Tag: perpetual war

Is Biden Teeing Up an Iran War for Trump?

President Joe Biden has less than a month in office, but that might be enough time to leave a very big mess on President-elect Donald Trump’s desk. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan presented Biden with plans to bomb Iranian nuclear sites before the end of his term “in a meeting several weeks ago,” Axios reported on Thursday. A source told Axios that Biden’s inner circle believes that he has both “an imperative and an opportunity to strike” now.

The same day, former Biden administration official Richard Nephew published an essay in Foreign Affairs arguing that “the case against military action is not so neat” anymore and that the United States “may have little choice but to attack Iran—and soon.” Nephew had once been a harsh critic of Trump’s attempts to pressure and threaten Iran. Now, like many other Democrats, he seems to be shifting from a dove to a hawk.

The Biden camp is following a path trod by the first Trump administration. Throughout Trump’s last year in office, his own inner circle talked about “military action to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons if Trump were to lose the election,” The New Yorker reported. A week after he lost the election, Trump asked for military options, The New York Times confirmed. The final discussion happened exactly four years ago—on January 3, 2021—when Trump’s advisers agreed that it was “too late to hit them,” according to The New Yorker.

In other words, the president starting a war that close to the end of his term would be severely overstepping his mandate.

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Accused Cybertruck Bomber Served the US Army IN Ukraine

Accused Cybertruck Bomber Matthew Livelsberger not only recruited fighters for Ukraine, it has been revealed that he also served the U.S. Army in Ukraine as well.

“Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners,” the AP said Thursday evening. “He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.”

It is still unclear the dates he was stationed within Ukraine. Alex Jones had previously revealed that U.S. armed forced were stationed in Ukraine back when it was still being denied in the mainstream media.

Interestingly, the second Donald Trump attempted assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, worked with U.S. intelligence agencies to expand The American Foreign Legion in Ukraine.

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Weaponising Water: Israel Assumes Control Over The Al-Mantara Dam In Syria

Israeli military forces have established fortified positions and developed advanced military infrastructure in various locations within the Quneitra countryside of Syria. Since December 24, these forces have achieved considerable control over the Al-Mantara Dam, a crucial water resource in the region, which could have significant repercussions for both Syria and its neighbouring country, Jordan.

The Al-Mantara Dam is not only a key water supply for Quneitra, but also for its adjacent rural areas, and the Daraa Governorate. Reports from the local population indicate that movement in and out of the occupied territories is severely restricted, with Israeli forces enforcing regulated schedules for civilian access.

This manoeuvre by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bears a striking resemblance to a well-documented strategy previously employed by the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, where IS utilized water resources to advance its military and political objectives by seizing control of major dams and reservoirs along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers as part of their territorial expansion.

Tobias von Lossow, a doctoral researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP Middle East and Africa Division,  authored a compelling study entitled “Water as Weapon: IS on the Euphrates and Tigris”. In this work, he explores the strategic significance of dams and reservoirs to the Islamic State (IS).

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Why Congress Members Face a Lawsuit for Funding Israel’s War on Gaza

On the last day of 2024, the deputy general counsel for the House of Representatives formally accepted delivery of a civil summons for two congressmembers from Northern California. More than 600 constituents of Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson have signed on as plaintiffs in a class action accusing them of helping to arm the Israeli military in violation of “international and federal law that prohibits complicity in genocide.”

Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit, it conveys widespread anger and anguish about the ongoing civilian carnage in Gaza that taxpayers have continued to bankroll.

By a wide margin, most Americans favor an arms embargo on Israel while the Gaza war persists. But Huffman and Thompson voted to approve $26.38 billion in military aid for Israel last April, long after the nonstop horrors for civilians in Gaza were evident.

Back in February – two months before passage of the enormous military aid package – both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that, in the words of the lawsuit, “the Israeli government was systematically starving the people of Gaza through cutting off aid, water, and electricity, by bombing and military occupation, all underwritten by the provision of U.S. military aid and weapons.”

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Will Warnings of A Nuclear War Go Unheeded?

On December 7th, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter hosted a panel entitled “No Nuclear War: A Call for Reason” at the National Press Club in the nation’s capital.

The three-part symposium brought together a range of anti-war speakers to address the growing threat of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia. Trepidation over that increasingly likely scenario has only mounted following the reckless brinkmanship by the lame duck Biden administration in supplying long-range ATACMs (Army Tactical Missile Systems, pronounced “attack-’ems”) to Ukraine.

Not only do the precision-guided munitions give Kyiv the ability to strike deep within Russian territory, but the U.S.-made missiles must be launched with the help of Western personnel, something that will be interpreted by Moscow as an attack by NATO. While the live-streamed discussion was overshadowed by the earth-shattering news of the fall of Damascus to Western-backed jihadists, the catastrophic developments in the Middle East only made the apocalyptic theme more pertinent.

Participants in the forum included former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, retired Army colonel and Washington insider-turned-critic Lawrence Wilkerson, Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin, The Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal, his wife and fellow journalist Anya Parampil, Black Agenda Report editor Margaret Kimberley, broadcast host Wilmer Leon of (now defunct) Sputnik radio, political commentator Garland Nixon, author and human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik, MIT physicist Theodore Postol, and 25-year-old LaRouche Party agitator Jose Vega.

