More info: All of Pete Hegseth’s Tattoos, and What They Mean
Original image via Trouw.nl, cropped by me.
-
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
-
Join 187 other subscribers
Meta
Iran is Not a Threat
US intelligence undercuts Trump’s main justification for war with Iran
One of US President Donald Trump’s central justifications for his war on Iran has been blown out of the water by his own intelligence community, which has concluded that Tehran is not rebuilding the nuclear enrichment capacity destroyed in last year’s US-Israeli attack.
In written testimony submitted on 18 March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said: “As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme was obliterated. There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.” The assessment undercuts Trump’s repeated claims that Iran posed an “imminent threat” and was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
When questioned by senators, however, Gabbard did not repeat that conclusion orally and declined to say whether Iran had posed an imminent nuclear threat, saying that judgment was for the president.
The discrepancy is significant because Trump has invoked the threat of an Iranian nuclear breakout to justify continued military action. Gabbard’s written testimony, by contrast, indicates that US intelligence has not found evidence that Iran is reconstructing the enrichment infrastructure destroyed in the attack.
Full story at: Middle East Monitor
Header image is courtesy of Middle East Monitor, modified by me.
Posted in International Politics, War & Terror
Tagged Iran, Israel, Tulsi Gabbard, USA
Leave a comment
The Epstein Files: The Complete Story
This article provides a full rundown of the Epstein Files, highlighting the most important revelations from millions of recently released documents. From Epstein’s rise, wealth, and criminal network to his ties with global elites and the Mossad, it distills the key facts, exposing the power, influence, and systemic failures that allowed him to operate with impunity.
Born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents, Jeffrey Epstein would later become one of the most infamous figures of the modern era: a convicted sex offender accused of orchestrating a vast, international sex-trafficking operation involving underage girls, while maintaining close relationships with politicians, financiers, academics, royalty, and cultural elites.
With the US Department of Justice recently releasing more than 3 million pages of documents related to the Epstein case, often referred to in public discourse as the “Epstein files”, it has become increasingly important to understand not only the scope of his crimes, but who Epstein was, how he accumulated extraordinary wealth and influence, and how institutions repeatedly enabled him.
What follows is a reconstruction of Epstein’s life and rise, based primarily on a years-long investigative series by The New York Times, drawing on court records, financial documents, interviews with former associates, and previously unreleased archival material.
Read the full story at: Al Mayadeen. See also:
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
The Criminal Elite Exposed in the Epstein Files are Burying the Truth
A handful of figures will be sacrificed – but only to protect a wider culture that believes rules don’t apply to the ruling elite
If you struggle to cope with the endless pressure to communicate in an ever-more connected world, spare a thought for the late serial paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The flood of three million documents released by the US Department of Justice over the weekend confirm that Epstein spent an inordinate amount of time corresponding with the huge network of powerful acquaintances he had developed.
Emailing alone looks to have been almost a full-time job for him – and in a real sense, it was.
The personal attention he devoted to billionaires, royalty, political leaders, statesmen, celebrities, academics and media elites was how he kept himself at the heart of this vast network of power.
His address book was a who’s who of those who shape our sense of how the world ought to be run. But it was also critical to how he drew some of these same powerful figures deeper into his orbit, and into a world of debauched and exploitative private parties in New York and on his Caribbean island.
Apparently there are another three million documents still being withheld. Their contents, we must presume, are even more damning to the global elite cultivated by Epstein.
The more documents that come to light, the more a picture emerges of how Epstein was shielded from the consequences of his own depravity by this network of allies who either indulged his crimes, or actively participated in them.
Epstein’s modus operandi looked suspiciously like that of a gangland boss, who requires initiates to take part in a hit before they become fully fledged members of the mob. Complicity is the safest way to guarantee a conspiracy of silence.
Full story at: Middle East Eye. See also:
Posted in Finance & Economy, International Politics
Tagged Epstein files, Jeffrey Epstein, USA
Leave a comment
We’re Well Prepared, Mr. Trump
A huge anti-US and anti-Israel banner hanging on a building in Tehran, Iran.
