https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/20/cuba_raul_castro_peter_kornbluh
https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/the-us-indicted-raul-castro-for-deterring
The recent indictment by the Trump Justice Department of Raul Castro relies on a false narrative. Basically they're asserting that these innocent humanitarian planes were shot down over international waters and as such Castro is guilty of conspiracy and murder. If it only it were that simple.
And why is this indictment being handed down now?
https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/deprivation-and-depopulation-inside
We can hope that Trump's failures and frustrations in connection with Iran might lead him to back off his militarist rhetoric regarding Cuba. But if anything he's likely to strike the island as a means of distraction - just as Iran helped steer the conversation away from his connections to the Epstein scandal. That is until his wife (in an attempt to protect her supposedly 'good name') rekindled the fire.
This is a story unlikely to get any attention in US media but it has American fingerprints all over it.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/syria-assad-hts-china-future/
Foreign Policy magazine and The Economist have articles on this topic but due to firewalls there's little point in linking them.
Instead I'm linking this piece from (of all places) The Atlantic Council. It's biased to be sure (and even misleading at points) but given that it's readership is a little more high-brow, it's intelligent and touches on things that an AP story, let alone something from CNN or CBS wouldn't even address.
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.
We all knew that Trump was going to tear NATO apart. After less than a month in office the process has already begun in earnest. I watched coverage of the Vance speech in US media and let's just say they're not covering the real scope and impact of what the vice-president said - let alone the response or the larger context going back to the first Trump administration and before.
It was something to see, a historic moment I thought. To see German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock (along with French counterpart Barrot) walking about Damascus with HTS leader al-Julani should have generated a media buzz - but it didn't. The media is to be blamed for this lack of response - they have lulled the Western public to sleep.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/opinion/the-brief-europes-guantanamo/
Syria has been out of everyone's mind for a number of years and as such the public has forgotten about these prisoners - tens of thousands of ISIS members and affiliates still held in prison camps. The article is absolutely correct in pointing out that the Turkish backed militias could lead the Kurds to abandon these camps and thousands of these Salafist fighters could be once more on the loose.
The article began relating events surrounding the Balochi insurgency in southwest Pakistan but as it progressed I realized it was an anti-China piece critical of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The port of Gwadar has been an object of interest for some time and tangible evidence of the breakdown of US-Pakistani relations. India is also less than keen on the project.
https://www.breakpoint.org/the-horrific-attacks-of-october-7-a-year-later/
Stonestreet never disappoints. If you're looking for distortion and Evangelical perversions of Biblical doctrine, ethics - and reality, look no further. This disciple of Charles Colson consistently labours to outdo the mendacity and deception of his mentor and this piece on the October 7 attacks is no exception.
Consider his opening:
One year ago, on October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas terrorists entered Israel and attacked civilians, killing some 1,200 Jews, the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. Among those killed were soldiers and civilians, men and women, children and adults. They were killed simply because they were Jews.
https://eurasianet.org/china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-project-gets-off-the-ground
The key statement this article is the reference to the Trans-Afghan corridor. This railroad and its relationship to the larger question of Central Asian infrastructure represents a strategic defeat for the US Empire.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0j4x4hy
Within moments of turning on this BBC podcast I knew it was going to be a case of spin. There was from the onset a dishonest narrative about the origins of ISIS and the panel failed to probe or explain how the group grew out of al Qaeda and how its vision is different - the more extreme nature of the group is found in its apocalyptic understanding of the world.
This article appeared in The Guardian in response to the Russian treatment of ISIS-K terrorists who attacked a Moscow concert hall in March of 2024, an act of murder that led to over 100 deaths.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68590531
Niger it seems has grown weary of Washington's presence in West Africa. Having ousted the French in 2023, the situation with both Paris and Washington remains tenuous. Tchiani remains in control and yet he faces hard questions concerning the economy of his country. From Niger's ties to the franc to its close uranium-related trade ties with France, it's hard to imagine that Paris will simply let Niger go. The junta leaders will be looking over the shoulder to say the least.
I've enjoyed following some of the recent furor surrounding the so-called Bin Laden Letter which first emerged (I believe) in 2002.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/mayflower-church-pastor-urges-us-to-put-pressure-on-china.html
This is a topic I have revisited on multiple occasions but it
needs to be understood.
We can condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its
bestial and draconian policies that seek to subjugate all religions under the
aegis of the Chinese state. But it is also important to state that the reasons
for condemning China are not on the basis of a 'rights' regime. New Testament
Christianity knows nothing of Enlightenment 'rights' and it is a mistake to
fall into that framework of thinking and argument.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66907517
This story is already falling out of the news cycle
especially with all the other things happening in the Middle East.
After the July coup in Niger there was a great deal of focus
on the country and the new ruling junta. The signs were bad (from a Western
perspective) when Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland made a trip to
Niger and was effectively rebuffed.
In reference to the recent attacks based out of Gaza, I found it very interesting that a Hamas spokesman mentioned a movement to re-establish the Solomonic Temple as one motivation among others. That's not something you're going to typically hear in the mainstream media.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/19/emergence-of-a-new-non-alignment/
A New World Order is emerging but it's not the one predicted
by George HW Bush in the early 1990's. In fact this is the order he was trying
to prevent, the nightmare scenario US power-brokers have been trying to stave
off since that time. Ironically, they brought it on themselves but that's a long
story - one that cannot be explored here.
