Spinning Yemen and Syria

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5341420/syrias-transitional-leader-is-a-former-jihadist-can-he-help-stabilize-the-region

This interview was informative to a point. It was also striking in that it attempted to spin the HTS takeover of Syria. The US Establishment is so ecstatic that Assad is gone, they are willing to spin the situation in order to assuage public fears. While Robert Worth suggested Israel is less than pleased - as demonstrated by their seizure of territory beyond the Golan Heights, and the numerous strikes to cripple that nation's military capability, I still felt like the whole question of Jolani/al-Sharaa was viewed through an Israeli lens.

NATO and the 2023 Floods in Libya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derna_dam_collapses

https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-the-media-arent-telling-the-whole-story-of-libyas-floods/

Since these events took place in 2023, it might as well be ancient history. Apart from those who follow the Middle East, this story was ignored and is by now largely forgotten.

But to ignore this is a mistake. Likewise if one wants to understand what's happening today in Sudan, Ethiopia, and what is brewing in South Sudan, the history needs to be revisited. Contemporary events cannot be understood otherwise.

CNN Fraud in Syria

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/cnn-reporter-clarissa-wards-on-air-liberation-of-syrian-prisoner-exposed-as-fraud/

This story broke in December 2024 in connection with the fall of the Assad regime. CNN was caught red-handed in a lie. The whole thing was a set-up. One has to wonder how many other such episodes take place? It is certain though that it's getting harder to pull off. Amid all the negatives, it's certainly one of the positives of the Internet Age.

Stefanik's Anti-Semitic Connections and Confused Catholicism

https://religionnews.com/2024/11/14/elise-stefanik-jews-united-nations/

I recommend this article because even though it's far more pro-Israel than I would be, and far more critical of Anti-Zionism than I think warranted, the author nevertheless is sceptical of Elise Stefanik and her supposedly pro-Jewish credentials.

The Justification and Whitewashing of War Crimes

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/10/feroze-sidhwa-new-york-times-children-gaza-shot-in-head-israel-palestine-doctor/

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/16/gaza_doctor

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte/20241029-us-doctor-claims-israeli-snipers-target-child-in-gaza-no-child-gets-shot-twice-by-mistakea

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-doctors-gaza

Eighty years after World War II we have an army (ironically a Jewish one) behaving very much like the Nazis, and yet those who protest its actions and conduct are condemned and castigated for their immorality. The mainstream media supports this army and writes apologias for it and in some cases when it cannot stop the story - it censors photos or does whatever it can to soften the effect and the public's ability to perceive the nature and extent of Israeli war crimes.

Red Sea Shipping, Yemen, and Israel

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/ports-logistics/attacks-on-red-sea-shipping-bankrupt-israeli-port

https://themedialine.org/top-stories/eilat-still-shipless-houthis-strangle-port-city/

This is a story that has received little attention and it's noteworthy because it actually represents one area in which Israel has suffered economic harm from its wars - this even as Assad's rule over Syria collapses, Hezbollah is broken, Gaza is in ruins, and Iran is cowering, and more than fifty thousand have died. Yemen is the one exception, the holdout that continues to defy Israel and its American ally.

The Unnoticed Tragedy

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Abandoned-with-their-children:-the-agony-of-Sri-Lankan-widows-of-the-long-war-58416.html

https://baptistnews.com/article/people-are-dying-in-africa-but-the-world-doesnt-notice/

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/13/european_migrant_crisis_rescue_volunteers_trial

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/12/dead_calm

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of refugees have died attempting to get to Europe. Many are war widows and orphans attempting to escape impossible situations. They're coming from as far away as Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa. Many have fled the wars in places like Libya and Syria.

Netanyahu Exploits the Golan Heights

Over the weekend a missile struck the Golan Heights killing about a dozen Druze children. The Netanyahu government has been looking for an excuse to escalate and expand the war and as such they've been playing up this incident.

Random Thoughts on the Dead Americans in Jordan

When the story broke over the weekend I immediately thought of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and how happy he must be at this news. He wants to widen the war and there are plenty within the US Congress, Pentagon, and even White House that want the same. The Iran Hawks are already squawking – demanding some kind of massive bombing campaign – even if it leads to a massive war. As one commentator pointed out the Middle East is in the cusp of the biggest regional war since 1973. These people couldn't care less. Men like Lindsey Graham are literally just vampires – they live for blood.

