US Diplomats and Talent Agents Broker the New Far Right
July 9, 2026
The US Embassy in Ottawa is legitimizing convicted convoy leaders as journalists while talent agencies at Cannes formalize the creator economy, signaling a shift where influence is laundered through institutional access and professional representation. This cultural infrastructure converges with viral xenophobia in South Africa and misogynistic manifestos in Montreal, weaponizing the attention of educated youth to bypass traditional political labels. As Indian intelligence operations and European far-right movements exploit these fragmented media ecologies, the boundary between state diplomacy, commercial influence, and extremist mobilization effectively dissolves.
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LARPING: How Influencers Fake Being Rich
How companies are burning through their AI tokens; and the fake AI-generated flowers all over Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
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The World Cup is exposing the contradictions of national identity
Teams shaped by migration and diaspora are challenging exclusionary ideas of who belongs.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra Hosts Far-Right Activists and Right-Wing Media Personalities at ‘Fourth of July’ Party in Ottawa
US Embassy says Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich, who was convicted on criminal charges last year, was accredited as a journalist The post US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra Hosts Far-Right Activists and Right-Wing Media Personalities at ‘Fourth of July’ Party in Ottawa appeared first on PressProgress.
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Inside the big business of the creator economy, with the agents making it happen
We’ve got another special episode of Decoder today, recorded at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in the South of France. I’m talking with Ali Berman and Raina Penchansky, who run the Creators division at United Talent Agency. UTA is an enormous talent agency. Half the people you’ve ever heard s…
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Culture is the far right’s secret weapon – and it’s winning over some of Europe’s most educated youth
Far-right demonstration on the streets of Paris on 18 January 2026. Pierre Laborde/Shutterstock Across Europe, an emerging pattern is unsettling the assumptions of liberal educators and policymakers alike. Students who study in multiple countries, speak three or four languages, and graduate from glo…
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How xenophobia went viral in South Africa
The online campaign stoking South Africa's latest xenophobic backlash.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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The Montréal shooter’s manifesto isn’t left or right — it’s rooted in misogyny
Within hours of the recent shooting in Montréal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, arguments about the gunman’s 104-page manifesto had already split along familiar lines. Most Canadian outlets called it an incel manifesto. Right-wing sites fired back that the media had buried the obvious and that the…
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US charges Indian crime leader in Sikh activist’s assassination
US indicts Indian crime boss, links him to Sikh leader's killing that strained India-Canada relations.
- geopolitics
- structural power