Just In: Trump & Netanyahu betrayed Arab leaders on Gaza 'ceasefire'

At the UN, Arab states thought they had a deal: no permanent occupation, no forced displacement, and a path to statehood.

However, just hours before the announcement, Netanyahu revised the plan, and Trump backed it.

📜 TOP KEY CHANGES:

🇶🇦 Qatar clause removed. Israel no longer pledges not to strike Qatar.

🇺🇸 U.S.–Israel coordination deleted. External pressure on Hamas was downplayed.

⏱️ Hostage return delayed. 48 hrs → 72 hrs.

🚫 Hamas is entirely banned and barred from any role in governance.

💣 Demilitarization toughened. Tunnels, weapons, and infrastructure must be destroyed under the monitors.

🏛️ Governance redefined. Run by a foreign-backed technocratic authority. (Trump, Blair and other criminals.)

🪖 Security force expanded. Includes Jordan and Egypt, as well as oversight of the Palestinian police.

🕰️ Withdrawal made vague. IDF leaves only after “agreed milestones.”

🧠 Narrative shift softened. Now applies to both Palestinians and Israelis.

👉 In the end, Netanyahu got what he wanted, and Trump sold out the Arab and Muslim world again. 

It is now beyond obvious that Israel (Epstein & AIPAC) has had Trump by the balls for years. He is a captive, a slave to the zionists and will kill any and all that he is instructed to do.

MAGA now means MIGA!

How can any self-respecting Arab and Muslim nation ever believe any words muttered by these two wicked crooks! 

Alert: Crew members of the Global Sumud Flotilla have received an emergency alert after an Israeli occupation navy ship was detected near the flotilla. The zionist ship is now intimidating, damaging our communication systems and doing very dangerous manouvers circling our lead boats ALMA and SIRIUS! Despite the loss of electronic devices, no one has been injured and we KEEP ON GOING!

New Mexico state senator called out by daughter for Israel trip

Digital creator Maddie Block slams her father, Republican state senator from New Mexico Jay Block, after he joined colleagues on a trip to Israel attending the ‘50 States One Israel’ conference where they met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

She says the visit amounted to a “propaganda tour” and claims her father is now spreading Israeli talking points denying civilian killings in Gaza. 

The video highlights growing concerns over foreign influence on US state-level politicians while Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more nearly 700,000 Palestinians, according to the zionist IOF.

She asks the relevant question - how does this trip benefit the voters in New Mexico. 

Matthew Hoh: Bodyguard of Lies

    
By Matthew Hoh

As has been said, truth is the first casualty of war...         

I’m in a major documentary premiering today on Paramount+

Bodyguard of Lies, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney and director Dan Krauss, details the lies by four US presidential administrations that sustained the Afghan War for twenty years. The film is based on the Afghan Papers, the 2019 Washington Post expose that detailed how hundreds of American officials had testified to the Afghan Special Inspector General for Reconstruction that the war was unwinnable, known to be unwinnable, but continued anyway.

There is sincerely not one aspect of the war that I can think of that wasn’t dominated by lies and deceit. Even the American casualty counts were disingenuous. More than 2,300 American service members and civilian officials, including my friend Mike Weston, serving there as a DEA officer, were killed from 2001 to 2021 in Afghanistan. However, nearly 4,000 contractors were killed in the war. As a result of the mass privatization of war begun in the 1990s, nearly every one of those contractors was doing a job that in a previous war would have been performed by an American soldier. Using contractors rather than soldiers hides many costs of war, including casualties. Until this film, I have never seen a major media report include those 4,000 contractors in the casualty count. I don’t need to explain why the government would rather say 2,300 killed instead of 6,300.*

For those interested in an explanation of all the different forms of lies of the war, please see my 2019 C-SPAN interview and the accompanying essay, Time for Peace in Afghanistan and an End to the Lies. 

Of course, my dissent from the war began in 2009. For those who want to see how my critique of the war holds up 16 years later, here is my resignation letter.

Here’s another clip from the film, which has a special place in my heart because its thumbnail is of some kid at some God-forsaken combat outpost stirring shit:

I spoke with Judge Napolitano about the film, as well as the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the coming annexation of the West Bank - something we all should be doing everything we can to help the Palestinians resist, violently and non-violently.

Finally, thank you to everyone who reached out during my six-month media absence. I’m well, it’s just my issues from my TBI require me to get rest. I hope such breaks in the future will not be needed.

*To their great credit and my immense respect, the filmmakers painstakingly went through the 3,917 identified contractors as killed in the war to identify roughly 2,000 Americans and included those men and women in the film’s final casualty count. 

