Tag: perpetual war

Trump Gives an Indefinite Cease-Fire to Iran. What Is This War?

Last Friday, President Trump posted a series of announcements on Truth Social, claiming that Iran had given him everything he wanted in exchange for nothing. The President asserted that Iran had agreed to hand over what he called their “nuclear dust” (the enriched uranium buried under ground from last June’s American air attack); to stop funding Hezbollah and Hamas; and to open the Strait of Hormuz and never close it again. Many of Trump’s pro-war supporters declared victory, reveling in their triumphalism.

While that was a feel-good story, there were many obvious problems with it, starting with the fact that Iran never confirmed any of it and would never realistically surrender, given its perception of the massive leverage it continues to possess. Sure enough, Iran later that day denied having agreed to anything beyond opening the Strait during the cease-fire negotiations. But after Israel continued to bomb Lebanon, despite Trump’s announcement that he had “PROHIBITED” Israel from doing so, which he followed by announcing a full military blockade of the Strait to prevent Iran from selling oil, it was clear that a deal to end the war was very far away.

During his flurry of victory claims, Trump set Wednesday — tomorrow — as the deadline for Iran to agree to a comprehensive deal, after which he said he would begin obliterating the country. He announced that he was sending Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff (with J.D. Vance being added later) to Islamabad to meet with the Iranians. In response, Iran announced that it would refuse to attend any negotiations while the U.S. was blockading the Strait. As a result, Trump’s deadline will come and go tomorrow, presumably without a deal.

As he has done before, Trump’s response to the lapse of his deadline is not to follow through on his threats (thankfully), but instead to announce an extension of the deadline. Today, he did exactly that, though notably, his extension came without any new deadline: it is just an indefinite suspension of hostilities pending an agreement. All of this raises a question that has lurked since the start of this: what is the purpose of this war, and how can it end? We examine those questions in the above 30-minute video.

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Ukraine Seeks To Import African Migrants To Fill Labor Shortage After 100s Of 1000s Dead Or Wounded At The Front

Volodymyr Zelensky’s head of his Presidential Office in Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, has announced plans to import migrant laborers from Africa. Essentially, this entails Ukraine establishing new laws for the legal entry and residence of foreign workers.

The government will introduce a new list of “migration-risk” countries to facilitate this plan, according to remarks Budanov made at the CEO Club Ukraine.

“They enter, obtain documents, and then move on. This is a problem that creates barriers for business,” Budanov reportedly said, emphasizing that Ukraine will now move to make it easier for migrants to stay and work in Ukraine.

Last October, rumors swirled that Ukraine was directly recruiting mercenaries from Latin American drug cartels to fight in its war against Russia. Kyiv’s forced conscription policies at home, which often resort to violence, have already raised numerous concerns about the brutal practices of Zelensky’s military as well as the desperate situation Ukraine is in due to loss of life on the frontlines.

It has long been known that Ukraine faces a serious demographic crisis, now exacerbated by men who have died in the war or fled to other countries. Already, there have been voices pushing for mass immigration in Ukraine since the war began. Last year, Remix News reported that Vasyl Voskobojnik, president of the Ukrainian Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, said the population decline can no longer be offset by simply increasing the birthrate. Instead, immigration from Third-World countries is the only solution.

Voskobojnik said the Ukrainian government must develop a migration policy by 2026 that focuses on reducing this shortage.

However, importing foreign workers and foreign warriors (who may or may not have criminal ties) will only add to concerns that Ukraine will ever be a desired member of the European Union, as the EU faces its own crises brought on by mass immigration.

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Now that Orbán Is No Longer Prime Minister, Zelensky Finally Restores the Druzhba Pipeline Flow of Russian Oil to Hungary

As expected, the oil will flow again soon.

Conservative champion, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the man Brussels loves to hate – and Kiev too.

Unlike the Globalist ‘leaders’ of the EU, Orbán rejected Ukraine’s membership in both the EU and NATO, and refused to send money for Kiev’s war effort.

This made him an enemy for Volodymyr Zelensky, who ridiculed him, called him fat, threatened to unleash his military on him, and finally, in the runup to the Hungarian elections, cut the flow of Russian oil passing through Ukrainian territory in the Druzhba pipeline.

