The US arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raul Castro is political revenge, Russia has said, warning that escalating pressure on Havana could destabilize Latin America and the Caribbean.

A Florida judge issued the warrant on Monday against Castro, 95, on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the 1996 downing of two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue – a Miami-based Cuban exile group led by CIA operative Jose Basulto, who has long pressed for charges against Castro. Four men were killed in the shootdown.

The US authorities accuse Castro of ordering the attack. Havana maintains it acted in self-defense against aircraft violating its airspace. The Cuban Embassy in Washington accused the group of committing more than 25 airspace violations from 1994 to 1996, despite repeated warnings from Havana.

The U.S. and Japan kicked off their biennial Keen Sword military exercise on Monday, one of the largest joint drills between the two countries. This year, the exercise will focus on Japan’s southwestern islands, including its westernmost island, Yonaguni, just 68 miles east of Taiwan.

We have explore psychopathy and sociopathy in depth somewhere on this site with the caveats that about four per cent of men are psychopaths and one per cent of women are psychos as well…

Meanwhile social-sociopathy should be defined differently as sociopathy…

THIS ANALYSIS IS A SIMPLISTIC SHORT CUT TO A COMPLEX PROBLEM….

By Gus leonisky

Psychopaths are usually born with the symptoms and are difficult for a social construct to deal with them when they become dangerous. They usually are “uneducated” and end up in prison or an asylum for “mad” people, more often than not. 

These cases are usually self-contained individual vessels who interfere ALONE with their relationships — be with their family, neighbours or social networks.

The worm is turning in the populist race to the bottom on migration, overlooking the reality of its success and its humanity, Michael Pascoe writes.

It took Angus Taylor a little less than six months to develop – or devolve – his Australian Values Migration Plan dog whistle into the Coalition’s full One Hanson-slightly-lite Australia-First Migration Plan announced two weeks ago. Over that period, the political competition to be seen as the most anti-immigration party dominated media, successfully “flooding the zone” the way populists seek to do.

Politicians’ immigration race to the bottom ignores its success

by Michael Pascoe

Josh Frydenberg may be entertaining a return to federal politics, but finding a seat is only the beginning. His record, Liberal Party divisions and the rise of One Nation make the path back considerably harder.

Only three of the past 10 federal treasurers made it through to being prime ministers. John Howard, who was Malcolm Fraser’s last treasurer, had to wait 13 years between these jobs, and his succession was far from automatic.

Jack Waterford

Washington Tried to Isolate Russia. Now It Needs Russian Oil

Salman Rafi Sheikh, October 19, 2026

Four years after Washington set out to cripple Russia’s energy economy, America’s war with Iran has forced it to seek relief from the very country it tried to isolate, encircle, and defeat. [GUSNOTE: WASHINGTON HAS VOWED TO DESTROY RUSSIA, SINCE 1917]...

During a speech at the Las Vegas Sphere on Saturday, Metallica frontman James Hetfield took aim at artists like Macklemore for making political statements about the genocide in Gaza during their concerts.

“I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullshit, okay?” said Hetfield, adding, “We’re here to forget about all the outside shit, okay? Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!”

A Florida judge has issued an arrest warrant for former Cuban President Raul Castro, 95, the state’s attorney general announced on Monday. The move marks another escalation in Washington’s months-long pressure campaign against Havana.

The warrant pertains to the 1996 shooting down of two American planes operated by anti-communist Cuban exiles off Cuba’s coast. US authorities accuse Castro of ordering the attack.

“Today, we are announcing state charges against Raul Castro with an arrest warrant for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said at a press conference in Miami. Prosecutors had gathered evidence and witness testimony linking a Cuban spy network to the operation that allegedly led Castro to order the planes shot down, he said.

Democracy must extend beyond the ballot box, with meaningful public participation, greater accountability and genuine power in the hands of citizens, writes David Higginbottom.

PARTY MACHINES decide who stands.

Democracy belongs to the people, not the political machine

By David Higginbottom

Wealth accumulates faster than wages. Lobbyists and donors obtain access unavailable to most citizens. Governments make major decisions with little public involvement. Well-funded institutions seek to shape public debate while claiming to defend it.

These are major concerns — however, diagnosis is useful only if it leads to change.

Russia “interfered” in the 2016 Brexit vote by running some “anti-EU” articles on its RT channel and promoting a few internet trolls. Even MI5 has to admit that this activity had no tangible impact on the referendum campaign.

No matter. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has once again revived the incendiary claim that Russian disinformation is an especial threat to British democracy. At the United Nations a few weeks ago he announced plans for a National Centre for Information Defence “to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks.”

THE BULLSHIT FROM PETER HARTCHER IS FARAMINOUS.... MASSIVELY CONCOCTED CRAP.... WITH NOT AN OUNCE OF UNDERSTANDINGS AND A FEW HALF-TRUTHS EXUDING FROM DONALD'S SPHINCTER... BUT WHO ARE WE, AN OLD CARTOONIST WHO HAS SEEN MEGA BULLSHIT FROM THE PEDLARS OF CIA LIES SINCE BEFORE ITS INVENTION WHEN IT WAS THE OSS [Office of Strategic Services], TO CHALLENGE THE METHODICAL SCRIBE OF SUBURBAN WRITER'S PORKY CLUB TRYING HIS LUCK AT THE GEOPOLITICAL POKER GAME ... IT IS SAD TO SEE WHAT COULD BE A SMART BRAIN TRYING TO EXPLAIN WITH PSEUDO-ELOQUENCE THE EFFLUENT FLOWING INTO HIS CESSPOOL FROM A MILLION SHITTING ARSES....

Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. He is becoming Vladimir Putin

BY Peter Hartcher — Political and international editor [SMH]

Nearly 350 people were arrested in Paris on Sunday and overnight amid violent unrest sweeping France despite President Emmanuel Macron’s appeals for calm, the authorities said on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands protested rising living costs and education funding cuts over the weekend, with demonstrations escalating into clashes with police, arson and looting.

The violence erupted Saturday as Yellow Vest demonstrations merged with student protests that began last month at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating facilities. The movement has since broadened into protests against inequality and rising living costs, with labor unions joining in opposition to the government’s proposed 2027 budget and spending cuts.

Most Italians oppose aid to Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has said, as the country grapples with cost-of-living protests.

“We are fully aware that the majority of our public opinion, also influenced from abroad, is opposed to aiding Ukraine,” he told the BBC in an interview published on Saturday.

“It is difficult to explain that you have to help a nation resist and that helping it resist does not mean that you are opposed to peace.”

He nevertheless argued that Italy should continue to support Kiev, while acknowledging public anger over rising energy prices linked to the sanctions on Russia. He went on to claim that ‘Russian disinformation’ is fueling discontent.

Two weeks out from the first elections held in Israel since October 7, what do first-time voters envision for their country? These young people have grown up in the shadow of war; they are a reflection of an Israeli society on the brink of a nervous breakdown—united only by trauma and a desire for revenge. Charlie went to meet them.

Israeli youth: peace—never again