The Mask is Off. Why Kenyan #GenZs are Rising Against a Regime Stuck in its Colonial Past

#GenZs Redefine Kenyan politics: Protests challenge Kenya’s outdated colonial governance model.

July 21, 2025

By Mwalimu Mutemi wa Kiama 

This Is Africa 

A storm is sweeping through Kenya, and it is not the work of shadowy conspirators in dark, smoky backrooms. It is a reckoning long overdue — a rupture in the facade of a system that has ruled through brutal coercion, cooption, ethnic manipulation, and performative democracy since the advent of colonialism. Kenya’s #GenZ uprising that has taken root in the last one year, culminating in the events of recent weeks, is not just to protest finance bills but a national awakening, a rupture with the past. Mu people the Gīkūyū call it “ituīka”, which brings to mind the image of a landslide, a severing of an entire hillside or mountain hitherto standing tall and proud. Mapinduzi. It is the loud, collective refusal of a generation that sees everything clearly — and is no longer afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes!

For decades, the Kenyan state has operated under a thin democratic veil, disguising its violent, extractive roots. Borrowing heavily from its colonial predecessor, the post-independence state has (dis)functioned not as a servant of the people, but as a nyapara (colonial overseer) and gatekeeper for compandor elites — administering resources upward, and repression downward. The civil service, the police force (service?), and even education and infrastructure have been organized around the principle of control, not care. To extract.

This is not just about President Ruto or any single administration. The #GenZ protests are confronting something deeper: the continuity of a colonial governance model that has mutated, adapted, but never transformed. “KANU will rule for 100 years after Moi”, someone opined during the struggle for multipartyism in the 1990s. The British may have left, but their tools of domination — manipulation of ethnicity, brute policing, and exclusionary economics — remain firmly in place, now in the hands of African elites. The Kenyan regime has refused to change its software. Worse still, it is trying to run outdated code in a country that has completely evolved. A totally different demographic. It’s akin to running a modern computer using Windows 3.11 or Mac OS 1.

We are no longer in the Kenya of the ‘80s or ‘90s Mr. Ruto! Today’s Kenyan population is overwhelmingly young, urbanized, digitally connected, and fiercely literate in civic & political language. #GenZs doesn’t just read the Constitution — they code it. They livestream it. They dissect legislation on TikTok. They organize protests on X spaces and then go out into the streets with poetry, placards, water, phones, flags, and power. They are not loyal to tribal chiefs or regional kingpins either. Their identity is not beholden to where they were born, but to what they believe in, and what they firmly believe is that the status quo has failed — utterly and completely.

Yet this regime behaves as if it’s still operating in the single-party era, where silence was safety, and dissent meant death. The tactics of teargas, abductions, and extrajudicial killings might have worked in the Kenyatta 1 and Moi eras, but they are tone-deaf and self-defeating today. A smartphone is now more powerful than a VoK/KBC propaganda broadcast beginning with “mtukufu rais…”. A 20-year-old with a data of Wi-Fi connection can out-message a government with a billion-shilling PR budget. Ask Itumbi, this regime’s Goebbels. Brutality no longer breeds fear. It breeds fury. It breeds resoluteness.

From a Tiger to a domestic cat: How Raila betrayed the liberation cause 35 years later

This new Kenyan generation has grown up watching their parents struggle under the weight of corruption, ethnic division, and economic betrayal. They have seen iconic opposition leaders turn into government apologists, seen once respected fiery reformers and human rights defenders, now seated at the table of the oppressor. The betrayal has been quite bipartisan, thankfully, making it easier for the #GenZ to clearly see the entire enemy landscape. Both government and opposition politicians have recycled the same promises, the same lies, and made the same excuses, even while they eat and fatten themselves from the same trough. They realize that there is no messianic saviour in sight, that they are on their own, which is precisely what makes this a movement so powerful.

 The movement is “leaderless” because it is led by everyone.

In this moment, it is crucial to understand that the #GenZ uprising is not a prelude to a crisis. It is the crisis. It is the state shedding the last remnants of democratic theatre and responding with the only tool it has ever trusted: violence. But it is also the public shedding its illusions — the myth that democracy exists because we hold regular elections, the myth that politicians represent the people, the myth that national unity is real unless it is tested.

As Author Sakwah Ongoma aptly put it: “We always live as brothers and sisters until politicians are asked to be accountable… Suddenly, we become Luhyas, Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins, Somalis…” This is the oldest trick in the colonial playbook — divide and rule. But, lo and behold, for the first time in living memory, that trick is failing. It’s kaput. Kwisha! Kenyan streets are filled with young Kenyans from all communities, all shades of economic backgrounds, chanting in unity, creating new songs of freedom, refusing to be fragmented. 

And this is what scares the colonial regime.

For the first time since Kenya’s “independence”, there is a mass movement that cannot be bought, co-opted, or silenced. Not even by mass deaths. It is not driven by NGOs, political parties or tribal kingpins. It is not seeking political office or promising voters wheelbarrows or “empowerment” handouts. It is demanding something far more dangerous and nefarious: utu, dignity, truth, and accountability. And our politicians have no answer for it!

A Kenya police officer kicks a tear gas canister during protests in Nairobi against tax hikes on 25 June 2024. Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images

So the colonial state has responded the only way it knows how: with brute, unadulterated force. Unfortunately for it, each bullet fired and each abduction reveals its cluelessness and desperation. Each #GenZ killing peels back its mask. The “open recklessness” is not madness — it is strategy. As @0xChura put it on Twitter, the regime’s calculus has changed: it no longer needs consent, only submission. It is no longer invested in the myth of legitimacy, only the naked loyalty of its security forces.

But this is a fatal miscalculation.

