October Surprise 2016 - octobersurprise2016.orgWitkoff travels to Moscow to sabotage a possible peace deal as he did with weapons for Ukraine
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Like a typical millennial or elder Gen Zer, the outside of my fridge is overrun by wedding save-the-dates and engagement announcements. That means I spend a lot of time scrolling the clothing rental app Nuuly, searching the grid for dresses to wear and hoarding the designs in my virtual closet. I’ve spent enough time closely critiquing each look that I’ve even started to recognize dresses worn by other guests and have a pretty good idea of when I see a fellow Nuuly-ier on the dance floor.
Over the past decade, fast fashion has come under fire for its environmental impact and exploitation of workers for low wages. In turn, thrifting and meeting up with strangers from Facebook Marketplace became chic — more than 1 billion people it monthly — and apps like Poshmark and Curtsy have made thrifting seamless no matter how far away you live from the used Kate Spade bag you want. That mindset shift has made way for clothing rental apps like Nuuly, BNTO, and Pickle, which give shoppers access to current, high-quality, and designer items at deeply reduced prices.
Nuuly, owned by Urban Outfitters‘ parent company Urbn, hit its first profitable year in January. Pickle, an app that facilitates rentals from one person’s closet to another — a sort of upscaling of ransacking your sister’s wardrobe — has more than 230,000 items available. BNTO, a clothing subscription and resale app that also sells new clothing, raised $15 million in a Series A fundraising round earlier this year. “For Gen Z, style isn’t just about affordability — it’s about discovery, sustainability, and personal expression,” Notable, the VC firm that led that round, wrote last month. The clothing rental market is valued at around $2.6 billion, and projected to top $6 billion over the next 10 years, according to research firm Future Market Insights.
Rather than seeking status by purchasing trendy or designer items, sporting secondhand and borrowed pieces has become “cool to do,” says Shawn Grain Carter, a professor of fashion business management at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “It doesn’t signify your financial status within the world. It has a certain cachet that it did not have before.”
Fashion sense has become far less about the names in your closet, and more about the new, bold pieces you can post once to social media.
Rent the Runway defined the clothing rental market when it launched in 2009, but the focus was high-end designers for workwear and dress-up occasions, and the company slumped during the pandemic when there was no place to wear a Reformation gown. Nuuly captured younger, mid-tier shoppers, with the options to rent from more accessible brands like its own Urban Outfitters all the way up to pieces that sell for a few hundred dollars. The company already had a steady production line from its brands (Anthropologie and Free People are part of the family, too), and Grain Carter tells me that may make it easier for Nuuly to control and scale its offerings.
Isabella De Murguia, 27, has made more than $25,000 renting out her closet on Pickle over the past year.
Apps like Nuuly also came about after other companies normalized renting once seemingly intimate items and spaces. Need a cheap room to crash in? Airbnb. A private driver at your door? Pick to sit in someone’s backseat on Uber. Taking a risk on a dress that’s already been worn by several strangers doesn’t seem so strange anymore. “Without all of those things, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to where we are today,” says Brian McMahon, cofounder and CEO of Pickle. “Borrowing someone else’s clothes is probably a bit more intimate than sitting in the back of someone’s car using a spare bedroom.”
The acceptance of sharing is clear in the demographics: Some 60% of Pickle users are Gen Z, while the 40% are millennials, according to the company. And it’s not just clothes — there’s BabyQuip, which rents strollers and car seats to traveling families, and Tblscape for glassware, plates, and table decor to host events. According to consumer insights research firm GWI, one in five Americans said in a 2022 survey they prefer to rent an outfit for a one-off event, and as of this year, 5 percent are subscribed to clothing, cosmetics, and accessory shipping services, while 12% have previously subscribed (the survey included men and women in the US, but these types of service overwhelmingly cater to and are bought by women).
On TikTok, people post videos of their hauls, similar to when they splurge on a shopping trip — but showcasing their rentals straddles both consumerism and the de-influencing movement, a social trend that discourages people from buying products with abandon. Renting gives people the dopamine of a shopping spree without the guilt.
