Tag: perpetual war

Israeli Forces Continue To Kill Palestinians in Gaza Despite Ceasefire

Israeli forces continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday despite the ceasefire deal that was signed last week, as Israel has issued warnings against approaching the “yellow line,” referring to the line that Israeli troops withdrew to when the truce went into effect on Friday.

At least one person was killed by an Israeli attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported, citing sources at the Nasser Hospital.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least two Palestinians were killed by an Israeli drone in Gaza City’s eastern Shujaiya neighborhood. A day earlier, at least five Palestinians were killed in the same neighborhood while inspecting their homes, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. The IDF claimed they crossed the “yellow line” and posed a “threat,” but it did not allege they were armed.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a threat related to the “yellow line” in a post on X on Wednesday. “The IDF operates in accordance with directives and enforces a clear policy of preparedness along the yellow line – which includes over 50% of Gaza’s territory,” he wrote.

“The enforcement policy is unequivocal: for every violation, an immediate response. Yesterday, terrorists who attempted to approach and cross were thwarted – and so it will be in the future as well,” he added.

WAFA reported that at least 14 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals on Wednesday, including eight that were recovered from the rubble, suggesting a total of six Palestinians could have been killed.

Hamas has also clashed with militias since the ceasefire went into effect, and has carried out summary executions of alleged criminals and collaborators. As part of its strategy against Hamas, Israel had been arming some militias and gangs in the Strip. President Trump expressed support for Hamas’s executions on Tuesday, saying they took out “a couple of gangs that were very bad.”

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Bloody Escalation on the Durand Line: Taliban Announce 58 Pakistani Soldiers Killed in Retaliation for Airspace Violations, Pakistan Reports 200 Afghan Fighters Eliminated and Closes Borders

On October 12, 2025, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan became a battlefield. The Taliban, from Kabul, claimed responsibility for the deaths of 58 Pakistani soldiers in overnight retaliatory operations. These actions were in response to alleged airstrikes by Islamabad on Afghan territory the previous Thursday.

The Taliban government spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, detailed in a press conference that Afghan forces captured 25 Pakistani military posts. He also reported 30 enemy soldiers wounded and the seizure of weapons and ammunition. «Up to nine of our mujahideen have been martyred and 18 wounded,» Mujahid specified.

From Islamabad, the Pakistani Army contradicted the figures. It admitted 23 of its own casualties and 29 wounded. In contrast, it claimed to have neutralized over 200 Taliban and allied fighters, including members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Pakistani security sources described the Afghan attacks as «unprovoked» and highlighted the destruction of terrorist camps.

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Let Us Now Bury the Truth (Again)

Headline in the Sunday editions of The New York Times: “A New Test for Israel: Can It Repair Its Ties to Americans?”

What a question. Let us set aside our indignation and think about this.

The piece below this head is by David Halbfinger, whose trade over the years has been to appear balanced when covering the Zionist state while glossing its past, which is wall-to-wall condemnable, and faithfully apologizing for its present, which — need this be said — is also wall-to-wall condemnable.

David Halbfinger, who has just begun his second tour as the Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief, in action:

“The war in Gaza may finally be ending, after two years of bloodshed and destruction. But among the damage that has been done is a series of devastating blows to Israel’s relationship with the citizens of its most important and most stalwart ally, the United States.

Israel’s reputation in the United States is in tatters, and not only on college campuses or among progressives….

The question is whether those younger Americans will be lost to Israel long- term — and what Israel’s advocates will do to try to reverse that.”

Halbfinger proceeds to quote none of “those younger Americans,” or anyone else of any age who stands forthrightly against “the Jewish state” in response to the campaign of terror, murder and starvation it has conducted against the civilian population of Gaza these past two years.

No, his sources are professors, think-tank inhabitants and, of course, Israeli Zionists, American Zionists and in two cases Israeli–American Zionists — the good old divided-loyalties crowd.

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Mexican and Colombian Cartels Sending Members to Ukraine To Learn To Operate Attack Drones, Changing Drug War Tactics Forever

It’s a clear and present danger to the US.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is generating bad repercussions for Europe and the outside world, such as an energy crisis, military escalations, and other problematic developments.

To the US, there’s a new, dangerous reality that may be about to bring a whole new level of danger, as the Latin American cartels are sending their operatives to Ukraine to be trained in drone warfare.