Trump-Blair-Netanyahu's Scam Peace Deal for Palestine

 

By Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis)

TRUMP'S PERSONAL ANNEXATION OF GAZA, UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF TONY BLAIR, IS THE US-ISRAEL CONDITION FOR PAUSING THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA. IT MUST BE REJECTED FORTHWITH!

The Trump-Netanyahu plan would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous for World Peace. To pause the genocide, Trump and Netanyahu demand the following:

1. Palestinians must agree to forfeit any political or human rights and to be annexed by… Donald J. Trump who will then appoint as Gaza’s Administrator Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister whose Iraq exploits left him open to credible accusations of war crimes.

2. The UN plays no role except the distribution of humanitarian aid.

3. Indefinite occupation of Gaza by the US and Israel in the form of a new occupying force involving US allies – a new occupying force which will be controlled at will by Washington and Tel Aviv for as long as they deem necessary.

4. Complete partition of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, with Gaza separated legally from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israel will be allowed to continue its ethnic cleansing unimpeded.

5. Release of the approximately 40 remaining Israeli hostages with the simultaneous release of 1,500 Palestinians, leaving approximately 13,500 Palestinians held hostage by the Israeli state in Israeli prisons

6. Palestinians to renounce their right to resisting the illegal occupation of their land.

Who actually runs this show?

Apart from the fact that such an agreement:

• nullifies the International Court of Justice (which in June 2024 ordered Israel to withdraw immediately and completely from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza), 

• and abolishes both International Law and the United Nations’ obligation to enforce it,

• it also makes a mockery of the recent decisions of the governments of Britain, France, Canada and Australia to recognise the State of Palestine—a state that, if the Trump-Netanyahu Plan is implemented, will not be possible without the consent of the US and Israel.

Notwithstanding that the Trump-Netanyahu plan is welcomed by many Arab countries, including the Palestinian Authority, we should not lose sight of the fact that international public pressure on Israel is bearing fruit. Even this shameful plan would not have come about without this pressure. 

Now, therefore, is the time to increase this pressure even further, and not to be distracted by the Trump-Netanyahu demands, so that equal political and human rights can become a reality from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Otherwise, if the Trump-Netanyahu plan is implemented, it will return Humanity, officially, to the Law of the White Coloniser who chooses which land to occupy, which conquered peoples it will deploy as its agents, and which it will exterminate.

For this reason, DiEM25 calls on every party, every people, every human being to do whatever it takes to shoot down the arrogant, dangerous Trump-Netanyahu Plan – a plan that boils down to a last-ditch effort by those perpetrating, aiding and abetting our generation’s genocide to prevent Freedom and Equality from blossoming on the blood-soaked land of Palestine.

~  Yanis Varoufakis was the finance minister of Greece. Born in Athens in 1961, Varoufakis was for many years a professor of economics in Britain, Australia and the USA before he became the finance minister of Greece. He is co-founder of the international grassroots movement DiEM25 and, since 2019, has been leading its parliamentary party in Greece's Parliament alongside his role as a Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.

U.S. demands South Korea pay $350 Billion extortion

Progressive Party Holds Unyielding Sit-In at U.S. Embassy Since September 23

By Simone Chun a U.S.-based researcher on U.S.-Korea relations, Board member of the Korea Policy Institute, and manager of Korea Update (KoreaUpdate@simonechun)

“I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping me must also succeed in killing me.” Frederick Douglass

Yes, the person who bullies and whips you like that can kill you. Then it would be too late—you would be a corpse. That was my thought last week when I read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave with my student. Some struggles in life are literally matters of life and death: pure survival. The same can be true for a nation. A clear case in point is Trump’s latest “whipping” of Korea—tariff bullying against the country.

What the Trump team is doing—weaponizing economic power for imperial ends against Korea—amounts to an embargo and a sanction regime in all but name. It threatens Korea’s very survival. This latest demand has nothing to do with trade or tariffs; it is a naked act of economic plunder aimed squarely at Korea. In this sense, Washington’s “whipping” can succeed in threatening the nation itself.

Trump is insisting that Seoul pay $350 billion “up front.” That figure equals roughly 74 percent of Korea’s annual government budget and exceeds the nation’s total global foreign direct investment over the past five years. Worse, Washington reportedly expects 90 percent of the profits in return—terms that anyone in Seoul can see are untenable.

Handing over such a sum within 45 days would be economic suicide. Trump’s first “capital call” of $350 billion already threatens to gut the nation’s finances. Meeting it would require Korea to ship out 84 percent of its $410 billion in foreign reserves almost overnight, inviting a catastrophic foreign-exchange crisis. And it will not end there: demands disclosed so far already total over $685 billion.

