Tag: perpetual war

Decades-Old Iranian Jet Breached US Defenses, Struck Gulf Base in Early Phase of War — Reports

Iran’s early retaliatory strikes in the US-Israeli aggression caused significantly more damage to US military infrastructure than publicly acknowledged, with over 100 targets hit across bases in multiple Gulf countries, NBC News reported.

In the opening phase, an Iranian F-5 — a Cold War-era aircraft — penetrated air defenses and struck Camp Buehring in Kuwait, despite the presence of advanced US systems.

Facilities including hangars, runways, radar installations and command sites across Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE were damaged, with repair costs estimated in the billions.

When a decades-old jet can get through and land a hit, the image of untouchable “air dominance” starts to look a lot less convincing.

Keep reading

DEBUNKED: The Left Falsely Blames Trump for the Afghan Refugee Mess Created by Biden’s Disastrous Withdrawal

Left-wing media is once again scrambling to rewrite recent history—this time over Afghan refugees still stranded overseas after Joe Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During a recent segment, MSNOW attempted to frame President Donald Trump as “targeting” Afghan allies who assisted the United States during the war. 

The claim centers around reports that some Afghan nationals currently living in Qatar may be given relocation options outside the United States, including possible resettlement in other countries.

But the outrage narrative leaves out the most important facts.

First, these individuals were not universally promised permanent resettlement in the United States—certainly not under the Trump administration. 

The idea that every Afghan who assisted U.S. efforts was guaranteed entry into the U.S. is simply false. Immigration and refugee policy has always involved a structured vetting process, prioritization, and logistical constraints.

The current situation exists because of Biden’s 2021 withdrawal—an operation widely criticized across the political spectrum for its execution.

When the Taliban rapidly took over Afghanistan following Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces, thousands of Afghan allies were left in limbo. Many were relocated to temporary holding locations, including a former U.S. military base in Qatar. 

Years later, many remain there, waiting for final decisions on resettlement.

That is the context MSNOW conveniently ignored.

Instead, the segment leaned heavily on emotional framing, highlighting interpreters, special forces affiliates, and families—including hundreds of children—while suggesting the Trump administration is abandoning them. 

The reporting relied in part on claims from outlets like The New York Times, which often shape the initial narrative before it spreads across legacy media.

What is actually being discussed is policy—not abandonment.

Any proposal to relocate individuals to third countries is part of a broader effort to manage a complex backlog created by the rushed withdrawal. 

Keep reading

U.S. soldier involved in Maduro raid charged with betting on the operation

Federal authorities arrested and charged a U.S. special forces soldier who is accused of using classified information about the raid that removed Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro from office to make prediction market bets.

The soldier was identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke in a news release announcing the indictment.

Van Dyke “bet a total of approximately $33,034” on the Maduro operation on the prediction market platform Polymarket, federal authorities said. He ultimately made more than $409,000 as a result of the bets placed on the U.S. operation, an unsealed indictment alleges.

Authorities said he “participated in the planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro.”

“In total, Van Dyke made approximately 13 bets from Dec. 27, 2025, through the evening of Jan. 26,” the Justice Department said.

Van Dyke was charged with “unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.”

Just hours after the U.S. government apprehended Maduro and transported him aboard the USS Iwo Jima, a photograph of Van Dyke was taken and uploaded to his Google account, prosecutors alleged in the indictment.

The image showed Van Dyke on what appeared to be the deck of a ship at sea during sunrise, the indictment stated. In the photograph, he was wearing U.S. military fatigues and carrying a rifle with three others who were also wearing fatigues, the document said.

The image wasn’t included in the indictment and NBC News has not reviewed it.

An attorney for Van Dyke was not listed on the court docket, and no one answered cell phone numbers listed for him Thursday evening.

Keep reading

Trump Rules Out Use of Nuclear Weapons in Iran War

President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out using a nuclear weapon in the war with Iran.

He told reporters in the Oval Office that the United States has already greatly weakened the Islamic Republic with conventional weapons, declaring that “a nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”

PBS NewsHour correspondent Liz Landers asked the president whether nuclear weapons might be used in the war, which the president said was a “stupid” question. 

“Why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally and in a very conventional way decimated them without it?” Trump said. “I wouldn’t use it.”

