The Deadline Report – Ben Vidgen Investigates
Category: Ethics, News and Politics Investigative journalist, author, and Consulting ‘Oartistic’ Dyslexic Detective Ben Vidgen, presents a 30-minute show offering quality alternative media backed by quality documented information on the issues not hitting the headlines, but that should be. A double shot of reality always educational if never pretty.
The Deadline Report airs on Sundays at 1:00pm and replays Friday nights at 7.00pm.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AWARD WINING PODCAST.
DEADLINE TV.
RAYMOND HORSCH & Other tentacles of the Octopu$ I found, who have set up shop In Aotearoa.
THE GLOBAL POLTICIS GIG GUIDE TO AI GREEN WASHING.
BIG ELECTIONS, BIG WIG MEETS & BIG AI GREEN WASH LIES 2026
SPOILER ALERT IM NOT DENIER IM JUST ANTI GREEN WASHING.
Date that matter if your global villain bent on world domination and greenwashing AI.
Milken Institute Asia Summit
Dates: 7–9 October 2026AI: Yes (core theme is “Leading with Intelligence,” focusing heavily on AI infrastructure & Digital Banking.
WEF Global Future CouncilsDates: Mid-to-late October 2026 Heavy focuses on global AI regulatory frameworks and safety governance digital assets and the future of financial systems.
Oct 27: Israel Legislative Election — Nov 3–5: Semafor Tech Summit – Global tech founders and international policymakers gather in California to address AI economics & digital regulations following the US elections.
Nov 3: US Midterm Elections – All 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats, and 39 governorships are decided.
Nov 7: New Zealand General Election – Voters cast ballots to elect the 55th Parliament under the MMP framework. 2.5 Million donated so far from pro AI Silicon Valley donors and mining lobby.
Nov 9: COP31 Commences – The UN Climate Change Conference officially opens in Antalya, Turkey, to launch global emission and climate finance tracks. AI is also on the agenda as a powerful mechanism to solve climate coordination and information tracking. Digitalization and AI capabilities are being integrated into negotiations. Additionally, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism is hosting its Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action Award.
APEC CEO Summit Dates: 16–18 November 2026A focuses on AI implementation in supply chains, regional tech dominance, cross-border digital payments and e-commerce financing.
G20 Leaders’ Summit Dates: 14–15 December 2026 focuses on sovereign AI capabilities and national security implication global financial architecture and digital currency integration.
NEWS IN BRIEF:
September 5th 4:35 am on Saturday, 4 September 2010, Canterbury was jolted awake by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake near Darfield. Sixteen years ago today.
September 5th China’s National Medical Products Administration has granted commercial approval to NEO, a coin-sized brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by Tsinghua University and Neuracle Technology. This milestone marks the world’s first commercial authorization for an invasive brain implant designed to restore motor function outside research settings.
September 4th a Toronto 2018 Gulfstream G650ER A8-EOD configured for 13 passengers land in Christchurch then took off from Wellington (possibly the other way). Built 2018 for Exxon Mobil Corporation its previously landing into Yemen on runway 26 on 16th August 2026.Its flight plan from NZ states Sydney Australia then Dubai. It comes as extraordinary number of C17 (Including one bearing the designation AMC Air Mobile Command) flying into NZ on their way to and from Antarctica and as an Australian Air-force takes off and land first in Invercargill (Headquarter for New Zealand space center), then Queenstown approximately one hours from the Naseby Low Earth Orbit tracking facility.
