Tag: perpetual war

A Revealing Poll by NBC News Tells People How and What To Think

According to an NBC News poll, America is rooting for Ukraine but Trump prefers Russia. Seriously. That’s the gist of the headline.

The intent of this poll wasn’t to analyze how Americans think about the Russia-Ukraine War or Trump or military strength. It was to control how they think by giving them only the most constrained choices.

Let’s take a close look at the results and the NBC headline. According to NBC News:

When asked where they believe Trump’s sympathies are, 49% choose Russia, 40% say they think Trump favors neither side, and 8% choose Ukraine. Another 3% say they are not sure.

So, a majority of Americans, 51%, believe Trump is either carefully neutral on the war, a Ukraine supporter, or they don’t know. A minority (49%) believes he sympathizes with Russia. But the headline says Americans believe “Trump prefers Russia.”

Interestingly, I see no question about whether the Russia-Ukraine War should end after three long and bloody years so that lives are saved, or whether the U.S. should stop sending billions in weaponry to Ukraine with virtually no oversight as to where the weapons end up.

Further on, Americans are asked whether we should focus more on domestic affairs or whether we haven’t been strong enough globally. A majority of Americans believe we should focus on domestic affairs. But note how there’s no choice given for opposing war and preferring peace. Americans aren’t asked if they think the government is relying too much on military force. You have only two options: focus more at home, or strengthen the U.S. position abroad.

Interestingly, it’s Democrats who are most concerned with strengthening America’s position abroad, with nearly six out of ten taking this position, whereas six out of ten Republicans want to focus on domestic affairs. That is a remarkable result, as Democrats have supplanted Republicans as the party of military interventionism and “strength.”

Again, NBC didn’t bother to ask directly whether Americans would prefer peace and substantial reductions to military spending. You are not supposed to have those preferences, so you’re not asked about them.

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Witkoff: Ukraine Peace Deal in ‘Weeks’

Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, said in a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union that he expected negotiations to end the Ukraine–Russia war would yield a peace deal.

“I think, as the president said, he really expects there to be some sort of deal in the coming weeks maybe,” Witkoff told Jake Tapper.

Witkoff confirmed that Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week.

The special envoy was less positive regarding the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, referring to a Hamas proposal for the next stage of the ceasefire a “nonstarter.”

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Suspended for Pro-Palestine Speech: My Statement on Yale Law School’s Embrace of AI-Generated Smears

The following statement was originally published on Helyeh Doutaghi’s account on the X platform on March 12, 2025. Last week, Doutaghi was placed on administrative leave by Yale Law School following an AI-generated article falsely accusing her of being a “terrorist” over connections to Palestine advocacy organizations.  (Reprinted from Mondoweiss.)

My name is Helyeh Doutaghi. I am a scholar of international law and geopolitical economy. My research engages with Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), postcolonial critiques of law, and the global political economy of sanctions. I have specifically examined the mechanisms and consequences of economic warfare on Iran, as well as the forms of knowledge produced in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to obscure and shield U.S. military operations from accountability. On October 1, 2023, I was appointed Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project and joined the team. I also held the position of Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School (YLS), a non-tenured faculty role without teaching responsibilities.

On the morning of March 3rd, I was notified of an online report about me. An obscure AI-powered right-wing Zionist platform called “Jewish Onliner” published a report falsely accusing me of being a “terrorist”. Rather than defend me, the Yale Law School moved within less than 24 hours of learning about the report to place me on leave.

I was given only a few hours’ notice by the administration to attend an interrogation based on far-right AI-generated allegations against me, while enduring a flood of online harassment, death threats, and abuse by Zionist trolls, exacerbating ongoing unprecedented distress and complications both at work and at home. I endured all of this while fasting, and my request for religious accommodations during Ramadan was dismissed. Just a few hours later, YLS placed me on leave, revoked my IT access – including email – and banned me from campus. I was afforded no due process and no reasonable time to consult with my attorney.

Rather than investigate the source of these allegations first, the nation’s “top law school” accepted them at face value, and shifted the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused, treating me, prima facie, as guilty until proven otherwise. Whether Yale Law School’s attorneys knowingly relied on AI-fabricated claims or simply chose willful ignorance remains unanswered.

