The Russian invasion of Ukraine is often depicted in the Western media as a bloody stalemate with neither side able to achieve a decisive military breakthrough. While this has been the case for much of the war, there are growing indications that Russia may now be creating the conditions for victory in Ukraine.

For more than a year, Russia has held the battlefield initiative in southern and eastern Ukraine. While Moscow’s territorial gains have been relatively minor, the advances achieved by Putin’s army since late 2023 stand in stark contrast to the virtually static front lines of the previous year. Indeed, according to Germany’s Die Welt, Russian territorial gains during October 2024 were the largest since March 2022.

Russia’s offensive operations have focused on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, with Putin’s troops capturing a number of towns so far this year such as Avdiivka and Vuhledar as they advance toward Pokrovsk. If this trend continues during the coming months, Russia could be poised to complete the conquest of the Donbas during the 2025 campaigning season.

As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox.

The success of Russia’s Donbas campaign owes much to Moscow’s traditional advantages in munitions and manpower, along with an apparent disregard for losses. Russia’s offensive has also benefitted from a number of tactical adaptations including the extremely effective use of glide bombs against Ukrainian defensive positions.

Over the past year, Russian commanders have been able to exploit a growing number of Ukrainian battlefield vulnerabilities. These Ukrainian weaknesses have included ineffective front-line fortifications, persistent troop shortages due to the mismanagement of Ukraine’s mobilization efforts, and extended delays in the delivery of military aid from the United States and Kyiv’s other Western partners.

Ukraine’s military setbacks have forced them to return to the tactics favored during much of the initial fighting in early 2022, which involved trading space for maximum enemy losses. This approach allows the Ukrainian military to impose heavy costs on the advancing Russians, but it also means abandoning any attempts to liberate occupied Ukrainian territories, for the time being at least.

While Russia’s recent offensive operations have not yet produced any decisive breakthroughs, the psychological impact of the advances achieved in recent months cannot be measured in kilometers alone. Crucially, Moscow’s localized successes in the Donbas are gradually undermining morale among the Ukrainian public. Regular reports of fresh Russian gains are also weakening the resolve of Kyiv’s Western partners and bolstering arguments against continued military support for Ukraine.

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The Russian invasion is not going entirely according to plan, of course. US, UK, and European officials have reported that September 2024 was the deadliest month of the entire war for Putin’s troops, with Russia suffering more than one thousand soldiers killed or injured every single day.

Russia has sought to address these catastrophic losses by enticing a steady stream of new recruits with ever larger bounty payments and inflated monthly salaries. The Kremlin is also scouring other branches of the Russian armed forces such as the navy and strategic rocket forces for troops who can be converted into infantry and sent to Ukraine. Most recently, Moscow has persuaded North Korea to provide thousands of additional troops.

The one thing Putin definitely does not want to do is announce another politically risky mobilization. So far, he looks to have found solutions that will allow Russia to maintain its offensive operations in Ukraine without mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians.

As the Russian military gradually gains the upper hand in Ukraine, the Kremlin is also strengthening its position on the international stage by playing on the West’s fears of escalation. In recent months, Putin has openly intimidated Western leaders by threatening to revise Russia’s nuclear doctrine and significantly lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. This latest example of nuclear blackmail has succeeded in derailing Ukrainian efforts to end Western restrictions on deep strikes inside Russia.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now at a critical juncture. Unless steps are taken in the coming few months to reverse today’s negative dynamics, Russia’s advantages will continue to grow until the military situation reaches the point of no return. Ukraine’s needs are well known, and include a significant increase in military aid along with the lifting of restrictions on the use of Western weapons. Above all, it is vital to maintain Ukraine’s fighting capability and impose increasing costs on the Kremlin while convincing Putin that Western support for Kyiv will not waver.

Much will depend on the outcome of the United States presidential election on November 5. Whoever wins the race for the White House, they will inherit a war in Ukraine that requires their urgent attention to prevent a Russian victory that would signal the decline of the West and transform the geopolitical landscape for decades to come.