This is precisely how the 1997 IMF crisis began—a sudden shortage of foreign currency drove the won [currency] into freefall, doubling the exchange rate from ₩1,400 per U.S. dollar to nearly twice that level. A repeat would plunge Korean citizens and businesses alike into an economic hellscape. Koreans still carry trauma from the 1997 IMF crisis. Many never fully recovered—bankrupt businesses, young people who grew up in households ravaged by layoffs and debt were pushed into low-wage labor, while household debts soared dangerously. Then came Yoon Suk-yeol, who further weakened Korea’s economy. Koreans barely rescued the sinking nation through the Revolution of Light and elected Lee Jae-myung.

Despite this pressure, the Lee administration is resisting quietly. President Lee Jae-myung warned in a September 22 Reuters interview that the nation could face a crisis rivaling 1997 if it bows to Washington’s demands. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok has stated that Korean investment projects in the U.S. will remain frozen until basic issues—such as visa access—are resolved. South Korea’s own National Security Advisor has said the country cannot possibly meet such a demand at once.

The vigil continues around the clock. The South Koreans are the most determined activists I've ever witnessed. (Bruce)

The National Assembly is also pushing back. A resolution opposing the unilateral U.S. investment demand has drawn swift, broad support. Sixty-five lawmakers—including members of the ruling Democratic Party, the Progressive Party, the Rebuilding Korea Party, and the Basic Income Party—have co-sponsored a motion urging Washington to withdraw its $350 billion ultimatum. Progressive legislator Yoon Jong-oh initiated the proposal, and the Progressive Party has maintained a sit-in outside the U.S. Embassy since September 23.

President Lee now faces the most brutal pressure Washington has ever directed at a newly elected Korean leader. At this moment, the nation must speak with one voice to resist the Trump administration’s strong-arm tactics.

That economies larger than Korea’s—Japan and the European Union—have capitulated, while Korea under President Lee is quietly resisting and posing a direct challenge to Trump, is unacceptable to Washington—that is the real problem.

I believe that history is made by the small and the seemingly powerless. Koreans must assume that role now. The country—and the world—are watching. Washington’s intensified coercion should empower Koreans to stand up against the United States and chart an independent path. President Lee must trust the people and refuse this exploitative U.S. demand outright. President Lee Jae-myung reportedly told the U.S. Secretary of Commerce that Korea will not sign a “slave contract.” Korea’s quiet resistance deserves global solidarity to escape from “a den of hungry lions.”

The genie of ‘Israeli First’ dominance is out of the bottle

IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian men near a checkpoint west of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, on September 11, 2025.

 

 

 

Netanyahu will soon find that Israel has lost America – and the rest of the world, too.

By Alastair Crooke (Strategic Culture Foundation) 

‘Gaza is on fire; the Jewish state will not relent’, Israeli Defence Minister Katz excitedly proclaims: “The IDF is striking with an Iron fist at terrorist infrastructure”. In fact, over recent weeks Israel has struck at ‘infrastructure’ in West Bank, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Tunisia – besides Gaza.

The so-called ‘Rules-Based Order’ blueprint (if it ever truly existed beyond narrative) has been ripped up in favour of violent Zionism: Genocide, sneak attacks under the guise of on-going peace negotiations, assassinations, and the de-capitation of political leaderships. It is war without limits; without rules; without law; and in complete disdain for the UN Charter. Ethical boundaries, more particularly, are dismissed as mere ‘moral relativism’.

Something profound is re-shaping Israeli foreign policy. The transformation needs be understood as a U-turn within the very core of Zionist thinking (a journey from Ben Gurion to Kahane), as Yossi Klein has written.

Israel’s strategy from past decades continues to rest on the hope of achieving some literal Chimeric transformative ‘de-radicalisation’ of both Palestinians and of the Region, writ large – a de-radicalisation that will make ‘Israel safe’. This has been the ‘holy grail’ objective for Zionists since Israel was first founded.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer claims that such radical mutation in consciousness will only come from the bombing of opponents into utter submission. (The lesson which he draws from WWII). One aspect – Israel’s foreign policy – then is clear: It is the ‘War of the Jungle’.

But there is another aspect; one perhaps more troubling: These norms and ethical principles that Israel openly seeks to tear apart are, in the last resort, American proclaimed norms and values. Strikingly, the U.S. has abandoned its traditional ethos when it comes to Israel. And rather than criticise or seek to limit Israel’s use of such norm-busting military actions, the Trump Administration emulates them – sneak attacks under the guise of talking peace, de-capitation attempts, and striking with missiles at unknown vessels off Venezuela, vaporising the crew.

The U.S. is doing this openly – thumbing its nose, like Israel, at international law and conventions.