What we are witnessing is not just protests — it is the dirge at the funeral of an era. The sun is setting (pun intended) on the generation of KANU scions who inherited their power from the British Empire, not through merit or service, but through betrayal of their people and proximity to the so-called founding fathers. They believed they could rule forever, recycling old slogans and weaponizing nostalgia and old hurts, real or imagined. But history has caught up with them. #GenZs are not beholden to the ghosts of independence heroes. They are seeking leaders who speak to their present reality — joblessness, indignity, injustice, and hopelessness.

The KANU-era style of governance — with its gatekeeping tribal elders and kingpins, its patriarchal arrogance, and its disdain for youth calling the “kids” — is dying. But like all dying monsters, it is violent in its death throes. The danger now is that in its desperation to cling to power, the regime may escalate its repression. Already, we have seen the bodies. The state has killed our young in broad daylight. Not in a dark, underground detention centre. Not in the shadows of Nyayo House and Nyati House. But in the open, in front of cameras, in the age of livestreams and hashtags. The revolution is being livestreamed.

And still, they keep coming. Like dust, they keep rising.

Still, #GenZ marches on. With placards made from manila paper. With hands raised high. With phone recording. With flags waving. With songs on their lips and courage in their chests. Because something irreversible has happened: the people are no longer afraid. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle.

This moment is historic not because of the finance bills, but because of the firewall that has been broken. A generation has finally realized that their voice matters — and that they are many. That they are powerful. That the people in power are a few scared, clueless lot. That no messianic saviour is coming — and so they must save each other or perish.

A Conclave?

Let the Kenyan political class take heed. The solutions of yesterday will not work. Conclaves, ethnic coalitions and alliances, and recycled opposition rhetoric are useless against a generation that demands nothing short of total transformation. #GenZs do not want to be “ruled” better — they want to be governed differently. With respect. With dignity. With purpose. They do not want a kinder slave master — they want their freedom.

And so the political elite have but one choice left: evolve or perish!

Message to the public, to civil society, to religious leaders, and to the diaspora watching from afar — know this: neutrality is complicity. If we do not stand with our young people in their hour of courage, we’ll have no moral authority left to claim patriotism. If our voices are not raised in defense of their right to protest, to live, to breathe, then we are siding with the tyrant.

Kenya is at a proverbial crossroads. One road leads back to repression, fear, arrested development, and economic servitude. The other births a new republic — one founded not on inherited trauma or elite pacts, but on utu, justice, truth, and dignity for all.

WaKenya Watahiri Heshima.

This is not just the funeral of an era; it is the birthing of something beautiful.

Mzalendo Mutemi wa Kiama is the Founder of Mzalendo Halisi Foundation and a Community Organizer with Kongamano La Mapinduzi Movement.

WAIT, WHAT?!

How Canada became the centre of a measles outbreak in North America

Alberta, the province at the epicentre of the current outbreak, has the highest per capita measles spread rate in North America

Nadine Yousif
BBC News, Toronto

JULY 20, 20225

Canadian Press
Catalina Friesen serves with a mobile clinic in Ontario

Morgan Birch was puzzled when her four-month-old daughter, Kimie, suddenly fell ill with a fever and rash.

At first, the Alberta mother assumed it was a common side effect of immunisations - or perhaps a case of chicken pox. Ms Birch then consulted her 78-year-old grandmother, who recognised Kimie's illness immediately.

"That's measles," her grandmother said. Ms Birch was stunned, as she thought the disease had been eradicated.

A lab test later confirmed her grandmother's hypothesis: Kimie had measles, likely contracted after a routine visit to the hospital in the Edmonton area a few weeks earlier.

Kimie is one of more than 3,800 in Canada who have been infected with measles in 2025, most of them children and infants. That figure is nearly three times higher than the number of confirmed US cases, despite Canada's far smaller population.

Now Canada is the only western country listed among the top 10 with measles outbreaks, according to CDC data, ranking at number eight. Alberta, the province at the epicentre of the current outbreak, has the highest per capita measles spread rate in North America.

The data raises questions on why the virus is spreading more rapidly in Canada than in the US, and whether Canadian health authorities are doing enough to contain it.

In the US, the rise of measles has been partly linked to vaccine-hesitant public figures, like Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr - although he has since endorsed the measles vaccine as safe.

But Canada does not have a prominent RFK Jr-like figure in public health, noted Maxwell Smith, a professor of public health at Western University in southern Ontario.

"There are other things that need to be interrogated here I think," Dr Smith said. "Looking at the Canadian context adds another layer of complexity to this."

Measles overall is on the rise in North America, Europe and the UK. Cases in the US reached a 33-year high this year, while England reported nearly 3,000 confirmed infections in 2024, its highest count since 2012.

Canada's 2025 figures have surpassed both. The country has not seen this many measles cases since the illness was declared eliminated in 1998. Before this year, the last peak was in 2011, when about 750 cases were reported.

The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight off measles, a highly contagious and dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The jabs are 97% effective and also immunise against mumps and rubella.


Morgan Birch
A photo of Kimie with a visible red rash on her body, a common symptom of measles.

How measles spread in Canada


The hardest-hit provinces have been Ontario and Alberta, followed by Manitoba.

In Ontario, health authorities say the outbreak began in late 2024, when an individual contracted measles at a large Mennonite gathering in New Brunswick and then returned home.

Mennonites are a Christian group with roots in 16th-Century Germany and Holland, who have since settled in other parts of the world, including Canada, Mexico and the US.

Some live modern lifestyles, while conservative groups lead simpler lives, limiting the use of technology and relying on modern medicine only when necessary.

In Ontario, the illness primarily spread among Low German-speaking Mennonite communities in the province's southwest, where vaccination rates have historically been lower due to some members' religious or cultural beliefs against immunisation.

Almost all those infected were unvaccinated, according to data from Public Health Ontario.

Catalina Friesen, a healthcare worker at a mobile clinic serving the Mennonite population near Aylmer, Ontario, said she first became aware of the outbreak in February, when a woman and her five-year-old child came in with what appeared to be an ear infection. It later turned out to be a symptom of measles.

