Tag: perpetual war

After Trump Declared Gaza War ‘Over,’ Media Lost Interest

Since President Donald Trump declared that “the war in Gaza is over” on October 3, 2025, US news outlets’ interest in the occupied territory has plummeted. In a FAIR search of US-related news sites using Media Cloud, a news media database, coverage of Gaza post-ceasefire agreement averaged just 1.5% of the news hole—significantly less than the level of coverage before the agreement.

From July 2 through October 1, 2025, mentions of Gaza appeared in 2.3% of news stories in Media Cloud’s US–National dataset, which indexes 248 online outlets. Starting October 2, the day before the ceasefire agreement, coverage in the next three weeks jumped to an average of 4.5%. For the following three months (October 23–January 22), that average dropped to 1.5%. That’s less than two-thirds the level of coverage it received prior to the agreement.

It’s also the lowest three-month average at any point since the current crisis began on October 7, 2023.

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From Board of Peace to Board of Profit: Trump, Kushner, and the Gaza Master Plan Fantasy

At Davos, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser, unveiled a “master plan” for Gaza, a seven-slide spectacle of CGI skyscrapers, luxury apartments, data centres, and coastal resorts. Branded Project Sunrise, it promises to transform the bombed-out Gaza Strip into a high-tech Riviera. On screen, Gaza gleams. On the ground, it is a killing field. Over 70 thousands of Palestinians have been slaughtered, many of them women and children; millions are displaced and starving under siege. The United Nations has declared the situation a genocide and is accusing Israel of using hunger as a weapon. Yet Kushner’s presentation treats Gaza not as a humanitarian crisis, but as a blank canvas for profit, spectacle, and real estate development, erasing the ongoing Israeli bombardment and the engineered famine that continues to decimate civilian life.

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Gaza: Caught Between Israel’s Ongoing Genocide, and Trump’s US-Led Neo-Colonial Takeover

In the Gaza Strip, the remaining Palestinian population, who have survived two years and three months of the most diabolically well-publicized and even relentlessly celebrated genocide in history, which is still ongoing, albeit at a slower pace than before, are squeezed into just 42% of their homeland — 60 square miles in total, less than the size of Washington, D.C.

The rest, the other 58%, has been occupied by Israeli forces since a ceasefire was declared on October 10, when they withdrew to an arbitrary “Yellow Line” that was meant to be temporary, a phase in a staged withdrawal from the whole of the Gaza Strip, but which is regarded by the occupiers as a new and permanent border with Israel.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, which was mainly negotiated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, although Donald Trump, predictably, made it all about himself, even staging a “Peace Summit” in Egypt to which world leaders were invited to fawn over him, Israel was prevailed upon to stop its relentless bombing raids, and its ongoing and merciless ground invasion of Gaza City, in return for the immediate release of all the surviving Israeli hostages seized on October 7, 2023.

This was a considerable achievement, given how enthusiastically Israel had sunk into relentless genocidal depravity over the previous seven months since it deliberately broke the terms of an earlier ceasefire deal at the start of March, resuming its slaughter of Palestinians with horrific brutality.

However, although the death toll has dropped over the last three months from a daily average of somewhere between 60 and a hundred Palestinians, Israel has never honored the ceasefire in any meaningful sense, and has continued to break its terms on an almost daily basis, killing at least 465 Palestinians and injuring 1,287 since October 10.

In addition, Israel has resolutely refused to allow the unimpeded access into Gaza of 600 trucks a day of humanitarian aid, as stipulated in the ceasefire deal, including desperately needed shelter, medical supplies and medical equipment, as well as food and fuel, all very deliberately to try to ensure that the Palestinians will continue to die in significant numbers, as though the latest confirmed death toll of 71,548, with 171,353 injured, many grievously so — and itself a massive undercount — is still insufficient to placate its incessant bloodlust.

Israel is perpetually triggered by a refusal to recognize that the 1,200 or so people killed in the October 7 attacks on southern Israel cannot be perpetually obsessed over as the victims of an unprovoked day of horror, entirely unconnected to the previous 75 years of Israel’s genocidal ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinians from their own land, and their relentless oppression and arbitrary imprisonment. Nor too, can they realistically be allowed to demonstrate a callous indifference, almost beyond belief, to the catastrophic death toll in Gaza over the last 27 months, which dwarfs the death toll on October 7 to a sickening degree.

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Iran Is Not Libya: Why Destabilization Risks Global Chaos

The drumbeat of escalation against Iran has grown louder in Western capitals, from fresh sanctions rhetoric to renewed strike speculation. Beyond the headlines, a dangerous shift is occurring in the strategic thinking of policymakers. The old Neoconservative framework of “regime change”, which assumed one could swap a government while keeping the nation intact, is being shadowed by a far more perilous drift toward policies that risk state collapse.

Whether driven by the momentum of broad sanctions or a lack of viable alternatives, the current trajectory suggests that Western powers are risking a repetition of the “Libya Model” in Iran. A sober analysis of data, geography, and demographics indicates that this path would not lead to democracy, but to a geopolitical catastrophe that creates a security vacuum from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.