September 4th A drone strikes office of the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Zelensky claims that this was a Russian drone. But small & very precise impact suggests that it can be linked to the SBU shootout with the far-right-led Tymur unit of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine after the SBU seizure of neo-Nazi deputy commander of RDK. The internal conflict in Ukraine is not classified as a civil war; it is an interstate war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Within this conflict, an intense “shadow war” of counterintelligence and covert sabotage is being fought between Russian and Ukrainian security services, which has recently led to unprecedented internal friction inside Ukraine itself. The U.S. and European intelligence bodies allege that Russia is using local criminals and even Ukrainian paramilitary units to map infrastructure, photograph defense companies, or commit arson—often without the proxies explicitly realizing they are operating on Moscow’s pay-role. Critics maintain such attacks are being carried out by NATO funded stay behind hybrid warfare units. Either way hybrid warfare is adding to the escalation of the new cold war and the looming threat the cold war will go hot.
September 4th A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck off Nikolski, Alaska, according to the USGS.
September 3rd Rocket Lab delay launch of Electron Rocket from Mahia Peninsular. The mission was to be Rocket Lab’s 94th Electron launch and latest dedicated mission for Synspective, a Japan-based commercial constellation operator. “Owl Around The World” sometime called Space HAARP deploys a single StriX Earth observation satellite to a 575km LEO that will join Synspective’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging constellation over Japan that provides data for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.
September 3rd. An armed confrontation between Ukraine’s military intelligence and security service left three officers wounded in Kyiv. Both sides have given conflicting accounts of what happened, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the incident “absolutely disgraceful.”
The immediate fallout resulted in rapid structural purges on of several since the first and second explosion at illegal depot placed in civilian areas saw Zelensky replacing popular defense staff.
SBU Dismissal: Zelenskyy immediately dismissed Oleh Khramov, the head of the SBU’s department for the protection of state secrets. Zelenskyy ordered SBU First Deputy Head Aleksandr Poklad to root out any internal personnel serving external or corrupt interests.
Investigations: Joint criminal and internal investigations were launched by state prosecutors to review the actions of both security apparatuses. Kaplunov has since been released from SBU custody, though his current whereabouts remain unconfirmed. The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC): The detainee who triggered the shootout, Stepan Kaplunov, is the deputy commander of the RVC (or RDK), an anti-Kremlin paramilitary unit operating under Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR). International monitors, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and The New York Times, have documented explicit neo-Nazi, white nationalist, and far-right extremist ties throughout the RVC’s core framework.
The founder and commander of the RVC, Denis Kapustin (also known as Denis Nikitin), is a notorious Russian neo-Nazi and former soccer hooligan. Before the war, Germany revoked his residency and banned him from the Schengen zone for his far-right extremist activity. He also established “White Rex,” a clothing line popular within neo-Nazi networks that frequently utilizes thinly veiled Nazi imagery and white nationalist iconography.
The RVC openly rejects democratic multi-ethnic models, instead publishing a manifesto (“Homo ethnicus“) advocating for a strict, mono-ethnic Russian nation-state built around bloodline and ethnicity. Ukraine’s military intelligence utilizes the RVC as a hybrid-warfare asset for operations inside Russia, European intelligence authorities warn the unit’s overt neo-Nazi ties serve as a significant propaganda victory for Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy maintains a transactional alliance with the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC). Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) secures its funding, weaponry, and institutional backing through a mix of official Ukrainian state sponsorship, international crowdfunding, and captured battlefield equipment: On a scale of 1 to 10, the political and domestic power base of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) inside Ukraine is a 4-6. While they possess localized institutional protection and outsized media prominence, their actual structural influence within the country is constrained.
The RVC has no domestic political footprint, legislative representation, or widespread popularity among ordinary Ukrainians. Because they are explicit Russian nationalists advocating for a mono-ethnic Russian state, their ideology holds virtually zero appeal for the broader Ukrainian public. Their survival relies entirely on the patronage of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) under Kyrylo Budanov. They operate not as an independent political force, but as a specialized tactical tool for cross-border sabotage and psychological warfare against Moscow. The September 2026 shootout demonstrated that they do not enjoy universal protection within the Ukrainian state. The domestic security service (SBU) treated their deputy commander as a counter-intelligence target rather than an untouchable ally.