Mykola Bielieskov is a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and a senior analyst at Ukrainian NGO “Come Back Alive.” The views expressed in this article are the author’s personal position and do not reflect the opinions or views of NISS or Come Back Alive.

Further reading

UkraineAlert
Oct 15, 2024

As the US election nears, anxiety is mounting in Ukraine

By
Kate Spencer

Few countries have more at stake in the coming US presidential election than Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on US aid to sustain its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion, writes Kate Spencer.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert
Oct 24, 2024

North Korean troops could help Putin avoid a risky Russian mobilization

By
Olivia Yanchik

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has turned to his north Korean ally for troops to help cover his own army’s catastrophic losses in Ukraine and avoid a politically risky second wave of mobilization in Russia itself, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert
Oct 17, 2024

Russia is indoctrinating schoolchildren throughout occupied Ukraine

By
Tetiana Kotelnykova

The Kremlin is conducting a massive indoctrination campaign throughout schools in Russian-occupied Ukraine that underlines Moscow’s intention to erase Ukrainian national identity, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.

Conflict
Disinformation

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture.

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Krista Gamble and her family love Halloween. But this year, as her community in Asheville, North Carolina, was still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene—a category 4 storm that ravaged the city last month—she wanted to make sure that families in the area would be able to enjoy the holiday.

“It’s traumatizing a lot of the things some of these kids have seen or learned,” Gamble says about Helene. “It’s important to let these kids still be kids; they’ve had a tough month.”

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Helene reached Florida on Sept. 26 and tore through the Southeast. The storm devastated western North Carolina—almost half of deaths due to Helene were in North Carolina, and 42 were in Buncombe County where Asheville is located, according to The Associated Press. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, wreaking havoc on communities that had just begun to recover from Helene. Officials are still calculating the damage from the two storms, but it’s estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars.

Gamble says she and her family were fortunate that they only had minimal flooding in their basement, but they were left without power and running water for a couple weeks after Helene hit. Gamble says much of Asheville is still under a boil water notice as of Tuesday. But as the community has embarked on rebuilding and cleanup efforts, people like Gamble have also been coming together to help each other find moments of levity—like by celebrating Halloween.

North Carolina celebrates Halloween despite Helene

After Helene, Gamble started collecting donations of Halloween costumes and ended up bringing about 150 of them to a local community space in Asheville, which held a free fall festival on Oct. 27 that included face painting, candy, and a costume drive. Gamble was one of several people who organized costume donations or Halloween events for kids and families.

Nearby, the Monte Vista Hotel and a local restaurant, Goldfinch, hosted its first-ever fall festival on Oct. 26, which included a Trunk or Treat, hayride, and even therapy horses, among other activities. There were also about 400 costume donations for people to choose from. Everything offered at the event was donated from in and out-of-state. The hotel, located in Black Mountain, had been providing free meals to people in the days after Helene hit, and has been housing people whose properties were damaged in the storm and qualify as survivors with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA has been providing assistance and coordinating relief efforts to states—like North Carolina—that were impacted by Helene.

But still, hotel staff wanted to do more.

“None of us, I think, thought this was going to last as long as it has in our little town,” says Chloe Greene, the hotel’s assistant general manager. Black Mountain, like Asheville, was one of many communities devastated by Helene—the storm brought severe flooding and damaged numerous properties in the area. Black Mountain is also still under a boil water notice as of Tuesday, according to Greene. 

“We just wanted to provide relief for parents that were worrying about so much,” says Ken Floyd, the hotel’s general manager. He says nearly 1,500 people attended the event.  

“We gave out about 200 plus pounds of candy. And to see the kids’ faces light up when they got to pick out their costume…” Floyd adds. “People got to sit down, relax, eat some food, and watch their kids just have a great time and that’s really … what it was all about.” 

Read More: How You Can Help Hurricane Helene Victims

Morgen Stanzler, like Gamble, wanted to collect costume donations to help out the Black Mountain community, where she and her family own a second home. After Helene, she started collecting decoration kits for the Monte Vista Hotel’s Trunk or Treat and costumes for the festival’s costume drive.

