Press TV | February 25, 2026
Anti‑war demonstrations have erupted on the Greek island of Crete after the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 12 (CSG-12), led by super-carrier USS Gerald Ford, arrived at Souda Bay en route to the occupied Palestinian territories.
Several hundred protesters gathered late Tuesday in the port city of Chania to express their opposition to a provocative move in Washington’s military strategy in West Asia.
The rally was largely peaceful but resolute, with participants displaying placards reading “Killers,” signaling strong disapproval of American military interventions. […]
Before its reassignment to West Asia, CSG-12 was stationed in the Caribbean as part of Washington’s coercive measures in the region, including aggressions against Venezuelan leadership in early January that resulted in the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores. […]
The arrival of the CGS-12 comes amid the scheduled resumption of indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US in Geneva for Thursday. – Full artiicle
The Dissident | February 24, 2026
At a recent House Appropriations Committee hearing, Damon Wilson, the current president of the National Endowment for Democracy, the notorious cutout of the CIA’s regime change arm, which has previously helped fund coups around the world, admitted to meddling in Iran and helping to fuel both the women’s life freedom protests in 2022 and the recent protests in Iran.
Wilson boasted that the U.S. government-funded organization helped spread the story of a woman being killed for not wearing a headscarf in Iran that sparked the women’s life freedom protests in 2022, even admitting that the story would not have spread across Iran without the NED.
Wilson admitted, in response to the question, “Are you doing anything in Iran and can you tell us what that is?”, “This has been a huge priority for the endowment. Iran has been- since I arrived at the endowment- our fastest growing program. It’s now one of our largest programs globally that involves both direct partners, Iranian groups as well as our core institutes. If you think about the impact of our work in Iran, the reason the women life freedom movement began with the the simple act of a young woman who didn’t fully cover her her head with a headscarf, that story … could have been lost in a regional as a regional story in Iran, but NED Partners helped cover that story, get it out to the world, and get it back into Iran.”
He also admitted in reference to the most recent protests in Iran, that the organization has helped smuggle Starlink terminals into Iran and spread propaganda that helped spark the pro-regime change protests. … continue
By Iqbal Jassat | Press TV | February 25, 2026
While uncertainty clouds the possibility of America launching a full-scale war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, pro-war narratives emanating from the apartheid regime of Israel desperately seek to justify it.
The war cries raised by Israel’s genocidaires are hardly surprising. After all, it is well known that the regime premier and the criminal-in-chief, Benjamin Netanyahu, has, since the 1990,s been pressuring the United States to carry out direct military action against Tehran.
Hence, it would not be incorrect to conclude that Washington’s war drums over Iran are not the product of strategy. They are the product of imperial reflex and Zionist pressure masquerading as deterrence.
Bizarrely, the spectacle of force assembled under President Donald Trump’s orders, the largest concentration of US air and naval power in the region since 2003, is being sold as strength, whereas it is, in fact, insecurity dressed up as bravado.
The indicators tell their own story. … continue
By William Schryver | February 24, 2026
“What the West has, and has had for some time now, is a single-shot military. One serious campaign, whether finally won or lost, would disarm the West for a decade.” — Aurelien
This, folks, is the simple truth of the matter.
The US simply could not, at this moment — nor at any time in even the medium-term future — mount and sustain a campaign the size, intensity, and duration of what we have seen in Ukraine for the past four years. US logistical chains would have long-since broken down; losses in men and equipment — including LOTS of heavy lift cargo aircraft and the refueling tankers upon which they depend to fly across the planet — would have been calamitous.
Oh, sure, in the context of the current crisis in the Middle East, there’s a huge chorus of people who are gung-ho convinced that US air and naval power would overcome all obstacles in a matter of days, bringing the presumptuous third-world Iranians to their knees.
That’s not what would happen.
What would happen is that, despite a few spectacular successes to stuff the first 24-hour news cycle, the “full-spectrum dominance” everyone believes the US wields would, over the course of just a few days, suffer shocking losses across the entire military spectrum. … continue
Press TV – February 25, 2026
Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has warned US President Donald Trump against making decisions based on false information, emphasizing that Iran has never sought, does not seek, and will never seek nuclear weapons.
Speaking at a meeting with economic activists in the Iranian Parliament on Wednesday, Qalibaf reacted to Trump’s latest remarks over Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities. … continue
The Cradle | February 25, 2026
The US Department of War has issued a deadline to AI company Anthropic to allow broader military use of its Claude models or face possible action under the Defense Production Act.