Their score is a 4-6 rather than a 1 because 1. AI said it was a 3 (so I dialed it up two spots automatically narrative bias) because of their utility to HUR. The willingness of military intelligence officers to physically confront the SBU to protect an RVC commander highlight that they possess highly powerful, well-armed institutional patrons who value them as a front-line military asset. The relationship between the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and other far-right Ukrainian military units is highly cooperative. The RVC frequently operates in tandem with elite Ukrainian units like the Third Army Corps (formerly the 3rd Assault Brigade) and the Azov Brigade. RVC fighters and Ukrainian far-right veterans frequently share informal supply lines, training grounds, and crowdfunding networks. It is common for veteran volunteers from different right-wing factions to cross-train or trade specialized drone and tactical equipment
September 3rd JD Vance sat down with a 22-year-old podcaster this week and said he’d be fine if we brought about the literal end of the world. Asked about the biblical end times, Vance laughed. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if the Antichrist was already walking among us. Then he explained that he’s focused on doing God’s work right now, and if that work happens to end the world, in his own word, “okay.”
September 3rd Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake just occurred in the South Sandwich Islands region of the southern Atlantic Ocean.
September 2nd The Dutch central bank (DNB) has confirmed that billions of dollars in gold has been taken out of north America and relocated to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest”.
September 2nd KiwiSaver and investment zero-balance glitch occurred. The bank confirmed it was a technical display issue, and balances were largely corrected by the next morning.
September 2nd A series of shallow earthquakes recently struck the Fiordland region of New Zealand’s South Island, led by a “doublet” of magnitude 5.5 and 5.6 quakes.
September 1st Multiple B-52s landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal in the country’s Northern Territory according to official Air Force imagery released Sept. 3 The joint military-civilian airfield near the town of Katherine, which the Pentagon plans to use as a launching pad for operations in the Pacific, has undergone a $1.1 billion upgrade in recent years
August 31 The United States and New Zealand will co-fund a new “lifeline” port with the Cook Islands on Penrhyn atoll – a former US military base. The US says it will commit $50 million USD, while New Zealand will contribute $10 million USD. The US Deputy State Secretary Christopher Landau said this was for a Critical Minerals Framework that the Cooks signed with the US in February. Described as a deal “which advances the keen interest from Washington in deep sea mineral resources in the Cook Islands”.
August 30: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced Friday a shift in its policy on using the word ‘terrorism’ to describe the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States ahead of their 25th anniversary.
August 30 Alleged submarine spot off the coat of New York by submarine spotting aircraft searching the US east Coast.
August 29: Ukrainian authorities, including the Prosecutor General’s Office and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have stated that the targeted warehouse complex in Myla stored Defense Forces ammunition, shells, mines, and tactical drones. The current investigation is strictly focused on criminal negligence regarding why conventional high explosives were stored so close to residential areas and a nursing home. Recent data from the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration tracks an air pollution spike across several municipalities following consecutive nights of Russian aerial assaults and the massive munitions depot fires in Myla.
PS will we get Russian blamed for using depleted uranium in next few days and a sudden radiation spike – if so they were storing depleted uranium tank shells their…. just like last time.
August 28: Reports of a USAF E-3G AWACS disappearing over the Strait of Hormuz remain unverified as Trump says Iran is not ready for a peace deal.
August 28, Western intelligence allegedly intercepted high-level Kremlin communications indicating that Vladimir Putin has concluded all diplomatic peace tracks have reached a permanent dead end.
Rather than immediate tactical nuclear deployment, it was alleged Russia was opting for a non nucear alternative a massive conventional ballistic missile “decapitation” blitz targeting central Kyiv and civilian infrastructure. The goal? to break the country’s back before winter, exploiting Ukraine’s exhausted supply of air defense interceptors. Soviet force alleges massive gains which must be considered greatly exaggerated. That sad Westen media does not deny Russian advances.
