Smithsonian research reveals that probiotics slow spread of deadly disease decimating Caribbean reefs

Field tests in Florida identify best available treatment to combat coral disease without need for antibiotics

Smithsonian

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A great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on the coral reef in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The lesion, where the white band of tissue occurs, typically moves across the coral, killing coral tissue along the way.

In 2023, Smithsonian scientists and their collaborators published a study about the probiotic Pseudoalteromonas sp. McH1-7 from M. cavernosa, which produces several different antibacterial compounds. This comprehensive antibacterial toolbox made McH1-7 an ideal candidate to combat a versatile pathogen like SCTLD. The research team initially tested McH1-7 in the lab on live pieces of M. cavernosa. They discovered that the probiotic reliably prevented the spread of SCTLD. However, the team was eager to test McH1-7 on corals in the wild. 

This great star coral colony was tagged, treated with probiotic strain McH1-7, and monitored for 2.5 years for tissue loss progression as part of a newly published study showing that the bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of SCTLD in already infected wild corals in Florida. The findings, published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, reveal that applying the probiotic treatment across entire coral colonies helped prevent tissue loss.

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Credit: Kelly Pitts, Smithsonian.

Scientists with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered that a bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in already infected wild corals in Florida. The findings, published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, reveal that applying the probiotic treatment across entire coral colonies helped prevent tissue loss.

The new treatment provides a viable alternative to antibiotics, which only offer temporary protection and also run the risk of creating resistant strains of SCTLD.

“The goal of using the probiotics is to get the corals to take up this beneficial bacterium and incorporate it into their natural microbiome,” said Valerie Paul, the head scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Fla., who co-led the new study. “The probiotics then will provide a more lasting protection.”

SCTLD emerged in Florida in 2014 and has rapidly spread south throughout the Caribbean. Unlike other pathogens, which usually target specific species, SCTLD infects more than 30 different species of stony corals, including boulder-shaped brain corals and limb-like pillar corals. As it spreads, the disease causes the corals’ soft tissue to slough off, leaving behind white patches of exposed skeleton. In a matter of weeks to months, the disease can devastate an entire coral colony. 

Researchers have yet to identify the exact cause of SCTLD. But the pathogen appears to be linked to harmful bacteria. To date, the most common treatment for SCTLD is treating diseased corals with a paste that contains the antibiotic amoxicillin.

But antibiotics are far from a cure-all. While the amoxicillin balm can temporarily stem the spread of SCTLD, it needs to be frequently reapplied to the corals’ lesions. This not only takes time and resources but also increases the likelihood that the microbes causing SCTLD could develop resistance to amoxicillin and related antibiotics.

“Antibiotics do not stop future outbreaks,” Paul said. “The disease can quickly come back, even on the same coral colonies that have been treated.”

To find a longer lasting alternative, Paul and her colleagues have spent more than six years investigating whether beneficial microorganisms, or probiotics, could combat the pathogen. Like humans, corals host communities known as microbiomes that are bustling with bacteria. Some of these miniscule organisms, which can be found in both coral tissue and the sticky, protective mucus that corals secrete, produce antioxidants and vitamins to keep their coral hosts healthy. 

The team first looked at the microbiomes of corals that are impervious to SCTLD. The goal was to harvest probiotics from these disease-resistant species and use them to strengthen the microbiomes of susceptible corals.

The scientists tested more than 200 strains of bacteria from disease-resistant corals. In 2023, they published a study about the probiotic Pseudoalteromonas sp. McH1-7 from the great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa), which produces several different antibacterial compounds. This comprehensive antibacterial toolbox made McH1-7 an ideal candidate to combat a versatile pathogen like SCTLD.

Paul and her colleagues initially tested McH1-7 in the lab on live pieces of M. cavernosa. They discovered that the probiotic reliably prevented the spread of SCTLD. However, the team was eager to test McH1-7 on corals in the wild. 

