Tag: perpetual war

Major VA study to examine effectiveness of psilocybin on depression, PTSD

The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching research to determine whether psilocybin — the psychoactive ingredient in “magic mushrooms” — can be used safely and effectively to address veterans’ treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The trial, known as the Psilocybin Intervention for Veterans Overcoming Treatment-Resistant Depression,” or PIVOT, study aims to include at least 240 veterans, all of whom have difficult-to-treat major depressive disorder and some who also have PTSD.

The study will take place at five VA medical centers through June 2031 and will assess patients’ levels of depression before and after treatment, side effects and overall response among participants.

“Far too many veterans are living with mental health conditions that don’t respond to available treatments,” VA Secretary Doug Collinssaid in a statement. “Under President [Donald] Trump, VA is pursuing all avenues to evaluate new treatments and offer meaningful relief for those who have worn the uniform. This clinical trial reflects another step toward this goal.”

Last month, researchers with Ohio State University’s Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education published the findings of a small, 12-person study on the safety of using psilocybin to treat severe PTSD in veterans.

After receiving eight hours of psychotherapy and two doses of synthetic psilocybin and integrative therapy, nine participants, or 75%, no longer met the clinical criteria for having PTSD.

According to the research, published July 30 in Communications Medicine, participants showed no serious adverse effects, including suicidal ideation or behavior. Non-serious side effects included headache, anxiety and dizziness.

“For a population with severe treatment-resistant PTSD, these results are striking,” said Stacey Armstrong, associate director and senior researcher at the center.

The PIVOT study will involve veterans with major depressive disorder who have not responded to current treatments, including those with or without a diagnosis of PTSD. In the double-blind, randomized trial, veterans will receive one dose of psilocybin or a placebo, along with therapeutic support. They will receive a second dose one month later, also with support, and will be evaluated two to four weeks following each session.

They also will receive follow-up six months after their participation.

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End Nuclear Proliferation: A Call To Make The Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing ‘Disarmament Day’

At 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, the morning rush had begun in Hiroshima. Streetcars rattled through the city, office workers settled at their desks and children prepared for another day of school. Then, in an instant, a blinding flash brighter than the sun engulfed the city.

A U.S. B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, had dropped the world’s first atomic bomb used in war. Tens of thousands died within moments as a mushroom cloud climbed into the sky. By the end of 1945, an estimated 140,000 people had died from the blast, burns and radiation.

Among those who witnessed the bombing was Tameto Uemori, a member of a suburban guard unit sent the following day to help victims at the center of the devastation. In his 40s at the time, Uemori witnessed the detonation from miles away, but the next day began searching through the ruins for members of his family. Along the way, he tried desperately to help the wounded. Everywhere he looked were scenes almost beyond imagination: people burned beyond recognition, victims crying out for water and entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes.

Flies and maggots had begun to infest the remains of those who perished, Uemori recalled in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press at the age of 88. He eventually discovered that members of his own family had died in the bombing, including his younger brother. “It was a hot summer day,” he told AP. “So I used a parasol — and the flies came under to escape the sun.”

The memories never left him.

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Fresh Panic As Pentagon Has Used ‘Virtually All’ Its Long-Range Precision Missiles On Iran

US forces “used up virtually all” of their precision, long-range missiles during the course of the Iran war, and during the earlier heavy US-Israeli campaign of Operation Epic Fury, Reutersreported Tuesday.

This has raised serious “concerns about the military’s ​readiness for future conflicts,” informed sources told the outlet. In particular it is the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) which are said to be running critically low.

“Washington has used virtually all of these weapons,” two sources told Reuters, after several media reports and think tank studies had already sounded the alarm over dwindling missiles amid both the Iran war and in the years-long process of supplying Ukraine. Low Patriot defense missile supplies have also been a persisting issue in the headlines.

They are costly and time-consuming in terms of manufacturing replacements. For example a single ATACMS munition costs about $1 million.

One immediate consequence could be that if heavy bombardment of Iran starts up again, the US would have to conduct riskier piloted aerial bombings – instead relying on longer range precision strikes afforded by the land-based systems at safer distances.

And another, somewhat obvious consequence, is highlighted in the following: “But as ​the war drags on, the three people familiar with the matter expressed worry that the falling missile supplies could limit the U.S. ability to deter adversaries, including Russia and China.”

