Tag: perpetual war

Trump Backpedals On Controversial Plan: ‘No One Is Expelling Anyone From Gaza’

President Trump in a Wednesday press conference while hosting Irish prime minister Micheál Martin at the White House appeared to backpedal on his plan to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” by expelling all Palestinian inhabitants. 

Trump told reporters “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians” in response to a question on whether he still stands by his ultra-provocative remarks which were tantamount to calling for ethnic cleansing of the enclave.

“We’re working hard with Israel… to see [how] we can solve the problem,” Trump explained. 

The fresh remarks stand in stark contrast with his earlier February words spoken alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he said, “The US will take over the Gaza Strip… I see it as a long-term ownership position.” He had explained that Palestinians in Gaza would have to leave and be resettled elsewhere.

In the Wednesday back-and-forth with reporters he actually again called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian” and then quipped “He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore.”

The White House position on Gazans being expelled to other countries is based on the prior explanation that “Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance,” in the earlier words of US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.

But even many Republicans see the plan as completely unrealistic and absurd, given that for starters it would ensure years more of brutal war, and the likelihood that conflict would spiral over into other Arab countries.

Removal of the debris which has piled up in the demolished Strip could take years or even decades…

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EU Accuses Trump of ‘Blackmailing’ Zelensky!

Yesterday’s pacifists are today’s Rambos, it seems: 442 lawmakers in the 720-seat European Parliament just agreed to a joint declaration that “strongly deplores any attempts at blackmailing Ukraine’s leadership into surrender to the Russian aggressor for the sole purpose of announcing a so-called ‘peace deal.’”

It passed via landslide: 61%.

Not all EU politicians supported the measure:

Melonian Nicola Procaccini, co-chair of the Conservatives (ECR), had tried to delay the vote arguing that a strong stance by the chamber would risk undermining the delicate ongoing discussion between the United States and Russia on the conditions of the ceasefire that were agreed yesterday in Jeddah — on which the Kremlin has yet to officially comment — casting a negative light on the efforts of the star-studded administration.

But the parliament rejected his request, and thus the joint resolution submitted by EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew and Greens (which followed a debate last February) passed with 442 votes in favor, 98 against and 126 abstentions.

Which means, less than 14% of our “friends” in the EU had the testicular fortitude to oppose this brazenly anti-American statement. Thanks, guys.

But perhaps we’re being unfair. Perhaps the EU genuinely, sincerely opposes browbeating a democratic nation — especially one that was just invaded and attacked! — into accepting a permanent, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire. Perhaps this isn’t another example of our European “friends” acting selfishly and cowardly, but a heartfelt moral position.

Nah:

Fun Fact: Just one year ago, this is the same European Parliament that demanded Israel commit to a ceasefire in Gaza!

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Moral Bankruptcy: Justifying the Ukraine War as Good for the US Economy

Supporters of the U.S.-NATO proxy war in Ukraine employ a range of dubious justifications.  One is a refurbished version of the old domino theory used during the Cold War – if the United States and its allies don’t help Ukraine expel Russian occupation forces, the victorious Kremlin will then launch offensives against other European countries and eventually dominate the Continent. Another popular rationale is that what might appear to be a mundane struggle between two authoritarian regimes is actually an existential conflict between democracy and autocracy, with Ukraine representing the former and Russia the latter.

Both cases are fallacious. The neo-domino theory wildly overrates Russia’s geostrategic prowess. A military that has encountered trouble subduing Ukraine poses no credible threat to larger, more powerful potential adversaries, such as France, Germany, and Great Britain, or even smaller powers such as Poland, Italy, or Turkey. Likewise, the attempt to portray the fighting in Ukraine as a crucial struggle between democracy and authoritarianism falls flat. Ukraine is not a democracy, even if the most expansive, generous definition is used.

Still another frequent argument that American proponents of backing Ukraine use is that sending arms to Kyiv is good for the U.S. economy, not a multi-billion dollar financial drain on taxpayers.  Officials in Joe Biden’s administration, including the president himself, increasingly resorted to that justification as domestic discontent mounted regarding Washington’s Ukraine policy. Administration policymakers proudly insisted that most of the aid money ended up remaining in the United States.

During a February 20, 2024, speech at a new General Dynamics factory outside Dallas Texas, Biden made the alleged “economic benefits” argument explicitly. A supplemental spending measure pending in Congress at the time contained a total of $95 billion in foreign aid, including money for Ukraine, Israel, and other countries. Of the $60.7 billion for Ukraine, $38.8 billion would go to U.S. factories that made missiles, munitions and other gear. “While this bill sends military equipment to Ukraine,” Biden emphasized, “it spends the money right here in the United States of America in places like Arizona, where the Patriot missiles are built; and Alabama, where the Javelin missiles are built; and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas, where artillery shells are made.”

