“Americans do not want another Iraq. If we intensify hostilities in Venezuela, we have no idea what we’re walking into,” McGovern said. “At least George Bush had the decency to come to Congress for approval in 2002. Don’t the American people deserve that respect today?”
Bush in 2002 sought and received a formal authorization for his attack on Iraq. Without taking any similar steps, Trump has massed thousands of American service members in the Caribbean without formal approval.
The adoption of the resolution reflects an international stance rejecting Israel’s occupation measures and colonial settlement practices that obstruct the Palestinian people’s ability to exercise their right to self-determination and to live in dignity in their independent state. It also notes the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian land is unlawful and must end as soon as possible, given its serious repercussions on the Palestinian people’s ability to exercise their right to self-determination, as guaranteed under the UN Charter and international law.
Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, welcomed the resolution and the overwhelming support it received, thanking the countries that voted in favor and underscoring the broad international consensus on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
(December 13, 2025)
The C-130, in service since 1954, is one of the most successful military transport aircraft in history. Designed for rugged operations during the Cold War, it has been used in conflicts such as Vietnam and Desert Storm, as well as major humanitarian missions in Haiti, during Hurricane Katrina, and in global disaster zones.
The KC-130, introduced in the 1960s, serves as a tanker and logistics aircraft, enabling aerial refueling for fighter jets, helicopters, and drones.
It has supported operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, as well as nighttime special operations and personnel transport.
(December 9, 2025)
A year after Israeli forces entered southern Syria, crossing into a UN buffer zone and in some cases beyond, its occupation remains and the frequency of the Israeli military raids on towns is increasing. An Israeli incursion in the town of Beit Jinn at the end of November left at least 13 Syrians dead, including two children.
Residents say they have traded the tyranny of Assad for a military occupation. Checkpoints are now operated by Israelis, not Assad officers. Night-time raids and phone searches continue.
(June 24, 2025)
The U.S. and the SDF stayed clear of Syria’s civil war, which led to the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
The country’s new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that swept to power last December and has vowed to establish a tolerant, multi-ethnic state.
After months of deliberation, the U.S. has thrown its support behind the new Syrian leader. President Trump announced last month that he would lift sanctions on the country, a decision he made with encouragement from Saudi Arabia while Trump was in the Middle East.
(April 23, 2025)
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East chief at the National Security Council, Eric Trager, rebuffed Israeli and northeast Syrian officials in the last several weeks, saying that the US is transitioning from a “military to political role” in northeast Syria and that the drawdown of US troops would continue, the sources told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.
“Israel is opposed to the US withdrawing from northeast Syria,” one former US official told MEE. “They want to see the US extract concessions from Turkey on demilitarisation before any American boots leave Syrian soil.”
(April 16, 2025)
Israel has been kept in the loop about plan that could see US troop presence shrunk from 2,000 to 1,000; Jerusalem fears it will increase Turkey’s ‘appetite’ to control Syria.
(…)
Trump announced a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term but never followed through completely. Then too, Israel opposed the move, expressing concern that an American withdrawal would create a power vacuum in the region, allowing Tehran to expand its military entrenchment near the Israeli border.
(April 16, 2025)
The U.S. military has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. The troops are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that consolidation could reduce the number of troops in Syria to about 1,000.
(October 15, 2024)
Over the past year, Israel has launched attacks on multiple countries and occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Yet countries and territories aside, Israel has also targeted one specific organization with a series of unprecedented rhetorical and violent attacks.
Yes, the United Nations. We have all witnessed Israel, in effect, declare war on the UN.
(August 28, 2024)
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is leading the drive for Israel’s suspension, Maren Mantovani, the international outreach coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign, told PassBlue. The organization is based in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
“There is an ongoing, concerted effort by Palestinian civil society to push the UN to uphold its mission . . . and to define and enact the precise modalities to end Israel’s crimes and violations,” Mantovani said.
Saleh Hijazi, a BNC adviser on apartheid-free policy, said he expected calls for Israel’s suspension to intensify next month with the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly. UNGA, as it is known, begins on Sept. 10.
(The Palestinian delegation at the UN said on Aug. 22 that it was also planning to soon initiate an “actionable resolution” in the General Assembly, “demanding within a time frame the end of this illegal occupation and all other issues contained” in the ICJ advisory opinion.)
“I have been in a number of international forums over the past few months, including a joint meeting between the Organization of Islamic Co-operation and the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, where sanctions, including diplomatic [measures] and suspending Israel from UNGA, were a big part of the discussion,” Hijazi said by email.
