Analysts say ‘strategic leaks’ aim to influence public perceptions amid diplomatic impasse in US-Israel war on Iran.
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The Agony Around the Democrats’ Mysterious, Ridiculous Autopsy
(May 22, 2026)
Rarely has a document been at once as mysterious and anticlimactic as the Democratic National Committee’s autopsy of what went wrong in the 2024 election, which, after much drama and angst, was finally published on Thursday.
The committee’s chair, Ken Martin, promised a full audit of party operations when he was running for his seat, and again when he won it. Last July, officials said it would be out in the fall. Fall came and went, and in December, Martin said it wouldn’t be released at all. By hiding it, Martin made the report an object of suspicion and fascination.
‘World is letting Israel get away with escalation in Lebanon’
Israel is escalating in Gaza “because it knows it will not encounter severe opposition”, and in Lebanon “because so far the world is letting Israel get away with it”.
Iran says it has a new air defence system. How significant is it?
“The value is that you can move these quickly,” she said. “They are mobile launch systems, in some cases man-portable. We don’t know how high the Reaper was flying. Based on the released video, it may have been relatively easy for them to shoot down, but it still indicates they retain some remaining air defence capability.”
Iran’s larger air defence network has been badly damaged. It was built around older radar-guided surface-to-air missile systems, including domestically produced batteries and Russian-supplied missile defence systems such as the S-300. Israeli and US attacks are widely believed to have degraded much of that network.
The farce of Israel’s ‘liberal’ investigative journalism
Two weeks ago, the investigative program HaMakor on Israel’s Channel 13 aired a 60-minute report on the December 2023 killing of three Israeli hostages — Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Al-Talalka — who were shot by Israeli soldiers in Shuja’iya, eastern Gaza City, after emerging from a hiding place carrying a white flag.
Even without intimate knowledge of the details, one thing should have been clear from the outset: When soldiers fire from inside buildings at three shirtless men carrying a white flag, kill two of them, then pursue the third, call him out of hiding, and shoot him dead, the issue is not merely “mistaken identity.” The issue is that Israeli soldiers routinely shoot innocent people. One would have to be extraordinarily naïve to believe that the single time this happened, the victims just happened to be Israelis.
They’re Not Mad At Ben-Gvir For Being Evil, They’re Mad At Him For Being Honest
(May 21, 2026)
Ben-Gvir’s Twitter account shared a video of the minister taunting activists who were abducted by Israeli forces in international waters earlier this week, captioning it “This is how we accept the supporters of terrorism” in Hebrew and “Welcome to Israel” in English.
The video shows flotilla activists from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand being shoved, held in stress positions on the ground, and mocked by Ben-Gvir while restrained. This all of course pales in comparison to the abuses endured by Palestinian captives on a daily basis, but it’s the subject of international outcry today because the victims are from the west.
UN event on nuclear non-proliferation treaty stumbles, US and Iran clash
There was no consensus among the 191 parties to the NPT, the third failure in a row at a conference reviewing the treaty
(…)
Britain’s Rebecca Johnson, founding executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, had harsh criticism for both the US and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers, which she said “double down on nuclear threats, blame others and try to undermine or ignore the NPT’s nuclear disarmament commitments and related agreements”.
Versuchslabor des Tages: Grönland
Die USA haben ein Problem. Es ist schlimmer als das Fehlen von Raketen und Bomben, das sich beim Angriffskrieg gegen Iran so bitter bemerkbar machte. Es lautet: Mit der Softpower ist es vorbei, mit dem guten Gefühl, das einst etwa Hollywood-Filme in aller Welt vermittelten. Den besten Beweis dafür lieferte die Eröffnung des neuen US-Konsulats mitten im Herzen der grönländischen Hauptstadt Nuuk am Donnerstag. Nicht nur, dass lokale Offizielle dem Event demonstrativ fernblieben. Obendrein zogen auch noch erstaunlich viele Grönländer vor das von ihnen »Trump Towers« getaufte Gebäude, um die Festlichkeiten mit »Ami go home!«- und »Nein heißt nein!«-Rufen zu stören.
Ken Martin Has to Go
If you’ve been following politics over the last month or so, you are more than familiar with the saga over the autopsy that the DNC was refusing to release. After stonewalling for months and an incredibly viral interview on Pod Save America, where DNC Chair Ken Martin vigorously and incredulously defended the decision not to release the autopsy, the whole imbroglio has roiled the party for weeks and led to a debate about the debate.
