Colombian Mercenary Pipeline Funnels South American Fighters To Ukraine's Frontlines

 Bombardment stopped mid-last week with what appears to be an energy ceasefire in place between Ukraine and Russia (probably should thank President Trump), but the only issue with that is that both sides are likely stockpiling missiles and amassing drones, which only suggests that after the ceasefire breaks, bombardment of the energy-starved city will accelerate.

Not only is it freezing in Kiev right now, much of the power grid has been decimated, requiring the local government to supply portable generators to government buildings, businesses, and multi-family units, while much of the city is dark after Russia hit Kiev's critical infrastructure with missiles and drones.

Our focus shifts from Kiev's power crisis that has plunged hundreds of thousands into the dark to reports indicating a Colombian-linked recruitment pipeline supplying South American fighters, reportedly numbering in the thousands, to Ukrainian frontline units.

We spoke with a Ukrainian-based war journalist on the condition of anonymity, who feeds major corporate media outlets. They confirmed reports that Colombian mercenaries numbered in the thousands, and the ones injured in combat on the modern battlefield hang out outside one of the major hospitals in the downtown district.

Besides the journalist, corroborating open-source media reporting, such as The Kyiv Independent, dropped a new report titled "Why Colombian volunteers are joining war in Ukraine."

The Colombians are allegedly receiving at least $3,000 per month to fight, many multiples of what they would be paid in the South American country.

Here's more color from The Kyiv Independent:

Colombians, many shaped by decades of armed conflict at home, have become one of the largest groups of foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Kyiv Independent's Jared Goyette speaks with a Colombian volunteer who spent two years fighting in Ukraine.

He explains why he came, how foreign fighters are recruited, and how combat here differs from his previous military experience in Colombia. He also reflects on the challenges faced by foreign volunteers, including discrimination within units, delayed pay, and the personal cost of this choice for his family.

Watch 

The number of recruits from Colombia and other South American countries remains a mystery. But one statistic from German newspaper Die Welt shed a little bit of color, citing sources, the report noted, "According to Ukrainian sources, around 2,000 Colombians have entered the country so far to fight as contract soldiers against Putin's troops."

"Many come without any military experience whatsoever," Die Welt reported, quoting a Ukrainian commander identified by the codename "Musician," who leads an infantry unit under the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

"But there are also some who previously served with the Colombian special forces or the police in Colombia or Brazil, though these are few."

Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently denounced Ukraine's treatment of mercenaries from Colombia.

In a post on X, Petro warned that Colombian mercenaries are being treated as an "inferior race" and "cannon fodder."

He continued:

Ukrainians treat Colombians as an inferior race. I ask the Colombian mercenaries, who are being handled like cannon fodder… to return to the country immediately.

The local Ukrainian journalist confirmed that these Colombian mercenaries have at times been treated poorly, indicating that once they are wounded in battle, government pay stops, with some wounded fighters later seen walking the streets of Kiev.

Open source evidence on X of these mercenaries on the frontlines:

🇨🇴🫂🇺🇦 Colombian volunteers supporting Ukraine 🫡 pic.twitter.com/mNzEhYzbKv

— Intermarium 24 (@intermarium24) January 2, 2025

🇨🇴Colombian volunteers as part of the Ukrainian 🇺🇦49th Separate Assault Battalion «Carpathian Sich» are defending Ukraine from Russian invaders in the Kreminna direction.

A very inspiring video! Take care of yourselves!🫡 pic.twitter.com/ARid92tDya

— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) July 11, 2024

🇨🇴🤝🇺🇦 A volunteer assault company composed of Colombian fighters (around 70 soldiers in total) is operating under the command of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade and is actively engaged in combat on the eastern front. pic.twitter.com/bmA2PUJvxS

— Visioner (@visionergeo) July 28, 2025

And This.  

🇨🇴🇺🇦 Colombian mercenaries eliminaтed in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/D1VLJaIur6

— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) January 27, 2026

Now the question becomes; who is operating this pipeline?

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/colombian-mercenary-pipeline-funnels-south-american-fighters-ukraines-frontlines

Meta and Microsoft: How investors are weighing AI spending v, results

 On the surface, Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) issued similar quarterly updates last week. Both beat expectations with their headline financial figures. Both showed significant growth in key metrics. Both tech giants also revealed aggressive AI spending plans.

But the markets responded in dramatically different ways. Microsoft dropped nearly 10% following its quarterly report. Meta moved by almost 10% in the opposite direction.

How investors responded to these outwardly similar earnings reports sheds light on the way they are weighing a common conundrum in today’s market: heavy AI investment vs. achieving quarterly financial goals. So why did the market respond so differently to the results from META and MSFT?