The company could face losing its Pentagon contract, and has been threatened with a government blacklist, US media reports said.
The Pentagon has a $200-million contract with Anthropic. The company has placed guardrails on the Claude AI, preventing its use for fully autonomous weaponry and mass domestic surveillance, triggering a standoff with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday. According to CNN, the CEO held firm on the restrictions. … continue
RT | February 25, 2026
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ordered military units and additional police to guard energy infrastructure sites in his country’s east, citing the threat of potential Ukrainian attacks.
Orban announced the deployment on Wednesday amid the continuing standoff between Budapest and Kiev over the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which until recently carried Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine. […]
“I have ordered reinforced protection of critical infrastructure, troop deployment where necessary, increased police presence, and a drone ban in Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg county,” the prime minister wrote on X, referring to the Hungarian region bordering Ukraine.
Orban’s political director, Balazs Orban, claimed that information available to the country’s authorities indicated that Kiev has been “preparing further actions aimed at disrupting the operation of Hungary’s energy system.”
The deployment comes after Budapest vetoed the latest EU package of sanctions against Russia, as well as a €90 billion ($106 billion) emergency loan for Ukraine. The loan was agreed upon late last year, after Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic opted out of contributing to it financially.
The veto has been condemned by the EU leadership, which accused Orban of bailing on his promise to support the loan scheme and undermining the “credibility of decisions taken collectively.”
“Any breach of this commitment constitutes a violation of the principle of sincere cooperation,” European Council President Antonio Costa told Orban in a letter.
The Hungarian prime minister shot back at Costa on Wednesday, stating he will not support any pro-Ukrainian moves until Kiev returns “to normality.” … Full article
By Ahmed Adel | February 25, 2026
The claim that Ukraine is developing a fleet of 250 modern Western-made combat aircraft is a public relations stunt by President Volodymyr Zelensky, not a practical military plan, because the scale of such a project exceeds the country’s and its Western partners’ financial, industrial, and infrastructural capacities. … continue
RT | February 25, 2026
Seven civilians have been killed and at least ten others injured in a Ukrainian drone raid on a chemical plant in Smolensk Region, western Russia, the country’s Investigative Committee reported on Wednesday.
The agency stated that the Ukrainian military used at least 30 UAVs in the attack on the facility.
The strike was previously reported by Smolensk Governor Vasily Anokhin on social media, stating that Ukrainian forces targeted the ‘Dorogobuzh’ plant, which produces nitrogen fertilizer, and that several employees “tragically died while performing their professional duties.” Those injured in the attack have been taken to a healthcare facility, the governor said. … Full article
An Essay on the Hidden Ingredients, Deceptive Labels, and Chronic Disease Epidemic in Commercial Pet Food
Lies are Unbekoming | February 23, 2026
The label on a popular dry cat food lists its ingredients in this order: poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, brewers rice. Most people reading that label assume the poultry by-product meal is the primary ingredient — a protein source feeding their obligate carnivore. They’re wrong. Corn is the primary ingredient. The company split it into two categories — ground yellow corn and corn gluten meal — so that each individual corn listing falls below the poultry by-product meal on the label. Combined, the corn outweighs everything else in the bag.¹
This is not a labelling error. It is standard industry practice, known as “splitting,” and it is legal under the guidelines of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). It is also the first clue that the commercial pet food industry operates in a space between what owners believe they are buying and what they are actually feeding their animals. The gap between those two things is wide enough to make animals sick — and the evidence suggests it has been doing exactly that for decades. … continue
As billions flow into expanding U.S. and global avian influenza surveillance, research, and response programs.
By Jon Fleetwood | February 24, 2026
… Minnesota’s bill shows how bird flu programs are being hard-wired into state law, using taxpayer funding and financial incentives to align farmers and research institutions with the government’s expanding avian influenza system.
The legislation mirrors what is now happening across multiple levels of government, as states allocate their own funding, federal agencies finance large-scale bird flu surveillance and response infrastructure, and international bodies coordinate global programs built around the same virus.
Taken together, the Minnesota bill represents one piece of a rapidly expanding framework in which bird flu programs are being simultaneously financed at the state, national, and international levels—embedding ongoing funding, institutional participation, and livestock producer involvement into a unified and permanent system. – Read full article
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | February 24, 2026
In the 1950s, the CIA brainstormed ways to secretly perform mind control on humans — including concealing drugs in vaccines and widely consumed food products, a newly unearthed CIA document revealed. The Daily Mail first reported the story on Monday.
The seven-page document, “Special Research for Artichoke,” is dated April 23, 1952. It describes a series of ideas for how to develop chemicals designed to alter human behavior and thought.