The report added: “A fourth person ⁠familiar with the matter said that while Central Command — which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East — has nearly used up the land-based missiles it had before the war began, it has been able to reload from U.S. military supplies elsewhere in the ​world.”

President Trump has of late responded to these now widespread reports of badly depleted advanced munitions, explaining that “Our defense companies are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before, ​in addition to expanding their plants and equipment at record levels.”

Additionally,  Secretary of War Pete Hegseth took to social media to refute the report, calling it false news.

“That banner is NOT TRUE, CNN. Shame on you,” the Pentagon chief said in a post on X. “We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.”

Hegseth was specifically referring to a CNN on-screen banner that read: “Sources: U.S. has used nearly 80% of key missile interceptors in Iran war, top commanders warn stockpiles dangerously low.”

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The Rulers of the Nuclear Powers Are Slow Learners

Although 81 years have passed since the atomic bombing of Japan in August 1945, the rulers of major nations continue their reckless march toward a nuclear holocaust.

The nine nuclear powers (the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea), possessing some 12,100 nuclear warheads, are all busily upgrading and expanding their nuclear weapons arsenals at an accelerating pace.  Nuclear weapons spending rose to an all-time high of $119 billion in 2025 – a 19 percent increase over the preceding year.  The U.S. government alone, which accounted for more than half of this spending, is embarked on a $1.7 trillion, decades-long nuclear weapons buildup.

As the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has observed, “this overwhelming spending on nuclear weapons shows a willingness to research, develop, finance and build tools to exterminate humanity.”

Moreover, international nuclear arms control and disarmament agreements among the nuclear powers have collapsed.  Russia and the United States own 86 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons and, although they signed numerous treaties in the past to limit or reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals, the last of these treaties, New START, expired this February.

The accelerating nuclear arms race is accompanied by repeated threats of nuclear war.  Russian officials are particularly notorious in this connection.  According to the Voice of America, from early 2022 to late 2024 Russian officials publicly issued 135 nuclear threats, with 27 of them coming from Vladimir Putin.  But America’s Donald Trump has also publicly and repeatedly threatened other countries with nuclear destruction, as has North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Early this year, the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, assessing this deteriorating situation, moved the hands of their famous “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds to midnight, the most dangerous setting in its history.

Of course, there have been a great many warnings that nuclear weapons portend global disaster, including many beginning right after the shocking annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  “Seldom, if ever,” reported CBS radio commentator Edward R. Murrow, “has war ended leaving the victors… with such a realization that… survival is not assured.”  The Chicago Tribune warned that a future atomic war would leave the world “a barren waste, in which the survivors… will hide in caves.”  In France, the resistance leader Albert Camus declared that the modern world had “reached the last degree of savagery,” in which nations were faced with the prospect of “collective suicide.”

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Explosive-Armed Drone Intercepted at German Airport: Cargo Jet Struck In-Flight Moments Later

German security services are urgently investigating a series of apparently related incidents at Leipzig airport, including an armed explosive drone and a potential second drone striking a cargo jet mid-air, with Russia considered a potential suspect.

Leipzig-Halle Airport was closed to air traffic, and incoming flights were diverted overnight into Wednesday after what transpired to be a military-grade explosives-armed drone was found by chance and brought down by hand by a have-a-go hero. The potential for the airport having narrowly avoided a potential multi-vector attack became clear as the drone was found flying low on the airport grounds, a second presumed drone collided with a cargo plane flying nearby, and an “object” was found on the runway, all in rapid succession.

Germany’s Zeit newspaper reports an extraordinary situation in which, according to sources at Leipzig airport, a bus driver taking a group of tourists who had paid for an airport-by-night experience around the runways spotted a quadcopter-type drone hovering at low altitude. The man is reported to have pulled the bus over and physically restrained the drone by hand, pinning it to the ground with his own body weight while calling in the discovery to authorities.

The appearance of a drone at the airport, as allegedly discovered by chance by the bus driver, triggered a full alert that saw all aircraft on approach diverted to their backup airports. Per a sperate report in Die Welt, it was at this time that a DHL cargo jet, on approach to Leipzig-Halle, pulled out of its descent to divert and was then struck head-on by a second flying object.