Related:
- Iran prepares for war as US military ‘armada’ approaches
EU labels Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘terrorist organization’
US military ready for action against Iran – Secretary of War
Header image is courtesy of Middle East Eye, cropped and slightly enhanced by me.
Posted in Imperialism & Colonialism, International Politics
Tagged Donald Trump, Iran, USA
Leave a comment
Trump’s Biggest Fan in Europe – by Far
Those in the bloc who think otherwise can “keep dreaming,” Mark Rutte has told the European Parliament
The EU would be unable defend itself without the US, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said. The bloc’s members would have to spend up to 10% of their GDP on their militaries, which could still be insufficient, he told the European Parliament on Monday.
The secretary general warned that those who “really want to go it alone” should “forget that you can ever get there with 5%” of GDP spent on defense. The bloc would need to at least double that sum, as well as to invest in its own nuclear capability, which “costs billions, billions and billions of euros,” he argued, adding that going alone would mean that “you will lose.”
NATO agreed to the 5% spending threshold at a summit in The Hague last year. The demand was originally made by US President Donald Trump, who has since received endless praise from Rutte. On Monday, he once again lauded the president for making nations like “Spain and Italy and Belgium and Canada” live up to their current 2% spending commitments, as well as agreeing to the new threshold.
Washington has repeatedly stated it would be scaling back commitments to its European allies and urging them to take on greater responsibility for their own security. Last week, the Pentagon said it would prioritize “defending the US Homeland and deterring China.”
Full story at: RT International. Related: Trump is Running the World Like a Mafia Boss
Background image is courtesy of Scanpix, modified by me.
Jared Kushner’s Sick Vision for a Future Gaza
Analysts say proposal for shiny skyscrapers and coastal attractions resemble the Gulf, deliberately wiping away Gaza’s heritage
Jared Kushner, who serves as a US special envoy, announced plans for a “New Gaza” – complete with shiny skyscrapers, coastal tourist attractions and entire districts dedicated to business and commerce.
Kushner told world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum that the Palestinian enclave would be run under “free market economy principles” that seek to mirror the “same mindset and same approach” as Trump’s America.
Analysts believe that this plan is yet another example of corporations and individuals attempting to profit from war and genocide.
“People have made money from this genocide and it’s a continuation,” Daniel Levy, a British-Israeli analyst and former peace negotiator, told Middle East Eye. Over 71,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war on Gaza, which has been recognised as a genocide by the United Nations, genocide scholars and human rights organisations.
Full story at: Middle East Eye
Header image is courtesy of The Nation, resized and slightly enhanced by me.
Posted in Imperialism & Colonialism, International Politics
Tagged Gaza, Israel, Jared Kushner, Palestine, USA
Leave a comment
There’s One Way the EU Could Resist Donald Trump. But It Won’t
To escape an abusive relationship, you have to fight crazy with crazy, but the Europeans are too meek and gaslighted for that
Watching Trump toy with the EU over his vows to seize Greenland is infuriating in the same way that a friend keeps calling you nonstop to describe her nutcase live-in partner, without actually doing anything about it. Know what unnerves a bully? Unpredictability.
Bullies love predictable victims. Ask any woman who has suddenly gone off-script and ended up labeled ‘crazy’ by some deserving man. A woman who doesn’t flinch is terrifying to a bully. Hence the diagnosis.
So why is the EU still playing defense? And so poorly, at that. Sending Danish and Greenlandic leaders on a trip across the Atlantic to negotiate with their blackmailers on the abuser’s own turf and hoping for the best? The minute someone starts manipulating, strong-arming, and intimidating you, you go no-contact. Block them. Then sit back and let them fill in the blanks with every possible worst-case scenario.
