Join The US Military - Kill And Die For Israel

Brian McGlinchey | Stark Realities

President Trump's decision to join Israel in launching a regime-change war on Iran has so far cost the lives of at least 13 American service members. More than 200 have been wounded, dozens seriously enough to require evacuations to military hospitals in Europe and the United States. Among them are individuals who've suffered traumatic brain injuries, burns and shrapnel wounds. One was facing potential amputation of an arm or leg.

As much as these service members and their families are victims of Iran's justified retaliation for a surprise attack perpetrated amid ongoing negotiations, they're victims of a betrayal perpetrated by their president and the joint chiefs of staff, who cast them into an unconstitutional war of aggression, packaged in lies and initiated to advance the agenda of a foreign government, while undermining the security of their own country.

Of course, US casualties comprise a small subset of the total bloodshed. In executing this unjust war, Americans have collectively inflicted far more death and dismemberment than they've endured, teaming up with their Israeli counterparts to kill more than 3,000 Iranians, including some 150 schoolgirls — mostly between age 7 and 12 — whose school was destroyed by Tomahawk cruise missiles at the war's very start.

Though it should have already been apparent, Operation Epic Fury should make clear that — service members' good intentions aside — combat waged under the US flag rarely has anything to do with American security. Moreover — and I say this as former Army Reserve enlistee and Regular Army officer — anyone thinking of starting or extending a military career should understand that their government may send them to be killed, maimed or psychologically damaged, and to slaughter foreign innocents, so long as it helps those in power remain in the good graces of the extremists who rule Israel, and their powerful collaborators inside the United States.

A New Regime-Change War Built On False Premises

Under international law, a war of aggression is considered a supreme war crime unto itself, and Operation Epic Fury is precisely that. Like so many of America's wars before it, this one was launched on false premises. Contrary to the US-Israeli narrative...

Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon. In 2007, the US intelligence community assessed that Iran halted any effort to develop a nuclear weapon in 2003. Since then, the intelligence community has periodically re-validated that conclusion, most recently in March 2025. Belying Trump's claim that the United States had only two weeks in which to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard this week testified that Iran had made "no efforts" to rebuild its enrichment capacity after it was devastated by last summer's US bombing.

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Screw the Pooch, Betray the Base

Comment: Excellent article and well worth reading in full.

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Harrison Koehli | Political Ponerology

According to Gallup polling from last year, up to 45% of adult Americans identify as political independents. That's a plurality, as the remainder is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with 27% each. Forty-five percent is around 120 million adults, and that number has been growing for the past 20 years, driven largely by the younger generations. It's easy to see why. Neither party represents them.

Every four years, independents are put in the position of either throwing their vote away for a third-party candidate who will get at most 3% of the popular vote, or choosing what they see as the lesser of two evils. (In the last 50 years, only Ross Perot came close, winning 19% in 1992.)

That's not to say independents are a homogeneous group. Slightly more independents lean Democrat than Republican (20% vs. 15%), with a core 10% who explicitly reject both parties. Given the choice (and an electoral system that would support it), their votes might be split among a handful of parties, as is the case in most democracies. The end result is that the largest segment of the American voting population does not have consistent political representation, at least on the federal level.

That's not always the case, however. Independents may genuinely favor a particular candidate, despite his alignment with one of the parties. This was arguably the case with Donald Trump. As Bret Weinstein — a liberal Democrat who voted for him — described it recently on Tucker, Trump did the impossible: "he beat the duopoly, both sides of it, took over the Republican party, defeated the Democratic party soundly." He did that by dipping into the pool of independents and disaffected liberals like Weinstein. And he did that by presenting a platform that voters largely agreed with, e.g., no new wars, MAHA, unrigging elections, mass deportations, DOGE.

In the first year of his second term, he seems to have at least tried to follow through on many of these promises, despite obstruction from judges and the immobility of Congress. And even when his decisions were controversial among some of his base, such as last year's Iran strikes and January's kidnapping of an El Presidente, those operations were successful one-and-dones, over as soon as the news reached the homeland, with any ex-post-facto criticism just coming across as lame.

