The sky felt like it split over Kyiv.

On a horizon where drones and airstrikes have killed 47 civilians in Ukraine in the past 10 days, superlatives rained: the most consequential moment in the war since Russia’s invasion; the ugliest personality clash — between a 48-year-old comedian turned wartime leader and a septuagenarian billionaire turned US president; the most significant turning point in European history since 1989 or even 1945.

After Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky found himself berated for lack of gratitude on live television by US President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance on Friday, Ukraine seemed immediately unsure whether to be furious at his treatment – after their collective survival of three years of Russian bombardment and savagery – at the hands of wealthy American elites, or to panickedly seek remedy in Kyiv’s relationship with the ally it likely cannot endure without.

Ukrainian military channels on Telegram fumed they would rather die on their feet, than beg on their knees. Kyiv officials exuded solidarity. But the carpet under their feet was suddenly gone.

There is “nothing we can do to fix this,” a senior US official told me – adding that the fix must come from Zelensky. Trump-whisperer Sen. Lindsey Graham speculated Zelensky should fix it fast or step aside. US politicians are used to their words having an outsized impact, but Friday they rippled across the established norms of European security and made a continent, just about recovered from the horrific whiplash of the past 10 days, suddenly check their seatbelts again.

Zelensky’s task on Friday had been simple and almost complete, a draft agreement on a critical minerals deal waiting to be signed. The mood in his meeting was adequately convivial – not even derailed by his tough rhetoric on Putin. The wartime leader’s wardrobe choices – a black, long-sleeved shirt that he’s always worn – may not have been to Trump’s liking, a US official told me, but did not overturn the apple cart. It took Vance – who often attends, but rarely speaks in, Trump’s international meetings – to do that.

Misinformation is often the luxury of the privileged. The basic essentials of your life – electricity, food and water – must be in place to afford the privilege of propagating or believing untruths. When Zelensky was confronted with a vice-presidential lecture on Russian diplomacy – which since 2014 has openly advanced little but Moscow’s military goals in Ukraine, he talked back. Well, he tried to.

When Trump later told him he had “no cards,” Zelensky replied: “I am not playing cards.” Ukrainians are not playing cards but dying in a rate less than the fantastical figures Trump keeps citing, though at an adequately horrific pace of hundreds a week, that they too want peace.

This is the gruesome gulf between the parties in the Oval Office. On one side, a country where the facts of war are personal as they involve relatives and friends who are never coming home, and homes that will never be returned to. On the other, America’s right flank feeling scorned because its aid – given to defeat a decades-long adversary at no cost of American life – had not been received with enough gratitude.

“You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing,” said Trump, as though the cost of tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives was not somehow a sign of appreciation.

Zelensky later said in an interview with Fox News he didn’t feel he owed Trump an apology, but he thought the relationship could be salvaged.

Trump and Vance have never seen war up close, but are still disgusted by it. They seem to have felt Zelensky, soaked in war’s horror for three years, needed a lecture about the peace anyone who had seen war would yearn for. Moneyed ignorance loudly lectured exhausted experience.

Where do we go from here? Zelensky has probably endured the defining moment of his presidency. He must either magically heal this rift, somehow survive without America, or else step aside and let someone else try – the last perhaps the easiest. Yet stepping down from power, as Moscow would like, could spark a crisis on the front lines, eroding political clarity, and in the legitimacy of the government in Kyiv, where parliamentary processes or flawed wartime elections would likely stumble in producing a clean successor.

There are no good choices ahead, no sure bets. Yet one thing is comforting since I came back to Kyiv. Europe’s security – after three daunting weeks of the Trump administration questioning democracy and alliances across the continent – may seem in crisis from the comfortable perspective in London, or Paris, or Munich. Somehow in Kyiv after three years, the doubts feel lighter. Waves of drones come nightly here, yet the city adapts, the people endure, the lights stay on.

This resilience makes Zelensky’s bristling at being lectured by Vance on his nation’s sacrifice and peril easier to understand. As one Ukrainian civilian summarized it last night: “Dignity is also a value. If Russia cannot destroy it, why does the US think it can?”

