BRICS in space?

The new BRICS Space Council enables an unprecedented sanctions by-pass through strategic India-China-Russia cooperation, forever altering the global balance of power.

In June 2026, Bengaluru became the epicenter of a silent revolution. In this video, Think BRICS analyzes how BRICS space cooperation is building a BRICS space economy entirely independent of Western control. 

As the world watches the bloc’s expansion, the creation of the BRICS 'remote sensing satellite constellation' (RSSC) represents the boldest step yet toward a multipolar world. We explore the roles of India, China, and Russia in merging their constellations - Gaofen, Resourcesat, and Kanopus - to create a "virtual constellation" that directly challenges the BRICS vs NASA dynamic.

Why has the geopolitical space race shifted? We examine the case of Iran gaining high-resolution data despite US sanctions and Ethiopia seeking climate sovereignty. We see how space technology is not just science, but a parallel space infrastructure. 

For the latest BRICS news on the global south space collaboration this deep dive is useful. Discover why the US is terrified of BRICS and their new reach into the stars.

While we provide a deep analysis of the BRICS space council  this video does not cover private commercial space missions (such as SpaceX) or deep-space manned missions to Mars unrelated to the bloc's immediate goals. 

The video concentrates on the geopolitical impact of BRICS space technology and its role as a space infrastructure, excluding discussions on space debris management or international treaties regarding space-based weaponry, focusing strictly on the new power architecture of the Global South. 

History lesson: CIA's role in supporting brutal Shah of Iran

In March 1980, the U.S. hostages inside the American Embassy in Iran had been held for four months. 

Iranian students took the Americans hostage because the U.S. allowed the Shah of Iran to get asylum in the U.S. and to take with him much of the wealth of the Iranian nation.

Mike Wallace’s report asked why so many Iranians endorsed their captivity.

The hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979. Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. A total of 52 American diplomats and citizens were held. The hostages were released on January 20, 1981.The total duration of captivity was 444 days.

U.S. Senate race controversy in Maine grows

 

Democrat Party in Maine now silencing the grassroots movement that they built.

This letter of resignation from their party mobilization director indicates the move to insert a corporate candidate in the now open U.S. Senate candidate position due to Graham Platner dropping out of the race due to charges of rape.

The party intends to hold a 600-person meeting to pick the new candidate. They appear to be pushing out the powerful anti-war, anti-corporate base that Platner's campaign successfully built during the past year.

Ben Chin, Graham Platner’s campaign manager writes:

"We’ve said from the very beginning that this campaign was never about Graham but about a movement of working people united to take back power... the Maine Democratic Party said that our movement will 'have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.'

Instead, under their watch and direction, they allowed the DC-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to send staffers to plan a potential nominating process behind closed doors. Both the state and national parties cut our team, our volunteers, and our vast networks of supporters out of the conversation completely.

We firmly believe that the supporters and volunteers who built this movement deserve to have a real role in any nomination process. If the Maine Democratic Party hopes to harness our movement, and avoid disillusioning the hundreds of thousands of supporters who came into the fray because of our movement’s policies, it must consult the feedback and proposals of the people who built and sustained this." 

July 4 protest at NSA spy base in Yorkshire, England

 

Published by The Yorkshire Post, 5 July 2026

Campaigners made their annual Independence Day protest near RAF Menwith Hill at the weekend.

The event was organised by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign (MHAC) and Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to draw attention to what they claim is a lack of accountability surrounding activities at the base near Harrogate, a UK military site which is operated by the United States.

Protesters meet outside the site every Tuesday, but plan a more concentrated effort each year for American Independence Day on July 4.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: “Nominally an RAF Base, this United States surveillance facility is closed even to UK Members of Parliament and maintains secrecy about its actions – for example the directing of drone attacks and economic spying.”

Campaigners opposed to the activities of the United States-run intelligence base at RAF Menwith Hill, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Credit: Asadour Guzelian.

The event included a talk by CND about the role of the base and the concerns of people about its military operations, and some then visiting the main gate of Menwith Hill, where there was a reading of a “Declaration of Independence from America”, which was originally written by members of Otley Peace Action Group in the 1980s.  

US-Israel war back on full blast

• Palestinians in Gaza wrote on the occupation wall: Seyed Ali Imam Khamenei, ‘O beloved of Palestine, Gaza will never forget you.
• Millions of Iraqis gathered in Najaf, Iraq, for the funeral ceremony of martyr Imam Khamenei. [The US has successfully enflamed the Shia populations throughout the entire region of West Asia. Not particularly smart.]  

• US Central Command announced that its forces carried out a wave of strikes against more than 80 targets in Iran in response to recent Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The targets included Iranian air defense systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 IRGC small boats operating in and around the Strait of Hormuz. [The vessels struck were trying to make a run for it refusing to pay the fees. They are being encouraged by the US to do so.]