August 27, over 100 of the world’s most powerful tech conglomerates—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft co-signed an unprecedented, urgent letter warning that AI-enabled automated cyberattacks are on the verge of overwhelming global online defenses within months. The “sketchy” part? The coalition explicitly refused to make any binding financial commitments, deadlines, or resource allocations to fix a problem they have largely created themselves. They effectively passed the buck to under-resourced local governments to secure critical infrastructure against machine-speed hacking algorithms and they pursue AI bubble profits.
August 27th: A U.S. military judge has set a June 5, 2028, trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001, attacks.
During his years as a fugitive planning the 9/11 attacks and prior operations (such as the 1995 Bojinka plot), Khalid Sheikh Mohammed frequently used aliases and fraudulent travel documentation. In 2001, the 9/11 mastermind applied for and was successfully granted a U.S. visa under a false identity using a passport that listed his care-of (c/o) address as the Bin Laden Construction Company. Despite the glaring connection to the bin Laden family name, the U.S. State Department approved the visa on July 23, 2001, via the Visa Express program in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Mainstream explanation for how he achieved this state he used a fake identity and the program did not require an in-person interview, his connection was never flagged, and he was approved to enter the United States just weeks before the September 11 attacks. That and apparently the average American TSA border guard has the literacy of a five-year-old.
August 26th CIA director flies into Moscow, using the equivalent of a house removing truck not a lear jet. And the US Embassy in Moscow post meeting lowers US flag out the front of its main building.
Officials later explain the flag always gets lowered at night. Actually, they explained this as protocol for locations were there was no nighttime illumination, carefully explaining protocol but NOT making it clear if that what applied in this case.
As usual no one in legacy media went and checked out the data to confirm if this was actually true – past photos would seem to indicate it is not true. Alternatively (because nothing suggests credibility like multiple official explanations) it’s explained it was taken down because of Dolly Partons death Which is weird as flags in remembrance get lowered not removed. To be fair that was the Russian official explanation.
Flags flew elsewhere in the embassy at full mast. And what did the market think as drones moved towards Russia from Ukraine only hours later?
To recap Germany arrest second Ukrainian Nordstream bomber as corruption plague Ukraine. Riots break out and protest gets louder at forced conscription. The bleaker it gets the more UK, in the grip of outrageous arms lobby and Israel, doubles down on wanting to arm Ukraine with long range nuclear capable missiles. Murdoch press blares ( or should that be Blairs) rule Britannia and hospital ques stretch around the corner.
And as US Iran war goes horribly wrong CIA pop up in Moscow in a moving van (or a flying faraway cage) and shortly afterwards no one at the embassy puts out the milk bottles. Back home the Greens put up a SAS candidate for election as Silicon Valley splash obscene amounts of cash about, forever party bar team red, while Rocket Lab militarized space centers and AI centers (whose purpose no one actually seem to know) pop up like mushrooms.
Everyone hates Trump but still Labour won’t talk about Norman Kirk. as the unemployment line grow as longer than a UK hospital line…oh and fun fact as John Pilger warned us of the second cold war. His warning issued long before the usual hacks even worked out a new cold war had started. Pilger also noted in 2016 they knew a pandemic would occur. And knowing that what did they do?They cut out 25000 beds from the same system Palantir now wants to digitalize and privatize.
Let that sink in next time you blame the ‘immigrants’.
It might be time to hang the flag up upside down, the international signal for SOS.
August 26-25 Five aircraft identified by military aviation watchers as E-6B Mercury nuclear command planes were tracked airborne across the Western-Mid United States at roughly the same time on 25 August. The E-6B plays a key role in America’s nuclear command system, including maintaining communications with ballistic missile submarines and other strategic forces.
The activity came while the major AMALGAM DART NORAD exercise was underway across North America. It also happened on the same day CIA Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow for intelligence talks.
August 25 Britain prepares for the possibility of a large-scale conflict, with a new national ‘war book’ being drawn up to help the public respond to major emergencies. The manual will cover what to do in the event of a natural disaster, cyber-attack or military threat from a foreign country.
