Sunday, August 17, 2025
Saturday, August 16, 2025
The goal is always domination
The Washington post reports in their top headline this morning the following: Trump reverses on Ukraine war ceasefire demand, aligning with Putin, splitting with allies: An immediate ceasefire to the war in Ukraine had long been a bedrock demand by the U.S., Ukraine and their European allies.
One can easily imagine that most neocons in Washington, London and the EU are pulling their hair out. Zelensky as well. His cash cow is wandering off the farm.
No immediate ceasefire was agreed upon. That was the chief demand of Zelensky, Starmer, Macon and Merz. They wanted to use that time to re-stock Ukraine with more weapons (especially drones) that could keep attacking civilians in the Donbass and inside of Russia.
Give Trump a nod (what ever his real motivations might be) he has now angered the 'allies' and they know that if they want the proxy war on Russia to continue (and they surely do) they are going to have to pay for it.
In one interview on Fox, Trump said the US funded Ukraine at the tune of $350 billion while the EU gave $100 billion.
Actually the US can't afford to keep pissing money down the rat hole - especially when they want to spend that money getting ready for war with China. (And maybe still with Russia and Iran too.)
The Ukraine gamble is lost
The oligarchic owned media in the US ensured that the Obama-Biden-Hillary Clinton orchestrated coup in Kiev in 2014 was swallowed by the people across the 'democratic' west. The public was firmly brainwashed to believe that Ukraine was the white hat team and Russia was the black hat bad guys.
Few know that the US-NATO started the war in 2014 and killed/wounded tens of thousands of Russian-ethnics in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine - the place where the war is centered today.
In early 2022 Russian went into the Donbass after years of fruitless negotiations with the west to end their attacks on the Donbass. The US-NATO always wanted the war. They dreamed of breaking Russia up into pieces.
But don't think the US has given up on its ill-fated quest to break up Russia. Alaska was just a 'strategic retreat'. Look at how Washington is fiddling with Armenia and Azerbaijan to destabilize another border land of both Russia and Iran.
The US is also working with Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland to militarize the Arctic in order to challenge Russia's large border with that vast resource rich region.
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| Cold Response was a recent US-NATO Arctic war game on Russia's border |
The US-NATO only know war. Their economies are driven by military spending. Their so-called leaders are virtually all corporate apparatchiks.
And don't forget that many of these EU-NATO leaders are related to former high level Nazi operatives during WW2.
Europe appears stuck in the quicksand of their disappearing 'unipolar' control. They can't accept that they must get along with the Global South that is rising after 500 years of colonial domination.
The US and EU got rich off the wealth they stole from the Global South. Museums across the west are loaded with treasures taken from these nations.
Trump is still about America First. That has not changed. The public in the US must campaign against the Pentagon's trillion dollar a year offensive war machine.
That is the only way we will get true peace.
Bruce
Will the US Invade Mexico?
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| Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stands against Trump's threats |
By Mel Gurtov (CounterPunch)
The Limits of Friendship
Donald Trump is proving time and again to foreign leaders that counting on friendly relations is senseless. Most recently, India, Canada, Ukraine, and Brazil discovered that, contrary to expectations, Trump is not influenced by historical ties or long-term common interests. He will treat them like adversaries if there is immediate advantage to doing so. Now Mexico joins the list.
Trump has long had the idea of pursuing drug dealers into Mexico. The New York Times reports that he has signed a secret directive to the Pentagon that could lead to the dispatch of US air and ground forces into Mexico, or other countries, on the pretext of fighting terrorism, a designation the State Department began using once Trump took office. To say the least, Trump’s order raises numerous legal, practical, and foreign policy questions, such as armed intervention in another country, the lack of Congressional authorization or even consultation, the killing of civilians abroad, and the use of the armed forces instead of law enforcement agencies to fight drug trafficking.
Most relevant is the opposition of the target country, Mexico in this case. Its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is adamant on the subject. “The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out,” she said. Nor is a US invasion “part of any agreement, far from it,” she added. “When it has been brought up, we have always said no.” In April she rejected Trump’s request to allow US forces into Mexico to attack drug cartels. Clearly, Trump isn’t taking no for an answer.
An Aggressive Latin America Policy
The precedent of US troops dispatched in 1989 to arrest Panama’s leader, Manuel Noriega, on drug trafficking charges is instructive. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the invasion as a “flagrant violation of international law.” Yet the US military has been involved in anti-drug operations for years, though usually in cooperation with Latin American governments, including Mexico’s. Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is claiming the administration’s right “to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it.” No suggestion here of a role for Congress or the need of the target country’s consent. The administration might act unilaterally in the same way it assassinated Iran’s military commander, Major General Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020.
It is highly unlikely that the legal offices within the Pentagon will seek to restrain such unilateral actions. The offices of legal counsel and judge advocates have been so weakened under Trump that legal guidelines are likely to be ignored by defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who insists on a more muscular armed services.