The Revival of the Bin Laden Letter

I've enjoyed following some of the recent furor surrounding the so-called Bin Laden Letter which first emerged (I believe) in 2002.

Biden and the Rules of War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmBOMK_-zcU

Responding to the 7 October attack on Israel, US president Joe Biden condemned Hamas and rightly so. But then he proceeded to make some rather astonishing remarks – remarks that should offend anyone who has followed events for the past several decades, anyone in possession of a conscience.

Zionism, Dispensationalism, and the Gaza Hospital

On 17 October 2023, several hundred Palestinians died in Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital that was hit by either a bomb or missile. Israel blames Islamic Jihad which is another well known Islamist group within the spectrum of Palestinian Islamism.

Kiliçdaroglu: Running to the Right of Erdogan

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-elections-opposition-candidate-kilicdaroglu-refugees-expel

To the surprise of many, Erdogan not only did better than expected in the first round of the election, he now stands all but poised to win another term. This is despite the crushing economic troubles the country faces and the scandal surrounding the response to the February 2023 earthquake and subsequent questions surrounding corruption, building codes, and the like.

A Harbinger of US Decline

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/04/11/saudis-arent-afraid-of-us-anymore/

These are noteworthy developments to say the least. Riyadh still maintains close ties with Washington and yet it's clear as the linked author indicates – the Saudis are no longer afraid of America or of earning its displeasure.

The Azerbaijan Proxy

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/analysis-will-azerbaijan-iran-tensions-lead-to-war

This is a story that I've been following for years – the fact that Azerbaijan has become a platform for Israeli military and espionage operations directed against Iran. Azerbaijan itself is a divided land – the Turkic-speaking region was carved out of Persia first by the Tsars in the nineteenth century and then under Stalin the northern portion of the territory became part of the USSR. Apart from a brief episode in the context of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, Azerbaijan only became truly independent in 1991. And while the population is mostly Shiite (orienting them toward Iran), being Turkic they also retain close cultural ties to Ankara and share the general Turkish hostility toward the Armenians – with whom they have fought two wars since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Turkey, NATO, and the SCO

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/21/turkey-shanghai-cooperation-organisation-membership-nato-west-alternative

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/9/turkey-resumes-gas-exploration-in-the-eastern-mediterranean

Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey continues to carve out what can only be described as an independent geopolitical course. Long viewed as an essential member of NATO, due to its unique cultural and geographical position, under Erdogan's AKP the Eurasian nation continues to anger its longtime allies and sponsors by reaching out to Western rivals and adversaries and in pursuing policies that the EU and NATO would describe as reckless, defiant, and even treacherous.

A Ukraine Miscellany (IX): The Global Context and the Shadow of World War (Part II)

One has to be blind to not see that the world is at the very least creeping toward a global war scenario. And the pace is intensifying.

The Kurds and the Israeli Doctrine of the Periphery

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/07/28/iran-israel-agents-kurdish-rebels/

The Mossad will deny that they're working with these Kurds but in fact Israel has been working with various Kurdish paramilitaries for some time. This was not always the case but the Turkish realignment under Erdogan has made it so.

Militarism, the Anti-Russia Campaign, and Video Game Propaganda

https://www.newsweek.com/call-duty-modern-warfare-highway-death-russia-gulf-war-1468207

I quit reading Newsweek years ago and as a consequence missed this 2019 story. The video game industry is already replete with pro-military propaganda and yet in this case it's worse than insidious, a blatant attempt to lie and manipulate history.

Poland,Washington, and the Belarus Border Crisis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/when-the-us-needed-secret-help-in-iraq-who-did-it-call-poland-of-course/2021/10/20/5ec89bc2-25f8-11ec-9de8-156fed3e81bf_story.html

As the Washington Post reports, Pomfret's new book reveals that Polish collaboration with Washington began in earnest only months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's hardly a surprise as the people who came into power had been working clandestinely with the United States for more than a decade.