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”.
Archiv: surprise surprise.. oh... really..? never thought of that! / Überraschung.. ach wirklich? sagen Sie bloß.. wären wir NIE drauf gekommen!
Trump’s talk of 51st US state met with near-silence in Venezuela
(May 14, 2026)
Twice this week, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in turning Venezuela into his country’s 51st state. The latest came via a Truth Social post Tuesday with a map showing the South American country filled with the U.S. flag.
Previous statements doubting Venezuela’s sovereignty over the past 25 years have been met with immediate derision from senior government officials, including the president.
Saudi crown prince condemns Iran attacks in call with UAE president
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spoken with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to address recent Iranian missile and drone strikes, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
During the call, the crown prince conveyed Riyadh’s position on the attacks and reiterated support for the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar emir condemns Iran attacks in call with UAE president
Qatar’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has condemned Iranian missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates during a phone call with President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, according to an official statement.
The emir criticised the strikes, saying they targeted civilian sites and infrastructure.
Iranian delegation will not come to Islamabad for second round of talks with US: Baqai
Iran has announced it will not participate in the second round of direct talks with the United States scheduled in Pakistan, amid an already fragile standoff between the two countries.
Iran closes Strait of Hormuz again over US blockade of its ports
Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, calling the decision a response to a continued blockade of its ports by the United States.
Der Geheimdienst und seine Journalisten
Der Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) zahlt Honorare an Journalisten. Aus Gründen des „Staatswohls“ hält die Bundesregierung Namen und genaue Summen jedoch zurück.
As US and Iran talk truce, Israel digs in for a ‚forever war‘
Even as the U.S. and Iran seek to cement a ceasefire, Israel is seizing more territory from its neighbours in preparation for a long, drawn-out conflict across the Middle East.
Israel‘s creation of „buffer zones“ in Gaza, Syria and now Lebanon reflects a strategic shift after the attacks of October 7, 2023, one that puts the country in a semi-permanent state of war, six Israeli military and defence officials told Reuters.
Exclusive: ‚Handful‘ of ICC states aim to sabotage report clearing Karim Khan
A minority of members from the bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are calling for the findings of a judges‘ report, which found no evidence of misconduct against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, to be ignored, Middle East Eye can reveal.
MEE reported exclusively on Saturday that the court’s chief prosecutor had been cleared of any wrongdoing by a panel of three senior judges appointed by the bureau of the ASP, the ICC’s governing body, to review the findings of a United Nations investigation into complaints of alleged sexual misconduct.
Exclusive: Judges clear ICC’s Karim Khan over sexual misconduct claims
(March 21, 2026)
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has been cleared of all wrongdoing by a panel of judges appointed to review the findings of a United Nations investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal.
The highly confidential report by the panel of three judges was submitted to the ICC’s executive oversight body, the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), on 9 March. It will not be made publicly available, and has not been seen by the majority of the court‘s 125 member states.
Six U.S. allies back potential Strait of Hormuz coalition
Yes, but: France, Germany, Italy and Japan have previously all publicly ruled out sending naval vessels to the strait during the war.
On Iran, Gabbard Turned Intelligence Duties Over to Trump
Ms. Gabbard does not quickly turn on her allies, and she showed little desire to throw Mr. Kent under the bus or attack him. But she has remained in her position by being a careful student of Mr. Trump, and knows how to stay on his good side. And critiquing the president’s view of the threat from Iran was clearly not the way to keep your job.
So she came up with her line that it is Mr. Trump, not the intelligence community, that determines what constitutes a threat.
UK will allow US to use its bases to strike Iranian missile sites, Starmer says
„We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran from firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries that have not been involved.
„The basis of our decision is the collective self-defence of long-standing friends and allies, and protecting British lives.“
The UK reportedly shot down a missile heading towards a base housing its service personnel in Iraq on Saturday.
Democratic Leaders Face Backlash Over ‘Cowardly’ Responses to Trump War on Iran
Neither Schumer nor Jeffries backed legislation last year aimed at forestalling US military intervention in Iran.
The top Democrats’ responses to Saturday’s US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which Trump said would continue “uninterrupted” even after the killing of the nation’s supreme leader, contrasted sharply with statements of rank-and-file congressional Democrats—and even some members of leadership—who condemned the president for shredding the Constitution and driving the US into another deadly war that the American public opposes.
DNC faces pressure to release ‘autopsy’ reportedly blaming Gaza for Kamala Harris’s defeat
(February 23, 2026)
Harris herself, in her memoir 107 Days, wrote that former President Joe Biden’s appearance of having issued a “blank check” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hurt her campaign. She also wrote that she pleaded with him to show more empathy for Palestinians, to little avail.
DNC Chair Ken Martin reversed course last year when he said in December that the Democrats would not release the autopsy examining the causes of Harris’s defeat.