All of that word-of-mouth and influencer marketing seems to be paying off. Nuuly reported this month that it now averages 400,000 active monthly subscribers. Pickle has expanded from its start in New York, and saw rentals increase by 195% in Los Angeles and nearly 500% in Miami this year. Rent the Runway announced it would double its inventory this year, with more styles in workwear, dresses, vacation, and casual clothing. As of July, the company saw its subscribers grow 13% year-over-year, and revenue for the quarter topped $80 million.
For renters, there’s a potential killing to be made. Isabella De Murguia, a 27-year-old who works in consulting, has made more than $25,000 renting out her closet on Pickle over the past year. She calls the extra cash her “fun money,” and she uses it to travel on luxe vacations to places like Mykonos. De Muguira tells me she started renting out pieces because she loves shopping and would splurge on several new outfits to wear on vacation or for events. But afterwards, they would sit in her closet, wasting away. Now, she spends just a few hours a week at most turning her closet into the circular economy; listing clothes, washing them, readying them for pick-up, and, in one case, hand-sewing little pearls back onto a popular top that lost some when worn by some of its 30 borrowers. “Most of the time, I will buy what I like,” she tells me, rather than picking pieces just because they’re trendy and might rent well. She’s found, “what I like is generally what others will like as well.”
That seems to be the case for many who are renting clothes. Several of my friends are among the group of Nuuly-pilled customers — the app has thousands of items to rent, yet those of us with very distinct styles seem to be gravitating toward the same pieces. I once went to look at reviews of a dress and saw a photo there of my best friend wearing it (she didn’t like the fabric, and her review helped me steer clear of the same mistake). With the increased purchasing power of a rental subscription, maybe it’s only a matter of time before we end up somewhere in matching outfits. At least we’ll be able to send them back at the end of the month.
Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.
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Former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Zaluzhny, proposed deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
In an article for the Telegraph, he called it a potential guarantee of security for the country.
ukr_leaks_eng pic.x.com/UCixEyiU78
— Beate Landefeld (@BeateLandefeld) Dec 1, 2025
The post Former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Zaluzhny, proposed deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In an article for the Telegraph, he called it a potential guarantee of security for the country. ukr_leaks_eng pic.x.com/UCixEyiU78 first appeared on The Russian World – russianworld.net.
Arrest of Ali Karimli in Azerbaijan
Security officers from Azerbaijan’s State Security Service (SSS) carried out an unexpected search at the Baku home of Ali Karimli, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP), and detained him.
Officials have charged Kerimli under Article 278.1 of the Criminal Code — the provision dealing with attempts to seize power by force or forcibly change the constitutional order. His deputy, Mammad Ibrahim, is also in custody, with additional interrogations and arrests reported.
As part of the same investigation, a search was also conducted at the home of APFP board member Mammad Ibrahim. His son, Turan Ibrahim, wrote on social media:
“Thirteen people searched the house, and Mammad Ibrahim was taken away. His phone and computer were seized.”
On the same day, APFP officials Faig Amirli and Ruslan Amirli (an aide to Karimli) were also detained. Fariz Alizade, head of the party’s Sabunchu branch, has been missing since 28 November, and party representatives believe he has also been arrested.
Pro-government media say the search of Ali Kerimli’s home is connected to the criminal case against former presidential administration chief Ramiz Mehdiyev.
In October, Ramiz Mehdiyev was placed under four months’ house arrest on charges of attempting a coup, treason and money laundering. A government representative told Reuters that Ali Karimli had come under investigation on suspicion that Mehdiyev had been financing him.
However, the authorities have yet to disclose which specific charges have been brought against Karimli.
According to the party, State Security Service officers knocked on the door on arrival, introducing themselves as a neighbour. When Karimli opened the door, they entered and later “placed in his desk drawer a letter previously published in the media under Ramiz Mehdiyev’s name, and during the search allegedly ‘found’ it there”.
