The United States is aiming to bring the Palestinian Authority (PA) into the Abraham Accords, several diplomats told the Times of Israel. The White House is pushing out the plan as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is losing his grip on power.
US News The Oregon National Guard engaged in war games with the Bangladesh armed forces. [Link] Venezuela is buying and leasing oil tankers in anticipation of the US lifting sanctions. [Link] Russia A top Pentagon official says the US is working on a plan to send S-300 parts and missiles to Ukraine. [Link] Biden announces $500 million in direct budgetary aid to Ukraine. [Link] Biden will invoke the Defense Production Act to increase the output of electric vehicle batteries. [Link] Senator Rand Paul cuts a deal with the body to allow quicker passage of a bill that will end the normal...
On COI #255, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman discuss the latest Iran news, military spending in President Joe Biden’s massive 2023 budget request, and why the antiwar movement was right about the new Cold War with Russia. Kyle covers Biden’s new sanctions imposed on Iran over their ballistic missile program and what this means for a U.S. return to the nuclear deal. Connor talks about Iran’s apparent refusal to accept a deal unless the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is removed from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) blacklist. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel...
On Monday, the White House released its spending proposal for the 2023 fiscal year. The whopping $5.8 trillion budget includes $773 billion for the Pentagon. However, billions in war spending are allocated to other government agencies, including the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Biden administration’s spending plan calls for the two agencies to receive a combined $60 billion for various global projects. One program directed by the State Department doles out military aid. In the coming year, Isreal will get $3.3 billion, Jordan will receive $1.45...
US News The Supreme Court removes a lower counts ruling that prohibited the Pentagon from altering the deployment of unvaccinated Navy SEALs. [Link] The Biden administration will request an $813 billion war budget in 2023. [Link] Russia Australia sanctions the president of Belarus and his family. Canberra also blacklisted several media organizations including Russia Today and the Strategic Culture Foundation. [Link] The US and EU reach an agreement that would reduce the bloc’s imports of Russian energy. [Link] NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had his term extended for another year....
The US weapons sector had a good day on Thursday, with Senator Rand Paul’s effort to block a $2 billion weapons sale to Egypt rejected in the upper chamber as President Joe Biden doles out 'major non-NATO ally' designations to other repressive states.
“At the same time, we see that there is almost no difference between the group called Free Syrian Army or other jihadist groups and ISIS. For instance, these ‘moderate’ opposition groups burned the churches down, when they entered Kessab. They entered Malula, where there is still an ancient Christian community speaking Aramaic. They destroyed that place too. There are many other examples like these.” - Harout Ekmanian In the Western press, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was viewed as a moderate, secular, rebel force fighting to topple the Syrian government and to establish a democratic state...
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that European troops will begin exiting Mali after nine years. Operation Barkhane – which has become known as ‘France’s Forever War’ – will wind down its ground operations over the next six months. The decision comes after months of increasing tensions with the ruling military leadership of Mali, headed by Col. Assimi Goïta. The colonel most recently seized power during his second coup last May. While Goïta is currently at odds with the West, he was backed by France and the US after his first successful coup in 2020. He has also participated in...
US News People are being removed from transplant lists because they have not received a covid vaccination. [Link] The NYPD is trying to block the civilian oversight board from seeking accountability for an officer who hit a child with his car. [Link] The NYT is using a FOIA to seek State Department emails mentioning Hunter Biden from 2015-2019. [Link] Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines says the US over-classifies information. [Link] The Navy will appeal an order from the Hawaiian government to drain the fuel from massive tanks at Red Hill that have leaked into the drinking...
“I have been a refugee for 37 years due to my political engagement against the ruling Baath party. I cannot go back to Syria without being punished. But I see what the western countries, Turkey, and the Gulf states are now trying to do to my country. It has nothing to do with human rights or democracy. They want to divide the country and get rid of an opponent to the US´ plans for the region.”- Saliba Mourad Introduction Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, President Bashar al-Assad has claimed that Syria was the victim of a plot by Western imperialist powers seeking to effect regime...
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