US intelligence officers were well aware that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, intended to lead an armed uprising against the senior Russian military leaders.
Days before Saturday’s events, congressional leaders were even told after US intelligence apparently saw the mercenary company assembling troops and stockpiling weapons in preparation for potentially attacking the military ministry.
Describing the Congressional briefings, The New York Times reported late Saturday that “U.S. spy agencies had indications days earlier that Mr. Prigozhin was planning something and worked to refine that material into a finished assessment, officials said.”
“The information shows that the United States was aware of impending events in Russia, similar to how intelligence agencies had warned in late 2021 that Vladimir V. Putin was planning to invade Ukraine.”
The US government chose to remain mute in front of the major Wagner events, in contrast to the earlier invasion threats of February 2022, perhaps in the hopes that this would destabilize the Russian state and have a detrimental influence on military activities in Ukraine. There isn’t much proof to yet that Wagner’s brief mutiny resulted in major Ukrainian successes on the front lines.
The Times explains the rationale of its intel sources as follows:
U.S. officials felt that if they said anything, Mr. Putin could accuse them of orchestrating a coup. And they clearly had little interest in helping Mr. Putin avoid a major, embarrassing fracturing of his support.
While it is not clear exactly when the United States first learned of the plot, intelligence officials conducted briefings on Wednesday with administration and defense officials. On Thursday, as additional confirmation of the plot came in, intelligence officials informed a narrow group of congressional leaders, according to officials familiar with the briefings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
While Prigozhin has made clear over the last few months how much he despises both senior general Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally, the intelligence that Washington is said to have obtained looks quite detailed and seems to have perfectly foreseen events, only a few days before they took place.
While the Kremlin has so far refrained from blaming NATO or the US for the unrest, it has implied and warned that the West may try to take advantage of the crisis.
“The attempted armed mutiny in our country has aroused strong disapproval in Russian society, which firmly supports President Vladimir Putin,” a Foreign Ministry statement said Saturday. “We warn the Western countries against the slightest attempts to use the internal situation in Russia for achieving their Russophobic aims. Such attempts are futile and evoke no support either in Russia or among soberly-minded political forces abroad.”
But soon after, Secretary of State Blinken did just that, in Sunday news shows pushing the talking point that the Wagner mutiny exposed “real cracks” in Putin’s government:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said the short-lived rebellion from Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin “shows real cracks” within Russia as it wages its war on Ukraine.
“Prigozhin himself, in this entire incident, has raised profound questions about the very premises for Russian aggression against Ukraine in the first place, saying that Ukraine or NATO did not pose a threat to Russia, which is part of Putin’s narrative. And it was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks,” Blinken said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian MFA released a rather peculiar statement right as the Wagner hysteria was coming to a close.
Russia called out US-led/sponsored wars, and brought up past failed CIA black ops such as the Bay of Pigs.
Are the Russian government hinting they just foiled another CIA stunt? https://t.co/rmlSf2Dou7
Throughout the weekend, there was a continued increase in the military’s presence in Russia’s southern regions and key cities. Moscow’s famous Red Square has been blocked all day Sunday because of additional security measures that are still in place.
Sky News and others have meanwhile commented on Putin not being willing to forgive “betrayal”:
Dmitry Kiselyov, in his Russian state TV programme, has claimed the swift resolution of the Wagner Group’s mutiny shows Russia is a united nation. Part of his show has been tweeted by Francis Scarr from BBC Monitoring. Mr Kiselyov also played an archive clip of Vladimir Putin saying he is able to forgive many things, but not “betrayal”.
There is a lot of conjecture over Mr. Putin’s response to the mutiny. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, it may take weeks or months to resolve.
On Saturday in Putin’s televised remarks to the nation which addressed the crisis as it was unfolding, the Russian president called the mutineers’ actions “a knife in the back of our people.”
They knew it all the time of course. After seeing 12 hours of propaganda insinuating the FSB was defecting, Putin was flying away, in a bunker. Moscow was about to be taken. Multiple helicopters taken out. Yeah. Terrible psy-op. Cost $6.2 billion
— Rambling Infantryman (@Veteran4Amer1ca) June 25, 2023
As part of the Lukashenko-mediated cease-fire agreement, Prigozhin is currently moving into “exile” in the neighboring country of Belarus. Despite this, rumors continue to swirl about the complex situation, and numerous prevailing ideas have arisen.
What’s clear is that President Putin took the matter very seriously. “Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he keeps the situation of the special operation under control around the clock,” a statement in TASS said. The president “has been staying up quite late lately,” the statement said.
In a disturbing twist to last week’s targeted violence against Minnesota officials, sources reveal that a conspiratorial letter left behind by shooting suspect Vance Boelter accuses Governor Tim Walz of orchestrating a political assassination plot. The letter, addressed to the FBI, allegedly claims Walz instructed Boelter to kill U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could seek her Senate seat—a position he has not expressed any intent to pursue.
