims, mostly native British girls, betrayed by authorities terrified of racism accusations. Now the same forces apply heavy hands to the daughters of those communities.

While officers invent reasons to arrest or intimidate native Britons for filming, standing, or tweeting, other resources are visibly committed elsewhere. Police have been filmed providing 24-hour guard for empty £250,000 new-build homes prepared for migrants.

Police on 24hr guard for empty 250k homes ready for migrants to live in.. crazy how they don't protect our own like this pic.twitter.com/EtDGS7bAfm

— Dpaudits (@dpaudits) July 2, 2026

?NEW: Footage of "asylum seekers" moving into their taxpayer-funded £250,000 houses in the quiet village of Stoke Heath, Shropshire.pic.twitter.com/d1C5fRItZn

— The Mercian (@TheMercianNews) July 2, 2026

This is not policing in any traditional sense. It is selective enforcement that protects certain groups and narratives while treating ordinary citizens exercising their liberties as the threat. Pre-crime logic, facial recognition enforcement, pub visits over tweets, and aggressive handling of native Britons in disputes all point to the same direction: a state that has lost sight of its duty to the people it serves and has instead become an instrument for managing dissent and demographic change.

The public is noticing. Trust is eroding. When officers spend time threatening people for holding cameras or posting opinions rather than confronting real violence, the social contract frays.

Britain deserves police who protect lawful behaviour, not invent crimes to justify targeting it. Until that changes, the dangerous new trend will remain the one the authorities have embraced: treating the governed as the problem.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 03:30

A baseball-mad Pennsylvania schoolboy lost his hand in a savage alligator attack while on a fishing vacation – despite his dad’s best efforts to free him moments before it performed a terrifying roll.

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin repeated her assertion from 2021 that she feels uncomfortable or unsafe while visiting neighborhoods where homes are flying the American flag.

Dear Abby says her husband refuses to follow recipes, serves up bizarre flavor combinations and consistently cooks meals she dreads eating.

A New York resident is suing after officers went to his home to serve him with a warning after he sent an email criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership over the agency's tactics in immigration raids.

Lithuania To Lift Ban On Nuclear Weapons, Following Finland

First it was Finland which lifted its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, declaring its willingness to host NATO's arsenal (which is largely provided by the US), and now Lithuania has become the latest European country to move to do the same.

Lithuania, which has been a NATO member state since 2004, has newly declared its willingness to be part of the alliance's nuclear sharing program. "We would like to be the integral part of this nuclear deterrence," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said at a conference in Berlin on Friday, according to AFP.

Source: Baltic Defence College

"A few days ago, I initiated a constitutional amendment to remove the existing restriction on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania," Nauseda added.

Soon on the heels of this speech, a group of 50 Lithuanian lawmakers submitted an amendment, but which is still expected to be formally presented before parliament.

Nauseda touted that there is "practically unanimous" support among lawmakers for repealing the ban outlined in Article 137 of Lithuania's Constitution.

“Almost all parliamentary faction leaders expressed the view that Article 137 has become obsolete and should not merely be amended but removed,” Nauseda said.

As for the current constitutional prohibition in question: 

Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution currently states that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be located on Lithuanian territory.

Finland's parliament has already voted on its own reversal last month, after which Russia moved to secure more border areas with NATO countries.

This is expected to further severely impact trade and worsen official relations with these countries:

Russia has closed seven railway border checkpoints with Finland, Estonia and Latvia, according to a government decree published Tuesday.

The suspension, which takes effect July 1, halts the movement of individuals, vehicles and cargo through the designated rail crossings. Five of the shuttered checkpoints are located on the Finnish border, while Estonia and Latvia each have one crossing affected.

Officials have not disclosed the reasons for the closures or when the checkpoints might reopen.

In Estonia, the Ivangorod freight and passenger crossing will remain open, and in Latvia, the Sebezh crossing will also stay open. However, the closures leave Finland with no open railway crossings with Russia, which normally exports fertilizer to Finland by rail.