• IRGC strikes US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. A US MQ-9 Reaper drone was reportedly intercepted by Iranian air defenses over Khorramshahr in the Bushehr province of southern Iran.  

• Iran-US MoU in tatters: The US Treasury Department has revoked permission for the sale of Iranian oil. A US official cited Iran's activities in the Strait of Hormoz as the reason for this suspension. Crude oil prices rose again after Trump said the MoU is dead. Trump calls Iran a cancer that must be cut out. [He and Israel started this war on Iran, Lebanon and Palestine and when they have fought back they are called a cancer. The sickness is with those who created this war.]

• According to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB): 10 explosions heard in Bandar Abbas area. The area targeted in Sirik is a boat-building area. Six explosions were also heard in a fishing village on Qeshm island. President Pezeshkian left Najaf, Iraq for Tehran earlier than planned. 
• Iranian television announces the martyrdom of 8 Iranian soldiers in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr as a result of recent American attacks. Those injured by shrapnel from the US attacks that hit the commercial pier in Sirik were transferred to Minab hospital. 

• US official told CNN: "These attacks are retaliatory, not proportional, and they will not end anytime soon." 

• Channel 13 Hebrew: Israel fears US approval of Turkey establishing an air defense system in Syria, which would limit the Israeli Air Force's freedom to attack Iran.
• Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Abadi: America's decision to cancel the exemption from sanctions on Iranian oil sales is a blatant violation of Article 10 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
• Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi: Negotiations with America will not resume unless the clause related to Lebanon in the memorandum of understanding is implemented. There will be no final agreement with the US unless Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon.
• The Zionist enemy is dropping incendiary bombs over Jabal Ali Al-Tahir in Lebanon.
• Mustafa Barghouti, interview, @MEEunapologetic: "What we are talking about here is an Israeli establishment that is aiming at extermination of the Palestinian people. In every possible way. Not only in Gaza but in the West Bank."
• Israeli strike killed Mohammed fawaz al-Wahidi, the Public Relations Director for the Egyptian Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, just before the start of the football match of his nation's team against Argentina. 

• Trump misspeaking: “We had a 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan.” [He seems to be under a lot of stress to make a mistake like this. He knows he is in a losing position but the Epstein class has the goods on him so he must obey the zionist mobsters.]

• Real Japanese people demonstrate against Trump's war on Iran. 

Let Cuba Live!

After more than two decades away, Cuban-American teacher and activist Lavender returned to Cuba, the place her family always considered home. 

Walking through Havana, she reflected on identity, belonging and the complicated relationship many Cuban Americans have with the island.

She spoke about the changes she has witnessed in Cuba, including the evolution of attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people, and why she believes listening to ordinary Cubans is essential.

“I stand proud, and I stand tall because that’s what Cuba taught me,” she said. 

U.S. Voices Against the Blockade is a series featuring U.S. activists who oppose U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Watch Episode 6 to see Lavender’s story and stay tuned to hear other people from the United States speaking out against U.S. sanctions.

Updates from the war zones

• Total economic losses for EU countries due to the refusal to buy Russian energy could amount to approximately 3 trillion euros ($3.4 trillion). This has resulted in sharp price hikes, high energy prices, declining living standards, and the closure and relocation of industrial enterprises.
• Five hours before the funeral ceremony started in Qom and Jamkaran, the grand mosque was already packed with mourners. Keep in mind, it was 1:30 am in Iran at that time. 

• Iran’s SNSC Secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, issued a statement: To the delusional President of America, who today threatened 91 million Iranians, I say: Before this, as the president of a rootless country with a 250-year history, you had spoken in similar language about wiping out Iran’s several thousand year old civilization. And the result for you was nothing but defeat, desperation, and a request for negotiations and a ceasefire. The Iranian people are strangers to the language of threats. So speak to the people of Iran with respect, otherwise we will respond to you in another language. 

• As pro-Palestine candidates gain momentum in primary elections across the US, Israel and its zionist lobby in Washington are maneuvering to make American complicity in this genocide permanent. 

• Chaos at Kölnn-Bonn German airport: The Human rights socialist group, which consists of German, Dutch, Turk, Greek and Kurds were both verbally and physically abused/assaulted after being denied to fly towards Iran to attend the funeral ceremony. 
• Jerusalem’s Archbishop tells of the vile abuse he faces from Jewish ultranationalists in the city.