All of that seems to have changed with Operation Epic Fury. (And the only reason I say "seems" is because of the meme.) Regime-change war is back on the menu (but it's not a regime change war, in fact, it's not a war, it's an excursion to prevent a war, which might still turn into one, but it's war for peace) and the price of gas is no longer important. Within days, the White House was already caving on another central policy, mass deportations: "Don't mention them anymore." Along with the handling of the Epstein files, voters who aren't Catturd are notably pissed. For many, not going to war with Iran was the main reason they voted for Trump. Here's how Weinstein put it:

Now, I will say I'm very upset with President Trump at the moment. I feel personally burned as somebody who worked to get him elected. I did it for a reason and frankly if given the same choice today I would have to make the same vote, because I think what the Democratic party offered was anti-constitutional. We had a demented president who they pretended wasn't, and then we had somebody who hadn't won a primary installed by the party. This is not the consent of the governed. So I would have to vote for Trump again just because he's at least a qualified person who was the nominee of his party through a lawful process. But I'm angry at him because I voted for no new wars. And when I voted for no new wars, Iran was top of mind for me because I knew that it was on the agenda of the neocons. So I expected somebody to try to force this to happen.

This was Vance in 2024: "America doesn't have to constantly police every region of the world. Our interest, I think very much, is in not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources. It would be massively expensive to our country."

When Trump said "no new wars" on the campaign trail, and when voters gave their support to that policy with their votes, they had precisely Iran in mind. The neocons have been blue-balled for decades over Iran. They have gotten practically every other country on their list: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria. Iran was the last one, probably because it was the biggest challenge. (Unless they really want to try Turkey after this.) Now the Lindsay Grahams and Mark Levins have their war — a war that never would have happened if Trump were president, I'm sure.

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Israel Officials Get Blunt On Iran Aims: 'If We Can Have A Civil War, Great'

Zero Hedge

US mainstream media is issuing one headline after another that read like they are ripped straight off the plot of Homeland or some other subpar CIA counter-terrorism series. For example, Wednesday: Israel Is Blowing Up Iran’s Police State to Clear the Way for a Revolt.

In a bit of incredibly naive and wishful thinking and fantasy, WSJ writes: "Israel’s military is targeting the Iranian police state that brutally suppressed protests and killed thousands of people, with the hope of clearing the way for a popular revolt to overthrow the Islamic government."

Sure thing... it all sounds so nice and easy, and even 'good' on paper.

In this rosy US media narrative, Israeli and US forces are cast as the noble good guy warriors riding in to valiantly to crush the 'baddies' of the IRGC and Basij forces.

"Israeli officials have made it clear they are looking to do enough damage to Iran’s police state from the air that the people can take over on the ground. While Israel has long been content to weaken Tehran with military action or covert operations, Israeli officials have concluded they now must push for regime change," the same report continues.

The Israelis, however, are busy presenting their war in aims with much less romanticism, idealism, and dressed-up propaganda. 

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The War for Greater Israel

Craig Murray | craigmurray.co.uk

"Iran has provided, directly and through proxies, the only military opposition to the creation of Greater Israel. This war is for Greater Israel. But it is also a wider effort to re-establish the failing economic dominance of the United States by military control of key resources.

There is no part of the world which will be safe from the fallout".

There has scarcely been an attempt to pretend any justification in international law for the attack on Iran and murder of its leader. The response of the UK government, focusing almost entirely on condemning Iran for exercising its legitimate right of self-defence, takes the Starmer dishonesty meter further off the scale.

The RAF has been actively involved in genocide in Gaza for two years with its surveillance and logistic support for the IDF. It is now fighting for Israel again; intercepting Iranian missiles is not defensive; it is joining in the attack on an already vastly overmatched opponent.

I am afraid that the truth is the Iranian attempt to defend itself militarily will be less impactful than many anti-imperialists hope. The astonishing amounts of money spent by the US government on military and surveillance technology simply do have real-world effect.

Here in Venezuela, having seen the major sites struck by the US on 3 January, I have concluded that no act of betrayal was needed. Just overwhelming force and precision technology applied against a technologically unequal opponent whose key capabilities were all on open hilltops or in unhardened barracks.

Iran is much more militarily sophisticated, but facing exponentially more force. Khamenei was killed in his own home, not hiding away. He is going to prove a lot more powerful as a martyr than as a ruler with his internal critics.

We are facing not only a period of unapologetic imperialism to which virtually all Western countries are prepared to defer, but a return of medievalism, both in the sheer barbarity and scale of physical abuse, as witnessed in Gaza and in general Israeli brutality, and in use of kidnap and murder as methods of high policy. Legitimising the killing and kidnap of leaders of opposing states is of course a double-edged sword.

Having sanctioned genocide, mass killings and deliberate destruction of medical facilities and staff, the mass murder of children, as well as the kidnapping and murder of Heads of State, it is hard now to imagine almost any atrocity which the Western powers are in any moral position to condemn.