Finland shut its eastern vehicle and pedestrian border crossings with Russia indefinitely in December 2023 following an influx of asylum seekers.

Since the Ukraine war began, and in context of ratcheting tensions with NATO over its military support to Kiev, Moscow has steadily militarized its border regions with Baltic and Scandinavian states.

via BBC

The most significant source of NATO's nuclear-sharing program remains the United States. But lately France has expressed a desire to station some of its atomic arsenal in partner countries, and this could include in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and others.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 02:45

An islandwide blackout hit Cuba on Monday as the country’s fuel reserves dwindle and its electric grid continues to crumble.

A dramatic rescue operation in Texas saved a young woman's life after she had been trapped for days in a steep ravine.

Hollywood, sports legends and music icons packed Lumen Field as the United States faced Belgium in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16. See which celebrities were spotted at Team USA's heartbreaking exit in Seattle.

EU Parliament Banning The ESN Party Alliance Is A 'Realistic Scenario' Warns German MEP

Via Remix News,

For the first time in European history, an EU party alliance could be outright banned in the European Parliament, which would mark a major blow to democracy and rule of law.

The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN), which includes nine right-wing European parties, has been relentlessly attacked by the EU establishment since its founding in 2024. The ESN’s largest party member, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has also been the target of efforts for an outright ban at the national level in Germany. While left-wing and establishment parties are struggling to implement a ban on the AfD in Germany, at the European federal level, democratic checks and balances and the rule of law are far weaker.

Now, the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) is seeking to de-register the ESN, which would strip it of all its funding and de facto lead to the end of the party.

German MEP Alexander Sell of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is a founding member of the ESN and has since become the president of the Sovereignty Foundation (SF), the foundation formally associated with the ESN. He said he is speaking as the president of the SF and discussed the efforts his party is taking to fight this de-registration, how much of the APPF’s actions are an extension of the political warfare being waged against the AfD at the national level, and even touches on his own personal motivations for participating in politics as an AfD member despite the massive degree of personal attacks and even physical threats.

There is a lot of discussion about your party facing a potential ban from this European watchdog [Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF)], but how realistic is it that your party will actually be banned in the near future?

It’s a realistic scenario because the authority — the European Authority for Political Parties and Foundations (APPF) — has the power to de-register parties. They register European parties and they also have the authority to de-register a European party, and that is what they are planning to do.They have a couple of accusations against us. They have a 300-page dossier on our party.

So they will start the investigation, but they will give us the chance to answer the accusations. And then they have the authority to ban our party.

And do you have any idea of what the political leanings of the people in this watchdog are? Does your party view a negative outcome as already a foregone conclusion?

Well, there are some indications that this is a political maneuver, because the director of this authority, [Pascal Schonard,] is German and he used to work for the CDU.  He was a member of Klaus Welle’s cabinet. For almost a decade, Klaus Welle was Secretary-General of the European People’s Party and the EPP–ED group in the European Parliament.

So I think there are political intentions behind this attempt to de-register our party. But still, I don’t think it is 100% guaranteed, because in the end you have to acknowledge that on the European level there are many parties like ours. There is a shift to the right all over Europe.You have governments — for example in Italy, the Czech Republic or Slovakia — that are led by patriotic forces. So I don’t think it will be that easy.

The majorities in the European Parliament are also shifting to the right because that is what voters want.They want patriotic, realistic and more free-market-oriented policies, and that is what we are seeing on the European level. We want to get rid of bureaucracy, we want to get rid of climate policy, we want to secure our borders — and we have majorities for that.

So I think this attempt to ban our party will not be easy, because European voters are demanding something else.I mean, you have to take into account that the AfD is the strongest political party in Germany, polling at around 29%, which is a large margin ahead of the CDU. So I think it will be very controversial to ban our European party.

But what real checks and balances are there if they move forward with a ban? Would you appeal?