Starting Points Mattered

Both tech giants delivered earnings beats and revealed substantial AI-related capital expenditure plans. Meta’s fourth-quarter revenues grew about 24% to $59.9 billion, comfortably exceeding the anticipated 21% growth. Earnings per share of $8.88 topped estimates by $0.66.

Microsoft’s fiscal second-quarter results were similarly strong on paper, with adjusted earnings of $4.14 per share beating the $3.92 estimate, while revenue rose 17% year-over-year to $81.27 billion.

When looking at the disparate reaction to the results, part of the explanation lies in where each stock stood heading into earnings season. At the end of 2025, Microsoft was showing a one-year stock advance of 17%. At the same time, Meta was actually down 4% on a one-year basis.

Following the release of the companies’ financial figures, this separation disappeared, with the stock performance converging. Once the dust settled on the post-earnings trading, both META and MSFT showed one-year gains of about 4%.

There’s Growth … And Then There’s Growth

Beyond starting valuations, analysts pointed to fundamental differences in how each company is executing on its core business.

At Meta, the advertising machine showed signs of accelerating. Average revenue per person, also known as ARPP, reached $16.56 in Q4. This was up 16% from the prior year and marked the 10th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in this category. Meanwhile, daily active people across Meta’s Family of Apps rose 7% year-over-year to 3.58 billion, while ad impressions jumped 18% and average price per ad increased 6%.

Turning to Microsoft, its cloud business, while still growing, showed signs of potentially reaching a plateau. Azure revenue grew 38% in constant currency. This technically beat the company’s guidance of 37% but represented a deceleration from 39% growth in the prior quarter.

“The debate … is no longer about demand; it is about capacity timing (and perhaps allocation),” Evercore analysts noted. “While Azure growth at these levels remains impressive and continues to suggest market share gains, capex rose 66% year over year, and investors are increasingly looking for clearer evidence that this elevated investment is translating into incremental Azure acceleration.”

Weighing the Value of AI Spending

Both companies are spending heavily on AI infrastructure, but the market appears more confident in Meta’s approach, at least for now.

Meta’s AI investments are already showing tangible returns in its core advertising business, Jefferies highlighted, noting that Meta’s video generation tools have reached a $10 billion run rate, Instagram Reels watch time increased 30% year-over-year from Q4 optimizations, and model rollouts drove a 24% increase in incremental conversions.

“META gave multiple data points showing AI is driving core flywheel,” Jefferies analysts wrote, raising their price target to $1,000.

Wedbush was similarly enthusiastic: “Ongoing investments across the business, including the infusion of AI capabilities across the company’s ad stack and content recommendation engines, are already driving tangible benefits for the core advertising segment.”

For Microsoft, the picture was cloudier. The company faced supply constraints that limited its ability to fully monetize AI demand.

“Our customer demand continues to exceed our supply,” Microsoft CFO Amy Hood acknowledged during the earnings call. “Therefore, we must balance the need to have our incoming supply better meet growing Azure demand with expanding first-party AI usage across services like M365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot.”

Morgan Stanley removed Microsoft from its “top pick” status, noting that “investor focus has narrowed more tightly towards areas seen as the key indicators of GenAI fitness, namely Azure growth and M365 Commercial Cloud.”

Still, there were also some concerns about Meta's strategy. "Essentially, Meta is going all-in on AI development with the aim to advance its model development to compete with peers like Alphabet's Gemini," Seeking Alpha analyst Michael Del Monte noted in reaction to Meta's report.

He concluded: "I believe this may add substantial risk to performance given Meta's potential dependency on the success of AI development, whereas peer hyperscalers like Google Cloud, Amazon AWS, and Microsoft Azure add value through cloud hosting, with AI development being viewed as an added benefit."

Looking Ahead

Meta guided first-quarter 2026 revenue of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion, well above expectations of $51.4 billion. The company also projected 2026 capital expenditures would rise to a range of $115 billion to $135 billion, while maintaining that operating income would still exceed 2025 levels.

Truist Securities called it “an impressive 1Q guide (+30% growth at midpoint, fastest since 3Q21) reflecting robust ad demand fueled by AI improvements across ad recommendations, monetization, and user engagement.”

Microsoft, meanwhile, guided Azure growth of 37-38% for the next quarter, roughly in line with expectations but not enough to excite investors hoping for acceleration.

RBC Capital maintained its bullish stance on Microsoft, calling it their “top large cap pick” and noting that “MSFT’s AI footprint and cloud growth remain underappreciated.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/meta-and-microsoft-how-investors-are-weighing-ai-spending-vs-results/ar-AA1Vo3hZ

Stanley Richards named to lead Department of Corrections — NYC’s first ex-con commissioner

 Mayor Zohran Mamdani is turning to an ex-con to run NYC’s embattled jail system.