While Iran's military ability to strike back is limited, the ramifications of this attack will not be. The rulers of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have reverted to the norm of being not only reliable US and Israeli satraps, but promoters of atavistic hatred of Shia Muslims.

The West is deliberately exploiting the Shia/Sunni divide, as it has for centuries; but this will now destabilise the region for decades. Iraq in particular is going to be convulsed, and so will Pakistan. In Bahrain, the Shia population has been held in check by its Sunni rulers using systematic Western-sponsored murder and torture. Using it as a base to murder the Ayatollah is going to blow back.

It would appear that we are going to witness an aerial campaign to destroy Iran's civilian infrastructure, as in Iraq where 65% of clean drinking water, 50% of hospitals and clinics and 80% of electrical generation was destroyed by "liberation" by the NATO powers.

The object is the destruction of Iran as a viable state. 

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Iran confirms Supreme Leader Khamenei killed in US-Israeli strike

RT

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been "martyred," state news agencies have announced.

Iranian state media have confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the ongoing joint US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Multiple news agencies, including the Tasnim, Mehr and Press TV simultaneously announced early Sunday that the 85-year-old leader had been "martyred" in the attack.

"The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint attack by the criminal America and the Zionist regime," the official statement said.

"At the moment of the martyrdom, he was carrying out his assigned duties and was present at his workplace, when this cowardly attack occurred," it added, refuting the "Zionist regime's psychological warfare" claiming that the Supreme Leader was hiding in a secure and hidden location.

"This great crime will never go unanswered and will mark a new chapter in the history of the Islamic and Shiite world," President Masoud Pezeshkian's office said in a statement, announcing 40 days of public mourning. "With full force and strength... we will make the perpetrators and commanders of this great crime regret their actions."

The confirmation came hours after conflicting reports about Khamenei's fate. Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," following a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "there are many signs" the supreme leader "is no more."

Netanyahu claimed that Khamenei's compound was struck in a "powerful surprise attack," vowing that "thousands of targets" in the Iranian leadership would be killed in the coming days and calling on Iranians to take to the streets and overthrow the government.

The strikes, which Washington and West Jerusalem described as a "preemptive" operation, targeted the Iranian leadership, as well as military and nuclear-related facilities. Trump said the attack was aimed at destroying Iran's missile industry and navy, as well as forcing regime change in Tehran. Iran has since retaliated with missile and drone strikes against Israeli territory and US military bases across the Middle East.

Moscow condemned the operation, with the Russian Foreign Ministry describing it as a "premeditated and unprovoked act of aggression" aimed at toppling a government "they deem undesirable because it has refused to yield to the dictates of force and hegemonic pressure."

Unmasking the Flames: Israel's shadow over Patagonia and Milei's betrayal of Argentina

Sarah B. | ddgeopolitics.substack.com

From Conspiracy to Reality? Fires Clear the Way for Foreign Control in the Last Frontier

As I was scrolling through news feeds, trying to keep up with some of the chaos unfolding around the world, I stumbled across a flurry of reports from Argentina about raging wildfires tearing through Patagonia. Starting around January 5, 2026, flames have devastated thousands of hectares in Chubut province, areas like El Hoyo, Puerto Patriada, and near Epuyén, and prompting evacuations amid thick smoke, destroyed homes, and threatened ecosystems. Thousands of Argentines and other Spanish speakers were flooding the replies on X posts about the blazes, most of them incredibly irate at the Milei government. Phrases like "The Zionists are trying to steal Patagonia!" and "Milei has sold us out to Israel!" popped up repeatedly in viral threads, with users sharing videos of suspicious activity and linking the fires to foreign interests.

I thought, sure, these could be bots amplifying outrage, but Elon's bot army has always been staunchly pro-Milei, relentlessly boosting his image as a free-market hero and his tight alliances with Israel. So why were genuine locals, from southern Patagonians to urban commentators, reacting with such raw, widespread fury, accusing their own president of enabling a Zionist takeover? I jumped down the rabbit hole, cross-checking eyewitness accounts, viral clips, and the mounting public backlash, and what I discovered was yet another stark instance of Zionist imperialism sweeping across the globe, this time setting South America's pristine frontiers ablaze to pave the way for control and exploitation.

In footage captured by Argentine hiker Martín Morales, one suspect is seen kneeling and igniting dry grass and branches in a high-risk zone amid extreme fire danger conditions, while his companion stands watch. Morales confronts them in Spanish, yelling, "How can you be making a fire, brother?" The men scramble to extinguish the flames with water from a nearby stream, gather their gear, and flee down the trail without a word, leaving Morales to ensure the fire is fully out before alerting park rangers via radio. He later posted a follow-up video explaining his actions: "I was alone, I couldn't get close — they had bad intentions. I made sure the fire was off and they left. I'm not crying from fear; it's the impotence, brother."