“I love this place so much,” Stanzler says. “In the wake of a tragedy like this,  I can’t rebuild roads, there’s not too much I can do. … [But I wanted to help] the community to just find a little bit of joy in the middle of something that’s really devastating.”

After back-to-back storms, Floridians come together

Soon after Helene ripped through Florida, residents had to start preparing for another storm: Hurricane Milton. Officials issued evacuation orders for millions of people in the Tampa area. While not as severe as meteorologists had expected it to be, Milton brought more destruction to the state—tornadoes hit parts of the state, and the storm flooded neighborhoods and downed trees.

In the aftermath of Milton, Karen Aucoin—who owns an event and wedding venue in Largo, Florida in the Tampa Bay area—decided to move forward with her business’ annual Halloween event. Studio 131, has hosted it the past few years, and this year’s event featured a Trunk or Treat, vendor market, and a haunted manor at its event venue space on Oct. 13. Most of the event was free; the haunted manor had a $5 fee, but Aucoin says they waived it for people who didn’t have it. Between 100-200 people came to the event, Aucoin estimates. Studio 131 has also been working with local organizations to collect donations for people who were affected by the hurricanes.

“I just knew, no matter what, we have to do something really good for the community—give everybody a sense of normalcy,” Aucoin says.

Read More: How to Help Hurricane Milton Victims

Some Halloween-themed events in the area helped raise money for victims of the storms. Gerry Cachia, in Seminole, Florida—parts of which experienced significant storm damage from Helene and Milton—organized the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake’s Haunted Graveyard event this year. In the past, the proceeds for the event have gone to help foster kids in the area, but this year, the club decided to give half to hurricane relief efforts.

The event on Oct. 26 included a haunted graveyard set up in the parking lot of a local shopping mall, candy booths throughout, and a costume contest. Cachia dressed up as “The Pumpkin Master” by wearing a suit with pumpkins all over it and a pumpkin mask. He had hoped that the event would help take people’s minds off the fallout from the storms and give them a bit of a break. And he says he thinks it did just that. Roughly 1,200 people showed up, and the club raised nearly $6,000.

The lengths friends and neighbors have gone to to make sure kids and families can enjoy Halloween is consistent with how communities have been coming together in the wake of two brutal natural disasters, people say.

“Neighbors who didn’t know each other before now are best friends,” Cachia says. “You’ll drive around and there’s people that have set up water stations that just were people that want to help. There’s people driving around in the communities with ice and garbage bags and just giving them to people. When you have such a disaster, it really does bring out—it sounds corny to say—but it brings out the good in people.”

Organ and cell transplants are potentially life-saving treatments for a variety of medical conditions, but their success depends on how long the transplanted cells or tissues can survive in their new host. Drugs that suppress the immune system to minimize rejection must strike a delicate balance between being powerful enough to hold back the recipient’s immune system from destroying the donated material, without being too potent to cause toxic reactions.

In a study presented at the Summit on Stem Cell Derived Islets in Boston, researchers report on encouraging results using an experimental immunosuppressive drug in people with Type 1 diabetes. People with the disease no longer make enough insulin in their pancreas to break down sugar in the foods they eat, and have to monitor their blood sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin for the rest of their lives. In some cases, the insulin shots become ineffective and patients need more aggressive treatment: usually a transplant of islet cells—which produce insulin in the pancreas—from a deceased donor. But many patients end up rejecting the transplanted cells when their body’s immune system views them as foreign and starts attacking them.

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In the latest study, researchers led by Dr. Piotr Witkowsky, professor of surgery and director of pancreas and pancreatic islet transplantation at University of Chicago Medicine, performed islet cell transplants using a different drug to suppress the recipients’ immune systems. The drug, tegoprubart, was the same one used in the first transplant of a pig kidney into a human patient earlier in 2024. In the current study, three patients received transplants of islet cells with tegoprubart; two no longer needed insulin injections after 18 weeks (and after a second islet cell transplant) and four weeks, respectively, and achieved normal A1C levels, while the third patient reduced their insulin needs by 60% several days after the transplant and is still being monitored.

“We have been doing deceased donor islet cell transplants for the last 24 years,” says Witkowski. “There was a lot of hope at the beginning that patients might come off insulin, but we realized that the immune suppressants we were using were not optimal, and over time, patients were losing the [transplanted] islet cells.”