In 2020, the team conducted field tests on a shallow reef near Fort Lauderdale. They focused on 40 M. cavernosa colonies that displayed signs of SCTLD. Some of the corals received a paste containing McH1-7 that was applied directly onto disease lesions. Other corals were treated with a solution of seawater containing McH1-7. The team covered the colonies treated with the solution using weighted plastic bags and administered the probiotics inside the bag to cover the entire colony.  

“This created a little mini-aquarium that kept the probiotics around each coral colony,” Paul said.

The team monitored the coral colonies for two and a half years and took multiple rounds of tissue and mucus samples to gauge how the corals’ microbiomes changed over time. They discovered that the McH1-7 probiotic successfully slowed the spread of SCTLD when delivered to the entire colony through the bag and solution method. The samples revealed that the probiotic was effective without dominating the corals’ natural microbes. In contrast, corals treated with the probiotic paste lost more tissue than the untreated control corals. This revealed that applying the probiotic directly to the lesions was the least effective way to control SCTLD. 

            While the probiotic appears to be an effective treatment for SCTLD among Florida’s northern reefs, more work is needed to calibrate the treatment for other regions. For example, Paul and her colleagues have conducted similar tests on reefs in the Florida Keys. Preliminary results are mixed, likely due to regional differences in the disease itself.

             But Paul contends that probiotics could become a crucial tool for combatting SCTLD across the Caribbean, especially as researchers continue to fine-tune how they are administered at scale to corals in the wild. These beneficial bacteria support what corals already do naturally. 

            “Corals are naturally rich with bacteria and it’s not surprising that the bacterial composition is important for their health,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out which bacteria can make these vibrant microbiomes even stronger.”

This interdisciplinary research is part of the museum’s Ocean Science Center, which aims to consolidate the museum's marine research expertise and vast collections into a collaborative center to expand understanding of the world’s oceans and enhance their conservation.

In addition to Paul, the new paper included contributions from several coauthors affiliated with the Smithsonian Marine Station and the National Museum of Natural History, including co-lead author Kelly Pitts as well as Mackenzie Scheuermann, Blake Ushijima, Natalie Danek, Murphy McDonald, Kathryn Toth, Zachary Ferris, Yesmarie De La Flor and Thomas DeMarco. The study also includes authors affiliated with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; University of North Carolina Wilmington; University of Florida, Gainesville; and Nova Southeastern University.

This research was supported by funding from the Smithsonian and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

About the National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History is connecting people everywhere with Earth’s unfolding story. It is one of the most visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world’s most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts. The museum is open daily, except Dec. 25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Scientists with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered that a bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in already infected wild corals in Florida. The findings, published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, reveal that applying the probiotic treatment across entire coral colonies helped prevent tissue loss.

Kelly Pitts, a research technician with the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce, Fla., and co-lead author of the study, applies a paste containing probiotic strain McH1-7 with a syringe directly onto the disease lesion of an SCTLD-infected great star coral (Montaststraea cavernosa) colony. The paste was then smoothed flat with a gloved hand so that all apparently infected tissue was covered by the lesion-specific treatment.

The research team conducted field tests on a shallow reef near Fort Lauderdale. They focused on 40 M. cavernosa colonies that displayed signs of SCTLD. Some of the corals received a paste containing McH1-7 that was applied directly onto disease lesions. Other corals were treated with a solution of seawater containing McH1-7.

Credit

Hunter Noren.

Journal

Frontiers in Marine Science

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2025.1480966 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Evaluating the effectiveness of field-based probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease in southeast Florida, USA

Article Publication Date

5-Jun-2025

 

TU Graz study: front brake lights could significantly reduce the number of road accidents

Reconstructions of accidents at road junctions revealed in a study that an additional brake light at the front of the vehicle would have prevented up to 17 per cent of collisions

Graz University of Technology

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Front brake lights light up green instead of red and can be easily integrated into the design of vehicles.