It does appear that key components of the U.S. Establishment increasingly favour the military strategies of Israel and even are shifting from the moral ethos of a ‘Just War’, shall we say, to one closer to the Hebraic ethos of ‘Amalek’. It amounts to updating western moral ‘software’ with the alternative ‘justice’ of absolute war.

Does the Israel state have a future? Israel is now carrying out a second Nakba in Gaza and the West Bank, with Jewish society remaining trapped in repression and denial – just as it was back in 1948. Israeli Historian, Ilan Pappe wrote in 2006 in his seminal work on the 1948 Nakba the fundamental importance of “retrieving [the events of 1948] from oblivion”:

Once the decision was taken [on 10 March 1948], it took six months to complete the mission. When it was over, more than half of Palestine’s native population, close to 800,000 people, had been uprooted, 531 villages … destroyed, and eleven urban neighbourhoods emptied of their inhabitants. The plan … and above all its systematic implementation in the following months, was a clear-cut case of an ethnic cleansing operation, regarded under international law today as a crime against humanity …

The story of 1948 is not complicated … It is the simple but horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, a crime against humanity that Israel has wanted to deny and cause the world to forget. Retrieving it from oblivion is incumbent upon us, not just as a greatly overdue act of historiographical reconstruction or professional duty; it is … a moral decision, the very first step we must take if we ever want reconciliation to have a chance.

I wrote recently how Israeli film-maker Neta Shoshani’s controversial documentary about the 1948 Nakba showed Israeli ethical and legal boundaries to have been erased in a bout of bloodletting and rape. The absolute loss of ethos (there was no accounting or justice), Shoshani says, imperilled the then-legitimacy of the State founding project. Repeated a second time – the current war – she warns, “could be the one That Ends Israel”.

Shoshani’s comments hint at the trauma felt by secular liberal Jews at witnessing the norms and lifestyle of their largely secular-liberal society upended by the swivel towards the militaristic and eschatological objectives of the Israeli Right. Finance Minister Smotrich declared recently that the Jewish people are experiencing “the process of redemption and the return of the divine presence to Zion – as they engage in the ‘conquest of the land’”.

 

Many European Jews did arrive in the new Israeli state to find safety and protection, however, they also came to participate in the Zionist project in Palestine.

For now, Netanyahu states he has Trump’s “100%” support and “unlimited credit” for the maelstrom unleashed across the region. As Ben Caspit writes, quoting a senior Israeli diplomat:

“The fact that Rubio landed here just days after the [Doha] attack, and voiced almost no criticism — in fact, the opposite — gives a tailwind to Israel’s operation in Gaza … Israel has not received such a generous and long line of credit from any American administration”.

And Trump seems to be moving away from the ‘global peacemaker’ moniker to concentrate more narrowly on demonstrating American ‘exceptional greatness’ – through tariffs, sanctions or military operations – thus demonstrating a dominating, if not Great, America.

Yet the problems are all too apparent: In previous years, Israel had been largely relegated to the sidelines at the U.S. National Conservatism Conference. This time around, the Jewish state and its wars couldn’t be avoided. The latest Conservatism conference slid into ‘civil war’ between the neo-con ‘realists’ supporting Israel, and those asking: “Why are these our wars? Why are Israel’s endless problems America’s liabilities? Why should we accept [Israel as being part of] ‘America First’?”, as the editor of The American Conservative exploded: “We f***ing shouldn’t!”

The tension within the Republican Party is obvious: MAGA supporters wish to support Trump, but the big Jewish donors and commentators, such as pro-Israel hawk Max Abrahms, mocked Tucker Carlson-loving “MAGA isolationists” at the conference, who had gone “insane” in their push to disengage from the Middle East.

Trump warned Netanyahu that the genocide in Gaza is causing Israel to bleed support among Republicans, including especially among younger people. Nonetheless, Trump has not modified his unwavering support for Israel (for whatever reason), but he has taken notice of the ‘mood vibe’ amongst his base.

If Trump has indeed noticed the change, Netanyahu doesn’t care. As Amir Tibon in Haaretz reports:

“If Trump thinks his comments on Israel’s loss of ‘control over Congress’ will be a wake-up call for Netanyahu, he’s mistaken. Israelis didn’t need Trump to know that their country is losing the battle over global public opinion”.

“Netanyahu and Ron Dermer … are at peace with Israel’s loss of international support, heightened isolation, the threats of sanctions against it, and arrest warrants for its leaders (including Netanyahu himself). The two don’t seem to care, and the reason, ironically, is the very man sounding the alarm: Donald Trump”.

“From Netanyahu’s point of view, as long as he’s got Trump’s backing – none of it matters”.

