Tag: perpetual war

US citizen found guilty of helping export tech to Iran in violation of sanctions

A Massachusetts man was found guilty Monday of conspiring to unlawfully export electronic components to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, who worked at the global electronics company Analog Devices, was accused of helping an Iranian business associate get around American export control laws. U.S. prosecutors say the business associate’s Tehran-based company makes navigation systems for the military drone program of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Authorities say the scheme included the creation of a front company in Switzerland.

The second defendant, Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, called Abedini in court documents, was not on trial. He is believed to be in Iran after an apparent prisoner exchange for an Italian journalist.

Sadeghi was found guilty on three of the five charges. He showed no visible reaction to the verdict, which came early in the fourth day of jury deliberations. He and his lawyers did not comment as they left court, and he will remain free until sentencing Oct. 13

Sadeghi, a 43-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, chose not to testify. A father of two, he lost his job at Analog Devices due to the charges. Although he was arrested in December 2024, long before the current war with Iran, his trial has unfolded during the conflict.

“At its core, this case is straightforward. You cannot send goods, especially the goods at issue in this case, to Iran. Period. Full stop,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter told the jury. “The defendant knew that, and conspired with Mr. Abedini to do that.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan, in his closing remarks, said documents, text messages and photos proved that the illegal acts were the “fruits of this relationship” between Sadeghi and Abedini.

“The evidence established that he knew what Abedini was doing because he told him in writing,” Dolan said. “He helped him anyway.”

Sadeghi’s attorney, William Fick, told jurors that the scheme laid out by the prosecution “makes no sense” and was full of holes. He said Sadeghi was only offering advice to a longtime friend about how to get business with the semiconductor company, and wasn’t responsible for procuring the parts for Abedini.

Fick said there was no proof the parts ended up in Iran, and he disputed that the Swiss company was a front.

“If you look at the world through dirty glasses, everything looks dirty,” Fick said. “That is fundamentally what the prosecution is asking you to do here.”

Fick also said prosecutors hadn’t shown Sadeghi gained anything from the alleged plan — although the prosecution pointed out that they didn’t need to prove a motive.

“He had nothing to gain and everything to lose,” Fick said. “He has lived in the country for decades. He was a well-regarded, respected employee on his way up in the company.”

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AI war machines hit the ground running: Marine Corps quietly orders autonomous ground vehicle fleet that can drive itself into combat

The United States Marine Corps has quietly placed its first production order for a fleet of fully autonomous ground vehicles that can navigate battlefields, plot their own routes, and execute resupply missions without a human behind the wheel. This is no longer science fiction. Under a $19.7 million production award issued through the Pentagon’s Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies program, Seattle-based Overland AI will deliver more than a dozen autonomous ground vehicles to the Marine Corps by early 2027, marking the first time a ground autonomy company has served as the prime contractor for a production contract of its kind. While military officials frame this as a logistical upgrade, the deeper implications point toward a future where machines not only drive themselves but eventually decide when and how to kill, and in the most efficient manner possible.

Key points:

  • The Marine Corps has awarded Overland AI a $19.7 million contract for autonomous ground vehicles.
  • Vehicles will operate without continuous human control using onboard navigation software.
  • First operational role focuses on resupply missions for the Marine Air Defense Integrated System.
  • Overland AI CEO Byron Boots confirmed extremely high demand from U.S. operational units.
  • Autonomous platforms could expand into intelligence, surveillance, and breaching missions.
  • Contract delivered through Pentagon APFIT program designed to accelerate battlefield technology.
  • Vehicles use open architecture allowing integration with Joint Light Tactical Vehicle platforms.

When machines decide where to go

What separates Overland AI’s platform from previous unmanned ground vehicles is the degree of independence these machines possess. Traditional robotic vehicles require a remote operator to steer, accelerate, and brake, essentially a video game controller attached to a military vehicle. Overland AI’s system operates differently. Operators assign a destination point, and the onboard software handles everything else. The vehicle plans its own route, interprets terrain conditions, controls acceleration and braking, and navigates obstacles without continuous human input. Personnel can still assume remote control when necessary, but the default mode is machine autonomy.