Read More: The Paradox of How We Treat Diabetes

The small number of patients in the tegoprubart study reported no side effects, and the transplanted islet cells were three to five times more likely to engraft and produce insulin than cells transplanted in people who had received the current immunosuppressive drug tacrolimus. “We don’t need to adjust doses to control toxicity like we do with tacrolimus,” says Witkowsky. “And their islet function is at least three times better compared to patients receiving tacrolimus because there is no toxicity. These results are preliminary, but the hope is great.”

Witkowsky was inspired to try tegoprubart in islet cell transplants after the success among kidney transplant patients—including the first pig kidney operation and more traditional kidney transplants using donated human organs. Studies showed that among 60 kidney transplant patients receiving tegoprubart, there were no rejection episodes and no toxicity. “The kidney function in those transplant patients seemed to be better with tegoprubart compared with tacrolimus, and we think we can get similar results with Type 1 diabetes,” he says.

The new drug is an antibody, given as a 15-minute infusion once every three weeks. It works by suppressing the immune response to foreign proteins in a transplant from a donor. It’s not yet approved; the company developing it, Eledon, continues to study it in clinical trials to assess its safety and efficacy in kidney transplants, animal organ transplants, and ALS.

Earlier versions of the drug studied more than two decades ago increased the risk of blood clots, but continued research has reduced that risk and improved tegoprubart’s immune-suppressing ability. Witkowsky hopes to find funding to continue studying these first patients and add six or so more to better understand how long the islet cells can survive and whether the drug can buy the transplanted cells enough time to engraft and restore patients’ insulin-making functions to be as close to normal as possible. “Unfortunately there is no [real] therapy for type 1 diabetes patients,” he says. “The bottom line is that we know the cells have the potential to work—they do work. The problem remains immunosuppression. And now we have a medication that may help us a lot.”

(NewsNation) — Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing message of the campaign, asking Americans to “turn the page” on the era of former President Donald Trump.

Her appearance on the National Mall was the culmination of messages she’s delivered over the course of her campaign. She made the case to voters with a focus on Republican voters who are on the fence about voting for Trump and supporters of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley who aren’t sure how to vote.

“My presidency will be different because the challenges we face will be different,” Harris told the crowd, promising to work with Democrats, Republicans and independents to make life better for Americans.

“I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your life better,” she added.

The event was held in a strategic place in front of the White House for two reasons.

One is to paint a picture of the choice in front of Americans.

The second is a reminder of 2021, as her speech was delivered from very same spot Trump spoke to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the riots at the U.S. Capitol.

The latest polling from Decision Desk HQ shows the race still neck and neck. As of Tuesday morning, Harris held a 0.8% lead based on 305 polls. Yesterday, it was Harris at 48.5% and Trump at 48%, still well within the margin of error.

Some Democratic lawmakers and strategists have said they are concerned that Harris is focusing so much on Trump, taking time away from other major campaign issues like the economy, immigration, health care and abortion.

A pro-Harris super PAC called Future Forward has warned that attacking Trump’s character or stamina is less effective than Harris highlighting her own policy proposals.

Voters have also said they want to hear more about her specific policy plans. Others have said they don’t like the fear-mongering and feel it contrasts with her vision of a positive, bright outlook on America.

However, the campaign said Harris chose to make her closing argument on the National Mall to draw a stark contrast between her and her opponent.

“I’ve lived the promise of America, and I see the promise of America in all of you,” she said during the Tuesday address.

A little-known federal group assembled by the Biden-Harris administration is preparing to issue dietary guidelines for Americans that will formally recommend beans, peas, and lentils take precedence over meats like chicken and beef.

Members of the 20-person Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee voiced support for both downgrading meat, poultry, and eggs and moving beans, peas, and lentils into the protein category. The preliminary directive came during a more than five-hour meeting hosted by the National Institutes of Health last week. The committee is expected to submit its recommendations, which would be in effect through 2030, to the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services in early December, after the presidential election taking place in one week.