Well, Israel’s wars have lost a generation of young American conservatives – and they’re not coming back. Whatever the circumstances to the killing of Charlie Kirk, his death has let loose the genie of ‘Israeli First’ dominance in Republican politics to escape from the bottle.

When Netanyahu does peer out, he will find that Israel has lost America (and the rest of the world, too).

~ Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum.  

Who are the violent extremists?

Caitlin Johnstone

I think it's worth remembering this as the empire harnesses the emotional hysteria around Charlie Kirk's death to whip up a moral panic about violent radical leftists in the United States in order to justify increased authoritarian measures to stomp out political dissent. 

The real violence is coming from the powerful manipulators who want you consenting to these measures. 

The call is coming from inside the house. 

Reading by Tim Foley.

** If you want to know how this violence in Palestine actually began then check out the story of the Nakba in 1948.  

Sunday song

Trump orders all U.S. generals to Quantico base

The Pentagon issued an urgent, highly unusual directive calling hundreds of generals and admirals (1–4 star officers and their senior enlisted advisers) to assemble in Virginia; many senior officers reportedly don’t know the reason for the meeting.

Commentators describe the order as extraordinary because such large in-person gatherings of top commanders are rare and could signal something significant beyond routine video conferences.

There is speculation the meeting may be tied to military actions or planning related to recent moves in the Caribbean and threats involving Venezuela, and possibly coordination concerning Iran (snapback sanctions were mentioned as imminent in the discussion).

The transcript criticizes recent U.S. strikes on small boats allegedly carrying narcotics: speakers call the strikes reckless and potentially illegal, arguing rules of engagement require positive identification and that non-lethal alternatives exist (seizure, arrest, investigation).

One speaker emphasizes military duty to refuse unlawful orders, and laments that no senior officers have publicly resigned over the strikes.

The U.S. currently has significant naval forces near Venezuela (destroyers, a cruiser, littoral combat ship, amphibious ships with Marines) and units rehearsing landings — commentators warn this could lead to an attack on Venezuela.

Observers note the U.S. has grown accustomed to using force preemptively overseas and worry these recent actions are escalatory, potentially dragging the country toward more conflict.

Overall tone: alarmed—speakers view the meeting and recent strikes as worrying signs of possible escalation and poor adherence to legal/ethical military standards.

the funnies

 

The sharks are out

 

Words from the zionists about Flotilla

 

We zionists

just can't stand it!

 

The audacity

of the world

sending aid 

to Gaza.

 

Who do they 

think they are?!

 

We are the chosen people!

We decide who lives

and who dies!

 

Just look at how

we so easily

(with US & UK help of course)

dispatched the 

peace negotiations 

in Qatar!

 

And now we will sink

every damn 'Hamas' boat

coming from Europe

(claiming they are

carrying aid - 

just more lies) 

trying to tell us

how to run the 

land given to us

by God himself!

 

So turn those boats

around and return home

or they will be sunk

to the bottom 

of the stormy seas! 

 

And tell Trump

to send us more

air defense systems,

we just might

soon enough need them....

 

Bruce 

Targeting Venezuela

By Alan MacLeod

To justify war on Venezuela, the US labels President Maduro “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.” Yet, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s World Drug Report 2025 explains that cocaine — the drug most associated with South America — is primarily produced in Colombia, Peru, or Bolivia and transported via ports in Ecuador to the US. Venezuela is not mentioned at all in the 98-page document, which catalogs producers, consumers, suppliers and supply lines of drugs. The Drug Enforcement Agency’s own 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment report essentially agrees with the U.N. Indeed, the 90-page document touches on Venezuela in only two paragraphs on a single page. The section addresses Tren de Aragua’s (TDA) criminal activities, but does not attempt to link them to the Venezuelan government.

A National Intelligence Council report concedes that: “The Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the US.” While Tren de Aragua might be far less powerful than it is often depicted, it at least exists, something which cannot be said for the Cartel of the Suns, the drug-running syndicate supposedly headed by Maduro himself. Experts largely agree that the group is fictional. President Maduro said most of the profits from the drug trade stay in the US. “85% of the billions from international drug trafficking each year are in banks in the US. That is where the cartel is; let them investigate and uncover it. There is $500 billion in the US banking system, in reputable banks. If they want to investigate a cartel, let them investigate the one up north. It is from the US that all drug trafficking is directed towards South America and the rest of the world. They also control the opium trade, and more. It is in the United States where the mafias are, where the real cartels operate.”

