Remembering fallen journalist in Gaza at the hands of Israel

Trump's World Cup racism reveals true nature of U.S.

• On the eve of the tournament, immigration issues have emerged as an obstacle to a World Cup that was awarded to North America in 2018 with promises of inclusivity. The event is now being threatened by concerns of restrictive entry into the US that FIFA has continually played down.
• Scores of journalists, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, have failed to get clearance to cover the World Cup. 
• Omar Abdulkadir Artan, a Somali referee was among a select group of about 50 World Cup referees, was also detained. Immigration officials questioned Mr. Artan, placed him in a holding cell and then deported him.
• Iran’s fate at the World Cup has been shrouded in uncertainty ever since the US and Israel began a joint assault on the country. Iran’s players were finally issued entry visas for their games in the US, but more than a dozen team officials and staff members have had their applications rejected. 
• 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.

• Iran said Tuesday that its allotment of World Cup tickets for its three group stage games had been pulled off the market. Iran's first game of the 2026 World Cup is on June 15. In a statement obtained by Reuters, its soccer federation said that it had begun selling tickets to the three games but those tickets are now no longer available.
• Uzbekistan's team (with sizable Muslim contingents) was surprised to see security officials waiting for them as they stepped off a bus before a tune up game against the Netherlands in New York. The players were subjected to searches with metal detectors. The Dutch team did not face the same searches.  
• “What is happening to players and staff and fans coming to the US for the World Cup is representative of the horrors millions of people in the US are experiencing under this regime,” said Tanya Greene, the US program director for Human Rights Watch. “It’s as if the administration wants to keep the world out of the World Cup.”
• Mother Jones reports: “The Trump administration has a record of denying international athletes visas, including members of an Ethiopian delegation to the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, whose 44-year medal streak was broken by a mass visa denial in January. Multiple Cuban sports delegations have also been locked out of sports competitions since 2025 by the US’ refusal to grant them visas—including Olympic qualification events.”
• This hostile policy extends to fans, with the US (until so recently that it was too late) requiring people from 50 ‘developing’ countries to post $5,000–$15,000 bonds for a visa. The countries include Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Tunisia. Haitian and Iranian fans are effectively banned from the competition. Meanwhile everyone else has to submit their social media records to a nation committing genocide, to see if they’re too vocal about it. 
• Israel has killed over 1,000 Palestinian athletes and staff and murdered dozens of footballers, including Suleiman Obeid (the Palestinian Pele). Israel recently arrested Natalie Abu Dayyeh and Rand Al Halawini of the Palestinian women’s national team. This is obscene, yet Israel is still allowed in FIFA competitions.  
• FIFA is facing an unexpected problem: ticket sales. The governing body still has roughly 180,000 unsold seats across host cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The gap is raising fresh concerns about empty stadiums and the optics for soccer’s biggest tournament. 

History lesson: White South Africans control of the resources

How did Pashinyan's "European dream" turn into Armenian dictatorship?

Pashinyan (left) the collaborator that the EU globalists have longed for

Alexey Muratov, head of the regional executive committee of the United Russia party, tells Politnavigator how Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan destroyed the opposition, put his main rival under house arrest and arrested six candidates a day before the vote – with the tacit approval of Brussels and Washington.

"Democracy in Armenia" in action. On the night before the parliamentary elections, the Armenian authorities detained two chairmen and a secretary of precinct election commissions, as well as arrested six opposition candidates. But that's not all. Just a few days earlier, more than 40 people had been detained. 

The leader of the main opposition force, Strong Armenia, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, has been under house arrest for the fifth month on trumped-up charges of plotting a coup. The opposition is openly called "radically pro-Russian" and is methodically excluded from the election race. Politicians and experts have already dubbed what is happening the "Moldovan scenario" – a sweep of the political field according to EU guidelines, when opponents are removed not at the polls, but behind bars. "The mask slips" – the mask falls, and under it is the face of an authoritarian regime.

