Japanese & U.S. biological weapons collaboration

South Korean veteran K.J. Noh reports:

Japan officially established its new National Intelligence Bureau on July 31, a date that, when written as '7/31,' echoes the name of Unit 731. 

This Imperial Japanese Army unit, based in northeast China, was responsible for biological warfare and lethal human experimentation. 

Japan's biological warfare Unit 731 was created in 1936. 

Unit 731 was established under the authorization of Emperor Hirohito in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, with the aim of developing biological weapons and conducting inhumane medical experiments during WW2 killing hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians. 

Korean American scholar K.J. Noh argues that the symbolism should not be lightly dismissed. 

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

He warns that Japan's repeated encounters with the number '731' reflect a troubling insensitivity toward its wartime atrocities and should be viewed in the context of the country's broader military and security expansion, along with the U.S., that is now being aimed again at China.

The book A Plague Upon Humanity: The Hidden History of Japan's Biological Warfare Program by Daniel Barenblatt tells the whole sordid story.

After WW2 the U.S. brought Japanese bio-war scientists to Fort Detrick, Maryland and used them to rig up germ warfare weapons that the Pentagon dropped on North Korea during the Korean War. 

Updates: War on Iran, Genocide in Palestine, U.S. cheats Japan, Britain lost its moral compass

 

• Yemen military: In Taiz, 50 more civilians were killed and wounded as a result of Saudi airstrikes targeting a market in  Mawiyah. 
• Iran’s IRGC Navy says it has seized a 2nd US large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in the Strait of Hormoz. The sea drone, a Remus 600 AUV, was captured during its spy mission. Iran disabled it with electronic warfare (EW) and intelligence operations. 

• Sovereignista: Professor Mohammad Marandi says the Iran war is "defining confrontation" toward a genuinely multipolar world order. “If the US fails – and it will – it will be a diminished power. It won’t collapse or go away, but it will be diminished. And the rise of a multipolar world will be strengthened; it will benefit enormously,” the prolific political analyst told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club forum. A victory against Iran would put Washington in “a much stronger position to maintain control over the global order,” Marandi explained. The attack on Iran was an attack on the BRICS bloc, “because Iran symbolizes defiance against a cruel order that allows genocide in Gaza, that can kidnap presidents as in Venezuela, that can threaten to strangle Cuba and obliterate Iran." Any failure on Iran’s part in this war “would create much greater momentum for the US to crush and manage adversaries…So this confrontation is central to the establishment of a new world order – it’s the testing ground for whether multipolarity can actually hold,” the Tehran University professor said. Asked to comment on the prospects for a new peace deal Dr. Marandi expressed skepticism that an agreement could materialize, “because the fundamental problem is not the mediator – it’s Washington’s unwillingness to abide by what it signs.”  

• Iran’s terms haven’t changed, and are the same as they were in the Memorandum of Understanding the US committed to and signed in June, but then violated. Iran will not “give any new concessions to the Untied States,” Professor Marandi assured. “At the end of the day, the question is: will the US implement and carry out its obligations? I don’t see any sign of that now,” Marandi said, predicting “further confrontation” and continued US aggression.
• There was a demonstration of priests against the genocide in Gaza which took place a few days ago in Rome. The shroud (below) is made of names. Three hundred, handwritten, one by one, by the priests during their meeting at the Jesuit General Curia. It was slow work, made more of silence than words, as is done in a vigil. They are children like Amira, Salma, Feryal and Naeem Al-Masri, who were 5, 9, 11 and 12 years old. Like Wateen and Mira Al-Khabbaz, who had not yet turned one. Like the five Al Fouani brothers, killed in Lebanon: Ahmad, Fawaz, Banin, Aya and Zainab. The cloth arrived from the US, where the American network entrusted it to its European brothers. After Rome it will return overseas and will be united with other sheets, with other names. It's a growing shroud, and every part of it tells the same story. 

• Japan's Board of Audit reported that military equipment worth approximately $6.9 billion purchased from the US under the Foreign Military Sales program has not yet been delivered to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, despite more than five years passing since some contracts were signed. The audit identified 118 procurement contracts remaining unfulfilled well beyond their planned delivery schedules, with manufacturing problems at US companies cited as the primary cause.

• Leader of Iran, Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei: "There were days when domineering powers, through psychological operations and by creating an atmosphere of intimidation, emptied the streets of the capital and launched a coup against this nation’s pursuit of independence. For the following 25 years, they plundered the wealth of this country. But today, for 7 months, our fellow citizens have adorned the squares and streets across the country with their responsible and enthusiastic presence, so that the fighters of Islam may be encouraged and the enemy may be filled with fear."

• NBC News, quoting US officials: “Eight US Marines/sailors were injured 2 weeks ago when an Iranian cruise missile attacked the ship they were operating on in the Strait of Hormoz, according to three US officials. The troops were not seriously injured, but they sustained smoke inhalation and possibly traumatic brain injuries, as they had symptoms of concussions, such as headaches, the officials said." 
• Yemen takes control of the Israeli-Emirati military airport at Bab al-Mandab. 