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US operation in Venezuela a 'flagrant violation' of international law - Lavrov

RT

The US attack on Venezuela earlier this month in which President Nicolas Maduro was abducted was a blatant violation of international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting with Namibian Foreign Minister Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, Lavrov stated that Moscow's assessment of the US operation in Caracas remains unchanged. He added that the condemnation is shared by the overwhelming "global majority," including the Global South and East.

"Only Western Europeans and other allies of Washington try to shamefully avoid the principled assessments, although everybody understands that we're talking about a flagrant violation of international law," the foreign minister said.

Speaking at the UN Security Council last week, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia described Maduro's abduction as "a cynical crime that cannot be justified." Chinese envoy Sun Lei also condemned the US, saying the military intervention in Venezuela threatens peace and security in the region.

The US military launched an attack against the oil-rich country on January 3, abducting Maduro and his wife. They were taken to a US warship and later flown to New York, where they appeared in court last week on charges of drug-trafficking conspiracy. Both pleaded not guilty.

After the kidnapping, US President Donald Trump said Washington would "run" Venezuela while cooperating with officials in Caracas until a transition is achieved. He stressed that the US needs "total access... to the oil and to other things in their country."

Days later, Trump announced that Venezuela's interim authorities would "turn over" 30 to 50 million barrels of "sanctioned oil" to be sold and "used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States."

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, a close ally of Maduro, said neither the US nor any other "foreign agent" will control Venezuela. Rodriguez signaled openness to "cooperation" with the US, but vowed that her country "will never return to being the colony of another empire."

The American blitzkrieg on Venezuela: No one is safe

Tarik Cyril Amar | RT.com

The military incursion and kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro shows how normalized the outrageous has become.

After five months - really two-and-a-half decades - of ever-escalating preparations by increasing diplomatic, economic, and clandestine warfare, the US has finally executed a full regime-change invasion in Venezuela. The final attack, focused on kidnapping the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from the capital Caracas, was short. But the campaign has certainly not been bloodless. While we know little about what exactly happened on the ground, Washington's perfectly criminal strikes on alleged smuggling boats at sea which served as the core of the attack's preparatory propaganda barrage, have already killed over 100 victims, not to speak of the overlooked victims of sanctions.

Then, what American officials have called a "large-scale strike" against Venezuela in the early hours of January 3 targeted not only Caracas but several locations throughout the country. For whatever reason, resistance to this "dark and deadly" (in President Donald Trump's words) operation, seems to have been minimal. In view of the long and very visible military buildup, as well as psychological warfare campaign that preceded these night raids, it is hard to believe that they came as a surprise. Betrayal, subversion, and secret, nasty deals may well have played a role.

While such things will probably remain murky for a while - or forever - other, more important aspects of the US invasion of Venezuela are unambiguously clear: It is absolutely, irredeemably illegal, a massive and open breach of the UN Charter's prohibition of wars of aggression. Even some of America's most loyal 'Atlanticist' vassals in Europe have to admit that much, for instance, a recent op-ed in Germany's ultra-mainstream Die Zeit newspaper.

Washington's pretexts are, as so often, flimsy insults to everyone with half a brain. Venezuela and Maduro are not contributing anything significant - if anything at all - to America's very own and never-ending drug problems, neither with regard to cocaine nor fentanyl. And Maduro's election in 2024 may have been fair or not. The decisive, conclusive point is that such issues must be dealt with inside a sovereign country and can never justify military intervention from outside. Or who is going to be next? Germany for the extremely dubious way (polite expression) its mainstream parties have locked the New-Left BSW out of parliament in what may well amount to a cold coup?

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Five takeaways from the US' "special military operation" in Venezuela

Andrew Korybko

It was astoundingly successful and will likely serve to coerce the rest of the hemisphere into strategically capitulating to the US.

The US launched a half-hour-long "special military operation" in Venezuela on Saturday morning that culminated in Delta Force's capture of President Nicolas Maduro. Several military sites were bombed, US helicopters flew freely over Caracas in a surreal display of the US' aerial supremacy, and there were reportedly no US casualties. The US' "special military operation" was therefore an astounding success regardless of one's personal opinions about its merits. Here are five takeaways from this event:

1. The US' Grand Strategic Goal Is To Build "Fortress America"

It was assessed here that the National Security Strategy's prioritization of the Western Hemisphere is all about building "Fortress America", which refers to the restoration of the US' hegemony over the Americas in order for it to survive and even thrive if it loses control of the Eastern Hemisphere. It might not happen right away, but the US' "special military operation" will likely result in it obtaining control over Venezuela's oil reserves, the world's largest. That would help make "Fortress America" a reality.

