Missiles flying again between Israel, Iran, Yemen & Hezbollah

• Iran’s MFA spokesman says the US bears full responsibility for the ‘Israeli’ aggression, and the consequences of escalating tensions are also on the US. Basically, the aggression against Iran happened in full coordination between Tel Aviv and Washington. The attacks on Iran’s southern regions and the assault on Lebanon are directly the responsibility of the US, and they must be held accountable for these crimes. Exchanging messages with the US happen in an atmosphere of severe mistrust. Iran can’t separate the policies of the Zionist regime from those of the US. 

• Yemen military: "The resistance is pounding Tel Aviv, Haifa, and beyond. The Axis of Resistance will not remain silent in the face of what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon, while the world is in a slumber."
• The IRGC says it targeted the Israeli Ramat David Air Base with ballistic missiles in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon & Beirut’s Dahiyeh. It says Iran accepted the ceasefire only on the condition that all fronts stop firing. The latest attack on northern Israel is a joint Hezbollah-Iran attack. Israel has repeatedly violated the Lebanon ceasefire with US backing, including attacks on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s Dahieh.

• Iran’s Central Military command (Khatam al-Anbiya) says: A painful response was delivered to the regime, and we’ll halt operations for now. However, if aggressions and hostile acts continue, including in southern Lebanon, much harsher and more crushing responses than before will follow.
• During an interview with NBC, Trump unplugged his microphone and left mid-interview because he would not answer the questions and tried to guilt trip the interviewer. 

• The New York Times: The Israeli occupation army used white phosphorus shells in populated areas of southern Lebanon during recent months.
• Gerry Gershon, former deputy commander of the Israeli regime's Northern Front: Israel has lost control of the war, and currently Israel and the US are losing to Iran.
• Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania threatens the protesters opposing the controversial Trump–Kushner resort project:  "Not 5,000 protesters in the streets, not even 500,000 protesters can stop me."

• Russia's Federation Council Speaker Matviyenko: "What we've seen in recent years is an ideologization and politicization of world politics and the world economy that does enormous harm to global development. These ill-considered actions by the collective West harm not only the whole world, but their own peoples as well." 

• Prisoners are brutally humiliated in prisons, forced to carry slippers with their teeth. The Ukrainian Penitentiary Service stated that an investigation is underway and the leadership of the pre-trial detention centre has been suspended. 

• Cuba has started distributing weapons to civilians, urging the population to prepare for a possible US invasion, according to Versión Final. Such measures are related to the growing tension around the island and the strengthening of the American military presence in the region. As CNN correspondent Patrick Oppmann reported, preparations for a possible military scenario have already affected daily life in Havana - in state institutions and organizations, they are discussing actions in case of an emergency and possible military operations. 

• Telegraph: The entire British fleet of nuclear submarines is found to be non-combat ready and awaiting repairs. All five active British Astute-class submarines are in port awaiting repairs or maintenance. The sixth submarine is not yet ready to go to sea. 

• The President of Romania admitted that the drone that exploded in the port of the city of Constanta was Ukrainian. He was unable to answer how the marine drone managed to penetrate the port. 

• Iran’s World Cup squad has been informed that they must leave and enter the US on the same day as their matches, and will not be allowed to stay for any period of time in the US. Iran is the only team in the entire FIFA 2026 World Cup that will be forced to travel back and forth, and will spend their time in Mexico instead.
• Sputnik: The potential deal with Iran that Trump is seeking would benefit Israel, but not Benjamin Netanyahu, who is using the war to stay in power, security expert Dr. Simon Tsipis told Sputnik. "Everything hinges on whether Benjamin Netanyahu is granted a pardon," Tsipis said. "He is using the prospect of clemency as leverage over both Trump and Israel’s institutions, including the Knesset and the Supreme Court. At present, by resuming strikes on Beirut, Netanyahu is trying, via Trump, to secure a pardon from President Herzog," Tsipis said. "If Herzog does not grant him a pardon, Netanyahu will likely continue bombing Beirut, and the deal with Iran will fall apart."

• Trump picks housing regulator Bill Pulte to lead on national intelligence. Pulte, a staunch political supporter of Trump, will replace Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte leads a federal mortgage regulation agency but has no experience with intelligence work. He will be just another Hegseth-type 'Yes man' for Trump.
• Just Foreign Policy: Donald Trump and Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat House leader) don't agree on much. But they agreed on this: You don't get to know what American forces are doing in Lebanon. This week, Congress voted 324 to 92 to block Rep. Rashida Tlaib's Lebanon War Powers Resolution – a measure that would have required the Trump administration to remove US forces from unauthorized hostilities in Lebanon within seven days. Trump demanded Republicans remain unified and stop the Lebanon War Powers Resolution from passing, like the Iran War Powers Resolution just a few days ago. Similarly, Democratic leadership recommended that the rank and file follow President Trump’s direction and vote against the War Powers Resolution, but for a slightly different reason: "There are no US servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon." Here's the problem: WE DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW IF THAT'S TRUE. Pete Hegseth's Pentagon has barred journalists from the building. Press conferences are rare. No mainstream news organizations have reporters embedded with US military units in the Middle East.