This represents a fundamental shift in military robotics. The Marine Corps is no longer testing remote-controlled equipment. It is buying vehicles that make driving decisions on their own. Overland AI Chief Executive Officer Byron Boots stated that demand for autonomous ground systems has increased sharply as militaries evaluate lessons from recent conflicts. “Ground autonomy matters now more than ever,” Boots said. “We’re registering extremely high demand from U.S. operational units who want to incorporate this technology into their concepts of operation.”

The company expects to deliver the vehicles in roughly nine months, though officials did not disclose the exact number of platforms or technical specifications including payload capacity and vehicle type. This opacity is deliberate. The military does not want adversaries knowing how many autonomous systems are entering the battlefield or what they are capable of carrying.

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Under Israeli pressure, US seizes Max Blumenthal’s devices on return from Tehran reporting trip


On July 10, 2026, American journalist Max Blumenthal was traveling back to the United States from Iran, which he had visited to report on the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the largest gathering in human history. While in Iran, Blumenthal interviewed members of Iran’s negotiation team, top political officials, academics and average citizens for a series of video and print reports for this news outlet, which he founded.

He also documented several US and Israeli war crimes from the ground, including the destruction of an entire neighborhood in Eastern Tehran which left at least 40 civilians dead.

Upon reentering the country at Dulles International Airport, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) interrogated Blumenthal about his trip, searched his belongings, and demanded that he provide access to his smart phones. When he refused to open his phones, CBP officers forced him to turn them over for detention. Other journalists and travelers have been threatened with the loss of their passports for a month for failing to hand over their devices.

Blumenthal entered Iran exactly as reporters working for establishment media outlets like CNN and NBC did – on a press visa granted by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. While in Tehran, he participated in official press events alongside those mainstream reporters, who were also in the country to cover the Ayatollah’s funeral. When journalists from CNN, NBC, and other American outlets returned to the US, however, they were not subjected to the same harassment Blumenthal experienced, nor were they required to give the US government their electronic devices.

Blumenthal is a widely recognized journalist in American independent media, with a record of reporting spanning 25 years. He is the author of four books, including a New York Times bestselling volume, and numerous widely viewed documentary films. Having reported from numerous countries and conflict zones around the world, he is the winner of several awards, including the Online Journalism Award and, most recently, the Pierre Sprey Award for Defense Reporting and Analysis.

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Italy Says NO to Blank Checks for Ukraine

The political mood across Europe is beginning to shift, and even governments that have strongly backed Ukraine are discovering that public opinion has its limits. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has reportedly argued that Rome must place the soaring cost of living, particularly energy and fuel bills, ahead of expanding military commitments before next year’s elections. According to the Kyiv Post, Meloni has also resisted the idea of writing endless checks for Ukraine through Brussels while Italian households continue struggling with inflation and rising utility costs.

Europe’s leadership has spent years insisting there is no limit to what taxpayers should sacrifice for the war. People do not pay their electricity bills with speeches about democracy. They pay with shrinking paychecks, higher fuel costs, and businesses forced to absorb ever-rising energy prices. Elections have a way of exposing the difference between political slogans and economic reality. Meloni understands that if governments cannot keep the lights on or make life affordable, voters eventually remove them regardless of how many standing ovations they receive in Brussels.

“The government must prioritize easing the cost of living, particularly energy and fuel bills,” Meloni declared, later adding, “If we invest in defense, that money must remain in Italy, in our factories, in our research, in our territories.” Italy has already agreed to numerous defense spending increases through its union with both Brussels and NATO–it’s never enough. “After six summits in three and a half weeks, I’ll pass,” the Italian president said. “There is no disengagement from Ukraine. But neither can I afford to disengage from Italy.”

The sovereign debt crisis and the war cycle are converging. Brussels continues to behave as though every crisis can be solved with another spending package financed by debt. That is precisely how governments eventually destroy themselves. The bureaucrats believe taxpayers exist to fund whatever grand geopolitical project they devise next. Meanwhile, families are asking why they are paying more for electricity, heating, transportation, and food while billions continue flowing abroad. Governments ignore that question at their own peril.

