Trump: 'I thought Iranians hated Khamenei'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 4: What I'm celebrating

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

Farming without fertilizer next season?

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

Stories from memorial ceremony in Tehran

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

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

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

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

Sunday song (with bonus)

Memorial in Iran draws 30 million

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🍿 Prime Video

🍎 Apple TV

🍉 Watermelon+

🍿 Vimeo

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

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

the funnies

Iranian memorial message: Rise Up!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A dream comes true. Unite is the word.

At the moment when ordinary people of the world are struggling to free themselves from the shackles of greedy, corrupt and powerful people, it's important to visualize what future will look like when we succeed. 

Zionists pushing Sunni verses Shia war in Lebanon

• Sovereignista: A reminder. We hear of a new security and defense structure for West Asia. It is noticeable that ALL the countries that are rumored to be part of this bloc, signed up to the Board of Peace. Yes, Pakistan, the ‘Great Negotiator’ is part of the Board of Peace. So is Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, slated to be part of the new security and defense structure. You may also remember that this Board of Peace was not supported by Russia and China at the UNSC. Both were roundly criticized though because they did not veto. Afterwards FM Lavrov explained that there is no trust in this Board of Peace as it is illegal in terms of International Law but the Gulf countries asked them to let this go ahead. They would not give it legal standing with a veto, and stood aside upon request of the Gulf countries. So, here we are. These are internment camps that are in the process of being implemented. 
• Sovereignista: Expect that nothing much will happen in West Asia until the funeral procession of Martyr Sayyed Ali Khamenei with his family members who were killed, is over in about six days (if this is not destabilized).  This is going to be one of the biggest mass events that we have ever seen if we count the streams of pilgrims pouring into Iran, as well as many smaller events in more than 100 countries across the world.   Even Dmitry Medvedev will attend:  “Iran’s Embassy in Moscow announced that Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev will attend the funeral of the martyred leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei in Tehran as the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

• The Israeli army launched a series of aggressive pre-dawn raids across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, arresting five prominent female health committee activists alongside 15 other Palestinians. According to local reports, Israeli occupation forces stormed private residences in Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron to target the women. The incursions involved aggressive property searches and the blindfolding and handcuffing of the detainees. Abdul Rahman Bader, the husband of 66-year-old activist Etaf Bader, told Middle East Eye that heavily armed soldiers raided their Hebron home, demanded his wife's identification, and immediately placed her under arrest without providing a legal justification.

• Lebanese Sunni scholar Sheikh Hassan Moraib revives Zionist lies claiming Iran's Martyr Sayyed Ali Khamenei was responsible for the death of millions of “Sunni women and children in Syria”. [Pure BS.] He further claims Martyr Khamenei killed more women and children in Syria than Israel did in Gaza. [More BS.] This is a rally of Zionist mercenaries in Lebanon and Syria to transition to a new front. A sectarian front creating a Sunni vs Shia battlefield to move into the finals steps to end Hezbollah once and for all. God please be with with Hezbollah and its Shia supporters who only fight to end Zionist control and occupation of Lebanon.
• Israel will keep its troops in occupied areas of Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria indefinitely, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said, describing the policy as necessary for “defending the borders.” Katz also renewed an earlier warning to Iran, saying it would be struck with “full force” if it retaliated over Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. The warning echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent pledge that Israel’s pursuit of “total victory” over Iran and its allied groups “never ends.”  Tehran has made an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon one of its key conditions in the ongoing peace talks with the US.