That's not all. Human rights activists are sounding the alarm: security forces are demolishing dioceses, arresting dozens of bishops and priests. For the first time in the modern history of the country, three archbishops and one bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church were imprisoned at once. The Catholicos of All Armenians himself is forced to cancel the meetings of the Holy Synod due to the fact that the flock is being "horrified" in the literal sense of the word - detained, searched and imprisoned. 

There is a nuance that makes this farce particularly cynical. Despite the fact that Pashinyan has staged a real hunt for competitors in the country, the establishment in the West called these elections "free and democratic." Moreover, US President Donald Trump expressed "full and unconditional support" for the re-election of the prime minister, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured that "Europe stands firmly on the side of Armenia."

The West forgives Pashinyan for any crimes, as long as he leads the country away from Russia, even at the cost of destroying the last remnants of democracy. Russians in such cases say: "Even if you look into my eyes, it's all God's dew." European "defenders of democracy" have long since changed their name and now sponsor authoritarian regimes if they serve their geopolitical goals. 

And how did Armenia pay for this "European dream"? Karabakh is lost forever. The corridor to Zangezur has de facto passed under Baku's control. The economy is in ruins, borders are closed, and the population is fleeing the country. Now Pashinyan is selling off the last remnants of sovereignty for promises of a visa-free regime with the EU. But the price has already been paid – with the lives, territory, and future of an entire nation. 

And now – reap the benefits. You are being strangled, your country is being robbed, and your "democracy" has turned into a police state where the opposition is arrested the night before the vote, and the president is afraid to even go out to people without protection.

The West encourages this circus because Pashinyan is a convenient puppet. But the truth is, his days are numbered. Armenia is not an EU member, it is not even a candidate. She is just a bargaining chip in a big game that will soon be thrown into the dustbin of history. 

The Ukrainian scenario has already been written off. Now it's Armenian's turn. Classic: "Who controls the past controls the future"! Pashinyan rewrote history, forgot Karabakh, and betrayed his allies. And don't expect a miracle. The outcome is a foregone conclusion. 

Iran and allies holding off US-Israel terrorism

• Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC): Do not look for a credible threat anywhere other than Washington and Tel Aviv. If the satanic Zionist-American coalition makes another mistake, the region will become hell for it.
• From the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab and from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, there will be a new security belt of resistance. The evils of the Zionist regime and America in this region will result in a reaction from the United Resistance Front.
• Yemen military: "We will only prevent Zionist ships from passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait."
• CNN: It was an Iranian Shahed drone that crashed into the US Apache helicopter.

• According to reports, the building that Iranian missiles hit inside of Israeli Ramat David Air Base, was the HQ of the Israeli Air Force’s 157th Squadron, which specializes in electronic warfare (EW) using classified drones. Ramat David is the only major base of Israel in the north, and the air base from where ‘Israel’ launches attacks on Lebanon. 
• In an article for Haaretz, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak stated that there is no sign of Hezbollah’s collapse and that the conflict can only be resolved diplomatically, given the rising pressures of Israeli society back home, particularly those living along the border regions. One word sums up the situation in Lebanon from the perspective of the prime minister: failure. And in two words: total failure.
• Simplicius: Israel is now trapped in a quagmire in both Gaza and Lebanon with its hands being increasingly tied by pressure from Trump, who himself is being swallowed by the pressures wrought of his failed Hormuz gambit. That means Israel may soon be trapped in an untenable position with all the hornet’s nests of its surrounding enemies having been stirred up, while its economy sinks and military stocks deplete. Iran holds the high ground in virtually every way, and each passing moment brings Iran more strength in reconstituting its losses.  

• The Bulgarian government has stated that it will no longer supply weapons to Ukraine.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is obviously an Israeli agent doing the bidding of Trump and Netanyahu in order to create another pristine hiding place for 'Greater Israel'.