Yes, we will appeal the decision by the authority. Definitely. And I think we have good reasons to appeal, because what they are accusing us of is that we are not respecting European values. Well, I don’t agree with that. We are very democratic — the AfD is very democratic. Our partner parties from other countries are very democratic. We would never come up with the idea of banning political competition. That is not how we work. We are working for democratic majorities.

So I think we are respecting European values of democracy in a more serious manner than other parties. Also, talking about the rule of law: we have always criticised the European Union for breaking its own laws. For example, in the attempt to rescue the euro and in the migration crisis, they violated the laws that the EU itself had decided on — and that is what we have criticised from the beginning.

So I would say that we are actually the defenders of the rule of law within the European Union, and those are the arguments we will bring forward in court if we have to appeal the decision by the European authorities.

So, during this appeal process, would your grouping be banned right away or would it continue to exist during the appeal?

The authority has the right to ban or de-register a party. So from the moment the authority takes a decision, our party is banned.

The efforts at EU level almost seem to mirror what is happening in Germany itself. Do you feel that this is simply an extension of what is already happening in Germany?

Yes, definitely. I think this is the easier route for them than banning the AfD at national level. There is less attention on the European political party, and in Germany they would need a decision by the Constitutional Court, which is harder to obtain than a decision by the APPF. So I think they chose to attack us at the European level.

There is also still no money for an AfD political foundation, even though this is normally standard for any political party of our size in the Bundestag, right?

Talking about the political foundations, just to give you an idea of the amounts involved: around 700 million euros per year is distributed to the political foundations of the CDU, SPD, the Greens, the liberals and the Communist party (editor’s note: Left Party).

These are incredible figures. They use that money, for example, to recruit in the universities. That is something we are not able to do, because they are denying us those funds and they keep changing the rules on how to obtain the money. It used to be available after two terms in parliament, and they changed it. They are still denying us that money, which puts us at a huge disadvantage, because we would have access to 60 to 70 million euros that we could use for scholarships in universities or to fund research.It is a really important instrument in the political debate, and we are being denied it on an unlawful basis.

That is the situation. You have to understand: they are still talking about banning the most successful party in Germany, according to the polls. We are the strongest party in the polls by a large margin, and the losing parties are seriously considering prohibiting our party and calling it “protecting democracy” while actually prohibiting democracy. That is the situation in Germany.

I think it is an unprecedented case, and it shows that true democracy is still not very well established in Germany, unfortunately.

[Chancellor Friedrich] Merz has already said that he did not want to ban the AfD because it “stinks of attacking a political rival.” There would also be electoral consequences for the CDU, since knocking out the AfD could create a huge vacuum that the left would fill. The CDU could then be sidelined. Do you think it is realistic that the CDU will go along with this?

I think at national level they will not, because there is also international attention on this case. The Americans and others around the world are watching what is happening in Germany. It would be a huge scandal, and I think it would seriously weaken Friedrich Merz’s position internationally if he ended up abolishing democracy in Germany. So I don’t think they will go that far.

But at European level it is a different story. I think the CDU itself — or at least a majority within the CDU delegation in the European Parliament — would very much go along with it. On the other hand, I see that the EPP is not united on this.

You have to remember that some members of the EPP, such as Forza Italia and the Partido Popular in Spain, are already in coalition with right-wing parties — members of the Patriots for Europe or the ECR. So the so-called cordon sanitaire, the firewall as it is called in Germany, is not working at European level.

I think the same will apply to this decision to ban us: they will not have all their EPP members on side. Many of them, especially outside Germany, realize that voters want different policies and that we are driving these new policies. They understand that cooperation will eventually be necessary — and they are already seeing this in Italy, Spain and France.

You had the deportation regulation, where a French MEP worked together with one of our MEPs. So to go so far as to prohibit, for the first time in history, a European political party would create tensions inside the EPP — and rightly so. I hope there are still some democrats left within the EPP.