Instead, you’re sending European materiel and troops to Greenland for military exercises, all while the US is still kicking its feet up inside NATO and bragging that he’ll eventually get what he wants if he leaves the right amount of cash on Greenland’s nightstand. That’s like living with an abusive partner while insisting on staying under the same roof, thinking that they’ll be deterred because you’ve taken up Boxercise classes and flex in front of them by opening jars of pickles with your bare hands.
You want him to simmer down for real? Call his bluff. Kick him out. Change the locks on all the military bases that he’s installed inside your house. He may have too much stuff to relocate to the front yard. Fine. Then bomb it for extra giggles. Smash that windshield, girl! Key that Mercedes!
Full story at: RT International. Related: Trump is Running the World Like a Mafia Boss
Header image is courtesy of BBC, cropped and slightly enhanced by me.
Posted in Imperialism & Colonialism, International Politics
Tagged Denmark, Donald Trump, EU, Greenland, NATO, USA
Leave a comment
Jellyfish have More Spine Than the European Leaders
Any European troop deployment to the Arctic over the “imaginary” Russian and Chinese threats would be merely symbolic, Greg Simons has told RT
Europe is too weak to stand up to US President Donald Trump’s ambitions to bring Greenland under American control, journalism professor Greg Simons has said.
Trump stated last week that the US must annex Greenland – a Danish self-governing island – to contain Russia and China, claiming the two countries would “take over” the island unless Washington acted first. Several media outlets have since reported that the UK, France and other European states are discussing plans to send ground forces to Greenland to signal that they take Arctic security seriously.
Speaking to RT on Tuesday, Simons, who teaches at Daffodil International University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said European governments lack the strength and will to resist Trump.
“A jellyfish has more spine than these Europeans and the EU at this stage,” he argued, calling their stance “hypocritical.”
Commenting on the reports of a potential deployment, Simons said such a move would be largely symbolic. Any European troop presence in Greenland or the wider Arctic would amount to “a token number of troops” facing an “imaginary threat of Chinese and Russian destroyers and submarines,” he argued, adding that even Denmark had acknowledged there were no such vessels in the area.
Full story at: RT International
Header image is courtesy of Reuters, cropped and slightly enhanced by me.
Posted in Imperialism & Colonialism, International Politics
Tagged Denmark, Donald Trump, EU, Greenland, NATO, USA
Leave a comment
Trump is Not Bluffing About Greenland
The US is building a resource-driven world order based on energy dominance, territorial leverage, and Europe’s strategic weakness
When US President Donald Trump returned to the topic of acquiring Greenland – one that seemed largely forgotten just a month ago – the idea wasn’t considered mere ‘theatrics’, particularly in Europe. And it’s not just about the ‘Maduro effect’. Beneath Trump’s provocative statements, a clear geopolitical strategy is emerging, one that can be termed ‘new globalism’. This approach is far more economically grounded than the concept of globalization, even US-centric globalization.
Trump’s ‘new globalism’ consists of three logically interconnected components:
-
Reinterpreting the Monroe Doctrine (One may wonder if Trump considers the Philippines part of this ‘Greater America’ as well…)
Transforming the US into an energy superpower that monopolizes the rules of the game in the hydrocarbon market, particularly in regional trade
Enhancing America’s status as an Arctic superpower – a position that the US currently holds only nominally
Trump’s actions are quite logical: dismantling Nicolas Maduro’s regime is crucial for turning Latin America’s resources into a source of short-term economic stability for the US. This is Trump’s ‘entrance ticket’ into the world of ‘new globalism’. America cannot become an energy superpower unless it has control over Venezuela’s (and eventually Brazil’s and Iran’s) oil resources and eliminates ‘shadow fleets’ as soon as possible. Similarly, achieving full legal control over Greenland is essential for establishing the US as an Arctic power. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the US to maintain competitiveness as an energy superpower after 2030.
Full story at: RT International. Header image is courtesy of Mental Floss, cropped and slightly enhanced by me. See also:
Posted in Imperialism & Colonialism, International Politics, NWO & Global Governance
Tagged Denmark, Donald Trump, EU, Greenland, NATO, USA
Leave a comment
Against the Grain 