• The five men alleged to be plotting a terror attack at Britian's RAF Fairford base [where US bombers are stationed that fly to Iran and drop bombs] have been released on bail. Authorities insist they are taking the matter seriously and refuse to accept this is all very weird. Conspiracy theorists are questioning why 'terror suspects' with three vans full of explosives are being set free. But they’re not considering that it’s perfectly normal when the terrorists are working on behalf of Israel. It’s understood that part of the reason for the suspects’ release was their cooperative behaviour. In the early hours of Sunday, they drove around in circles for hours to draw attention to their vans. They then blocked off a road and patiently waited for someone to stumble across them. When they were discovered by a nosy farmer, they politely waited in the woods for police to arrive.

• Guy Smallman: Days ago these pugnacious pensioners, who are defending all of our rights, went to the Labour Party national conference Liverpool to see if new Prime Minister Andy Burnham wishes to waste as much of our money as his predecessor defending Israeli interests. The sad answer to this question is yes. Hundreds of largely vintage activists defied the Palestine Action ban by holding 'terrorist placards' in a thoroughly peaceful manner and ended up getting carried off to waiting transport by embarrassed cops. Margaret Owen who is 94 walked to the van. As did Polly Smith (75) who has now been arrested for doing this 22 times. If Polly was to get the maximum penalty and it ran consecutively she'd be looking at a sentence of  308 years. Which seems a little excessive? Blind activist Michael is a veteran of these protests. He brought a placard written in Arabic to confuse the plods yet further. The Police also found themselves arresting a character from a computer game and a man holding a picture of himself at a previous demo. The ridiculous legislation that has triggered these protests continues to make this government and it's enforcers a laughing stock both locally and internationally. Which would be funny if it wasn't for the millions being wasted on this bullshit. Throughout the day, and into the evening, 150 protesters were arrested, over 3,700 arrested since the farcical but sinister legislation was introduced last July.  At 5:00 am, after a stand off that lasted over 16 hours, Merseyside Police finally gave up. They left a group of hardy and foil-wrapped Defend Our Juries supporters in place, outside the Labour Party Conference, still displaying signs saying, ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.’         

Presente: Killing democracy around the world

Taking down critics of zionism.

Who would have imagined a coordinated international campaign to manipulate elections?

Can it be true?

Who are the ruling elites?

Is this what they mean by 'Greater Israel'?

How the U.S. Destruction of the INF Treaty Backfired

By Brian Berletic

Western media headlines have announced the alleged use by Russia of what is being dubbed the “Iskander-1000,” a ground-launched ballistic missile with a potential range of approximately 1,000 km (Western sources claim previous Iskander missiles had ranges of around 390 km with the current Iskander-1000 having a range of 550 km and a potential future range of 1,000 km). Should the new Iskander variant achieve ranges of up to 1,000 km it would place all of Ukraine’s territory within reach from launch positions across pre-2022 Russian Federation territory.

The Iskander’s range had previously been capped at 500 km by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. However, that cap was lifted following the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the treaty in 2019 under the first Trump administration. That had followed the likewise unilateral US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in 2002 under the Bush administration – all part of a continuous US policy of dismantling arms control treaties and rolling out treaty-violating weapons along the borders of not only Russia, but also Iran in West Asia and China in the Asia-Pacific region.

Among those US treaty-violating systems were Aegis Ashore installations capable of tracking and intercepting missiles fired by Russia as part of a retaliatory strike – a key violation of the ABM treaty which would theoretically allow the US to carry out a nuclear or conventional first-strike on Russia while preventing or minimizing any Russian retaliation. The Aegis Ashore system is also capable of ground-launching INF treaty-prohibited Tomahawk cruise missiles (2,500 km) offensively. Aegis Ashore was constructed and brought online in Romania and Poland during the Obama and Biden administrations respectively.

US Aegis Ashore ground breaking in Poland. The site can fire 'missile defense interceptors' and first-strike attack Tomahawk cruise missiles at Russia.

Also following the US withdrawal from the INF treaty was the development and deployment of the mobile Typhon system capable of ground-launching conventional or nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles previously prohibited under the INF treaty. The first Typhon systems became operational and plans to deploy it began under the subsequent Biden administration – demonstrating continuity of agenda regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans controlled the US government.

In addition to the Aegis Ashore and Typhon systems, the US also began work on the Dark Eagle hypersonic ground-launched missile (3,500 km) – another system prohibited under the previous INF treaty.

There is also the US Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) slated to replace aging and less capable ATAMCS fired by HIMARS and M-270 launchers. PrSM is the closest US-equivalent to the Iskander with PrSM’s current range at 500 km and plans to likewise extend it to 1,000 km in future variants.

With US-Soviet/Russian treaties abandoned by the US and a growing number of weapon systems being openly developed and deployed by Washington – Russia began rolling out its own comparable systems.