• Responding to US-Israeli Lebanese puppet President Joseph Aoun’s exclusive CNN interview, in which he said Iran is holding Lebanon hostage, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Aoun to focus on Lebanon’s “real foe” and added that if Lebanon had been a “bargaining chip” for Iran, a deal would have been reached “long ago.” 
• An airstrike trapped a journalist. She died as rescuers waited for permission to save her. Amal Khalil’s final hours in Lebanon revealed that Israel’s military denied rescuers access to her during a key period when she was still alive.
• Elon Musk has long clashed with the Federal Aviation Administration, which fined SpaceX $633,000 in 2024 for allegedly failing to follow license requirements. It temporarily suspended Starship launches in January 2025 after the rocket exploded for the fifth time. SpaceX requested to cut the FAA’s nuclear payload approval process in 2019 and signed a 2024 committee report recommending the government 'guarantee liability protection for launches with nuclear material'. Musk poured nearly $292 million in contributions to Republicans last election cycle, including $239 million to his America PAC that helped Trump’s comeback by shouldering canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts. “Musk would like to have as little limitations to what he wants to launch as possible,” space law expert Frans von der Dunk told Sludge. “And if he has a government which is very sympathetic to the general idea, and where all the expertise to actually determine whether what he does is reasonably safe [is] eroding, then that worries me a lot.”
• The EU has authorised its warships to detain foreign tankers suspected of transporting Russian oil says Estonian lead pirate Kaja Kallas. Detentions are authorised to be carried out as part of the EU Naval Force operation, which was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea in 2020 to prevent illegal arms supplies to Libya. The EU countries to which the ships belong have not yet confirmed intentions to intercept ships. Europe has previously detained tankers with Russian oil, but soon released them. 

• An Israeli investment group — IDM Capital — has proposed a €136.5 million luxury resort and holiday village on the western part of Kalamata, Greece beachfront, covering approximately 205,000 square metres of coastal land. Greeks who have used that beach for generations would effectively lose access to it. Local residents and opposition politicians are pushing back hard. (More 'Greater Israel')
• Jean Shaoul reported last year that US troops were stationed in Lebanon at air strips not far from Beirut, and that the US was building a $1.2 billion fortified embassy on a 43-acre site near Beirut whose declared purpose was to counter the “Axis of Resistance,” meaning Iran. Shaoul wrote that the embassy’s “scale, out of all proportion to the country’s size, is indicative of US geo-political interests in Lebanon, with its strategic location and newly found sources of gas and oil under the eastern Mediterranean Sea.” Historically, the US has tried to exhibit control in Lebanon through Maronite Christian factions.  

Ajamu Baraka on Resistance to the World Cup & capitalism

In this episode of El Taller, the interview program from the Soberanía podcast, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth sit down with Ajamu Baraka, national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace, former vice presidential candidate of the Green Party, and a lifelong anti-imperialist activist.

The conversation focuses on the upcoming World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico; and the growing movement to oppose it. Baraka explains how the U.S. is using the tournament to sportswash its litany of international crimes: the war of aggression against Iran, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the kidnapping of Venezuela's president, and the escalating threats against Cuba. He describes FIFA's decision to proceed as evidence of the "moral and political bankruptcy" of Western institutions, driven by an estimated $11 billion in projected revenues.

The episode details the work of the Anti-Fascist Football Coalition, which is entering its second phase: organizing in the 11 U.S. host cities to educate the public, amplify local opposition to gentrification and resource diversion, and decide whether to call for an explicit boycott. An organic boycott may already be underway, with hotel bookings in some host cities running below normal summer levels — a consequence of the Trump administration's travel bans, visa-bond demands, and social media screening.

The discussion also touches on Mexico City's experience as a host city, where leftist local government has nonetheless fallen into the same traps: superficial beautification projects, conceding demands for tax exemptions, and pressure to suspend regulations. Baraka draws lessons from Brazil, where hosting massive events under Lula helped lay the groundwork for a subsequent right-wing backlash.

Finally, the conversation turns to Colombia's upcoming presidential election, where the U.S. is actively meddling. Baraka warns that the region is facing a coordinated right-wing offensive, but insists that beneath the surface, revolutionary currents remain alive. "When this is reversed," he says, "it won't be a pink tide. It's going to be blood red."   

