Crazy world reports: U.S., Israel, Congo, Sudan, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, & more

 

• Speaking on Friday’s episode of The Grand Standoff: Professor Mohammad Marandi warned that 'if South Korea participates in the war against Iran, Tehran would consider it an enemy and seek to destroy South Korean assets in the region'. He said 'those assets would not necessarily be military', adding that 'Iran could target South Korean assets across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar'. Professor Marandi said 'South Korea is highly vulnerable to Iran' and warned that Tehran could 'hurt them very badly.' Professor Mohammad Marandi was born in the US, moved back to Iran in 1979, is a combat veteran of the Iran/Iraq war, and a professor of English literature at the University of Tehran.  

• Sovereignista: In just the last two weeks, the killing of children across Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria has reached another horrifying level. Initial reports indicate that American and Israeli attacks are killing an average of around seven children every day across these fronts. Some are killed instantly in airstrikes, shelling, and drone attacks, while many others die later from their wounds, burns, displacement, starvation, or the long-term consequences of war. Since October 2023, the killing toll from American-Israeli genocidal campaigns, together with the massacres carried out by their regional allies, including HTS terrorists in the occupied Syria, has crossed an initial estimate of 100,000 children. Gaza alone has witnessed the killing of nearly 50 thousand children. 

• IRGC statement: "The IRGC's Aerospace Force launched several ballistic missiles targeting a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer involved in harassing Iranian ships and participating in the naval siege. These two warships, after sustaining damage and fearing further attacks, were forced to flee the conflict zone."
• JD Vance stated that the US "never targets civilians in combat," adding that "unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen." Vance made these remarks at a White House press briefing in response to reports that a US strike killed at least four people, including a child, at a wedding in Kuhestak, southern Iran. Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and human rights organizations, accused Vance of "gaslighting" and dismissing the civilian toll, noting that independent investigations and data from the ongoing conflict have documented significant civilian harm and damage to non-military infrastructure.

• Sovereignista on the carrier USS Abe Lincoln: The crew drank so much they had to be picked up and carted back to their ship docked in Thailand. They were banned from the Thai sex street. And now they are being ordered back to the ship because of fighting in the street. We will do in your country whatever we want. Iran publishes screeds of rage and mockery of the US. September 3 was the funeral of those killed via US missile strike on a wedding. The funeral guests raged for retribution, vengeance and revenge. 
• DR Congo becomes 11th country to move embassy to Jerusalem. Following President Felix Tshisekedi's meeting with Netanyahu, the two nations agreed on the relocation of the embassy of the DRC from Tel Aviv.
• Trilateral drills begin near Jeju: Japan, South Korea and the United States on Monday launched a trilateral multi-domain exercise running through Friday in international waters east and south of Jeju Island. The Freedom Edge drills include real-time data sharing and synchronized maritime and aviation coordination, while North Korea condemned them as part of Washington’s hostile policy.

• With Struggle Comes Liberation: In less than a month, Sudan has experienced over a hundred civilian deaths, and the attacks on the ground and by drone in highly populated areas have continued to result in mass displacement (we’re talking thousands of people) in the month of August 2026. At this point, over a third of all health facilities in Sudan are no longer operational as a result of the ongoing genocide. While some outlets might frame the fighting between the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary and the Sudanese Armed Forces as a civil war (again, we heard the same nonsense about Iraq), it would be naive to ignore the involvement of external powers. It’s no secret that the Zionist-aligned United Arab Emirates funds the RSF and launders gold from Sudan to sell its smuggled wares in the international market.  

• 2019 India tested an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) during an operation codenamed Mission Shakti. Immediately after the test, India's DRDO indicated that they were working on programs involving directed energy weapons, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and co-orbital weapons for ASAT roles. DRDO has a Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences which is working on futuristic weapon systems, mainly high-energy laser systems. They are known to be experimenting with directed energy weapons. India has created the Defence Space Agency (DSA) in 2019 and has also conducted its first simulated space warfare exercise. India’s Defense Space Symposium in April 2026, the most recent high-level forum for India’s defense space community, saw Chief of Defense Staff General Anil Chauhan deliver a direct statement of strategic intent: India must build space architecture that is resilient, AI-enabled, quantum secure, cyber-hardened, rapidly replenishable, and unquestionably sovereign. 

