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A stunning electoral upset just lost President Donald Trump the "biggest prize" — as his allies abroad topple, a political expert told Raw Story on Monday. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's runoff victory Sunday against Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right son of a former president imprisoned for staging a coup, delivered a stinging blow to Trump's plans, Berea College Professor Carlos G. Poggio told Raw Story. "Lula’s victory represents a significant defeat for Donald Trump and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio," Poggio, a Brazilian political scientist, said in an email. "Brazil was the biggest prize in the conservative tide sweeping Latin America." The defeats for Trump are numerous and multifaceted — they span from the U.S. to Latin America and China and hit his power, and his wallet, Poggio argued. Bolsonaro, 45, had aligned himself with Trump by pledging to mine the Amazon rainforest for critical mineral deposits, which would ease U.S. dependence on Chinese rare earth exports, limited in 2025 in response to Trump's tariffs. Trump would also have had the support of Latin America's largest economy with a GDP of $2.65 trillion, according to data collected by independent statisticians at Worldometer, and the power such money can access. "A Flávio Bolsonaro government would likely have become Trump’s most important regional ally, supporting the Trump administration’s security agenda and closer U.S. access to Brazil’s critical minerals," Poggio said. That may be why the Bolsonaro family have had help from two officials from within Trump's State department since 2025, as a Reuters report revealed earlier this month. The officials, Darren Beattie and Ricardo Pita, first tried to reinstate former President Jair Bolsonaro, ousted in 2022 and charged after attempting a coup that reportedly involved plans to assassinate Lula. Then in September 2025, when Jair Bolsonaro received a 27-year sentence for leading the coup attempt, the pair pivoted to his son, according to the report. Both men advocated for punitive measures to weaken Lula, including the designation of Brazilian gangs as terrorist groups and the imposition of sanctions against the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice who led investigations into Jair Bolsonaro, Reuters reported.Meanwhile, Flávio Bolsonaro promised to seek amnesty for his father and the rioters who supported him, as well as impeachments for the Supreme Court justices who jailed them, according to the New York Times.But Lula stood up to Trump, refusing to drop coup charges against the elder Bolsonaro. While this act of resistance garnered Lula some support, it was not strong enough to win his initial contest against Bolsonaro earlier this month. The Brazilian incumbent won only 45 percent of the vote to Bolsonaro's 47 percent, triggering a runoff as neither met the nation's 50 percent requirement for victory. Poggio believes this initial defeat worked in the favor of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)or Workers Party, and Lula, who won on Sunday by 4 million votes."Flávio Bolsonaro’s lead encouraged some complacency among supporters who believed the election was largely won," Poggio said. "Lula’s defeat instead generated urgency: the PT reactivated its grassroots organization, while unions, social movements, artists, intellectuals and civil-society figures turned the runoff into a broader mobilization against the return of bolsonarismo."That grassroots organization moved fast to deliver what Poggio described as "a concrete economic message" from Lula.Brazilians were promised a "pacote de bondades” or “goodies package” that included a 15 percent increase in Bolsa Família, a financial aid program for Brazil's lower income citizens, as well as fuel-tax reductions, debt relief and education and transportation initiatives, Poggio said.All the while, Bolsonaro struggled to present an equally strong counterpoint, said Poggio."He promised to maintain or expand Bolsa Família and other popular programs associated with Lula, while retreating from some unpopular positions," said Poggio. "This allowed Lula to argue that voters could preserve social protections without accepting the political and institutional risks associated with the Bolsonaro family’s return."Brazilian voters were not alone last week in rejecting the risks involved with a Trump ally's leadership. In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić lost control of his government to a group of academics, professionals and public figures who call themselves the Student List and protested their government's increasingly authoritarian measures. And in April, Hungary's leader Viktor Orbán — an autocrat and staunch Trump supporter — was thrown from power in a popular vote.On Tuesday, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu faces the possibility of joining Bolsonaro, Vučić and Orban's ranks as he bids for reelection amid wars in Gaza and Iran that Trump is also involved in.Left-leaning leaders across the world were celebrating Lula's victory Monday.Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum called it a win for democracy and the people of Brazil. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez replied to the news, "The global progressive resurgence has just begun."Poggio concurs the Brazilian vote will serve as a vital check. "Lula’s victory interrupts that rightward momentum and preserves Brazil as a counterweight to Washington," he said, "committed to multilateralism, regional autonomy and relations with the Global South."