So who is the aggressively misogynistic influencer and what is the online “manosphere” community where he is so revered?

Divisive content creator

Emory Andrew Tate III is a 38-year-old US-born professional fighter-turned-media personality who has racked up billions of views online with his rants about male dominance, female submission and wealth. He first gained notoriety in 2016 when he was removed from British reality TV show “Big Brother” after video emerged that appeared to show him attacking a woman with a belt.

In the years since, he has become a divisive online content creator who was at one point suspended from all major social media platforms.

In 2017, Tate was banned from what was then Twitter, now known as X, for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. In August 2022, he was banned by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for violating their policies, Britain’s PA Media news agency reported. His removal followed a campaign by British advocacy group Hope not Hate, which fights against racism and extremism.

Following tech billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2022, Tate was reinstated on the platform. As of February 2025, he has 10.7 million followers on X.

Why is his influence seen as so harmful?

Tate has been accused of pedaling hateful views online and making his controversial lifestyle appealing to young and vulnerable audiences.

In one example of his many misogynistic online rants, Tate wrote in a post on X on February 19: “Still true. Hate me all you want. Women are all sex workers.”

“Tate’s misogynist, homophobic and racist content is seen online by millions of young people. His confidence, his money and his lifestyle are all carefully crafted to make his brand of hateful content inspiring and aspirational,” Laming said.

What is the ‘manosphere?’

Critics say Tate’s commentary and content is harmful in and of itself. However, it does not exist in a vacuum.

As Laming explained, his ideas can be tied to far-right ideology and the worldview of the so-called “manosphere” – a loose collection of forums, blogs, vlogs and organizations concerned with men’s issues and certain interpretations of masculinity oriented around opposition to feminism.

“Parts of the ‘manosphere’ are highly misogynistic and have, in recent years, grown increasingly extreme and close to the far right, utilizing racist conspiracy theories to explain perceived societal issues,” Laming said.

“Tate is able to bring followers in with his misogynistic content and then introduce them to his far-right friends and his dangerous conspiracy theories.”

Ongoing legal battles

Andrew and younger brother Tristan Tate, 36, were initially arrested in Bucharest in December 2022.

There, they are accused of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They have denied all wrongdoing.

A first criminal case against Tate and his brother failed in December 2024 when a Bucharest court decided to suspend the trial, citing flaws in the indictment.

A Romanian court lifted a house arrest order against Tate in January, replacing it with conditions such as regular police check-ins. In October, a court ruled he should get back luxury cars worth about €4 million ($4.43 million) that had been seized by prosecutors pending their probe.

The lawyer accused the US government of “lobbying” for Tate’s release. Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported, citing sources, that US officials had pressed Romanian officials to lift restrictions on Tate. Romania’s foreign minister said he had not come under pressure from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to lift restrictions.

But it’s not just Romania where the Tate brothers face lengthy legal battles. The pair also face sex offense charges in Britain, which they deny.

Four women in the UK who accuse Andrew Tate of rape and coercive control, and have brought the civil case against him, released a joint statement Thursday saying the news that he had left Romania for the US had left them “re-traumatized.”

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province were publicly caned Thursday after an Islamic Shariah court convicted them for having sex with each other.

Dozens of people witnessed the caning at a hall in Banda Aceh’s Bustanussalatin city park. It’s the fourth time that Aceh, the only province in Indonesia to practice Shariah law, has caned people for homosexuality since the Islamic law was implemented in 2006 as a concession made by the government to end a long-running separatist rebellion.

The men, aged 24 and 18, were whipped across the back dozens of times by a team of five enforcers wearing robes and hoods. They were given a break to drink after 20 strokes and their wounds were treated.

The men were arrested in November after residents suspected them of being gay and broke into their rented room, where they were caught naked and hugging each other, and took them to Sharia police.

A Shariah court on Monday sentenced the two college students to receive 85 and 80 strokes respectively, but they were caned 82 and 77 times after a remission for time spent in prison. One of the men had to be carried because he was too weak to move after the last lash.