In addition to the Iskander-1000, Russia has already introduced the Iskander-K (500 km with some variants reaching up to 2,000 km) – a cruise missile launched by the same mobile platforms used to fire Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Ground-launched versions of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missiles (1,500 – 2,500 km) and its hypersonic Zircon missiles (1,000 km) have also been developed and since deployed.

Most notable among Russia’s rollout of systems to counter US INF treaty-violating weapons is the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (3,000-5,500 km) capable of delivering up to 6 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) at hypersonic speeds – each of which contain an additional 6 submunitions for a total of 36 projectiles. Its destructive power has already been demonstrated amid the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine.

US INF Treaty Destruction Backfiring

The US withdrawal from the INF treaty (and before that, the ABM treaty) was designed to give the US an advantage over not only Russia by further encircling it with treaty-violating anti-missile and offensive missile systems – but also over China which never signed any arms control treaties with the US. However, the emerging result is a lopsided quantitative and qualitative edge for both Russia and China – saying nothing of their combined capabilities.

While in theory the US generally has equivalent systems for each of Russia’s new missiles, the quantity at which the US is capable of producing them is dwarfed by Russia’s immense and still growing military industrial base.

The US is producing approximately 230 PrSMs a year versus Russia which is producing nearly 800 Iskanders with plans to continuously expand production.

The US currently produces between 60-190 Tomahawk cruise missiles per year versus approximately 350 Kalibr, 50 Zircon, and 120 Iskander-K missiles (520 ground-launched capable cruise missiles in total) produced by Russia over the same period.

It should be noted that the actual number of ground-launch transporter systems across US inventories is relatively small compared to those of Russia – meaning that many of its Tomahawk cruise missiles would be launched by naval vessels at sea. It should also be noted that not all of Russia’s Kalibr and Ziron missiles are ground-launched – but also launched by naval vessels at sea.

U.S Navy Aegis destroyers are now parked just off-shore of Iran, Russia and China. They can fire 'missile defense interceptors' and first-strike attack Tomahawk cruise missiles

China (as well as Iran) never signed arms control treaties with the United States thus both nations enjoy a substantial advantage in ballistic missile capabilities and quantities. And while Iran faces a deficit in other military capabilities the US does have in abundance – including air power – China has closed the gap or is in the process of surpassing the US in virtually all areas of military power.

While China is not directly arming or equipping Russia militarily – it is a close trade, industrial, and economic partner with Russia – including the transferring of industrial equipment almost certainly assisting Russia in its ability to continue to expand its already substantial quantitative advantage over the US across a wide range of military capabilities including ground-launched missile systems previously prohibited under the INF treaty.

Reports of North Korea supplying Russia with larger and longer range versions of Russia’s own Iskander missiles – the Kn-23 (900 km) – not only means Russia possess the means to further augment its advantages over the US through imported missiles – but likewise implicates China’s role in indirectly boosting North Korean military industrial capacity and thus the quantity of arms North Korea is able to transfer to Russia.

China maintains this careful balancing act of heavily regulating its involvement in the ongoing US proxy war with Russia in Ukraine as an indirect trickle, attempting to put off any sort of direct confrontation with the United States for as long as possible. However, if (or perhaps when) the US crosses further lines in encircling and encroaching upon China itself, this balancing act could quickly go from a trickle to a flood of military industrial support for Russia – not only in boosting Russia’s own industrial capacity, but leveraging China’s vastly greater military industrial base to supply Russia with weapons and ammunition directly.

While the US has lofty plans to eventually outproduce Russia in terms of the many munitions and launch systems previously prohibited by the INF treaty, it remains to be seen whether or not the US has the ability to put these plans into action and whether or not Russia can continue to meet or exceed US military industrial production in the process. So far, it would appear that the US decision to unilaterally withdraw from its arms control treaties with Russia has backfired.

This disparity in military industrial production regarding weapons and munitions previously prohibited under the INF treaty is but a microcosm of a much larger and growing industrial, economic, and military gap between the rising multipolar world and a US insistent on preserving its unipolar power.

Only time will tell how long the US insists in escalating its war on multi-polarism and in particular, its encroachment, encirclement, and aggression against Russia, China, and Iran specifically versus its material capacity to do so – and how well Russia, China, and Iran not only work to counter this escalating war, but do so in growing cooperation with one another.

~  Brian Berletic is a former US Marine, focused on geopolitics in Eurasia. 

Six months of US bombers at RAF Fairford

Neighbours have become used to the sound of warplanes thundering overhead

Gloucestershire Live (UK)

A campaign group has made a plea to "send Trump's bombers home" more than six months after US forces touched down in Gloucestershire.

US bomber jets first landed at RAF Fairford back in March, just as the ongoing US-Iran conflict began. Aircraft including B-52s, B1 Lancers and the C-17A have been based at the site, with a local landlord saying their noisy arrivals and departures can sometimes be heard even in the middle of the night.