"This is the first time I've ever seen measles within our community," Ms Friesen told the BBC.

Cases spread rapidly from that point, reaching a peak of more than 200 a week across Ontario by late April.

While new confirmed cases have since dropped sharply in Ontario, Alberta has emerged as the next hotspot. There, the spread happened so quickly that health officials were unable to pinpoint exactly how or where the outbreak began, said Dr Vivien Suttorp, the medical officer of health in southern Alberta, where cases are the highest.

She, too, said she had not seen an outbreak this bad in her 18 years working in public health.

Ms Friesen noted that Canada has a higher concentration of conservative Low German-speaking Mennonites than the US, which may be a factor behind the higher number of cases.

But Mennonites are not a monolith, she said, and many have embraced vaccinations. What's changed is the rapid spread of anti-vaccine misinformation both in her community and beyond after the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There's hearsay that immunisations are bad for you," Ms Friesen said, or are "dangerous".

This is amplified by a general distrust in the healthcare system, which she said has historically ostracised members of her community.

"We are sometimes put down or looked down upon because of our background," she said, adding that she herself has experienced discrimination in hospitals based on assumptions about her beliefs.


Vaccine hesitancy on the rise


Experts say it's tough to pinpoint why measles have spread wider in Canada than in the US, but many agree that cases in both countries are likely underreported.

"The numbers that we have in Alberta are just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr Suttorp.

But there is one big reason driving the outbreak: low vaccination rates, said Janna Shapiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto's Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases.

Dr Shapiro said there is "an element of chance" at play, where a virus is introduced to a community by accident and spreads among those who are unprotected.

"The only thing that is going to stop an outbreak is getting those vaccination rates up," she said. "If the public is not willing to get vaccinated, then it will continue until the virus can't find anymore receptible hosts."

In general, studies show that vaccine hesitancy has risen in Canada since the pandemic, and the data reflects that. In southern Alberta, for example, the number of MMR vaccines administered has dropped by nearly half from 2019 to 2024, according to provincial figures.

Covid-19 vaccine mandates were fiercely opposed by some during the pandemic, prompting the so-called "Freedom Convoy" protest in Ottawa where truckers gridlocked the city for two weeks in 2021.

That opposition has since expanded to other vaccines, said Dr Shapiro.

Pandemic-related disruptions also left some children behind on routine immunisations. With measles having been largely eliminated, families likely did not prioritise getting their kids' vaccinations up to date, Dr Shapiro said.

That is not the case for Ms Birch, who began routine immunisations for her baby Kimie as soon as she was eligible. But Kimie was still too young for the measles vaccine, which is typically given at 12 months in Alberta.

Dr Suttorp said Alberta has since lowered that age cap in response to the recent outbreak, and there has been an uptick in people taking the vaccine.

Health units across the country have also tried to encourage people to get vaccinated through public bulletins and radio advertisements. But the response is notably more muted than that during the Covid-19 pandemic, health officials say.

Kimie has since slowly recovered, Ms Birch said, though she continues to be monitored for potential long-term effects of the virus.

The Alberta mother said she was saddened and horrified when she learned her daughter had measles, but also "frustrated and annoyed" at those choosing not to vaccinate their children.

She called on people to heed public health guidelines and "protect the ones that can't protect themselves".

"My four-month-old shouldn't have gotten measles in 2025," Ms Birch said.

TEXAS NORTH 

Kashmir's growing heat crisis hits health and harvests

JULY 21, 2025
Auqib Javeed
Srinagar

BBC

Faisal Bashir
An unrelenting heatwave has gripped Kashmir over the last few months

Zaina Begum stood helplessly next to her withering paddy field.

A farmer in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pulwama district, she had been waiting for rainfall for more than a month, hoping to save her crop from dying.

So when it finally rained earlier this week, she was hopeful.

"But it was already too late by then," she said. "Our land had completely dried up."

An intense heatwave has gripped Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan region dotted with glaciers and known for its cool climate, as temperatures have soared to record-breaking levels this month.

The region recorded its highest daytime temperature in 70 years at 37.4C (99.32F) - at least 7C above the seasonal average.

The valley also witnessed its hottest June in 50 years, prompting authorities to shut down schools and colleges for two weeks.

Some respite came earlier this week after parts of the region received heavy rains, but experts say the relief is temporary and warn of even higher temperatures in the coming days.

The changing weather patterns have had a devastating impact on locals, most of whom rely on farming for their livelihoods. Many are struggling to stay in the business, while others complain about a drop in the quality of the produce, causing them huge losses.

Ms Begum's family has been cultivating paddy - a highly water-intensive crop - for decades on their one-acre land (4046 sq m) in Chersoo village.

But they haven't had a single batch of healthy harvest in the last five years, as rains have become progressively more erratic, she said.

"This summer, it feels like our worst fears have come true," she added. "We have nothing left."

Getty Images
In January 2024, the tourist town of Gulmarg saw a dry and snowless winter as snowfall was delayed for months


According to a 2021 study, the maximum temperature in the Kashmir rose by 2C between 1980 and 2020, indicating an average rise of 0.5C rise per decade.

Mukhtar Ahmad, head of the Indian weather department's centre in Srinagar city, said the region had already witnessed three heatwaves this season, causing major rivers and streams to dry up.

The signs of damage were visible everywhere.

In Bandipore district, rows of wilted apple trees dot Ali Mohammad's 15-acre field.

Twenty years ago, he decided to turn land, where he grew paddy, into an apple orchard because he felt the weather and water supplies had become too unreliable for growing rice.

But now, even his apple crop - which typically requires less water - is struggling to survive.

"The orchards need water at least three times a month, but for the last two months there was no rain and the irrigation canals dried up," he said.

The scorching heat has also taken a toll on residents, who are unaccustomed to living in such high temperatures.