These criminals are attending the Kill House Academy, a ‘Top Gun school for the drone-warfare era’, according to the British media, a place that trains some of Kiev regime’s best UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots.

It’s actually easy for a cartel member to blend in with the thousands of new Latin American recruits.

The Telegraph reported:

“Among the more promising recent recruits [at the Kill House Academy] was a pilot with the callsign Aguila 7 (Eagle 7) – a former special forces soldier from Mexico, enlisted with Ukraine’s International Legion. But while he excelled at the course, it seemed he had foes other than Russian soldiers in his sights. Eagle 7 was in fact a foot soldier in Mexico’s feared Los Zetas drug cartel and had been sent there to learn drone skills for use in drug wars back home, according to reports.”

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Military Analyst Warns US Doesn’t Have Enough Tomahawks To Send To Ukraine

Military analysts have told the Financial Times that even if President Trump decides to approve US Tomahawk transfers to Ukraine, this will have limited impact on the trajectory of the war, given especially that a mere dozens will be available to send.

The report also suggests that the US is involved in too many conflicts at once, and that Pentagon stockpiles of advanced weapons are being depleted.

Trump started this week by issuing more ambiguous and vague statements on the Tomahawk issue. On Monday he had said Tomahawks are a “very offensive weapon,” noting, “honestly, Russia does not need that.” He hinted he ‘might’ pull the trigger on this escalation, amid Moscow warnings and threats.

FT found that out of over 4,000 Tomahawk missiles in the US arsenal, only “a few” could be given to Ukraine:

Mark Cancian, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, estimated in a recent war game that the US had 4,150 Tomahawks in total. However, the US would probably be able to supply only a few to Ukraine.

This is in light of the fact that, out of the 200 the Pentagon has procured since 2022, it has already fired more than 120, according to defense experts. The defense department has requested funding for only 57 more Tomahawks in its 2026 budget. Washington would probably also need Tomahawks for any strike on Venezuelan soil.

Again, this reference to Venezuela is interesting, at a moment of unprecedented American military build-up in the southern Caribbean near the Latin American country’s coast. The US has also been expending its missiles on defending Israel, which happened at an increased pace especially over the past year.

Another Washington-based US military analyst put a number to how many Tomahawks American could afford to hand over:

Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security think-tank, said Washington could spare some 20 to 50 Tomahawks for Ukraine, “which will not decisively shift the dynamics of the war”.

While the long-range missiles could complement Ukraine’s own long-range attack drones and cruise missiles “in large complex salvos to greater effect”, they would “still will be a very limited capability . . . certainly not enough to enable sustained, deep attacks against Russia”, they added.

And of course, the understated if not unspoken part is that all of this risks WW3 with Russia, something that Trump has repeatedly and openly voiced that he wants to seek to avoid at all costs.

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Why we need to take Trump’s Drug War very seriously

Donald Trump has long been a fan of using the U.S. military to wage a more vigorous war against drug cartels in Latin America. He also shows signs of using that justification as a pretext to oust regimes considered hostile to other U.S. interests.

The most recent incident in the administration’s escalating antidrug campaign took place on October 3 when “Secretary of War” Mike Hegseth announced that U.S. naval forces had sunk yet another small boat off of the coast of Venezuela. It was one of four destroyed vessels and a total of 21 people killed since late September. The administration claims they were all trying to ship illegal drugs to the United States.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro said publicly Wednesday that one of the vessels was carrying Columbian citizens and that they were killed. Two administration officials confirmed to the New York Times that Colombians were on one of the boats blown out of the water. The White House called Petro’s claims “baseless” and “reprehensible.”

However, Trump’s enthusiasm for the military option in the war on drugs long predates this episode. Mike Esper, who served as secretary of defense during the final stages of Trump’s first term, relayed in his memoirs that the president had seriously explored the option of conducting missile strikes against suspected traffickers in Mexico. Esper recalled that his boss asked him at least twice in 2020 about the feasibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels.

The president considered such a drastic step to be justified because Mexican leaders were “not in charge of their own country.”

Esper’s account is not the only evidence of Trump’s enthusiasm for the military option. After a 2019 incident in which cartel gunmen massacred a family of American Mormon ex-pats in northwest Mexico, Trump reacted with a tweet insisting that “this is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR (sic) on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!” He added: “If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively.”