The Libya Mirage vs. The Iranian Reality

The allure of this strategy rests on a kind of amnesia about the outcome of the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya. Sold as a humanitarian necessity, the removal of central authority did not produce a liberal democracy. Instead, it shattered the state’s monopoly on violence. Over a decade later, Libya remains a fractured territory where rival militias compete for control and human trafficking networks operate with relative impunity.

Attempting to replicate this outcome in Iran involves a profound misreading of scale. Iran is not Libya. It is a nation of nearly 90 million people, roughly thirteen times the population of Libya in 2011. Geographically, it sits atop the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery through which a major share of globally traded oil passes each day.

In contrast to the isolated Gaddafi regime, a destabilized Iran would not implode neatly. It would likely erupt across borders. The collapse of central authority in Tehran could plausibly trigger large refugee flows toward Europe and create conditions conducive to extremism and narcotics trafficking. From a purely Realist perspective, the cost of coexisting with a difficult Iranian state is significantly lower than the cost of managing a major zone of ungoverned instability in the heart of Eurasia.

Sanctions and the Fragility Trap

Some advocates of “maximum pressure” argue that economic strangulation creates leverage for democratization. The economic data suggests a different outcome. While sanctions have undeniably devastated the Iranian economy, driving high and persistent inflation and eroding the national currency, they have failed to produce political liberalization.

In practice, these policies create what economists call a “fragility trap”. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that geoeconomic fragmentation and the weaponization of trade are fracturing the global economy. In Iran, this dynamic systematically hollows out the middle class. By destroying the economic foundation of independent civil society, Western policy eliminates the very social stratum historically required for stable democratic transitions.

As citizens are pushed into a struggle for biological survival, facing documented obstacles to accessing some critical medicines and shrinking purchasing power, their capacity for organized political activism diminishes. They rarely become builders of stable institutions; survival takes over. Thus, the current policy does not weaken the grip of the state; it weakens the resilience of the society.

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Trump’s Greenland Gambit Pays Off

President Trump arrived in Davos with one item on his mind: Greenland.  The goal was to make a bid for the ice-covered landmass, which is so valuable to the United States from both a geopolitical and financial standpoint.  At the crossroads of the Arctic, the great “piece of ice,” as our President endearingly labeled it, is situated at a crucial intersection for trade and military operations.  It can provide a great strategic boost to any superpower which claims it, a reason for President Trump’s strong campaign to acquire it, and on the flipside of that, a reason for Chinese and Russian warships becoming an increasingly common sight off its coastline.

Greenland also has tactical utility: intercontinental missiles from any of the aforementioned nations may use Greenland as a strategic outpost for launching them.  Likewise, drones.  Its close proximity to the United States thus heightens the stakes for modern technological warfare if any of the other powers were to claim it for themselves.  While President Trump may have backed away from deploying troops to acquire Greenland by force, instead resorting to diplomacy, if heaven forbid China or Russia, and not our ally in Denmark, should claim this land for themselves, a military option for acquisition would then not only be revived, but perhaps foregone.

Thus, the strong campaign for Greenland is a rare example of an American leader responding to an evolving world order and mapping out a long term strategy in real time.  While the United States is enjoying something of a renaissance under the second Trump administration, Europe continues to languish.  By every metric, European strength, relative to the United States, depreciated exponentially over the last two decades, a trend forecasted to only accelerate in the years ahead.  Europe and the United States may be partners, but the union forged between them today is not that of co-equals.  President Trump knows this; based on similar principles, he understands that it is no longer realistic for Greenland to be managed by a country that has not been geopolitically significant in at least four centuries.

Then there are the resources.  Greenland, which is more than three times the size of Texas and five times that of California, is teeming with natural riches: from rare earths to precious metals to natural gas.  In this respect, it can be an economic windfall for the United States, a benefit that if annexed for Uncle Sam would accrue to the rest of the world as well.  This is because only the United States possesses the technological know-how and manpower to penetrate Greenland’s rough and lifeless tundra that stretches on for miles.  Denmark lacks the requisite drilling equipment; it also lacks the ability to secure the landmass militarily or otherwise.  Already, it has long managed Greenland in a semi-dependent partnership with the United States and other nations.  It is about time that it abdicates its role to greater powers, recognizing that the United States is the clear regional hegemon, and only it can maximize Greenland’s potential, with its vast mineral resources, and stave off hungry competitors like China or Russia in the process.

Beyond the economic upside, Greenland also symbolizes President Trump’s renewal of the Monroe Doctrine: a reinvigorated United States willing to defend its hemisphere responsibly, with a peace through strength foreign policy approach grounded in realism.  This is a gritty philosophy that aptly recognizes power dynamics for how the world is, not how liberals and globalist technocrats would like it to be.  The ideology of globalism, paired with its promise of a new world order, had long deluded European leaders into thinking borders were no longer necessary, human conflict had been permanently abolished, and that Europe could indefinitely profit off American industry, goods, and services, while never having to pay anything remotely close to a fair share in return.