"I have never witnessed such an intense heatwave in my life," said 63-year-old Parveez Ahmad, who lives in northern Kashmir.

A few days ago, Mr Ahmad had to be rushed to the hospital after he complained of severe breathlessness.

"The doctors told me it was caused by the heat and humidity," he said.

Environmentalists say that climate change has been impacting the region, causing extreme weather events and prolonged dry spells in both winter and summer.

Last year, the snow-clad mountains in the region stayed oddly brown and barren for months, after a prolonged delay in the annual snowfall.

Faisal Bashir
Erratic weather forced Ali Mohammad to grow apples instead of rice two decades ago - but even that has become a challenge


While warmer winters have led to reduced snowfall, hotter summers have sped up the melting of glaciers, disrupting the availability of water and putting human health and crops at risk, said Mohammad Farooq Azam, a glaciologist and hydrologist.

"These trends are not just seasonal anomalies - they represent a systemic shift that could have long-term consequences for water security, agriculture and biodiversity in Kashmir," Mr Azam added.

Mr Azam explained that most of Kashmir's winter rain and snow come from western disturbances - storms that form over the Mediterranean and move eastward. But these systems have become weaker and less frequent, leading to reduced snowfall and delays in snowmelt.

"This exposes the bare ground sooner than usual, which absorbs more heat. As glaciers shrink and snow cover reduces, the land reflects less sunlight and traps more heat, making the region even warmer," he said.

Jasia Bashir, a professor at the Islamic University of Science and Technology in Awantipora district, points out that Kashmir contributes very little to global carbon emissions, as it has limited industry and relies mostly on agriculture and tourism.

Yet, the region is being hit hard by climate change - making it a victim of a crisis it played little part in creating, she said.

Getty Images
Rising temperatures are pushing more people to buy air conditioners in the valley for the first time


"This tells you how climate change is a global phenomenon, not restricted to any particular region."

That said, the region has also witnessed rapid urbanisation in recent years.

Vast farmlands and forests have been replaced with concrete buildings, reducing the region's ability to naturally regulate the local climate.

According to a report by Global Forest Watch (GFW), the wider Jammu and Kashmir region lost nearly 0.39% of its total tree cover between 2001 and 2023 due to deforestation and forest fires.

In addition, government figures reveal that more than 600,000 trees have been felled in Kashmir over the last five years after being identified as river encroachments.

Ms Bashir said urban areas of Kashmir were also experiencing higher energy demands, especially for air conditioners, which has increased the greenhouse gas emissions.

"This sets off a vicious cycle: rising temperatures lead to greater energy use, which fuels more emissions and further warming," she added.

Critics say that despite the growing risks, environmental issues rarely make headlines and are still not a priority for Kashmir's politicians.

Tanvir Sadiq, the spokesperson for the region's elected government, denied this and said the administration was taking the problem of climate change "very seriously".

"Climate change is a global phenomenon and the government alone cannot tackle it," he added. "Still, we are exploring all available options to minimise its impact on the people."

But for farmers like Ms Begum, any action must happen quickly.

"Otherwise, we will be doomed," she said.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres says Trump's victory drove her out of US

Ellen also revealed serious concerns about the growing threats to LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. She said the couple is considering getting married again in the UK after efforts by US groups and lawmakers to reverse the right to same-sex marriage.


Ellen also revealed serious concerns about the growing threats to LGBTQ+ rights in the US. (File Photo: Reuters)


India Today World Desk
New Delhi,

Jul 21, 2025 

In Short

DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi plan permanent stay in England

Couple may remarry in UK if US reverses gay marriage

Ellen supports Rosie O’Donnell amid Trump’s citizenship threat

TV host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres has said that she moved to the United Kingdom after Donald Trump was re-elected US President, saying the decision came the very next day. In her first public appearance since the move, she spoke in a live event at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

According to the BBC, the 67-year-old American celebrity said she and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, initially planned to split their time between the US and the UK. But after Trump’s win, they decided to make England their permanent home.

"We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis," she said. "And I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, "We’re staying here.'"
Ellen also revealed serious concerns about the growing threats to LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. She said the couple is considering getting married again in the UK after efforts by US groups and lawmakers to reverse the right to same-sex marriage.

"The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage," Ellen told BBC. "They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here."

She shared that despite the progress, being openly gay in the entertainment industry is still difficult for many. "If it was (better), all these other people that are actors and actresses that I know they’re gay, they’d be out, but they’re not, because it’s still a problem. People are still scared."

STARS STAND TOGETHER AGAINST POLITICAL RHETORIC

DeGeneres came out in support of fellow comedian Rosie O’Donnell after Donald Trump threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s American citizenship.

O’Donnell, who recently relocated to Ireland following Trump’s return to office, faced an attack from Trump. The US president called her a "threat to humanity” and questioned her loyalty to the United States. "I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

DeGeneres shared an image of Trump’s post alongside Rosie’s detailed response and added a message: "Good for you."

- Ends

WHITE RACISM IS ANTI DEI, ANTI WOKE

Trump threatens to hold up stadium deal if Washington Commanders don't switch back to Redskins


Published : July 21, 2025 
Korea Herald

US President Donald Trump (center right), alongside Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris (left), National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell (center left), and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, announces that Washington will host the 2027 NFL draft in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, May 5. EPA-Yonhap

CLEVELAND (AP) — President Donald Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington's NFL team if it does not restore its old name of the Redskins, which was considered offensive to Native Americans.

Trump also said Sunday that he wants Cleveland's baseball team to revert to its former name, the Indians, saying there was a "big clamoring for this" as well.

The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their current names since the 2022 seasons and both have said they have no plans to change them back.

Trump said the Washington football team would be "much more valuable" if it restored its old name.

"I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," Trump said on his social media site.

His latest interest in changing the name reflects his broader effort to roll back changes that followed a national debate on cultural sensitivity and racial justice. The team announced it would drop the Redskins name and the Indian head logo in 2020 during a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.