All along, Martin’s argument was that the autopsy had happened, it had been helpful in informing his strategy, but that releasing it would be a distraction and divide the party before the midterms.
Well, that was all bullshit.
Cuba Girds for Invasion as Trump Launches Raúl Castro Indictment Amid Punishing Blockade
And reports indicate that the number of U.S. military surveillance flights taking place near the island have skyrocketed in recent weeks, raising fears of an impending operation.
(…)
Trump’s recent threats to “take” Cuba, however, coupled with the recent loss of energy supplies from Venezuela and the Castro indictment, may mark the most serious threat to the country’s independence since its 1959 revolution.
Deutschland zieht nicht, es kriecht in den nächsten Angriffskrieg
(June 25, 2019)
Zusammenfassung zur Situation um den drohenden neuen Krieg im achtzehnjährigen Terrorkrieg, diesmal gegen den Iran.
Schon bevor die heute existierende internationale Kriegskoalition von Singapur bis Saudi-Arabien („Internationale Allianz gegen den Islamischen Staat“, oder „Anti-I.S.-Allianz) im September 2014 auf dem N.A.T.O.-Gipfel in Wales gegründet wurde, warnte Radio Utopie vor einem Terrorkrieg 2.0 und vor „noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat““.
Damals forderte der damalige U.S.-Außenminister von Trumps Vorgänger Barack Obama, John Kerry, am 29. August 2014 eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den „Islamischen Staat“.
Gestern nun forderte Trumps Außenminister Mike Pompeo eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den islamischen Staat Iran, passenderweise vorgetragen bei einem Blitzbesuch Pompeos in Saudi-Arabien.
Als vor dreieinhalb Jahren Pazifisten, Sozialdemokraten und politische Linke in Deutschland der Entsendung der staatlichen Luftwaffe in die Kriege im Irak und Syrien tatenlos zusahen, warnten wir bereits vor deren moralisch-politischem Zusammenbruch und Kapitulation. Die genau zu diesem Zweck exekutierte psychologische Kriegführung gegen die Bevölkerung setzt sich bis heute praktisch ohne Widerstand politisch links stehender Kräfte fort. Die Logik des Terrorkrieges (Behauptungen von Behörden / Autoritäten darf nicht widersprochen und muss alles abgekauft werden) wird von den Betreffenden weiter willig geschluckt.
U.S.-Imperium will „globale Koalition“ für Terrorkrieg 2.0 und bastelt an „Nachrüstung“ der Kriegsvollmacht aus 2001
(September 2, 2014)
Auf dem Gipfel des Nordatlantikpakts in Wales wird es weniger um Russland als um die Frage gehen, mit welcher schwachsinnigen Ausrede nun die N.A.T.O. den am 4. Oktober 2001 ausgerufenen „kollektiven Verteidigungsfall“ aufrechterhalten will.
Eine Option: Noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat“.
Der Krieg um die Wahrnehmung: Wie künstliche Intelligenz beginnt, öffentliche Realität zu formen
Hinzu kommt ein Faktor, der politisch bislang erstaunlich wenig diskutiert wird: KI-Systeme lernen, welche Inhalte besonders starke emotionale Reaktionen auslösen. Angst, Wut, Empörung und moralische Zuspitzung erzeugen Aufmerksamkeit, und Aufmerksamkeit ist die eigentliche Währung digitaler Plattformen. Dadurch entsteht ein Mechanismus, der gesellschaftliche Spannungen systematisch verstärken kann.
Die eigentliche Gefahr liegt dabei weniger in einzelnen Falschmeldungen als in der dauerhaften Veränderung öffentlicher Wahrnehmung. Wenn Menschen permanent mit emotionalisierten, algorithmisch optimierten Inhalten konfrontiert werden, verändert sich schrittweise die Art, wie politische Realität wahrgenommen wird. Komplexe Zusammenhänge werden auf Schlagworte reduziert, Gegner moralisch entwertet, Unsicherheit in Feindbilder übersetzt.