• Economist Michael Hudson: "The Oil War is going to cause cutbacks in spending on non-oil products, because paying more for gasoline, diesel and aircraft fuel, fertilizer, naphtha and sulfur will cut into profits, leading to layoffs. And some time this month, rising energy costs will force up electricity prices. This will limit the ability of IT and AI to meet the optimistic expansionary sales goals that they have set. This will lead many investors to consider the big runup to have reached its limit. And falling profits throughout the economy will be leading to a widespread stock decline."
• The CIA is declassifying a new trove of documents relating to its ‘MKUltra’ program, Representative Anna Paulina Luna (Repub-Florida) said on Tuesday. Nazi scientists (who came to the US after WW2 under Operation Paperclip) were involved in the agency’s mind-control drug experiments.
• RT: Former top Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny has told Vladimir Zelensky he will challenge him in the next presidential election, with current polling suggesting he would win in a run-off, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported on Wednesday. Zelensky’s presidential term expired more than two years ago, and he has since been reluctant to hold a new election despite repeated calls from the US.
• Horrific Health and Environmental Crisis in Gaza Amid Israel’s War: Severe Shortage of Safe Drinking Water. Cracked jerrycans and containers many of them visibly contaminated and unfit for human use have become the only available means to carry water. 

• US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose agency was responsible for enforcing controversial security measures targeting the Iranian soccer team at the World Cup, has said the job made him dance with joy and he was happy Iran was eliminated.

• Prof. Jeffrey Sachs on the farce of Western countries telling Congo to ‘just govern properly’: "The Kingdom of Belgium created a slave colony in Congo for 30 years. The government of Belgium ran the slave colony for another 40 years. The CIA assassinated Congo’s first popular leader Patrice Lumumba, and then installed another dictatorship for the next 30 years. And then Glencore and others now suck out your cobalt without giving Congo tax income. We don’t reflect on that. We say what’s wrong with you? Why don’t you govern properly?"
• Australia’s Prime Minister admitted three Australian navy personnel were on the US submarine that torpedoed the Iranian warship off Sri Lanka. That means Australia is a co-combatant in a war it never even debated. No parliamentary vote. No public mandate. Just three Australians helping sink a ship that had just sailed in a goodwill naval parade in India.
• A joint investigation finds German conglomerate Bayer is behind the frequent Israeli use of glyphosate and white phosphorus inside Lebanon.

• British anti-terrorism police at Liverpool John Lennon Airport have detained a US human rights attorney and international lawyer, sparking fresh condemnation over the UK’s expanding use of draconian border powers against prominent dissidents, independent journalists, and legal professionals. Dan Kovalik, whose high-profile legal repertoire includes representing Colombian President Gustavo Petro, was subjected to intense interrogation under the country's sweeping counter-terrorism legislation.
• Omar Hamad in Gaza: "I tell myself every day: Don’t die. Don’t get tired. Check on the children. Look for water. Check if there are any holes in the tent so the water doesn’t leak in. Then stand up—don’t die. Don’t you dare die from some silly illness. Resist. Save your tears for a more painful day. Don’t you dare say, 'I’m tired'. Look for food. Don’t be afraid of the bombing. Gather your things and flee. Set up a tent. Flee again—don’t get tired. Write, and then write, and then write. Write your own death with your own hands—don’t let anyone write about you. Live, and don’t die."
• Stars & Stripes: The US Navy was searching Wednesday for a missing crew member after an MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to USS George H.W. Bush conducted an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea, Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet said. Three of the helicopter’s four crew members have been recovered and are in stable condition aboard George H.W. Bush. 

All the Writing on the Wall is in Farsi

By David Rovics

While in Massachusetts recently I had the pleasure of spending a very productive day in the studio. 

The result will be the album, Song for Tomorrow, which will drop on streaming platforms on July 15.

How Yorkshire (UK) contributes to the U.S. war with Iran

U.S. warfighting Fylingdales radar system in North Yorkshire

By Dr. Dave Webb

At time of writing, we do not yet know if there is a lasting agreement of any kind between the US and Iran to stop or even pause the war. However, we do know that Keir Starmer has allowed Donald Trump to use British bases to launch his illegal bombing attacks, on the grounds of self-defence but allowing US nuclear-capable bombers to fly from RAF Fairford [near Oxford] to back up an illegal first strike is difficult to justify. And there are other US bases in the UK that have had an important role in the Iran War that we don’t hear so much about, and both are in Yorkshire.