The highly questionable designation of Mexican and Venezuelan gangs as terrorist groups is in keeping with a Latin America policy that portrays every undesirable situation as a threat to national security, thus justifying illegal US actions. Those actions include the demand that Brazil abort its trial of coup leader Jair Bolsonaro or face 50% tariff rates, the deportations of alleged gang members without due process of law to El Salvador, the ongoing embargo against Cuba, and the $50-million bounty for the arrest of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. These latest threats of invasion reveal a purely negative and aggressive Latin America policy that will provoke angry receptions in much of the region, where fears of the Colossus of the North remain very much alive.
Is Trump Bluffing?
Trump may be bluffing here, but with his economic policies in deep trouble and the Epstein affair not going away, I think it’s entirely possible that he will act impulsively in Mexico. The politics of distraction is already well underway, never mind that Mexico’s cooperation on migration and the drug cartels has been effective. Until Trump’s directive, its officials reportedly believed that relations with the US were on the upswing. The US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, said in July that the greatly reduced drug flow and border crossings were “due to a secure border” and “increased collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico.”
That collaboration will vanish with an invasion. “If the U.S. does this without Mexico’s consent, it will set the relationship back a hundred years,” said Todd Robinson, who was the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs in the Biden administration. Mexicans should know better than to count on a US president who is oblivious to facts and has no problem reversing policy on a dime.
~ Mel Gurtov is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Perspective, an international affairs quarterly and blogs at In the Human Interest.
Friday, August 15, 2025
Florida Report: Alligator Alcatraz & the Miccosukee Fires
About a week ago, my father and I had the opportunity to travel to Florida together and visit the Miccosukee reservation, liaise with people from the local tribes, and gain perspective from those on the front-lines of Alligator Alcatraz. Immediately, we wanted to go and get a first-hand look at this heinous detention camp for migrants and better understand the depth of the situation at hand for the prisoners and the adjacent tribal citizens. I urge you to watch my video reporting on our trip.
Recent reports from the people being detained there detail that abuse and neglect has run rampant at the facility. From maggots in food and denial of access to attorneys to the lack of clean water, toiletries, and baths, these people — many of whom have done nothing wrong — are suffering. The denial of due process and the abhorrent conditions that they face is a clear consequence of the constant dehumanization and vilification of immigrants in this country under the Trump administration
This abomination of a prison camp was quickly constructed in close proximity to Miccosukee villages with no tribal consultation or lawful environmental review. As one sign said, which you can see in our video, the facility may be temporary but some of the damage it will cause — to Miccosukee homelands and to the people forced to live within its gates — will be permanent.
Five detainees have already died in custody in Florida. The budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded to absurd levels, and it’s horrifying to understand that, if the administration gets its way, this facility is likely not a one-off. It will, in fact, be a template for more. That’s unacceptable.
Fortunately, the Miccosukee Tribe — in league with environmental groups — is fighting back in court, rightly claiming the facility violates environmental laws, threatens sensitive wetlands and habitat, and should be shut down. I’m happy to report that, just after we arrived home, a judge issued a temporary restraining order halting construction for 14 days.
On a sadder note, the day we arrived in Florida, we heard about a fire that destroyed several homes and numerous historic artifacts housed in a creative and cultural center at the Miccosukee Tribe Tiger Camp. [The timing of this fire quite revealing.] This place was a hub of preserving and teaching cultural practices and lifeways. If you’d like to help, donations to assist with the recovery can be delivered to the Miccosukee Casino and Resort in Miami.
This trip to Florida taught us a lot, and we are now formulating the best way for us — and you — to show solidarity with these communities in an ongoing way. In the meantime, let’s all keep the Miccosukee in our hearts and prayers. They’re doing their best on the front-lines, and they need our support in more ways than one.
Wopila tanka — thank you for standing for what is right!
Tokata Iron Eyes
Spokesperson & Organizer
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund
Ukraine still grabbing men off streets
A young man jumped out of a moving bus belonging to TRC officers.
Even though there might be some kind of deal to stop or at least slow down the US-NATO proxy war on Russia, the Ukrainian military squads are continuing to grab men off the streets.
Any male person walking on a street of town controlled by Kyiv is a potential prey for the government’s poundmen. He will be beaten, captured, put in a local concentration camp and sent to die in another senseless PR action at the frontline with the nearest batch of ‘proud fighters against the Russian aggression’ of the same kind. The ones attempting to resist this fate will be tortured or even killed by the proud workers of “territorial centers of recruitment and social support” (or just TRС) on site. The scale of these developments has reached the point when it cannot be ignored even by mainstream media outlets.
In Lutsk, Volyn region, a man was mobilized right outside his home while walking his dog, leaving the distressed animal alone on the street.
In Lviv, the ‘mobilization’ did not go as planned: when TRC officers tried to drag a young man into their bus, he screamed for help, and passersby intervened to free him.
A woman climbed onto the roof of a bus where TRC officers were transporting her husband. Footage of the incident was published by Artem Dmytruk, a deputy of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada [Parliament]. He also claims that the officers initially tried to run her over.
According to the latest official data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense as of November 2024, the TRC staff numbered 36,000. However, Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezugla claimed the TRС actually employed over 100,000 people.
This new wide-scale round of clashes between Ukrainian citizens and TRC has erupted on the streets.