The cracks are becoming impossible to hide. Hungary has challenged Brussels repeatedly over Ukraine funding, and while there is a new man at the helm, nationalist sentiment has not dissolved. Slovakia has openly linked its support for new aid packages to its own national energy security after suffering through the Druzhba pipeline dispute. Now Italy is placing domestic economic concerns ahead of the demands coming from Brussels.

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Trump Formally Notifies Congress of Resumed Military Action Against Iran as Third Night of Strikes Begins

President Donald Trump has formally notified Congress that the United States has resumed kinetic military operations against Iran, triggering the third consecutive night of U.S. strikes and escalating tensions across the Persian Gulf.

In a two-page letter sent to lawmakers on Friday, the president informed Congress that strikes against Iranian targets restarted on July 7, in accordance with the War Powers Resolution. The notification grants U.S. forces in U.S. Central Command an additional 60 days to conduct operations without further congressional approval.

“United States ground forces are not involved in these strikes,” Trump wrote. “These strikes are limited, measured, planned and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties.”

Pentagon officials confirmed late Monday that U.S. forces had launched a third round of major strikes on Iranian military sites during overnight hours. Over the weekend, the U.S. reported hitting more than 140 Iranian targets, while Iran launched retaliatory attacks on U.S.-linked facilities across the Gulf region, including sites in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Blockade Reinstated, More Strikes Expected

President Trump previewed intensified operations in remarks Monday, stating the U.S. would “hit Iran hard” on Monday night and Tuesday. He also announced the reimposition of a full naval blockade on Iranian ports, effective Tuesday — coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.

The president said a recent memorandum of understanding with Iran was intended as a “test” that Tehran failed to honor. “We had a deal with them two days ago,” Trump told reporters, adding that Iran “wanted to negotiate it further” and has a pattern of breaking agreements.

Under the reinstated blockade, the U.S. will reportedly require vessels wishing to transit Iranian waters to pay a 20% fee on cargo value for passage, according to statements from the White House and CENTCOM.

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Congressman Outraged After Brief Detention By Gun-Wielding Israeli Settlers In West Bank Visit

A group of extremist Jewish settlers equipped with US-made M4 rifles detained US lawmaker Ro Khanna and his group during their visit this week to the southern occupied West Bank, the Democratic representative has disclosed.

“We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed; they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it,” Khanna told Reuters on Thursday.  “And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road.“ Khanna said, adding, “And then they call the IDF and ​the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans.“

Khanna’s aide, Cameron Kasky, said the delegation was held for over an hour near Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian hamlet ethnically cleansed by Israeli settlers in 2023, before appealing to the US Embassy in Jerusalem to free them. 

Khanna’s visit to the occupied West Bank comes as support for Israel splits Democrats ahead of the US midterm elections in November, with the issue contributing to primary defeats for incumbent lawmakers financed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Israel’s favorability rating among Democratic voters has fallen from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May 2026, according to recent polls. 

The US lawmaker’s confrontation with extremist settler groups occurs amid a broader campaign of state-supported settler violence that, by mid-2026, has escalated into systematic ethnic cleansing and land theft in the occupied West Bank. 

As of July 2026, illegal settler outposts effectively control 18 percent of the occupied West Bank, following an “unprecedented” expansion directly backed by the Israeli government.

Former Israeli officials have characterized the current escalation as a “systematic campaign” of “Jewish terrorism” intended to facilitate de facto annexation of the Palestinian territories.

An Oxfam analysis based on UN data revealed that since 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,244 Palestinians, exceeding the total from the previous 17 years combined, and forcibly displaced nearly 46,000 people.

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The Cost Of Half-Empire

Introduction: The Question We Have Already Answered

The United States rejects the label “empire.” Yet it maintains overseas military installations, guarantees the security of allies across multiple continents, polices sea lanes, enforces sanctions with global reach, and repeatedly intervenes in the internal affairs of other states. Whatever term Americans prefer, the practical exercise of power increasingly resembles an imperial system.