You may or may not have seen a report published in March by The Times that revealed how a UK radar is playing a critical role in helping the US detect Iranian missile launches. The radar involved is at RAF Fylingdales on the North Yorkshire Moors, a few miles from Whitby. Fylingdales has provided tracking data and ballistic missile warning for the US since 1963. In 2003 the US requested that Fylingdales be upgraded to be part of its National Missile Defense system and the upgrade was eventually completed in 2007. Fylingdales is now part of Trump’s Space Force and The Times reported that the radar has been actively involved in Operation Epic Fury from the start. 

The powerful radar beam at Fylingdales can be scanned to cover 360 degrees at an angle of elevation from 3 to 60 degrees - with a stated range of just over 5,500 kms - and so could detect and track mid-range ballistic missiles reaching altitudes of several hundred kms or more above Iran some 4,400 kms or so away. The missile tracking data can then be used to calculate the possible type of missile and their likely impact location. Any friendly troops in the area can then be notified and any possible interception methods maybe initiated.

Information from Fylingdales is transmitted to the Space Delta 2 (responsible for space domain awareness) and Space Delta 4 (missile awareness) wings of US Space Systems Command, an important part of Space Force’s Space Warfighting Architecture.

Fylingdales cannot detect actual missile launches and is notified of these by information supplied by US satellites. The US Space Based Infra-Red System (SBIRS) of satellites detect the heat flashes of rockets during their launch phase and passes on information quickly to other parts of the missile defence network (such as Fylingdales). 

If US Space Command cannot receive information from SBIRS satellites directly, because the satellites are positioned on the other side of the Earth, then communication links with ground-based stations are used to relay the information onward. In 1996 it was announced that Menwith Hill, the US spy base just outside Harrogate in North Yorkshire, had been designated as the European Ground Based Relay Station for SBIRS.

U.S. NSA spy base Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire - note the sheep. So English.

Menwith Hill also plays another role of course - its major function is to intercept electronic communications by mobile phones, emails, etc. for the National Security Agency of the US and to search for possible information that may lead to the targeting of installations, groups or individuals considered to be a threat. A very recent Guardian article published on 30 June reports that the US plans to spend $4 billion on its bases in the UK, $163 million of it will go to Menwith Hill. It did not elaborate on what this sum of money would be funding but the article made a point that Menwith Hill “can capture communications as far away as the Middle East”.

So, US military satellites detect the heat generated by missile launches, transmit the information (via Menwith Hill) to US Space Command and the Fylingdales radar accurately determines their trajectories, helping to determine likely impact zones and providing data for possible interception.

The Times also reported that, before the initial US strikes, space and cyber commands had already attacked and hampered Iran’s ability to communicate and respond. This has become standard in modern warfighting methodology. The report also refers to the growing importance of space-based warfare capabilities. Major General Paul Terence Tedman, until recently commander of UK Space Command, described space as the “central nervous system” of modern military operations, playing crucial roles in communications, targeting, and weapons guidance at rapid speeds. The US military refers to this integrated system as a “kill chain,” a concept being expanded through new initiatives such as a UK “digital targeting web.”

It is worth remembering that Iran’s first response to the US attack was to destroy key US missile defence radar installations at bases in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE. The attacks were mainly by one-way drone systems. Fylingdales and Menwith Hill were too far away to be attacked in this way this time. 

~ Dave Webb is a retired professor who has been active on space issues for many years. He lives in Leeds, England and Chairs the Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He also is the Chair of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. 

U.S. planning to send troops into Lebanon

• Netanyahu on the upcoming elections: "Let me put it this way: I will do everything to win. We didn't leave Lebanon. We have effectively established this security belt—about 10 kilometers inside Lebanon—with the agreement of the Lebanese government. And of course Hezbollah is outraged. The same is true of Iran. 'Voluntary emigration' from Gaza remains on the table."
• Head of the Environmental Protection Organization at the 9th Asia-Pacific Environment and Sustainable Development Meeting: 'The silence of international bodies in the face of attacks on Minab school, Lamerd girls' sports club, oil facilities, water resources, and residential areas is unacceptable. These aggressions have not only targeted Iran, but have also threatened the environment and common heritage of humanity by damaging the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and biodiversity.' 
• The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to deploy US ground troops to Lebanon to implement the recently signed and controversial US-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
• So, JD Vance said the goal of the MoU is to refill some stocks [oil, weapons…] and then see where we’re going! It's fairly obvious where this is going. It’s going straight to blackmail to sign a nuclear agreement or we’ll bomb you again.!