The proposals contained in the document were part of the CIA’s top-secret Project Artichoke, which ran from 1951 to 1956, according to the Daily Mail.
The document, declassified in 1983, recently circulated on social media. However, it was not published in the CIA’s online reading room until last year.
“Some of the suggestions are controversial,” the document states. The proposals included administering drugs in secret as part of a “long-range approach to subjects.”
According to the document… continue
If Americans Knew | February 24, 2026
The New York Times calls concern about Israel’s lethal attack on a US Navy ship an “obsession,” signaling that Americans shouldn’t care about Israel’s attempt to sink a ship with all men aboard … just as it published a piece by David Brooks dismissively calling concern about Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to Israel an “obsession,” not mentioning Brooks’ ties to Israel and to Epstein…
Below are facts about Israel’s assault on the Liberty that the Times left out… continue
IMEMC | February 25, 2026
Two Palestinians were killed and several others were injured on Tuesday in Israeli strikes targeting Khan Younis and Beit Lahia, amidst ongoing violations across the devastated Gaza Strip, as humanitarian conditions continue to worsen under relentless attacks and severe winter weather.
Medical sources said one Palestinian was killed and two others were injured in an Israeli strike on an area south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
They added that several additional Palestinians were wounded in a separate Israeli bombing targeting another location south of the city.
In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, an Israeli drone fired live rounds at displaced Palestinians near Abu Hussein School, wounding a young man.
Medical teams also confirmed that another Palestinian was killed and several others sustained injuries of varying severity in a separate Israeli strike targeting a group of displaced Palestinians sheltering in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.
Journalists also documented intense Israeli gunfire directed at a gathering of displaced families near al‑Shati’ refugee camp, west of Gaza City. … Full article
The Cradle | February 24, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is mulling the creation of a cryptocurrency for the Gaza Strip, framed as an attempt to jumpstart Gaza’s economy following two years of Israeli genocide against Palestinians.
The “stablecoin” will be tied to the US dollar and share a similar value, the Financial Times cited sources as saying on 23 February.
The Board of Peace will enlist help from Palestinian and Gulf firms with expertise on cryptocurrency, who will be involved in the initiative, the report goes on to say. … Full article
Al-Manar | February 24, 2026
Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Lebanese Army personnel and issued aerial threats on Tuesday as troops were establishing a new observation post in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, in what officials described as a dangerous escalation along the southern border.
According to the latest Al-Manar reports, Israeli occupation forces targeted, for the second time, a Lebanese Army deployment position in Sarda farm, South Lebanon with bursts of gunfire. The reports added that a Zionist glider drops three sonic bombs near the Lebanese Army position.
According to an earlier statement released by the Lebanese Army, soldiers came under fire from the Israeli enemy’s side while setting up a monitoring position near the southern frontier in the Sarda–Marjayoun area. Simultaneously, an Israeli drone flew at low altitude over the site, broadcasting threats in an apparent attempt to force the troops to withdraw.
The army said the gunfire targeted the vicinity of the newly established position, coinciding with the provocative drone activity overhead.
In response, the Lebanese Army Command issued orders to reinforce the post, maintain its presence, and return fire toward the sources of the attack. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – February 24, 2026
BEIRUT – The Israeli occupation army detonated two houses in border towns in Nabatieh Governorate, southern Lebanon, on Tuesday in ongoing violations of the ceasefire that has been in place since late 2024.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, an Israeli force rigged a house with explosives and blew it up after midnight in the town of Houla, in the Bint Jbeil district. The agency also reported that occupation forces detonated another house in the Khurza neighborhood of the border town of Aita al-Shaab. … Full article
The Cradle | February 24, 2026
Authorities at Tehran airport discovered Starlink satellite equipment in the luggage of a European diplomat attempting to enter the country, Iranian media reported.
Iranian news outlet Hamshahri Online revealed that a European diplomat at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport refused to pass his luggage through the scanner, citing diplomatic immunity.
Airport security explained to the European diplomat that the handling of diplomatic luggage follows a separate legal procedure, but he declined to comply.
Iranian customs then initiated formal procedures to inspect and seal the unusual cargo, which the diplomat left behind before departing Iran, “without following up on the status of his luggage and using political immunity.”
Days later, a second diplomat returned to the airport to follow up, prompting an official inspection conducted in the presence of customs and Foreign Ministry officials.
The search uncovered three Starlink modems and seven satellite phones hidden inside the suitcase. The equipment was confiscated, and the diplomat was denied entry into Iran.