And now that Péter Magyar won the election with a wide margin, to no one’s surprise, Zelensky announces that the pipeline will be opened in less than ten days.

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IDF escalates efforts to prevent civilian return to southern Lebanon after ceasefire

The next big “battle” for southern Lebanon has started, though it is one that does not involve bombs or rockets.

As of April 17, the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire had kicked in. By Sunday, large numbers of Lebanese civilians attempted to return to southern Lebanon, despite IDF instructions not to.

Foreign media reports and social media showed videos and included interviews of Lebanese civilians using a variety of makeshift means to cross the Litani River into southern Lebanon, even at points where the IDF had destroyed the existing bridges.

Some said that they succeeded in reaching their villages and found significant amounts of damage.

Others said that though they were able to get into southern Lebanon, the IDF blocked the road to their village or used warning fire to make them turn back.

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‘Predators’: Amnesty slams Netanyahu, Putin, Trump as human rights decline

The heads of Israel, Russia and the United States are leading the destruction of global human rights, Amnesty International has said, describing them as “voracious predators” intent upon economic and political domination.

“A global environment where primitive ferocity could flourish has been long in the making,” Agnes Callamard, the head of the global rights group, wrote in an annual report on the state of the world’s human rights that was released on Tuesday.

In 2025, “sharp U-turns were taken away from the international order that had been imagined out of the ashes of the Holocaust and the utter destruction of world wars, and constructed slowly and painfully, albeit insufficiently, over these past 80 years,” she said.

In a news conference on Monday in London, Callamard said that most governments tend to appease the “predators” rather than confront them.

“Some even thought to imitate the bullies and the looters,” she said.

Spain, however, which is an outlier in Europe for its criticism of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and US-Israeli attacks on Iran, “is standing above the double standard that is destroying the international system”, Callamard said.

She argued that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who in 2022 sent his forces into neighbouring Ukraine, have had an “absolutely dramatic” impact on the world.

Their conduct is “emboldening all of those that are tempted by similar behaviours,” said Callamard. “It is allowing for the multiplication of copycats around the world, and therefore what we are confronting now is much more aggressive and ferocious than what we had to confront three or four years ago.”

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British universities paid security firm to ‘spy’ on pro-Palestine students

Twelve British universities paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to “spy” on student protesters and academics, including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, it can be revealed.

A joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates has uncovered evidence that Horus Security Consultancy Limited trawled through student social media feeds and conducted secret counter-terror threat assessments on behalf of some of Britain’s most elite institutions.

Horus, which describes itself as a “leading intelligence” firm, has been paid at least 440,000 pounds ($594,000) by universities since 2022.

Among those monitored were a Palestinian academic invited to give a guest lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University and a pro-Gaza PhD student at the London School of Economics, according to internal documents.

In October 2024, the University of Bristol provided the firm with a list of student protest groups it wished to receive alerts about, an internal university email suggests. It included pro-Palestinian and animal rights activists.

In total, 12 universities paid the firm to monitor campus protest activity. Others include the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London (UCL), King’s College London (KCL), the University of Sheffield, the University of Leicester, the University of Nottingham and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

There is no suggestion that this activity is illegal.

These findings have come to light after Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates submitted freedom of information (FOI) requests to more than 150 universities.

All the institutions named in this article were approached for comment by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates.

The University of Oxford, UCL, KCL, the University of Leicester and the University of Nottingham did not respond to requests for comment.

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‘Iran’s Enemy is Our Enemy: Russia Detains 40 Israelis at Moscow Airport – Report

Israelis Detained at Moscow Airport

Russian authorities detained at least 40 Israeli citizens at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport after their arrival from Tel Aviv, according to official Israeli sources cited in the Times of Israel. 

The outlet reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that the group was held before later being released following diplomatic intervention.

According to reports cited by Times of Israel, the Isreali citizens were detained on suspicion of having connections to Israel’s military aggression against Iran.

Russian security personnel reportedly told detainees that Iran is an ally of Moscow and that anyone who is an enemy of Iran is “our enemy as well.”

Conditions of Detention

The Times of Israel also cited a source cited by the Russian outlet Mediazona, which said that the detainees were interrogated for several hours under these suspicions.