Secretary of State Rubio, whose own family is deeply intertwined with the world of drug smuggling. Rubio’s brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, is a former drug runner who served 12 years in a Florida prison for crimes related to the smuggling and distribution of cocaine. Rubio maintains a close relationship with Cicilia: after the latter’s release from prison, he used his political position to pressure a Florida regulator to grant him a real estate license. Across much of Latin America, the Secretary of State has long been known by critics as “Narco Rubio.”

In 2014, Juan Orlando Hernández came to power in Honduras following a U.S.-backed coup. He quickly began using his position to enrich himself, allying with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. Last year, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for distributing more than 400 tons of cocaine into the US. Throughout his crimes, the U.S. government supported his administration, working to ensure the left did not return to power. Going further back, the Reagan administration funded, trained and armed the Contra death squads in Nicaragua, in an attempt to overthrow the leftist Sandinista Party. 

Putin makes offer to extend NEW START nuclear weapons limits for one year

Los Alamos Study Group: "Trump should accept this offer immediately. There are no downsides from any responsible perspective."

By Greg Mello

Albuquerque, NM -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to extend the quantitative nuclear arsenal limits of New START for one year, which would allow time to negotiate a further extension of the treaty if the U.S. and Russia agree. 

In Putin's words, 

    "The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities. A complete renunciation of this treaty’s legacy would, from many points, be a grave and short-sighted mistake. It would also have adverse implications for the objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

    "In order to prevent the emergence of a new strategic arms race and to preserve an acceptable degree of predictability and restraint, we consider it reasonable to maintain at this turbulent time the status quo established under New START. Accordingly, Russia is prepared to continue observing the treaty’s central quantitative restrictions for one year after February 5, 2026.

    "Following that date, based on a careful assessment of the situation, we will make a definite decision on whether to uphold these voluntary self-limitations. We believe that this measure is only feasible if the United States acts in a similar spirit and refrains from steps that would undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence.

Russia warns US about Golden Dome scheme 

     "In this connection, I would like to ask the relevant agencies to maintain close oversight of American activities related to the START arsenal in the first place. Particular attention must be directed towards US plans to expand strategic components of its missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in outer space. We believe that the practical implementation of such destabilizing measures could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of strategic offensive arms. We will respond appropriately in this case.  

    "I believe that Russia’s initiative, if implemented, could make a substantial contribution to creating the conditions necessary for a substantive strategic dialogue with the United States – provided, of course, that the grounds for its full resumption are secured and that broader steps are taken to normalize bilateral relations and remove core security contradictions."  

On February 21 2023, Russia withdrew from New START's mutual inspection regime, while promising to abide by the treaty's central quantitative limits. There have been no accusations by either the U.S. or Russia of failing to remain within those limits. Both countries have the technical means to exceed the New START limits but neither has done so.   

Taken together, the U.S. and Russia possess 87% of the world's nuclear weapons. Bilateral nuclear treaties involving these nuclear peer competitors are of central importance in managing the risk of nuclear war. 

Study Group director Greg Mello:

    "Trump should seize this offer with both hands, now. There are no downsides from any responsible perspective. As Putin says, a one-year extension could be the beginning of a longer extension. It could be, in Putin's words, part of a 'substantive strategic dialogue' amid 'broader steps...to normalize bilateral relations and remove core security contradictions.' 

    "Accepting this offer immediately, before contrary forces in and around the U.S. government have the opportunity to undermine it, would show real leadership. 

    "The alternative is a strategic nuclear arms race, in which there would be no winners. 

    "Needless to say, the 'Golden Dome' proposal for a comprehensive missile defense system is and will remain a technical fantasy. No conceivable missile defense system will avail against Russia's modern non-ballistic nuclear weapons, which were designed specifically to be impervious to missile defenses. These include high-speed, deeply-submerged Poseidon intercontinental undersea drones, maneuverable hypersonic weapons of more than one kind, and both long and short-range cruise missiles. Some of these weapons are already deployed and more are coming -- absent more robust arms control. Fantasies like 'Golden Dome' should not replace real arms control in a broader context of durable mutual security. 

    "Mutual security, the basis of fruitful relations in many fields, is inconceivable without nuclear arms control. 

    "If Trump wants to make progress, he must suppress any desire he may feel to loop in China. One thing at a time. 

    "Accepting Putin's offer would be a helpful signal to UK and European warmongers, who are doing their dead-level best to continue the war against Russia in Ukraine. It would also send a signal to U.S. nuclear hawks, who imagine they can manipulate Trump into programs costing billions more each year, all the while decreasing U.S. security while undercutting fiscal responsibility. With this overture, he is being offered a bully pulpit he can use to change that tune. 

    "The other side of the coin is that Putin's offer is one Trump can't refuse without losing face at home and abroad. Most people in this country are not interested in wasting trillions of dollars on preparing for a war that can't be survived, let alone 'won'.