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The curiously evolving relationship between Russia and the terrorist group that took control of Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (“HTS”) is a coalition of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups in northern Syria. It evolved from Jabhat al-Nusra which was al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria. In an effort to appear moderate, HTS cut ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. Despite these efforts, HTS remains listed as a terrorist organisation due to its history and ongoing activities.

HTS is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and other states.  But since HTS took control of Syria at the end of last year, it seems Russia, along with other governments, is willing to consider removing HTS from the terrorist list, even though there is no evidence that HTS has changed its ways.

We don’t have any answers, only questions.  Questions such as: Was the takeover of Syria agreed upon between powerbrokers in Syria, including Russia and the United States, before HTS launched their offensive?  Were groups such as HTS used to give the appearance of a takeover while, in reality, it was a changing of the guard?  

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Palestinian Authority Bans Al Jazeera From West Bank For ‘Stirring Strife’

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced Wednesday the suspension of Al-Jazeera’s operations in the Palestinian West Bank, citing alleged violations of Palestinian laws and ‘interference’. 

The major Qatar-based outlet is accused of “manipulation, interference in internal affairs, and dissemination of misleading and incendiary reports,” according to a statement in the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The broadcaster has been further blamed for “reports that were deceiving and stirring strife” in the context of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) effort to crackdown on unauthorized armed groups.

For the past more than two weeks the PA has laid police siege to the Jenin refugee camp in an effort to root out the Jenin Brigade and associated factions. The PA has called the groups “outlaws” and “Iranian gangs” which are operating in the camp.

At least nine Palestinians have been killed as a result of the assault, including reportedly children. The PA had already banned Al Jazeera from reporting from inside Jenin amid the crisis.

Al Jazeera issued a Thursday statement saying it was “shocked by this decision” and is urging an immediate reversal of the temporary ban, for which there hasn’t been a timetable. It has confirmed its coverage has moved to Jordan.

The outlet has charged the PA with “an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps.”

Months ago Israeli commandoes raided Al Jazeera’s West Bank offices and seized equipment and ordered the bureau closed.

As early as October 2023, soon after the Oct.7 Hamas terror attacks, Israel moved to ban Al Jazeera from having offices in Tel Aviv or operating anywhere in Israel.

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Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Establish Diplomatic Ties With HTS-Led Syria

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was working to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria following the takeover of the country by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a US-designated terrorist organization that’s an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

“We are preparing to renew our diplomatic relations with Syria and our cooperation within international organizations. I want to thank our intelligence for the security framework of these contacts,” Zelensky said.

His comments came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visited Syria and met with HTS officials, including Syria’s de facto leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has been going by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2022 after former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia, recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence supported the HTS takeover of Syria by providing drones and drone operators a few weeks before the offensive was launched. Ukraine’s military intelligence, known as the HUR, had also reportedly been involved in attacks on Russian bases in Syria.

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Trump Should Terminate The Bilateral Security Agreement Between The US & Ukraine

He should do this on his first day in office if he’s serious about implementing his foreign policy agenda.

New York Times contributor Rajan Menon wrote in a mid-December op-ed that Trump is unlikely to agree to give Ukraine the security guarantees that Zelensky is demanding in temporary lieu of NATO membership. He’s apparently unaware that Trump will soon inherit the bilateral security agreement that the Biden Administration reached with Ukraine in June. It essentially institutionalizes existing US military aid for Ukraine and obligates it to resume the present scale and scope of such if the conflict reignites.

Nevertheless, Menon’s factually inaccurate assessment raises the question of whether Trump would terminate that agreement as part of his plan to “Pivot (back) to Asia” for more muscularly containing China, which his administration could never do in full if it maintains such commitments to Ukraine. Last June’s document stipulates that “Either Party may terminate this Agreement by providing a written notification through diplomatic channels to the other Party” within six months of planning to abandon it.

It’s therefore legally feasible, but Trump would predictably get a lot of flak from his “deep state’s” Russophobic hawks, though he’d then free the US up to “Pivot (back) to Asia” without worrying about being dragged back into another proxy war with Russia in Europe. Moreover, by depriving Ukraine of the US security guarantees that it took for granted, he’d make it less likely that Kiev would violate the ceasefire in an attempt to manipulate America and others into fighting Russia on its behalf afterwards.

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Russia Determines How the Ukraine War Ends

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, told the “Dialogue Works” podcast on Tuesday that the incoming Trump administration’s position on how to resolve the war in Ukraine is insignificant because it will be Moscow that determines how the war will end.

Ritter said he does not think it is worthwhile to talk about the conversations Keith Kellogg, the retired three-star general tapped by Donald Trump as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has with Kyiv because “that conversation is irrelevant.”

“Ukrainians, simply, don’t have a vote,” he said. He said Kellogg should inform the Ukrainians that the longer they choose to fight, the greater harm will be done to the country.

“But I don’t think he’s going to do that,” he said. “I think Kellogg is going to think that he’s going to find some kind of pressure points for Russia…maybe he will reach out to Europe about increasing defense spending.”

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