2. Maduro Should Have Taken Trump's Deal In Hindsight

Trump earlier claimed that Maduro had "offered everything" to the US when asked about a report that the Venezuelan leader agreed to let American companies take control of his country's resources. The only sticking point appeared to be Maduro's political fate, with Trump wanting him to go into exile likely at the urging of Marco Rubio (his powerful Secretary of State and National Security Advisor), while Maduro seemingly refused. He should have taken Trump's deal in hindsight to avoid this humiliating end.

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U.S. strikes Venezuela and captures Maduro; Trump says "we're going to run the country" for now

Comment: Nothing to do with drug trafficking which the CIA has been involved in for decades. It's all about the oil. Trump has joined the same Zio-Con playbook as his predecessors. 

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CBS News

• President Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were "captured and flown out of the Country" early Saturday morning, confirming a "large scale strike" by the U.S. that drew quick condemnation and concern from across the globe.
• Mr. Trump said in a press conference that the U.S. will "run" Venezuela on a temporary basis.
• The U.S. Army's Delta Force, an elite special forces unit, carried out the operation to capture Maduro, officials told CBS News.
• A Republican senator said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had indicated that Maduro would face criminal charges in the U.S., where he was indicted years ago, and that Rubio "anticipates no further action in Venezuela." The Trump administration has long accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies.
• The strikes follow months of U.S. military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and numerous other warships positioned in the Caribbean.
• In recent weeks, the U.S. has seized two oil tankers off Venezuela, launched deadly strikes on more than 30 boats the administration says were carrying drugs, and struck what President Trump called "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."

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Trump is secretly rebuilding a US base in the Caribbean in another move against Venezuela

Canary News

US President Donald Trump has refused to confirm he’ll strike Venezuela as the clock runs out on his 60 day war powers. And as an aircraft carrier group heads to the Caribbean, old bases are being reopened and rebuilt.

A major open source investigation by Reuters shows how the abandoned Roosevelt Roads naval base in Puerto Rico is being fixed up. Runways are being repaired and a military ‘tent city’ has even sprung up. Located on the eastern coast of the island the re-opening suggests a sustained presence is being planned.

The base was shuttered two decades ago. And the military seems to be building out facilities in the nearby US Virgin Islands too.

Speaking on 60 Minutes on 2 November, Trump was careful not to commit – but suggested Venezuelan leader Maduro’s days were numbered:

    🚨🇺🇸🇻🇪 | President Trump refuses to rule out regime change in Venezuela, and possible "land strikes" on Venezuelan soil in tonight's 60 Minutes interview:

    Norah O'Donnell: "Are Maduro's days as president numbered?"

    Trump: "I would say so, yeah, I think so." pic.twitter.com/npmaWPycNI

    — Sociedad (@sociedadmedia) November 3, 2025

Either way, the signs of a major militarisation in Puerto Rico are clear from satellite imagery.  

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US strategy of 'regime change' is over - Gabbard

RT

Venezuela earlier this year accused the US president of plotting a coup, while Trump himself has floated the idea of overthrowing Iran's leadership.

US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has acknowledged Washington's history of regime change but said it ended under President Donald Trump - despite his recent remarks on Iran and accusations about Venezuela.

The US has long faced criticism for pursuing policies aimed at overthrowing governments under the banner of promoting democracy or protecting national interests - from Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011 to backing "color revolutions" such as Ukraine's 2014 Maidan coup. Speaking at the 21st Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Saturday, Gabbard claimed that, unlike its predecessors, the Trump administration prioritizes diplomacy and mutual deals over coups.

"The old Washington way of thinking is something we hope is in the rearview mirror and something that has held us back for too long: for decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation building. It is a 'one-size-fits-all approach' of toppling regimes, imposing US governance models, and intervening in 'poorly understood' conflicts, only to walk away with more enemies than allies."

Gabbard said the strategy drained trillions of US taxpayer dollars, cost countless lives, and fueled new security threats, but noted that Trump was elected "to put an end to this."

"And from day one, he has showed a very different way to conduct foreign policy, one that is pragmatic, that is deal-driven. This is what President Trump's America First policy looks like in action - building peace through diplomacy."