This will inevitably create conditions under which, after the conflict ends, a large-scale wave of migrants will pour into Europe from Ukraine. A significant portion of them will consist of individuals implicated in war crimes and crimes against the civilian population during the conflict. A particularly large number will be TRC employees who, fleeing inevitable popular retribution, will attempt to evade responsibility specifically in European countries.
The sponsors of the Kyiv regime seems to be facing a hard moment. On the one hand, they want a ceasefire on the battlefield to rescue the collapsing defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the region of Donbass. On the other hand, the ceasefire will push the failed state of Ukraine into another kind of conflict, which would bring even more chaos into the NATO-sponsored entity.
You can see more videos of the TRC man-handling innocent civilians who do not wish to go die in the western war on Russia here.
At least 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022, The Telegraph reported on Thursday. Others are hiding inside Ukraine or bribing officials to avoid being sent to the front, as the military faces its worst manpower crisis, the newspaper wrote.
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Trump all about the cash
A report reviewing Trump's New York City mob boss approach to dealing with the world.
He does transactions and makes sure he and his zionist friends come out all right with their cut of the loot.
West Bank: 'Who really is in charge'?
Mohammed Robin left his home one morning to go to work, and when he came back he found it had been taken over by Israeli settlers.
The property, near the West Bank City of Ramallah, had been in his family since 1952.
‘I have to go the legal route to defend my land, but even with a legal process… there’s not much chance,’ he says.
Settler encroachment is one of the most important issues in the West Bank at the moment, and it’s worsened since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Sky’s Stuart Ramsay went inside the West Bank and spoke to the Israeli military, armed settlers and the Palestinians being forced from their homes.
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Zangezur or bust: A US corridor scheme meets an Iranian red line
The US-backed 'Meghri Corridor initiative' seeks to isolate Iran, undercut Russia, and entrench Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Israeli influence, but Tehran insists the ‘American corridor’ will be dead and buried.
On 8 August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining seven points to advance a so-called peace agreement in the South Caucasus. Bilateral deals between Washington and both states accompanied the accord.
The MoU advocates opening borders and transport routes, reinforcing Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction – with reciprocity vaguely promised. Baku inserted the word “unimpeded” to describe its sought-after link to the Nakhichevan exclave, paired with “reciprocal benefits” for Yerevan.
Under the deal, the Meghri route – dubbed the Trump Route for Peace & Prosperity (TRIPP) – will be operated and controlled by US and foreign contractors, while Armenian railway access through Nakhichevan remains under Azerbaijani control.
This imbalance leaves Yerevan with fewer assurances over TRIPP’s security. “Unimpeded” likely means operators will deal directly with Azerbaijani traffic, with only periodic reporting to Armenian authorities. Such ambiguity could delay the peace agreement’s conclusion or pressure Armenia to cede further operational control.
Armenia’s former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian wrote on his Facebook page that the country fell into a trap, noting that Iran has openly warned it will not tolerate any foreign presence in Syunik, describing the region as Armenia’s strategic lifeline and a vital part of the north–south axis. Turning it into a geopolitical bargaining chip, he said, endangers both Armenia’s security and regional stability.
Russia: A sleeping bear with an open eye
While mainstream narratives blame Russia’s declining role in the South Caucasus on its military focus in Ukraine, this ignores that it was Yerevan that prohibited the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) from defending Armenia in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 or during the short 2022 border flare-up.
Pashinyan himself made clear during the 44-day war that he did not want CSTO intervention, later – astoundingly – complaining post-defeat that “the CSTO has not fulfilled and is not fulfilling its obligations towards Armenia.” That complaint was political theater – part of a mission aligned with his western backers.
Pashinyan, seen as a product of a western-backed color revolution, came to power urging young people to throw themselves under buses in the name of “peaceful protest.” Since the 1990s, Yerevan, like Baku, has been steadily penetrated by western NGOs. The brief 2022 clashes changed little; by then, Pashinyan had already shown his political hand.
The withdrawal of the Russian troops from Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 and Pashiyan's blocking of the Russian-led alliance CSTO to defend Armenia against continued Azerbaijani aggression in 2021 and 2022 pushed confused Armenians to question the alliance and look for alternative security partners.
Moreover, the recent tension (arrests and detention of their respective journalists in both countries) between Azerbaijan and Russia further politically obstructed Russia, with Moscow no longer viewed as the ultimate power-broker in the region.
Analysts argue that Trump’s brokered agreement would sideline Russia, stripping it of the role it once dominated in the region for the last two centuries. Russia’s Duma member Kostantin Zatulin mentioned that the agreement aims at “squeezing Russia out of the Caucasus.”
Some even went further, calling it a “geopolitical blow” for Moscow. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova’s comments highlighted that Russia is interested in regional stability and diplomatically called for the returning back to the regional 3+3 platform as if the South Caucasus was a region far from “Russia’s abroad.”
Russia’s South Caucasus Railway subsidiary still operates Armenia’s network under the 10 November 2020 trilateral statement, which also placed Russian border guards in southern Armenia to secure transit between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Even if a US company runs the Meghri–Nakhichevan Corridor, Russia’s railway operation secures its economic stake while Armenia would also have access to Iran and Russia through Azerbaijani railways. When Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August to discuss a Ukraine “territorial swap,” the corridor issue will likely surface. Moscow will aim to preserve its economic interests, possibly trading political concessions in the region.