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Credit: Illustration TU Graz

The idea of the front brake light has been around for some time, but no vehicle manufacturer has as yet implemented it. A research team led by Ernst Tomasch from the Institute of Vehicle Safety at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in collaboration with the Bonn Institute for Legal and Traffic Psychology (BIRVp) has now analysed their effect on road safety in an accident reconstruction study. The analysis of 200 real accidents at road junctions showed that – depending on the reaction time of road users – 7.5 to 17 per cent of collisions would have been prevented by an additional brake light on the front of the vehicle. In up to a quarter of cases, the lights also would have reduced the speed of the impact and thus mitigated injuries. The results of the study were recently published in the scientific journal Vehicles.

Shorter reaction time

Front brake lights signal to oncoming road users and, to a certain extent to road users approaching from the side, that a vehicle is braking and, if the front brake lights go out, that a stationary vehicle could start moving. “This visual signal can significantly reduce the reaction time of other road users,” says Ernst Tomasch. “This reduces the distance needed to stop and ultimately the likelihood of an accident.”

As vehicles with front brake lights have so far only been used in real road traffic as part of a field test in Slovakia, the researchers had to resort to a combination of accident reconstruction and simulation. They used 200 car accidents at Austrian road junctions recorded in the Central Database for In-Depth Accident Study (CEDATU). Firstly, the sequence of events of all accidents was reconstructed in detail. The researchers then simulated the events again, assuming that the vehicles coming from subordinate roads were equipped with a front brake light. If the front brake light was visible to road users on the priority road, a faster reaction was assumed in the simulation, as a result of which the distance needed to stop was reduced. From the differences between real accidents and simulations, the researchers drew conclusions about the accident-prevention effect.

Brake lights also on the sides

Front brake lights light up green instead of red and can be easily integrated into the design of vehicles. Existing vehicles could also be retrofitted relatively cheaply. “However, front brake lights only have a positive effect if other road users can actually see them. This was not the case in around a third of the reconstructed accidents due to the unfavourable angle between the vehicles involved,” says Ernst Tomasch. “We therefore recommend fitting the brake lights to the sides of the vehicles as well and investigating the potential additional effect.”

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Journal

Vehicles

DOI

10.3390/vehicles7020040 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Assessment of the Potential of a Front Brake Light to Prevent Crashes and Mitigate the Consequences of Crashes at Junctions

Trump’s Palantir-Powered Surveillance Is Turning America Into a Digital Prison

by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead / June 4th, 2025

Call it what it is: a panopticon presidency.

President Trump’s plan to fuse government power with private surveillance tech to build a centralized, national citizen database is the final step in transforming America from a constitutional republic into a digital dictatorship armed with algorithms and powered by unaccountable, all-seeing artificial intelligence.

This isn’t about national security. It’s about control.

According to news reports, the Trump administration is quietly collaborating with Palantir Technologies—the data-mining behemoth co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel—to construct a centralized, government-wide surveillance system that would consolidate biometric, behavioral, and geolocation data into a single, weaponized database of Americans’ private information.

This isn’t about protecting freedom. It’s about rendering freedom obsolete.

What we’re witnessing is the transformation of America into a digital prison—one where the inmates are told we’re free while every move, every word, every thought is monitored, recorded, and used to assign a “threat score” that determines our place in the new hierarchy of obedience.

The tools enabling this all-seeing surveillance regime are not new, but under Trump’s direction, they are being fused together in unprecedented ways, with Palantir at the center of this digital dragnet.

Palantir, long criticized for its role in powering ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and predictive policing, is now poised to become the brain of Trump’s surveillance regime.

Under the guise of “data integration” and “public safety,” this public-private partnership would deploy AI-enhanced systems to comb through everything from facial recognition feeds and license plate readers to social media posts and cellphone metadata, cross-referencing it all to assess a person’s risk to the state.