Since his inauguration in early 2025, Trump has repeatedly portrayed himself as a global peacemaker, boasting of brokering international deals and saying he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Critics, however, argue his pressure campaigns on Venezuela and Iran mirror Washington's regime-change playbook.

Caracas last month accused the US of plotting a coup against President Nicolas Maduro under the guise of its ongoing anti-drug campaign off the country's coast. Trump himself hinted at "regime change" in Iran after US strikes in June, posting on truth Social: "Why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" Tehran, which has long accused Washington of trying to destabilize it through sanctions and covert actions, denounced the strikes as proof of renewed efforts to undermine its government.

The Rubio Doctrine: Neocons are back!

Ron Paul | Mises Institute

According to several recent news reports, the two major Trump foreign policy shifts last week are the handiwork of Marco Rubio, the President's Secretary of State and (acting) National Security Advisor. As with all neocon plans, they will be big on promises and small on delivery.

First up, according to Bloomberg it was Rubio who finally convinced President Trump to take "ownership" of the US proxy war on Russia, and for the first time place sanctions on Russia. Up to this point President Trump chose to portray himself as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. But with this move against Russia's oil sector he can no longer credibly claim that this is "Joe Biden's war."

The Trump move followed a confusing few weeks since the Trump/Putin Alaska summit in August. After that meeting Trump dropped the neocon position that a ceasefire in the Russia/Ukraine war must occur before any peace negotiations. It was a sign that Trump was looking more realistically at the war. He also said he did not think Ukraine would win, which is pretty obvious.

A surprise call to Putin the day before Ukrainian president Zelensky was to arrive in town just over a week ago reinforced that position and Zelensky left Washington empty-handed. He was seeking Tomahawk missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory.

Then out of the blue President Trump last week announced through his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the US would be sanctioning Russia's two largest oil companies until Russia declares a ceasefire in the war before negotiations. That won't happen, but what it does mean is that Rubio and the neocons have successfully gotten Trump to step on the escalation escalator. That is what they always do. It will be much harder to back down now.

At the same time the US Administration was jumping deeper into the Russia/Ukraine war, a long-time neocon dream was suddenly back in play. Although in Trump's first term a "regime change" operation was attempted against Venezuela, it failed spectacularly. But the neocons have long dreamed of overthrowing the Venezuelan government - they almost got their way back in 2002 - and suddenly after several weeks of extrajudicial murder on the high seas in the name of fighting the drug war, President Trump announced that land strikes on Venezuela would begin soon. 

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Venezuela: Another Coup Attempt – and Why it Failed

How come we’re not at war with Venezuela? They have all that oil”.

-- Donald Trump

Keith Brooks
Off Guardian

was in Caracas Venezuela on April 30th, the day of the failed coup. There were eight of us, five from NYC, one Vermonter and one Canadian, along with the leader of our group, a Venezuelan with whom I had traveled to Venezuela once before, in 2012 when Hugo Chavez was still alive.

Chavez was elected to power in 1999 leading what is known as the Bolivarian Revolution. Less than three years later, a 2002 U.S. backed coup failed to overthrow him.

I witnessed back then Chavez’s wide base of support, and the reasons for it: a new constitution guaranteeing as human rights health, education, housing and social welfare, and the laws and projects designed to make those rights a reality. 

The results were impressive: one million new low-cost housing units, a dramatic drop in the poverty rate, infant mortality rate down from 19.1 per thousand in 1999 to 10 per thousand by 2012. 

Health Care was made free for all Venezuelans, reflected by an increase in life expectancy. Working hours were reduced to 6 hours a day and 36 hours per week, without loss of pay while the minimum wage became the highest minimum wage in Latin America. In December 2005, UNESCO said that Venezuela had eradicated illiteracy. The malnutrition rate fell from 21% in 1998 to less than 3% in 2012.

The national management of the oil industry in 2003 put Venezuela in control over its most valuable natural resource, and used it to fund many of the social reform programs. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves which the U.S. has coveted ever since and admittedly seeks to control as John Bolton made clear on Fox News:

It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela”

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Venezuela defeats new power sabotage in hours

Off Guardian

Gloria La Riva 

The author is currently on the ground in Venezuela

 

This morning at 1:30 a.m., engineers and electrical workers restored Venezuela’s power after a massive cyber sabotage at 4:45 p.m. yesterday shut down 17 of 23 states in a blackout.

This is the third major attempt by the United States and internal counterrevolutionaries to try to destroy the power system, the first being March 7-12 and the second from March 23 to April 4. There have been hundreds of terrorist attacks on the power lines.