Two days ago, Trump extended a two-week ceasefire with Tehran, calling the Iranian leadership “seriously fractured.” He also cited a request from Pakistan’s prime minister as another reason for extending the ceasefire. 

In an April 17 Truth Social post, Trump said that Iran had agreed to surrender enriched uranium buried by last summer’s strikes on an underground base. 

Keep reading

Trump Orders Navy to Destroy Iranian Boats Mining Strait of Hormuz, Reposted Column That Advocates More Killing

President Donald Trump warned Iran today that the U.S. Navy would destroy boats that are laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat comes after he announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire that was to end last night, as Pakistan attempted to persuade Iran to negotiate an end to the war. How well that effort can go is now open to question.

Multiple posts on X today reported that Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf, has resigned from Iran’s negotiating team, but an Iranian journalist called those reports “ridiculous.”

And Trump reposted on X a line from Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, who argues that the Iranians need a deal and Trump doesn’t. Trump must therefore kill anti-peace deal officials.

Who’s the Leader?

Trump took to Truth Social this morning to unbosom himself of another threat, as is his custom.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote:

There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine “sweepers” are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level! 

Trump followed that with another post about supposed infighting among Iranian officials over who is running the country, and a claim that the U.S. Navy has sealed the strait.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is!” Trump continued:

They just don’t know! The infighting is between the “Hardliners,” who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the “Moderates,” who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is “Sealed up Tight,” until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!

A report from U.S. Central Command appears to confirm Trump’s claim.

“U.S. forces have directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the U.S. blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM reported:

Over past 24 hours, media reports have alleged that several commercial ships evaded the blockade, citing M/V Hero II, M/V Hedy, and M/V Dorena as examples. These reports are inaccurate.

Hero II and Hedy did not sail past the blockade as part of a flotilla that “ferried” millions of barrels of oil to the market. In fact, the Iranian-flagged tankers are anchored in Chah Bahar, Iran, after being intercepted by U.S. forces earlier this week. Dorena has been under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade. 

On Tuesday, Trump claimed that the blockade had collapsed Iran’s economy, and that the nation was losing $500 million daily.

Keep reading

It’s an Underreported Story, But Also a Glaring National Security Issue

Artificial intelligence is the next frontier, and there’s a glaring national security matter that must be addressed. We also can’t kick this can down the road, which is a hallmark characteristic of Congress. Our enemies are engaged in what could become the 21st-century arms race. 

This issue sometimes leans into science fiction, but the entertainment has been excellent. The Terminator franchise and The Matrix both depict humanity’s destruction by artificial intelligence. For our purposes, Skynet nuking us is probably the closest to what could become reality, but right now, it’s about protecting this technology from our enemies. How do we do it when everyone here has the same foundation in this area? We cannot rely on the policy of détente here because of that. 

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) told Townhall, “From the race for nuclear capability to the space race, the United States has consistently led the world by incentivizing innovation and investing in key infrastructure to achieve dominance. At a time when peer adversaries like China or non-state actors can leverage AI for their own ends, it’s critical we apply that same approach to not just lead but win the AI race in the 21st century.”

No doubt, but Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said that legislative guardrails should be codified to ensure advancements are protected, and that we’ve got a long way to go.

“While the U.S. has made critical advances in AI, we still have a long way to go. I will continue to urge my colleagues to think years ahead as we work to remain the global leader in AI research and development, and that starts with ensuring a strong American AI tech stack,” Sen. Daines said. 

Keep reading

The Unseen War: How Weather Weapons and Engineered Scarcity Are Being Used to Control Nations and People

Introduction: The Weaponization of Rain, From Tehran to Your Backyard

I believe we are witnessing the final, gasping breaths of an empire that has turned its most advanced technologies against the very elements of life. Warfare is no longer just kinetic — it is environmental, biological, and psychological, waged on multiple subtle fronts. The alleged case of the Pentagon using advanced radar installations to steer precipitation away from Iran, creating a crippling drought, is not merely an attack on an ‘enemy nation.’ It is a chilling blueprint for a global assault on human abundance and freedom. This is the template being applied everywhere.

This isn’t just about Iran. It’s about you. The same principles of engineered scarcity — denying rain, blocking sunlight, contaminating soil — are being deployed domestically to destroy self-reliance and breed dependence. When rain itself becomes a weapon, the most fundamental gift of nature is violated. What we see in Iran reveals the brutal lengths to which this power structure will go to control populations through deprivation. It’s a warning klaxon for the entire world.