Popular Russian media host interviewed by Die Welt

Unterstützen Sie die Weltwoche mit nur einem Klick: Und aktivieren Sie die Glocke, damit Sie keine Sendung mehr verpassen. So helfen Sie mit, unser Programm weiter auszubauen. Herzlichen Dank!  

The interview, after a brief intro by the host in his native language, is done in English. 

It's a very interesting interview featuring very popular Russian TV pundit Vladimir Soloviev with Swiss-born Die Welt journalist Roger Koppel. 

They discuss the war in Ukraine from a Russian perspective.

Soloviev asks the host, 'What happened to the west'?

Monthly anti-war protest visits Norway, Maine

Tom Whitney holding the 'Bring Our War $$$ Home' banner

Twenty of us from around the state gathered in Norway, Maine yesterday for another of our monthly anti-war vigils that we've been holding since early 2022.

Norway is in the southwest part of Maine, close to the New Hampshire border. Retired doctor Tom Whitney, a long-time major supporter of Cuba, was the host organizer and turned out some locals to join us. (I once heard that Tom had delivered half the babies in the area years ago.)

As usual we spread out in a very busy intersection. There was a tiny a bit of occasional misty rain but the steadier flow held off until we headed home. (MB and I chanted "Rain, rain go away. Come back at 3 o'clock" on our lovely countryside drive to Norway from our home in Brunswick.)

Norway (just next to South Paris and near West Paris) is fairly conservative and rural. But in spite of that we received warm greetings from many vehicles passing us by. More and more people are reacting to the current insanity.

After our closing circle a dozen of us went to a nearby local home style restaurant to continue talking about life in a growing fascist nation - now formally united, with congressional approval, in endless war$ with our 'partner in crime' Israel.

Having just made the long drive from Maine to our Pentagon civil resistance court hearing in Virginia and back, the four of us (Mark, Lisa, MB and me) still got our road-weary bones to Norway and we were glad we did!

Here is our busy upcoming summer schedule:

• Protest the Blue Angels airshow at former navy base in Brunswick on July 11 at 9:00 am
• Our next monthly rotating protest will be in Bangor on July 25 at West Market Square in downtown at 11:00 am (Please note the change from our usual time)
• Monthly protest on August 1 in Lubec (at the Canadian border) at 1:30 pm

Until then keep paddling.

Bruce

~ Photos by MB Sullivan 

Keep Screaming....a poem and a review of this week's war crimes

Ferial Abu Haikal mourns her baby grandson Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, who was shot in the face by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on June 5, 2026 (Hazem Bader for AFP)

       

  

By Yussra

watching you
I feel like
I have never
known hardship

except my distress
at failing
to convey
your message

when we tell them
what they do
to your children

and they tell us
to go home

 but we won’t
because you can’t

their words break me
their drones kill you

watching you
I feel like
I have never
tasted injustice

the blood
on the onesie
is our fault

and the wedding suit
in the dust
that same weekend

a woman hated my sign
yelling: “I didn’t do shit”
and I thought: “exactly”

we are guilty
I accuse us all

when the sun sets
and your oppressor
is still standing

how dare we
fail you?

and what can we do
but keep screaming
at the silent?

the day will come
the day will come

an Israeli strike on Tyre in Lebanon on May 28, 2026 (Kawant Haju for AFP)

While you’re here, please allow me to share an incomplete collection of Israel’s recent war crimes, all just from the first week of June 2026. The dates bulleted below are all clickable links. Please note that this list doesn’t even include the many atrocities committed by Jewish supremacist settler terrorists in the West Bank this week, nor much of the corruption spread by the Zionist empire around the world every single day. It can be hard to keep up, but this short presents a great point: there are so many activists striving for liberation, and we don’t all have to cover everything, as long as each of us carries our corner.

• June 1: Israel bombs a hospital in Tyre, Lebanon, killing 4 people and injuring 127
• June 5: Israeli strikes kill 35 people in Lebanon and injure 120 in a single day
• June 5: Israel transfers Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya into solitary confinement (the Palestinian hospital director and pediatrician who Israeli forces kidnapped and have been torturing in their dungeons for a year and a half now)
• June 5: Israeli soldiers shoot a baby in the face in the West Bank, killing him and injuring his parents
• June 6: Israel kills a groom hours before his wedding in Khan Younis, Gaza
• June 6: Israel kills several people in a strike on a wedding in Gaza City (seemingly in a separate incident on the same day)
• June 6: Israel kills several people in a strike on a tent camp in Gaza City (again, from what I can tell, in a separate incident on the same day)

By the time you read these words, Israel is likely to have committed many more war crimes, but their day will come sooner if we keep screaming insha’Allah, refusing to get used to genocide.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL. 