The report identifies the diplomat as Andre Van Feichen but does not specify his nationality.
“Examination of his background revealed a complex relationship with the US. Andre Van Feichen is a security and defense expert who, according to documents leaked on the WikiLeaks website, has provided special reports on Iran to the US. Feichen, in a meeting with a senior American diplomat, provided the US government with a report on his time in Iran, as well as suggestions about Iran’s strengths and weaknesses,” it went on to say. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | February 24, 2026
Canada military aid to Kiev will total 2 billion Canadian dollars ($1.5 billion) in fiscal year 2026-2027, with Ottawa also set to donate 400 armored vehicles, National Defense Minister David McGuinty announced on Tuesday.
The funding begins in the new fiscal year on April 1.
Speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, McGuinty confirmed the allocation of funds strictly for military purposes.
“We have booked C$2 billion strictly for military support, starting in the new [fiscal] year on April 1. We will have more to say about how those funds are being allocated,” McGuinty told reporters. “We will be sending a further 400 armored vehicles to Ukraine.” […]
Canada also intends to continue training Ukrainian service members under Operation UNIFIER, which began in 2015. … Full article
RT | February 24, 2026
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has suggested resurrecting the previously rejected plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, after Hungary vetoed a €90 billion ($106 billion) loan for Kiev on Monday.
Kiev’s Western backers froze $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The majority is held at the Belgian-based Euroclear depository.
In December, the EU failed to agree on using the funds as collateral for a ‘reparations loan’ for Ukraine due to opposition from Belgium and other member states. As a compromise, it decided to fund Kiev through common debt, approving a €90 billion loan backed by the bloc’s budget.
The loan, however, was vetoed by Hungary on Monday after it accused Kiev of deliberately cutting off oil supplies to the country.
Hungary vetoes €90 billion EU loan for UkraineREAD MORE: Hungary vetoes €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine
“If [the loan] doesn’t work, we can always go back to using the frozen assets,” Kallas told journalists on Monday, as cited by Euroactiv, calling it the EU’s original “plan A.” … Full article
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he wanted to discuss the situation around the Druzhba oil pipeline with Volodymyr Zelensky, but the Ukrainian side was only ready to talk after February 25.
“I was interested in speaking with the Ukrainian president by phone and getting an answer to the question of when and whether oil supplies to Slovakia would be restored. We received a message that the Ukrainian president was ready to talk after February 25,” Fico said in a video message on Monday.
Fico noted Slovakia has information that the Druzhba pipeline is operational, but the Ukrainian side, in turn, has not allowed the Slovak ambassador to Ukraine to visit the part of the infrastructure that is allegedly damaged. … continue
RT | February 24, 2026
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland was hospitalized last week after a suicide attempt, days after being charged with gross corruption over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Norwegian outlet iNyheter has claimed.
Citing a “rock-solid source,” iNyheter wrote that Jagland’s condition is serious. The facility treating the 75-year-old statesman has not been disclosed.
Jagland is one of Norway’s most prominent political figures, having served as prime minister, parliament leader, foreign minister, and Secretary General of the Council of Europe. He also chaired the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015.
Earlier this month, Jagland was charged with gross corruption following the release of the latest batch of Epstein files by the US Justice Department. Norway’s anti-corruption agency carried out extensive searches of Jagland’s properties in Oslo and Risor.
According to the agency’s letter to the Council of Europe seeking to lift his immunity, Jagland and his immediate family used Epstein’s private apartments in Paris and New York multiple times between 2011 and 2018, and stayed at his villa in Palm Beach, Florida. Jagland also allegedly asked Epstein for assistance with a bank loan.
If convicted, Jagland could face up to 10 years in prison. He has denied wrongdoing. … Full article
RT | February 24, 2026
Ukraine is no more corrupt than any other European country, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed, describing suggestions to the contrary as “lies” while praising his government’s anti-graft efforts.
The remarks come as Kiev has been rocked by a series of high-profile corruption scandals implicating the Ukrainian leader’s inner circle.
In an interview with the BBC published on Monday, Zelensky acknowledged that corruption exists in Ukraine but insisted it is present “in every country in Europe.”
“It is a lie that there is more corruption in Ukraine than in any other European state,” he said. “We want to acknowledge our weak points, but without losing our dignity and without saying that we have it and others do not. The fact that we are fighting it, I believe we are doing a great job.” … Full article
By Lucas Leiroz | February 24, 2026
In recent days, Mexico has made headlines worldwide due to the increase in internal violence in the country. After the local government launched an offensive against drug trafficking and eliminated a major criminal leader, the country’s main drug cartel began a series of attacks against state forces, killing several soldiers and civilians, destroying military equipment and infrastructure.