Rubio’s decision not to meet Narendra Modi last week was seen by some as a snub – but by focusing on business leaders and oil, the secretary of state made American priorities clear. Plus: the artist bringing a female perspective to men’s clothing• Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWhen the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, visited India for the second time this year, headlines concentrated on who he met and where he went.The fact that Rubio bypassed New Delhi and did not meet the prime minister, Narendra Modi, during his trip last week, and instead traveled to the financial capital, Mumbai, where he met India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (pictured top with Rubio), and business leaders, did not go unnoticed. Nor did his decision to travel to Jamnagar, the small Gujarati town that is home to Reliance Industries’ colossal oil refinery complex. Continue reading...

Lack of profits and the threat posed by western countries are raising concern about the sustainability of Beijing’s AI boomTrillions of dollars have been wiped from China’s stock markets in recent months amid increasing anxiety about the future of artificial intelligence, as Beijing races against the United States for dominance in the sector.The STAR 50 Index, which tracks technology and innovation companies on the Shanghai stock exchange, has plunged 40% since June. Other indexes of major companies dropped by about 20% over the same time period. Continue reading...

US military says the restrictions on the electric vehicles at Kadena airbase also apply to delivery drivers and taxisOne of America’s biggest overseas military bases has banned vehicles made by the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD over security concerns, the US military in Japan said on Tuesday.The ban, which went into effect this week at Kadena airbase on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, has fueled speculation that similar measures could be taken at other US military facilities as part of Washington’s crackdown on Chinese technology it suspects of being used to collect sensitive information. Continue reading...

Kim Aris tells the Guardian chance to speak with detained Nobel laureate was ‘public relations’ move from military leadersMyanmar’s former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be in good physical and mental health but is living in near-complete isolation, her son has said after the first call with his 81-year-old mother in more than five years.“She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong,” Kim Aris said. “I don’t think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her, so essentially she’s been held in solitary confinement from what I gather.” Continue reading...