    "To bring this home to Los Alamos, the plutonium warhead cores ('pits') to be made here at enormous capital and human cost are meant to provide multiple warheads for each missile in the much-delayed Sentinel missile system. If present deployments were to continue unchanged, there would be enough modern warheads already, without Los Alamos pits. Under New START, multiple warheads can't be deployed on land-based intercontinental missiles without decreasing deployments of submarine warheads, or of nuclear-capable bombers. 

    "Accepting Putin's offer is a no-brainer -- all benefit, no cost. Please, President Trump, take this offer and build on it."

~ Greg Mello, Los Alamos Study Group, New Mexico  

Greta: 'This is nothing compared to what Palestine is facing'

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca P. Albanese, and Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, speak about reported attack on Flotilla.

Thunberg said on Tuesday (September 23) that symbolic gestures like the recognition of the state of Palestine would "lead nowhere unless they are accompanied by real action",  as she sailed aboard a humanitarian flotilla heading to Gaza.

"Under international law, states have a legal duty to act not only to speak up, but do everything in their power to stop it, ending arms transfers, ending complicity and applying real pressure," she told Reuters in an interview.

France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal have all recognised a Palestinian state in the past two days, as dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations ahead of this week's General Assembly. 

The Sumud flotilla meanwhile was located south of Greece at the time of the interview, "every day getting closer to Gaza," said Thunberg.

The flotilla had left Barcelona on August 31, before stopping in Tunisia, when on September 8 one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port.

Thunberg said the flotilla had been monitored by drones daily since then. "No risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day," she said.

In June 2025, the Swedish campaigner tried unsuccessfully to break Israel's longstanding naval blockade of Gaza by sailing to the territory with other activists. Israeli forces seized their small aid ship and they were deported from Israel.

Col. Macgregor: 'Swedish government led by the nose'

 

Formerly 'progressive' Sweden has become a Nordic military agent for the US-NATO. 

Their northern Esrange space launch area has become a NATO war preparation playground. 

Sweden has made 13 of its military bases available to the US for any war with Russia. 

Russia worries about an aggressive expanding NATO. 

Over the last 500 years Russia has repeatedly been invaded by Europe. 

Sweden invaded Russia 13 times. England, Germany, France and other EU nations have also invaded Russia. All trying to break Russia up into smaller nations in order for Europe to steal its vast resource base. 

The problem for NATO now is that most European economies are in deep crisis. They can't afford war with Russia though the EU continues to demand that they increase military spending.

Col. Douglas Macgregor tries to bring a dose of reality to a Swedish audience. Will they listen? 

Bruce 

Wolff: 'On the edge of the next downturn'

The U.S. economy is headed into a downward spiral, with millions unemployed, prices going up, and myriad other poor economic indicators. 

Professor Richard Wolff & Brian Becker discuss how this is baked into the capitalist system and only a change of economic system can change the frequent economic crashes that fall the hardest on workers.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. 

You can find his work at rdwolff.com  

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As this capitalist 'downturn' envelopes the nation (and the whole world) it should be no surprise that the corporate oligarchs running this show are cracking down on free speech and thus the so-called 'democracies'.

They know there is mounting unrest across the land(s) and their effort to 'divide and conquer' us is picking up steam.

We'd be wise to stop picking on one another commoners and direct our justified rage toward those most deserving of it - the capitalist class. 

Wall Street, the bearers of endless war, AIPAC and its domestic minions, the controlled/oligarchic media, the two corrupt corporate political parties, big pharma and related medical insurance companies, plus the ivory tower pretenders who teach and write books justifying the miserable society that we have become.   

We must free ourselves from the royalists among us!

Bruce 

Flotilla of love and justice

Global Sumud Flotilla boats depart Syros island, Greece, heading to Gaza 

Stop selling/giving weapons/intel to the IDF! 

Kick Israel out of the United Nations!

BDS genocidal Israel!

Send international forces into Gaza and the West Bank to protect the Palestinian people!  

Gathering for Palestine near the Common Ground Country Fair

 

 

MB and our photographer and supreme car leafleteer Leann

Twenty-seven of us joined together yesterday in Unity, Maine to hold signs, banners and share leaflets while thousands of cars headed in bumper-to-bumper traffic to the popular Common Ground Country Fair. Some of us arrived at 10:00 am with others coming at 11am and we quit at 12:30. So we reached many fair-goers who generally were positive with many honks. 

I made a mental list of the license plates as cars passed by and came up with this - Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Maine. 

I only heard or saw about one handful of negatives during my 2 1/2 hour time at the Palestine solidarity vigil. 