The real question is whether it will continue practicing half-empire: exercising power without responsibility, spending lives, money, and credibility for temporary control while refusing to build the order that makes force politically meaningful. Power without responsibility is strategically self-defeating.

This is not an argument that empire is morally pure. It is an argument that incomplete empire is strategically disastrous: it kills people, drains wealth, leaves the United States less feared and less trusted, and then acts surprised when disorder returns more expensive than before.

America is no longer debating empire in theory; it is practicing it in fragments.

The Founders’ Warning—and the Reality of Power

The American republic was not designed for empire. The Founders feared permanent foreign entanglements because they concentrate power, require secrecy, and normalize executive discretion beyond ordinary consent.

That warning was right. Empire corrodes republican virtue. But the United States has already departed from the Founders’ design—not by declaration, but by accumulation: bases, sanctions, interventions, security guarantees, naval policing, and global commitments no pure republic could sustain.

This does not mean the Founders were naïve. It means the nation they built became powerful enough to inherit problems they hoped to avoid. Sea lanes, energy markets, hostile regimes, nuclear proliferation, and alliance commitments now pull the United States into decisions that look imperial even when officials avoid the word.

How Empires Actually Work: Trust, Trade, and Control

Modern debates fixate on imperial violence, but coercion is only the beginning. Successful empires pair force with economic integration, legal predictability, and public order.

Rome endured in part because conquered populations often found Roman administration more predictable than the fragmented political systems it replaced. Roads, law, contracts, currency, and infrastructure created incentives that made imperial rule sustainable beyond military conquest alone.

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The Board That Wanted a Country

This investigation is about a body whose legal personality remains contested, whose accountability framework remains opaque, and whose money has been routed through a private JPMorgan Chase account outside the official World Bank fund created for Gaza reconstruction. The Board of Peace was announced by Donald Trump in January 2026 as the vehicle for Gaza’s post-war governance and reconstruction, with Trump as chair and Tony Blair among its founding executive members. What emerges from official filings, leaked governance drafts, congressional hearing records, financial reporting, and testimony from former insiders is not simply a reconstruction body, but an attempt to privatise the governance architecture of Gaza’s future.

The timing of this story is critical because the contracts have not yet been awarded, the official World Bank fund has received no donor money, and several of the people involved in designing or executing the system sit at the intersection of government, finance, technology, Gulf capital, and post-war reconstruction planning.

The name “Board of Peace” does not necessarily refer to some peace mechanism. The entity will be best characterized as a financial, legal, and political architecture for governing 2.3 million Palestinians through a structure Palestinians did not elect, that member-state parliaments did not ratify, and that no court or auditor has yet clearly shown it can compel.

The Mandate Returns

The piece that sparked this investigation was published by Follow the Money, which reported that Tony Blair had become “Trump’s Gaza salesman in Europe,” using his institute and his contacts to lobby European policymakers into joining the Board of Peace. That reporting was important, but the framing understates the story. Blair is not merely the salesman. He is one of the architects of the governance model that European officials were later asked to legitimise.

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UKRAINE FARCE: Lviv Draft Clash Prompts Criminal Probes And Military Self-Review As ‘Bounty Hunters’ Encite Rage Among Ukrainians

After morbid videos of press-ganging of men across Ukraine have surfaced for years, as thousands die weekly at the front, the Ukrainian government is now pretending to notice as it tries to appease an angry populace.

It has been obvious for some time that ‘helping Ukraine’ is not the agenda, but rather depopulating the country for the EU globalist reich. The Ukrainian population is beginning to realize this reality. Evidence of this agenda is well-documented.

While Ukraine Empties Out Due To Mass Ethnocide, Globalist NGOs Are Filling It Back Up — With Someone Else

A crowd of approximately 200 civilians surrounded and overturned a Ukrainian Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) vehicle in Lviv’s Sykhiv district on the evening of July 8, triggering two criminal investigations and an unusual internal review by the military into the conduct of its own recruitment officers.

Reports one of the bounty hunters pointed at a man and yelled, “Get that one, he’s worth $2,000!” This is reportedly what set off the crowd.

The EU just gave Ukraine EUR 90B and it seems some of these funds are paying for bounty hunters to seize men off the streets across Ukriane; the price used to be $200 per head.