The draft guidelines come as environmentalists, animal rights activists, and left-leaning dietary experts continue to ramp up attacks on traditional sources of protein—such as red meat, pork, and chicken—both in the United States and across the world. Meat has been targeted by activists for its carbon footprint and impact on animals, but it is far more protein-dense than other sources of protein.

Under the proposed guidelines presented by committee chairwoman Sarah Booth, beans, peas, and lentils would leave the vegetable category and be prioritized over soy products, seafood, meats, eggs, and poultry. The previous guidelines placed meats, poultry, and eggs at the highest level of protein sources in the American diet and kept beans, peas, and lentils in the vegetable category.

According to the committee—which the White House first announced in 2022 and said would reflect “racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity”—its actions would help to “encourage plant sources of protein foods.”

The guidelines are slated to be finalized shortly after the election but before the winner takes office. The timing is relevant because the recommendations may contradict how a future administration approaches health policy.

“Behaviorally, I think there is sort of a branding crisis when it comes to protein—thinking automatically meat,” Deirdre Tobias, a member of the committee and an assistant professor in Harvard University’s Department of Nutrition, remarked during the meeting last week. “And if there are more plant sources of proteins in the protein category that could help overcome that, you know, mislabeling or misnomer or misinformation by having it more prominently.”

“I also think that that’s where we would probably offer more flexibility—where we would have an increase in plant-based. That’s going to be increasing beans, peas, and lentils at the expense of some of those other meat products, right?” she continued. “Not so much to displace vegetables that are in the vegetable category.”

Those comments were immediately endorsed by fellow committee members Hollie Raynor, a University of Tennessee researcher, and Andrea Deierlein, a New York University professor. “I do think people think just of meat, eggs, those types of sources, and having it in the protein group would, I think, encourage people to eat more beans, peas, and lentils,” said Deierlein.

A majority of the members who commented on the draft guidelines voiced support for reorganizing the protein category, and no member suggested that the prior guidelines should be preserved. Committee vice chair Angela Odoms-Young said beans, peas, and lentils should make up their own category, a proposal that received some support from other committee members.

While the dietary guidelines lack teeth in terms of forcefully changing what Americans eat, they are a key tool employed by lawmakers, educators, and doctors and are supposed to reflect current nutrition science.

“We just think this completely disregards the body of science and the reality of how beef is doing such an important job in helping meet nutrient gaps. So, it really seems out of touch,” Shalene McNeill, the executive director of nutrition science at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon.

“We have lots of great, high-quality evidence from randomized, controlled trials that consistently show four to five-and-a-half ounces of beef per day can support good health, and that’s two to three times the amount that the average American is eating right now. Cutting back further on red meat intake is not going to help the American diet become healthier,” added McNeill. “Beef is doing a really important job of helping close nutrition gaps.”

National Pork Producers Council CEO Bryan Humphreys separately said replacing animal proteins with plant proteins “will severely compromise the American diet, as plant proteins are not nearly as nutritionally rich.”

In a statement to the Free Beacon, a Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman said the draft guidelines “in no way represents the administration’s positions” and emphasized the committee acts independently.

The Biden-Harris administration, led by the Department of Health and Human Services, appointed every member of the committee in January 2023.

“The recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health underscored the need to understand the science of nutrition and the role that social structures play when it comes to people eating healthy food,” Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said at the time. “The advisory committee’s work will play an instrumental role in that effort and in helping HHS and USDA improve the health and wellbeing of all Americans.”

The draft guidelines are only the most recent attacks on the meat industry.

In May 2023, for example, John Kerry, the Biden-Harris administration’s former special presidential envoy for climate, called for “innovation” in the agriculture industry during an Agriculture Department summit. Kerry argued the administration’s “net-zero” climate goals are impossible if the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions aren’t addressed, a claim that was sharply criticized by Republican lawmakers.

Months later, the United Nations published a first-of-its-kind global food systems road map, which chastised certain nations, such as the United States, for over-consuming meat. The document was issued during the most recent United Nations COP climate summit in December 2023.

