Tag: perpetual war

Republican bill aims to give Americans in Israeli military same benefits as US soldiers

Two Republican congressmen have introduced legislation that would provide the same employment and economic protections to Americans serving in the Israeli military as US citizens who get deployed to serve in the US military.

The protections sought by the two lawmakers, Guy Reschenthaler and Max Miller, come in stark contrast to how other countries have been called upon to treat their citizens who have gone to serve in Israel’s military.

“Over 20,000 American citizens are currently defending Israel from Hamas terrorists, risking their lives for the betterment of our ally,” Reschenthaler said in a statement.

“This legislation will ensure we do everything possible to support these heroes who are standing with Israel, fighting for freedom, and combating terrorism in the Middle East.”

By introducing this legislation last Friday, the lawmakers want Americans serving in a foreign military to be treated in the “same manner as service in the uniformed services”.

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Red flags raised over Chinese communist academics inside U.S. colleges developing advanced tech

A new watchdog report is raising concerns that elite American colleges developing advanced technology with military applications have been “infiltrated” by academics who are card-carrying members of the Chinese Communist Party.

The conservative, nonprofit American Accountability Foundation reported it found nearly two dozen Chinese academics working at elite U.S. schools and labs “who, because of the dual-use threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in China, and/or clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party should be expelled from the United States or never be re-admitted.”

A review by Just the News found at least three Chinese academics affiliated with U.S. universities who have been repeatedly described as members of the CCP, and another Chinese scientist tied to an American college who is a leader within another CCP-controlled Chinese political party.

The new report came out the same week it was revealed that an illegal biolab in California inspected by federal authorities in 2023 and a separate hazardous lab inside a Las Vegas garage searched by the FBI this weekend. Both labs appear tied to a CCP-linked Chinese national who is currently in federal detention awaiting trial for fraud, false statements, and the adulteration of medical devices.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, told Just the News that the explosion of the number of Chinese academics on U.S. soil was a direct consequence of the Biden administration’s open borders policies and its decision to shut down the FBI’s main counterintelligence program vetting Chinese threats inside U.S. academia.

“Whenever I read these stories, I think back to the start of the Biden administration, where they canceled the program within the Department of Justice to investigate the theft of U.S. intellectual property and universities,” Johnson said in an interview on the Just the News, No Noise television show. 

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Illegal Biolabs In Vegas & California Linked To Chinese National With Alleged Military-Civil Fusion Ties

Federal and local authorities are investigating suspected illegal biological laboratories in Las Vegas and California’s Central Valley linked to a Chinese national accused by Congressional investigators of ties to a PRC military-civil fusion enterprise, who spent a decade operating what Canadian courts found was a systematic technology-theft operation from British Columbia before fleeing south with a $330 million fraud judgment against him.

The FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department executed search warrants over the weekend at two residences connected to Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, a 62-year-old Chinese citizen already under federal indictment for operating an illegal biolab in Reedley, California that contained labeled samples of at least 20 infectious agents including HIV, tuberculosis, and what the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party described as “the deadliest known form of malaria.”

Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed Monday that investigators recovered over 1,000 samples of biological material “consistent in appearance” with items found in the California facility.

“This can’t keep happening,” Congressman Kevin Kiley said after the Las Vegas raid, calling for immediate hearings on bipartisan legislation he introduced with Representatives Costa and David Valadao. “The illegal bio lab just raided in Las Vegas was operated by the same LLC and Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley.”

In the Reedley case, investigators discovered nearly 1,000 bioengineered laboratory mice, infectious agents including E. Coli, malaria, various chemicals, medical waste, blood, tissue, serum, body fluid samples, and illegal pregnancy tests, Congressman Jim Costa noted, citing the Select Committee’s review.

Property records show both the Reedley warehouse and the Las Vegas homes are owned by the same limited-liability company whose officers include Zhu and his business partner Zhaoyan Wang, both Chinese citizens facing federal trial in April 2026 on charges of distributing hundreds of thousands of misbranded COVID-19 and other testing kits.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’s investigation frames Zhu as a Chinese citizen from Canada “associated with PRC-government linked companies” and with direct ties to state enterprises and military-civil fusion networks.

Photos from their review show freezers packed with numerous small bottles and sample containers holding what the caption identifies as blood and other fluids, plus sealed bags labeled with apparent drug shorthand (for example “MDMA,” “Coca,” and “Met”), suggesting the freezers were being used to store both biological materials and suspected narcotics-related items.

The report states that in the early 2000s, Zhu served as vice chairman of Henan Pioneer Aide Biological Engineering Company Limited, a PRC state-controlled enterprise whose corporate ownership structure the Committee mapped to show interlacing with state-linked financing channels running through China Development Bank and its affiliated funds, the National Council for Social Security Fund, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The report explicitly flags Chinese military exposure, noting that beneficial owners operated through passthrough joint-venture companies including Henan Investment Group Company Limited, which the Committee describes as “involved in military-civil fusion.”