Ukraine’s prosecution service announced on July 9 that it had opened proceedings against participants in the clash, charging them with obstructing the activities of the Armed Forces during martial law and with violence against a law enforcement officer. Prosecutors said a responding police officer was attacked by members of the crowd.

According to authorities, TRC officers had detained a man born in 1996 who was wanted for violating military registration requirements. Video footage circulating on social media showed protesters chanting “shame,” tearing off the vehicle’s front bumper, and eventually flipping the vehicle.

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Report: Indian Businessman Poses as CIA Agent to Land Billion-Dollar ‘Defense’ Deal with Indonesia

An Indian businessman named Gaurav Srivastava allegedly passed himself off as an operative of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to close a multi-billion dollar defense deal with the Indonesian government, according to civil suits filed in the United States by his former business partner.

A report from a U.S.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) quoted the lawsuits filed in New York and California by Srivastava’s former business partner, Niels Troost.

According to the lawsuits, Srivastava somehow persuaded then-Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, currently the president of the country, that he was a CIA agent when the two attended high-level military procurement meetings in Washington and Jakarta in 2020.

By the end of that year, the faux CIA agent had alleged secured three “letters of intention to purchase” jet fighters and other defense items from the Indonesian government. He scored two more defense procurement commitments in 2021 and 2022. Products mentioned in the deals included big-ticket items like F-15 jet fighters, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and C-130 transport aircraft.

Troost said Srivastava grew quite close to Subianto, becoming a frequent guest at his home and developing ties with his brother, a prominent Indonesian businessman. Subianto went on to become the president of Indonesia in October 2024.

The Indonesian Defense Ministry told Tempo, the OCCRP’s Indonesian partner, that all of the agreements secured by Srivastava were “preliminary,” none were binding contracts, and none led to a purchase by the Indonesian government.

“The entire process of Indonesian defense cooperation and procurement is always carried out with utmost caution, prioritizing the principles of good governance, national interest, and compliance with applicable mechanisms and regulations,” a defense ministry spokesperson insisted.

However, OCCRP noted that Subianto was photographed with Srivastava at signing ceremonies, Srivastava held press conferences to announce purchase agreements, and the U.S. government even issued formal approval for the sale of 36 F-15s in 2022 – the exact number of fighter jets mentioned in the agreements with Srivastava.

According to Troost, the reason he brought all of this up in a pair of U.S. lawsuits is that he was convinced Srivastava was a CIA agent. On that basis, he gave Srivastava a 50 percent share of his own company, believing the CIA man could help him win lucrative contracts with customers like Indonesia.

Srivastava allegedly proceeded to loot $51 million from Troost’s company and “loan” it to the Arsari Group, a company headed by Subianto’s brother. Srivastava then convinced the Arsari Group to give the loan money to him. He was able to wheedle the Indonesian company into giving him half, and proceeded to blow the money on a $25 million mansion in Los Angeles.

Srivastara allegedly presented himself as a mogul who controlled four firms of his own, but all four turned out to be shell companies that were eventually deregistered for not paying their taxes. None of those companies were named in the U.S. government approval for the F-15 sales to Indonesia. Boeing, which was involved in the process, gave up trying to sell F-15s to Indonesia four years later because Jakarta never finalized the deal. Subianto’s government is now shopping for Turkish-built KAAN jet fighters.

Indonesian authorities say they are investigating these transactions for possible corruption charges. Meanwhile, Troost went after Srivastava in New York and California on racketeering charges. In one of these filings, Troost referred to Srivastava as a “brazen con man of remarkable skill.”

Niels Troost is himself an interesting character, a Dutch commodities trader based out of Switzerland who was sanctioned by the European Union, and several individual European governments, for allegedly buying banned Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The EU and Switzerland lifted their sanctions against Troost this year. Troost has claimed the sanctions were partly a result of his massive international business feud with Srivastava and has said he would not buy Russian oil because he supports Ukraine.

Srivastava, in turn, denies all wrongdoing and claims Troost’s allegations against him are part of an “aggressive scorched-earth disinformation campaign.”

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