The Commanders and the District of Columbia government announced a deal earlier this year to build a new home for the football team at the site the old RFK Stadium, the place the franchise called home for more than three decades.

Trump's ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen. President Joe Biden signed a bill in January that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia.

The provision was part of a short-term spending bill passed by Congress in December. While Washington residents elect a mayor, a city council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains control of the city's budget.

Josh Harris, whose group bought the Commanders from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023, said earlier this year the name was here to stay. Not long after taking over, Harris quieted speculation about going back to Redskins, saying that would not happen. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Trump's statement.

The Washington team started in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation's capital four years later.

The Cleveland Guardians' president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, indicated before Sunday's game against the Athletics that there weren't any plans to revisit the name change.

"We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it's a decision we made. We've got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that's in front of us," he said.

Cleveland announced in December 2020 it would drop Indians. It announced the switch to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the team phased out "Chief Wahoo" as its primary logo.

The name changes had their share of supporters and critics as part of the national discussions about logos and names considered racist.

Trump posted Sunday afternoon that "The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn't understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!"

Matt Dolan, the son of the late Larry Dolan, no longer has a role with the Guardians. He ran the team's charity endeavors until 2016.

Matt Dolan was a candidate in the Ohio US Senate elections in 2022 and '24, but lost.

Washington and Cleveland share another thing in common. David Blitzer is a member of Harris' ownership group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake in the Guardians.

khnews@heraldcorp.com

'BANZI'

'Japanese First' party emerges as election force with tough immigration talk

]

Sanseito party supporters raise their fists during the Sanseito's election campaign tour, on the last day of campaigning for the July 20 upper house election, at Shiba Park in Tokyo, Japan, on July 19, 2025.

PHOTO: Reuters file

July 20, 2025 

TOKYO - The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan's upper house election on Sunday (July 20), gaining support with warnings of a "silent invasion" of immigrants, and pledges for tax cuts and welfare spending.

Birthed on YouTube during the Covid-19 pandemic spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the party broke into mainstream politics with its "Japanese First" campaign.

The party won 14 seats adding to the single lawmaker it secured in the 248-seat chamber three years ago. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house.

"The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people's livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan," Sohei Kamiya, the party's 47-year-old leader, said in an interview with local broadcaster Nippon Television after the election.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house, leaving them further beholden to opposition support following a lower house defeat in October.

"Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment. It's more of a weakness of the LDP and Ishiba than anything else," said Joshua Walker, head of the US non-profit Japan Society.

In polling ahead of Sunday's election, 29 per cent of voters told NHK that social security and a declining birthrate were their biggest concern. A total of 28 per cent said they worried about rising rice prices, which have doubled in the past year. Immigration was in joint fifth place with seven per cent of respondents pointing to it.

"We were criticised as being xenophobic and discriminatory. The public came to understand that the media was wrong and Sanseito was right," Kamiya said.

Kamiya's message grabbed voters frustrated with a weak economy and currency that has lured tourists in record numbers in recent years, further driving up prices that Japanese can ill afford, political analysts say.

Japan's fast-ageing society has also seen foreign-born residents hit a record of about 3.8 million last year, though that is just three per cent of the total population, a fraction of the corresponding proportion in the United States and Europe.

Japan's Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks to the members of the media on the day of upper house election, at the party's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on July 20, 2025. PHOTO: Reuters
Inspired by Trump

Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, told Reuters before the election that he had drawn inspiration from US President Donald Trump's "bold political style".

He has also drawn comparisons with Germany's AfD and Reform UK although right-wing populist policies have yet to take root in Japan as they have in Europe and the United States.

Post-election, Kamiya said he plans to follow the example of Europe's emerging populist parties by building alliances with other small parties rather than work with an LDP administration, which has ruled for most of Japan's postwar history.

Sanseito's focus on immigration has already shifted Japan's politics to the right. Just days before the vote, Ishiba's administration announced a new government taskforce to fight "crimes and disorderly conduct" by foreign nationals and his party has promised a target of "zero illegal foreigners".

Kamiya, who won the party's first seat in 2022 after gaining notoriety for appearing to call for Japan's emperor to take concubines, has tried to tone down some controversial ideas formerly embraced by the party.

During the campaign, Kamiya, however, faced a backlash for branding gender equality policies a mistake that encourage women to work and keep them from having children.

To soften what he said was his "hot-blooded" image and to broaden support beyond the men in their twenties and thirties that form the core of Sanseito's support, Kamiya fielded a raft of female candidates on Sunday.

Those included the single-named singer Saya, who clinched a seat in Tokyo.

Like other opposition parties, Sanseito called for tax cuts and an increase in child benefits, policies that led investors to fret about Japan's fiscal health and massive debt pile, but unlike them it has a far bigger online presence from where it can attack Japan's political establishment.

Its YouTube channel has 400,000 followers, more than any other party on the platform and three times that of the LDP, according to socialcounts.org.

Sanseito's upper house breakthrough, Kamiya said, is just the beginning.

"We are gradually increasing our numbers and living up to people's expectations. By building a solid organisation and securing 50 or 60 seats, I believe our policies will finally become reality," he said.

Ishiba's coalition loses majority in Japan's upper house election

Published : July 21, 2025 -

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba walks after addressing the media at the vote counting center in the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. AFP-Yonhap

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition failed Monday to secure a majority in the 248-seat upper house in a crucial parliamentary election, NHK public television said.

Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito needed to win 50 seats on top of the 75 seats they already have to retain their majority. With just one more seat to be decided, the coalition had 47 seats.

The loss is another blow to Ishiba’s coalition, making it a minority in both houses following its October defeat in the lower house election, and worsening Japan’s political instability. It was the first time the LDP has lost a majority in both houses of parliament since the party’s foundation in 1955.