This quick recovery by the energy sector — engineers, technicians and soldiers deployed to help in the efforts — is testament to the revolutionary people’s capacity to resist and a higher organizational level with each new challenge.

Each attack has been met with determined resistance and the Maduro government’s counter measures to minimize damage.

Engineer Rafael Argotti, whom Liberation News interviewed during the first blackout on March 9, explained today what is behind the power sabotage.

  “This blackout was simply another electromagnetic attack. From January to July of this year, we have detected more than 76 incursions of U.S. planes specialized in electromagnetic work. The sabotage took place while the Bolivarian revolution is advancing in the international arena. This weekend we held the gathering of 120 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, which affirmed its recognition of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela.”

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British Hijack Iranian Ship: Another Day, Another Provocation

Tony Cartalucci
NEO

Had Iran openly hijacked a vessel of any nation, for any reason, plying through waters anywhere on Earth, the US and its allies would immediately cite it as a provocation toward war.

In fact, even without evidence, suspiciously timed attacks carried out last month on tankers passing through the Persian Gulf were cited by Washington and London as a pretext for increased pressure on Tehran despite the attacks appearing staged by the West itself.

Now in a display once again illustrating just who the actual menace is to global peace and stability, the British have openly - even proudly - hijacked a ship carrying Iranian oil allegedly bound for Syria.

The Guardian's article, "Iran fury as Royal Marines seize tanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria," would report:

Royal Marines have helped seize an Iranian supertanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria off the coast of Gibraltar, escalating tensions between the UK and Tehran as the agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear programme unravels. 

A detachment of nearly 30 British troops working with the Gibraltarian police intercepted the vessel, believed to be carrying 2m barrels of oil, in a dramatic manoeuvre Spain said had been conducted at the request of the US.

The article would quote the British ambassador to Iran who claimed:

[The UK] welcomes this firm action by the Gibraltarian authorities.

 As to why the UK believed it was justified to hijack the Iranian tanker - the article would cite "sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad" the UK and EU placed on Syria - which are in themselves illegal and an act of war. 

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‘Weaponizing human rights’: UN chief Bachelet’s Venezuela report follows US regime change script

Anya Parampil
The Grayzone

Former UN special rapporteur Alfred de Zayas slams UN High Commissioner Bachelet’s report on Venezuela as a politicized collection of baseless accusations by “advocates of regime change”

When United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet traveled to Venezuela earlier this year, she met with an array of citizens who lost family members to right-wing violence in the country. 

Among them was Inés Esparragoza, whose 20-year-old son, Orlando Figuera, was doused with gasoline and lit on fire by an opposition mob during violent anti-government riots, known as guarimbas, in May 2017. 

“He was stabbed, beaten and cruelly burnt alive,” Esparragoza declared before Bachelet in March. “Simply because of the color of his shirt, the color of his skin, and because he said he was Chavista.”

While Esparragoza poured her family’s torment out before the former Chilean president, Bachelet scribbled notes and glanced down at horrific photos which captured the moment masked men attacked Figuera. As the young man knelt to the ground, a gang of anti-government thugs poured petrol over his body before lighting a match.

“I call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to make justice,” she said. “These are not peaceful protesters, they are bloodthirsty.”

Yet shockingly, when Bachelet released her long-anticipated report on the situation in Venezuela on July 5, it was as though that meeting never took place.
 
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Bipartisan Support for Trump’s Aggressive Iran Policy Reveals the Hollowness of Russiagate

Whitney Webb
Mint Press News

In early May, MSNBC news host Rachel Maddow — known as one of the top promoters of the new Cold War and Russiagate in American media — emphatically endorsed regime change in Venezuela after she claimed that President Donald Trump’s hawkishness towards the South American country had changed, all because of a single phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 
 
Though Maddow’s claims were arguably the most extreme in suggesting that Trump was “taking orders” from Putin on Venezuela, she wasn’t alone in making them. For instance, Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks also made the claim that the Trump-Putin phone call on Venezuela was “direct evidence that he is literally taking orders from Putin.” In addition, several corporate media outlets supported this narrative by suggesting that Trump “echoed” Putin’s Venezuela stance after the phone call and directly contradicted his top staffers and even himself in doing so.

Yet now, strangely, those same corporate media voices remain silent on the Trump administration’s other regime-change project — in Iran — despite the fact that the Putin-led Russian government is set to be the biggest winner as tensions between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic boil over and threaten to send the Middle East into a fresh bout of destruction and chaos.  