The use of the RAF Fairford by the USAF is not new, with an agreement reached almost 80 years ago in 1948 that the American military could use the site during the Cold War to build up a deterrent against the Soviets in Europe.

A government paper published in March noted Fairford "has been used extensively by US military aircraft in previous conflicts, including Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003".

But that hasn't stopped residents near the base from feeling conflicted over its current use by Donald Trump. Since March, there have been a number of protests held in Fairford against the conflicts, while some neighbouring villages inundated with plane spotters have complained about the impact.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) says it is "absolutely shocking" the situation is still ongoing after six months, calling for the new Prime Minister to take action.

CND General Secretary, Sophie Bolt, said: "It is absolutely shocking that six months into the illegal US/Israeli bombing of Iran, this devastating war is still continuing. This is only worsening the global economic situation.

"The British government's permission to allow the US to use bases like Fairford and Diego Garcia has helped to prolong this disaster. It is also increasing the risks to the British population, with British bases like RAF Fairford now viewed as a legitimate target."She said Iran's nuclear programme was "close to a diplomatic solution" prior to the intervention by Israel and the US, undermining a peaceful resolution and escalating the wider threat.

Ms Bolt said CND and Fairford Action have been regularly protesting at RAF Fairford, adding: "We will continue to do so until Britain ends its support for this illegal war.

"Andy Burnham could help hasten a peaceful resolution and ease the threat of a global recession by closing down these bases and sending Trump's bombers home."

Aside from the political controversy, the practicalities are also still causing concern for neighbours. The landlady of a local pub in Kempsford, on the edge of RAF Fairford, has expressed "annoyance" at the ongoing noise pollution from the US bomber jets.

She said: "The biggest thing affecting everyone is the noise. Our regulars say that they can hear the engines being tested in the very early hours, at 2am or 3am. It's affecting a lot of people, especially if you work full-time. To have that right next door is an inconvenience.

"The plane spotters seem to have calmed down a bit now, but it was really dangerous for a while - you'd have families having picnics right along the side of a main road, or stepping out in the dark on a 60mph road.

"It's a worry that that could start up again if more planes come and there is more action from Fairford.

"I don't think anybody knows what he [Trump] is doing. From what I understand, he should have been allowed to use our air bases for 60 days from when they first launched here, and then after that it had to go to Congress. It's all just weird. Hopefully it will resolve itself."

STOP Militarisation of Space: New Zealand Rocket Lab Protest

'STOP Militarisation of Space' New Zealand 'Rocket Lab' protest in Auckland. It asks government and Space Industry CEO to refuse US military Space Missile payloads for warfare combat targeting. Speakers also expose dangers to health and environment from the proposed 100,000 satellites for civilian/military dual purpose.

This public event reinforces NZ Nuclear Free Peacemaker policies and the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act. However, (OSHAA) regulations must be improved to keep 'Space for Peace Aotearoa'. This requires an amendment to prohibit rocket launches of military weapons and satellites contributing to warfare infrastructure.

In addition, the NZ government should actively pursue the UN PAROS Treaty (Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space) for protection of Heaven and Earth for humanity. 

Netanyahu's unhinged U.N. speech

In this episode of 51/49, James breaks down Benjamin Netanyahu's unhinged UN General Assembly address, his open dismissal of international genocide accusations, and the chilling, thinly veiled threats delivered from the podium — raising the unsettling question of whether tech props like Starlink could be weaponized as the next exploding beepers, and asking what it will truly take for a US leader to stand up to Israel.

Plan Zed now underway

A special meeting
was just held in the
foothills of Appalachia
to review the long planned

(and much needed)

call for revolution.

People attended from local
activist councils
from the north-south-east-west
across the nation.
Final consensus was
to go forward with Plan Zed.

All local councils
across the U.S.
are encouraged to inform the people
that resistance to neo-feudalism,
which is now smothering
our hopes and lives,
must be accelerated.

We urge all councils
to initiate the plan,
step forward,
everybody out now, 

organize strikes,
representing the sacred trust,
always for the future generations.

The kids, the waters, the air,
the trees and birds.
The land now increasingly
toxified by industrial capitalism.

Mr. Big is desperately looking
for ways to broaden
his financial empire,
such as,
gambling (even digitally, on live TV baseball games),
outright theft of our digital 

personal bank accounts, 
and ordering his knee-busters 

in Congress
to destroy Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid and what little is left
of the tattered social safety net.

Mr. Big orders

to move the funds

to the Pentagon

and prepare for

endless war 

on the world.

Mr. Big though
is running out of 

gas, bombs, bucks 

and public support as
the nation is $40 trillion in debt.
These are surely

complicating factors in the
current economic equation.

We are confident
that the local council circles
are aware of the current clampdown.

Most of us are now 
superfluous populations.

We touch our hearts
in connection with you.

For the sacred Mother Earth,
we pledge.  