Tehran vows to block US-NATO foothold in the Caucasus
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has welcomed the finalization of the peace agreement text, considering it a “significant step toward achieving lasting peace in the region.” But it also expressed concern over the foreign intervention near its border that would undermine regional stability and stressed the respect of the territorial integrity of neighboring states, hinting at its opposition to any territorial change with its border with Armenia.
Tougher messages from Iran came from Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian supreme leader’s senior advisor, who said that with or without Russia, Iran will thwart the creation of an “American corridor” in the South Caucasus.
Asked about an agreement that will grant the US a “99-year development lease on the corridor,” he stressed that this corridor will turn into a “graveyard of the mercenaries of Donald Trump.” It has been announced that Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian will be giving an official visit to Yerevan in the coming days.
General Yadollah Javani, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander for political affairs, also issued a blistering statement headlined “Aliyev and Pashinyan on Zelensky’s Road to Misery.” He said their choice to invite the US, Britain, and NATO into the Caucasus via a century-long Zangezur Corridor lease was akin to “the strategic error by Zelensky” and will see them falling for the “gambler Trump’s trap.”
Unlike Ukraine’s war, which pitted Kiev only against Moscow, Javani warned that this move has united Iran, Russia, China, and India against Baku and Yerevan. This destructive act, he declared, “will not go unanswered.”
It is no more a secret that the establishment of TRIPP will enhance US regional influence while diminishing Iran’s access and traditional influence in the South Caucasus.
Ankara and Tel Aviv: Strategic beneficiaries
Washington’s scheme also strengthens Turkiye’s hand. As NATO’s bridge into the region, Turkiye can expand influence across the Black Sea–Caspian arc, advancing its Middle Corridor project and deepening ties with the “Turkic world.” While careful to avoid open confrontation with Russia and Iran, Ankara is boosting domestic missile production to bolster its autonomous posture.
For Israel, the corridor opens new operational depth. Analysts openly float an “Abraham Accords 2.0” extension into the South Caucasus. Baku and Tel Aviv already maintain close security cooperation, with the occupation state supplying arms and intelligence. This positions Tel Aviv to project power into Iran’s north, intensifying surveillance and encirclement.
Armenia is increasingly shifting toward western alliances, including deepening ties with the US and the EU, however, without concrete commitments in return. This alignment or shift not only limits Iran’s diplomatic space but also supports the development of alternative trade and energy routes that bypass Russian and Iranian territories.
By doing so, the US aims to bring Yerevan and Baku under its orbit to detach them from future commitments related to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that connects Russia to Iran and India. Thus, isolating two traditional regional actors from the South Caucasus would ultimately pave the way for the increase of influence of the only regional actor, which is Turkiye.
If implemented, TRIPP will reshape the South Caucasus. Armenia may secure short-term peace, but will hand Turkiye and Azerbaijan logistical and military advantages. Iran risks regional isolation unless it forges tighter links with Russia and Armenia, and brings China and India into a common front against the Neo-Ottomanism and the “pan-Turkic arc.”
Russia may retain some economic leverage through railway operations, but if the status quo tilts further toward the west and Turkiye, Moscow’s influence will erode.
The primary winners will be Ankara, Baku, and Tel Aviv – and behind them, Washington.
U.S. Out of Africa: Voices from the Struggle
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| Sudanese refugees |
Not running after magnates new,
My pride of blood I have subdued;
I’m but an unknown singer
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin spoke with Professor Gerald Horne. Professor Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of more than 30 books, including most recently The Capital of Slavery:Washington D.C. from 1800-1865, a regular guest on the Horne Report, which airs on Black Power 96 Radio Sundays at 3:30 PM EST, and host of Freedom Now on KPFK Los Angeles, Saturdays at 11 AM PST.
AWB: So our topic du jour is Russia in Africa, trying to understand the contemporary relationship. It is a pleasure to have this conversation with such an erudite historian as yourself because the first question is historical. We opened with Pushkin because many are unaware that “Russia’s Shakespeare” had African origins. Which leads to the question itself: Where would you suggest people start for an understanding of contemporary Russia/Africa relations? Imperial Russia? Soviet Russia? A quarter century ago, with the rise of Putin? With Wagner’s central African interventions in 2018?
GH: Well, thank you for inviting me. I'm going to try to touch on all of the foregoing. Let's start approximately a few hundred years ago, when you had the Napoleon Bonaparte invasion of Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte of course being the leader of France, and that invasion in many ways represents a contradiction in European history that is still working itself out in the 21st century. What I mean is that the Western European nations, as they were getting fat on the plunder of Africa and the devastation of the Americas, were still not necessarily the major power on their own continent. That title in many ways rests with Russia, and so there has been a struggle for centuries to resolve that contradiction, which is working itself out today with regard to the proxy war in Ukraine.