Trump-Xi meet as petroyuan rises on Iran war’s tide
As US credibility crumbles across the Gulf, China’s petroyuan fast emerging as the currency of Asia’s post-war energy order
The Court Gutted Congress’s War Power. It’s Time to Give It Back.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 was designed to restore the constitutional balance in decisions to commit the United States to armed conflict. Its central provision — a legislative veto enabling Congress to direct the withdrawal of American forces by concurrent resolution — was cast into legal doubt by the Supreme Court’s 1983 decision in INS v. Chadha. But Chadha was wrongly decided, its reasoning is exceptionally weak, and the Court’s subsequent embrace of functionalism in separation-of-powers cases has left it incoherent as precedent. As the United States drifts deeply into a congressionally unauthorized war with Iran, the case for overruling Chadha, or at minimum limiting it to its facts, has never been stronger.
GUIDO IS COMING DOWN AFTER 5 DAYS ON THE BRIDGE
After five days on top of the bridge, Guido is finally coming down.
Through wind, rain, and exhaustion, he stayed up there to sound the alarm about the wars in Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Palestine and to remind all of us that silence is not an option.
He risked his life to send a message and now we all have a responsibility to do more.
Thank you, Guido.
Saudi Arabia and its allies must curb the growing Israeli-Emirati axis
(4 May 2026 16:12 BST | Last update: 2 hours 57 mins ago)
Iranian sources told MEE that Iranian intelligence had established the Emirati role in the attacks went beyond hosting US bases.
One official said: „Iranian intelligence believes the UAE also made some of its own air facilities available for operations against Iran.“ Abu Dhabi has served as an advanced platform for Israeli interests in the region, the official said.
He suggested this included „deception operations“ – false-flag Israeli attacks on Oman and at least one other country intended to look like Iranian ones.
Iran also believes that cooperation included the use of the AI infrastructure within the UAE to support data collection and analysis for US and Israeli targeting.
If Iran were to be invaded, the UAE would be treated as an aggressor, one diplomat told MEE.
That the UAE has gone way beyond its Gulf neighbours in supporting the US and Israeli attack on Iran, is down to one man, its President Mohammed bin Zayed, often referred to by the acronym MBZ.
Als das Bundesverfassungsgericht Deutschland zur elektronischen Kolonie erklärte
(June 15, 2017)
Mit seinen Beschlüssen 2 BvE 5/15 (verkündet am 14.10.2016, aber schon vom 20.09.2016) und 2 BvE 2/15 (verkündet am 15.11.2016, aber schon vom 13.10.2016) gab das Bundesverfassungsgericht das unauffällige Startsignal für den Beschluss des neuen B.N.D.-Gesetzes am 21.10.2016 im Bundestag.
Die Absegnung des B.N.D.-Gesetzes durch ihre Über-Dreiviertel-Mehrheit im Parlament, gegen die es laut Karlsruhe nun keine Opposition mehr im Sinne von Artikel 44 des Grundgesetzes gab, hatte die Regierung bis zu den Freifahrtscheinen der Verfassungsrichter taktisch verzögert.
Am 12. Dezember 1970 hatte das „Abhörteil“ (BVerfGE 30, 1) vom Verfassungsgericht Westdeutschlands die Aufhebung der Gewaltenteilung beim Brief-, Post- und Fernmeldegeheimnis durch die Verfassungsänderungen der „Notstandsgesetze“ als verfassungsgemäß beurteilt. Das damalige Urteil war gegen schwerste Bedenken und vorausschauende Warnungen der Verfassungsrichter Geller, Dr. v.Schlabrendorff und Dr. Rupp mit 5 zu 3 Stimmen entschieden worden.
Im Jahre 2016 nun übertrugen Andreas Voßkuhle, Peter M. Huber, Monika Hermanns, Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, Peter Müller, Doris König und Ulrich Maidowski die Machtfülle der in 1968 unter Besatzungsrecht geschaffenen „Notstandsgesetze“ der damaligen „großen Koalition“ auf deren heutige Nachfolger.
Und in Deutschland, wie es heute ist, eskalierten die Verfassungsrichter selbst die damalige antidemokratische und antiparlamentarische Auslegung des Grundgesetzes ein weiteres Mal…
Ranking Democrat on Senate Armed Services Committee says „I don‘t think the president has a plan“ on Iran
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that he believes the U.S. is “ in many respects, a much worse position“ in Iran and he doesn‘t believe Mr. Trump has a plan.