Erika Kirk’s passionate advocacy for conservative values, alongside her husband Charlie, has long placed her in the public eye. In the wake of tragedy, how does she think about responsibility, resilience — and the work still to come? Watch this conversation about leading through uncertainty and how to turn hardship into purpose.
Guest: Erika Kirk, C.E.O. and Chair of the Board of Turning Point USA
Interviewer: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Founder and Editor at Large of DealBook
Though Kirk has become a national figure since the death of her husband, her selection as the closing speaker at the annual summit for the Times’ business vertical was unexpected. But Sorkin explained the reason for the decision after the two got onstage. About a year ago, he said, he met and befriended Charlie. The two texted and emailed frequently about their political disagreements.
“Charlie Kirk was supposed to be here today. He was supposed to be part of a task force that we had been talking about for quite some time,” Sorkin said. He decided to instead extend the invitation to Erika Kirk after she spoke ahead of President Donald Trump at her husband’s televised memorial service. “I sat and watched the funeral by video, and I watched you, and I sat in awe…when you forgave the assassin…. It was at that moment I said to myself, I need to talk to Erika,” Sorkin explained.
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
At the time, the CIA would have done its own vetting of him through a variety of databases, including the National Counterterrorism Center database, to see if he had any known ties to terrorist groups. The CIA did its own vetting before he started working with them and kept the identities of those they worked with secret, the official said.
NCTC would have vetted him again during Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 for any ties to terrorism before he was allowed into the US. He was clean then as well and did not show any ties to terror organizations, per the senior US official.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence which occurred just blocks from the White House. The presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man who allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, previously served in one of Afghanistan‘s elite counterterrorism units, according to AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by U.S. veterans and others who served in Afghanistan.
The unit was operated by the CIA with direct U.S. intelligence and military support, according to AfghanEvac.
Washingtons Bürgermeisterin und auch die örtliche Polizei haben sich immer wieder gegen den Einsatz der Nationalgarde in ihrer Stadt ausgesprochen. Der Bundesdistrikt Washington D.C. hatte sogar eine Klage gegen die Trump-Regierung eingereicht – und recht bekommen. Eine Bundesrichterin entschied vor etwa einer Woche, dass der immer wieder verlängerte Einsatz der Nationalgarde in der Stadt illegal sei.
Von dieser Entscheidung zeigt sich der US-Präsident aber unbeeindruckt. Nach den Schüssen auf die beiden Nationalgardisten fühlt er sich im Recht. Seinen Pentagon-Chef hat er jetzt sogar angewiesen, noch weitere 500 Nationalgardisten in die Hauptstadt zu schicken.
The Beatles performing “Penny Lane.”
Between May and October 2025, over 2,600 Palestinians were killed and around 19,000 injured in the attempt to seek life-sustaining aid from GHF sites across Gaza, according to the Drop Site report.
UG Solutions confirmed that it is preparing for “a wide range of potential scenarios,” which could include an advisory presence or “robust security” roles linked to the newly authorized International Stabilization Force (ISF).
That force will fall under a Trump-chaired “Board of Peace” with sweeping powers over Gaza’s reconstruction, security, economic policy, and aid distribution.
(November 19, 2025)
A former army officer who applied for a position as an “International Humanitarian Security Officer” at UG Solutions told Drop Site that a company official told him in a job interview at the end of October that 12 to 15 sites were being planned to open in Gaza and that the company was “going to need a lot more guys.” The former army officer spoke to Drop Site on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.
The future of Gaza is at a critical juncture following this week’s Security Council vote to approve a U.S.-sponsored resolution authorizing an international stabilization force in Gaza, which would not fall under the command of the UN, but rather a so-called Board of Peace chaired by President Donald Trump.
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
(January 2010)
ENFOPOL (Enforcement Police) is a European electronic intelligence network, which is able to fully track and monitor all types of electronic communicaƟons. Police have connected the EU states and it is organized aŌer the ECHELON (Electronic Surveillance OperaƟon) – the U.S. intelligence network, which includes: Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain. European police cooperaƟon on this basis has been established in the form of working groups –
the police-squad experts, gathered from all EU countries, primarily in the field of the fight against cyber-crime. These experts have determined the legal way to promote, attain and improve the fight against contemporary forms of security threats, terrorism, organized crime, and the like.
IntroducƟon
Modern electronic devices have not only become a matter of prestige, but also a pressing need, for both state and non-state organizations. Some experts and scholars view them as a product of a “complex interdependence”, while others deem that they have been created as a result of electronic revolution and therefore have to be an integral part of life. Notwithstanding the above, many criminal and terrorist organizations see the inventions related to electronics as an opportune tool for their activities and as a way to get rich.