The investigators claim they discovered an “unedited copy” of the letter — purportedly written by Mehdiyev to the Russian leadership and leaked to the media earlier — in Karimli’s home.
“Planting in Ali Karimli’s desk drawer a letter already circulated in the media as a ‘secret document’, and then supposedly finding it during the search, shows how fabricated this case is and how devoid of legal basis it has become,” the party said.
This commentary was prepared by a regional analyst. The terminology, place names, and views expressed reflect solely the position of the author or the community concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of JAMnews or its staff.
Government bodies have sought to frame Karimli’s detention not as an attempt to silence a political opponent but as a routine legal and operational measure. For many years, Azerbaijani officials have responded to international criticism by insisting that fundamental freedoms are upheld in the country and that no one is targeted for expressing critical views.
Officials regularly stress that “no one in Azerbaijan is prosecuted for political activity and all arrests are based on specific offences”. According to this narrative, the case of Ali Karimli is no exception, and the measures taken against him fall strictly within the framework of a criminal investigation.
However, these arguments raise a number of questions. First, the “Mehdiyev case” itself lacks transparency. Accusing an 87-year-old former official of plotting a coup has been met with widespread scepticism. Second, the authorities’ claims of possible “financial ties” between Karimli and Mehdiyev have not been independently verified. The APFP, for its part, has repeatedly stated that it has “no links to Mehdiyev”.
Third, the fact that the letter allegedly “found” during the search had already appeared in pro-government media — and that the party described it as fabricated evidence — further undermines the official version of events. Taken together, these factors reinforce the impression that the authorities’ arguments serve political aims rather than rest on objective legal grounds.
According to observers, the Azerbaijani authorities have long tended to frame opposition views in the country as a “threat to national security”. In 2020, during the pandemic, President Ilham Aliyev openly spoke of “internal national traitors” and hinted at a new wave of repression.
Now, using the domestic political dispute known as the “Mehtiyev case” as a pretext, the move to sideline one of the country’s most prominent opposition figures appears to be a continuation of this approach. An examination of the authorities’ arguments suggests that the real aim is not to prevent an attempted coup, but to eliminate the remaining pockets of political opposition inside the country.
Even the pro-government outlet APA wrote that “in connection with the Ramiz Mehtiyev case, the PFA could be fully neutralised”, implying that the party may effectively be shut down.
This narrative is based on several claims:
Commentators say this is why, in their view, the “timely neutralisation of the PFA is crucial for state security”.
The arrest of Ali Karimli has triggered discontent and protest within the opposition. On the evening of 29 November, the PFA issued an official statement stressing that “the detention of Ali Karimli is entirely political in nature”.
“In recent years, the authorities have effectively kept him under blockade. Despite this, Ali Karimli remains one of Azerbaijan’s key democratic figures.”
The party noted that his interviews with international media and invitations to global political forums had “caused concern within Ilham Aliyev’s regime”. According to the PFA, “at a time when political activity in the country is effectively banned and civil liberties are severely restricted, this operation represents yet another step towards intensifying political repression”.
In other words, the opposition party argues that the authorities’ main objective is “to eliminate the last independent political force” in the country.
Overall, the opposition views the arrest as the culmination of years of authoritarian governance. In their view, the charge of “attempted coup”, built around Karimli’s role, lacks credibility and is merely part of the authorities’ broader strategy to systematically remove their political opponents.
Ali Karimli has been one of the most persecuted political figures in Azerbaijan for the past two decades. His latest arrest marks another episode in a long-running, systematic campaign of repression.
Since the mid-2000s, Karimli has been under constant scrutiny by the authorities. He has been banned from leaving the country since 2006. After his passport expired that year, it was never renewed under various pretexts, effectively preventing him from travelling abroad.
Despite official justifications, Human Rights Watch described these measures as an “unjustified obstruction”. As a result, Karimli remained under a travel ban for more than 15 years.