Republican pro-Ukraine hawks embraced similar “logic” about why billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine were not only necessary from the standpoint of U.S. foreign policy, but also beneficial to the U.S. economy.  Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “repeatedly implored his colleagues to understand that the funds from the package are for historic investments “’right here in America.’”

“This is about rebuilding the arsenal of democracy,” McConnell said in a floor speech during the long days of debate, “and demonstrating to our allies and adversaries alike that we’re serious about exercising American strength.”

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Canada’s Navy Sails With US Ships as Trump Talks Annexation

As Donald Trump seeks to cripple Canada economically to pursue annexation, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is assisting the US bid to stoke war with China. With far-right Trump supporters calling for the US to invade, Canada continues to assist US belligerence in Asia.

Last month HMCS Ottawa transited through the Taiwan Strait with a US warship. It was the first non-US warship to make the provocative move in 2025. A Chinese Navy commander claimed Canada’s actions “deliberately disturbed the situation and undermined the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”

It’s the sixth time an RCN vessel has transited through the waterway since Canada released its Indo Pacific Strategy in November 2022. The Indo Pacific Strategy calls on Canada to augment the regular number of warships in east Asia from one to three vessels.

A few days before traversing the Taiwan Strait HMCS Ottawa participated in a joint exercise with US and Filipino ships in the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone. They said it “underscores our shared commitments to upholding the right to freedom of navigation…as well as respect for maritime rights under international law as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

A month ago the Associated Press reported that Ottawa and Manila are in the final stages of negotiating a defense pact to boost joint military exercises. Canada’s ambassador in the Philippines David Hartman said the agreement “will enable us to have even more substantive participation in joint and multilateral training exercises and operations with the Philippines and allies here in the region.”

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Once Again, Zelensky Shows He’s Not Serious – Says Ukraine Will Not Recognize ANY Territory Occupied by Russia

Once again, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proved on Tuesday that he is the obstacle to peace for Ukraine and Russia.

Zelensky said he would agree to a ceasefire but he would NEVER ceed territory to Russia.

Someone needs to tell him, he’s not the one holding the cards right now.

When you lose a war, have marched hundreds of thousands of young men to their death, and have lost battle after battle to the opposing forces, you don’t get to call the shots.

President Zelensky: As far as red lines, I as president, and Ukrainians as citizens of their country, will not violate their constitution. And will accept our sovereignty and independence. Protecting people and our land. It’s not easy for us to accept fighting such an enemy. This is understandable. But today we are fighting for our independence. Therefore we will not recognize any occupied territories by the Russian Federation.

This is a fact. Our people fought for it. Our heroes died for it. How many wounded. How much has passed. That’s why no one will forget about it. And when I say no one will forget about it, this is the most important red line. We will not let anyone forget about this crime against Ukraine.

Here is another translation from a different source.

President Zelensky: We don’t accept any occupation of Russia. We don’t accept. It’s a fact. Our people were killed for it. Our heroes were killed. How many of my country, will not violate their Constitution, but will defend our sovereignty, our independence, protecting our people and our land.

It’s not easy to fight such an enemy, that’s clear, but today we are fighting for our independence, and therefore, to recognize any occupied territory of the Russian were killed? How many of them were killed? So no one will ever forget about it. When I say no one will ever forget about it, it’s not going to be. This is the main point. We will not let anyone forget this crime against Ukraine.

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800 billion euros of delusional promises

Von der Leyen has accustomed us to her grandstanding nihilism and disconnection from reality. Listening to her, one might sometimes get the impression that she sees herself as a kind of a god of creation, capable of transforming everything into matter with the mere power of her words. But of course, this is not true! The Russian economy has not collapsed in “tatters”; in fact, it has shown remarkable resilience, with wages growing at their highest rate in 16 years (a 21.6% increase compared to March of last year, and an 11.3% real growth after inflation—a dream for any Portuguese citizen), with the average wage expected to reach $1,113 by 2025, while everything remains cheaper than in any EU country.

It is also not true that the Russians have been stripping semiconductors from washing machines, nor is it true that the G7 has blocked Russian oil exports with their oil caps. In fact, Russia has never exported as much oil as it does today. The broker Ursula von der Leyen was also wrong when she claimed that the U.S. had the cheapest LNG—why would Trump want to lower prices now?—urging European countries to buy more shale gas, in violation of the European corporate sustainability directive, which requires suppliers to comply with environmental sustainability rules. As is well known, shale gas is extracted through fracking, a method highly damaging to the environment and banned in the EU. It seems that for the unelected president of the European Commission, directives are applied according to her whims.