(October 30, 2025)
Barak felt enormous urgency to secure a face-to-face meeting with Putin as soon as possible, before the conflict escalated further. Besides Epstein, he also requested comments from Ron Dermer, close confidante to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was preparing to become Israel’s next ambassador to the U.S. Barak wrote to Dermer, “i don’t care how you’ve corrected it. yours will be always better in clarity and conciseness than mine. try earlier. i don’t want events to overwhelm us.” Dermer swiftly returned a refined copy with more fluent English.
As was typical of Epstein’s style, he sent back a rough cut riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Unlike Dermer’s narrower cut, Epstein significantly revised Barak’s piece, and added a new title: “Wait Until It’s Too Late.”
(November 12, 2025)
As the House of Representatives moves closer to forcing the release of the Epstein files by the Department feel Justice, we turn now to look at a new series by Drop Site News looking at Epstein’s ties to Israeli intelligence and how he secretly brokered numerous deals for Israeli intelligence.
On Tuesday, Drop Site revealed an Israeli spy stayed for weeks at a time with Epstein in Manhattan. Drop Site has also looked at Epstein’s role brokering a security agreement between Israel and Mongolia and Epstein’s role in setting up a backchannel between Israel and Russia on Syria.
(June 2, 2025)
The Reform UK leader has previously spoken in favour of US president Donald Trump’s plans for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, which Israel’s government is looking to move forward.
Writing for GB News last year after Labour suspended around 10% of the UK’s weapon export licences to Israel amid fears the nation was breaching international law, Farage said: “I feel all over the world that Israel is running out of friends. And I wonder right now, is Israel still really an ally of this country?”
India frequently accuses Pakistan of being behind attacks on its soil, saying that they are orchestrated by groups operating from sanctuaries across the border. A deadly terrorist attack this spring that killed 26 people in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir led to days of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
At the time, Mr. Modi’s government issued a warning that it would treat any future terrorist attack on its soil as an “act of war.”
(August 8, 2024)
A spokesperson for Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz spoke to Yoel Donchin, the doctor who treated the prisoner in the incident who said he suffered from „a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage and broken ribs“.
(Vossische Zeitung Nr. 576 vom 10. 11. 1918)
»Der Tag der Revolution ist gekommen. Wir haben den Frieden erzwungen. Der Friede ist in diesem Augenblick geschlossen. Das Alte ist nicht mehr. Die Herrschaft der Hohenzollern, die in diesem Schloß jahrhundertelang gewohnt haben, ist vorüber. In dieser Stunde proklamieren wir die freie sozialistische Republik Deutschland. Wir grüßen unsere russischen Brüder, die vor vier Tagen schmählich davongejagt worden sind.« Liebknecht wies dann auf das Hauptportal des Schlosses und rief mit erhobener Stimme: »Durch dieses Tor wird die neue sozialistische Freiheit der Arbeiter und Soldaten einziehen. Wir wollen an der Stelle, wo die Kaiserstandarte wehte, die rote Fahne der freien Republik Deutschland hissen!«
Die Soldaten der Schloßwache, die auf dem Dach sichtbar waren, schwenkten die Helme und grüßten zur Menge herab, die auf das Tor zudrängte. Es wurde langsam geöffnet, um dem Automobil Liebknechts Einlaß zu gewähren. Die Menge wurde davon zurückgehalten, zu folgen. Nach einigen Minuten erschienen, von der Menge stürmisch begrüßt, die Soldaten der Schloßwache ohne Waffen und Gepäck. Kurze Zeit darauf zeigte sich Liebknecht mit Gefolgschaft auf dem Balkon, von dessen Grau sich eine breite rote Decke abhob.