The Iranian Blueprint: Drought as a Weapon of War

The core claim is terrifying: that advanced radar installations were used to deprive Iran of rainfall, pushing the nation toward a near-unhabitable crisis. I see this as a deliberate act of environmental warfare. The technology to manipulate weather is not speculative; it is documented and operational. As I have stated in previous discussions, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) consists of hundreds of massive antennas that can function as one huge steerable antenna, capable of aiming millions of watts of extremely low frequency waves at a small patch of the atmosphere [1]. This concentrated energy can be ‘injected’ into an area and used to influence atmospheric conditions.

Why the sudden return of rains following the destruction of these installations is not a coincidence, but direct evidence of cause and effect. This reveals a terrifying new theater of war, where the environment itself becomes a battlefield. Author Elana Freeland describes how geoengineering is a profit-maker for disaster capitalists and a force-multiplier for the military, providing real full spectrum dominance not just of weather but of the entire biosphere [2]. The story of Iran’s drought shows the brutal lengths to which this power structure will go. It is a violation of the most fundamental gifts of nature, turning life-giving rain into a tool of subjugation.

The Globalist Playbook: Scarcity as a Tool for Control

My conviction is that the ultimate goal is not victory over a single nation, but control over all populations through engineered scarcity. The principle I see at work is simple and brutal: Abundance — free rain, sunlight, fertile soil — breeds independence. Scarcity breeds dependence and compliance. This is the core strategy of the globalist depopulation agenda. As I detailed previously, globalists are now shifting into their ‘kill phase’ of human extermination, openly abandoning previous strategies to hide their true intentions [3]. They talk about cutting off energy supplies and causing food shortages to starve people to death.

This explains domestic policies designed to destroy self-reliance. From outlawing rainwater collection to shutting down energy infrastructure under false climate narratives, the assault on abundance is systematic. Carbon dioxide is actually good for plants and is used in photosynthesis, yet the climate change narrative has been used to crush domestic energy production. The goal is to make you dependent on centralized systems for water, food, and energy — systems they control and can weaponize. This is not an isolated tactic; it’s part of a coordinated ‘pinch’ against humanity.

Keep reading

For US Commentators on Iran, Mass Murder Is Magic

In the wake of the temporary US/Iran ceasefire, hawkish commentary in leading American newspapers advanced the premise that the US can dictate terms to Iran in negotiations, with a faith in the power of Washington’s military might that was hard to justify by the previous course of the war.

A Washington Post editorial (4/8/26) contended:

Despite the massive damage inflicted upon the country by the US in recent weeks, the regime acts like it holds the cards. Its leaders are demanding the US pull all troops out of the Middle East and accept Iran’s right to pursue nuclear weapons. The question is why Trump would bend over backward to keep obviously unserious talks on track.

Whether the Post likes it or not, Iran has a decent hand to play. For instance, Iranian drones cost just $20,000 to produce, and the US uses missiles that cost $4 million each to try and destroy them (Bloomberg, 3/2/26). Less than three weeks into the war, the US was already estimated to have spent more than $18 billion attacking Iran (Guardian, 3/19/26). The longer Iran can hold out, the more it financially bleeds the US.

The majority of Americans already consistently oppose the war (NBC News, 4/1/26) and, as costs spiral, domestic opposition to the US’s assault is likely to grow. In this context, the paper may need to revise its definition of seriousness to include accepting that Iran has the power to resist US bullying and bluster.

Keep reading

Lebanon’s Recurring Nightmare

Once upon a time there was a magical little country named Lebanon. It was created by French imperialists out of the post-World War 1 wreckage of the Ottoman Empire as a mountainous stronghold for Levantine Maronite and Orthodox Christians.

Imperial Russia sought to assert its influence as defender of Lebanon’s Christians. The British and French thwarted Russia’s efforts and created two new states, Syria and Jordan. After the war, Israel was created by Britain. Some 750,000 Arabs who had been living in what was known as Palestine and Syria were driven from their homes by Jewish settlers. The Levant’s map was redrawn. What was to have been an Arab state was annexed by an expanding Israel and British-influenced Jordan, with little Lebanon sitting amid the geopolitical leftovers. Sixty percent of Jordan’s population was Palestinian. Nearly 60% of Lebanon’s population was Sunni and Shiite Muslim. The rest was Orthodox, Catholic, Druze and Armenian.