Despite the loss, Ishiba expressed determination to stay on and not create a political vacuum to tackle challenges such as US tariff threats, but he could face calls from within his party to step down or find another coalition partner.

“I will fulfill my responsibility as head of the No. 1 party and work for the country,” he said.

Ishiba had set the bar low, wanting a simple majority of 125 seats, which means his LDP and its Buddhist-backed junior coalition partner Komeito needed to win 50 seats. Exit poll results released seconds after the ballots closed Sunday night mostly showed a major setback for Ishiba’s coalition.

The LDP alone won 39 seats, better than most exit poll projections of 32, and still the No. 1 party in the parliament, known as the Diet. But Ishiba said the coalition’s poor showing was because his government’s measures to combat price increases had yet to reach many people.

“It’s a tough situation. I take it humbly and sincerely,” Ishiba told a live interview with NHK.

The poor performance in the election will not immediately trigger a change of government because the upper house lacks the power to file a no-confidence motion against a leader, but it will certainly deepen uncertainty over his fate and Japan’s political stability. Ishiba could face calls from within the LDP party to step down or find another coalition partner.

Soaring prices, lagging incomes and burdensome social security payments are the top issues for frustrated, cash-strapped voters. Stricter measures targeting foreign residents and visitors also emerged as a key issue, with a surging right-wing populist party leading the campaign.

Sunday’s vote comes after Ishiba’s coalition lost a majority in the October lower house election, stung by past corruption scandals, and his unpopular government has since been forced into making concessions to the opposition to get legislation through parliament. It has been unable to quickly deliver effective measures to mitigate rising prices, including Japan’s traditional staple of rice, and dwindling wages.

US President Donald Trump has added to the pressure, complaining about a lack of progress in trade negotiations and the lack of sales of US autos and American-grown rice to Japan despite a shortfall in domestic stocks of the grain. A 25 percent tariff due to take effect Aug. 1 has been another blow for Ishiba.

Ishiba resisted any compromise before the election, but the prospect of a breakthrough after the election is just as unclear because the minority government would have difficulty forming a consensus with the opposition.

Frustrated voters were rapidly turning to emerging populist parties. The eight main opposition groups, however, were too fractured to forge a common platform as a united front and gain voter support as a viable alternative.

The emerging populist party Sanseito stands out with the toughest anti-foreigner stance, with its “Japanese First” platform that proposes a new agency to handle policies related to foreigners. The party’s populist platform also includes anti-vaccine, anti-globalism and favors traditional gender roles.

Conservative opposition groups, especially the DPP and Sanseito, gained significant ground at the Liberal Democrats’ expense, while the centrist top opposition CDPJ was sluggish. The DPP quadrupled to 17 seats from four, according to interim results reported by Japanese media. Sanseito surged to 14 from just one.

DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki said his party made saw a big gain because voters chose it "as a new alternative.” None of the opposition parties said that they were open to cooperating with the governing coalition. CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda told NHK that his priority is to form an alliance among the opposition. “Public opinion clearly said ‘no’ to the Ishiba government,” Noda said.

The spread of xenophobic rhetoric in the election campaign and on social media triggered protests by human rights activists and alarmed foreign residents.

The LDP has almost continuously dominated Japan’s postwar politics, contributing to its political stability and social conformity. But voters are divided between stability and change, with some voicing concern about escalating xenophobia.

Yuko Tsuji, a 43-year-old consultant who came to a polling station inside a downtown Tokyo gymnasium with her husband, said they both support LDP for stability and unity. They voted “for candidates who won’t fuel division." “If the ruling party doesn’t govern properly, the conservative base will drift toward extremes. So I voted with the hope that the ruling party would tighten things up,” she said.

Self-employed Daiichi Nasu, 57, who came to vote with his dog, said he hopes for a change toward a more inclusive and diverse society, with more open immigration and gender policies such as allowing married couples to keep separate surnames.

“That’s why I voted for the CDPJ,” he said. “I want to see progress on those fronts.”

What the West misunderstands about Iran

After decades of diplomatic whiplash, even moderates in Tehran have stopped trusting Western promises

Emad Khatami
Jul 21, 2025

When Iranian officials were preparing for the sixth round of negotiations with their U.S. counterparts over the country’s nuclear program, Israel launched a surprise military strike. Rather than condemning the attack, the United States and Europe stood by — or even applauded. The German Chancellor framed it as “the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.” This moment only reinforced what Iranian leaders have long believed: that the world demands their surrender — and leaves them alone, at constant risk of betrayal and invasion.

Unless the West begins to understand Iranian history — and the mindset it has created among Iranian leaders — it will continue to misread Tehran’s actions. What often looks like aggression or stubbornness from the outside is, in the minds of Iranian decision-makers, an act of defense grounded in deep national memory.

For centuries, Iran has lived under the shadow of invasion, betrayal, and isolation. And every chapter of its modern history has only reinforced the same conclusion for its leaders: no matter who sits at Iran’s end of the negotiating table — be it a reformist, a moderate, or a hardliner — Iran must rely only on itself. It’s not a question of paranoia. It's a survival instinct.

This sense of siege didn’t begin in 2025 with the Israeli attacks, or even in 1980 with Saddam’s invasion. Iran has been shaped by trauma stretching back over a thousand years: Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia in the 4th century BC, the Arab conquest in the 7th century, the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, and repeated Turkic and Central Asian assaults. In more recent centuries, it lost territory in the Russo-Persian wars and was occupied by Allied forces in both world wars, even though it had declared neutrality in both. Again and again, Iran has faced foreign troops on its soil. And each time, no one came to help.

That deep historical scar tissue explains the decisions of Iranian leaders more than any speech ever could. It’s why they see military self-reliance not as aggression, but as insurance. It’s why they view diplomacy with suspicion, and why even moderates in Tehran are hesitant to trust Western intentions.

In the contemporary era, there have been at least four major betrayals by the United States that continue to underscore Iran’s fear of foreign duplicity.