Suppressed DNC Autopsy Found Biden Admin’s Support for Gaza Genocide Cost Harris Votes
(February 23, 2026)
RootsAction, a progressive advocacy group that conducted its own analysis of Democrats’ 2024 loss, said in a statement that the DNC’s refusal to publicize its findings “undermines the goal of defeating Trumpism.” RootsAction’s autopsy, authored by journalist Christopher D. Cook, found “ample evidence that Harris lost many voters, especially young voters, Arab-Americans, and critical support in Michigan and elsewhere, due to the campaign’s failure to shift or even signal a potential shift in policy on Israel and Palestine.”
The DNC’s official autopsy, said RootsAction, “should be made public so Democrats can learn from past errors and win future elections.”
Democrats Not Publishing 2024 ‘Autopsy’ Sparks Outrage: ‘Unreal’
(December 18, 2025)
DNC Chair Ken Martin opted against releasing the report. In a statement provided to Newsweek, Martin wrote that the party has “completed a comprehensive review of what happened in 2024 and are already putting our learnings into motion.”
“Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission,” he said.
ICE‘s Fourth Amendment-free search policy, Minnesota church protest charges, and more
Although we haven’t seen that DHS Office of the General Counsel determination, DHS’s acting general counsel at the time was Joseph Mazzara.
Mazzara was most recently in the news for acknowledging that he was the person who gave DHS Secretary Kristi Noem legal advice about whether or not to turn around the Alien Enemies Act flights the night of March 15 after Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the administration to do so. (They did not turn the flights around.)
Sometime less than two months later, per Lyons, Mazzara’s office took on the Fourth Amendment as well.
Israel demolishes buildings in UN Palestinian agency‘s East Jerusalem compound
(January 20, 2026)
Israel demolished structures inside the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency‘s East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law.
Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency compound, where dozens of agency staff once worked.
World leaders show caution on Trump‘s broader ‚Board of Peace‘ amid fears for UN
The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts, according to a copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.
Putin invited to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” the committee that will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, his spokesman said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters during a regular media briefing, Dmitry Peskov said: “President Putin also received through diplomatic channels an invitation to join this Board of Peace.”
He said the Kremlin is now reviewing the invitation and “hoping to get more details from the US side.”
CNN has asked the White House for a comment.
US considering creating ‚Board of Peace‘ for Ukraine, modeled after plan for Gaza, FT reports
(January 17, 2026)
The potential plan is reportedly modeled off U.S. President Donald Trump‘s plan for the post-war reconstruction of Gaza. The details on a potential Board of Peace for Ukraine were not immediately clear.
Trump initially announced his Gaza Board of Peace on Jan. 15 in a post on Truth Social, signalling the start of the second phase of the U.S.-led plan to establish long-term peace between Israel and Palestine. The board, chaired by Trump, is likely to take temporary charge of Gaza’s administration and reconstruction efforts.
‚Trump United Nations‘: Netanyahu invited to join Board of Peace
Washington reportedly mulls expanding Trump’s Board of Peace beyond Gaza to Ukraine and Venezuela;
Trump wants nations to pay $1bn to join Gaza ‚Board of Peace‘: report
A draft charter for the group, seen by Bloomberg, establishes Trump as its inaugural chairman, who would have a veto over membership.
The document stipulates that states‘ membership will be limited to three years, unless they “contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force“, guaranteeing them permanent membership.
The charter opens by stressing the need for „a more nimble and effective international peace-building body“, adding that lasting peace requires „the courage to depart from … institutions that have too often failed“.
The language has prompted concerns that Trump is seeking to build a rival to the United Nations.
Scoop: Trump‘s envoy secretly met Iran‘s exiled crown prince
White House envoy Steve Witkoff met secretly over the weekend with the exiled former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, to discuss the protests raging in Iran, according to a senior U.S. official.
„Hilfe ist auf dem Weg“: Trump ruft indirekt zu Umsturz im Iran auf
Trump schrieb in Großbuchstaben auch, dass Hilfe „auf dem Weg“ sei. Was er damit meinte, blieb unbeantwortet. Wegen der schweren Gewalt gegen Demonstrierende hatte Trump der iranischen Führung bereits zuvor mit militärischen Mitteln gedroht. Die USA nähmen die Lage im Iran sehr ernst, so Trump am Sonntag. „Das Militär befasst sich damit, und wir prüfen einige sehr drastische Optionen. Wir werden eine Entscheidung treffen.“
Trump spoke to oil companies before Venezuela attack but didn‘t brief lawmakers, he says
Oil executives are set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Trump previously said he spoke to U.S. oil companies prior to the raid on Venezuela, even as he said he opted to forego disclosure to members of Congress ahead of time due to concerns about possible leaks. The attack resulted in the removal of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.