The socialist pol announced five key appointments to his administration during a Bronx press conference Saturday, most notably Stanley Richards, who will become the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the city’s Department of Correction as commissioner.

Richards, who reportedly served jail time in the late 1980s for robbery, previously worked as president of the nonprofit Fortune Society that provides housing and other services for ex-cons. He’s also the DOC’s former deputy commissioner of programs and operations.

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Mayor Mamdani announced that he has named Stanley Richards to lead the Department of Correction — New York City’s first ex-con commissioner.Kevin C Downs for NY Post

Mamdani announced Richards’ appointment less than a week after a federal judge tapped Nicholas Deml, the ex-head honcho of Vermont’s prison system, as an “remediation manager” who’ll run Rikers Island’s scandal-scarred jail complex independent of City Hall.

Mamdani said Richards’ appointment to the $243,171-a-year post is “not merely symbolic” but what he believes is best for city correction officers and detainees.

“I will turn to Stanley as we work to build a city where justice is at the heart of our corrections system, where every Department of Correction employee and incarcerated New Yorker is safe, and where every New Yorker re-enters society seamlessly from corrections,” he said.

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Mayor Zoran Mamdani introduced his new cabinet at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.Kevin C Downs for NY PostRichards, 64, said he thinks it’s time the city’s jail system “turn the page, and we start a new era.”

“Under Mayor Mamdani’s leadership, we will chart a path of hope, healing and transformation,” he boasted.

“His administration made clear that the future of Rikers is not endless confinement, scapegoating or demonizing”

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“Under Mayor Mamdani’s leadership, we will chart a path of hope, healing and transformation,” Richards said. “His administration made clear that the future of Rikers is not endless confinement, scapegoating or demonizing”Kevin C Downs for NY Post
Benny Boscio, president of the Correction of Officers Benevolent Association, said his members have been longed plagued by “false narratives” of being “obstacles of reform” and are willing to work with Stanley – and other city leaders – provided they respect correction officers rights and “understand that their safety and security matters.”

“The jails cannot and will not operate as safely as possible if the concerns of our members are brushed aside,” he said. “It is our hope that Mr. Richards understands that dynamic as he takes on this new role and demonstrates a commitment to putting safety in security before any political ideology”

Mamdani also announced four other top administration appointments Saturday.

Dr. Alister Martin, an emergency surgeon and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, was named commissioner of the city’s Health Department.

Sandra Escamilla-Davies was tapped to head the Department of Youth and Community, while Yesenia Mata will serve as commissioner of the Department of Veterans’ Services, and Vilda Vera Mayuga will head the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/31/us-news/stanley-richards-named-to-lead-department-of-corrections-nycs-first-ex-con-commissioner/

'France: Iran must 'make concessions' to avoid US strikes'

 French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that Tehran must make "major concessions" in an effort to avoid attacks by the United States.

"The United States has put itself in a position to launch a military operation against Iran," Barrot noted in an interview with Liberation. "At the same time, they have proposed negotiations to the regime, which must imperatively seize them, resolve to make major concessions and a radical change of posture," he added.

Furthermore, the French diplomat stressed that Iran should stop being a threat to regional stability and that the Iranian people "must regain their freedom."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/France:-Iran-must-'make-concessions'-to-avoid-US-strikes/65583031

Araghchi 'confident' Iran can reach nuclear deal with US

 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed confidence that Tehran could reach an agreement with the United States on the nuclear program.

"Unfortunately, we have lost our trust [in] the US as a negotiating partner," Araghchi told CNN in an interview published on Sunday. "Let's not talk about impossible things and lose the opportunity to achieve a fair and equitable deal to ensure no nuclear weapons," the Iranian foreign minister disclosed, adding that the deal could potentially be achieved in "a short period."

Araghchi also noted that Tehran would anticipate the lifting of US sanctions against Iran and the right to continue with nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes. He concluded that another war would be "a disaster for everybody."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Araghchi-'confident'-Iran-can-reach-nuclear-deal-with-US/65583046

ICE Buys Warehouse Network To Support Ramped Up Deportation Operations

 The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to convert 23 e-commerce warehouses across the country, primarily in the eastern U.S., into a large-scale network of immigration detention centers aimed at expanding capacity to fulfill the mandate the American people gave President Trump to deport more than one million illegal aliens per year and restore national security. This comes after the Biden-Harris globalist regime collapsed borders and allowed a nation-killing invasion of ten million or more third-worlders.

Bloomberg reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's rapid move to build out a network of warehouses is being fueled by $45 billion from the signature "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." This includes the most recent purchases of a warehouse in Hagerstown, Maryland, and another in Surprise, Arizona, totaling $172 million. A third in El Paso, Texas, will be one of the largest of its kind, with 8,500 beds.