First, the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, backed by the CIA and MI6. Mossadegh was democratically elected and sought to engage with the United States as a counterbalance to British colonial influence. The U.S. responded by orchestrating his overthrow, primarily to protect British oil interests.

Second, after the 9/11 attacks, Iran secretly assisted the United States in its campaign against the Taliban — providing intelligence, cooperating with anti-Taliban forces, and supporting the post-war settlement in Afghanistan. Just weeks later, it was branded part of President George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil.”

The third betrayal involves the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran agreed to the strictest nuclear inspections regime in history. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed its compliance 15 times between 2016 and 2018. Yet in 2018, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal and reimposed crippling sanctions, more severe than those that existed before the agreement.

Fourth, the most recent and perhaps most consequential betrayal came in June 2025. After five rounds of talks between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff — mediated by Oman — a sixth round was scheduled. Both sides held firm positions but remained at the table. Iran sought recognition of its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. The U.S. ultimately demanded zero enrichment on Iranian soil. Despite the impasse, cautious progress was being made, based on comments from both sides after each round of talks.

Then, on the morning of June 13, 2025 — just two days before the next round — Israeli forces launched an unprecedented assault on Iran, striking nuclear sites and killing civilians. Senior scientists and military commanders were among the casualties. These weren’t symbolic warning shots. They were hard, coordinated blows, timed to derail diplomacy.

But Israel didn’t act alone.

While the initial Israeli attack was unilateral, American strikes soon followed. U.S. stealth bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Fordow and Natanz. Days earlier, President Trump called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” After the strikes, he publicly praised the operation, declared it a success, and warned that Iran “should make peace or face more attacks,” adding that “there are many targets left” if Iran refused to relinquish key parts of its nuclear program.

In Tehran, it’s not irrational to believe that U.S. diplomatic engagement was never intended to succeed. The negotiations had been real, but the intentions behind them now look suspect. For Iranian leaders, the lesson seemed unmistakable: the West may speak the language of dialogue, but it acts in the language of force and violence.

So, what should the West expect now?

It doesn’t matter who rules Iran. The leadership — regardless of name or face, whether wearing a crown, a turban, or a tie — shares a foundational belief: the West cannot be trusted to keep its word, honor its deals, or respect Iranian sovereignty.

This mindset long predates the Islamic Republic. Both Reza Shah and his son Mohammad Reza Shah — who came to power with at least the tacit support of Western powers — remained deeply skeptical of foreign governments and consistently questioned their intentions. That posture didn’t end with the 1979 revolution; it was only reinforced and has gained broader consensus across the political spectrum.

This doesn’t mean Iran is inflexible or incapable of negotiation. But its starting point is not trust, it’s caution. That caution has only deepened over time, especially as the West repeatedly turns to what it calls “alternatives” to diplomacy. Each time that happens, those inside Iran who oppose negotiations gain the upper hand.

This mindset may frustrate Western diplomats. But ignoring it leads to policies doomed to fail. If the West wants a different outcome with Iran, it must stop pretending it’s engaging with a blank slate. History walks into every room before a single word is spoken. And for Iran, history keeps saying the same thing: you are alone, so act accordingly.

Until that narrative is disrupted — not with airstrikes, but with sustained, credible commitments — Iran’s leaders will continue to do exactly what history taught them to do: resist.

Emad Khatami is a member of the National Committee of Etehad-e Mellat, a leading reformist party in Iran, where he chairs its Foreign Policy Committee. He holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Tehran and focuses on U.S.–Iran relations. He has written in Persian and co-authored three books on regional politics.
The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates.

AMERIKAN GESTAPO

ICE to target all undocumented immigrants, their employers in sweeping crackdown

Acting ICE chief Todd Lyons says agents will arrest anyone who is in US unlawfully and prosecute companies that hire them

Gizem Nisa Demir |21.07.2025 - TRT/AA




US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will arrest anyone found living in the country unlawfully, regardless of their criminal history or lack thereof, and is ramping up enforcement against employers hiring unauthorized workers, the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons, said Sunday.

Under orders from the Trump administration, ICE has reinstated wide-ranging immigration enforcement policies, including so-called collateral arrests — detaining non-criminal undocumented immigrants found during broader operations — which had been curtailed during the Biden era.

“What’s, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility,” Lyons said in an exclusive interview with CBS News.

“A local law enforcement agency, state agency already deemed that person a public safety threat and arrested them and they’re in detention.”

Lyons said the current rise in community arrests is a consequence of states and cities with sanctuary policies refusing to hand over noncitizen inmates, forcing ICE agents to go into neighborhoods.

“I’d much rather focus all of our limited resources on that...but we do have to go out into the community,” he said.

In the first half of 2025, ICE deported nearly 150,000 people, including around 70,000 with criminal convictions, many of which were minor, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

Lyons did not rule out reaching the administration’s target of 1 million deportations this year, citing a recent multi-billion-dollar boost in congressional funding.

“ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,” Lyons said. “One difference you’ll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.”

He also confirmed the agency has resumed large-scale worksite raids, including recent operations at a Nebraska meat plant, a Louisiana racetrack and California cannabis farms, where over 300 unauthorized workers were arrested, including minors.

ICE will now prioritize not only the arrest of undocumented workers but also prosecution of the companies hiring them.

“Not only are we focused on those individuals...we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers,” Lyons said. When asked if employers will be held accountable, he responded: “One hundred percent.”

US citizen and veteran says immigration officials detained him for days without explanation

Aabshar Ghassi | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US

JULY 18, 2025

US citizen and Army veteran George Retes on Wednesday spoke out after being arrested during an immigration raid at his workplace on a California cannabis farm, stating that he was arrested and detained for three days without explanation.