In 1975 I landed in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, just in time for the first day of the 15 year long civil war that tore that nation apart and killed up to 200,000. All the pressures and hatreds that had been building up across multiethnic Lebanon exploded into one of the ugliest, most sadistic conflicts I had seen as a long-time war correspondent.

Women and children and unarmed men were routinely massacred. Rape, which was rare in the Muslim world, was used to punish Muslims. Torture of all sorts was a daily horror. Maronite Christians became crazed killers. One former business associate, who owned a chain of successful perfume shops, turned into the knife-wielding chief of the Maronite-Phalangist combat group. He boasted to me about the many Muslims he had killed. He offered to show me his collection of Muslim ears. This from a Paris-educated gentleman who had just previously been selling Chanel perfume.

Muslims battled Maronites; Druze fought Shiites; Armenians fought Muslims; Sunnis battled Druzes. It became a madhouse of slaughter and hatred, and then Israel invaded. Israel’s plan – as it is today – to annex parts of southern Lebanon. I was with the Israeli Army when it attacked the key town of Nabatiyeh. Its Shia citizens were celebrating their high Day of Ashura as Israeli mechanized troops burst through the worshippers spraying them with gunfire.

Until then, the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah had been cooperating with Israel. Now, they began firing at their former allies. Before long, Israel’s all-powerful information machine and its US allies branded the Shia movement ‘terrorist.’ Hezbollah became Israel’s enemy number one – where it remains today even after Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leadership.

Into this maelstrom charged the Reagan administration. 220 Marines and 18 American sailors stationed at the Beirut Embassy were killed by a large truck bomb. They had no business being in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war.

Keep reading

The Teenage Bully Boy Who Got the War Toys

Here he goes again. The phony “cease fire” is expiring Wednesday. So the Donald is back on the keyboard promising to obliterate what remains of Iran if the mullahs (or whoever) don’t raise the white flag of surrender forthwith.

Yet in the unhinged outpouring of crude bellicosity below we get the sum and substance of why the War Capital of the World on the Potomac has metastasized into a Trumpian clown show of bombast, misanthropy and farce.

We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

Self-evidently, the Donald is an incompetent teenage bully-boy who never grew up. And, yes, it’s possible – albeit remotely so – that such an unsuited aspirant as Donald J. Trump could be mistakenly elected President fair and square by American democracy – even twice.

But what such a freakishly accidental man-boy should not have is the unilateral, open-ended capacity to play video games with a $1 trillion War Machine; and one that is capable of inflicting monumental violence and death anywhere along the length and breadth of the planet upon the whim of the POTUS.

What we mean is this: A proper $300 billion DOD “defense” budget (as opposed to the current $1 trillion “war” budget and the even more absurd $1.5 trillion proposed Trump DOD budget)) would provide for an invincible nuclear deterrent and Fortress America shield of protection for America’s coast lines and airspace. But it would not endow the POTUS – neither a competent one like Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush Sr. nor a narcissistic madman like Trump – with the capacity to rain missiles and bombs from the sky against the bridges, power plants, apartment buildings, hospitals and elementary schools of any foreign country that posed no threat to America’s Homeland Security.

That’s because, for example, he would have not have $85 billion per year worth of 11 carrier battle groups, whose only function is to wage unnecessary wars of invasion, occupation and kinetic intimidation. Nor would he have –

  • 800 foreign bases from which to launch cruise missiles, bombers, drones and other weapons of offensive attack.
  • upwards of 500,000 Marine and Army expeditionary forces designed to put US boots on foreign soil.
  • massive networks of airlift, sealift and logistics infrastructure needed to project conventional military power abroad.

Nor would they have the remit to act upon such an utterly false narrative as the alleged “47-Year Iranian War On America”. The latter retains credibility and resilience in the halls of government only because the nation’s War Machine and related the institutions of Empire (e.g. USAID, Agency for Global Media, NED etc.) fund the the think tanks, consultants and research operations who’s budget depends upon the existence of alleged mortal enemies and conjured threats to national security. So they find these aplenty.

Stated differently, if the peaceful Republic that America was intended to be had but a $300 billion defense budget and a proper War Powers Act, the clown show that the Donald has conducted since February 28th would not have been remotely possible. Not even conceivable.

Keep reading