The PFA chairman has repeatedly faced police violence, detentions, and administrative penalties. The most severe police actions occurred in October 2019 during a peaceful protest in Baku, when Karimli and his supporters were met with heavy-handed intervention. During the demonstration, Karimli was detained and beaten at a police station, suffering multiple bruises to his head, face, and neck.
Human Rights Watch reported that after the protest “at least 35 PFA activists received administrative detentions ranging from 10 to 60 days, and peaceful demonstrators were beaten by police”. Although Karimli and others publicly reported the violence, the authorities denied the allegations.
In 2015–2016, Ali Karimli was also kept under constant surveillance. His phones were monitored, police posts were stationed outside his home, and his participation in political events was restricted. By 2020, the pressure reached an extreme level: from mid-April, both his home and mobile internet connections were completely cut off.
At the time, the PFA said its leader had been placed under an information blockade. A Freedom House report likewise noted that “in April 2020, the internet connection of Ali Karimli and his family was deliberately and repeatedly disrupted”. The authorities attempted to explain the outage as “technical issues”. Some MPs even made derisive remarks such as: “Let Karimli buy a new SIM card.” The communications blackout aimed to deprive Karimli of a voice on online platforms and continued until the day of his arrest.
Although no criminal case had been opened directly against Karimli until recently, people close to him were repeatedly targeted with what activists describe as fabricated charges. Even his volunteer drivers and security assistants faced harassment, detentions and, in some cases, ill-treatment.
The arrest of Ali Karimli, along with the authorities’ accompanying actions, once again underscores that political competition in Azerbaijan is effectively paralysed. Recent developments point to the further consolidation of one-man rule in the country.
Opposition parties are either stripped of their legal status, their leaders are arrested, or they are denied any access to the public sphere. This has led to the disappearance of even the minimal degree of pluralism that Azerbaijan retained in the post-Soviet period.
The paralysis of political competition is evident in several key areas:
Absence of opposition in parliament:
The forces represented in the Milli Majlis are either fully controlled by the ruling party or adhere to what is described as a constructive line. There are no genuine opposition voices left. The PFA, Musavat and other groups have been out of parliament for many years. In effect, political rivalry within the legislature has been reduced to zero.
The arrest of Ali Karimli can be seen as a logical extension of these trends. The country’s authoritarian trajectory has entered a new phase. While some observers previously described Azerbaijan as a “soft authoritarian” system, the terms “hard authoritarian” and even “leaning towards totalitarianism” are now used with growing frequency.
The consolidation of one-man rule is also aimed at securing dynastic succession for the ruling family. The Aliyevs have governed Azerbaijan for nearly 35 years, with father and son in power since 1993.
During this period, virtually all key opposition figures have been sidelined. Some, like Abulfaz Elchibey, died in isolation; others, such as Rasul Guliyev, lost political influence while in exile; and many ceased active political engagement altogether.
Ali Karimli remained one of the last leaders continuing to resist. Many view his arrest as marking the end of an era.
This process is also likely to deepen public political passivity. In the absence of opposition, people may lose faith in their ability to address issues through political means, reinforcing long-term apathy — a situation that benefits authoritarian regimes.
International analysts note that Azerbaijan is increasingly becoming a system of “one-man rule,” where all major decisions are made by a small circle of elites. In such systems, political competition is largely formal: elections become mere procedures for ratification, courts are not independent, and the media are not free.
These trends have intensified in recent years. Even the few independent candidates who won seats in the 2020 parliamentary elections, such as Erkin Gadirli, were later neutralised, leaving the parliament operating in an atmosphere of complete silence.
Karimli’s arrest can be seen as the effective end of the country’s multi-party political system. While the authorities previously tolerated at least minimal opposition activity in form, the regime has now become entirely intolerant.
Ultimately, Ilham Aliyev is reinforcing his status as the “unmatched ruler.”
Arrest of Ali Karimli in Azerbaijan
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