This isn’t speculative. It’s already happening.

Palantir’s Gotham platform, used by law enforcement and military agencies, has long been the backbone of real-time tracking and predictive analysis. Now, with Trump’s backing, it threatens to become the central nervous system of a digitally enforced authoritarianism.

As Palantir itself admits, its mission is to “augment human decision-making.” In practice, that means replacing probable cause with probability scores, courtrooms with code, and due process with data pipelines.

In this new regime, your innocence will be irrelevant. The algorithm will decide who you are.

To understand the full danger of this moment, we must trace the long arc of government surveillance—from secret intelligence programs like COINTELPRO and the USA PATRIOT Act to today’s AI-driven digital dragnet embodied by data fusion centers.

Building on this foundation of historical abuse, the government has evolved its tactics, replacing human informants with algorithms and wiretaps with metadata, ushering in an age where pre-crime prediction is treated as prosecution.

Every smartphone ping, GPS coordinate, facial scan, online purchase, and social media like becomes part of your “digital exhaust”—a breadcrumb trail of metadata that the government now uses to build behavioral profiles. The FBI calls it “open-source intelligence.” But make no mistake: this is dragnet surveillance, and it is fundamentally unconstitutional.

Already, government agencies are mining this data to generate “pattern of life” analyses, flag “radicalized” individuals, and preemptively investigate those who merely share anti-government views.

This is not law enforcement. This is thought-policing by machine, the logical outcome of a system that criminalizes dissent and deputizes algorithms to do the targeting.

Nor is this entirely new.

For decades, the federal government has reportedly maintained a highly classified database known as Main Core, designed to collect and store information on Americans deemed potential threats to national security.

As Tim Shorrock reported for Salon, “One former intelligence official described Main Core as ‘an emergency internal security database system’ designed for use by the military in the event of a national catastrophe, a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law.”

Trump’s embrace of Palantir, and its unparalleled ability to fuse surveillance feeds, social media metadata, public records, and AI-driven predictions, marks a dangerous evolution: a modern-day resurrection of Main Core, digitized, centralized, and fully automated.

What was once covert contingency planning is now becoming active policy.

What has emerged is a surveillance model more vast than anything dreamed up by past regimes—a digital panopticon in which every citizen is watched constantly, and every move is logged in a government database—not by humans, but by machines without conscience, without compassion, and without constitutional limits.

This is not science fiction. This is America—now.

As this technological tyranny expands, the foundational safeguards of the Constitution—those supposed bulwarks against arbitrary power—are quietly being nullified and its protections rendered meaningless.

What does the Fourth Amendment mean in a world where your entire life can be searched, sorted, and scored without a warrant? What does the First Amendment mean when expressing dissent gets you flagged as an extremist? What does the presumption of innocence mean when algorithms determine guilt?

The Constitution was written for humans, not for machine rule. It cannot compete with predictive analytics trained to bypass rights, sidestep accountability, and automate tyranny.

And that is the endgame: the automation of authoritarianism. An unblinking, AI-powered surveillance regime that renders due process obsolete and dissent fatal.

Still, it is not too late to resist—but doing so requires awareness, courage, and a willingness to confront the machinery of our own captivity.

Make no mistake: the government is not your friend in this. Neither are the corporations building this digital prison. They thrive on your data, your fear, and your silence.

To resist, we must first understand the weaponized AI tools being used against us.

We must demand transparency, enforce limits on data collection, ban predictive profiling, and dismantle the fusion centers feeding this machine.

We must treat AI surveillance with the same suspicion we once reserved for secret police. Because that is what AI-powered governance has become—secret police, only smarter, faster, and less accountable.

We don’t have much time.

Trump’s alliance with Palantir is a warning sign—not just of where we are, but of where we’re headed. A place where freedom is conditional, rights are revocable, and justice is decided by code.