• If this proposal to merge the U.S. and Israeli militaries passes into law, it will be almost impossible to undo.
• Trump’s intervention to revoke the Red Card from the US striker didn’t help. The USA lost to Belgium by a score of 4-1 and were eliminated from the World Cup after a scandal involving the cancellation of their player’s disqualification. The 'top scorer of the Americans', Folarin Balogun, who was saved from disqualification, did not score. The lego movies are taking over the internet. Satire abounds – this is an example: The US has declared war on Belgium citing ‘Belgium is 2 weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon.' What is Trump gonna do now?

• According to Allianz Trade, climate-related losses could shave between 5% and 7% off the EU's cumulative GDP between 2026 and 2030. France is projected to suffer the biggest hit, with losses of around $240 billion, followed by Italy ($147 billion), Germany ($131 billion) and Spain ($120 billion).
• Trump has pledged $300 million for Venezuela. That amount, in addition to the $500 million provided since January, represents only 10% of what has been stolen since the beginning of the year—an amount ranging from $4,000 million to $22,000 million in Venezuelan assets withheld or seized abroad, depending on the accounting method used, including funds blocked by sanctions.  It has also been reported that Trump sent 900 military personnel, but only 300 of them are rescue workers. Likewise, two warships arrived in Venezuela: the USS Fort Lauderdale and the USS Billings, equipped with significant firepower but lacking any capacity to address natural disasters of the kind that have affected Venezuela. No one has seen the U.S. rescue workers; their only public appearance was to hinder the efforts of those who are actually working, which forced Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello to intervene directly. In reality, the United States’ interventionist action is linked to its effort to seize and control Simón Bolívar Airport and the port of La Guaira.

The Right-Wing Zionist Wave Sweeping Latin America

A decade of left-wing governance has collapsed as right-wing leaders pledge allegiance to Washington and Tel Aviv through the Isaac Accords framework.

By José Alberto Niño

Venezuela suffers catastrophic earthquakes and the IDF moves in. The arrival of an Israeli mission has drawn backlash from the Chavista grassroots. Hindu Anderi, spokesperson for the Platform of Solidarity with the Palestinian cause, slammed the “hypocrisy” of Tel Aviv claiming the mantle of humanitarianism amid its ongoing genocides in Gaza and Lebanon.

“The Zionist regime wants to whitewash its record through rescue teams […] after condemning the Palestinian people to rubble,” she wrote on social media.

Colombia: Abelardo de la Espriella’s razor-thin victory over leftist Iván Cepeda on June 21, 2026 represented the most recent rightward shift in Latin America’s politics. The defense attorney from Barranquilla captured 49.66 percent of the vote against Cepeda’s 48.7 percent—a margin of roughly 250,000 votes in what Al Jazeera called one of Colombia’s closest elections. Within hours, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called to congratulate him, and de la Espriella posted his response publicly.

“Colombia will restore and strengthen its relationship with the State of Israel like never before. Israel can count on Colombia as a loyal friend and steadfast ally,” de la Espriella declared. Sa’ar called him “a true friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” adding that he looked forward to “revitalizing relations between Israel and Colombia and taking them to their highest level ever” and that he had already invited the incoming president to visit Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his own congratulations, saying he looked forward to “working with you to strengthen the bond between Israel and Colombia.” De la Espriella has pledged to reverse Petro’s 2024 decision to cut ties with Israel and has promised to relocate the Colombian embassy to Jerusalem.

No figure looms larger in this transformation of Latin American politics than Argentine President Javier Milei. The libertarian economist who took office in December 2023 has positioned himself as Israel’s most devoted ally anywhere on earth.

“I am sincerely proud to be the most Zionist president in the world,” Milei declared at Yeshiva University in March 2026. At the Western Wall in June 2025, he proclaimed that “My support for Israel comes from the heart, because I believe this is a just cause—the cause of the West. I will always stand by your side.”

Milei personally studies Torah with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish from the Moroccan Jewish community in Argentina and has said he intends to convert to Judaism after leaving office. In June 2025, he became the first non-Jewish head of state to receive Israel’s Genesis Prize, known as the “Jewish Nobel,” awarded for his “unequivocal support” of Israel.

He directed his entire $1 million prize toward creating the American Friends of Isaac Accords, the vehicle through which Argentina and Israel formally signed the Isaac Accords on April 19, 2026 in Jerusalem. The framework explicitly mirrors the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, but targets the Western Hemisphere instead.

The goals are clear. Partner countries should move their embassies to Jerusalem, designate Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, shift anti-Israel voting patterns at the United Nations, and create frameworks for trade in technology, agriculture, water, health, and cybersecurity.

At least one nation had embraced the embassy mandate well ahead of the Accords. Paraguay’s Santiago Peña reopened his country’s embassy in Jerusalem on December 12, 2024, making Paraguay the sixth country in the world—after the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea—and the first since the October 7 attacks to establish diplomatic presence in the contested city.