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Over 2 Million Ukrainians Are Dodging The Draft

The 2.2 million men that are currently on the run amounts to 6.8% of the Ukrainian population and is slightly larger than the percentage of Asians in the US.

New Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov shockingly revealed that 200,000 men have already deserted thus far and ten times more (2 million) are actively dodging the draft, which are probably an underestimate but are in any case still very large numbers. To put that into context, Ukraine claimed in early 2025 to have had a population of 32 million, likely an overestimate, so the 2.2 million men who either deserted or dodged the draft amounts to at least 6.8% of the population currently on the run.

Rada Deputy Dmitry Razumkov claimed during a parliamentary session last month that his country had already lost half a million troops by then with an equal number wounded, possibly also an underestimate, while Ukraine is thought to currently field around 900,000 active troops. All of this data enables observers to better understand the significance of these “voluntary losses” since it should be clear by now that 2.2 million more troops would have certainly made a major difference for Ukraine.

That’s not to imply that it would have been able to reverse the military-strategic dynamics of the conflict that have trended in Russia’s favor since the epic failure of Ukraine’s NATO-backed counteroffensive in summer 2023, but perhaps it might have been able to decelerate the pace of its losses afterwards. Ukraine could have thus also been in a comparatively better diplomatic position too going into Trump 2.0 a year ago and that might have in turn predisposed him to a relatively harder line towards Russia as well.

For that reason, while the scale of its desertions and draft-dodging can’t credibly be described as a game-changer, it can still be considered a significant variable that adversely affected Ukraine’s fortunes. By contrast, this was never a relevant factor for Russia, which hasn’t conscripted anyone unlike Ukraine. On that topic, it’s worthwhile reminding readers about Ukraine’s forcible conscription policy that’s been made infamous by viral videos showing officials snatching young and old men alike off the streets.

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US scales down commitments to defend European allies

The US will prioritize its own defense and offer only “limited” support to its allies in Europe, the Pentagon has said.

In the revised National Defense Strategy released on Friday, the US Department of War said European NATO members must play a key role in protecting themselves and providing military aid to Ukraine.

“Although we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must – and will – prioritize defending the US Homeland and deterring China,” the document reads.

“The Department will therefore incentivize and enable NATO allies to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense with critical but more limited US support.”

“This includes taking the lead in supporting Ukraine’s defense. As President Trump has said, the war in Ukraine must end. As he has also emphasized, however, this is Europe’s responsibility first and foremost,” the document reads.

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A Dangerous Year for Taiwan: Converging Pressures Raise the Risk of Chinese Invasion

Multiple political, strategic, and military factors are converging in a way that could make 2026 a uniquely dangerous year for Taiwan. Chinese leaders increasingly believe that asserting control over Taiwan is inevitable and may be achievable sooner than previously assumed.

Xi Jinping’s personal ambitions and political timeline add urgency to this assessment. He has pushed the Taiwan issue more aggressively than any predecessor and may view reunification as a defining legacy achievement. Xi has set 2027 as the target for the People’s Liberation Army to complete its modernization goals, ordering the military to be capable of a successful invasion by the PLA’s 100th anniversary.

While 2027 itself is unlikely to see major military action due to the Communist Party Congress and the regime’s emphasis on internal stability, the year immediately preceding it, 2026, is far more flexible.

Former INDOPACOM commander Admiral Philip Davidson warned in 2021 that the threat to Taiwan would become “manifest” within six years, a warning that came to be known as the Davidson Window. The term refers to a period of heightened risk, roughly between 2021 and 2027, during which China could acquire the military capability to attempt a takeover of Taiwan.

Davidson’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee underscored the pace of China’s military modernization and its narrowing gap with U.S. and allied forces in the region.

According to 2025 and 2026 U.S. Department of Defense reports, the People’s Liberation Army has expanded its missile inventory from about 1,200 in 2020 to roughly 3,500, while missile launchers grew from 800 to 1,500, supported by additional brigades and 300 new ICBM silos. Systems such as the DF-26 enable saturation strikes on U.S. bases in Guam.

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Iran will treat any attack as ‘all-out war against us,’ says senior Iran official

Iran will treat any attack “as an all-out war against us,” a senior Iranian official said on Friday, ahead of the arrival of a U.S. military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days.

“This military buildup – we hope it is not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,” said the senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This time we will treat any attack – limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it – as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this,” the official said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States had an “armada” heading toward Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.

“If the Americans violate Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will respond,” said the Iranian official. He declined to specify what an Iranian response might look like.

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Israel’s Netanyahu skips Davos over fear of arrest for Gaza war crimes

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week amid concerns he would face arrest in Switzerland under an International Criminal Court warrant, according to Israeli media reports.

Netanyahu was replaced at the summit by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who travelled to Davos on Tuesday and met German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

During the meeting, Herzog criticised the absence of Israeli officials from the forum and called for the removal of ICC arrest warrants issued against Israeli leaders, describing the court’s actions as “politically motivated”.

He did not address the substance of the allegations against Israel stemming from the crimes committed by its military campaign in Gaza.

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza.

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