But the latest delusion from the European Commission president is the announcement of a “massive boost”—as she loves these Americanized propaganda slogans with supposed creative power—to European military spending, which has already been increasing over time, but now she proposes to raise it by an additional 840 billion euros. It’s worth noting that she was Germany’s Defense Minister, during the scandal involving the sale of Trident submarines to Portugal, a deal that led to the imprisonment of several intermediaries. During that time too, von der Leyen, when investigated about several businesses, said that she lost the cellphone which helped her avoid jail. Similarly, during her time at the European Commission, she was involved in the vaccine procurement scandal. Certain character traits never disappear, and it’s a pity that these are the traits that determine who gets chosen for such positions. To our detriment.

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Western media trying to explain Ukraine’s failure in Kursk

Western media seems desperate to explain the failure of the Ukrainian army in Kursk. For months, Western propaganda claimed that the Kursk front was an important Ukrainian military achievement, which was supposedly vital to strengthening Kiev’s position at the negotiating table. Now, however, reality has made it clear that, after intense hostilities, the neo-Nazi regime is suffering a devastating defeat in the region, which refutes the media narratives.

In recent days, Ukrainian troops participating in the invasion of the Russian Kursk region have found themselves in a very difficult situation. Russian advances on the ground have left the enemy besieged, with a large number of casualties and surrenders. It seems only a matter of time before Kiev is forced to withdraw completely from the internationally recognized Russian territory, which shows the absolute failure of the neo-Nazi incursion into the region.

For those who have been following the Kursk news since the beginning of the invasion, this does not seem surprising. The Ukrainian military operation was poorly planned, with technical and logistical errors that prevented the incursion from being successful. The Russians have maintained an overwhelming advantage on this front since the beginning of the battle, and it was fully expected that the Ukrainian efforts would collapse at some point.

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Jewish torture: Urinating on Palestinian prisoners, burying them alive and beating the sick

Israeli jailers would wrap Palestinian prisoners in shrouds and bury them alive.

As they began to suffocate, just before death took hold, a small amount of air was allowed in to keep them alive, only for the process to be repeated moments later.

This is one of many accounts of torture inflicted on Palestinian detainees by Israeli authorities.

Following the recent Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange, hundreds of detainees have been released, and similar harrowing testimonies have emerged.

Mahmoud Ismail Abukhater, 41, was at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza when an Israeli military quadcopter hovered overhead, broadcasting a voice ordering “people of the neighbourhood to surrender,” on 20 October 2024.

“They fired bullets at houses and balconies and bombed homes nearby as they broadcast those messages to terrorise us. That’s when they detained us,” he recalled.

Abukhater said the torture began the moment they were detained and continued until the very last moment before their release.

“They treated us like animals, not humans,” he said.

Before being transferred to prison, the prisoners were taken to a place that resembled a cattle farm in Gaza, he explained.

There, they were forced to endure the freezing night, wearing only boxers and the thin white clothes they were given.

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Will Zelensky Make It To Lunch This Time?

Ukraine has agreed to the terms of a 30 day ceasefire, and President Trump has invited Volodymyr Zelensky back to the White House.

The development comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia this week, engaging in several hours of negotiations

“Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” the U.S. and Ukraine said in a joint statement released by the State Department.

The U.S. will also “immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.”

“The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” the statement added.

In comments to the media, President Trump said he expects to speak to Vladimir Putin later this week and hopes Moscow will also agree to the terms.

“Ceasefire… Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it,” Trump said, adding he expects it to take effect “over the next few days” but that it “takes two to tango,” referring to Putin.

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Negotiating a Lasting Peace in Ukraine

There should be little doubt about how a lasting peace can be established in Ukraine. In April 2022, Russia and Ukraine were on the verge of signing a peace agreement in Istanbul, with the Turkish Government acting as mediator. The U.S. and U.K. talked Ukraine out of signing the agreement, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have since died or been seriously injured. Yet the framework of the Istanbul Process still provides the basis of peace today.

The draft peace agreement (dated April 15, 2022) and the Istanbul Communique (dated March 29, 2022) on which it was based, offered a sensible and straightforward way to end the conflict. It’s true that three years after Ukraine broke off the negotiations, during which time Ukraine has incurred major losses, Ukraine will eventually cede more territory than it would have in April 2022 — yet it will gain the essentials: sovereignty, international security arrangements, and peace.

In the 2022 negotiations, the agreed issues were Ukraine’s permanent neutrality and international security guarantees for Ukraine. The final disposition of the contested territories was to be decided over time, based on negotiations between the parties, during which both sides committed to refrain from using force to change boundaries. Given the current realities, Ukraine will cede Crimea and parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, reflecting the battlefield outcomes of the past three years.

Such an agreement can be signed almost immediately and in fact is likely to be signed in the coming months. As the U.S. is no longer going to underwrite the war, in which Ukraine would suffer yet more casualties, destruction, and loss of territory, Zelensky is recognizing that it’s time to negotiate. In his address to Congress, President Donald Trump quoted Zelensky as saying “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”

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