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran have grown in recent months, analysts in both corporate and independent media have speculated about what country is set to benefit the most from the U.S.’ campaign of “maximum pressure” and regime change against the Islamic Republic. Of the many analyses, two countries have stood out as likely beneficiaries: Russia and China.

The cases for China and Russia’s benefit are somewhat similar given that the Trump administration’s focus on Iran results in less pressure on both Russia and China. This is despite the fact that, officially, the U.S.’ current National Defense Strategy explicitly calls for focusing attention on preparing for a “long war” against Russia and China to prevent either from superseding the U.S. as a global superpower. Yet, with the U.S. focused on regime change in Iran and Venezuela, Russia and China can avoid bearing the brunt of U.S. military adventurism, either directly or by proxy, while the U.S. wears itself thin by trying to do it all at once.

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How the Venezuelan intelligence service defeated the CIA

Al Manar
ICH

The small Venezuelan counterintelligence service SEBIN (Bolivian National Intelligence Service) managed to humiliate the CIA, revealed the Romanian expert Valentin Vasilescu. According to him, the US intel service had undertaken an initiative in Venezuela aiming to overthrowing the president, Nicolás Maduro making use of its HUMINT section (human intelligence), that is, espionage carried out by infiltrated US agents, who in turn have networks of local informants.

But, says Valsilescu, SEBIN has managed to infiltrate all opposition groups trying to seize power in Caracas through its counterintelligence agents.

He (SEBIN; ndt) has also infiltrated his officers into the US-funded press and there has been an operation aimed at selecting and publishing the most miraculous but false news related to political events in Venezuela. Therefore, there were several “leaks” that were delivered to the CIA, such as, for example, the intention of some generals to betray Maduro.

To earn the trust of CIA agents, SEBIN members even organized conspiracy meetings with Venezuelan generals, under the full control of Venezuela’s intelligence service and military counterintelligence. The “desertion” of General Manuel Figuera, head of the SEBIN, the release of Leopoldo López from his house arrest and the provision, for Juan Guaido, of a platoon of more than 1,000 soldiers belonging to the SEBIN to take the garrison of Carlota, in Caracas, they were part of the intoxication operation directed at the CIA agents to convince Washington of the success of the coup.

When the White House finally gave the green light to the action on April 30, it became one of the biggest failures for the CIA in recent decades.

Venezuela has shown that fighting with patriotism and professionalism, even for an embargoed country, can disrupt the plans of the CIA, according to the Romanian expert.

Translation by Ana - original: http://spanish.almanar.com.lb/315636


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Insider Says Israel Poised to Stage False Flag Attack Against U.S. Targets to Start War with Iran

The Millennium Report

U.S. Military fighting yet another war to advance the Greater Israel project

If there is one cataclysmic train wreck happening in slow motion on the global geopolitical chessboard, it’s the Neocon-instigated war being waged by the Trump administration against Iran.  The financial terrorism and economic sabotage already inflicted on Iran by the U.S. have themselves been egregious acts of war.

Trump Administration Goes All Out to Wreck Iranian Economy

 

Truly, it does not get any more serious than this colossal foreign policy fiasco.

Once again, the apartheid state of Israel has successfully hijacked the U.S. Military, State Department and Intelligence Community in order to wage an unprovoked war of naked aggression against a sovereign state in the Middle East.

It’s of paramount importance to understand that this war-in-the-making is the culmination of a covert plan to advance the Greater Israel project.  As follows:

General Wesley Clark: “The US will attack 7 countries in 5 years” (Video)

 

Only with this critical understanding will such a transparently illegal, reckless and catastrophic war make any sense.  Catastrophic because such misguided  warmongering by the Neocons is guaranteed to trigger the hot phase of World War III.  Of course, the New World Order cabal is counting on exactly that eventuality.  See: The Only Remaining Option for the NWO Globalist Cabal is: World War III

The global crime syndicate known as the International Banking Cartel, which runs the perpetual war economy across the planet, knows that the end is very near for them.  The entire Global Economic & Financial System is teetering on the precipice of a total and final collapse.  Their only way out is war—a Third World War with which to implement the last stage of the NWO agenda—the establishment of a totalitarian One World Government.

Iran is the lynchpin in this insane scheme to plunge the world community of nations into chaos out of which the NWO cabal will fabricate a draconian communist order not too unlike the 20th century’s Soviet Union.  This is precisely why President Trump was ordered by his Neocon Zionist masters to form his stone-cold war cabinet of Bolton, Pompeo, Pence, Haspel, Abrams and Shanahan.  Each inveterate warmonger was hand-picked by Israel to develop and implement the war plans necessary to conquer Iran.

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