The damage to the nosecone of the jet was relatively minimal, and the DHL plane was able to land safely elsewhere. The remains of what it struck have yet to be found on the ground, but it is stated that police are considering the possibility that the aircraft was hit by a second drone.

Shortly after, a third incident was recorded as an “object” — and police have not yet stated what it was — was discovered on the southern runway at Leipzig. The Welt report notes that, given the airport is a secure state with no public access to the runways, a working hypothesis among investigators is that this mysterious “object” on the runway may have been air-dropped by a drone.

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Zelensky Pushing For WWIII

The September Duma Elections – Will Putin Face Pressure to Escalate or Moderate?

One of the greatest mistakes analysts make is assuming that international events are driven solely by the decisions of a single leader. They personalize history, reducing complex geopolitical developments to one individual. Netanyahu did that assassinating the Ayatollah assuming instant victory. The world is far more complicated. Political leaders are often reacting to internal pressures that are invisible to outside observers.

The upcoming State Duma elections deserve attention not because they are likely to determine who governs Russia immediately, but because they may reveal how much political room President Vladimir Putin has to maneuver as the war and the broader confrontation with the West continue.

The Western Miscalculation

Since 2022, much of the Western narrative has assumed that economic sanctions would rapidly undermine Putin’s domestic support and eventually force either a change in policy or a change in leadership. This is the standard Neocon playbook which has NEVER worked even once. But they simply feel better punishing someone they hate. That Neocon forecast has repeatedly underestimated Russia’s ability to adapt economically while overestimating the willingness of the Russian political establishment to fragment during an external confrontation. Their sanctions against Iran were first imposed in 1979, triggered by the Iran hostage crisis . This initial action has been followed by several significant expansions over the decades, creating a layered and complex sanctions regime  that has not been successful. The U.S. sanctions on Cuba were imposed in a series of steps, beginning in 1960 and culminating in a comprehensive embargo in February 1962. They are still in place 66 years later proving sanctions make Neocons feel good and powerful but fail to topple governments or achieve goals.

History teaches that sanctions do not produce the political outcome intended by those imposing them. More often they strengthen nationalist sentiment by allowing governments to portray outside pressure as an attack on the nation rather than on the ruling administration. This often strengthens the government they seek to overthrow.

Elections in every country, even where the outcome is largely expected, serve as an important measure of elite cohesion and public confidence. This is often why those in power seek to rig elections to retain power.

There are signs that Ukraine’s deep strikes inside Russia are creating pressure and dilemmas for the Kremlin. However, there is no direct evidence that this has led to explicit calls from Russian hawks for tactical nuclear weapons just yet. Replace Putin, and this can become nuclear faster than anyone realizes. Nuking Kiev would probably save the world not unlike the US did to Japan. It would be a demonstration to the EU that they better think twice about trying to destroy Russia.

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How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon & Bae Systems Are Propagandizing Children To Support War Through Stem

Raytheon sponsors the Girl Scouts of America. BAE Systems is reading your toddlers their favorite fairytale stories. And Lockheed Martin funds children’s math and STEM festivals. This is done with great fanfare, supposedly to empower and inspire children to pursue their passion for science. In reality, though, these companies are attempting to launder their images and enlist the next generation to become cogs in the military-industrial complex.

All the while, these organizations’ products are being used across the world by the United States and Israel to commit war crimes – in Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond – to target children.

MintPress explores the murky world of the arms companies training kids to bomb kids.

Normalizing War to Kids

When many Americans think of Raytheon (now officially rebranded as RTX Corporation), they don’t envisage rockets and cruise missiles; they think of math. For decades, the second-largest arms manufacturer on the planet has bankrolled a wide range of organizations aimed at getting children excited about STEM subjects.

Since 2009, Raytheon has been the title sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs for middle school students in every U.S. state, as well as organizing math competitions to find the brightest children in America.

In 2005, Raytheon launched its MathMovesU program, aimed, in its own words, “to inspire middle school students to get excited about math and science.” In addition to the materials provided, it has also spent millions on scholarships, grants, and study awards to thousands of students, teachers, and volunteers.

And its MathAlive! traveling exhibit promises, in rather outdated branding, to take math “2theXtreme”. MathAlive! Has also traveled to several countries in West Asia, including Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – all of them among the biggest purchasers of Raytheon weapons technology.