“Mr. prime minister, on behalf of all the Paraguayan people, we were with you, we are with you, we will stay with the people of Israel forever,” Peña declared at the ceremony with Netanyahu present. He called the move “a tipping point in our own history” and “a moral obligation that the Paraguayan people have asked us to fulfill.”

Paraguay was not alone in courting Tel Aviv. Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, the banana fortune heir who won re-election in 2025, traveled to Jerusalem in May of that year for meetings with Netanyahu, at which Noboa declared that “Israel and Ecuador have the same enemies” and pledged to fight poverty, terrorism, and suffering “until the end.” Israeli diplomatic sources confirmed to Jewish Insider that both Ecuador and Paraguay are expected to formally join the Isaac Accords framework.

Nowhere did the shift register more dramatically than in Chile. José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile’s December 2025 election delivered perhaps the most symbolically significant prize. Kast overturned four years of Gabriel Boric’s more pro-Palestinian governance. After Iran’s 2024 drone attack on Israel, Kast had warned that “Iran launches a drone and missile attack on Israel. They could be the same drones that it gifted to Bolivia to monitor our borders. Chile has a serious national security problem.”

In May 2026, Kast met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and pledged to return Chile’s ambassador to Israel, ending a lengthy vacancy by naming Gabriel Zaliasnik as ambassador. He promised expanded cooperation in agriculture, health, artificial intelligence, technology, and security.Notably, Kast achieved this while governing a country home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Arab world, estimated at 500,000 people.

The same paradox surfaced again, more sharply still, in Central America. Nasry “Tito” Asfura won Honduras’s late 2025 election with Trump’s endorsement, becoming president on January 27, 2026. Despite his Palestinian Christian ancestry, the conservative former mayor of Tegucigalpa made Israel one of his first international destinations after being elected, traveling there alongside the United States.

“It is a great honor for me to be in Israel again and to strengthen the ties which have been in existence over the last 77 years,” Asfura stated in Jerusalem. “I hope we are entering a new era where we can improve our relations, relations of brotherhood, and prosperity, of investment.” Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar told the Jerusalem Post Magazine that Asfura “has a clear worldview that is pro-Western, pro-American, and pro-Israeli,” and characterized the broader regional shift as a “Blue Wave” of right-wing governments aligning with the United States and Israel.

Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz ended nearly 20 years of socialist MAS party rule by winning the October 2025 election. Within weeks, he restored diplomatic relations with Israel—ties the prior government had severed in 2023. Netanyahu congratulated Paz personally, and the two agreed to “promote cooperation in various fields, with an emphasis on security, and to restore the vibrant tourism of many Israeli travelers to Bolivia’s natural landscapes and rich cultures.”

Not every convert to the cause fits the expected profile. Nayib Bukele represents the most curious figure in this constellation. The Salvadoran president, who has Palestinian ancestry on his father’s side, has become an ardent Israel supporter despite his Palestinian Christian heritage. After October 7, 2023, Bukele posted that “As a Salvadoran with Palestinian ancestry, I’m sure the best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear. Those savage beasts do not represent the Palestinians.” El Salvador voted against the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza in December 2023.

To the south, another government moved along the same axis. José Raúl Mulino, Panama’s security-focused former defense minister, won the 2024 elections and tilted the country firmly toward Washington and Jerusalem. In May 2026, Israeli President Herzog made the first official visit by an Israeli head of state to Panama. Mulino issued a joint declaration pledging expanded cooperation in security, commerce, technology, agriculture, and water management. Panama remains the only Latin American country that has never recognized a Palestinian state.

The October 2026 Brazilian presidential election represents the next battleground. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who compared Israel’s actions to the Holocaust and withdrew Brazil’s ambassador in 2024, faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in what polls show as a statistical tie—the BTG/Nexus survey of late March 2026 showed them tied at 46 percent each in a simulated runoff, with the race narrowing from a 12-point Lula lead in December 2025. The first round is scheduled for October 4, 2026, with a runoff on October 25 if no candidate clears 50 percent.

Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father Jair Bolsonaro was imprisoned for the January 8, 2023 coup attempt and barred from office, has positioned himself as the conservative consolidation candidate. A Bolsonaro victory would add the hemisphere’s largest country to the pro-Israel bloc. The Brazil-Israel Parliamentary Caucus signed the Isaac Accords “Declaration of Shared Principles” in April 2026, demonstrating legislative support even while Lula governs.

Behind each of these realignments lay forces larger than any single election. Trump’s return to the presidency in 2025 directly tied American financial and political backing to right-wing candidates. The region’s growing evangelical Christian population, with its theologically driven support for Israel, has provided an important voting base. As the Jerusalem Post observed, Israeli officials have declared 2026 “the year of Latin America.” With more than a dozen countries having restored or strengthened ties with Israel, the Isaac Accords and the broader rightward shift have fundamentally redrawn the hemisphere’s diplomatic map with direct implications for Israel’s global standing, American regional strategy, and the future of Palestinian diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere.

