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Does our economy truly serve us, or are we serving it?

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This question, dominant in our society, harps on our economic system—capitalism. A driver of progress for centuries, capitalism has led to technological marvels and an increased quality of life. It’s easy to see the fruits of capitalism: the smartphone in your pocket, the car in your garage.

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Although, there’s a darker side. Income inequality is rampant. A small fraction holds the majority of wealth. Consumerism equates happiness with possessions. Our natural resources are on the brink of exhaustion. From this perspective, we seem to be serving the system instead of it serving us.

Just as with capitalism, our environment raises a question: Is it a resource for exploitation or a sphere of life needing protection? Far from being a mere resource, our environment is a complex life system providing essentials—air, water, food. We’ve exploited it for our gains, forgetting its true worth. Forests have been chopped, rivers polluted, habitats destroyed—all in the name of progress. The environment has been treated as a mere resource.

The fallout is here: climate change, biodiversity loss, worsening pollution. These challenges arise from our disregard for the environment. Can we shift our perspective? Can we treat the environment as a sphere of life that demands respect and protection?

The question now is: Can we change our ways? Can we shift our perspective to see the environment for what it truly is—a precious sphere of life that demands respect and protection?

Imagine a world where communities decide their destiny, where nature is not just a resource but a living entity with rights.

Welcome to the Community Rights Movement—a powerful wave of change sweeping across the United States. This movement is about people taking power into their own hands, envisioning a new sustainability constitution, and adopting new laws at the local level. It’s about challenging the system that prioritizes corporate rights over the rights of communities and nature.

The Community Rights Movement is grounded in nonviolent civil disobedience, using municipal lawmaking to push for change. At its core, it aims to recognize and enforce the rights of nature and ecosystems. This isn’t a new concept but rather an ancient understanding traced back to Indigenous cultures.

For them, nature isn’t property to be owned but a living entity—a relative. The Anishinaabe, for example, speak of protecting the flying people, swimming people, and singing people. The Uru Nation regards the Cloth River as a living being, a relative. Contrast this with the Western perspective, where nature is seen as a commodity—a thing to be exploited. It hearkens back to the words of Sir Francis Bacon, who urged us to “torture nature on a rack to extract her secrets.”

The Community Rights Movement is challenging these outdated views, following the trail blazed by pioneers like Christopher Stone. In his seminal work *Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects*, Stone argued for conferring rights onto entities previously considered rightless.

So, where do we stand now?

We’re at a critical juncture. The future of our environment, our communities, and our very way of life hangs in the balance. The Community Rights Movement offers a different path—a path where nature’s rights are recognized, where communities have a say in their destiny, where the economic system serves us, not the other way around.

In conclusion, the Community Rights Movement is not just a movement but a necessary shift in perspective. It’s about empowering communities, recognizing the rights of nature, and challenging an economic system that has long prioritized profit over people and the planet. It’s about envisioning a world where sustainability, respect, and community are not just ideals but the foundation of our society.

 

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Behind Closed Doors: Putin, Power & The Private Empire

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Behind the Curtain: Putin, Power & The Private Empire

A bold new book rips the veil off Vladimir Putin’s secret life — exposing the mafia ties, personal betrayals, and power plays that shaped modern Russia.

Courtesy: Organized Crime and  Corruption and Reporting Project

The Tsar In Propria Persona by Roman Badanin & Mikhail Rubin pulls no punches.

Why it matters

Russia’s president has crafted an image of tradition, discipline, and moral superiority. But behind that curated façade is a reality of strip clubs, criminal mentors, marital collapse, and oligarchic favoritism — a parallel system that helps explain the logic behind modern authoritarian rule.

“Putin’s private life is many times more important than his public life.”
Roman Badanin

Key revelations

  • Mob mentorship: Putin’s early mentor was violent gang figure Leonid Usvyatsov — possibly instrumental in his law school admission.
  • Marital breakdown: His marriage collapsed under “constant humiliation,” lavish living, and affairs housed in state-owned apartments.
  • Strip club diplomacy: Putin held meetings at Luna, a St. Petersburg strip club protected by a mob boss — his signed photo still hangs there.
  • State-sponsored scandal: Putin helped orchestrate a “honeytrap” against the General Prosecutor to secure the Kremlin’s loyalty.

Big takeaway

Behind the nationalism and war rhetoric lies a man of wealth, revenge, and relationships — not values.

“Oblivion is Putin’s main ally… The bad guys are erasing our memory of them.”
Roman Badanin

Systemic decay

  • Courts and archives sealed
  • ️ Media crushed
  • Truth-tellers exiled

“This book cost us our homeland.”
Badanin, now in exile with Rubin in the U.S.

The deeper system

  • Kremlin-controlled media
  • ✝️ Orthodox Church as political tool
  • Family & friends profiting from Putin’s power

This book joins the canon of Putin’s Kleptocracy and Putin’s People — offering a uniquely personal lens into authoritarian power.