According to the same source, detainees were asked to unlock their mobile phones. When they refused, they were instructed to turn the devices off.

The group reportedly included both Israeli nationals and individuals holding dual citizenship.

They were eventually released after signing documents stating the “inadmissibility of violating the law,” according to the report.

Diplomatic Intervention

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it intervened immediately after learning of the incident.

“Immediately upon learning of the incident, at the instruction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the Foreign Ministry acted both with the foreign ministry in Moscow and with the Russian embassy in Israel,” the ministry said.

“Following this intervention, the incident was resolved, and the Israelis’ entry was approved,” it added.

The ministry also said that Russian authorities were informed that the conduct was “completely unacceptable” and that Israel views the matter seriously.

The detentions come amid heightened geopolitical tensions linked to the war involving Iran, a key ally of Russia.

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Hungary’s New PM Says He Would Arrest Israel’s Netanyahu For War Crimes

Hungary’s prime minister-elect Péter Magyar said Monday that he would order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Israeli military’s operations in Gaza as it waged war against the Islamic terrorist group Hamas.

Member states are expected to detain individuals named in such warrants.

Hungary previously refused to arrest Netanyahu during a visit in April 2025 under then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is an ally of the Israel leader.

Ahead of that visit, Orbán moved to withdraw Hungary from the ICC and guaranteed Netanyahu immunity. The withdrawal process takes one year to complete.

Magyar said he intends to reverse that decision and keep Hungary in the ICC.

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Ireland to offer cash to encourage Ukrainians to leave – migration minister

The Irish government is aiming to terminate government-provided accommodation for Ukrainian migrants within a year, and will offer payouts to encourage repatriation, Minister of State for Migration Colm Brophy has said.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, around 125,000 Ukrainians have received temporary protection in Ireland, according to Brophy. From July 2022 to March 2026, Dublin reportedly spent more than €438 million ($516 million) to provide half of them with housing.

Dublin has also shelled out nearly €400 million in “political, humanitarian, economic and non-lethal military aid” for Kiev, while other EU members have funneled billions of euros into the conflict. Russia has warned that the EU’s support for Ukraine has only served to prolong the hostilities.

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The Consequences of Incompetence

For nearly 40 days, Israel and the United States carried out an extensive aerial campaign against Iran designed to topple the government and suppress Iran’s ability to defend itself. This campaign failed to achieve any of its stated objectives. Instead, it devolved into a numbers game where inflated outcomes were sold to an unquestioning public by military professionals and politicians alike. The Iranian government not only withstood the efforts at decapitation-induced regime change, but actually strengthened its hold on power when the people of Iran, instead of turning on the Islamic Republic, rallied to its cause. Moreover, rather than suppressing Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones against US military bases, critical infrastructure in the Gulf Arab States, and Israel, Iran not only sustained its ability to strike, but deployed new generations of weapons that readily defeated all missile defense systems while, using intelligence information that permitted accurate targeting, destroyed critical military infrastructure worth tens of billions of dollars.

Regional experts had long warned about the consequences of entering an existential conflict with Iran, noting that Iran would not simply allow itself to be erased as a viable nation state without ensuring that the other nations of the region were subjected to similar existential threats to their survival, and that global energy security would be disrupted in such a manner as to trigger a world economic crisis. These assessments were backed up by a belied that Iran would not only be able to shut down shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but also effectively target and destroy the major energy production potential of the Gulf Arab States.

It wasn’t that the politicians and military planners in the US and Israel doubted Iran’s ability to impact global energy markets or strike targets in Israel and the Gulf region.

They knew Iran had the potential.

They just believed that they would be able to achieve regime change in Tehran in relatively short order, thereby mooting any threat Iran might pose to energy supplies and infrastructure.

They were wrong, which is why the US was looking for an offramp from the war soon after it started.

The end result was this current ceasefire, which was ostensibly entered into to buy time for US and Iranian negotiators to hammer out a lasting peace plan.

There is a fundamental problem, however.

While Iran has approached the current negotiations from a practical, reality-based posture predicated on resolving the actual major points of difference between the US and Iran, the US is being held hostage by the politicized whim of an American President who needs to shape domestic public opinion in a way which transforms the reality of a humiliating defeat into the perception of a bold victory.

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