The combat capacity of the criminal forces is surprising world public opinion, but little has been said about how the professionalization of organized crime in Mexico is directly related to the current situation in the Ukrainian conflict. … continue
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | February 23, 2026
The episode involving the death of Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, a 28-year-old Brazilian who served as an international mercenary in the so-called “International Legion” in Kiev, exposes a dark and rarely discussed side of the war in Ukraine. According to reports from the Kiev Independent, Leal da Silva died after being severely beaten by fellow soldiers, in a systematic practice of physical punishment that, according to local sources, included torture, burns, simulated drowning, and even sexual assault. The incident occurred in the Advanced Company, a unit under the command of another Brazilian, Leanderson Paulino, and reportedly lasted around 40 minutes, with witnesses present who were unable to intervene.
This case highlights a reality often overlooked in Western analyses of the conflict: the presence of individuals with violent histories or psychological instability being incorporated into Ukrainian neo-Nazi ranks. The fact that Leal da Silva had not yet formalized his contract and planned to leave Ukraine makes the episode even more concerning, revealing a culture of impunity within certain units that appear to operate above basic rules of combatant safety and protection. … continue
Al Mayadeen | February 24, 2026
US Southern Command said three men were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that it claimed was transporting narcotics, as scrutiny grows over the administration’s expanding military campaign. […]
The strike comes less than a week after 11 people accused of drug smuggling were killed in separate operations in Latin American waters, part of a broader campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists”. […]
Since last year, when the administration began striking small vessels suspected of trafficking, at least 148 people have been killed in similar operations, according to official figures. … Full article
The Cradle | February 23, 2026
Israel’s Defense Ministry has designated five Palestinian news platforms in occupied East Jerusalem as “terrorist organizations,” alleging “incitement” and links to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 22 February.
“Defense Minister Israel Katz signed an order designating these platforms as terrorist organizations, and the Attorney General confirmed that there is no legal obstacle,” Channel 12 reported, adding that the outlets “are accused of incitement by focusing on developments in (East) Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it added.
The order targets Alasima News, M3raj Network, Al-Quds Albawsala Network, Maydan Al-Quds, and Plus Quds Network, none of whom maintain offices in occupied East Jerusalem.
Alasima News said it was suspending all media activities until further notice, while the other four platforms issued no immediate comment.
“In a new step added to Israel’s record of repression and gagging, the occupation has banned the work of several Jerusalem-based news networks in an attempt to isolate Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, monopolize them, and suppress their news from the world,” Alasima said in a statement. … continue
By Maryam Qarehgozlou | Press TV | February 23, 2026
In a recent interview with the US ambassador to the Israeli-occupied territories, Mike Huckabee, prominent US journalist and commentator Tucker Carlson confronted an Israeli-led system of intimidation, censorship, and foreign influence shaping American policy.
In a blistering monologue before his sit-down with the controversial American diplomat, Carlson framed his trip to Israeli-occupied territories not as a routine diplomatic media engagement, but as a revealing encounter with an entrenched apparatus exerting sway over American power.
The interview, conducted at the high-security Ben Gurion Airport, 20 kilometers to the south of Tel Aviv, itself began with a public challenge on Twitter from Huckabee, who suggested that if Carlson was addressing Christians in West Asia, he should speak to him as well.
Carlson initially hesitated. Having known Huckabee for decades, he admitted that interviewing him would require “a lot of self-control,” noting that the hawkish former Baptist minister’s genial, grandfatherly persona makes it difficult to press hard without appearing hostile.
Still, Carlson concluded that the moment demanded it. The stakes, he said, were enormous.
The United States, he noted, is moving toward a war with Iran – and Israel is “driving that.”
The US, he stated bluntly, is acting “at the behest, at the demand of” the Israeli regime’s premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who has presided over the modern-day holocaust in Gaza. … continue
MEMO | February 23, 2026
Israeli settlers set fire to the entrance of a mosque and sprayed racist slogans on its walls in the occupied West Bank, Nablus, on Monday, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf said settlers attempted to torch a mosque in the village of Tel, near Nablus.
The statement added that the arson attempt targeted the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque. … Full article
IMEMC | February 24, 2026
A Palestinian man was injured on Monday evening after Israeli forces opened fire in the Wadi al-Hummus area, northeast of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
Mohammad Allan, head of Ambulance Services in al-‘Ubeidiya town, said his team treated a man in his thirties who had been shot with live ammunition in the thigh and both legs.