Two individuals with direct knowledge of the letter described it as incoherent, one and a half pages long, and filled with paranoid ramblings. The letter allegedly outlines unsubstantiated claims that Boelter was trained “off the books” by the U.S. military, and that Walz had enlisted him to assassinate Klobuchar and potentially other politicians, including a veiled reference to Sen. Tina Smith.
Federal prosecutors say Boelter left the letter in a Buick abandoned near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota. It is believed to include a confession to the killings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Boelter, 57, now faces federal charges including:
Two counts of stalking Rep. Hortman and Sen. Hoffman using interstate facilities;
Two counts of murder in the deaths of the Hortmans;
Two counts of firearm use in the shootings of the Hortmans and Hoffmans.
While federal authorities declined to comment on the letter’s contents, local officials addressed the severity of the situation. Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping stated they could not comment on an open investigation, but added, “We have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”
Gov. Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, called the events “deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans” and praised law enforcement and prosecutors for their swift actions.
Sen. Klobuchar issued a strong response, saying, “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
Documents obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune also reveal that Boelter held a valid carry license as recently as 2020, issued while he was still affiliated with his family’s private security firm.
With more details likely to surface as the investigation unfolds, the letter marks a chilling insight into Boelter’s delusions—and highlights the growing threats facing public officials.
A new study from the MIT Media Lab has raised concerns about the long-term effects of using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT on human cognition. The research, released this month, suggests that relying on large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT could impair an individual’s critical thinking abilities, especially with prolonged use.
Researchers observed participants over several months as they completed SAT-style essay assignments. The subjects were divided into three groups: one using ChatGPT, another using Google’s search engine, and a third group relying solely on their own thinking—dubbed the “brain-only” group.
To analyze brain activity during the writing tasks, researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor neural engagement across different regions of the brain. The results showed a stark difference in cognitive involvement among the groups.
According to the study, those using ChatGPT demonstrated the lowest level of brain engagement. Over time, these participants began to rely more heavily on the AI, eventually moving from asking structural questions to simply copying and pasting complete essays. The researchers noted that this group “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.”
Participants who used Google showed moderate brain activity, while the “brain-only” group displayed the strongest and most widespread neural activity, indicating deeper cognitive involvement throughout the writing process.
The study’s lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, emphasized the urgency of the findings, particularly as AI tools become more integrated into education.
“What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6–8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, ‘let’s do GPT kindergarten.’ I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” Kosmyna told Time
magazine. “Developing brains are at the highest risk.”
The study highlights growing concerns among educators about how easily accessible AI tools are enabling academic dishonesty and changing how students learn. Despite these concerns, AI integration in classrooms appears to be accelerating.
In April, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order promoting the use of AI in American schools. The policy aims to prepare young students for a future economy shaped by AI advancements.
“The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said at the time.
As the debate over AI’s role in education continues, this new research may fuel broader discussions on how to balance technological innovation with cognitive development—especially for younger generations.
SACRAMENTO, CA — Former Los Angeles Mayor and current California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has publicly alleged that Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra were involved in concealing former President Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline during his time in office.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, made the claim amid a heated California gubernatorial race. Becerra, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, is also a candidate, while speculation continues over a potential Harris bid. The race comes as current Governor Gavin Newsom reaches the end of his second and final term, per California’s two-term limit.
In a statement referencing recent reporting and excerpts from the book Original Sin, Villaraigosa stated:
“What I’ve seen in news coverage and excerpts from the new book ‘Original Sin’ is deeply troubling. At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover up to keep Joe Biden’s mental decline from the public.”
Both Harris and Becerra previously served as California Attorney General. Villaraigosa emphasized their past leadership roles, stating:
“Now, we have come to learn this cover up includes two prominent California politicians who served as California Attorney General – one who is running for Governor and another who is thinking about running for Governor.”
He added:
“Those who were complicit in the cover up should take responsibility for the part they played in this debacle, hold themselves accountable, and apologize to the American people. I call on Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra to do just that – and make themselves available to voters and the free press because there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Becerra responded in a statement, saying:
“It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered.”
Kamala Harris has not issued a public response. Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to the offices of Harris and the Bidens but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
The allegations come as discussions about Biden’s cognitive and physical health continue. Earlier this month, during an appearance on The View, Biden dismissed claims of cognitive decline during his presidency.
In related developments, Biden’s personal office recently confirmed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer characterized by a high Gleason score and metastasis to the bone.
Villaraigosa’s comments are the latest in a growing list of concerns raised within the Democratic Party about leadership transparency and accountability in the final years of the Biden administration.
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