The Department of Agriculture didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The post Biden-Harris Committee Set To Push ‘Plant Sources of Protein’ Over Red Meat in New Dietary Guidelines—But Only After the Election appeared first on .

Discussion around Ayatollah Khamenei’s successor has picked up for several reasons, beyond just the rumors about his health. Khamenei has been in power since 1989, making him one of the longest-serving leaders in the region, and he plays a central role in Iran’s complex political system. Given his age and recent rumors, the question of succession naturally arises, especially as his position holds enormous influence over Iran’s future direction on domestic and international policies.

Another reason this topic is gaining traction is Iran’s current political and economic challenges. There’s widespread domestic dissatisfaction over issues like inflation, sanctions, and civil rights, making the leadership question even more pressing for Iranians and international observers alike. Some factions within Iran’s political establishment want a say in who follows Khamenei, hoping a new Supreme Leader could align with their agendas, which adds complexity to the succession talk.

Finally, this is a sensitive moment for Iran on the global stage. Relations with the West, ongoing nuclear negotiations, and regional power dynamics could shift significantly under a new leader. Whoever succeeds Khamenei could steer Iran either toward more openness and reform or continue on a conservative path, which would have huge implications for regional stability.

Advocates for reform in Iran, who seek to curb Khamenei’s influence and address his rivalry with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are intensifying rumors regarding the poor health of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Rumors about Ayatollah Khamenei’s health have flared up recently due to a mix of factors, including his advanced age (he’s 85) and occasional periods of absence from public appearances, which often spark speculation. In recent weeks, several reports, particularly from exiled Iranian opposition groups and international media, suggested that he was critically ill or even in a coma. Though these claims haven’t been substantiated, Khamenei’s recent low-profile appearances may have further fueled speculation. Iran’s state media hasn’t addressed these rumors, adding to the uncertainty and curiosity surrounding his health. There’s also heightened interest due to the broader political context: as Iran faces serious domestic issues (like economic struggles, public protests, and debates over succession), many are curious about who might succeed Khamenei if he can no longer serve.

We believe that Iran’s inner circles and elites want clarity regarding the identity of Khamenei’s successor, as it will shape their future influence and standing. While we view the likelihood of a leadership change due to health-related issues as relatively low, a transition driven by an internal power struggle seems more probable. Reluctance to openly acknowledge the possibility of a conspiracy may explain why elites are bringing Khamenei’s health into public discourse. Framing the issue around health concerns could allow for the selection of a successor under the guise of natural, medical anxieties, rather than overt political motives. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now in his mid-80s, has faced multiple health challenges over recent years. Key concerns have included a history of prostate cancer, for which he underwent surgery in 2014, and more recently, emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction in 2022. Although Iranian officials often highlight his active role in public life, these surgeries and his extended absences from the public eye have fueled ongoing speculation about his health and potential succession plans.

In 2022, the health of Iran’s Supreme Religious Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly worsened. By 2023, reports surfaced that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution was hospitalized under medical supervision, with his condition described as serious, according to The New York Times. Khamenei allegedly underwent surgery for an intestinal obstruction at that time. Further rumors about Khamenei’s health arose in 2024 after a statement from his medical team celebrated his “good health” in a highly publicized TV segment. This unusual emphasis on his wellness has only heightened questions about his physical stability and future role in leadership. Meanwhile, the Iranian government generally keeps details about Khamenei’s health undisclosed, recognizing that uncertainty around his condition may have implications for both domestic politics and Iran’s role in regional dynamics​. The primary candidate to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is 55 and already holds considerable influence. However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and key religious figures could influence the final decision, potentially favoring a broader candidate pool. Alternatives might include high-ranking clerics like Ebrahim Raisi, who has had significant political and judicial roles, though succession is complicated by the complex power structures within Iran’s political and religious elite.

President Ebrahim Raisi had reportedly opposed the candidacy of Khamenei’s son as a potential successor, possibly because he himself had previously been promised the position of Supreme Leader.

This raises the possibility that Raisi’s death in a plane crash may have been connected to his aspirations for Iran’s highest office.