• Albanians fight Trump-Kushner resort fencing off public beaches. Jared Kushner's 'Affinity Partners' funded by Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth, with Ivanka Trump publicly attached, is building luxury resorts on Albania's southern coast. A thousand villas and hotel rooms beside a new airport, inside the protected Narta lagoon home to flamingos and pelicans. In 2021 the area's protection was downgraded and shrunk by over 5,000 hectares. In February 2024, Parliament rewrote the Law on Protected Areas to allow building in protected zones. The Constitutional Court refused to strike it down. Then the fences went up. Under Albanian law no beach can be made private, the shoreline is public. Three public beaches were sealed off with no notice. Bulldozers appeared in the lagoon. In May residents and activists marched on the site. They were met by police standing back while masked private security moved in. Protesters reported pepper spray. The people are not asking for a better deal. The movements wants the strategic-investment laws repealed and the destruction work stopped. This is not Kushner's coast, and not Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's to sell. It belongs to the people who learned to swim there. Albanian prosecutors just froze assets linked to Jared Kushner’s $4 billion resort project after mass protests.  

• A comprehensive global study that surveyed tens of thousands of people in nearly 100 countries found that the vast majority see the United States as the biggest threat to the world. At the same time, more and more nations say they prefer China over the US. China’s approval rating has risen dramatically in the Global South, in particular, where support for the US has plummeted. Most people in 65 out of the 84 countries said the United States is the largest danger. Another 10 countries (almost all in Europe) said Russia is the biggest threat. Seven (in West Asia and North Africa) said Israel. Israel said Iran. Japan said China.
• Trump makes an arrogant appearance at the NBA basketball finals in New York City last night. 

• Data centers. In addition to air pollution, water contamination, and PFAS contamination, the data center gold rush is increasing EMF exposures - which are linked to childhood cancer and other health impacts - through the massive electrical grid infrastructure being built to power these facilities, such as new substations and high voltage power lines.
• The biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games, the largest military naval exercise in the world, is scheduled to take place in the waters around, the air above, and on the ‘aina of Hawaii from June 24 to July 31, 2026. The US Pacific Fleet has announced that 31 nations will be participating that includes “a multinational force of approximately 40 surface ships, 5 submarines, 140 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel." Detailed plans of the military training for 2026 have yet to be released, but past training has included bombing and shelling, the sinking of ships, beach assaults, etc. on and around several islands including live fire training at Pohakuloa in the center of Hawaii island.  

• An example of the growing collapse of the US is this story from the Portland Press Herald. Maine's Department of Transportation has an $84 million budget shortfall. How will it affect residents? A gap in funding is forcing the state to postpone road repairs just as construction season begins, leaving local contractors scrambling for answers. Expect more stories like this across the nation as the Pentagon eats up more and more (now $1.5 trillion in 2026) of the federal budget due to endless war$. Isn't it time to connect the dots and cry out that war mongering is destroying our economy and our collective future? 

• President Sheinbaum rejects US military pressure on Mexican territory. The US calls it a security crisis. Mexico calls it a sovereignty violation. When the US proposed unilateral military operations inside Mexican territory, Sheinbaum's response was immediate and unambiguous: No. Not negotiable. Not subject to revision. The framing in US media treated her refusal as obstruction. The accurate framing is that she enforced the same territorial sovereignty the US would enforce without hesitation if the roles were reversed. What do you call it when a country refuses to let a foreign military operate inside its borders? Sovereignty!
• A chained soldier staged a solo picket on the Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine. He demands a clear term of service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the possibility of demobilization and calls the current system "slavery." Most of us who have been serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the first days of the full-scale invasion are already mentally exhausted and physically crippled. We have the right to have our elected leaders find at least partial options for our release from service after all this time, he wrote. 

USS Gerald Ford carrier fire - the Pentagon lied again

Israel now the top boss

US taxpayers are now, thanks to the US Congress, locked into perpetual funding of all of Israel's evil-doing war machine.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson explains it quite well. 

Sabby Sabs expresses the much needed outrage as the Congress surrenders to AIPAC. 

