Tag: perpetual war

US military conducts ninth lethal strike on drug smuggling vessels in Eastern Pacific

Three narcoterrorists were killed in what is believed to be the ninth deadly attack on vessels attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media Wednesday evening.

Hegseth’s post included a video that showed a small boat moving along the water. Several seconds into the video, the boat explodes and is seen floating motionless in flames.

The latest strike took place in the Eastern Pacific, marking the second strike against a vessel in the Eastern Pacific within a day. The previous seven took place in the Caribbean.

Keep reading

Ukraine, US finalizing deal for 25 Patriot systems, Zelensky says

Ukraine and the U.S. are finalizing a deal for Kyiv to secure 25 Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, a push that would boost the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks. 

“The difficulty lies in the production queue — a line of countries that have signed relevant contracts. We will be receiving these 25 systems over the years, with different quantities each year,” Zelensky said during a meeting with reporters in Kyiv, according to multiple news outlets. 

The Patriot system, which includes launchers, missiles and radar, can cost around $1 billion, and is one of the rare weapons that can intercept Moscow’s ballistic missiles, a necessary component as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with aerial attacks. 

Ukraine will not receive the systems all at once, as it will have to wait for other nations to get the defense system that is in high demand. 

Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine is working with the U.S. to “ensure that Ukraine still can receive the necessary number of Patriot systems. This is not an easy task, but it is one of the security guarantees for Ukraine — and it will work in the long term.” 

The long-term arrangement comes days after Zelensky’s trip to Washington, where he met with President Trump. During their meeting, which was reportedly tense at times, the two leaders discussed ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war. While in the U.S., Zelensky met with top U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon, which produces the Patriot systems. 

Keep reading

State Department Employee Arrested For Stealing Thousands of Pages of “Top Secret” Classified Documents Released to Home Confinement

As previously reported, State Department contractor stole thousands of pages of “TOP SECRET” classified documents and met with Beijing officials.

Ashley Tellis, an expert on India and South Asian affairs, removed the top secret documents from secure locations and met with Chinese officials.

The classified documents were located in Tellis’s Virginia home during a raid.

“On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities. Federal prosecutors allege that he met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years,” Fox News reported.

Prosecutors said in September 2022 that Tellis brought a manila envelope with him when he met with Chinese officials in a Virginia restaurant.

Tellis has been in jail since October 11.

He was charged with one count of retaining national defense information.

Tellis’ attorneys insist their client did not disclose any classified information to a foreign government and claimed government investigators are interpreting his “routine professional duties” as something sinister.

“Regrettably, investigators appeared to interpret his routine professional duties, such as liaison work and international travel, as clandestine activity, reading something sinister into what were standard think-tank and scholarly foreign policy engagements,” Tellis’ attorneys wrote in a court filing, according to The Washington Post.

Newly sworn in US Attorney Lindsey Halligan charged Tellis.

Keep reading

US Defense Contractors Raise Forecasts After Zelensky Meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with several US defense contractors this week, including Raytheon, GE, and Lockheed Martin. A few days later, major defense companies raised their full-year profit estimates significantly.

Spokespeople say that tariffs have no impact on demand for the defense industry. Naturally, Ukraine is seeking duty-free defense imports on defense products paid for by other countries.

Lockheed raised its profit forecast from $22.15–$22.35 per share, up from $21.70–$22.00. The revenue forecast increased to $74.25–$74.75 billion from the previous range of $73.75–$74.75 billion. CEO Jim Taiclet noted there is “unprecedented demand” for Lockheed’s F-35 fighters, CH-53K helicopters, and of course, the highly desired patriot missiles.

“We are investing aggressively in both new digital technologies and physical production capacity needed to meet the top defense priorities of the United States and its allies — and we are doing so in partnership with a number of leading technology partners, large and small,” Taiclet said in a statement.

“In Washington, I spoke with defense companies that produce Patriots and other weapons we need. The willingness to work with Ukraine is fully sufficient — Ukraine is trusted,” Zelensky said on Monday. “It is important that there be enough support for this at the political level in Washington.”

General Electric Aerospace (GE) increased revenue guidance from “mid-teens” to “high teens” in terms of percentage growth. Free cash flow is predicted to be $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion, which is around $1 billion higher than before the meeting with Zelensky. GE stock is already up over 80% YoY, with an 83% increase in deliveries of defense equipment.

Raytheon did not publicly comment on its specific EPS ranges but had a strong Q3. RTX adjusted its full-year earnings to $6.10 to $6.20 from $5.80 to $5.95 and also tacked on an additional ~$1 billion for its sales forecast.