• US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee: "We would finally and rightfully stand with Israel, where God placed its capital. It's not just that you made that decision. I would say God made that decision 3,800 years ago, and we finally got around to acknowledging what had been determined long before the USA came along. For those of you who don't realize it, 700,000 Americans represent an entire congressional district in the US. When members of Congress come, I always say, Welcome to Israel, the 436th congressional district of the US."

• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel is ready to immediately build three Jewish settlements in northern Gaza if Netanyahu approves. He says Israel should "fully conquer" Gaza. 

• Swedish defense firm Saab has signed a deal to supply 16 Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, worth around 24.6 billion Swedish crowns ($2.54 billion). Ukrainian President Zelensky said the agreement with Sweden includes aircraft purchases and technical support, with deliveries starting in 2027. However, Saab said the jets are scheduled for delivery in 2029–2030. 

• Ann Wright: As the Trump administration and the US Congress continues to ramp up rhetoric of “China is our enemy,” 2026 is the 30th year that the US has organized the largest naval war practice in the world, called Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). For 37 days from June 24 through July 31, the RIMPAC war “games” will be held in the waters off the state of Hawaii. This year 31 countries have sent naval, air and land military forces to Hawaii for RIMPAC. 50% of the participating countries are members or “partners” of NATO. Invited from its wars in the Middle East, Israel, the US partner in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, the destruction of southern Lebanon and the war on Iran, will also have a presence in RIMPAC as it continues to weave itself into the fabric of the US military. Although RIMPAC has not specified what the role of the Israeli military delegation is, one can surmise that they will act as liaison officers, planners, observers, or staff officers participating in command-and-control and multinational planning activities and giving lessons-learned in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. 

• Germany urgently needs to lift the ban on Russian oil and gas imports to prop up its struggling economy, Alice Weidel, the co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has said. She also vowed to restore economic ties between the two countries if her party comes to power. “Cheap energy from Russia was the secret of the success of ‘Made in Germany’. We need it back,” Weidel said in an interview with Reuters. “The loss of this energy has set us back years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost. It has made us dependent on the US, which sells us energy at far higher prices.” The AfD has steadily gained support in Germany amid record-low approval ratings for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s policies. Berlin has been actively pouring money into a military buildup, citing the supposed ‘Russian threat’, which Moscow has dismissed as “nonsense.” Merz has also blamed the country’s economic problems on the German people, urging them to “work more,” while announcing plans to slash social spending.
• Water samples show high levels of PFAS at the US Pituffik base in Greenland. Pituffik was the last of the Air Force’s bases around the world to have its environmentally harmful firefighting foam replaced. The US has long turned a blind eye and said, 'There’s a problem, but we don’t care'. It is only in recent times that attention has focused on the legacy left behind by the Americans at some 36 military installations they have operated in Greenland over the years. Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base, is the only one still in operation. There have long been major concerns about radioactivity, abandoned asbestos, and large quantities of American waste. The use of PFAS is a completely unexplored chapter.  

• A record 25.2 million young American adults under 35 have returned to the family nest as the cost of living has become prohibitive. One of the main reasons for Americans opting to live with their parents is the high price of home ownership. The median sales price for a single-family home in the US is about $434,300. Compare that to 1975 when the average price was under $40,000. That demonstrates how much the dollar has shrunk in terms of purchasing power. According to the National Association of Realtors the national median home price is about to hit $1 million by 2050 – at precisely the time when millennials reach the traditional retirement age, Fox Business reported.
• Simplicius: Trump is attempting to manifest his ‘Golden Age’ merely by shouting it from the rooftops. Instead of carrying out real policies of reconstruction and transformation, fixing jobs, inflation, and all the actual underpinnings of a healthy state, he instead chooses to erect presumptive monuments to hopes and wishes and would-be accomplishments. A culture becomes kitschified when it has lost its original vital force, the creative spark which once drove it forward, and has turned into a recursive parody of itself. (Cheap, plastic-looking veneers and distastefully gaudy symbolism.) 