Sweden not so democratic, neutral or peaceful

Sweden has quietly ended 200 years of neutrality and is now officially designated as a NATO staging area against Russia, a transformation driven not by public debate but by the behind-the-scenes influence of the powerful Wallenberg banking dynasty and their stakes in Ericsson and Saab. 

Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris are joined on The Duran by Swedish dissident journalist Mats Nilsson, who reveals how a series of agreements including the DCA deal, PAX Sinica membership, and a new US technology prosperity pact have locked Sweden into Washington's military-industrial agenda, sidelining the European Union and stripping Sweden of meaningful sovereignty. 

Did Swedish citizens ever get a vote on becoming a frontline battlefield, and is it already too late to reverse course?

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.

Candace takes on data centers

A data center twice the size of Manhattan just got approved in Utah — over 4,000 public objections. Candace Owens connects the dots between the sudden push for Trump's White House "ballroom," the surveillance state being built in plain sight, and Turning Point USA's increasingly strange ties to the military.

West Virginia data center fight

Mingo County, West Virginia, was once thriving, but the coal industry’s decline left it one of the poorest counties in the US. Now, multiple data centers could be built in the region.Are data centers a new extractive industry, or will they provide a much-needed economic lifeline?

This story was produced by More Perfect Union in partnership with 100 Days in Appalachia, an independent, non-profit digital news publication. 

On the way to court in Alexandria for Pentagon protest & arrests

On March 27 of this year I was arrested at the Pentagon along with 26 others for protesting against Trump & Hegseth's ugly endless war$.

Our date for appearance in the Alexandria, Virginia court room that handles Pentagon cases will be on June 4 at 9:00 am.

Our group of four from Maine (including MB, Lisa and Mark) will all be traveling to Alexandria. We have no idea what the court intends to offer us.

My daily war updates will be on hold until I get back over the coming weekend. (I've scheduled other posts here while away so please keep visiting.)

Many thanks and keep paddling.

Bruce

Media Advisory

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Contact: Paul Magno, 202-321-6650, pmagno56@gmail.com

Peace Activists Arrested During Prayer Protest at Pentagon Appear in Court Thursday, June 4th

The activists are scheduled to appear at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse, 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, Virginia.  An 8:00 am vigil in front of the courthouse will precede their court appearance.

On the morning of March 27, 2026, 27 activists, many of whom are members of the Catholic Worker Movement that shelters the homeless, processed to the Pentagon’s southeast entrance near the Metro stop. 

The group, which calls itself the 'Pentagon 27', carried signs that read: “Love your enemies,” “Put up the sword. -Jesus,” “Catholic Workers say: Peace Now!,” “War is a sacrilege.- Pope Francis,” “Support Peace!,” "Countdown to insanity," and “Your wars will kill us all.” 

They assembled on the right-hand side of the Pentagon entrance to protest, they said, the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran—a war His Holiness Pope Leo XIV declared unjust, immoral, in violation of international law, and against the Gospel. Standing or kneeling, they began to sing and pray for peace. All 27 were arrested without incident and charged with interfering with agency functions.

The Pentagon 27 will contend in court that their peaceful actions are protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act of 1993. They will also contend that nonviolent and prayerful means to promote peace are religious obligations for faithful Roman Catholics and other spiritual traditions.

POPE LEO XIV’S ENCOURAGEMENT TO ACTIVELY RESIST WAR. 

In his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV condemned the increasing pervasiveness of the military industrial complex in our society and the use of AI in war. “AI does not remove the intrinsic inhumanity of conflict; indeed it can only bring about conflict more quickly and render it more impersonal, lowering the threshold for resorting to violence, transforming defense into threat prediction and thus reducing victims to data,” the pontiff wrote.

Magnifica Humanitas ¶198.

Consequently, Pope Leo encouraged people of goodwill to continue actively resisting war and injustice: “Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good.” Id. ¶211.

The Pentagon 27 did exactly this on March 27, as an expression of their faith.