The latest boondoggles in Eurasia—from the Russo-Ukrainian war to the Iran war—have forced the Judeo-American project to seek softer targets. Latin America, with its fractured polities, corrupt elites, and vast resources, is the obvious prize. The so-called right-wing resurgence is not a recovery of national pride but rather a vassalage dressed in conservative robes. Each new president who rushes to Tel Aviv is a tool, not a leader. Pace some naive nationalist minds in the West, Zionism is not nationalist in nature, but rather an expansionist movement with global ambitions. The illusion that it respects sovereignty must be shattered by serious political movements.

A coordinated multi-national resistance is the only force that can stop this hemispheric takeover and other Jewish supremacist endeavors from consolidating across the globe.

~ José Niño is a best-selling investigative journalist covering deep politics and forbidden history. His newsletter, José Niño Unfiltered can be found on Substack. 

Trump: 'I thought Iranians hated Khamenei'

• Marwa Osman: “Please remember that you are not attending a party, a carnival, or a cultural festival. You are witnessing one of the most sacred and emotionally profound moments in the lives of millions.” So far, Tasnim, Al-Jazeera and Al-Mayadeen had investigative journalists on the scene and all report that the funeral ceremony for Ayatollah Khamenei is officially the largest in recorded history. 

• Two Iranian security officers held a flag above the head of an elderly woman who suffered from heatstroke during the farewell ceremony for the martyred Leader of Iran. Picture was taken by bystanders and not official media. 

• The quiet corners of today’s funeral ceremony for Martyr Imam Khamenei, moments you may not have seen. The little rests between long marches under the 40°C sun. The little moments the people shared with their children. The exhaustion, the love, the grief. A moment to soak in what we’ve witnessed these past couple of months….

• Trump to Axios: 'I was shocked to see Iranians crying at Khamenei’s funeral, as I thought people hated him.'

• Simplicius: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently ousted 'rising star' General Christopher Donahue, Commanding General of US Army Europe and Africa, in what some people considered part of the ongoing purge of top general staff for the sake of total party loyalty. Some suspect Trump is aiming for another round of war with Iran after the end of the current memorial events in Tehran. It’s clear that the US is now biding its time to resupply its stations in the Mideast before potentially embarking—at the least—on more strikes. In light of this, there are some unverified reports from “anonymous sources in Iran” that Iran is even considering preemptive attacks on Israel for such a contingency, because Iranian leaders are tired of playing the militarily passive-reactive role.

• For the US, which just celebrated its 250th birthday, the atmosphere this year is far from celebratory. The smoke of the war against Iran has not only impacted the global economy and disrupted international order but has also caused the major pillars of American economic hegemony to shake simultaneously. Scholars have noted that US economic hegemony rests on five pillars: economic strength, dollar hegemony, military hegemony, political hegemony and rule hegemony. For years, the major pillars of American economic hegemony have been steadily loosening under America's domestic and foreign policies. The war against Iran has merely thrust this structural decline into the spotlight. How much longer the US can sustain its economic hegemony has become a topic of ongoing heated discussion in global public opinion.

• Lakota People’s Law Project: This past week marks the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling that the US illegally took the Black Hills (He Sapa) in South Dakota calling it "the rankest and ripest example of dishonesty in the history of the United States." The court awarding $106 million for our sacred land was an insult to our injury, an offer we have always refused. Fools Crow answered: 'You must think I am a fool, to pay me with currency made from resources you stole from us. We are not fools.' For these 46 years since US v. Sioux Nation, our people have held firm: the Black Hills are sacred and not for sale. No price can pay for this land and the violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.

• Kit Klarenberg: On June 27th, a plane ferrying a “specialized” team of “highly trained search and rescue specialists” flew into Venezuela from Damascus. Dispatched at putative Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa’s direct order, the 15-strong group is assisting disaster efforts launched by Caracas in response to devastating twin earthquakes. Among them are members of the notorious White Helmets. A bogus humanitarian group constructed by MI6, they played a central role in Britain’s protracted coup of Bashar Assad. Are the White Helmets similarly in Venezuela to assist regime change?
• Space News: American missile defense requires global sensor architecture. Though the program is called Golden Dome for America, effectively detecting and tracking threats and then coordinating and enacting a response will require a distributed global network of sensors located in every domain. Right now, we need to defend North America, but at the same time, keep our sensors global because of the speed at which our adversaries can attack. 'Global access' is a necessary prerequisite for any manner of space-based detection and defense. 