As you probably know, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated soundly, but that did not necessarily squash the ambitions of the Western European nations with regard to the United States of America. Russia got crosswise with Dixie in particular in the wake of the War of 1812. Recall that the United States tried to seize Canada, [which is] still on the agenda as we speak. Canada was part of the British Empire, and therefore, the Redcoats entered the fray. And you may recall that in August 1814, the Redcoats torched Washington, D.C., enslaved Africans joined in, sending President Madison and his spouse Dolly fleeing into the streets [but the Africans remained] one step ahead of the posse and then escaped on British boats to freedom in Trinidad and Tobago. In any case, in the wake of that conflict, Russia was chosen to mediate because the slave owners in Dixie said that their property was taken. That is to say, the enslaved Africans, reference what I just said about the Africans fleeing to Trinidad and Tobago. My own opinion is that Russia issued a judgment that was quite [un]favorable to the interests of the slave owners, but the slave owners did not agree, and therefore, you saw that Russia and the United States, at least the slave owning states of the United States, got off on the wrong foot.
At the same time, we saw that in the 1850s, you witnessed a successful attempt by Britain and France to resolve that major contradiction of European history. I'm speaking of the Crimean War, whereby Britain and France ganged up on Russia, along with the sick man of Europe, speaking of Ottoman Turkey, and they were able to defeat Russia. But at the same time as so often happens, and we'll see this once again with regard to the Japanese attack on Russia in 1904, it leads to further contradictions that do not necessarily redound to the benefit of the Western European nations. What I mean is after that defeat, that set in motion events that led to the retreat of serfdom or feudalism in Russia a few years later which then helps to engender positive elements that leads Russia to align with the north, the Lincoln government during the US Civil War, at the time when Britain in particular was leaning towards the Confederacy and France, likewise, Russia, by way of contrast, sent major fleets to both the west coast and the east coast of the United States in solidarity with the Lincoln government. But alas, that also led to a contradiction because what happens is that Russia in 1867 decides to sell its claims to Alaska for a mere $6 million, which was really, as a recent Kremlin spokesman said, a betrayal. In any case, Russia executed that deal because it thought it was striking a blow against the British Empire. Recall that there was a British colony in what is now British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, and it was felt that selling Alaska to the United States would enmesh Britain and the United States in contradictions while allowing Russia to retreat across the Pacific.
However, the contradiction that I mentioned a few moments ago between the western European nations and Russia then manifests itself again in the 1890s when Italy invades Ethiopia/Abyssinia. And one of the reasons why Abyssinia was able to prevail, which was a major landmark in Pan-African history, was because it was armed to the teeth by Russia which thought that it could engage in solidarity with its fellow Christians in Addis Ababa, for example, not to mention striking a blow against European colonialism but alas, as foreshadowed a moment or two ago, Britain struck back, the Western European struck back in 1904 when they financed the Japanese attack on Russia, which was also a major turning point because it marked a retreat according to Du Bois, Nehru, Ho Chi Minh, a retreat from the more egregious aspects of white supremacy when Japan was able to defeat this European power, speaking of Russia.
But alas, once again, it sets in motion contradictions that lead to the Russian revolution of 1917, whereby Russia decided that the better part of wisdom was to support African liberation, Caribbean liberation, et cetera, that creates enormous tensions and contradictions with the North Atlantic countries, which leads to Operation Barbarossa, June 22nd 1941, when Berlin, the Nazis invade Russia really pulverizing the country. But that too leads to contradictions because the present Russian leader, Mr. Putin, was not alive then but his family was in the city then known as Leningrad. They suffered grievously during that war and those stories were passed on to Mr. Putin. But in any case, the whole Soviet experience from 1917 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a turning point in African history, a turning point in Caribbean history. And just as a footnote, I must say that it was not the finest hour for the Black Liberation Movement in the United States of America.
You basically had three tendencies in the Black Liberation Movement. A dominant liberal tendency as represented in the NAACP, which of course decided to throw in its lot with anti-communism, throwing Paul Robeson of the other tendency, speaking of the socialist left-oriented tendency, throwing him overboard, leading to the marginalization of that particular tendency. And then there was a black nationalist tendency that was split. There were some who were leaning towards anti-communism. You saw that during the Angola crisis of 1975, for example. And then there were some who were less enthused with that tendency. In any case, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, you bring us to the current period.
We arrive at the current period with the rise of Mr. Putin about a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He's been in power for about a quarter of a century now and, despite the fact that the current iteration of Russia is not the same as the Soviet Union, to put it mildly, that fundamental contradiction that I referenced whereby the Western European nations were not necessarily a major power on the continent, has led to repeated efforts to weaken Russia, not only for geostrategic reasons, but also for economic reasons since Russia is a storehouse of gold, diamonds, platinum, and other precious metals. Also, Russia is the most populous nation in Europe, 150 million strong compared to number two, Germany, 82 million strong. And that, of course, has led to the rise of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, inaugurated in 1949 on an anti-Soviet basis, as was often said, to keep the Yankees in, the Russians out, or the Soviets out and the Germans down. And that has led to the so-called proxy war in Ukraine, which now has reached a real turning point in the last 48 hours with Mr. Trump deciding to pause weapons shipments to Ukraine, which is really a signal of the weakness of US imperialism at this precise moment because despite the fact that the Pentagon's mission is to be able to fight two and a half wars at the same time, it's clear that with the so-called “Twelve Day War” concluding about eight or nine days ago that US imperialism has been overstretched with regard to sending weapons to Israel. Those weapons are not necessarily going to Ukraine. At the same time, they're preparing to confront the People's Republic of China over Taiwan. So the Yale historian Paul Kennedy talks about and coins the phrase imperial overstretch, which happens to empires at a certain moment, and that's what the United States is experiencing as we speak. So in sum and in substance, there have been objective reasons historically for imperial Russia, Soviet Russia, and post-Soviet Russia to support African liberation and Caribbean liberation.