The Select Committee documented that Zhu’s work in cattle genetics connected to strategic PRC priorities.

As Zhu stated in documents obtained from the Reedley Biolab, “the Company is looking to seize the opportunity to develop the operational platform for the rapid growth in the Chinese dairy industry, fulfilling [PRC] Premier [and CCP Politburo Member] Wen Jiabao’s wish to ‘provide every Chinese, especially children, sufficient milk every day.’”

At that time, China faced a pressing milk crisis.

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President Trump Discusses Powerful Sonic Weapon Used to Take Out Venezuelan Soldiers During Maduro Capture

President Trump’s Oval Office interview with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas aired on Wednesday evening, and it covered various topics such as the ICE surge in Minneapolis, the crackdown on fraud, the economy, 2028, and more.

At one point during the one-hour interview, Tom Llamas asked President Trump about the sonic weapon used to take out Venezuelan soldiers during the Maduro capture.

Last month, the Army’s Delta Force captured Maduro after President Trump ordered military strikes on the South American country.

Venezuela said over 100 security officials and soldiers were killed in the US’s operation to capture Maduro.

No US forces were killed. President Trump said a few US service members were injured during the operation, but they are recovering.

According to an eyewitness account, the US military used weaponry and technology unlike anything he had ever seen.

“On the day of the operation, we didn’t hear anything coming. We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation. The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react,” the security guard recounted.

After those drones appeared, some helicopters arrived, but there were very few. I think barely eight helicopters. From those helicopters, soldiers came down, but a very small number. Maybe twenty men. But those men were technologically very advanced. They didn’t look like anything we’ve fought against before.

“And then the battle began?” the interviewer asked.

“Yes, but it was a massacre. We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed. It seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn’t do anything,” the witness said.

“And your own weapons? Didn’t they help?” the interviewer asked.

“No help at all. Because it wasn’t just the weapons. At one point, they launched something—I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move,” he said.

“Those twenty men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us. We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was,” the eyewitness said.

Tom Llamas asked President Trump about the “discombobulator” used to take out the Venezuelan soldiers.

“You talked about the weapon – the discombobulator – what is that?” Llamas asked Trump.

“Discombobulator, well, I’m not allowed to talk about it. Let me just tell you, you know what it does? None of their equipment works, that’s what it does!” Trump said.

“It was my name – I’m very proud of the name. It was discombobulated. It was, you know, practically a shot wasn’t fired. You know, they were ready!” Trump said.

“Tom, it discombobulated everything!” Trump said.

“Nothing worked, even including humans!” Llamas said.

“Well, let’s put it this way. We lost no equipment in a very strong, and they’re good fighters, great fighters, in a very bad environment. It was a military base, the biggest in South America, in a very, because the house was in a base in South, in a very, very tough environment. We lost no men and we lost no equipment,” Trump said.

“It discombobulated.. just knocked everything,” Llamas said.

“Well, it did something!” Trump said.

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Inside Strum: How a Subscription Platform Funds Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Azov Brigade

One of the most persistent myths in Western political thought is the idea that the United States and its European allies are principled opponents of fascism and totalitarianism. This doctrine, which many Washington elites believe at an almost religious level, has served as the basis for the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine. Numerous politicians from both sides of the proverbial aisle have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a Nazi or a fascist. However, when the United States allows Neo-Nazi-linked Ukrainian organizations like the Azov Brigade to receive support, this undermines their narrative.

Now, after American and European taxpayers have already paid billions for Ukraine’s war, the Azov Brigade is attempting to extract more money from Westerners via a subscription service called “Strum.” But before discussing Strum, it is important to examine what the Azov Brigade is and why it requires additional funding in the first place.

The Azov Brigade (formerly known as the Azov Battalion and Azov Regiment) has been mired in controversy since its founding. The organization was founded in 2014 by Andrey Biletskyi, a political activist with ties to Neo-Nazi movements. The Azov Brigade began as an amalgamation of radical movements including the Patriot of Ukraine gang which “espoused xenophobic and neo-Nazi ideas, and was engaged in violent attacks against migrants, foreign students in Kharkiv and those opposing its views.” Following the Maidan Revolution, oligarchs and elements of the Ukrainian government backed the organization which was then incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2016, the UN alleged that the Azov regiment violated international law due to its documented mass looting of civilian homes, its targeting of civilian areas, and its treatment of prisoners. During the Siege of Mariupol, the group was heavily involved in the fighting on the Ukrainian side though it eventually surrendered to Russia. In 2023, the Azov Regiment was reorganized into the Azov Brigade.

