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US, Bahrain Sign Security Agreement and Invite Other Nations to Join

US, Bahrain Sign Security Agreement and Invite Other Nations to Join

by | Sep 13, 2023 |

Washington and Manama signed a strategic security and economic agreement, which furthers plans to build a US-backed military alliance eyeing Iran in the region, on Wednesday. Concurrently, protests against human rights abuses inside Bahrain are ongoing and the White House is striving to forge a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal. Dubbed the “Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement,” the deal was signed during a meeting at Foggy Bottom with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Blinken said the agreement...

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Clashes Continue Erupting Between US Backed Militias in East Syria, Civilians Killed and Injured

Clashes Continue Erupting Between US Backed Militias in East Syria, Civilians Killed and Injured

by | Sep 12, 2023 |

Fighting between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Arab tribesman aligned with Deir Ezzor Military Council (DEMC) erupted again Monday night in eastern Syria, reports The New Arab. Both sides used to be united in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). However, now that the terrorist group is all but vanquished, ethnic tensions amongst the two groups exacerbated by the illegal US occupation have turned into clashes during recent weeks. Per local sources speaking with the outlet, in the town of Abu Humam, SDF drone strikes killed an elderly man while he was working on...

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US, Bahrain to Sign Strategic Security and Economic Agreement

US, Bahrain to Sign Strategic Security and Economic Agreement

by | Sep 11, 2023 |

The US and Bahrain will ink a deal to upgrade the two nations’ strategic partnership this week, according to Axios. One source briefed on the issue said the White House hopes to use this deal as a framework for other regional agreements. The Joe Biden administration is currently striving to induce Riyadh into normalizing with apartheid Israel. Washington and Manama have a strong partnership, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is headquartered at a large base in Bahrain. Since 2002, the Gulf Kingdom has been a major non-NATO ally of the United States, though this does not include a security...

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US Pledges Millions Seized from Russian Oligarch in Latest Ukraine Aid Package

US Pledges Millions Seized from Russian Oligarch in Latest Ukraine Aid Package

by | Sep 11, 2023 |

Attorney General Merrick Garland promises this will not be the last time Kiev will be provided with “forfeited Russian funds.” While visiting Kyiv on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another pledge of funds to Ukraine worth $1 billion in military and other financial aid. Included in that sum is $5.4 million in seized assets belonging to a Russian oligarch and this will go toward veterans’ services. Blinken declared “those who have enabled Putin’s war of aggression should pay for it.” This is the first time sanctioned Russian oligarchs’ assets will be included in an...

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Report: Ukraine’s Growing Assassination Program

Report: Ukraine’s Growing Assassination Program

by | Sep 11, 2023 |

Kiev’s own “Mossad” is shooting, hanging, blowing up, and poisoning dozens of targets in occupied Ukraine as well as the Russian mainland itself. Ukraine’s domestic security service (SBU) has an elite ancillary known as the fifth counter-intelligence directorate, which has taken a central role in “counter-Russia operations” specializing in “wet work” or assassinations, according to a report in The Economist. The report discusses the killing of Yevhen Yunakov, the former mayor of Velykyi Burluk in the Khariv region, after he had been targeted as a “collaborator” with Moscow. Yunakov was...

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Iran, US Prisoner Swap and Funds Release Imminent in Qatari-Mediated Deal

Iran, US Prisoner Swap and Funds Release Imminent in Qatari-Mediated Deal

by | Sep 11, 2023 |

As the result of a deal made possible by at least eight rounds of shuttle diplomacy mediated by Doha, the US and Iran may soon be conducting a prisoner swap. This agreement will additionally see $6 billion in previously frozen funds belonging to Iran transferred to banks in Qatar, where that money will be spent on food and medicine, according to eight Iranian and other sources speaking with Reuters. On August 10, Tehran released four American citizens from prison into house arrest, where they joined a fifth. At least three of them had been accused of spying and cooperating with Washington....

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China, Philippine Vessels in Stand-Off in South China Sea

China, Philippine Vessels in Stand-Off in South China Sea

by | Sep 11, 2023 |

China and the Philippines have engaged in another stand-off near the Second Thomas Shoal, a reef in the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly Islands. This comes as Washington is building up its military presence in the Philippines and elsewhere in the region, eyeing a future war with Beijing. Last month, during a tense confrontation, Chinese Coast Guard ships fired a water cannon at Philippine boats attempting to re-supply a World War II era tank-landing ship. The BRP Sierra Madre, grounded on the reef in 1999, is used by Manilla as a base of operations and to assert its claims. In a more...

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ICC Lead Prosecutor: We Will Prosecute Cyber ‘War Crimes’

ICC Lead Prosecutor: We Will Prosecute Cyber ‘War Crimes’

by | Sep 7, 2023 |

In an article published last month in Foreign Policy Analytics, Karim Khan - the lead prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Hague - declared that his office will now be investigating and potentially prosecuting “war crimes” committed in cyberspace. This comes after Joe Biden ordered his administration to begin sharing evidence of alleged Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine with the ICC. Khan wrote that his office will investigate cyber crimes that possibly violate the Rome Statute. “Cyber warfare does not play out in the abstract. Rather, it can have a...

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Connor Freeman

Connor Freeman is the assistant editor and a writer at the Libertarian Institute, primarily covering foreign policy. He is a co-host on Conflicts of Interest. His writing has been featured in media outlets such as Antiwar.com and Counterpunch, as well as the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He has also appeared on Liberty Weekly, Around the Empire, and Parallax Views. You can follow him on Twitter @FreemansMind96



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