• Samanth Subramanian: The tragedy of this space race is that it has left us unable to imagine or craft an alternative one. Because of course it’s essential for humans to know this universe that holds us, not only for what we will learn about the nature of matter, space, and time, but also for the genuine potential of this enterprise to unite us. Nothing about our recent record suggests that we’re even able to come together to combat threats that imperil us right this minute, let alone capable of forming world governments and moon cities that are just and free. If the future of humankind in space is to look any different from the state of humankind on Earth, it can’t be left, by default or out of despair, to the tech firms of Silicon Valley. We need other space programs, other agencies, other men and women to obsess over our role out among the stars. This won’t be easy, as Ariosto would no doubt say—but the moon shot will be worth it.

• FIFA, at the request of Trump, has overturned the red card that the American player received in the previous match. What the hell? Trump is single-handedly proving to the entire world that he’s a dictator. He's trying to rig the games in favor of the US! European soccer's governing body UEFA condemned the decision as "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable," the latest organization to criticize the reversal.

• US Africa Command on Sunday announced that its forces launched its 70th airstrike this year in Somalia as the Trump administration continues its record-shattering bombing campaign in the country. The command said that the strike was launched on July 3 and targeted al-Shabaab in the vicinity of Farsooley, a town about 55 miles west of Mogadishu. AFRICOM offered no further details after it stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments of potential civilian harm early last year.
• A sailing ship owned by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental organization was forced out of the Sail4th 250 parade in New York Harbor, the Coast Guard said in a statement emailed to Reuters. The ship had banners that read, Save the Clean Water Act and Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions. "The owner of the sloop Clearwater was contacted and requested to remove the message being displayed or be removed from the parade of sail," the Coast Guard said. "They declined to remove it." Jen Benson, director of advocacy and communications at Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, disputed the claim. She said the Coast Guard did not ask for the messages to be taken down, but requested the ship leave the sailing route or risk arrest. "We don't feel like advocating for clean water is a politically charged message," Benson said. "People on all sides of the aisle, and no sides at all, have been fighting in the US for clean water in different ways." 

July 4: What I'm celebrating

"I'm celebrating the fact that centuries of torture, terror and degradation could not erase my people. That is what the 4th of July means to me."  

Farming without fertilizer next season?

Without fertilizer the farming across the US (and much of the world) in the next planting season will be in trouble.

Stories from memorial ceremony in Tehran

• Message from Tehran: I don’t think people realize what we’re witnessing right now. Perhaps those behind their phone screens who are not in Tehran may never understand, but the atmosphere here is crazy. People are coming to Tehran from all over the world; from Russia, Brazil, Norway, Germany, … to attend the farewell ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the martyred leader of Iran. Many from Tehran have made their homes available to visitors and many are on the streets with their own money giving people services such as free tea, food…. many are volunteering. Millions, and I truly say millions are coming in and out the Prayer hall to pay their respects to the martyred leader. The surrounding areas ourside the prayer hall were packed and filled with people this morning during the prayers, thankfully with no incidents. A family member of mine is among the volunteers inside the prayer hall helping who’s been sleeping there since Friday and has not left the area. Many people (that I personally know as well) who never attended a public march, decided to attend this one for the love of their leader. The magnitude of this event is beyond any words honestly. This is the Iranian nation that Trump thought would surrender…. like we say in Farsi: “Dream on, may it at least be a good dream.”

• She worked as a teacher in one of the poor neighborhoods before she was martyred [by the US-Israel bombing]. Her father is the head of the Iranian Parliament. Her husband is Seyyed Mostafa Khamenei, the son of the martyred Supreme Leader. She holds a higher degree. She could have worked as a professor at any prestigious university, but she decided to work under a pseudonym titled 'Khaneh Hosseini' or Mrs. Hosseini as a teacher without revealing her lineage, her husband, or her father!! Her close friend Majdeh Mohammadi visited her home and was shocked by a simple 'Sajjad' carpet, a number of woolen cushions, a kitchen at the entrance, and two small rooms in an area of approximately 80 meters! Her mother-in-law, her father... and everyone talks and spreads about the simplicity and humility of her life. No global brands or Chanel bags worth $4,000 or diamond-encrusted watches. No convoys and personal security wearing suits running behind and in front of her. And the daughter of the head of the Parliament and a member of the Assembly of Experts, one of the highest bodies of the system. And she is the owner of the master's degree but chose to be a hidden teacher in the southern neighborhoods of Tehran. She is the holy Lady Zahra Hadad Adel. 

