November 30, 2025 – Short News

Meloni and the phantom threat!

Giorgia Meloni has once again pressed her favorite button. In a television appearance she declared that there is an “ongoing process of the Islamization of Europe” and spoke of stoning, death sentences and an attack on “our civilization.” Anyone listening to her gets the impression that half of Europe is on the verge of collapsing under Sharia rule – a narrative that does not touch even a hint of reality but fits perfectly into the political arsenal of the right. Meloni knows exactly that such statements are not meant to inform but to agitate. It is not about facts but about mood: fear in, reason out. While millions of Muslims in Europe live normal lives, work, send their children to school and have nothing to do with any of this, she pours oil on the fire and sells it as plain talk. The question arises what she actually takes in the morning before she enters this parallel world. One thing is certain: anyone who talks like this is not looking for solutions but for headlines.

Meloni speaks of a threat she inflates into something larger than all of Europe. The EU is struggling with real problems – war in Ukraine, migration, integration, right-wing populism, social pressure and an unpredictable president overseas – yet instead of taking responsibility, she summons ghosts that benefit her politically. Anyone who constantly sounds a false alarm does not need a functioning concept. They only need an audience that believes the alarm. That is exactly what Meloni is counting on, as does, for example, the AfD. And that is precisely why her claims must be taken apart before they take hold.

A president within reach - or a show without a foundation

Pete Hegseth said in the Trump interview that there is “no other way to create that kind of love and enthusiasm than with your leadership, sir.” A sentence like a gift ribbon – decorative, hollow and perfectly adjusted. While Hegseth beams like a freshly polished campaign souvenir, the Trump team sells a kind of television love that apparently can only be felt when a camera light turns red. Outside the country, however: protests, conflict, raw nerves. But in the political show the message continues: everything perfectly harmonious, please keep clapping. It is the kind of “bringing people together” that only works as long as reality politely waits outside – preferably until after the commercial break.

A pope between rubble and expectations

Pope Leo XIV has ended his trip to Turkey and traveled on to Beirut, into a country that has been shaken by crises for years. His visit is directed at a society suffering from the collapse of currency, banks and infrastructure and at the same time at a Christian community under pressure throughout the Middle East. Leo wants to offer comfort but also remind people of what remains unresolved in Beirut: responsibility for the 2020 explosion, which killed 218 people and for which no one has been held accountable to this day. The pope will pray in silence at the site of the disaster and speak with survivors. Many hope that he will openly call the political class to account. Others fear that the message of hope will fade in a country that lives every day with power outages, shortages and fear of a new war.

The visit comes at a time when the conflict on the border with Israel can escalate again at any moment. Israeli airstrikes continue, and in the south of the country people again live in fear that the low-level confrontation will turn into a full-scale war. Even the Christian parties are deeply divided, between those who stand alongside Hezbollah and those who want to end the militia’s influence. Meanwhile, hundreds of Christian families are traveling from Syria to Beirut to see the pope – people who have fled violence for years and hope that someone from the outside will acknowledge their insecurity. A young man from Damascus put it clearly: he wished that the pope would give them the feeling that as Christians in the East they do not have to disappear.

Pressure that no longer lets up

The Epstein campaign is picking up. Fixed billboards near Mar-a-Lago and in Washington are also on the agenda because they are cheaper and remain in place longer than the trucks. Everything is aimed at making the pressure grow and no longer recede. The tone is getting sharper because many have the feeling that right now is the moment to bring movement into a topic that has been suppressed for too long. It is about pinning the Republicans down on the Epstein complex and reminding the Democrats of their responsibility in the impeachment. No retreat, no hesitation. The pressure increases from day to day, and in fact one can sense how nervous Washington is becoming. More and more people are getting involved, and fewer and fewer are being stopped by intimidation or fatigue.

Kash Patel and the “burn bags” - much ado about nothing

Kash Patel claims that the public will soon be able to see “burn bags” that were supposedly found in a secret room. The statement sounds like a major revelation, like hidden documents or a covered-up political incident. But Patel provides no facts, no locations, no agencies and no explanation of what was supposedly found. This approach is familiar. For years he has announced materials that were supposedly going to change everything without ever producing anything verifiable. This time is no different. Burn bags are nothing special in the United States. They are ordinary bags in which confidential documents are collected before being destroyed – a standard procedure in ministries, embassies and agencies. That Patel now presents this routine as a sensation says more about the political intention behind it than about the content.

While he talks about upcoming revelations, there is no indication that the “burn bags” say anything about Obama, Clinton or the intelligence services. There is not even proof that such a room ever existed. Patel is relying on the assertion itself having an effect – not what is behind it. Anyone waiting for clear information is once again left empty-handed.

A president between toughness and favors

Within 24 hours Donald Trump threatens Venezuela with the closure of its entire airspace – and at the same time announces the pardon of a man whom U.S. prosecutors described as a major criminal of the cocaine cartels. Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras, is supposed to be released even though jurors proved that he protected cartels with state power and allowed hundreds of tons of cocaine to pass toward the United States. While Trump publicly escalates the war on drugs, he frees in the background those who made this business possible in the first place. Senator Tim Kaine calls it “unimaginable,” others speak of a course that has lost all logic.

Contradictions that can no longer be overlooked - At the same time, the White House boasts of dozens of attacks in the Caribbean in which more than 80 people were killed – alleged smugglers whose identities can hardly be verified. Critics warn of extralegal killings, while Trump has his defense secretary publicly declare: “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.” That the same president wants to pardon a man whom investigators identified for years as a key figure in the cocaine trade shocks even former Trump officials. Many are now asking whether the operations against Venezuela truly serve the fight against drugs – or political aims that lie far in the shadows.

TTrump and the applause of embarrassment

At an event Donald Trump shouted into the crowd: “Where are the gays for Trump?” – a sentence that already fell flat without an answer. But a supporter called back: “We are over here!” And Trump, without a pause, without any sense of dignity or respect, replied: “You don’t look gay.” It was the moment when even some of his fans briefly fell silent. Not out of surprise, but out of that quiet, uncomfortable realization that the man at the microphone has long since lost every boundary between ingratiation and insult. And yet many continued to applaud as if he had just said something courageous. Trump remains true to himself: he does not talk to people, he looks at them and sorts them. Anyone who “does not look gay enough,” who “does not look American enough,” who “does not fit the picture” – all of that becomes a stage on which he spreads his own projections.