He added that the man suffered fractures and additional wounds across his body before Palestinian medics transferred him to a hospital for treatment. … Full article
Press TV – February 23, 2026
A group of Israeli settlers has been offered a lavish meal during a rare visit to a high-security prison where Palestinian detainees face harsh conditions, including restrictions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The visit was reportedly organized by Israel Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi, who hosted more than 20 settlers from Har Homa, an illegal settlement in the occupied Quds, the Middle East Eye reported on Monday.
According to the report, the group was transported to Nitzan Prison near Ramla for what was described as a “safari tour”. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | February 23, 2026
One Palestinian was killed and eight others were injured over 24 hours as Israeli attacks on the besieged territory continue, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced. […]
Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces blew up an abandoned armoured vehicle into a residential block east of Gaza City, the Quds News Network reported, citing local sources. The Israeli occupation army had already withdrawn from the area where the explosion took place.
Furthermore, the IOF demolished residential buildings in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. – Full article
The Cradle | February 23, 2026
Israeli soldiers massacred 15 Palestinian aid workers, targeting them with nearly a thousand bullets, including at least eight at point-blank range, in Tal al-Sultan in southern Gaza on 23 March 2025, a joint investigation by the independent research groups Earshot and Forensic Architecture has shown.
The report, based on eyewitness testimony and audio and visual analysis, shows that Israeli troops executed many of the aid workers, including shooting one from as close as a meter away.
The victims included eight aid workers with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), six from the Palestinian Civil Defense, and a UN relief agency staffer.
After ambushing the aid workers, the Israeli troops crushed the ambulances and buried them along with the bodies in a mass grave.
The report by Earshot and Forensic Architecture reconstructed the details of the massacre using video and audio recordings taken by the aid workers before their deaths, open-source images and videos, satellite imagery, social media posts, and other materials, as well as in-depth interviews with two survivors.
On 23 March 2025 at 3:52 am, the PRCS dispatched two ambulances from two different areas to the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Al-Hashashin near Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Israeli soldiers ambushed the Palestinian aid workers, firing at them 910 times in a near continuous assault lasting over two hours. … continue
Al Mayadeen | February 23, 2026
An Israeli military patrol stormed the outskirts of Sayda al-Golan in Syria’s Quneitra countryside at dawn on Monday, according to local reports.
Residents said Israeli occupation forces moved through the area before later withdrawing to positions inside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The incursion came despite a joint statement issued last month by the United States, “Israel”, and Syria announcing strategic understandings aimed at enhancing “security and stability” following talks held in Paris. … Full article
By Robert Inlakesh | The Palestine Chronicle | February 23, 2026
Key Analytical Points
- Israel’s pattern of ceasefire violations suggests a deliberate attempt to reshape deterrence rules in Lebanon rather than isolated tactical operations.
- Provocations aimed at Hezbollah appear designed to trigger a response that would justify a broader Israeli escalation under new “rules of engagement.”
- Hezbollah’s restraint signals long-term strategic patience rather than weakness, indicating preparation for a larger confrontation tied to regional dynamics.
- The northern front is increasingly linked to US–Iran tensions, raising the likelihood that Lebanon could become either a preemptive battlefield or a secondary theater in a wider war.
- The balance of power on the ground—particularly Hezbollah’s missile capabilities and ground forces—creates significant deterrent risk for Israel, limiting its escalation options despite mounting pressure.
Continue
By Sajjad Safaei | Responsible Statecraft | February 23, 2026
Trump’s decision in June 2025 to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities in the final days of Israel’s war on Iran removed any lingering doubts about his administration’s willingness to cross the longstanding U.S. red line of directly attacking Iran’s nuclear program.
As a result, every subsequent American military threat, against Iran as well as the rest of the world, was imbued with a credibility that only the precedent of naked aggression can impose. The U.S. military’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January only reinforced that credibility.
But the U.S. strike on Iran, or Operation Midnight Hammer, has also set in motion two consequences that run directly counter to his vision of coercing Iran into submission. … continue
By Sayid Marcos Tenorio | MEMO | February 23, 2026
The ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran, mediated by Oman and recently held in Geneva, have been presented by Western diplomacy as a technical effort to contain nuclear risks. This version is a carefully constructed farce.
What is at stake is not the so-called “non-proliferation”, but a direct dispute between national sovereignty and imperial domination, conducted in order to preserve the regional hegemony of “Israel” and to keep the Middle East under the strategic tutelage of the US–Zionist axis.