To conduct the interrogation, Yale Law School retained David Ring from the law firm Wiggin and Dana – an attorney whose public profile includes “Israel” listed as a “service” he provides and whose portfolio boasts advising “the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies.” Twice appointed by the U.S. State Department as a Special Compliance Officer, his career is deeply embedded in the very industries that sustain genocide and war crimes in Palestine. When I raised my concerns about the potential conflict of interests posed by his participation in this process, YLS dismissed them, stating there was “no concern with his ability to conduct a fair interview.” It is reprehensible that YLS would appoint a counsel who profits from the machinery of Palestinian death to “interview” an employee about their public anti-genocide and pro-Palestine positions.

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Syria Military Operation Over, But Killing of Alawite Civilians Continues

Former diplomat reported executed by gunmen south of Damascus

Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) declared their military operation against the Alawites over on Monday morning, but the execution of Alawite civilians has not halted. The number of civilians executed before Monday has also been rising further as more are counted.

At least 17 Alawite civilians have been killed along the northwestern coast since Monday, with the largest confirmed incident reported Monday night in Jableh. A witness says militia members aligned with the government entered the Alawite neighborhood, took 10 men from their homes, and shot them in the streets.

The witness said some of the militia members appeared to be Chechen, which is in keeping with reports that HTS has absorbed a lot of foreign Sunni Islamists into the security forces and their associated militias. They have been reported by locals as heavily involved in the massacres of Alawites from the beginning. At least five more civilians, possibly as many as 21, were executed in a village just south of Baniyas, and their bodies left on the highway outside of town.

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Pentagon Enforces Transgender Ban as Biden Judge Warns DOJ of Legal Fallout, Possible Court Ruling This Week

The U.S. military is undergoing major policy changes regarding transgender service members following a Presidential Trump directive to ban transgenders from service in the U.S. military.

The ongoing federal litigation challenging this policy. A ruling is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden-appointed judge, has expressed skepticism and indicated her likely hostility towards Trump’s transgender ban.

The judge was quoted by the Associated Press as saying of transgender troops: “They have to essentially be in hiding while in service.”

The judge was quoted in this ABC story as saying she believed transgenders only had a higher risk of suicide because of discrimination. The judge said the DOJ ‘cherry picked’ evidence and examples to support its claims that transgenders were unfit for military service.

The ongoing litigation contends that Trump’s order violates transgender people’s rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.

On February 26, 2025, the DoD implemented President Trump’s Executive Order 14183, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.”

The policy prohibits transgender individuals from serving openly in the U.S. military and bars those diagnosed with gender dysphoria or related conditions from enlistment, appointment, or retention.

Gender dysphoria is the mental illness where one’s biological sex does not match the gender the individual believes they ought to have.

This move effectively reinstates the Trump-first-term-era policy that was ended by President Biden in 2021.

The DoD argues that the new policy banning transgenders is necessary to maintain combat effectiveness, unit cohesion, and medical readiness.

Transgender therapies, not including surgery, typically costs employers between $25,000-$75,000 per year.

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Yemen’s Houthis Retaliate with Massive Attack on US Aircraft Carrier USS Harry Truman with 18 Ballistic Missiles and Drone — Vow to Target All U.S. Warships in Red Sea and Arabian Sea

Iran-backed Houthi terrorists launch a massive retaliation strike on the USS Harry S. Truman.

Just hours after President Trump authorized powerful military action to restore American deterrence in the region, the emboldened Houthis fired 18 ballistic and cruise missiles along with a drone attack, vowing to escalate against all U.S. warships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.

On Saturday, President Trump, demonstrating his signature “peace through strength” doctrine, ordered a decisive and calculated military response against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Trump, donning his MAGA hat and signature golf attire, watched alongside top military officials as American forces obliterated Houthi terror positions.

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US Navy Announces Voluntary Separation For Transgender Sailors

The Department of the Navy on March 13 announced voluntary separation for sailors with a current diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria, as it will only recognize the male and female sexes, “with gender being immutable.”

The update affects military service eligibility, and sailors “impacted by these changes may request voluntary separation,” the department said in a statement. The department said it will not make active efforts to identify individuals with gender dysphoria.

“Waivers for retention or accession may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Sailors eligible for voluntary separation pay will receive twice the amount of involuntary separation pay, though this is not available to those with fewer than six or more than 20 years of service,” the statement reads.

Those who opt for voluntary separation will be placed in an administrative absence status, with full pay and benefits, until their separation is complete. The Navy has committed to the “privacy and dignity” of those impacted by the policy change.

Furthermore, the Navy said that those who separate voluntarily do not need to repay education benefits or bonuses previously received.

According to an official Navy document released by Terence G. Emmert, acting secretary of the Navy, sailors have until March 28 to request voluntary separation.