Two other people were also sentenced to 34 and 8 strokes each for gambling.

Indonesia’s secular central government granted Aceh the right to implement Islamic Shariah law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a decades-long separatist war. A religious police and court system have been established, and the law was a significant strengthening of Shariah in the region.

Aceh implemented an expansion of Islamic bylaws and criminal code in 2015 that extended Shariah law to the province’s non-Muslims, who account for about 1% of the population. The region allows up to 100 lashes for morality offenses including gay sex and sex between unmarried people.

Caning is also a punishment in Aceh for gambling, drinking alcohol, women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers.

Human rights groups have criticized the law, saying it violates international treaties signed by Indonesia protecting the rights of minorities.

Indonesia’s national criminal code doesn’t regulate homosexuality, and the central government doesn’t have the power to strike down Shariah law in Aceh. However, an earlier version of the law that called for people to be stoned to death for adultery was dropped because of pressure from the central government.

Earlier this month, the American president proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the enclave into a “riviera” that would be owned by the United States, a plan that triggered outrage across the Middle East and firm rejections by regional leaders.

Arab leaders are expected to gather for a wider summit in Cairo on March 4 where a “road map” for Gaza and the conflict is expected to be issued. Arab top diplomats are then expected to travel to the US capital in the following weeks to deliver the proposal to the Trump administration, the sources said.

Arab officials want to make sure it is “a solid plan” before presenting it to Trump, one of the sources said.

In addition to laying out a plan for rebuilding the devastated strip without displacing the population, the Arab counterproposal would also address key issues such as governing Gaza after the war, reforming the Palestinian Authority and the deployment of either peacekeeping or peace enforcing forces inside the strip, the sources said.

It’s unclear who the peacekeeping force would be comprised of.

Last week, Arab leaders held a rare “informal” meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the plan – a gathering that the sources said was “significant” and at which there was “a unified stance.”

Jordan and Egypt – two countries that Trump said were candidates for receiving the Palestinians – reject any displacement and consider it a matter of national security.

“Our position is firm and clear and we won’t accept any threat to our national security,” one official said, describing it as a “red line” for Jordan.

For months, officials in Jordan have warned against attempts to displace Palestinians to the country. The Jordanian foreign minister said in September last year after an Israeli escalation in the West Bank that any attempt to displace Palestinians there to Jordan would be considered a “declaration of war.”

Jordanian officials are also concerned about an explosion in violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem during the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is expected to start on Friday or Saturday.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly claimed last week that his country could fully rebuild Gaza in three years to a state that is “better than it was before,” without saying how he planned to achieve that. If a permanent ceasefire is reached in Gaza in the coming months, that would mean the vision could be completed before the end of Trump’s presidential term.

The World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations said in a joint statement last week that, according to their estimates, just the return of essential services including health and education, as well as the clearing of rubble, would take three years. The full rebuilding of the devastated enclave would need 10 years and cost more than $50 billion, with housing alone estimated to cost $15 billion. The Egyptian prime minister said that his country’s plan takes those assessments into consideration.

An investigation into the failings of the Israeli military in the lead-up to the devastating Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, has highlighted gaps in intelligence gathering, flawed assumptions about Hamas, and “systemic” failures in the Israel Defense Force’s preparedness and response.

The 19-page report released Thursday by the IDF said there were gaps in the Intelligence Directorate’s understanding of “Hamas’ strategic goals, decision-making processes,” and operational plans that contributed to its failure to stop the biggest terrorist attack in the country’s history, when gunmen killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage.

Despite having relevant information, the intelligence community failed to recognize Hamas’ shift from a “determined,” and “pragmatic” group to one actively planning a large-scale offensive, it said.

The report said that as early as 2016, Hamas had begun preparing for “a large-scale attack” aimed at breaching the Gaza border, “occupying Israeli territory,” and causing mass casualties.

It identified several instances where intelligence indicators, such as Hamas’ “training exercises” and operational plans, were “misinterpreted” or dismissed as “unrealistic.”

These indicators, had they been properly analyzed, could have revealed Hamas’ intentions, the report said.