„We‘re in, in many respects, a much worse position,“ Reed told ABC News‘ „This Week.“ „The regime in Tehran is probably more hostile and fanatical than the one that we replaced … We have not yet resolved the issue of nuclear material in Iran. So this has been a tactical demonstration of prowess, but has not achieved the strategic goal that the president announced, and he seems not to have a plan to achieve those goals.“
Live Coverage: Louisiana v. Callais SCOTUS Decision
The Supreme Court just struck down a Louisiana map that fairly represents Black voters, gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Die Neuordnung des Ölhandels beginnt
Für viele Beobachter steckt dahinter weit mehr als eine formale Entscheidung: Der Schritt markiert den Beginn einer neuen Ära der Energie- und Handelsströme im Nahen Osten – und zugleich das Ende des klassischen Petrodollars.
So argumentiert etwa Patrick Wood in einem ausführlichen Essay. Der Austritt ist freilich eine direkte Folge des Krieges gegen den Iran.
Die OPEC war jahrzehntelang das Rückgrat des Petrodollar-Systems.
The real reason Iran and the US cannot end the war: Money
n Iranian business newspaper reported in April that reconstruction would take at least 12 years.
“The nuclear issue is honestly Betamax now,” Alan Eyre, a former member of the US team that negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, told MEE, referring to the now obsolete 1975 video cassette player.
“Everyone is talking about what the Iranians are willing to give up. But that is largely a function of what they are willing to get,” he added. „What the Iranians want is money.“
Eyre said there are four ways Iran can be compensated for a deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz and ends with an agreement on its nuclear programme: reparations, tolling, unblocking frozen assets, and sanctions relief. Of the four, he believes a toll in the Strait of Hormuz is the likeliest path for a deal.
Is Israel trying to foment civil war in Lebanon?
On April 14, the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States, Nada Hamadeh and Yechiel Leiter, met in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The goal is ostensibly to extend the ceasefire while working “on longer term disarming of Hezbollah, along with a peace deal between the countries.” During the two hours in which the meeting took place, Israel bombed at least 23 towns in southern Lebanon; afterward, Leiter said that both Israel and Lebanon were united in “liberating Lebanon” from Hezbollah.
This came less than a week after one of the most violent days in Lebanese history. On April 8, Israeli warplanes ravaged large parts of the country, killing at least 303 people and wounding 1,150.
The Rich Promised to Flee Mamdani’s New York. They Haven’t.
One of the strongest indicators of whether people or businesses are actually fleeing from a city is the housing and real estate market. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many residents really did leave New York for the surrounding suburbs and other states, the city’s vacancy rates soared and rents dropped with demand, leading to “COVID discounts” at the height of the pandemic. This trend was even more extreme for the city’s commercial real estate, where vacancy rates doubled as more companies adopted remote work and shed office space.
Today nearly every indicator points to the opposite problem: demand is running hot and supply is lagging badly, especially when it comes to housing.
The law sets a 60-day limit on unauthorized wars. Will Trump respect it?
Lawmakers can revoke a president’s war powers at any time, but Democratic efforts to do so this time around have so far failed. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has criticized how Trump has gone about the war, has talked about pushing an authorization to put guardrails on how the war is prosecuted, but has not yet followed through.
Outrage After Israeli Soldier Smashing Jesus Statue in Lebanon
Commenting on social media, Hadash-Ta’al chair MK Ayman Odeh wrote pointedly: “We’ll wait to hear the police spokesperson claim that ‘the soldier felt threatened by Jesus’.”
What Israelis can learn from the nightmares of an Iranian hangman
(April 9, 2026)
Still, compared to their Iranian counterparts, Israel’s far-right lawmakers have a long way to go. The list of offenses warranting a death sentence in Iran is dizzying in its scope, including burglary, prostitution, drug trafficking, homosexuality, political dissidence, adultery, and “waging war against God.”
Under Israel’s new law, executions are to be carried out by hanging at a facility managed by the Israel Prison Service. How dull. Here, too, Ben Gvir can take inspiration from the Islamic Republic. What about a public hanging in the town square? Entertainment for the masses is not something to scoff at in these difficult times, and it’s free of charge.
And why restrict himself to only one method? The Islamic Republic has also carried out executions by firing squad, stoning, and pushing people off a cliff. Would stoning not serve as a fitting tribute to Ben Gvir’s professed commitment to Jewish tradition?