The Navy’s decision was made according to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14168, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

The Navy document further says that a history of cross-sex hormone therapy, sex reassignment, or genital reconstruction surgery as part of gender-related treatments will be deemed disqualifying for military service applicants.

Waivers may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the secretary of the Navy.

To be eligible for the waiver, military personnel or applicants must demonstrate 36 consecutive months of stability in the individual’s sex and other important areas of functioning while meeting applicable standards associated with their sex.

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How A Fabricated Story From A Corrupt Billionaire Launched The New Cold War With Russia.

With the coming close to the Ukraine proxy war, now is a better time than ever to look at what sparked the post-cold war hostilities between America and Russia.

Some could point to multiple events including the Maidan coup, the downing of the MH17 flight, the Russian intervention into the Syrian war, Russiagate, or the Ukraine proxy war.

But one event precedes all of these things.

That is the passing of the Magnitsky Act sanctions in 2012.

The bill, which put sanctions on Russian officials supposedly for “the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the conspiracy to defraud the Russian Federation of taxes on corporate profits through fraudulent transactions and lawsuits against Hermitage, and for other gross violations of human rights”.

The bill was passed in the House and Senate and was eventually signed into law by then-President Barack Obama.

This story came from Bill Browder, an American billionaire who set up shop in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union to try to make money off of Russia’s new IMF-imposed economy.

According to Browder’s account, he was the head of Hermitage Capital Management, which he called “the largest investment firm in Russia.” Browder alleged that in 2007 his office was raided by two Russian policemen named Artyom Kuznetsov and Pavel Karpov who seized documents that were “used to fraudulently re-register the ownership of our investment holding companies as well as to create $1 billion of fake tax liabilities”.

He alleged that “the corrupt officials used their new “ownership” of our companies and the fake liabilities to fraudulently reclaim $230 million of taxes we paid in the previous year”.

He claimed that he then “hired Sergei Magnitsky, then a 35-year-old tax lawyer, to investigate”.

According to Browder’s story “he helped us file criminal complaints against the police officers involved in the raids with a different branch of Russian law enforcement and was so brave that he even testified against them.” And in retaliation “was arrested by two of the same Interior Ministry officers against whom he had testified”.

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Yemen: US Airstrikes Kill 31, Including Women and Children

A major round of US airstrikes that hit Yemen on Saturday killed at least 31 people, mostly women and children, Yemen’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Another 101 were wounded by the US bombing, and the Health Ministry said all the casualties were civilians, while the US is claiming it killed “multiple” leaders of Yemen’s Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah.

A total of 40 US airstrikes were reported to hit Yemen, primarily focusing on the northern Saada governorate. Strikes also hit the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the governorates of Taiz, Ibb, Dhamar, Al Bayda, Marib, and Hajjah. Targets that were reported hit included power stations, residential areas and homes, and Houthi military sites. The strikes marked the first time the US bombed Yemen under the new Trump administration.

President Trump announced the start of the bombing campaign on Saturday and said the Houthis must stop their attacks on shipping and US warships. However, Ansar Allah hasn’t targeted any ships in months since it ceased attacks once a ceasefire deal was reached in Gaza back in January.

Last week, the Houthis announced that the blockade on Israeli ships was coming back into effect in response to Israel cutting off all aid shipments in Gaza, a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal, but the group hasn’t launched any attacks since then. The Houthis did recently shoot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone that was flying over Yemen or near its coast.

“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” President Trump said on Truth Social.

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US & Israel Ask East African Countries To Resettle Palestinians

The United States and Israel have asked three East African governments to accept forcibly displaced Palestinians from Gaza, according to US and Israeli officials who spoke to The Associated Press (AP).

On Friday, AP reported that the US and Israel began discussing the forced displacement of Palestinians last month with the governments of Sudan, Somalia and its breakaway region Somaliland.

This comes after US President Donald Trump suggested in February that the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip and expel Palestinians. His declaration prompted Egypt to draft an alternative plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, which has since been adopted by Arab leaders.

The $53bn Egyptian plan rejects the displacement of Palestinians and instead focuses on redeveloping the enclave without depopulating it. 

Earlier this week, Trump appeared to signal a retreat from the proposed mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. When asked about it during a meeting in the White House with Irish leader Micheal Martin, he said: “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza.”

However, AP’s report suggests that the US may have responded to the rejection of its displacement plan by Arab governments last month by looking further afield.

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