• Fars News Agency: Tehran Metro Company: From 5:30 am yesterday until 7:00 am this morning, 7,141,212 trips were recorded on Tehran’s metro network heading to Tehran’s prayer hall. Tomorrow (Monday) will be the funeral procession walk. The procession route will happen in: Damavand Street, Imam Hussein Square, Enqelab Street, Enqelab Square, Azadi Street, Azadi Square, and along Shahid Lashgari Highway, in Tehran.

• Salman Khurshid, former foreign minister and the law minister in India, honoring the memory of the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution: "Periodically somebody surfaces who dedicates best parts of their life to civilizational link between India and Iran; and Ayatollah Khamenei actually personified that relationship which goes back for centuries."
• Moments when the sons of Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei broke down in tears. 

Sunday song (with bonus)

Memorial in Iran draws 30 million

• Tasnim News: For Bidding Farewell to the Sun, Do Not Hide That Radiant Face of Yours. The summer heat in Tehran is unbearable, yet we feel cold, because that protective shade is no longer here. Our minds had become conditioned to always seeing a mountain on the horizon; solid and steadfast. We never imagined the mountain would not be there. His shadow was always taller than any man, for it was rooted in a sun that never sets. Today, this crowd pouring toward Tehran’s Mosalla has not come for a mere formal tribute; they have come to bid farewell to a piece of their own hearts. 
• Mehdi Rasooli (eulogist) at the Tehran prayer hall: “We have not come to bury our leader, we have come to avenge him. Oh, avengers of the martyred leader." Approximately 30 million people are expected to attend in total. Since they can’t fit all in one place, people come to pay their respects and leave while another stream of people flow in. This will continue till 6 AM tomorrow when the funeral prayers will start. 

• Tasnim News: The US dissuaded (bullied) several countries, through Rubio & US embassies, to not participate in the funeral ceremony of Iran’s leader. Thirteen countries caved in. 3 Eastern-EU, 5 African, 2 Persian Gulf, and 2 East Asian countries withdrew from participating in the funeral. This might explain why South Africa, Maldives, and perhaps Algeria didn’t attend. They feared it would worsen their relationship with the US. [How arrogant of the US to pull this ill-fated stunt thinking it could minimize the global support for Iran's leader and his family killed by US-Israel.] The red flags and wristbands is a symbol of the covenant with the martyred Imam, a sign of loyalty, and a cry for justice and retribution from the free people and justice-seekers of the world.

• Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ): Ayatollah Khamenei never distanced himself from the struggle to liberate Palestine. The blood of the martyred leader strengthens the path to the liberation of Al-Quds (Jerusalem).
• Trump: "We gave them a week off for a funeral because we are nice."🥴

• Iran’s Parliament Speaker responds to Trump’s insult: Imagine having 40-something million of your own citizens on food stamps and call another nation hungry. Trump, a few days ago, had said: “Iran is supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now their people are very hungry, and they're buying it exclusively from us: corn, soybeans.” 

• New York City’s metros drive with the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nikita Bier & Elon Musk took away Iran’s flag on Twitter and replaced it with the old monarchy flag, but instead we got our flags in New York, lol. 

• The largest Presbyterian denomination in the US has voted overwhelmingly to recognize Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide and to divest from Palantir Technologies and General Electric Aerospace over their ties to Israel’s military and intelligence services. A measure approved Tuesday by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also calls on church members to boycott Israeli products and to lobby Congress for an arms embargo against Israel. [The fall is accelerating.]

• Channel 12 Hebrew: Estimates in Israel suggest that the war on Gaza could resume within two months. 
• Israeli Channel 15: Netanyahu is awaiting Trump's approval to launch an operation targeting a Hezbollah site in the Ali Taher Heights in southern Lebanon.
• Please rent or buy the extraordinary new film Earth's Greatest Enemy this weekend to get it boosted through the algorithm! It reveals the terrible impacts the Pentagon war machine is having on our Mother Earth.

🍿 Prime Video

🍎 Apple TV

🍉 Watermelon+

🍿 Vimeo

Let’s dose the world with anti-imperialism—and make everyone learn what this country is really about.

• Iran has completely closed the US-Omani designated maritime corridor that was used to bypass Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormoz. The constant USAF aerial presence did not stop Iran it seems.  

the funnies

Iranian memorial message: Rise Up!

• IRIB: Delegations from around 100 countries (that is half the countries in the world!) are gathering to pay respect and the delegations are walking in one by one to say goodbye. Most of all, we see solidarity. The formal theme is Rise Up! Among them are also representatives from Islamic societies and groups from European countries such as Spain, but European leaders themselves were not invited. We say a heartfelt farewell, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei.  Surveillance, repeated arrests, solitary confinement, torture, and exile failed to silence him. Instead, each hardship strengthened his resolve and deepened his connection with ordinary Iranians. 