Bottom line

The real Putin isn’t the one behind the podium. He’s the one behind closed doors — where power is personal, history is rewritten, and no one is safe.

Available now in Russian.
Translations pending.
MobilizedNews.com/PutinFiles

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Uncovering Brazil’s Devastation Law Project

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A national rollback with global consequences

The Big Picture: Brazil is on the brink of enacting PL 2159/2021, a sweeping environmental rollback known by civil society as the Devastation Law Project — a move that risks accelerating deforestation, gutting oversight, and violating Indigenous rights.

“This isn’t just bad for Brazil — it’s a global threat.”

⚠️ Why it matters

The Amazon and other Brazilian biomes play a critical role in climate stability, biodiversity protection, and carbon absorption. Weakening Brazil’s environmental licensing system will:

  • Accelerate legal and illegal deforestation
  • Increase greenhouse gas emissions
  • Violate Indigenous peoples’ rights and global climate treaties
  • Undermine EU-Brazil trade negotiations, especially the EU-Mercosur deal

What’s in the bill (PL 2159/2021)

If passed, the law would:

  • ✅ Allow self-licensing of polluting activities via online forms
  • ❌ Remove requirements for environmental impact assessments
  • ️ Shift licensing power to states and municipalities, creating regulatory chaos
  • Exempt entire sectors like agribusiness from federal environmental review

“This bill legalizes deforestation and fragments national environmental protection.”
— Civil society organizations in Brazil

What this means for the world

For Brazil:
Undermines national climate targets, weakens biodiversity safeguards, and threatens Indigenous and Quilombola communities.

For the EU:
Contradicts core values of human rights and environmental protection — and could derail the EU-Mercosur agreement.

“This law is incompatible with EU environmental and human rights standards.”
— Members of European Parliament

️ How we got here

Brazil’s current government, under pressure from agribusiness and extractive sectors, has prioritized deregulation over protection — enabling this law to pass the Senate in May 2025. A vote in the Chamber of Deputies is expected soon.

“Environmental governance has been dismantled. What remains now is resistance — and international solidarity.”
— Brazilian civil society leaders

What the experts say

“The bill poses serious and irreversible risks to human rights, climate stability, biodiversity, and Indigenous sovereignty.”
— EU Special Rapporteurs

What must happen next

EU leaders are being urged to:

  • Denounce the law publicly
  • Condition trade agreements on environmental protections
  • Delay ratification of EU-Mercosur until this law is defeated
  • Stand in solidarity with Indigenous and environmental defenders

Bottom line:

PL 2159/2021 isn’t just a law — it’s a climate test for Brazil, the EU, and the planet.

  • It will set the tone ahead of COP30 in Belém.
  • It will reveal whether global leaders walk the talk on environmental justice.

Environmental protection is not a local issue. It’s a global pact.

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Behind the Scam: How Fraud Rings Steal Millions

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Modern scammers aren’t lone wolves — they’re global operations backed by shell companies, software, and social media ads.

Source: Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

A new investigation by OCCRP reveals the architecture behind two major international scams — and the businesses powering them.

Why it matters

Fraud is no longer just a crime — it’s an industry.
Scammers rely on marketing pros, tech platforms, shell firms, and unregulated payment systems to siphon billions from victims around the world — and often go unpunished.

️ The Scam Blueprint

Fraud follows a 3-step pipeline — each powered by a network of legitimate-looking service providers:

1. Catching Victims

Scammers use slick digital marketing to lure victims:

  • Affiliate marketers create fake ads with phony celebrity endorsements.
  • Ad platforms like Meta, Google, and Taboola profit by running the ads.
  • Goal: Capture personal info from “leads” — then sell them to call centers.

Notable marketers involved:
MGA Team, Sierra Media, Oray Ads, CRYP

2. Running the Scam

Once leads are in, call centers act fast:

  • CRM software tracks every interaction and deposit.
  • VoIP tools spoof international numbers.
  • Admin firms hide the true operators.

Tech & Services Used:
Getlinked.io, PumaTS, AnyDesk
VoIP: Coperato, Squaretalk
Admin: Za Traiding, Maximateam, Clear IT

3. Getting the Money

Scammers guide victims through transferring funds:

  • Payment service providers use fake documents and shell firms to move funds.
  • Shell companies obscure the final destination of money.

Financial enablers named:
Revolut, Wise, Santander, BBVA
Payment networks: Bankio, Britain Local
Shell firms: Selterico SL, Greencode, Purplesun

The Takeaway

This isn’t petty crime — it’s infrastructure-enabled fraud.

“Billions are stolen through an industrialized pipeline of deception,” OCCRP reports.

Each piece — the ad, the call, the fake platform, the fake company — builds the illusion.
⚠️ And the same systems that enable startups and remote work also power global crime rings.

️ What’s next?

Governments are behind the curve.
Enforcement lags while scams scale up.
Without accountability for tech platforms and tighter oversight on shell firms, these scams won’t stop — they’ll grow smarter.

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