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In a significant move ahead of the December 28 elections, Myanmar’s military rulers have granted amnesty to over 3,000 individuals detained for opposing army rule, while dropping charges against more than 5,500 others. The mass release, announced by state-run broadcaster MRTV on Wednesday, aims to ensure eligible voters can participate in the upcoming polls. On Thursday, at least eight buses carrying prisoners departed from Yangon’s Insein Prison, where families and friends eagerly awaited their loved ones since early morning. Among those released were Kyi Toe, a member of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) central information committee, and freelance journalist Zaw Lin Htut, both arrested in 2021. However, there was no indication that former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held incommunicado since the 2021 military coup, would be freed. Critics argue that the election will lack fairness, citing the absence of free media and the imprisonment of most NLD leaders. The amnesty includes 3,085 prisoners convicted under the incitement law, which criminalizes spreading comments that create public unrest or fear. Additionally, 724 prisoners received conditional release, while 5,580 individuals facing incitement charges were granted amnesty. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 22,708 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, remain in custody. The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence following what supporters describe as politically motivated prosecutions. The 2021 military takeover sparked widespread nonviolent resistance, which has since evolved into an armed struggle.

The Muslim Brotherhood has strongly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to designate certain chapters of the group as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), labeling it as ‘detached from reality’ and politically motivated. In a statement released via their official X account on Wednesday, the group asserted that Trump’s claims of their involvement in terrorist activities were ‘unsupported by evidence.’ They argued that the order lacked credible legal or security foundations and warned that it sets a dangerous precedent. The statement further accused Trump of succumbing to pressure from Israel and the UAE, two nations historically hostile to the Brotherhood, and claimed the order undermines U.S. national security and regional stability. The Muslim Brotherhood emphasized that independent organizations in Muslim countries, while sharing a common Islamic ideology, operate autonomously and lawfully within their respective nations. They highlighted their long history of peaceful social, religious, and political engagement. The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the late 1920s, gained prominence during the 2011 Arab protests but has faced significant opposition from regional powers like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The group’s brief political ascendancy in Egypt ended with the 2013 coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsi. The Brotherhood remains a contentious issue in the region, with many monarchies viewing it as a threat to their rule.

Newly uncovered emails reveal that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz collaborated to discredit political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt following their controversial 2006 paper on the influence of the Israeli Lobby in the US. The emails, reported by Drop Site News, show Epstein praising Dershowitz’s rebuttal titled “Debunking the Newest – and Oldest – Jewish Conspiracy” and promising to circulate it among his contacts. Epstein, who was later convicted of sexual offenses, described Dershowitz’s attack on the academics as “terrific.” Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and frequent media commentator, has long defended Israeli policies, including illegal settlements and actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. At the time of their collaboration, Dershowitz was also representing Epstein in a legal case that resulted in Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea for a sexual offense. Mearsheimer and Walt’s work, which later became the book *The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy*, faced intense backlash from pro-Israel groups and was criticized by prominent figures like Strobe Talbott of the Brookings Institution. The authors argued that powerful supporters of Israel, including think tanks and philanthropic organizations, exerted undue influence on US foreign policy. Despite their academic credentials, Mearsheimer and Walt faced significant pushback, including the cancellation of a scheduled talk by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Mearsheimer, a leading realist theorist, has gained recent recognition for his accurate prediction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though his views on NATO’s role in the conflict have sparked controversy in Washington.