»Parteigenossen«, begann Liebknecht, »der Tag der Freiheit ist angebrochen. Nie wieder wird ein Hohenzoller diesen Platz betreten. Vor 70 Jahren stand hier am selben Ort Friedrich Wilhelm IV. und mußte vor dem Zug der auf den Barrikaden Berlins für die Sache der Freiheit Gefallenen, vor den fünfzig blutüberströmten Leichnamen seine Mütze abnehmen. Ein anderer Zug bewegt sich heute hier vorüber. Es sind die Geister der Millionen, die für die heilige Sache des Proletariats ihr Leben gelassen haben. Mit zerspaltenem Schädel, in Blut gebadet wanken diese Opfer der Gewaltherrschaft vorüber, und ihnen folgen die Geister von Millionen von Frauen und Kindern, die für die Sache des Proletariats in Kummer und Elend verkommen sind. Und Abermillionen von Blutopfern dieses Weltkrieges ziehen ihnen nach. Heute steht eine unübersehbare Menge begeisterter Proletarier an demselben Ort, um der neuen Freiheit zu huldigen. Parteigenossen, ich proklamiere die freie sozialistische Republik Deutschland, die alle Stämme umfassen soll, in der es keine Knechte mehr geben wird, in der jeder ehrliche Arbeiter den ehrlichen Lohn seiner Arbeit finden wird. Die Herrschaft des Kapitalismus, der Europa in ein Leichenfeld verwandelt hat, ist gebrochen. Wir rufen unsere russischen Brüder zurück. Sie haben bei ihrem Abschied zu uns gesagt: >Habt Ihr in einem Monat nicht das erreicht, was wir erreicht haben, so wenden wir uns von Euch ab.< Und nun hat es kaum vier Tage gedauert.« »Wenn auch das Alte niedergerissen ist«, fuhr Liebknecht fort, »dürfen wir doch nicht glauben, daß unsere Aufgabe getan sei. Wir müssen alle Kräfte anspannen, um die Regierung der Arbeiter und Soldaten aufzubauen und eine neue staatliche Ordnung des Proletariats zu schaffen, eine Ordnung des Friedens, des Glücks und der Freiheit unserer deutschen Brüder und unserer Brüder in der ganzen Welt. Wir reichen ihnen die Hände und rufen sie zur Vollendung der Weltrevolution auf. Wer von euch die freie sozialistische Republik Deutschland und die Weltrevolution erfüllt sehen will, erhebe seine Hand zum Schwur (alle Hände erheben sich und Rufe ertönen: Hoch die Republik!). Nachdem der Beifall verrauscht war, ruft ein neben Liebknecht stehender Soldat und schwenkt die rote Fahne, die er in den Händen trägt: »Hoch lebe ihr erster Präsident Liebknecht!« Liebknecht schloß: »Soweit sind wir noch nicht. Ob Präsident oder nicht, wir müssen alle zusammenstehen, um das Ideal der Republik zu verwirklichen. Hoch die Freiheit und das Glück und der Frieden!«
Bald darauf wurde an dem Mast der Kaiserstandarte die rote Fahne gehißt.
Vossische Zeitung Nr. 576 vom 10. 11. 1918
(Anm.d.Red. Nachrichtenagentur Radio Utopie: unter Bruch des Dogmas der hundertprozentig authentischen Wiedergabe der verlinkten Quellen wurde ein verheerender Rechtschreibfehler in der Überschrift korrigiert.)
Bei genauerem Hinsehen zeigt sich, dass weder der genaue Ort noch der Inhalt von Scheidemanns Rede noch der Ablauf der Ereignisse im Zusammenhang mit Scheidemanns Auftritt an diesem Tag bis heute abschließend geklärt sind. Obwohl Scheidemanns Auftritt in der demokratischen Erinnerungskultur der Deutschen eine hohe symbolische Bedeutung für die Etablierung der ersten deutschen Republik und die Demokratieentwicklung in unserem Land insgesamt zugemessen wird, sind die diesem Auftritt zugrundeliegenden Fakten bis heute nicht restlos geklärt. Wesentlicher Grund hierfür ist, dass die in der tagesaktuellen Presse veröffentlichten Berichte nur unzulänglich und teilweise auch widersprüchlich auf den Auftritt Scheidemanns eingehen, da die revolutionären Ereignisse und Aktionen im Vordergrund der Berichterstattung standen.
Auch Originalfotos des Ereignisses sind nicht überliefert – die bekannten Fotos, die Scheidemann bei einer Rede zeigen, sind entweder später nachgestellt oder bei einer anderen Gelegenheit aufgenommen worden.
Die meisten in der Geschichtswissenschaft für die Rekonstruktion der Abläufe vom 9. November 1918 herangezogenen Quellen zum Auftritt Scheidemanns wurden im Nachhinein verfasst und sind von den nachfolgenden Entwicklungen und durch persönliche Interpretationen der Verfasser beeinflusst worden.
During the meeting, emphasis was made on „the depth of the partnership between Lebanon and the World Bank for nearly seventy years and the pivotal role the WB has played in supporting Lebanon throughout various difficult stages, from wars to economic and social crises.“
The President of the Republic thanked the delegation for „the continuous support that the World Bank provides to Lebanon,“ and presented the progress achieved so far in terms of the ongoing reforms, particularly with regard to strengthening governance and cooperation with the International Monetary Fund to rebuild confidence in the country’s financial sector and attract investments.