~ Read the rest of this interview here
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Pentagon’s Golden Dome puts AI at the center of missile defense architecture
“The human is the weak point in the loop,” Biltgen said. In some scenarios, “full auto mode” may be necessary…
As the Department of Defense works to define the architecture of Golden Dome, industry leaders are emphasizing the essential role artificial intelligence will play in managing its complexity and speed.
Speaking during a SpaceNews web event, Patrick Biltgen, vice president of space AI at Booz Allen Hamilton, said the system’s requirements remain undefined. “What is the point of Golden Dome? Is it to protect the homeland or is it to provide tactical capabilities or does it also do hypersonics over the ocean?” he asked. The answer to that question, he said, has implications for scope, cost, timelines and technical demands.
Rob Mitrevski, president of Golden Dome strategy and integration at L3Harris Technologies, said command and control is “certainly the most complex part” of the architecture. “We’ve moved from sort of the modeling and sim discussion to the decision support discussion in real operations.” He said AI will be critical for rapidly matching threats to interceptors. “Particularly in trying to prioritize which targets with which interceptors at which sequence of events need to happen in a very short time frame.” He added that AI’s role becomes even more important when dealing with hypersonic weapons. “When you’re talking hypersonics, it becomes increasingly important because of the lower latency, because drones are slow and intercontinental ballistic missiles are fast, but hypersonics in their trajectory are very difficult targets.”
Biltgen noted that integrating legacy and new systems poses major challenges. “It’s very hard to prescribe data and integration standards and demand that everyone integrate with them,” he said. AI models, he added, are now capable of translating between standards and even generating their own services to enable interoperability.
He said operational tempo is driving the need for greater automation. “The human is the weak point in the loop,” Biltgen said. In some scenarios, “full auto mode” may be necessary, provided it undergoes proper verification and validation.
Security is another concern. He described Golden Dome as a system built on ambiguity. “Are the interceptors and sensors in the right place where they can actually intercept? And if you give the adversary enough ambiguity about their success, then they can’t attack you.”
He also pointed to workforce challenges. “The government may need to train their own unique secret models,” he said, which will require new pipelines for AI talent.
Dan Knight, vice president of sensors and data integration at Arcfield, said that many of the needed data streams already exist. “We have the information or we have the data that we need. It’s just not in the right places.” He said model-based systems engineering will be essential to organize existing infrastructure and build from there.
Mitrevski added that prioritization from government stakeholders is critical. “It is a very complex system, and the things that are ready and easy should be done, because we do need to focus on the things that are difficult to see.”
Biltgen acknowledged that some remain uneasy with the idea of autonomous missile interceptors. “Some people are really weirded out by the idea that these interceptors might be AI enabled, like you’re going to have these angry space robots that are just going to chase things and intercept them.”
The planned Alaska meeting
By Michael Hudson (GlobalSouth)
It is a distortion of reality for the press to depict Russia as at war with Ukraine. It is at war with NATO; Ukraine is the battlefield for this war, the arena.
NATO uses the old police tactic of Good Cop (now ironically played by Trump for the dominant US side – that’s usually the lead cop), with the EU (Britain, Germany and France) being the bad cops, good type casting.
Putin started this year’s meetings with Trump by saying that the root of their problems is not Ukraine. Ukraine is only an arena in the fight by NATO (led by the US) against Russia, China, and their BRICS and Global South allies.
To solve the fighting in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO must end. That is what Putin demands.
But there seems to be zero chance of this developing. Even if Trump stops US support of NATO’s war in Ukraine, NATO’s roots in the EU bureaucracy (von der Lehen and Kaja Kallas), Britain under Starmer and MI6, Germany under Merz and the Bundeswehr trying to become the new Wehrmacht, and Macron’s France are acting on their own, almost instinctive hatred of Russia.
So there is little chance of agreement, certainly over Russia’s demand that the West recognize its imminent military victory and ability to create a postwar shrunken Ukraine.
NATO has just intruded into the Caucasus with Azerbaijan and Armenia, with US control of the Zangezur Corridor threatening Iran and also China’s Belt and Road trajectory.
And the US has withdrawn from the last vestiges of atomic arms control, while sending nuclear submarines nearer to Russia in at least a symbolically threatening move.
This reflects the Neocon demand for U.S. unipolar hegemony, preventing any country from having its own sovereignty to act independently of the United States.