The question is no longer whether we’re being watched—that is now a given—but whether we will meekly accept it. Will we dismantle this electronic concentration camp, or will we continue building the infrastructure of our own enslavement?

As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if we trade liberty for convenience and privacy for security, we will find ourselves locked in a prison we helped build, and the bars won’t be made of steel. They will be made of data.

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John W. Whitehead, constitutional attorney and author, is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He wrote the book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015). He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Read other articles by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead

Introduction to Michel Foucault, Module on Panoptic and Carceral Culture

 

When the Strategy of Words Fights the Strategy of Force, Who Wins the War

by John Helmer / June 4th, 2025

On the one hand, there are the words.

In the analysis of  Oleg Tsarev, the leading Ukrainian opposition leader now in Crimea, the end-of-war terms presented by the Russian side at Istanbul on Monday afternoon  are “’not an ultimatum at all,’ [Russian delegation head Vladimir] Medinsky has stressed. Of course, Medinsky (lead image, left) is right. This proposal is not an ultimatum, but only a requirement for the complete and unconditional surrender of Zelensky.”

On the other hand, there is the force.

Moscow military blogger reports and the Defense Ministry bulletin on the battlefield operations of Monday indicate little change in the volume of Russian drone attacks, the Ukrainian casualties, and territorial gains around the May average. In fact, Monday’s casualty rate was fractionally below Sunday’s.    While the Russian Army continues its westward advance along each of the five army group directions, there has been no resumption of the Russian electric war campaign. There has also been no reply to the Ukrainian operation of June 1 striking the  strategic bomber airfields at Murmansk, Irkutsk, Amur, Ryazan and Ivanovo, and the bridge and railway attacks at Kursk and Bryansk. “I hope”, commented Boris Rozhin, author of the influential Colonel Cassad  military blog, “that the military-political leadership will find a way to adequately respond. The blow should be painful… As long as we are waging a limited war, the enemy is waging a total war, the purpose of which is the destruction of our country and people. And no peace talks will change this. The longer it is in coming, the more unpleasant surprises.”

On the one hand, at the Çırağan Palace on June 1, there was the meeting of 12 Russian negotiators (unchanged from the first meeting) with 14 Ukrainian negotiators  (minor  changes ) for just over one hour. The Russian delegation leader, Vladimir Medinsky, then briefed the press for nine minutes.  He followed the press briefing by Rustem Umerov (lead image, right) for the Ukrainian side, also reading from a notepaper like Medinsky.   Umerov, the Ukrainian Defense Minister, was the nominal delegation leader but outranked by Andrei Yermak, the chief policymaker for Vladimir Zelensky in the presidential office. Yermak told the press: “The Russians are doing everything not to cease fire and continue the war. New sanctions are very important now. Rationality is not about Russia.”

On the other hand, before the three o’clock session Medinsky met in private with the nominal head of the Ukrainian delegation, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, for two and a half hours. There has been no disclosure of who also attended on each side and what was said, except that, according to Tass, “this predetermined the effective course of further negotiations.”

This fatuity cannot conceal that real negotiations had taken place.  But the realities on the ground had already overtaken the agenda, as leading Moscow security analyst Yevgeny Krutikov points out. Because the Russian side had already received the Ukrainian term sheet on May 28, and the Russian term sheet was drafted before the Sunday rail, bridge and airfield attacks, “those two memorandums…no longer correspond to the changed realities, but they will have to be discussed, because this was announced in advance, this agenda cannot be abandoned… so the main task of the Russian delegation is to translate the negotiations into a constructive course, if there is any possibility.”

On the one hand, in Moscow on Monday President Vladimir Putin had just one official meeting in the morning; this was with Maria Lvova-Belova to discuss Children’s Day and the welfare of orphans across the country.