The company also enjoys a longtime partnership with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). In 2017, for example, it launched the GSUSA’s first national computer science program and cyber challenge for middle and high school girls.“

The progress to diversify the STEM workforce needs to be accelerated… At a time when technology is transforming the way we live and work, we can – and should – show young women a clear path to taking an active role in this transformation,” said Thomas A. Kennedy, then-Raytheon CEO; “Working together, Raytheon and Girl Scouts will help girls build confidence to see themselves as the robotics engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals who will create a better tomorrow.”

Raytheon also spearheaded the GSUSA’s “Think Like a Programmer” project, which encourages girls to explore the world of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and developed many of the programming badges available to the scouts.

GSUSA appears proud of this relationship. Its website profiles one former scout who now works at Raytheon as a success story and a model to follow. The article includes a step-by-step guide and a list of tips for those wishing to follow in her footsteps.

Unsurprisingly, Raytheon also works closely with the U.S. military on these matters, establishing four new STEM “centers of innovation” with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., all near military bases.

While some might be surprised by the closeness of the relationship between a children’s organization and an arms manufacturer, it is worth remembering that the scouting movement was originally established by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, as a stepping stone towards boys joining the military. Baden-Powell was deeply concerned that English boys would not be physically fit enough to fight for their country in any upcoming wars, and designed an organization that would train them both physically and mentally to do so.

Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade was unimpressed by Raytheon’s attempts to improve their image and to train the next generation of weapons manufacturers. “Our view is that arms companies have no place in schools or colleges, and should certainly not be working with children’s educational charities,” she told MintPress, adding:

“Schools and other places of education should be places where children learn, grow and develop their full potential. They should not be a recruiting ground where arms companies whitewash their activities.”

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A Secret Cuban CIA Task Force?

Before I get into this, I just want to say that all of this is coming from anonymous sources. Neither the White House nor the CIA has commented on it, and I can’t independently confirm it. More often than not, anonymously sourced MSM articles on Venezuela and Cuba tend to be false or only have bits of truth sprinkled in, but I felt this topic was worth a mention as we watch the Donald Trump administration work toward a free Cuba. So, take them with a grain of salt. They may or may not be true, but here’s what Politico and the New York Times are reporting this week. 

First up, on Tuesday, Politico reported that the United States has increased its intelligence presence in Cuba in recent months. It claims that it could lead to actions “ranging from a U.S. military operation in Cuba to stepped up efforts to turn Cuban officials or ordinary citizens against the regime.” 

This came from two individuals “familiar with the situation.” Here’s more: 

One of the individuals said the U.S. has recently sent spies and assets to Cuba. The person declined to specify the scope of the increased intelligence collection effort or which U.S. agencies are involved because they didn’t want to risk giving details that could compromise operations. The U.S. has 18 offices and agencies that make up the intelligence community.

The second person described the move as increasing the CIA’s ‘presence’ recently but declined to specify timeframes or who was involved.

Both people were granted anonymity because the topic involves sensitive intelligence.

One person described the move “as a key tactical step that could pave the way for a U.S. military incursion,” but said that nothing is set in stone. The other said that Trump still prefers to work this situation through diplomatically.   

On Wednesday afternoon, the New York Times saw the Politico “increase intelligence presence story” and raised it to a “secret Cuba task force.”    

“The CIA has secretly established a Cuba task force, setting in motion plans for a more concerted campaign to pressure the Cuban government to make the economic, political and leadership changes demanded by President Trump,” the Times reports, according to “people briefed on the action.”

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Report: Ukraine IDs North Korean Missile Unit Active in Russian Invasion

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters in a report published on Wednesday that Russia had begun deploying a North Korean missile unit to its war theater against Ukraine, apparently exploiting potential vulnerabilities the invaded country has against ballistic missiles.

According to the report, the North Korean hardware is active in Russia’s Voronezh, which borders the occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, one of the two Donbas regions strongman Vladimir Putin “annexed” in the early months of the invasion. The official sharing the information, Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, said the new missile unit “could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine.” He estimated that about 90 North Korean troops are in Voronezh and are expected to help operate the newly arrived missile units.