More on this story: Pezeshkian’s foreign policy will mostly be limited to the nuclear dossier

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) holds significant influence in Iran’s political system and is expected to play a critical role in determining Khamenei’s successor. Although Mojtaba Khamenei is a likely candidate, the IRGC’s stance is complex and strategic: they may support him if his leadership aligns with their interests, especially regarding continuity of current policies. However, the IRGC could also push for a more favorable candidate if they believe it would strengthen their position and secure their influence in Iran’s future power dynamics.Mojtaba Khamenei’s potential succession could be supported by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which plays a pivotal role in Iranian politics and has significant sway in power transitions. Some influential clerics may also back him, especially if they see continuity in his father’s policies aligning with their own interests. The support of conservative factions within Iran’s Assembly of Experts, responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader, could further bolster his position. However, this path is complex due to internal rivalries and differing views within Iran’s political and religious landscape. Mojtaba Khamenei, who was not initially an ayatollah and therefore technically ineligible to inherit the role of Supreme Leader from his father, received an expedited promotion to this title last year amid concerns about his father’s declining health. As a result, the likelihood of Mojtaba being selected as the next Supreme Leader has increased.

More on this story: The 2024 Iran election: key problems and possible scenarios to develop

More on this story: Trends in IRGC’s appointments and centers of influence 

With much fanfare, One Brooklyn Health (OBH) – Brookdale Medical Center unveiled a new 1.5 Tesla General Electric (GE) MRI machine equipped with state-of-the-art imaging technology and a weight capacity of up to 500 pounds.

Guyanese-American Sharon Devonish-Leid, OBH director of external/public affairs, told Caribbean Life that the renovation and acquisition of the MRI machine were made possible by funding through former New York State Assembly Member and current US Ambassador to Jamaica Nick Perry and New York State Sen. Roxanne Persaud.

“Over four years ago, they came together to break ground on what is now a modern suite that will better serve our Radiology Department and the community,” she said.

“This advanced machine will significantly improve our ability to provide specialized MRI procedures, including cardiac, breast, prostate, angiography, neurological, and more,” added Devonish-Leid, who organized the ribbon-cutting ceremony in less than five days. 

Perry, who trekked from Jamaica exclusively for the unveiling ceremony, was on hand, as well as Perry’s successor, Assembly Member Monique Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, representative for the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn; Sen. Persaud, the Guyanese-born representative for the 19th Senate District in Brooklyn; Assembly Member Latrice Walker, representative for the 55th Assembly District in Brooklyn; and New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, the Haitian-born representative for the 46th City Council District, also in Brooklyn.

Several leading hospital and labor union officials and community figures also participated in and witnessed the ceremony.

They included Dr. Sandra Scott, interim CEO of OBH; Dr. Chris Paras, executive director of Brookdale Hospital; Dr. Kirwon Gibbs, OBH chair of radiology; Wayne Jordan, director of radiology; Dr. Rev. Waterman, vice chair of the OBH Board of Trustees; and Dalis Jean-Baptiste, 1199 delegate.

Dr. Scott thanked Perry and Persaud, stating that OBH has improved its capability with their support.

Dominican-born Dr. Gibbs said that the new, better-quality MRI will allow the hospital to conduct studies twice as fast as the previous equipment.

“This machine is like a God-send,” he said.

Trinidadian-born Jordan, who joined Brookdale University Hospital as the radiology administrator on May 21, 2018, told Caribbean Life that one of his first tasks was to evaluate the department’s needs, including equipment, with an updated MRI machine high on the list.

“The system we had was installed around 1995; it was upgraded some years later and is now at the end of its useful life,” he said. “This unit has served the organization well over time. “However, advancement in technology in the past 30 years have limited our ability to perform new and updated MRI imaging procedures to effectively meet the needs of our patients.”

Jordan said the new GE Signa Artis, 1.5 Tesla MRI system boasts the latest technology design “to increase efficiency, improve productivity, maximize diagnostic potential, and installed to enhance the safety and experience of our patients.

“This new equipment is a testament of our vision, which is to ensure that we provide the best imaging technology to aid in the diagnosis of the various health issues commonly seen in the communities we serve,” said Jordan, stating that the new MRI machine can perform advanced procedures, such as cardiac, breast, prostate, magnetic resonance enterography, rectal cancer surveillance and treatment planning, and small body parts not routinely done on older MRI systems.