Elon Musk acknowledged that SpaceX changed how Ukraine's military can use Starlink and followed it with a stark warning about the war.In a lengthy post on X Saturday, the billionaire accused Ukrainian forces of violating Starlink's terms of service by using the satellite internet system "for offensive drone strikes to kill people" before announcing, "That loophole was closed last week."Musk then made clear how much rides on the service. "Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately," he wrote. "This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact."He argued Starlink "remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now," and credited it with "preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war." "SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR," Musk wrote.Musk drew a distinction between Starlink, which he called "a civilian commercial service," and Starshield, "a different system" that he said is controlled by the U.S. government. "What they decide to do is up to them," he wrote.Then he turned on his critics. "I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict," Musk wrote. "May you burn in hell. End of story."The post, which racked up more than 1.5 million views, came in response to an account insisting Starlink is not a weapons system.Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko pushed back hard on Musk's version of events. "As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true," he wrote, noting that "whitelists were introduced" in February.Others piled on. The account for MeidasTouch called it "a deranged post" in which Musk "openly acknowledges that SpaceX recently restricted Ukraine's ability to use Starlink." Shaun Pinner, a British veteran who fought for Ukraine and was held captive by Russian forces, replied simply, "What absolute crap."Singer Marco Foster, an executive producer at Really American who posts political clips on his popular X account, turned Musk's words around by suggesting the "warmongers" jab was "obviously referring to genocidal b— Vladimir Putin."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly invited Cubans to work with the CIA on Friday, and the reaction across the political spectrum was immediate.“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time,” Rubio wrote on X. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.”A few hours later, the CIA’s official account posted the same message in Spanish. It included a video ending with the words “Contacte a la CIA” (“Contact the CIA”).Many people were stunned that the message was public at all.“Rubio is just putting this out on main,” wrote Ryan Grim, a reporter at Drop Site News and co-host of “Breaking Points.”Ben Rhodes, who was deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote that “‘Please help us coup’ is a logical endpoint to Rubio’s worldview.”Some on the left said the post confirmed what they’d long argued about U.S. policy toward Latin America.“Good to see the State Dept lifting the mask of diplomacy and exposing itself as cover for malign CIA destabilization ops aimed at installing puppet governments,” wrote Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone.Journalist Ben Norton, editor of Geopolitical Economy Report, called Rubio a “warmonger” who is “publicly asking Cubans to help the CIA organize a coup attempt.”“The US empire used to organize its many coups in secret,” Norton wrote. “Now it puts job postings for treasonous CIA coup-plotters on Twitter.”Australian writer Caitlin Johnstone predicted that anyone who later blames the CIA for unrest in Cuba will “STILL get called a crazy conspiracy theorist” after the agency said it “right out in the open.”Plenty of Trump allies loved it.“Cuba Libre!” wrote Monica Crowley, a longtime Trump ally and former administration official.“‘Create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA,’” wrote conservative national security commentator David Reaboi. “I want the t-shirt.”Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich responded with a pair of eyes emojis.Jacob Creech, a pro-Trump influencer who posts as “Clandestine,” tied the post to a recent comment from President Donald Trump about Cuba.“Yup, that comment from Trump about Cuba was not an accident,” Creech wrote. “We are going to be cleansing Cuba, which has been a Deep State/CIA hotspot for decades.”The State Department and the CIA didn’t specifically say what kind of “partnership” they were offering.

A gas venture that came up in President Donald Trump's Ukraine peace talks had a hidden backer, according to its former boss.Polar LNG, a startup pitching a plan to export natural gas from Alaska's North Slope, received secret funding from Russian energy giant Novatek, The New York Times reported Friday. Joel Riddle, who ran the company until he resigned in September, told the Times he was misled into believing the money came from a firm in the United Arab Emirates.Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the project last month with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, people familiar with the negotiations told the Times. White House officials see energy deals like it as a way to smooth relations with Moscow."It's not only unlawful, but it's not in the U.S. interest," Riddle told the Times. Novatek, which is under partial U.S. sanctions, was already set to supply the project's technology.Text messages reviewed by the Times show Novatek deputy chairman Denis Solovyov and chief executive Leonid Mikhelson discussed sending as much as $15 million to Polar LNG's Abu Dhabi parent company, Tech Wave, to keep the effort going. "The first 5 million were supposed to arrive by today," Solovyov wrote to Riddle in early September.In a statement to the Times, Novatek said it was moving to become a "minority shareholder" in the project. Polar LNG named Tim Talkington acting chief executive and called Riddle a "disgruntled former employee" who was fired for cause. Documents obtained by the Times show Riddle resigned six days before the company sent him a termination letter.Memos from law firm Baker Botts, attached to Riddle's resignation letter, said Treasury Department sanctions enforcers had flagged "potential Russia-related sanctions concerns." Recent sanctions legislation specifically targets Novatek, but Trump temporarily waived the law's Russia sanctions last week, saying the move was needed to keep peace talks alive.The push to bring Novatek equipment to Alaska also involved Gentry Beach, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. who said in February he had negotiated with the Russian company. A spokesman for Trump Jr. said the two are no longer close, and Novatek said Beach played no role in its talks over a Polar LNG stake.There is no indication Witkoff or Kushner knew about Polar LNG's ties to Novatek, the Times reported. Still, Geoffrey Pyatt, a former State Department energy official under President Joe Biden, warned the idea "feeds the belief that Putin can get an out-of-jail-free card."Riddle said he and two other departing executives warned the Trump administration about the Russian financing and urged officials to investigate. The Energy Department did not respond to the Times."I felt like I did the right thing to notify authorities at the appropriate time," Riddle said.