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Russia Accuses Ukrainian Intelligence Of Using ISIS For Assassination Plot

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated on Monday that its officers foiled a terrorist attack in Moscow that was planned by ISIS under the direction of Ukrainian intelligence.

ISIS operatives sought to target a high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry official using an explosive device in a densely populated area of the capital city, the agency said in a statement.

“The FSB has prevented a sabotage and terrorist act against one of the senior officers of the Russian Defense Ministry, organized by Ukrainian special services in coordination with leaders of the international terrorist organization Islamic State (banned as a terrorist organization in Russia),” the FSB statement said.

Four suspects connected to the plot were detained, including a native of a Central Asian country. The FSB alleged that the plan was developed by Ukrainian intelligence and would have been carried out by a suicide bomber recruited by an ISIS member named Saidakbar Gulomov.

“On instructions from Ukrainian handlers, S. Gulomov remotely directed the perpetrator’s actions from Ukraine and several Western European countries using multiple foreign messaging applications,” the FSB added.

Gulomov allegedly provided the attacker with funds, information about the target, and materials for assembling explosive devices smuggled into Russia by Ukrainian intelligence using drones.

According to the FSB, Gulomov was also involved in the killing of Russian Lieutenant General Kirillov, commander of the Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops, in December 2024.

The FSB claims the attack on Kirillov was also orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence. Monday’s foiled terror attack “once again demonstrates the close coordination between the Kiev regime and international terrorist organizations,” the Russian intelligence service stated.

In March 2024, four gunmen attacked a concert hall near Moscow, opening fire on the more than 5,000 people gathered to watch the Russian rock group Piknik. At least 145 people were killed in the attack.  

Russian authorities blamed the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan, for the attack, while also accusing Ukrainian intelligence of orchestrating it.

“The investigation has concluded that the terrorist act was planned and organized by the security services of an unfriendly state in order to destabilize the situation in Russia,” stated the Russian Investigative Committee, which was tasked with determining who was responsible. “Members of an international terrorist organization were recruited to carry it out.”

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‘Disarm or be disarmed by force’: Trump issues new threat to Hamas

US President Donald Trump issued a new threat against Hamas on 14 October, affirming that they will either surrender their weapons or be disarmed by force. 

“They said they were gonna disarm,” the president claimed, despite Hamas and other resistance factions repeatedly rejecting Israeli terms for the surrender of arms. “They know I’m not playing games.”

The president praised the “monumental” achievement of returning the captives, adding that this was needed “above all else.”

He also expressed support for Hamas’s crackdown on outlaw militias in Gaza. “They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad … That didn’t bother me,” he said. 

“But they will disarm, you understand me?” Trump told a reporter. “Everyone’s always saying they won’t disarm … They will disarm. And I spoke to Hamas, and I told them you’re gonna disarm. Yes sir, we’re gonna disarm, that’s what they told me,” Trump claimed. 

“And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them – and it’ll happen quickly and, perhaps, violently, but they WILL disarm,” he threatened.

Israel has also threatened to disarm Hamas through military force if the resistance group refuses to surrender. “All hell breaks loose” if Hamas does not disarm, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

The Deputy Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, Mohammad al-Hindi, rejected Trump’s comments and said “the resistance factions did not agree to disarmament,” adding that “we do not accept the threat of disarming them by force.”

Hamas has also repeatedly stressed that it will not surrender its weapons until a Palestinian state is formed. 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that Britain could play a leading role in helping to disarm Hamas in Gaza by drawing on its experience persuading militant groups in Northern Ireland to surrender their weapons. 

According to European diplomats cited by Reuters, the Northern Ireland peace process is being discussed as a potential model for Gaza’s future. They noted that no detailed plan has yet been drawn up.

“Of course, this is going to be difficult, but it’s vital. It was difficult in Northern Ireland in relation to the IRA (Irish Republican Army), but it was vital,” Starmer said.

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Will Russian-US Tensions Likely Spiral Out Of Control If Ukraine Obtains Tomahawk Missiles?

The precedent set by Russia’s restrained response to Ukraine obtaining the F-16s, which could also be nuclear-equipped, suggests that tensions with the US will remain manageable if Ukraine obtains the Tomahawks too due to the modus vivendi that’s arguably been in place for managing them.