• RT: A six-month-old baby has been killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow Region, Governor Andrey Vorobyov has said, adding that three other people were pulled from under the rubble of a residential building. Vorobyov said the drone came down in the town of Yegoryevsk, around 110 km southeast of Moscow. “At night, as a result of a drone crash in Yegoryevsk, a private house caught fire. People were trapped under the rubble." The surviving victims, two adults and one child, have been hospitalized and are receiving assistance. The infant died on the way to the hospital. [During the past year or so Ukraine has largely switched its strategy from taking on Russian troops to acts of terror aimed at the Russian civilian population throughout the country in hopes it would force regime change in Moscow.]
• ZeroHedge: Finland's parliament has moved to reverse its decades-long ban on nuclear weapons. The June 17 vote to lift the ban in effect legally authorizes the Nordic country to receive, transport, and facilitate the movement of nuclear weapons on its territory as part of NATO operations. The most significant source of NATO's nuclear-sharing program is the US. But lately France has expressed a desire to station some of its atomic arsenal in partner countries, and this could include in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and others. "The results of the vote represent unflattering victory of the blind Russophobia of the past few years over what we have always viewed as pragmatic sanity in Finland," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “And let nobody doubt that [response] measures will be taken. In this light, the Finnish people need to think whether this decision made by their elites will actually enhance security in Finland itself,” she added. In response Russia has moved to shutter more rail crossings to NATO states, including Finland - which will severely impact trade.  

• Scheerpost: The lack of heavy machinery in Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes which struck at the weekend has condemned thousands of people to a slow, suffocating death. These deaths may not have come at the tip of an American missile, but they very much came at the bloody hands of sadistic empire. The absence of bulldozers, diggers and excavators is a direct consequence of nearly three decades of crushing American sanctions which have sought to impoverish, demoralize, weaken and ultimately collapse the country in the name of freedom. In this explanation, some might see an anti-imperialist talking point lazily seeking to blame the US for a natural disaster. But it’s just the reality. US sanctions on Venezuela prohibit Americans from having any contact with the Venezuelan government, any state-owned or other companies on the sanctions list (currently 154 entities), or individuals on that list. This amounts to a huge chunk of the Venezuelan economy. And even if a company is not technically sanctioned, they become de facto sanctioned because western banks won’t process Venezuela-related payments. 

July 4: Nothing to celebrate in the USA

 

There will not be much to 

cheer about
on July 4th.

Washington

still running multiple wars.
Civil liberties sinking fast.
Voting rights being erased.
ICE arresting immigrants
of color

and building warehouse 

prison camps.

Social spending being drained
to pay for more weapons production.

Medicare, Medicaid,

food stamps being cut.

800+ U.S. bases

spread around the world.

(Space Force declaring

we need bases 

on the moon too.)

People want the U.S. out,

Yankee go home!

Infrastructure falling apart
(water & sewar systems,

highways, bridges,
schools, hospitals closing).

Post office, Veterans Administration

and national park 

funding being drained,

toward eventual privatization.

Social Security also eyed

by those pushing neo-feudalism.

Zionists taking control 
of social media
to wipe clean those accounts
that criticize Israeli & Washington

genocide.

Even the Lincoln Memorial 
reflecting pool is 

an algae-plagued mess.

Data center building
on steroids,

in virtually every state,
hogging up water
and ensuring that
every thing citizens
say, write

and do will be
stored and used 

in a rigged courtroom.

Blackrock, Palantir

and AIPAC

run this nation!

So much for 
freedom, democracy,
and a fair society.

America has lost
its soul.

Iranian culture is
2,500 years strong.

The U.S. now,

250 years old.

I'd not bet on

this experiment lasting
another 50 years
the way things are going.

Bruce