• Scheerpost: From Türkiye to Italy to the US, localized campaigns targeted at Israeli weapons suppliers have emerged, led by community groups and unions, and often supported by Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) chapters. Their goal is to end local complicity in the genocide — and ensure worker and community safety — through bans on weapons shipments via local airports and seaports, as well as shutdowns and moratoriums on weapons manufacturing facilities in residential areas. A coalition of community groups is leading an embargo campaign in New York City’s JFK Airport, where dangerous explosives and F-35 bomber components bound for Israel have passed through the same runways as passenger flights. The campaign is calling on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to end arms shipments through public infrastructure. Most of the coalition’s efforts have been geared toward organizing and educating workers, especially unionized workers in warehouses and on planes. 

• Defense News: Top 100 ranking of global defense companies bears out the overall upward trend, with companies posting higher annual defense revenues, a combined $700 billion compared with $629 billion in the prior year, a 11.3% increase. The first four spots of our latest ranking continue to be in the hands of US firms, with Lockheed Martin in the top spot with $72.1 billion in annual defense revenue, followed by RTX ($46 billion), General Dynamics ($39.4 billion) and Northrop Grumman ($37 billion). Britain-based BAE Systems, which has a sizable US operation, is the first non-American company in the lineup, creeping up to number five, with $36 billion in revenue. Aviation Industry Corporation of China, at $32.3 billion. In Europe, some automotive companies and rail car makers have turned their factory floors into production sites for drones and counter-drone equipment.
• Dmitry Dtobnitsky, Russian political scientist specializing in American studies, expert in US foreign and domestic policy: Some say [Russian Finance Minister] Siluanov and [US Treasury Secretary] Bessent will come to some understanding, and perhaps there will be incredible financial, economic, or investment cooperation between the US and Russia. I have said many times that there can be no serious cooperation between Russia and the US. There are neither material nor geopolitical grounds for it. Are we now supposed to throw away all the achievements of localizing our civilian aviation industry and start buying Boeing again? Are we going to hand over half of the most convenient Arctic territory on the planet to the US? Is that it? Or are we going to sell all Russian oil through Mr. Kushner? Some say: “Investments will come here.” But that would mean that instead of creating a sovereign financial system, we would say: “No, let’s reintegrate ourselves back into the collapsing dollar system. Let’s support it with our achievements of the past five years.” It’s obvious that there can be no real cooperation. 

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: "Preserving the Arctic as an area of peace and cooperation meets the interests of the entire international community, and Russia is undoubtedly interested in this as well. Meanwhile, there are those who do not share this point of view. How else can one explain the fact that NATO countries, as well as the Alliance as a whole, are driving the region towards militarisation and creating hotbeds of international tension there? In February 2026, NATO launched its Arctic Sentry operation, designed to expand its military presence in the High North. Intensive military preparations are underway in close proximity to our northern borders. Such military activity in the Far North poses a direct threat to Russia’s security. It also increases the risk of incidents that could trigger an armed confrontation with potentially disastrous consequences." 

• Journal Of The Anti-Bases Campaign, New Zealand (NZ): Spending on the military will be increased to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) over the next eight years (it currently sits at around 1%), which is a major increase in NZ terms, particularly for a country that faces no discernible military threat. And what thanks did NZ get for this from the US? In May 2026, Pete Hegseth, the cartoonish Secretary of War, said that countries spending less than 3.5% of their GDP on the military were “freeloaders”. He said this at a high-powered international gathering in Singapore at which NZ’s Minister of Defence, Chris Penk, was present and, when asked by a NZ journalist if he was calling NZ a “freeloader”, he replied yes. Penk obligingly fell into line and said that NZ needed to have “a conversation” about our long-entrenched and sacrosanct nuclear free law.
• The Texas Tribune: Elon Musk’s America PAC waded into Texas’ US Senate race for the first time in recent days, dropping almost $250,000 to boost Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and attack his Democratic foe, state Rep. James Talarico. The spending was part of his $800,000 outlay for Republican House and Senate candidates around the country.. The 2nd largest of Musk's PAC donations went to Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine who is running for re-election.

• The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is sailing again in August, September, and October 2026 to challenge Israel's illegal naval blockade of Gaza and bring international attention to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and wholesale destruction of Gaza. our action is needed now more than ever. Much of the world has moved on from Gaza, believing a supposed “ceasefire” has ended the genocide. But, it has not. Since the "ceasefire" agreement went into effect in October 2025, Israel has killed nearly 1300 Palestinians, including almost 300 Palestinian children. Israel now controls nearly 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, continues to kill Palestinians with impunity, and maintains an illegal and deadly blockade that restricts and manipulates the entry of the food, medicine, and fuel on which a besieged population depends for survival.