The United States does not negotiate in the name of peace or international security. It negotiates as the diplomatic and military arm of the Zionist regime, tasked with neutralising any regional power that escapes the colonial control imposed after the Second World War. … continue
By Amro Allan | Al Mayadeen | February 23, 2026
The confrontation forming around Iran is increasingly defined not by diplomacy or de-escalatory statecraft, but by infrastructure: aircraft, tankers, ships, interceptors, forward bases, and the logistics that bind them into a usable strike system. What is being assembled around Iran is coercion by force posture—a regional arrangement designed to make the use of violence not only possible, but administratively routine.
The danger is not simply that the United States is “sending a message.” It is those messages, once backed by operational capability and sustained logistics, that develop their own momentum—especially in a region where a single incident, whether staged, misattributed, or opportunistically interpreted, can push escalation beyond the point where political actors can plausibly reverse it. That is how wars become “inevitable”: not because they must happen, but because the architecture is built until restraint begins to look like an admission of weakness.
What is underway is best understood as a transition from episodic pressure to a posture designed to make sustained operations feasible. Deterrence theatre is reversible: it can be intensified, paused, or theatrically concluded. War-enabling posture is different. It organizes the region for a campaign that could last weeks, not hours—requiring refuelling depth, airborne command, electronic warfare, forward munitions, missile defense, and a permissive regional geography. In other words, it is not the language of crisis management; it is the language of readiness for force. … continue
The Cradle | February 23, 2026
A University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll released on 15 February revealed that a mere 21 percent of adults in the US support President Donald Trump’s plans of war against Iran, while 49 percent of respondents oppose it.
The study was led by Shibley Telhami and conducted by SSRS between 5 and 9 February among 1,004 adults in the US.
When asked, “Do you favor or oppose the United States initiating an attack on Iran under the current circumstances?” 21 percent of respondents favored an attack, 49 percent opposed it, and 30 percent said they did not know. … Full article
Press TV – February 23, 2026
A top Iranian diplomat says the time is ripe for the United States to abandon its “fruitless” sanctions and failed policy of war against Iran, urging genuine respect for diplomacy as the only viable path forward.
“Iran’s enemies may start a war, but they will not be able to determine the end,” Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.
“You have tried sanctions and war in relation to Iran and got nowhere. Now it is time to experience diplomacy and respect,” he said.
He said Iranians do not seek aggression against other countries but will firmly stand against any military or political conspiracy against the Islamic Republic and will defend their homeland. … continue
The Cradle | February 23, 2026
China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has provided Iran with new technology in an effort to prevent infiltration by US and Israeli intelligence, and to help Tehran defend itself from advanced US and Israeli warplanes in the case of a renewed war, according to a 10 February report by Modern Diplomacy.
The report states that Beijing is urging its ally, Tehran, to abandon US and Israeli-made software and replace it with closed, encrypted Chinese systems that are difficult to penetrate.
This includes supplying Iran with advanced Chinese sensor systems and radars, such as the YLC-8B, capable of tracking stealth aircraft and conducting electronic surveillance.
Defense Security Asia stated that according to one analyst, the “YLC-8B is one of the few radars of its type in the world which can continuously detect and track a Western fifth-generation (stealth) aircraft at long range.” … continue
By Craig Murray | February 23, 2026
There are two things which are extremely difficult to find in Venezuela – government repression and opposition support. I am pretty long in the tooth and very experienced in understanding politics and people around the world, and I have found it difficult to locate either.
I would particularly warn you against accepting the political prisoners narrative. There have been excesses, particularly after the unrest following the last disputed elections, but the large majority of those claimed to be political prisoners have been involved in actual, physical attempts to overthrow the government by force, or are involved in drugs related gangs. A combination of credulity, disinformation and the activity of NGOs supported by Western security agencies has presented you with an entirely false picture. I am sorry to say that generally decent organisations like HRW and Amnesty have been particularly credulous.
I absolutely do not support the claim that the opposition achieved two thirds of the vote at the last election. It is an absurdity. There were one million people at Maduro’s closing rally and 50,000 people at the opposition closing rally. Many of the alleged voting tallies the opposition published were obviously fake. There simply is no groundswell of anti-government opinion here, below or above ground.