• The 14-month old martyred granddaughter didn’t leave her grandpa, Imam Ali Khamenei, alone... Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani 🌹 

• Hadad Adel, father of the martyred wife of the current leader, warmly shook hands with everyone but didn't linger long with Prime Minister Araghchi (2nd to last on left). Many in Iran are upset with Araghchi's compromises with the US during negotiations. 

• According to reports, a passenger plane entered Sana’a Airport to transport a delegation of Yemenis, and possibly the political delegation of AnsarAllah, to Tehran to attend the funeral ceremony. Reportedly, two Saudi fighter jets intended to bomb the runway to prevent the plane from landing or taking off. The operation was stopped first after a Yemeni army air-defense missile was fired, and then after AnsarAllah officials threatened a missile attack on Riyadh. The plane eventually flew from Sana’a toward Iran.

• Today, 38 yrs ago, the US shot down an Iranian passenger plane killing all 290 people onboard. The USS Vincennes, in 1988, shot down the Iranian civilian airplane over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, killing all 290, including 66 children & 16 women. The Navy warship's captain got a medal. Despite the significant loss of life, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush famously stated, "I will never apologize for the US."  Investigations into this action of terror were perceived as inadequate. This has contributed to horrible US-Iran relations and remains a sensitive topic in discussions about military engagement and civilian safety in conflict zones.  

• July 3 marks 1,000 days since the beginning of Israel’s siege and military campaign in Gaza. For 1,000 days, healthcare workers, teachers, humanitarian workers, faith leaders, and families have struggled to preserve life under unimaginable conditions. More than one million children remain under siege; at least 20,179 children have been killed, one child every hour for 1,000 days. More than 1,700 healthcare workers have lost their lives, and hundreds of healthcare professionals have been detained, including 18 physicians who remain imprisoned under reported conditions of torture.

• Japan is considering to buy oil from Iran. Three Japanese buyers are currently negotiating with Iran to purchase crude oil. If this materializes, it will be the first time since 2019.
• FIFA president (on left) at the USA verses Bosnia game with Howard Lutnick, Epstein’s neighbor and good friend. This man lied about going to the Island with his children. Lutnick is also Trump's Secretary of Commerce. If you ever wondered who’s pulling the strings.... You can better understand why FIFA treated the Iranian football team like shite. FIFA needs to throw the trash out!

• The Wall Street Journal claims the US offered Iran a proposal to release frozen funds in exchange for Iran fully opening the Strait of Hormoz without imposing any transit fees. Currently, Iran has rejected this proposal.
• Lithuania now follows Finland as it opens its borders to US and French nuclear weapons aimed at Russia. What would the US do if Russia deployed nuclear weapons in Canada and/or Mexico?
• Outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, protesters demanding the shutdown of the immigration jail have been met with tear gas and pepper spray. Inside, during the late-June 2026 heat wave, temperatures hit 102 degrees while at least one unit had no air conditioning. People held there have reported rotten food and medical neglect. The GEO Group, the private prison corporation that runs Delaney Hall, holds a $1 billion contract to provide 1,000 beds there over 15 years. That works out to about $180 per bed, per day — collected whether or not the air conditioning runs or the food is fit to eat. In the last five days of June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized more than 10,000 people across the country to fill cages like these. This is the USA today. What happened to justice and freedom?

• United National Antiwar Coalition: The US government’s pretense of friendship to Venezuela rings hollow, after years of US sanctions and military aggression have caused several tens of thousands of deaths. US assistance for reconstruction will be paltry compared to the massive heist it has perpetrated against the country through assets theft and sanctions. What Venezuela needs for post-earthquake reconstruction is the return of the billions of dollars the US government and its allies have stolen.

• Balkans political scientist Biljana Vankovska writes: These are difficult times for anyone who has consistently criticised NATO. From the era of “defending the Free World” against communism, through the age of “humanitarian intervention” and the “Global War on Terror,” to today’s supposedly existential struggle against almost the entire non-Western world, the Alliance has repeatedly reinvented the narratives that justify its existence. The language changes; the underlying logic does not. NATO remains indispensable, and every new enemy (whether discovered, exaggerated, or actively produced) becomes further proof of its necessity. For decades, critics coming from anti-militarist, anti-hegemonic or left perspectives had to work hard to deconstruct this mythology against the combined efforts of political elites, mainstream media, academic institutions, [many liberals] and security experts. The intellectual task itself was never particularly difficult. The contradictions, hypocrisies and devastating consequences of NATO’s interventions have remained visible long after the bombs stopped falling. What required courage was speaking against the prevailing consensus. 

 Demonstrators chant slogans and raise placards, during an anti-NATO protest in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, 27 June 2026, days ahead of the NATO summit scheduled to be held in Ankara on 7 to 8 July. Photo credit: Khalil Hamra