On the other hand, in Washington President Donald Trump’s schedule for the day was empty except for lunch, which he ate at one o’clock.   He has issued no tweet or press statement on Russia and President Putin since May 27 when Trump announced: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Interpreted in the warfighting context, as it must be, Trump was saying that the US, including its European allies and the Kiev regime, is holding escalation dominance and intends to keep it. This means the firepower to decide what happens to Russia next without being deterred by anything Russia says or does. The “fire”, Trump meant, he intends to keep for the US and its allies in the European war.  The “fire” doesn’t and won’t belong to Russia – Trump means to deter Putin from “playing” with it.

Calling the five airfield strikes terrorism rather than acts of war; dating the operational plan to the Biden Administration, not to Trump; minimizing the physical damage, cost, and number of Tupolev bombers hit; unravelling the logistical details from source of explosives to drone launch; and faulting Russian internal security and airbase defence – these details, comments a well-informed Moscow source, are “beside the point. The reality of this is on Putin. So what did he tell Lavrov to tell Trump through Rubio on Sunday night? What did he tell Medinsky to tell Umerov and Yermak for Zelensky on Monday afternoon? This is now simple strategic either/or and yes or no – no more operational tit for tat. Either Putin told Trump to order de-escalation, or Russia will escalate and destroy the enemy’s capabilities to fight on. This is the Oreshnik moment.”

A western military source responds: “I’ve read the [Russian] terms from beginning to end but I can’t find a correlation between them and what we’re seeing, full spectrum, on the battlefield. Either Putin releases the General Staff to assert escalation dominance now, or there is no point in continuing negotiations on the memorandums and term sheets, no point in ceasefires, no point at all in meeting Trump or letting him grandstand for peace. The discipline, if I can call it that, of the Russian warfighters is unrealistic.”

June 1 — here is the map of the Ukrainian strikes against the Russian nuclear bomber force:

Anticipation of an attack on these airbases, where the nuclear-capable Tupolev-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers are parked in the open to comply with Russia-US treaty inspection requirements, was published in this US source in April 2024. The satellite imagery of the five airfields and their bomber and tanker aircraft since the Sunday strikes which have been published so far does not substantiate the Ukrainian damage claims. Analysis by Oleg Tsarev of reports in Kiev of competition between the military intelligence agency GUR, headed by Kirill Budanov, and Vasily Maslyuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), suggests the former was in charge of the railway attacks in Kursk and Bryansk, while the SBU was responsible for the airfield operation. “Many write that behind the attack on the strategic airbases are the British. Possibly but unlikely – the GUR in Ukraine is under the MI6 while the SBU is under the CIA. These agencies compete fiercely…The consequences of competition between the GUR and the SBU will have far-reaching consequences.”

June 2 — Follow the timeline and the details of the daylong proceedings in Istanbul reported by  the state press agency, RIA Novosti.

This source also revealed that an hour and a half before the main session began, the Ukrainian delegation had “met with the representatives of Germany, Italy and the UK and coordinated positions.”

Western and Ukrainian media reports indicate this meeting was at deputy ranking level, not at the level of principals.  It is unclear, so far unreported, who represented the US and France following General Keith Kellogg’s announcement last week that “we’ll have what we call the E3 with us, that is the national security advisors from Germany, France, and Great Britain.”   The British representative yesterday, for example, was Nicholas Catsaras, nor Jonathan Powell who was at the first Istanbul round on May 16.

No name and country identifications have been published by these sources of the deputy officials in their Istanbul meeting photograph. Sources: https://x.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1929512752793432076 and https://x.com/SpoxUkraineMFA/status/1929474274865115430

This downgrade on the western side, in parallel with the secretive Medinsky-Umerov talks, and the absence of Rubio as US national security advisor and Kellogg as Trump’s negotiator indicate there was preliminary understanding that nothing more significant would take place than public exchange of term sheets; announcement of agreement on a new and large exchange of prisoners and corpses; and the names of children Kiev is claiming for return.

Umerov has intimated that the June 2 session was little more than a mail drop and PR show. “Our teams will have a week to study the documents, after which we will be able to coordinate further steps”, he reportedly said, according to Moscow press reports. The third round is proposed by the Ukrainians between June 20 and 30.