He said additional features include the use of Air Coil technology “to aid in a more simplified, faster workflow while maintaining excellent image quality, a wider scanning bore, and a 50 % reduction in procedure scan times.”

“This is an investment in our community,” Persaud told the ceremony. “We will continue to fund as much as possible. We have a number of things we’re funding in the pipeline. We’ll continue to work with OBH.”

Perry said: “I’m really happy we’ve come so far. We’re proud of the job you’re doing here (turning to Dr. Scott).

“I’ve read about Brookdale,” he said. “Things are getting better.

“I was just the vessel,” Perry added. “I had the opportunity to do some things for the community.”

Walker said: “We know how hard Mr. Perry worked. This is his legacy.

“No matter where he is, his heart is in the community,” she added. “It’s a pleasure to stand here and support.”

Chandler-Waterman said she was “glad to acknowledge that $1.5 million come to fruition,” stating that “the community needs the MRI.”

Narcisse said Perry had represented the community well, hoping that “everybody can follow” his legacy.

Jean-Baptiste said his “heart is bursting” and added, “All of you, elected officials, thank you.”

(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Donald Trump on Tuesday called his rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, an event marked by crude and racist insults by several speakers, a “lovefest.”

That’s a term the former president also has used to reference the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

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Speaking to reporters and supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump claimed “there’s never been an event so beautiful” as his Sunday night rally in his hometown of New York City.

“The love in that room. It was breathtaking,” he said. “It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest. And it was my honor to be involved.”

That’s despite criticism from Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and many who watched — including Republicans — about racist comments made by speakers during the pre-show targeting Latinos, Black people, Jews and Palestinians, along with sexist insults directed at Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s set, in which he joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” stirred particular anger given the electoral importance of Puerto Ricans who live in Pennsylvania and other key swing states. The Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico but not other comments.

The president of Puerto Rico’s Republican Party, Ángel Cintrón, called the “poor attempt at comedy” by Hinchcliffe “disgraceful, ignorant and totally reprehensible.”

“There is no room for absurd and racist comments like that. They do not represent the conservative values of republicanism anywhere in our nation,” Cintrón said in a statement.

Read More: How a Racist Joke About Puerto Rico at a Trump Rally Could Impact the Election

Trump used the event at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday to criticize Harris’ record on the border and the economy, saying that, “On issue after issue, she broke it” and “I’m going to fix it and fix it very fast.”

With just a week before Election Day, some Trump allies have voiced alarm that the event, which was supposed highlight his closing message, has instead served as a distraction, highlighting voters’ concerns about his rhetoric and penchant for controversy in the race’s closing stretch.

Speaking before the event to ABC News, Trump said he didn’t know the comic who delivered the most egregious insults, but he did not denounce the comments either.

“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” he said, according to the network, insisting that he hadn’t heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. But, when asked what he made of them, Trump “did not take the opportunity to denounce them, repeating that he didn’t hear the comments,” ABC reported.

Trump is set to campaign later Tuesday in Pennsylvania, a state where the Latino eligible voter population has more than doubled since 2000, from 206,000 to 620,000 in 2023, according to Census Bureau figures. More than half of those are Puerto Rican eligible voters.

He also will hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which has a large Hispanic population, on Tuesday night.

Angelo Ortega, a longtime Allentown resident and former Republican who’s planning to vote for Harris this time around, said he couldn’t believe what he’d heard about Trump’s rally.

“I don’t know if my jaw dropped or I was just so irritated, angry. I didn’t know what to feel,” said Ortega, who was born in New York but whose father came from Puerto Rico. Ortega has been campaigning for Harris and said he knows of at least one Hispanic GOP voter planning to switch from Trump to Harris as a result of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“They’ve had it. They’ve had it. They were listening to (Trump), but they said they think that that was like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Ortega, a member of the Make the Road PA advocacy group.

Trump “didn’t make the comment about Puerto Rico. The comedian made the comment about Puerto Rico. But it is his political forum.”

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.