So my guess is that at the upcoming meetings, the United States has only one tactic – and it is a tactic that Trump loves for his own psychological purposes:
America has only one thing to offer other countries: the (temporary) promise NOT to hurt them. There’s nothing positive to offer, given its de-industrialization and the world’s de-dollarization. (Has Germany ever begun to get back its gold reserves left on deposit with the New York Fed?)
Trump’s generals (the hardest-liner is now in Kiev) and EU/NATO are urging more and tougher sanctions against Russia, mainly to fall on the EU and BRICS countries.
From smart to dumb phone
The Every by Dave Eggers is the book that gave me a lightning bolt moment and caused me to trade my smartphone for a dumb phone about three years ago, and ultimately kicked off my digital minimalism journey. This book is not about the how and why of switching to a dumb phone or quitting a smartphone. It was just the book that shed light on the absurdity of digital life for me back in 2022 and made me want to distance myself from it a bit. The dumb phone felt like the right move for me.
It's a great dystopian future novel set in the near distant future about a monopoly called The Every and a tech-skeptical protagonist who gets a job there in order to take it down from within. She believes the company is taking away free will and privacy and needs to be stopped for the good of humanity. Think of the Every as maybe Amazon (retail and logistics), Facebook (surveillance and social media), and Google (search and data) all in one.
This is less of a book review, more of some of the things that resonated with me about the book to maybe encourage you to read it if it sounds like your thing. I mention the transition in younger years of spending time outside and disconnected to getting a phone and it taking up a lot of my waking hours. Also phone snubbing, digital overwhelm, our attention being pulled in so many different directions, the expectation/pressure to keep up with our digital life, my shift away from tracking metrics such as health metrics on an apple watch, digital communication vs in-person connection, social media, resisting shopping on Amazon, buying local/used, tech creep, ChatGPT and AI, convenience... etc.
The used bookstore where I bought this book recommended a website called Bookshop.org that is a good alternative to buying books from Amazon since you can choose which local bookstore you want to support in your purchase but it can still be shipped to your house. They have ebooks as well! I think it's only available in the US though. Audiobook recommendation: Libro.fm which can also support your local bookstore. Other recommended book acquiring options: borrow from the library (or use Libby for an e-reader if in the US), borrow from a friend, buy it used, go to the local bookstore, or find a local used bookstore and see if they have what you're looking for.
Other books mentioned: Stolen Focus (Why You Can't Pay Attention) by Johann Hari, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and The Circle by Dave Eggers.
Monday, August 11, 2025
Pepe Escobar: Trump's war on BRICS+
Trump working to destroy key BRICS+ nations.
Particularly Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and more recently Iran.
Pepe lays it all out and discusses Lula's strong reaction to Trump.
CIA and MI6 plans for war on China also reviewed.
Trump's agenda is to neutralize Russia in order to then have an 'easier time' going after China.
The coming meeting in Alaska of Trump and Putin is full of mystery. No leaks are revealing anything about the agenda nor the prospects for a real agreement.
Palantir & the surveillance society
A former Palantir employee is sounding the alarm. The tech company, founded by Peter Thiel, claims they can revolutionize government systems with their AI-powered software.
They’ve been hired by the Department of Defense, the FBI, ICE, and even Wendy’s. Now DOGE will likely hire Palantir as well.
We talked to a former Palantir employee, dug into decades of research and listened to hours of Palantir CEO Alex Karp's own words to carefully unwrap the layers of Palantir’s carefully cultivated sales pitch — and how they capitalize on fear and unrest to make money.
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Huge arrests in UK for Palestine Action
Police arrested 532 people at a demonstration in London on Saturday in support of banned group Palestine Action.
More than 1,000 sat silently in the square with many displaying signs that read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
"Let us be under no illusion," said one organizer. "The government is criminalizing the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century, as it's livestreamed from Gaza."
It was the biggest protest since the government proscribed the group in July under the Terrorism Act of 2000, making membership of or support for it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Many of the protesters didn't want to speak to media who came to cover the protest, but one - who didn't give her name - told the BBC: "If they ban Palestine Action, what other group is next? Until we're just no longer allowed to protest anything. That's the opposite of democracy."
Every person arrested at the banned Palestine Action protest in Parliament Square on Saturday was released from police custody, organiser Defend Our Juries said.
In a post on X, the campaign group said that none of the individuals had been charged.
Just goes to show that numbers count. Next week a couple thousand should sit and hold signs saying they support Palestine Action.
Before Saturday's protest, more than 200 people had been arrested across the country for similar reasons since the ban was implemented by the home secretary last month.
Remembering the current genocide on August 9 in Brunswick, Maine
We had 45 folks join us Saturday in Brunswick. They came from as far north as Ellsworth, south from Biddeford and west to South Paris in Maine. It was a good representation from across the state.
Lisa and Mark brought their new mega-banner that they learned how to construct from our friends in North Carolina. It captured huge attention as you can imagine.
Everyone is commenting that the honks and waves are growing by leaps and bounds these days as the corporate media has finally begun to report on the immoral genocide now underway in Palestine. It's become impossible for the mainstream news to ignore. But still the political mis-leaders in the US, UK, EU and many Arab states continue to support Israel with more money and weapons to do their dirty deeds. Global public opinion is beyond outraged.