Umerov is also reported as telling reporters in Istanbul: “If the Russians were ready for a ceasefire, their planes would not have been blown up. Russian journalists asked Umerov questions about the passenger train blown up in the Bryansk region, but he ignored them.”

The principals in the Russian delegation include Alexander Fomin (2rd from left, Defense Ministry),  Igor Kostyukov (GRU), Vladimir Medinsky (Kremlin), and Mikhail Galuzin (Foreign Ministry).

Here is the full verbatim text of the Russian term sheet published in Istanbul as “Proposals of the Russian Federation (Memorandum) on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”

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John Helmer is an Australian-born journalist and foreign correspondent based in Moscow, Russia since 1989. He has served as an adviser to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia, and has also worked as professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. Read other articles by John, or visit John's website.

In the US capital, a growing Jain community now has its own 'White House'

BELTSVILLE, Md. (RNS) — The new temple, say Jain leaders, will dually serve the community's growing needs while also sharing what the Jain religion is all about with the larger DC community.

People attend the Param Pratishtha, or inauguration ceremony, of the new Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington temple complex in Beltsville, Md., Sunday, June 1, 2025. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)

Richa Karmarkar
June 2, 2025

BELTSVILLE, Md. (RNS) — After more than a decade of grassroots fundraising efforts, the Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington has officially opened a new community temple complex — a $14 million white marble marvel located just 15 minutes away from the nation’s capital.

“You will see a theme here: White is our color,” said Rahul Jain, longtime devotee and head of public relations for the 45-year-old organization. “Everything is white, which symbolizes peace. This Jain center will become a symbol of peace in Washington, D.C.”

On the weekend of May 31, thousands of Jain Americans from the capital region and beyond gathered in celebration of the temple’s Param Pratishtha — the inauguration ceremony in which divine essence is officially infused into the worship space. Dressed in the sacred colors of yellow and white, families chanted and chatted with loved ones, some breaking their fasts on the auspicious occasion.

For 40 years, the community had gathered in a nearby single-family home built in the 1960s, as well as a few elementary school classrooms, to meet its spiritual needs, including a thriving Sunday school program that teaches 170 kids from ages 3 to 16. Though local Hindu temples have offered to include a Jain deity or two in their worship spaces, devotees have not enjoyed ample space to practice the vastly diverse Jain temple traditions.

An upgrade was past due, say the Jains.

“This Jain society started with 25 families in 1980 and now has grown to over 700 families in 2025,” said Pavan Zaveri, an Ohio-born Jain and one of the co-founders of Young Jains of America. “That kind of growth is exactly what we’ve seen all across the country, with the amount of engagement, inspiration, connection growing exponentially. Getting together in this new Jain temple will help increase our spirituality within ourselves, as well as across the community.”

A newly installed flag and flagpole are displayed at the Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington temple complex in Beltsville, Md., Sunday, June 1, 2025. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)

RELATED: Jain Americans adapt Thanksgiving by applying an ethic of nonviolence even to the turkey

Jainism, a Dharmic tradition born in sixth century India, revolves around three key tenets: non-violence, non-materialism and the belief that truth is multifaceted. Jains, who strive to minimize harm to all living beings, adopt strict vegetarian diets and engage in practices such as ritual fasting and meditation based on the Scriptures and guidance of 24 Tirthankaras, or spiritual teachers who have reached enlightenment. Jains also reject the idea of a creator god, emphasizing instead the karmic consequences of one’s actions and personal responsibility.

The group is a small minority both in India and the U.S., with about 200,000 American Jains. But according to Manoj Jain of the umbrella organization JAINA, Jains have long been making plans to increase their sphere of influence.