Small biz owner crying foul over economy

Just in the past 2 weeks our cost of steel and cost of shipping went up by 40%.   We were already on the verge of failing 4 weeks ago, and then the video going viral "bought us some time". This surge in costs is likely the end of any progress we made. A unit I shipped to a client 2 weeks ago was $277.  to ship a smaller, lighter unit to that same client this weeks was over $470. Steel that I paid $120 per stick for 2 weeks ago, just cost me $174 .

I raised my priced by 15% over about 9 years, including Covid.   in the past 2 years I have had to raise my prices by almost 30%, and now will need to raise them by at least another 20 to 30% just to break even, and then quote double on shipping,  compared to just 2 weeks ago. I highly doubt that my clients are going to be able to afford to purchase our products.   

If you are in need of good product, please consider us or other small shops. We all need your help.

We are Minnesota Implement . We build some of the best tree pullers, snow plows, utility tractor and skid steer attachments on the market. 

Sunday song

Updates: German students protest war with Russia; U.S. messes with Brazil elections

• Middle East Monitor: Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to bar the United Arab List party, or Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, from running in the Oct. 27 Knesset election, Anadolu reports. The committee approved Ra’am’s disqualification by 18 votes to five, accepting petitions that alleged “the party rejects Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incites racism and expresses support for an armed struggle against the country or actions of a terror organization against Israel.”

• The Iran War is essentially a NATO War, according to NATO Chief Mark Rutte: “5,000 planes took off from European bases in support of Epic Fury.” The war against Russia (using Ukraine as the hammer) and the Iran War have proven to be one western imperial onslaught for more domination. Hasn't 500 years of this ugly, brutal colonial slaughter been enough? When do the European people (and the rest of the western lackies) stand up and say enough? And that includes US and Canadian populations too! From Mohammed Marandi and widely reported in Iran: "If the family dictatorships in the Persian Gulf join Bessent’s attempt to stop Iranian flights, Iran will, if necessary, use force to shut down all of their airports."

• The Pentagon added 37 additional US military casualties to their list from Iranian missile attacks. According to Israeli military sources, 29 US Navy sailors & 8 Marines of the 37 were wounded when Iranian precision ballistic missiles struck a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. This is the reason why the US navy’s fleet retreated and are avoiding operations in the northern Arabian Sea. It’s interesting since CENTCOM has repeatedly denied that its vessels were struck. 

• Who would have thought that German students could be torn away from their computers and forced to participate in the country's political life. However, Friedrich Merz's government managed to do it, and it has nothing to do with new Abitur requirements. Around 45,000 people participated in over a hundred anti-war rallies in different cities across the country. This is already the fourth all-German mobilization of this scale, which means the protest is clearly going beyond individual local initiatives. At the center of the demands is rejection of militarization, the possible return of universal military service, and a course toward further strengthening of the military role in Europe. Participants in the rallies carried signs reading "Russia is not our enemy," stating that they do not want to live in an atmosphere of constant talk about an allegedly inevitable war. 

• Starlink hit in Ukraine: Russia struck Starlink command center in Kiev. The Kosmonova data center was vital for mobile internet & Starlink satellite communications for Ukrainian's military. Ukraine has used Starlink to guide drone strikes inside of Russia. 

• Sovereignista: Too independent to stay free is Imran Khan. Supporters of jailed former Pakistani PM Imran Khan are preparing a “March on Islamabad” on September 27. One of their main demands is his release. His PTI party links his imprisonment to his independent foreign policy stance. Khan has long been critical of the US. He said he hates the word “aid,” calling dependency humiliating, and stressed that Pakistan wants equal relations with the US, not handouts. In 2022, he said he received a message from abroad — later clarifying he meant the US — that Washington’s anger would disappear if he lost the vote of no confidence. On the Middle East, Khan said that behind every fire in the Muslim world one finds Israel, whose goal is to make Muslims fight each other. He accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians and insisted on a ceasefire first, then a two-state solution, and only then dialogue. On Russia and Ukraine, he rejected Western demands to condemn Moscow. Pakistan abstained at the UN, and Khan visited Moscow on the eve of the conflict — the first such visit in 23 years. Khan has said he would rather die in prison than abandon his principles. 📌 The military dictatorship in Pakistan will most likely attack the marchers as they did before.  Pakistan is quietly pummeling Afghanistan. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan confirmed that at least three civilians were killed and four injured in apparent airstrikes in Kunar province in the early hours of 21 September. So far this year, UNAMA documented over 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan from cross-border armed violence.  

• Odessa - the latest ‘Ukrainian patriot’ selected to die for Zelensky had other ideas and vaulted a barbed wire fence and chose to live. 

• Sovereignista: Things are heating up in Brazil with the election coming up for the 4th October. The Lula Campaign sounded the big alarm: “Trump wants to colonize Brazil”. Lula accused Washington of meddling in the upcoming election to seize the country’s natural resources. The evidence is mounting – and Big Tech is already blocking the message. “Flavio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate. And what Trump wants is to colonize Brazil, to take our wealth, steal our future and leave us behind.” Brazilian intelligence assessment: Risk of US interference raised to “critical level.” There is American money in Bolsonaro’s campaign – linked to Rockbridge Network, co-founded by JD Vance. Meta blocked Lula’s Facebook ad account just days before the election.