August 25: Entertainers Dolly Parton and former lover to Miss Piggy honouary Muppet Tim Curry pass away another 2016 blow tht comes as increasingly life feels like that immortal line from Rocky Horror Picture Show ‘it just a step to the left and a JUMP! to the right’. But do remember what Dolly said, ‘the way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain’.
We’re all everyday people whatever our nationality or politics. It’s not hard, just remember, don’t do it if Dolly wouldn’t.
August 24 Mykhailo Fedorov, dismissed as Ukraine’s defence minister in July, broke a taboo with a video in which he challenged Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections and called out corruption. He is courting tech innovators and established Silicon Valley companies to secure both engineering expertise and financial backing
— except team red. Minus Union money Labour barely hit $100,000
August 24 Kim dotcom gives the right-wing party outdoors an endorsement on the Tucker Carlson show.
August 23rd Atlas and Big Tech spend nearly 3 million on their opposition and potential coalition partners to make sure for Plan A continuance of the Act National NZ First coalition. or Plan B Labor does wake up remember t the party of Norman Kirk not Roger-nomics.
August 23rd: An investigative report by 404 Media revealed that tech giants are acquiring physical books in bulk to feed artificial intelligence training pipelines through a process of destructive digitization.
August 20: An AI system broke its safety controls and hacked another company. Demand AI safety. Sign now. In another case found over a 100 AI system were ‘secretly’ communicating with each other.
August 19 A second suspect has been arrested in relation to the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in 2022, German prosecutors said on Wednesday. Croatian police, acting on a European arrest warrant, detained a Ukrainian national in Pula.
August 19 ITV News report the United Arab Emirates signed up a gun for hire to allegedly target a British activist. Abraham Golan, a dual Hungarian-Israeli citizen, was hired by the UAE to track Anas Altikriti, a hostage negotiator, an activist and chief executive of a think tank.
August 19 Two people have been charged after firearms, $250,000 worth of drugs and cash were seized following a raid in Sydney’s west. The major bust comes following an investigation into an alleged organised supply of prohibited drugs and firearms for Organised Crime Networks.
Total Australian Drug Interceptions (2020 – 2026)
| Financial Year | Total Seizures (Metric Tonnes) | Trend Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 23.1 tonnes | Pandemic restrictions, low air cargo supply |
| 2021–22 | 24.0 tonnes | Gradual border reopening |
| 2022–23 | 26.8 tonnes | Return of global supply lines |
| 2023–24 | 33.7 tonnes | Record High: Shift to multi-tonne maritime shipping |
| 2024–25 | 31.5 tonnes | High plateau, increased offshore tracking |
| 2025–26 (Est.) | 32.0 tonnes | Stable “new normal” under heavy police pressure |
August 19 Boston Consulting Group said New Zealand could capture up to $120 billion in economic activity from new data centres over the next decade if it moved quickly. GCG funding comes from private companies across automotive, technology, healthcare, finance, and consumer goods who pay BCG for corporate strategy, digital restructuring, and applied AI integration.
August 18 74 kilograms of gold and suitcases full of cash were discovered at the home of an Indonesian anti-corruption prosecutor.
August 18 A Russian missile test warning disrupted a U.S. Air Force flight to Antarctica and prompted the New Zealand government to seek clarification. A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globe master took off from Christchurch Airport heading for McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Aside from the fact the idea Russia is hosting weapons test in Antarctica hasn’t raised eyebrows is only shadowed by the frequent appearance of C17 replacing C-130 on the ice indicating an expanded presence. Nealy 3 flight have taken off and returned since the warning. Maritime and intelligence experts from platforms like The Diplomat noted that no physical missile test actually occurred in this area, and there were no Russian vessels present to monitor or recover debris. Analysts concluded the coordinates were used for a “dummy warning” intended as a geopolitical show of force.