We stood on the busiest intersection in Brunswick which was jammed with summer traffic heading north and south on Highway 1. Right across the street from our 4-corner peace protest is the Brunswick police station that must have gone nuts from two-hours of incessant honking.
Now is the time, as the people of Gaza are at their gravest moment of peril, for all of us to step up our actions in support of Palestine.
We closed with our usual circle to have folks introduce themselves and say what is on their mind. The one person that stood out most for me said she's been 'stuck on the coach' and needed to force herself to move. She is from up around Ellsworth (3 hour away). That was real talk and inspiring to all of us I am sure.
We are facing an onslaught of issues these days as the corporate oligarchs take control of virtually every lever of our nation and many other so-called 'democracies' around the world. How many fronts can we fight on at once? Are we surprised that so many are frozen in depression and despair? What is the solution?
The heartless capitalist system of maximum profit over nature and the people is showing its brutal side and losing the support of thinking and feeling people worldwide. More and more (especially younger) people are increasingly rejecting this rotten system.
For me being on the street with others buoys me - gives me hope as I witness the mass of honks and waves coming from many of the thousands of vehicles that passed us yesterday. We are not alone. When we stand on the corner in good numbers it helps those driving by not feel so alone as well.
Our next statewide monthly vigil will be held in Unity, Maine during the mass of traffic heading to the Common Ground Country Fair. On Saturday, September 20 at 11:00 am we will stand at the very busy intersection on Main Street next to the House of Pizza.
We hope many of you can join us.
Keep paddling friends. It's all about solidarity - forever.
Bruce
~ Photos by Mary Beth Sullivan
Saturday, August 09, 2025
the funnies
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| Solidarity with Palestine protest in Yemen |
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| Mural in San Francisco, California |
No nukes in space
"We are weak but we are not helpless."
The Higashi-Hiroshima Mixed Choir is active in singing together with those who lost their lives in the war and atomic bombing. The chorus line below:
Fishing boats are idle, their owners are blind, deadly harvest of two atom bombs....so landsmen and seamen you must watch and take care, that the third atom bomb never comes.
By Bruce Gagnon (Written on August 10, 2009 after speaking at the Mayors for Peace Convention in Nagasaki, Japan)
Mayors for Peace wrapped up their conference yesterday. Early in the day I was approached by the Eritrea Ambassador to Japan who asked me to send him my speech. He said my coverage of the big picture, the wide angle look at US military strategy, was most helpful to him in understanding the direction things are going. He acknowledged that much of US policy toward Africa today was motivated by desire for oil and resource extraction.
He said that most African nations were concerned about the new Pentagon Africa Command (AfriCom) and I shared with him a story of seeing the head of the US National Guard on C-SPAN TV a couple years before with a huge map of the African continent behind him. The commander of the US Guard was telling the right-wing Heritage Foundation that the military was now assigning all 50 state National Guard units to establish a relationship with one of the 54 African nations on the continent. Each state Guard, the commander said, would build a lily-pad base in their assigned host African country to be used for quick strike intervention in the event of any "out of the box" behavior.
One of my favorite speakers at the mayors conference was the representative from the Republic of Burundi. Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. He said, "If everyone does his or her bit then we can all live in harmony with our Mother Earth, everyone of us share the responsibility to ensure the well-being of all life."
I also had really nice contacts with Africans from Ethiopia, Senegal, Eritrea, South Africa, and Sierra Leone.
I had a wonderful connection with the group of mayors from Bangladesh and they gave me a copy of their constitution and several of them had their photo taken with me. A wonderful mayor from Sri Lanka gave me a gift of ginger tea from his country and also lined up several fellow mayors from his country for pictures with me. Their sincere and open hearted offerings of friendship were more than humbling.
One of the best moments of the final day was a speech by two school girls (probably about 12 years old) who spoke from the floor of the meeting hall describing their efforts to gather 500,000 petition signatures to end the nuclear arms race. One of them concluded her remarks by saying, "We are weak but we are not helpless." That is wisdom beyond their years. We should all take that to heart.
Today I will tour around Fukuoka a bit and then do my last Japan talk this evening. In 1984, when I made my first trip to Japan, it was in Fukuoka that I had my first speech in this country. Even though I had attended meetings in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki I was not invited to speak in any of those places. I was a relatively unknown person at the time. But after the Nagasaki events I was asked if I would return to Fukuoka with the local peace group and of course I said yes.
Once in Fukuoka they invited me to lunch with the matriarch of their group, a woman who had been a peace activist since Japan's occupation of Manchuria. They took me to visit a local union worker supported hospital and had a good-bye dinner for me the night before I returned home.
At the dinner they asked me to sing peace songs and when I returned to the US I got a call from the New York City office of national Mobilization for Survival, the group that I had represented in Japan, and they told me that I had gotten rave reviews for my singing in Fukuoka.
(When I left Fukuoka I was given a tape of Japanese peace songs that included Japanese and English versions of the song above and it has stuck in my heart and head all these years later. Many thanks to my friend Makiko Sato for finding me this song clip.)