• Representatives from Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firms DeepSeek and Moonshot are expected to brief a United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on AI and international security in New York, according to Reuters. Chinese experts said the move underscores the growing role of Chinese firms in global discussions on AI development and also highlights China’s commitment to global AI governance, including sharing innovation, openness, and win-win cooperation. China has issued guidance in the form of AI Safety Governance Framework 3.0, in which the classification of AI safety risks was reviewed and updated, and recommendations on optimizing technological countermeasures and comprehensive governance measures were outlined. This other bunch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue, seeks only primacy.

Zionist control of U.S. exposed once more

A Palm Beach County, Florida County Commissioner told a veteran he was “embarrassing” his uniform, deputies removed residents from the chambers and a human rights attorney was arrested as a budget hearing erupted over the county’s $1 billion investment in Israel Bonds.

The arrest report says a deputy had to “forcefully remove” attorney Noura Erakat from the Commission hearing and accused her of trying to “incite the riot” by yelling toward the crowd. Erakat was charged only with misdemeanor trespassing.

Erakat was denied the chance to speak to the Commission. 

the funnies

Malaysia’s BRICS speech called for economic independence & multipolar global order

Malaysia delivered a powerful message at the BRICS summit, calling for greater economic independence, stronger cooperation among developing nations and a more multipolar global order.

In the speech, Malaysia discussed BRICS, global debt, unfair trade practices, AI and semiconductor technology, green transition, local-currency settlements and economic diversification away from traditional Western markets.

The speech also addressed the conflict in the Middle East, with Malaysia condemning what it describes as Israeli aggression and calling for sovereignty, civilian protection and the protection of global trade routes and energy security.

U.S. draining the Patriot stock in West Asia

The U.S. fired around 100 Patriot interceptors earlier this month to stop 20 Iranian ballistic missiles that were heading to hit an American base in Jordan. That was roughly $400 million worth of missiles in a single attack. 

The Pentagon is known to be running out of these interceptors while replacements can take about two and a half years to arrive.

But the aerospace industry is drooling at the thought of replacing them. They are counting the $$$$$$$$$$$.

The reason why so many Patriot interceptors had to be fired is because they don't work so well. The technology used by the U.S. can't compete with Iranian missile tech.

Trump vs China: Did America Just Expose Its Weak Hand?

Donald Trump returned to the White House promising to confront China from a position of American strength. But as Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a crucial Trump-Xi summit, has the strategy instead exposed some of America’s biggest vulnerabilities?

In this GVS Deep Dive, Najma Minhas examines the changing US-China balance of power: Trump’s trade war and tariffs, China’s rare-earth leverage, the AI and semiconductor race, Taiwan, America’s military commitments and the Iran war, strains within US alliances, India’s strategic hedging, BRICS, and China’s expanding manufacturing and export power.

The United States remains the world’s dominant military and financial power and retains enormous advantages in technology, capital markets and alliances. But history shows that great powers can remain extraordinarily powerful even while the relative balance underneath them begins to change.

From Britain’s relative decline as America emerged as an industrial superpower to today’s competition between Washington and Beijing, this episode asks whether US strategy is actually containing China — or exposing vulnerabilities that Beijing has spent decades preparing to exploit.  

War department report on U.S. bases destroyed by Iran

The US Department of Defense Inspector General report reveals that hundreds of buildings and other structures at US military bases were destroyed by Iranian attacks including in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.  

Peter Thiel's Master Plan for the world

Peter Thiel is funding a plan to build privatized city-states everywhere from Gaza and Venezuela to small towns in California.

The goal is to replace governments with for-profit companies.

We investigated how Thiel's scheme is already reshaping democracy across the world.  

The billionaires have become radicalized against democracy.

They want taxpayer donations to their companies, but  they want no responsibilities like paying taxes or environmental regulations.

Updates: Trump at the UN, Iran fed up, Diesel, AI, Consequences of chanting 'Free Palestine'

 

• Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces & Khatam al-Anbiya in response to Trump’s UNGA remarks: “The hostile remarks and repeated threats made by Trump against Iran, accompanied by the misuse of the UN platform to justify aggression, create insecurity, and engage in banditry across the world, are, rather than being based on realities on the ground, merely a tool for domestic propaganda. Such remarks demonstrate the strategic deadlock facing the US in its aggression against the Iranian nation. The repetition of baseless claims and threats, particularly given the exhaustion of the U.S. military, is not a sign of strength but rather an indication of their strategic desperation. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always served as an anchor of security in the region, particularly for free and international trade, while the US, through its illegitimate, unlawful, and aggressive presence in West Asia, has been a source of threats, insecurity, and instability. In an attempt to compensate for its repeated failures in acts of aggression against Iran and in maritime piracy, it has taken the global economy hostage."

• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian at the United Nations in New York: “Either we will build security together, or we will endure insecurity together....Now regarding Palestine. Palestine remains a wound on the conscience of the international community, and Gaza remains a symbol of the failure of international organizations to prevent the suffering of civilians. For decades, resolutions have been issued, yet occupation and violence continue.  We cannot speak of peace while ignoring Palestine. Lasting peace in West Asia will not endure without justice for Palestine."

• Sovereignista: The US president cancelled planned US airstrikes against Yemen at the last moment, according to the New York Times — pulling back just as the operation was about to begin. Trump had told the Pentagon to prepare a large strike package, and target lists were approved. According to the NYT, bombs were being loaded onto US warplanes when Trump decided against ordering the strikes. Earlier, US embassies across the Middle East issued security alerts warning of flight cancellations and airspace closures. Trump then cut short his Camp David stay and returned to the White House early, cancelling all scheduled events. 📌 Of course, this could have been a huge bluff, or it could have been a huge bluff to try and force Iran back to a negotiation, or it could be partially true, or it could be not true at all, or it could be that the US [Pentagon] leaders would not go ahead with it, or it could be a fake for the midterms, or it could be the major win of Macklemore in the media with ‘Free Palestine’ and a realization that nobody is with this administration and this war. 

• Yemen's Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi: “The Saudis are trying to bring Takfiri [mercenary] fighters from Syria through Turkey and Pakistan. We advise Turkey and Pakistan not to intervene in this matter with the aim of gaining political and material gains from the Saudi enemy." Saudi Arabia cannot export oil, so MbS has one way out: surrender, accept Yemen's terms, and expect a bill including the three southern provinces stolen [from Yemen] by the Brits in 1934.  

• Yemen military: Will we hear condemnations from countries, organizations, bodies, and international entities for the crime committed by the Saudi regime in Bab al-Mandab, where it bombed a popular market in broad daylight while the market was crowded with shoppers — like those condemnations over the lie of targeting Mecca?! Or are they condemnations paid in advance, dedicated to serving the Saudi oil regime, with no relation to the shedding of the blood of poor Yemenis who possess neither oil nor dollars? 

• Tehran’s Metro has installed CPR training machines that let passengers, while waiting for their metro, learn life-saving skills and get certified on the spot. 

• China rejects illegal Iran sanctions: In response to claims by US regarding forcing countries to suspend Iranian airliners, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing will not follow "illegal US sanctions," stating, "China has always opposed unilateral and illegal sanctions that have no basis in international law."  

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) have introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act – a bill to permanently prohibit AI systems which humans cannot control, pause advanced AI development until a real regulator establishes enforceable safety rules, and penalize the companies that break them. Stanford economists found employment for 22-25 year-olds in AI-exposed jobs has dropped roughly 13% since 2022. Entry-level hiring at major tech companies is down by half since 2019. Data centers are pushing our utility bills up. AI deepfake tools are being used to harass students on campuses. High-tech oligarchs are gambling with an economy young people haven’t even entered yet. And they’ve built a $100 million super PAC to make sure Congress can't stop them. 

• The latest state elections in Germany have confirmed a trend that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss. The results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, following Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier, leap off the page, as the AfD won 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU fell below the 5% threshold for the first time in a German state election. In Berlin, meanwhile, the Left finished first, with the CDU second and the SPD falling to fifth place.  Germany is therefore moving towards something resembling the politics of smaller European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, or Austria, with fragmented parliaments and increasingly complicated multiparty coalitions.

• The Kucinich Report: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is the Punxsutawney Phil of Capitol Hill. Like the fabled groundhog who emerges from his burrow in the late winter, Johnson emerged from his Capitol Hill office last Wednesday, looked at Congressman Thomas Massie’s Impeachment of War Secretary Hegseth, saw the shadow of defeat, quickly adjourned the House, and then burrowed back to his office until after the November General Election. We will have at least six more weeks of war, brought to us by Secretary Hegseth and his boss, President Trump, with the help of Speaker Johnson who avoided a procedural vote, taking it upon himself to adjourn. Consider. The Administration, compelled by Israeli interests, has driven America into a war of choice against a nation that represented no threat to our country. The war against Iran is becoming more dangerous every day, more casualties, more expense, and more devastating economic and moral consequences. On September 15, the House of Representatives expressed its constitutional will and voted 220–204 to direct the President to end American participation in the war against Iran. When the Congress returns after the November Election, Massie’s Articles of Impeachment - - accusing Hegseth of accelerating the Iran War, carrying out unlawful orders and participating in extrajudicial killings - - will remain among the unresolved matters.

• An intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program. The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said. It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) — and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. 

Space Week action at Bath Iron Works in Maine

Living among the occupiers: Natalia & Alexander's story

The Floutist

Natalia, 52, and Alexander, 49, were small farmers living in the tiny agricultural village of Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, twelve kilometres northeast of Sudzha, which lies a hundred kilometres southwest of Kursk inside Russia. They lived through the Ukrainian invasion from the first day, in August 2024, until almost the very last, surviving for seven months amid the ruins of their home.