August 17 Canadian-owned Westinghouse Electric is among the companies that receive low enriched uranium (LEU) from Russia to fuel commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S, shipping data analyzed by CBC’s the fifth estate shows. Previously Ian Robertson, a former head of the NZ Dairy Board involved in Russian Tax Haven bank along with former FSB agents and politician Ross Meurant, ran Vostock imports Export whose Uranium deals in NZ Dairy Goods, Middle Eastern crude oil and munitions including depleted Uranium rounds shipped from Russian to General Dynamic Canada. At the same time Xado Ltd (who had ties to Prok bank), housed in the Scales Shipping Ltd building that was South Canterbury Finance headquarters dealt in chemicals used to clean nuclear reactors Israeli explosives and munition related technology. In 1999 SCF was found laundering cash for Russian organised crime, while it subsidiary Mr Apples Ltd Imported Russian military equipment such as night vision goggles. During WW2 Scales Ltd according to it biography handled weapons shipment form New Zealand to Russia as part of New Zealand merchant navy special operations.
Agust 18 A Chinese military publication has claimed that Japan possesses enough separated plutonium—and enough technological expertise—to potentially manufacture thousands of nuclear weapons, adding another layer of tension between two of East Asia’s most powerful countries.
According to PLA Daily, Japan holds more than 44.4 tonnes of separated plutonium. The publication claimed that amount could theoretically be used to produce around 5,500 nuclear warheads, although having nuclear material is not the same as actually possessing deployable nuclear weapons.
August 17 PMorgan’s senior global economist Nora Szentivanyi published a report titled “Food Security Is National Security: A Compounding Storm” this week warning that global food inflation will accelerate from 2.8% today to 5% by early 2027, driven by two simultaneous crises. The US-Iran war has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which 30% of global fertilizer exports normally pass, cutting tanker traffic by over 95% since February.
August 15 Since 2018, the UK has declined to recognise Venezuela’s revolutionary socialist government, in effect blocking its access to some 31 tonnes stored in the Bank of England vaults.
August 15 China shipped Cuba 15,000 tons of rice.
August 13-15 Nearly 30 Rocket Lab Launches which may have broken NZ law and implicated NZ in war crimes. On the same day Chris Penk was stripped of his ministerial portfolios and announced he won’t seek re-election; a judicial review was filed in the Wellington High Court challenging Government approvals for Black Sky satellite launches from New Zealand.
August 13 Taiwan officially kicks off its annual Han Kuang No. 42 live-fire military exercises, deploying integrated civilian evacuation drills across major cities to boost structural wartime resilience.
August 10 United Kingdom defense authorities abruptly strip internet connectivity from Royal Navy surveillance drones. The emergency counter-intelligence measure is enacted after tech auditors discover camera components are actively transmitting data back to state-aligned servers in China.
August 9 The UAE severs Ties with Iran: Citing unmanageable security risks following a targeted missile strike on a commercial vessel over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates officially suspends direct economic ties with Tehran, rupturing regional back-channel trade routes
August 7 Syrian government signals plans to systematically reduce its imports of Russian oil. The move comes as Damascus quietly pursues economic re-engagement and sanction-relief pathways with Western nation.
August 3rd US-China Economic Cold War: Beijing issues a fierce condemnation against Washington after the United States places over 40 new Chinese entities onto the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, slamming the move as malicious economic coercion.
August 2 The U.S. FBI opened a multi-state investigation after Michigan and Minnesota reported sophisticated cyberattacks targeting their public water systems, with intelligence pointing to Iranian state-aligned hacking groups
August 1st U.S. Intervenes to Save the Yen: The U.S. Treasury launches a historic currency intervention to purchase Japanese yen after it drops to a 40-year low, aiming to halt the chaotic unwind of the global yen-carry trad
BEN VIDGEN -- The Consulting 'Oartistic' Dyslexic Detective. 