“We’re looking at how we can promote Jainism in North America, and how Jain values — which translate into vegetarianism, compassion, forgiveness — can be shared in a broader context,” said Jain, who is the chair of JAINA’s long-range planning committee. “This temple is a great way of doing that. You need a physical space that will allow people to gather and share common values, and then also to be able to show it to Americans overall.”

Rahul Jain said the temple’s location was strategic for a community seeking to shape national policy on better food labeling for vegetarians, to improve school lunch programs for Jain students, who do not consume onion or garlic, as harvesting root vegetables may cause harm. In addition, said Jain, the Maryland temple will serve as a meeting point for political leaders from India and beyond.

“In order to do that, to bring in political leaders, we wanted a space that can make a mark, as well as show them that this is a strong community,” said Jain, a partner in a consulting firm. “Jains are known for being one of the richest communities in India, and that’s no different here. It’s not foreign to anybody what the Indian community is doing for U.S. business. It’s helping them grow. How can Jains contribute? We bring ethical practices to business.”

People attend the Param Pratishtha, or inauguration ceremony, of the new Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington temple complex in Beltsville, Md., Sunday, June 1, 2025. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)

The project was conceived in 2008 and bought land in 2010, but the team, none of whom had built a temple from scratch before, did not break ground until 2019. Then they were immediately derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other obstacles included zoning laws, intercontinental shipping hiccups and increased building fees. Members of the community who had started in Sunday school in 2008 had gone to college by the time it was finished.

Creating a house of worship for a variety of Jains, say community leaders, was a challenge because three of the largest sects of Jainism — Śvetāmbara, Digambara and Sthānakavāsī — practice differently, with different images of the divine. Sthānakavāsī Jains, for instance, don’t believe in the concept of idols at all.

“This is a remarkable demonstration of how we have come together to keep everything under the same roof,” said Parthav Jailwala, who serves on the temple’s public relations committee. “It’s a very rare project where three big sanghs (communities) came together for a purpose and made it happen.”

In addition, as most gurus in the Jain tradition take a vow to travel by foot, it was almost impossible to find any who would come to lead prayers in the U.S.

But it’s “divine energy that keeps us going,” said Jailwala. “People who are more religious will call it divine energy, but it’s essentially a community drive. It’s a community spirit that we got to do something, and engaging your mind and driving everyone towards one goal.”

Community members have shown up rain or shine at emergency moments throughout the three years of active construction. Jailwala has seen a grandfather who helped found the first temple in 1989 brought to tears by his now-29-year-old grandson’s pledge of $50,000 to the new temple. Kids and teens have emptied their piggy banks, while families have been moved to drop their gold and diamond jewelry and cash into donation boxes.

Rahul Jain, from left, daughter Sara, and wife Sarita. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)

These out-of-pocket donations are all a testament, say those involved, to the non-detachment that Jains carry in their hearts. Even non-Jain construction workers on the project, said Rahul Jain, “formally shed some of their karma. Essentially, once you shed all your karma, you are eligible to achieve moksha,” or enlightenment.

Sunday’s celebration marked the end of the first phase of building. The next will add more classrooms, a large kitchen and multipurpose meeting hall, along with a museum with exhibits sharing Jainism’s legacy.

Rahul’s 23-year-old daughter, a medical student named Sara, said the temple opening surprised many of the youth who have come through the society’s patshala over the years. “They’d always say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna build a new temple!'” said Sara. “And we’d say, ‘yeah, maybe when we’re your age.'”

But for Sara Jain, a member of the Young Jains of America organization, “the kids are really lucky to have some place to actually call their own.”

“The teenagers have already found their photo spot out there, and the kids have already found the best places to hide inside,” she said. “When you come back from college or wherever you end up going, and you come back here, you’ll remember all of those things. I didn’t expect to care, but I’ve cried six times today.”

People attend the Param Pratishtha, or inauguration ceremony, of the new Jain Society of Metropolitan Washington temple complex in Beltsville, Md., Sunday, June 1, 2025. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)

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