With resources dwindling and rampant foreign military aid corruption, Azov has increasingly relied on donations from individuals and companies. According to reporting from Svidomi, which included interviews with founders and project managers, a new project, Strum, has become the “driving force” behind the Brigade. The platform operates as a subscription service like Netflix or Spotify, but with some substantial differences and additional features.

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US-Sanctioned Russian Military Transport Plane Touches Down At Cuban Airfield

In a development which sounds reminiscent of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War, a Russian military cargo plane has been observed landing in Cuba, just as Havana is in Washington’s regime change crosshairs.

The Ilyushin Il-76, operated by the government-linked airline Aviacon Zitotrans, is reportedly under US sanctions as it has a well-documented history of ferrying military gear to Latin America. It touched down late Sunday at a Cuban military airfield.

The same aircraft – registered RA-78765 – logged flights to Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba in October amid rising tensions between Washington and Caracas.

According to details in Fox News:

Flight-tracking records show the aircraft stopped in St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia; Mauritania, Africa; and the Dominican Republic. Each landing would have required approval from host governments, offering a window into which countries are continuing to permit Russian military-linked aviation activity despite Western sanctions.

The large, long range aircraft can carry up to 50 tons of cargo or roughly 200 personnel.

The US Treasury first added the company to its sanctions list in January 2023. The statement said, “Aviacon Zitotrans has shipped military equipment such as rockets, warheads, and helicopter parts all over the world,. Aviacon Zitotrans has shipped defense materiel to Venezuela, Africa, and other locations.”

Whether this latest delivery involved weapons, equipment or infrastructure parts remains unclear. What is clear is that sanctioned Russian military logistics are once again operating in the Caribbean’s airspace.

However, from Havana’s viewpoint, it should be allowed to maintain alliances and routing business and transactions – even if on the military front, with a large power like Russia.

Days ago, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia vowed that there will be no repeat of the Venezuelan scenario in Cuba.

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U.S. Envoys Refused to Report “Apocalyptic” Conditions in Gaza. Exclusive Photos Show the Reality They Suppressed

In February 2024, just over three months into Israel’s war on Gaza, U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and his deputy, Stephanie Hallett, blocked an internal cable intended for wider distribution among senior officials in the Biden administration that warned northern Gaza had turned into an “apocalyptic wasteland,” according to Reuters. Lew and Hallett reportedly blocked the cable, which described the consequences of Israel’s assault in harrowing detail, because they believed it lacked balance.

The cable was drafted by U.S. Agency for International Development staffers and was based on a two-part humanitarian fact-finding mission by a small United Nations team that visited the area on January 31 and February 1, 2024.

I was part of that mission.

Northern Gaza had been under a total siege for over three months when we were eventually allowed to enter in January 2024. We moved through Gaza City, Beit Lahia, Jabaliya, and Beit Hanoun.

What we found was an endless horizon of destruction. People were living under plastic sheeting or in the rubble of buildings. Schools had been destroyed. In parts of Beit Hanoun, the entire area had been depopulated and decimated. There was a deadly shortage of clean drinking water, food and access to healthcare.

Mass starvation had already set in. Everyone we spoke to asked us for food. People gestured to us in the street for something to eat. Israeli authorities continued to deny the entry of any supplies despite our warnings of the deadly conditions.

We found bodies of people that had been killed for getting too close to Israeli checkpoints. Their remains were being eaten by cats and dogs. On a wall that was still standing in someone’s destroyed home we found the word “Revenge” graffitied in Hebrew, with the date of October 7, 2023, written below.

The purpose of a fact finding mission like this one is to report back on the humanitarian situation on the ground. The goal is to accurately reflect reality, not political balance. The images I captured during that trip are raw evidence of the conditions in northern Gaza at that time. Some, depicting bodies that were left to decompose in open air, are too gruesome to show. A selection is being published here for the first time. Many of these scenes had already been captured by Palestinian journalists, but they too had been dismissed as biased.

Almost exactly two years later to the day, the situation has been made far worse. The Israeli assault has destroyed, flattened and emptied northern Gaza even more—the UN estimates that over 81% of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged. Much of the little that is depicted here is now gone.

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Ex-CIA Chief David Petraeus Briefs Officials in Israel Overseeing “New Gaza”

Former CIA Director David Petraeus—one of the godfathers of the modern doctrine of counterinsurgency warfare—last week visited the U.S.-military run coordination center established in southern Israel to oversee the so-called ceasefire in Gaza, multiple sources from the diplomatic community told Drop Site News.

In his remarks at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, Petraeus praised Israel’s shift to clearing, holding, and rebuilding—a change from his previous criticism that Israeli forces were not implementing lessons from the U.S. counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, in particular the creation of “gated communities.”

One week prior to Petraeus’s visit, the U.S. Army presented the CMCC with plans for a “Gaza First Planned Community” in Rafah, as first reported by Drop Site. The residential compound would house up to 25,000 Palestinians in an area under full Israeli military control and would include biometric entry, identity checks, reeducation programs, and controls over aid and housing.