Hamas had deliberately created “a false perception of seeking quiet,” while accelerating its military buildup, the report said, adding that by May 2023 the militant group had decided to carry out an attack during a Jewish holiday that would aim “to shatter Israel’s sense of security” and potentially escalate “into an all-out war aimed at destroying Israel.”

When the attack happened, the IDF was “caught off guard” by its scale and intensity and its Gaza Division, responsible for defending the border, was overrun “within hours,” leading to a collapse in command and control.

The IDF’s response was hampered by a lack of “situational awareness,” delayed force mobilization, and insufficient deployment of troops and firepower, found the inquiry, which added that the IDF’s readiness levels were “inadequate” for the scale of the attack.

Israel’s military chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi – who has said he will resign in March over the failure to prevent the attack – addressed the findings in a televised speech, acknowledging the military’s failures and taking responsibility for the lapses.

“This is our learning process. I have received letters and responses, even from people here, saying ‘You…’ and I have no problem with that. I embrace it. My responsibility is mine,” Halevi said.

“I was the commander of the military on October 7, and I have my own responsibility. I also carry the weight of all your responsibility – that, too, I see as mine. And when I see any of my subordinates who made mistakes, I see my own share in it as well,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman said earlier on Thursday that Netanyahu had yet to receive the investigation.

The Hungarian government is clamping down on the country’s annual Budapest Pride parade, which has been running for almost 30 years, saying that it should not “dominate public spaces” – citing what it claims are “child protection” issues.

Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff for Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, made the remarks at a government information session Thursday, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s International Communications Office.

While Gulyas did not spell out what the clampdown would involve, he also announced changes to the country’s constitution, which will include amending the definition of gender to be “biologically male or female,” and enshrining in law “that a child’s right to physical, mental, and moral development takes precedence over all other considerations.”

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Gulyas said the Pride should be held in a “closed venue” this year rather than processing along an avenue in central Budapest as in previous years.

“This is autocracy laid bare,” Ghoshal said. “Claims regarding child protection are pure lies, aimed at manipulating the public into accepting the relinquishing of human rights for all.”

“Queer, trans, and intersex children exist – and experience extreme violence and discrimination,” she continued. “If Orban is acting on behalf of Hungary’s children, he can’t pick and choose. The best way to ensure children’s healthy development is to acknowledge science, listen to children, and strive to truly leave no one behind”

Orban’s government has long cited child safety as a reason for undermining LGBTQ+ rights in the country. In 2020, Budapest effectively barred same-sex adoption, with Orban’s office saying at the time that the move strengthened “the protection of Hungarian families and the safety of our children.”

A year later, the country banned the distribution of content related to gender change or homosexuality to under 18s. The European Commission said at the time that the law violated “a number of EU rules,” as well as “human dignity, freedom of expression and information.”

In 2022, the commission referred Hungary to the EU’s Court of Justice for the ban, which it said “discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

At Orban’s State of the Nation address on Saturday, he said that Hungary “must not yield – we must not give up on protecting our children.”

“I advise the Pride organizers that they should not bother preparing for this year’s parade. It would be a waste of time and money,” he said.

The same day, Budapest Pride said in a statement that it is already organizing its 30th pride march, which will be held in June. The march’s organizers said that “attacks” on the LGBTQ+ community by those in power are “nothing more than political theater – the ruling party is using the LGBTQ community for its own gain.”

Karácsony will attend a pre-planned meeting with the organizers of Budapest Pride on Friday, the press office said. Though it was originally meant to discuss operations, the meeting has now “taken on a new meaning in the current situation, following the Hungarian Government’s campaign against Pride,” it added.

The slogan of this year’s march will be “We are home,” the organizers said, adding that there have been “countless” attempts to ban the march over the years, which have all failed.

“In the end, Pride is a demonstration, whether with twenty people or tens of thousands, but it will happen,” the statement said. “We’re not just fighting for the Budapest Pride March or the LGBTQ community – we’re fighting for the right of all Hungarians to protest, speak their minds, and stand up for themselves.”