The latest talk about the US transferring longer-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which Putin said earlier this month could only be used with US military personnel’s direct involvement, has prompted concerns about a potentially uncontrollable escalation spiral. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov assessed that such a development would lead to “a significant change in the situation” but nonetheless reaffirmed that it wouldn’t prevent Russia from achieving its goals in the special operation.

Ukraine’s explicitly stated goal in obtaining these arms is to “pressure” Russia into freezing the Line of Contact without any concessions from Kiev, which would essentially amount to Moscow conceding on its aforesaid goals since none would be achieved in full should that happen, ergo why it hasn’t agreed. In pursuit of that end, Ukraine threatened to cause a blackout in the Russian capital, which would likely be accompanied by more attacks against civilian and military logistics targets far behind the frontlines.

Some are therefore worried that that Russian-US tensions could spiral out of control, especially after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the Tomahawks can be nuclear-equipped, but the precedent set by the F-16s suggests that they’ll remain manageable. Putin himself warned in early 2024 that they too could be nuclear-equipped, yet Russia ultimately didn’t treat their use as a potential nuclear first-strike. This is arguably due to the modus vivendi that was described here in late 2024:

“[Comparatively pragmatic US ‘deep state’ figures] who still call the shots always signal their escalatory intentions far in advance so that Russia could prepare itself and thus be less likely to ‘overreact’ in some way that risks World War III. Likewise, Russia continues restraining itself from replicating the US’ ‘shock-and-awe’ campaign in order to reduce the likelihood of the West ‘overreacting’ by directly intervening in the conflict to salvage their geopolitical project and thus risking World War III.

It can only be speculated whether this interplay is due to each’s permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (‘deep state’) behaving responsibly on their own considering the enormity of what’s at stake or if it’s the result of a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’. Whatever the truth may be, the aforesaid model accounts for the unexpected moves or lack thereof from each, which are the US correspondingly telegraphing its escalatory intentions and Russia never seriously escalating in kind.”

The latest talk about the US transferring longer-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine fits the pattern of leaks serving to tip Russia off about this preplanned escalation so it can prepare its responses in advance. Time and again, Putin has exercised an almost saintly degree of self-restraint in refusing to escalate, whether symmetrically or asymmetrically. Readers can learn more about these precedents from the eight analyses enumerated in the one from late 2024 that was hyperlinked to above.

The only exception was him authorizing the use of the Oreshniks in November after the US and UK let Ukraine use their long-range missiles inside of Russia, obviously through the direct involvement of their military personnel, which he might repeat if Ukraine obtains the Tomahawks. He didn’t authorize them after Ukraine’s strategic drone strikes against parts of Russia’s nuclear triad in June that were much more provocative, however, which might have been due to his diplomatic calculations vis-à-vis Trump.

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Maduro Offered the US Access To Venezuela’s Oil and Mineral Resources To Avoid War

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had offered the US access to Venezuela’s oil, minerals, and other natural resources as part of a potential deal to avoid conflict, The New York Times reported on Friday.

The report said talks on the potential deal went on for months despite the US increasing military pressure on Venezuela and bombing boats in the Caribbean, but they have ceased since President Trump recently ordered his special envoy, Ric Grenell, to halt diplomatic efforts with the Venezuelan government.

Under the potential deal, Venezuela was willing to open up all existing and future oil and gold projects to US companies and give preferential contracts to US businesses. The report said Maduro was also willing to make other significant concessions concerning Venezuela’s relationship with other countries, including reversing the flow of Venezuelan oil exports from China to the US, and ending contracts with Chinese, Russian, and Iranian firms.

Maduro’s government has also continued accepting US deportation flights despite the military tensions. According to ICE Flight Monitor, a group that tracks US deportation flights, since February, the US has deported more than 10,000 Venezuelans on 58 flights, including nine that landed since the US bombed its first alleged drug-running boat in the Caribbean on September 2.

An official familiar with the issue told The Wall Street Journal last week that Venezuela remained “one of the best relationships” the US has had on deportations.

The Trump administration has permitted some trade with Venezuela by reinstating Chevron’s license to pump oil in the country in July, but US officials seem determined to escalate. Multiple media reports have said the US is now considering launching direct airstrikes on Venezuelan territory and that the real US goal is regime change, though it’s being dressed up as a counter-narcotics operation.

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