According to two sources with knowledge of the daily workings of the CMCC, the “Gaza First Planned Community” is intended to function as a pilot project—the first known step in the overall reconstruction plan of a “New Gaza.” The compound will be funded by the UAE, according to The Guardian.

Petraeus’s January 21 appearance at the CMCC coincided with President Donald Trump’s inauguration of the so-called Board of Peace the following day at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. At the ceremony, Trump said he was “committed to ensuring Gaza is demilitarized, properly governed and beautifully rebuilt,” adding: “I’m a real estate person at heart and it’s all about location. And I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property.” Trump was followed by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who listed among the priorities for the coming 100 days a “Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza.” There will also be a process to “synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments,” Kushner said.

In his remarks to the CMCC, Petraeus compared the 2007 U.S. troop surge in Iraq to the military operation in Gaza. Petraeus, who presided over a massive escalation of U.S. troops during the occupation of Iraq and the arming of local militias in what became a brutal sectarian civil war, is the former commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). He also dramatically expanded night raids and CIA and Special Operations missions inside Afghanistan. He was a key player in the expansion of U.S. covert warfare in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa before President Barack Obama installed him as CIA director.

Apart from promoting the implementation of gated communities based on his history in Iraq and Afghanistan, Petraeus is likely taking a special interest in Gaza because of the business opportunities Trump appears to be selling. Soon after his resignation from the CIA in 2012, Petraeus began work for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a powerful U.S. private-equity and investment company. Petraeus is currently a partner at KKR, chairman of the KKR Global Institute, and chairman of KKR Middle East, which has offices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Petraeus also used his CMCC address to highlight the field manual for counterinsurgency that he developed at the end of 2006. That manual (which is available here) “establishes doctrine (fundamental principles) for military operations in a counterinsurgency (COIN) environment.” In it, Petraeus writes “Not all Islamic insurgents or terrorists are fighting for a global revolution. Some are pursuing regional goals, such as establishing a Sunni Arab-dominated Iraq or replacing Israel with an Arab Palestinian state.”

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No Way To Win in Iran

On 29 January 2026, I was on the “Deep Dive” with Lt. Col. (ret.) Danny Davis. We had an excellent discussion on what President Trump’s options are in a war against Iran. We both agreed that he has no good military option at this point or for the foreseeable future, which is not to say Trump will not attack. But all the evidence indicates that he would be foolish to do so. Indeed, it is quite clear that the Israelis, who asked him not to attack on January 14th, when he appeared ready to do so, still have reservations about the wisdom of an attack.

It is worth noting that the Israelis launched major attacks by themselves against Iran on 19 April 2024 and 26 October 2024. They then launched major attacks with the United States against Iran during the 12-day war in June 2025. Today, Israel is apparently planning to sit on the sidelines while the US attacks Iran by itself.

What is going on? Netanyahu tried hard to drag the Biden administration into attacking Iran with Israel in 2024, but failed. Biden and his lieutenants understood that a war with Iran was not in the American national interest. Netanyahu succeeded, however, in getting Trump to join forces with Israel and attack Iran in June 2025. Now he has helped maneuver Trump into contemplating a US-only war against Iran, although it appears that the Israelis are getting cold feet. Someone is being played for a sucker.

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The new era of Israeli expansionism and the war economy that fuels it

Israel has entered a new era of territorial expansionism and military aggression beyond the borders of historic Palestine. Its belligerent actions have accelerated across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, Libya, and most recently, Somaliland. These developments aren’t due to a change in Israeli strategic ambitions, but rather to the loosening of constraints that had kept it bounded before October 2023.

This expansionist turn reflects a structural recalibration of risk, leverage, and international tolerance rather than a sudden ideological shift. But it is also due to the way Israel’s economy is now structured: the military industry has been carrying the economy ever since Israel experienced a level of global isolation that decimated most other sectors over the past two years. The result? Israel now has an additional structural incentive to be in a perpetual state of war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave voice to this reality when he announced that Israel would need to become a “super Sparta” — a highly militarized warrior state with a self-sufficient military industry, capable of defying international pressure and arms embargoes because it no longer has to rely on American military beneficence.

A crucial recent strategic declaration sharpens this trajectory. In January 2026, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to end U.S. military aid to Israel within roughly a decade, framing this as a path toward military-industrial self-sufficiency and strategic autarky. This announcement signals that Israel is no longer content to remain subordinate to the U.S., instead seeking to operate as its strategic partner in the region at a time when the U.S.’s national security strategy is shifting attention from the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere.

Netanyahu’s declaration amplifies the urgency of the export-led growth model, which is largely based on the arms industry. The problem is, if Israel is to replace $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid, it must dramatically scale up its domestic production and export capacity. 

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