Here is Natalia’s account of those months.

We had a small farm with a vegetable garden, a barn, cows, and chickens. Our house stood at a crossroads on the road from Sudzha to Kursk. Our village had 176 inhabitants, twenty-six of whom lived on our street. On the morning of 7 August, the day after the invasion, while we still did not know what was happening, we went to Kursk to buy an electric generator. On our way back in the evening, the road was blocked by concrete barriers. The next day we tried to contact our daughter in Kursk, but there was no longer any mobile network.

That was when it began. The Ukrainians arrived from two directions at once. Many cars were trying to flee towards Kursk. Ukrainian armoured vehicles fired on them, injuring and killing many of the occupants. We stayed in our house.

A month later, while retrieving our livestock one evening, we saw tanks and mines on the road. We came across a company of Russian soldiers who had taken refuge in the woods. There were twenty-two of them. They gave us a grenade for our protection. We showed them the route they should take to escape, but it was already too late.

A battle began, and they were all killed by incendiary shells while trying to escape. The next day, we counted twenty charred bodies. We managed to recover their survival kits, which proved extremely useful afterwards. And because they had had time to cut the rope of our cow’s halter, we were able to recover her. Thanks to her and her milk, we were able to survive throughout the winter months. We stayed inside for almost a month, too afraid to go outside.

At the end of September a young Ukrainian soldier came knocking at our door with his rifle to tell us that we had nothing to fear, that he and his comrades were setting up in our street and that they would not fire on civilians. He belonged to a drone unit. They moved into abandoned houses further up our street. They were young men aged twenty to twenty-five.

We sometimes spoke with them. They told us not to go outside at night because of thermal cameras. They were kind, and one day one of them even lent his mobile phone to one of our neighbours, who was celebrating his birthday, so that he could call his family in Russia. He told us that we could flee if we wanted to, but only by going into Ukraine. He would have faced serious consequences if his commander had found out what he had done.

In October we saw an aircraft very high above us releases a large bomb with fins. It fell on a depot containing inflammable fertilizer a kilometre from our house. The explosion was so powerful it blew off the roofs of surrounding houses. We often saw drones, and we quickly learned to distinguish Russian drones from Ukrainian drones.

For six months, we ate potatoes and vegetables from our garden and drank the milk from our cow. In November, the fighting moved northwards, and we were able to recover food abandoned in the shops and neighbouring houses, cooking it on our wood-burning stove while trying not to be detected. An uncle who lived on the same street managed to bake some bread by cooking it on the sheet-metal roof of his house. There was no electricity, and we had to save the generator’s fuel.

A destroyed house in Sudzha, Russia by Ukrainian attack. March 12, 2025.

Several houses were occupied for a long time by Ukrainian drone operators. These Ukrainians were very decent towards us, while the others—mercenaries, judging by their voices—fired at us. We survived because our house was relatively isolated and had no antenna on the roof.

On 22 February, a Russian drone flew over us and we managed to wave to it. We wrote “khleb” [bread] on a piece of cardboard. For one week, every morning and evening, Russian drones from the Akhmat regiment brought us bread, drinking water, matches, chocolate bars, canned food, and messages of encouragement, also urging us, “Share this food with all those who were suffering with us.” We thanked them by writing “Spassiba” [Thank you] on a board. Then the aid suddenly stopped.

On 3 March, both of us were wounded by fire from a Ukrainian Mavic quadcopter drone. We had gone out to the well to try to find water by breaking the ice. We were bleeding heavily and could no longer continue living in those conditions, but, once again, luck was on our side. Thanks to the survival kits, we were able to make bandages, and we decided to escape the following morning. At dawn, we wrapped ourselves in white sheets so that we would not be spotted in the snow, and we set off along the road with our dog. By an extraordinary stroke of luck, for quite some time we were able to follow the tracks of a Ukrainian armoured vehicle in the snow and thus avoid mines. Then, thanks to our dog sniffing the ground, we were able to avoid anti-personnel mines hidden beneath the snow.

After six hours and twenty-six kilometres, around noon we finally came across Russian soldiers, who could not believe that we had managed to travel all that way without being blown up by a mine. We are very religious, and I prayed throughout the entire journey. I believe that the icon we had taken with us saved us.

We were then transferred to the Kursk hospital to treat our wounds and see our children again. The commander of the Akhmat battalion came to see us and told us that they had been forced to stop their deliveries because they had been requisitioned for the counterattack on Sudzha, which took place a few days later. [Russian forces retook Sudzha on 10 March by infiltrating through a pipeline.]

Even the F.S.B. [Russia’s domestic intelligence agency] came from Moscow to question us and ask us how we had survived. The media were also interested in our story. Our cow, calf, and bull are doing well, and the neighbours looking after them send us photographs. Of the people living on our street, twenty were killed or died of hunger or illness; only six survived.

Alexander and Natalia now live in a Kursk apartment building recently constructed to house refugees who lost their homes during the Ukrainian invasion.