Sunday song

the funnies

China just exposed Europe’s biggest weakness

Europe is facing one of the most important strategic decisions in decades. As Brussels considers tougher trade measures against China, deep divisions are emerging inside the European Union itself.  

Germany and Spain are warning against measures that could damage exports and investment, while France and other countries are pushing for stronger action against Chinese competition. Meanwhile, Beijing has issued a direct warning that any discriminatory restrictions will be met with retaliation.

In this GVS Deep Dive, we examine:

✔ Why the EU believes its trade relationship with China has become “unsustainable”

✔ China’s electric vehicle export boom and growing manufacturing dominance

✔ Germany’s record trade deficit with China

✔ Why BASF is investing €10 billion in China despite rising tensions

✔ The battle over telecom networks and Chinese technology

✔ How deteriorating US-EU relations are influencing Europe’s China policy

✔ Whether Europe can realistically reduce dependence on China

✔ Why Beijing sees an opportunity in Europe’s growing divisions

Is Europe preparing for economic confrontation with China, or discovering that its dependence on Chinese markets runs deeper than many policymakers expected?   

Pentagon protest court decision

Our appearance yesterday in district court in Alexandria, Virginia indicated how the Pentagon fears protests at the home of the newly declared 'Department of War'. 

We began the morning at 8:00 am holding vigil in front of the courthouse that was set in a part of the city that looked like it belonged to the elite class. Not a blade of grass was out of place. The buildings were grand - whether the court, hotels or apartment blocks. No trash was anywhere to be seen, which is unusual in most urban centers across America these days. 

I chose to take my banner that read 'Countdown to Insanity' and stood on a nearby corner where lots of traffic was busily heading to and fro.  Several older women out walking stopped to ask me what was going on with the crowd of just over 50 people (24 of whom were those of us who had the court appearances for our March 27 Pentagon protest and arrests).

Three of our original group of 27 were earlier excused from appearing due to a stroke by Patrick O'Neill, who led our March 27 civil resistance action at the Pentagon. Patrick is now in the hospital near his home in North Carolina and it sadly appears he has a long road to recovery. His wife and one of his daughters had also been arrested and were excused by the government from appearing.

Just after 9:00 am we were called into the court and sat through an hour of traffic violation cases before the prosecutor informed the judge that the government was dropping the charges 'without prejudice'. This phrasing is confusing but it actually means that the government can at any time re-charge the 24 of us and haul us back into court. (It's really a threat, a scare tactic, to keep us from coming back.) But the judge, a rather uptight middle-aged man, made sure to tell us that it is not usually likely that this would happen.

We also were told that the two Pentagon 'police' in uniform standing in the back of the court were going to hand us a letter telling us we were banned from all Pentagon 'reservation' lands for an 'undetermined' time. 

One of our leaders asked for a list of these so-called off-limits 'reservation lands'. We got no response. We were told we would be given this ban letter but did not have to sign it - but it would still be in force anyway. After things were all over we left the building and all of our 24 'now free' people refused to take the letter from the Pentagon police.

But before we left the court our dialogue with the judge carried on for more than 30 minutes. Essentially he told us that we were free to do as we wished but we'd suffer penalties if we continued to 'break the law'. If we wanted to really change things he suggested we go and vote. I yelled out from my seat in the courtroom 'Tell that to Thomas Massey in Kentucky' - the Republican Congressman who was just defeated for re-election by Trump and AIPAC. They spent $32 million against him because he had the temerity to repeatedly speak out against Trump's wars and his failure to release all the Epstein files.

It's more than obvious that the Pentagon did not want the 24 of us, from all over the country, to go on trial. They knew that we would attempt to put the war machine on trial for its many crimes. 

One of my favorite moments was when one of the men in our group made a loud statement that we the taxpayers were not trespassing - it was the Pentagon that is now trespassing in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and ...... 

So much for democracy in the land of freedom and justice. 

There is already talk amongst some in the Catholic Worker community about returning to the Pentagon again for another such action. I'll be sure to let folks know what comes of this.

We were proud to be part of the March 27 protest and despite the long trip from Maine it was an honor to stand with the other determined peacemakers as we demanded that the Pentagon stop its daily killing of people around the globe and toxifying lands which its more than 800 unwanted bases currently occupy.

Bruce  

Malcolm X : Expanding Civil Rights to Human Rights

While touring Africa soon before his assassination in 1965 Malcolm X was urging leaders throughout Africa to help black people in the US by reframing the struggle in the US as one being about Human Rights. 

By doing this it would give black people in the US the access to take the issue to the United Nations. 

Calling the struggle 'civil rights' limited their organizing avenue to the US Congress that was then heavily controlled by the southern racists.

Many believe this was one more key reason for the FBI to have killed Malcolm. He was turning the racism issue in the US into an international issue that people, particularly in Africa, could become more directly involved.