Keep reading

UN records 71 settler attacks in one week across occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers carried out 71 attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank between 7 and 13 October, according to a UN report published on 16 October.

The attacks, many of them armed, resulted in the death of one man and the injury of 99 others, as documented by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Most of the settler assaults hit farming areas just as the olive harvest began, affecting 27 Palestinian villages, with nearly half of all reported attacks tied to the harvest that started on 9 October.

In the town of Deir Jarir in east Ramallah, Israeli settlers and military forces jointly opened fire on residents after settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones, resulting in a 26-year-old man being shot dead, and two others being injured. 

The assault followed months of settler expansion in the area, including a new outpost and road connecting an Israeli military base to the village’s western entrance.

Two days later, settlers armed with rifles and sticks raided the village of Atara, also in the Ramallah governorate, attacking residents and opening fire on Palestinian vehicles. 

Keep reading

UN experts say US strikes against Venezuela in international waters amount to ‘extrajudicial executions’

U.S. strikes against Venezuela in international waters are a dangerous escalation and amount to “extrajudicial executions,” a group of independent United Nations experts said on Tuesday.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered strikes on at least six suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, killing at least 27 people. 

The strikes are part of Trump’s ongoing campaign against what he says is a “narcoterrorist” threat emanating from Venezuela and linked to its president, Nicolas Maduro.

The U.N. experts acknowledged Trump’s justification for the military action, but said: “Even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions.”

The independent experts, who are appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said the strikes violate the South American country’s sovereignty and the United States’ “fundamental international obligations” not to intervene in domestic affairs or threaten to use armed force against another country.

“These moves are an extremely dangerous escalation with grave implications for peace and security in the Caribbean region,” they said in a statement.

Keep reading

CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Patch F5 Devices After Nation-State Hack

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an emergency directive compelling federal agencies to address major security flaws in software management devices made by F5, a technology company. The order follows a security breach where nation-state-affiliated hackers reportedly accessed F5’s internal systems, stealing source code and customer data.

In the directive released on October 15, CISA warned that a foreign government-affiliated group compromised F5’s networks and exfiltrated sensitive files. This stolen data included parts of the source code for BIG-IP, F5’s flagship product, along with information about known vulnerabilities.

CISA stated that this access gives the hackers a significant advantage, allowing them to analyze the code for undiscovered flaws, or “zero-day vulnerabilities,” and develop targeted attacks against F5 devices and software.

Imminent Threat to Federal Networks

According to the directive, this cyber threat actor poses an “imminent threat” to all federal networks that use F5 products. If hackers successfully exploit the vulnerabilities, they could gain access to embedded login details and API keys, which would allow them to move undetected within a network, steal data, and establish long-term access. CISA warns this could lead to a “full compromise” of an organization’s information systems.

Due to what it calls an “unacceptable risk,” CISA has mandated immediate action for agencies using a range of F5 products.

Affected F5 Products:

The directive applies to the following hardware and software:

  • Hardware: BIG-IP iSeries, rSeries, and any other F5 devices that are no longer supported by the company.
  • Software: All devices running BIG-IP (F5OS and TMOS), Virtual Edition (VE), BIG-IP Next, BIG-IQ, and BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes (BNK)/Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNF).

The directive’s requirements are designed to address the immediate risk and help agencies defend against anticipated attacks targeting these systems.

Keep reading

To Media, Gaza Ceasefire Holds Despite Repeated Israeli Strikes

On October 10, a ceasefire was declared in the Gaza Strip, where more than 67,000 Palestinians were officially killed in just over two years of Israel’s United States-backed genocide. With an estimated 10,000 bodies still buried under the all-consuming rubble, and indirect deaths unaccounted for, this number is almost certainly a drastic underestimate. Shortly after the ceasefire took effect, US President Donald Trump pronounced the war in Gaza “over,” proclaiming that “at long last we have peace in the Middle East.”

In the ten days following the implementation of the ostensible truce, the Israeli military reportedly killed at least 97 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 230, violating the ceasefire agreement no fewer than 80 times. One might have expected, then, to see a headline or two along the lines of, I dunno, “Israel violates ceasefire”—or maybe “So much for ‘peace’ in Gaza.”

No such headlines turned up in the Western corporate media—not that there weren’t some pretty spectacular violations to choose from. On October 17, for example, eleven members of the Abu Shaaban family, including seven children and three women, were blasted to bits in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood while attempting to reach their home. According to the Israelis, the family’s vehicle had trespassed over the so-called “yellow line,” the invisible boundary arbitrarily demarcating the more than 50 percent of Gazan territory still occupied by the genocidal army. 