The APPF even cited the term “remigration” as a basis for this ban. But this term is also being used by the Patriots for Europe grouping. How long before that party is targeted in the same way?

Well, we could talk about a lot of comments. If you look at the left, the way they talk about Israel and the right of the state of Israel to exist, you could also argue that this goes against the idea of human dignity. The same applies to slogans like “From the river to the sea.” It is not as if accusations could not also be made against other parties.

These terms are so vague that you could find something against almost any party. They researched statements by members of our national member parties long before we even founded the ESN. So they are holding us responsible for comments made years ago, when the ESN did not even exist.It is the same for all the other European parties — including the EPP and the Social Democrats.

You will always find some member somewhere, perhaps in Spain or Slovakia, who has said something that could be argued to go against “European values.” It is simply a question of resources. This authority has the resources to produce a 300-page dossier, and we do not. But it would be easy to produce a similar report on any other European political party.

I understand that your grouping wants to give its members freedom of speech and that there are probably differing views among the parties in your grouping. But how much can this watchdog punish the entire party for comments made in the past by individual politicians?

Well, that is exactly what we are doing. I do accept that, as a European political party — and this is also in our statutes — we have to ensure that our national member parties adhere to so-called European values. I also share these values: the rule of law, democracy and respect for human dignity.I think we need better methods to ensure we can sanction members who contradict these values, so that our national parties respect them.

That is what we are doing. We changed our statutes last Friday at a general assembly. For example, we expanded the board. Until now we did not have a representative from each member party on the board. Now we will have representatives of every national member party on the ESN board. So if something controversial is said or published in one of our member states, we will have a contact person we can talk to — someone who is also responsible for taking corrective measures.

We have implemented these changes because we recognize our responsibility for all our national member parties, and the new structure will allow us to intervene more effectively when necessary.

Just a personal question. AfD members and politicians face a constant stream of attacks, and this potential ban could be seen as an extension of that. In Eastern Europe, even parties considered more right-wing operate in a more right-leaning environment without a large Antifa scene that wants to set your car on fire. As an AfD politician, how do you deal with the psychological pressure of facing extremely high levels of personal attacks and even the threat of physical attacks on an almost constant basis?

One of the main characteristics of the German mindset is conformism — a conformism that can even extend to violence against non-conformists. That is what we are seeing now. They burn our cars, they attack our houses. They try to debank us. We are still looking for a bank account for the foundation.

For foreigners it is sometimes hard to understand how this can happen in Germany. Germany is a very conformist society: you are not supposed to step out of line. The AfD is stepping out of line because too many things are going wrong in Germany. It started with migration, well, actually it started with the euro crisis, I recently saw figures from UBS in Switzerland on average wealth distribution in Europe. Germany is behind Greece and far behind Spain, Italy and France — yet we remain the biggest net contributor to the European Union, even though we are significantly poorer than those countries.

If you travel to Italy, Spain or France, you can see there is more wealth there. But people are not allowed to say this.

The same applies to migration. The problems are obvious if you look at German cities, but we are not allowed to point them out. This is due to the very strong conformism in Germany. You are supposed to support the European Union, open borders and migration. You are supposed to support Ukraine against Russia. It is very hard for Germans to object to any of this.

This differentiates us from countries like France, which has a history of revolution, or the Anglo-Saxon world, which has a tradition of healthy mistrust towards government. Germans have very high trust in their government. They do not dare to criticize those in power.

That is one of the reasons I can live with the attacks and the social ostracism. I am convinced that we have the better arguments. People are suffering, and eventually the suffering will become so great that they will realize they have been betrayed by their government. They will understand that we were right from the beginning — and we are already seeing this in the polls.

In some eastern German states we are polling at around 42%, at least above 40%.This is also because East Germans have already experienced one government collapsing. They saw socialism fail and they saw that all the propaganda produced by the socialist regime was a lie. That is why they do not believe the propaganda of the current German government, and they are voting for the opposition — which is us.

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Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 02:00

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