Later MB, Leann and I went to the fair for a couple hours and I asked one policeman how many people he thought were at the event. He estimated 25,000 visitors. There are basically two primary routes into the fair and we had one of them covered.  My conservative guess is that we had at the least 5-7 thousand cars pass us by during our time there. There were usually 2-4 people in each car. So it was indeed worth the effort and we were grateful to those who made the drive to stand with us.

Our next two events are as follows:

• Saturday, October 11 at Bath Iron Works during Keep Space for Peace Week at 11:30 am on Washington Street. BIW builds Navy Aegis destroyers that are outfitted with 'missile defense' interceptor missiles - part of the Pentagon's Star Wars program. BIW is owned by General Dynamics which is heavily involved in manufacturing weapons systems given to Israel for its genocidal attacks on Palestine. In addition these destroyers were used to attack Yemen and are today parked offshore Russia and China.

• On Saturday, October 25 at 1:30 pm we will hold another Palestine solidarity vigil in Waterville at the busy intersection near the fire station. 

We all agree that the support for Palestine is growing steadily these days. Being out on the streets in numbers with good visuals does indeed have an impact.

Bruce 

Sunday song

the funnies

Genoa dock workers threaten port shutdown on Sept. 22 over Gaza

 

Genoa dock workers, at one of Europe's largest ports, threaten port shutdown on Sept. 22 if flotilla to Gaza is impeded -- a strike that could shut down European commerce.

"It is not at all acceptable that we can send 17k containers to Israel but can't get 50 tons of humanitarian aid in." Report from @DropSiteNews

“If we lose contact with our boats … even for just 20 minutes, we will shut down all of Europe,” dockworkers say. 

In Genoa, a food drive collected more than 300 tons of humanitarian aid. Over 40,000 people, including the city's mayor, Silvia Salis, joined a torchlight march through the streets in support of the flotilla mission. 

Mass poisoning from PFAS

Dupont and 3M have been secretly poisoning America for decades. 

PFAs — also known as forever chemicals—are now in our food, water, clothes, and our blood. 

These companies knew its chemicals were highly toxic. 

But they chose to use them on everything you own.

Global Network Annual Meeting Webinar Video

Our recent 33rd annual meeting of the Global Network went very well. We had good attendance from all over the world.

 

(Please help us by 'liking' the video and sharing it with others in your community.)

 

Presentations by GN board convenor Dr. Dave Webb from Leeds, England and Asia-Pacific activist K. J. Noh were well received and they took questions after their talks.

 

Dave offered startling observations about the growing militarization of space and the massive financial costs of Trump's 'Golden Dome' scheme being offered as an 'iron clad' protection of the US and Canada. In addition there is growing efforts to entice NATO to jump into the program in order to get European nations to help pay the monumental costs now estimated to bring the aerospace industry several trillion dollars in profits.

 

On top of that the American Physical Society (APS) reports that ensuring protection from just one ‘enemy’ ICBM launch site would require more than 1,000 interceptors in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Protection from ten ICBMs might demand over 30,000 interceptors, depending on missile types. For comparison, there are currently about 12,000 active satellites in orbit around Earth, most in SpaceX’s Starlink network.

 

Obviously the cost of such a boondoggle will have to come from the taxpayers thus ensuring the absolute destruction of education, social progress, environmental care, and more.

 

K. J.  began his talk by reviewing the horrible results of the pre-WW2 invasion of China by imperial Japan. Tens of millions of Chinese died at the hands of Japan. Many of Tokyo's war leaders were brought into the post-war operations of the US. K. J. carefully reviewed the current US strategy to prepare for war with China (as early as 2027) by ramping up base enhancements all across the region. (Japan, Guam, Okinawa, Philippines, Taiwan, Australia and more.) In South Korea (where US bases are also expanding) the US holds war games aimed at North Korea more than 200 days each year. In any war with China all these US bases would become certain targets.

 

Beale AFB in California

Thus we must build a global mobilization against this insanity. On October 4-11 we are holding our annual Keep Space for Peace Week and urge our supporters to hold educational and/or protest events all over Mother Earth as a way to help alert the public to these outrageous plans. We must show how space military operations are key drivers of the US-NATO war machine.

 

Please be sure to let us know what you plan to do so we can share that information with others. 

 

Good resources: For years we've been developing short videos about all sorts of space related topics and these videos are stored on our YouTube catalog found here.

 

Please send us photos/videos of your events so we can put them in upcoming editions of our newsletter Space Alert and on social media.

 

Thanks very much and keep paddling.

 

Bruce K. Gagnon

GN Coordinator

 

Find all our social media links here

 

'Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.'
~ Henry David Thoreau