North Korea has been an active belligerent in the Russian invasion of Ukraine since at least late 2024, when Ukrainian intelligence officials first began observing North Korean troops fighting alongside the Russians. That year, Putin visited Pyongyang for the first time in two decades and signed a “mutual defense treaty” with communist dictator Kim Jong-un, which preceded the Kim regime becoming a much more vocal supporter of the Russian invasion on the world stage and ultimately publicly confirming its participation in the war. Kim has claimed, however, that North Korean troops in Russia were there only to clear landmines placed by Ukrainians, contrary to evidence that Pyongyang has played a larger offensive role in the conflict.

Reuters noted that it could not independently verify the Ukrainian intelligence official’s claims or receive any meaningful response from Pyongyang or Moscow. Ukrainian media has documented the use of North Korean missiles against its targets in the past week, however. Cherniak stated that North Korean ballistic missiles, in particular, had been active against Ukraine since at least August 2025. North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles were allegedly used to bomb civilian residences in Ukraine last week.

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Before Hormuz, There Was Suez: What Trump Can Learn From Eisenhower

Oman and Iran appear close to a temporary arrangement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially providing both an exit from the current round of fighting and the foundation for a more durable maritime order. Washington should welcome such an agreement – even if it acknowledges a degree of Iranian authority in administering traffic through the strait – because US interest dictates that open and non-discriminatory passage must be given priority over control.

The emerging formula would reportedly divide responsibility for the shipping lanes. Vessels entering the Persian Gulf would travel through waters administered by Iran, while outbound traffic would pass through an Omani-administered route. Iran would be notified of departing vessels and, while this has not yet been discussed, Tehran appears open to also ensuring that Oman would be notified of incoming traffic. Tehran and Muscat may collect and share fees for specified security and environmental services, although this sensitive issue has not yet been settled. The negotiations remain fluid, and any agreement is reportedly linked to the lifting of the American blockade on Iranian ports.

The arrangement would represent a slight climbdown by Tehran. Iran’s earlier position would have required traffic in both directions to pass through some portion of Iranian waters as well as Omani waters. That would have brought even ships already inside the Persian Gulf under an Iranian-administered transit system. The emerging division of lanes would give Oman primary responsibility for outbound shipping and limit the universe of vessels requiring Iranian approval or coordination.

If successful – and if Washington accepts it – the agreement could help end the present fighting. It remains unclear whether that would restore the previous American-Iranian memorandum of understanding or require a new framework. Nor does it in and of itself move the needle on two other major stumbling blocks: Iran’s demand for a regional ceasefire and Washington’s demands on Iran’s nuclear activities.

The Trump administration will likely receive strong pushback from hawkish elements in Washington and Israel who will complain over the arrangement’s de facto acceptance and legitimization of Iran (and Oman’s) management of the Strait.

But this critique is borne out of a confusion of what the US’s actual core interest in the Strait is: The free and predictable flow of commerce or preventing the ability of a hostile power to assert control.

The Trump administration has increasingly framed the objective as preventing Iran from “controlling” the strait. Yet the central American interest in strategic waterways has historically been less about who administers them than about whether ships can pass through them freely, predictably and without discrimination. Preventing a hostile state from acquiring coercive leverage has generally been a means of preserving passage, not an end that supersedes passage itself.

That hierarchy of interests matters. If reopening the strait requires acknowledging that Iran possesses some capacity to regulate traffic in waters along its coast, Washington should not reject an agreement merely because it fails to preserve the appearance of unqualified American dominance.

The Suez crisis provides the clearest example. In 1956, Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal Company, displacing the British- and French-controlled corporation that had operated one of the world’s most important commercial arteries. Britain and France regarded nationalization not merely as an economic injury but as a strategic humiliation and, together with Israel, invaded Egypt.

President Dwight Eisenhower refused to support them. After rejecting the Anglo-French invasion, Eisenhower’s administration did not make restoration of British or international ownership a condition for accepting Egypt’s continued administration of the canal. Instead, Washington opposed the invasion and pressed for a diplomatic arrangement that would preserve international access. The applicable legal regime emphasized the canal’s free use by ships of all countries on equal terms, while leaving Egypt responsible for administering and defending the waterway.

Egyptian control was not the same as unrestricted Egyptian discretion. The distinction was crucial. Washington could accept Egyptian sovereignty over the canal while insisting that sovereignty be exercised within rules guaranteeing nondiscriminatory passage. The overriding American interest was not which flag flew over the canal authority, but whether the canal remained open under internationally accepted rules.

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