The ICE detention system is only growing larger and larger, with ever-greater numbers of illegals who invaded the nation being deported. The current level of illegals held in detention is at a record of 73,000. To reach a million deportations per year, ICE must have 100,000 detention beds.

Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council, told the outlet that the Trump administration must expand its deportation infrastructure to meet its goal of 1 million per year.

"To reach these kinds of numbers, they'd need to go out into the communities and find people who've been living their lives and been here a long time," Winger said. "They'd have to dramatically increase their presence in communities across the country."

Unhinged leftist Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen called Trump's deportation operations "one of the most obscene, one of the most inhumane, and one of the most illegal operations being carried out by this Trump administration at the Department of Homeland Security and ICE."

"We do not want an ICE facility here in the state of Maryland," Van Hollen told the outlet.

Why is that Van Hollen? Is it the fear that a future voting bloc of illegals will be deported from the Mid-Atlantic region?

However, what Van Hollen doesn't mention is that mass migration policies supported by his own party fuel smuggling networks run by cartels and aided by dark-money funded NGOs. These smuggling networks put migrants at risk of robbery, extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, assault, and exploitation along the way. Thousands have died along the way, but rarely do you hear Democrats raising concern about US-bound smuggling networks, only Trump's deportation program is worse than literal 'Nazis'...

ICE expects to hold between 1,500 and 10,000 detainees in each of these 23 warehouses at a time.

The question that should be asked is why Democrats jeopardized national security by allowing the illegal alien invasion. The answer is political, with the goal of creating a new voting bloc and entrenching long-term one-party dominance under Democratic Party kings and queens.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ice-buys-warehouse-network-support-ramped-deportation-operations

These are criminals in LA, not protesters

 This weekend, what began as a protest in Los Angeles turned into violence.

Not debate. Not a peaceful assembly. Violence.

As you watch the scenes unfold on television, it feels like something that should be
happening in Iran or Afghanistan — not in Los Angeles.

Downtown mobs clashed with federal officers outside the Metropolitan Detention
Center.

Protesters were seen throwing water bottles, bottles, rocks, debris and other objects at federal and assisting law enforcement officers.

This weekend, what began as a protest in Los Angeles turned into violence.AFP via Getty Images

A dumpster was moved into the street and set on fire outside the federal facility.

The image was unmistakable: street chaos aimed directly at the seat of federal authority in the center of America’s second-largest city.

This is happening yesterday and today — not in some unstable foreign capital.

It is happening in Los Angeles, on streets where families work, live and commute.

Yes, many people gathered earlier to protest federal immigration enforcement. That is their constitutional right.

But a violent faction broke off and turned the streets into a confrontation zone where rioters attacked officers, threatened bystanders and destroyed property.

Federal officers were the first on the front line.

They were forced to defend a federal facility as the crowd grew more aggressive and more emboldened.

Local police later moved in to support federal law enforcement efforts to disperse the crowd and arrest the people committing acts of violence and mayhem.

Their role became one of reinforcement after the situation had already deteriorated into open confrontation.

Los Angeles’s sanctuary posture has been treated like a moral badge by its leaders.

But the moment violence erupts — assaults, vandalism, arson, obstruction — the
argument is over. Those are crimes, not political statements.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has drawn the line clearly: “Every American has the right to peacefully protest. What is not constitutionally protected is a right to engage in violence … or to impede federal agents … by assaulting … or obstructing their operations.”

That is not politics.

That is the law, stated plainly.

And yet this weekend is another reminder that Mayor Karen Bass governs by press
release and platitude rather than firm, visible leadership.

Angelenos do not need carefully calibrated messaging when officers are under attack outside a federal facility.

They need leadership.

They need unmistakable condemnation of violence and immediate enforcement that deters the next wave before it forms.

Instead, we get the same pattern: public disorder first, official resolve later.

More reminders of her leadership failures during the unrest from last summer, when the city also struggled to project control.

Weak signals from leadership invite stronger waves of disorder.

When lawlessness appears to go unchecked, the most extreme actors take that as
permission to escalate.

If City Hall will not enforce order early and clearly, then the federal government must protect its own people and property.

President Donald Trump does not need the Insurrection Act to strengthen federal
protection of federal facilities; existing federal authority already provides tools to
safeguard federal property and the people on it.

Los Angeles should not be a battleground between mobs and officers.

It should be a city where the rule of law is not negotiable and public safety is not filtered through political caution.

If Mayor Bass will not draw the bright line between protest and riot, Washington may have to draw it for her.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/31/opinion/criminals-not-protesters/