Retes shared in a video press conference organized by the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union that he works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California. He stated that he was on his way to work when he was met by federal agents. The officers then broke his window, sprayed him with pepper spray, and dragged him out of the car. He said that two officers kneeled on his back and another one on his neck to arrest him, even though his hands were already behind his back and he was covered in pepper spray.

Retes later explained that he showed up to work when federal agents had already conducted the raid and was met with a wall of protestors in addition to federal agents. He exited his car and told the officers that he was a US citizen and that he was only there to work and not to protest. He then reentered, and the officers surrounded his car and gave conflicting orders to get out of the car, pull the car over to the side, and reverse before arresting him.

According to AP News, “Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.”

Retes said that federal agents did not allow him to contact a lawyer or his family or to shower or change clothes during his three-day detention, despite being covered in pepper spray and tear gas.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement explaining his release. She said: “He has not been charged. The US Attorney’s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.”

On July 10, 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers executed criminal warrant operations at two marijuana grow sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo. The US Department of Homeland Security stated that “at least 14 migrant children have been rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking. ICE has transferred 10 of the children who are unaccompanied to the US Department of Health and Human Services… Federal officers also arrested at least 361 illegal aliens from both sites.” The department stated, “During the operation, more than 500 rioters attempted to disrupt operations.”

Retes provided the following statement to UFW: 

What happened to me wasn’t just a mistake — it was a violation of my civil rights. It was excessive force… I’m speaking out…for every citizen who could’ve ended up in my place that day. I’m calling for a full investigation into the actions of ICE and other agencies involved in this operation… [T]his raid didn’t just target immigrants. It hurt Americans too. I will not stay silent. I served this country, and now I’m demanding it do right by me.

568 people survived after an Indonesian passenger ferry caught fire at sea, killing 3

Indonesian rescuers evacuating people from a passenger ferry that caught fire at sea say more than 560 were rescued and three died

ByGRACEY WAKARI

 Associated Press
July 20, 2025, 


MANADO, Indonesia -- Indonesian rescuers evacuating people from a passenger ferry that caught fire at sea said Monday more than 560 were rescued and three died.

The KM Barcelona 5 caught fire around midday Sunday while heading to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, on its regular half-day journey from Melonguane port in Talaud Islands district in the same province, according to First Adm. Franky Pasuna Sihombing, chief of the Manado navy base.

A coast guard ship, six rescue vessels and several inflatable boats were deployed in the rescue operation, Sihombing said. The crews pulled many people from the sea and took them to nearby islands, and local fishermen also saved some survivors wearing life jackets as they were drifting in the choppy waters.

Photos and videos circulated on social media showed terrified passengers, mostly wearing life jackets, jumping into the sea as orange flames and black smoke billowed from the burning vessel.

The search and rescue operation was continuing, though there were no immediate reports of people still missing. Authorities previously said five people had died, but the National Search and Rescue Agency revised it to three early Monday after two passengers initially reported as dead were saved in a hospital, including a 2-month-old baby whose lungs were filled with seawater.

The fire that began in the ferry's stern was extinguished within an hour, Sihombing said. The ferry's manifest initially registered only 280 passengers and 15 crew members but the national rescue agency confirmed 568 survivors had been rescued and three bodies recovered, including a pregnant woman.

It is common for the number of passengers on a boat or ferry to differ from the manifest in Indonesia. This discrepancy can contribute to accidents and can complicate search and rescue efforts, Sihombing said.

The capacity of the ferry is 600 people.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.

A speedboat carrying 18 people capsized during a storm July 14, and all its occupants were found rescued by the next day. Earlier in the month, a ferry sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least 19 dead and 16 others missing. A two-week search operation involved more than 600 rescuers, three navy ships, 15 boats, a helicopter and divers.


___

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

IRAQ

Reuters reported Friday that a restart of Kurdish oil exports is not imminent

Barzani during the inauguration of the emergency water supply project in Erbil (KRG Prime Minister’s Office)

Baghdad: Fadhel al-Nashmi
21 July 2025

 AD ـ 26 Muharram 1447 AH

Despite weeks of intensive negotiations and multiple official visits between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, a final resolution to the long-standing oil and budget disputes remains elusive.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in Kurdistan have gone unpaid for over 75 days, deepening an already severe economic crisis.

While the Iraqi federal government announced last week that an agreement to resume oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan was near, and both sides reportedly reached a “near-final” deal, tangible progress has stalled.

Reuters reported Friday that a restart of Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, citing both ongoing disputes and drone attacks on oilfields in the region that have slashed production by half.

Nevertheless, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani reiterated Sunday his administration’s readiness to hand over oil to Baghdad on one condition: that the federal government guarantees the region’s share of the national budget and secures public salaries.

Speaking at the inauguration of a new emergency water project in Erbil, Barzani demanded an end to what he described as “collective punishment” of the Kurdish people.

Addressing public criticism over local revenue use, Barzani said: “We don’t respond to irresponsible claims meant to mislead public opinion. Our projects are the real answer.”

Barzani also pushed back against Kurdish voices advocating for Baghdad to directly distribute salaries, asserting the region’s constitutional right to manage its own budget.

“We are a federal entity. Kurdistan must have its own budget, and how it is spent should be decided by its institutions and people,” he said.

Tensions have grown in recent months as some Kurdish civil servants traveled to Baghdad, demanding the federal government bypass the KRG and pay salaries directly, a move Erbil firmly rejects.

Barzani expressed frustration with Baghdad’s withdrawal from earlier agreements, despite Erbil agreeing to hand over 230,000 barrels of oil per day to the federal SOMO company, as well as 120 billion dinars in monthly revenue. He warned that recent drone strikes on oil infrastructure could impact output but should not be used as an excuse to delay payments.

The federal government counters that the KRG has failed to meet its oil transfer obligations and exceeded its allocated share of the national budget. In May, Iraq’s Finance Ministry formally warned that funding would cease, citing overpayments that exceeded Kurdistan’s legal 12.67% share.