Then on October 19, Israel bombed the living daylights out of central and southern Gaza and killed dozens after alleging a ceasefire violation by Hamas—an allegation that not even Trump found convincing, but that enabled such impressively passive headlines as “Strikes Hit Gaza After Truce Violations Alleged” (Guardian, 10/19/25). Once the carnage was complete, the BBC (10/19/25) assured readers that “Israel Says It Will Return to Ceasefire After Gaza Strikes.” For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Knesset that the Israeli military had dropped 153 tons of bombs on Gaza during this particular, um, pause in the ceasefire.

Keep reading

“Take Out Trump”: Colombian President Petro Makes Shocking Threat Against President Trump in Univision Interview

Colombian President Gustavo Petro threatened to “take out” President Donald Trump in an lengthy interview with Univision on Monday a day after Trump called Petro “an illegal drug leader.”

Relations between Colombia and the United States are at a nadir after the U.S. destroyed a suspected drug running boat in the Caribbean last month, killing a Colombian national. Petro said the man was a fisherman. A report by El Pais says the man had a criminal record involving the theft of hundreds of weapons from a police station in 2015.

Colombia recalled its ambassador to the U.S. on Monday for consultations.

Last month, the State Department revoked Petro’s visa during the U.N. General Assembly after he spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City and called on U.S. troops to disobey orders by Trump.

Speaking with Univision President Daniel Coronell at the end of the interview at Casa de Nariño in Bogota, Petro said if Trump won’t change, the solution is to “take out Trump,” loudly snapping his fingers.

Petro: “Humanity has a first offramp, and it is to change Trump in various ways. The easiest way may be through Trump himself–the easiest. If not, take out Trump.”

PRIMERA SALIDA Y ES CAMBIAR A TRUMP DE DIVERSAS MANERAS. PUEDE SER POR EL MISMO TRUMP, LA MáS FáCIL, SI NO SACA LA TRUMP.” (Note: Both X and Google translate the comment as “take out Trump.” The MRC translation is “get rid of Trump.”

Keep reading

It Was Never a Gaza ‘War.’ The ‘Ceasefire’ Is a Lie Cut From the Same Cloth

Ceasefires stick because the two sides in a war have reached military stalemate – or because the incentives for each side in laying down their arms outweigh those of continuing the bloodshed.

None of this applies in Gaza.

The past two years in the enclave have been many things. But the one thing they have not been is a war, whatever western politicians and media wish us to believe.

Which means the current narrative of a “ceasefire” is as much a lie as the preceding narrative of a “Gaza war”.

The ceasefire is not “fragile”, as we keep being told. It is non-existent, as evidenced by Israel’s continual violations – from its soldiers continuing to shoot dead Palestinian civilians to it blocking promised aid.

So what is really going on?

To understand the “ceasefire” and US President Donald Trump’s even more deluded 20-point “peace plan“, we first need to make sense of what the earlier “war” rhetoric was used to conceal.

Over the past 24 months, we witnessed something deeply sinister.

We watched the indiscriminate slaughter of a largely civilian population, already under a 17-year siege, by Israel, a regional military goliath supported and armed by the global military goliath of the United States.

We watched the erasure of almost every home in Gaza – in what already amounted to a concentration camp for its people.

Families were forced into makeshift tents, as they had been when they were expelled decades ago at gunpoint from their lands in what is now Israel. But this time they have been exposed to a toxic brew of the rubble-dust of their former homes and the spent materials from many Hiroshimas-worth of bombs dropped on the enclave.

We watched a captive population being starved for months on end, in what amounted to, on the most generous view, an undisguised policy of collective punishment – a crime against humanity for which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being pursued by the International Criminal Court.

Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza have been physically damaged, in addition to their psychological trauma, by a malnourishment that has altered their DNA – damage that will most likely be passed on to future generations.

We watched Gaza’s hospitals being systematically dismantled, one by one, until the entire health sector was hollowed out, unable to deal with either the flood of wounded or the growing tide of malnourished children.

We watched large-scale ethnic cleansing operations, in which families – or what was left of them – were driven out of “kill zones” into areas Israel termed “safe zones”, only for those safe zones to quickly turn, undeclared, into new kill zones.

And as Trump stepped up the pressure for a “ceasefire”, we watched Israel unleash an orgy of violence, destroying as much of Gaza City as it could before the deadline arrived to stop.

Keep reading