The bars in which I spend my evenings generally cater to the wealthier and are in the opposition heartlands of Altamira and Las Mercedes. People naturally assume a westerner is anti-Chavismo. The wealthy speak English so they are more or less the only people I can relax into conversation with. Talking to people in bars is my natural milieu. There is no domestic appetite for regime change and literally not one person has ever expressed enthusiasm for Machado. … continue
RT | February 23, 2026
Russia will continue to improve its military and technological capabilities, and the nuclear triad is an “unconditional priority” in this regard, President Vladimir Putin has said. […]
“The development of the nuclear triad, which guarantees Russia’s security and enables us to effectively ensure strategic deterrence and balance of power in the world, remains our unconditional priority,” he said.
The address came less than a month after the expiration of the New START Treaty – the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the US. The deal, signed in 2010, limited both sides to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads on 700 delivery systems and required regular on-site inspections.
Despite the expiration of the treaty, Moscow stressed that it has no intention of being “the first to take steps towards escalation” and increasing the number of warheads, on condition that the US takes the same approach.
The New START Treaty expired after the administration of US President Donald Trump signaled that it wants future nuclear arms control deals to include China – which has rejected the idea as “neither fair nor reasonable,” arguing that its arsenal is vastly inferior to that of Russia and the US. – Full article
RT | February 23, 2026
Kiev will never rescind its territorial claims on formerly Ukrainian regions lost to Russia and is set on seizing them back in the future, Vladimir Zelensky has stated, once again ruling out withdrawing from Donbass.
In an interview with the BBC published on Monday, Zelensky reiterated his refusal to withdraw from the areas of Donbass still under Ukrainian control, claiming such a move would only “divide” the country’s society.
A withdrawal has been one of the key Russian demands and the main issue of the ongoing US-mediated talks between Moscow and Kiev. Moreover, the Ukrainian leader said the country remains set on getting back all the territories it has lost to Russia.
“We’ll do it. That is absolutely clear. It is only a matter of time,” he stated.
Zelensky admitted that Ukraine is currently unable to accomplish this because it lacks both sufficient funds and troops.
“To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people – millions of people – because the [Russian] army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps,” he said. “And we also don’t have enough weapons. That depends not just on us, but on our partners.” … continue
Sputnik – 23.02.2026
Hungary blocked the 20th package of anti-Russia sanctions, as well as the 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan to Ukraine, due to Kiev’s shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.
“At today’s meeting, I made it clear that we do not support the 20th package of sanctions and do not give permission for this. And I made it clear that we would not agree to Ukraine receiving a military loan of 90 billion euros. Because the Ukrainians cannot blackmail us, they cannot jeopardize the security of Hungary’s energy supply by conspiring with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition,” Szijjarto told reporters, following a meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers.
Hungary considers Ukraine’s suspension of Russian oil transit through Druzhba as encroachment on its sovereignty, Szijjarto concluded.
The termination of Russian oil supplies via Druzhba pipeline was the result of collusion between Kiev and Brussels, Szijjarto said.
“It turned out to be a shocking fact that Ukraine is really colluding with Brussels, really colluding with the European Commission headed by von der Leyen in terms of blocking the supply of [Russian] oil [via Druzhba pipeline]. It was finally revealed and proven today,” Szijjarto told reporters, following a meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers. … continue
Manfred Weber, a vocal critic of any EU state that pushes back against a more powerful Brussels, has openly embraced Orbán’s opponent in Budapest
Remix News | February 23, 2026
German politician Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), spoke on ZDF about a common European army, saying, among other things, that the European Union must “draw conclusions from its own experiences, including in military matters.”
Weber spoke about the danger to the EU establishment posed by the presidential elections in France and the parliamentary elections in Poland, both to be held in 2027. Weber is concerned that there is a high probability of victory for forces that do not support the continuation of the EU’s centralization; forces that instead advocate for a Europe of sovereign nations. He said that EU must have the strength necessary, even by way of a common military, to presumably counter such possible outcomes.
Specifically mentioning Poland’s Law & Justice (PiS) leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, and France’s National Rally (RN) leader, Jordan Bardella, he said: “I hope that we now have the strength… to create a Europe that cannot be destroyed and that will weather the storms of the world order together… Now we need the same approach on the military front. We must prepare for scenarios in which Bardella becomes president of France and Kaczyński returns to power in Poland.” … continue
NATO must revert to its 1997 borders to secure lasting peace in Ukraine, while European leaders pursue de-escalation and respect the alliance’s pledge against eastward expansion “one inch” toward Russia, Armando Mema, member of the Finnish national-conservative party Freedom Alliance, said on Monday.
“In order to achieve a lasting Peace in Ukraine and Europe, NATO must return to 1997 borders … The EU leaders must work in the coming years for a de-escalation, respect NATO historical promises of not expanding to one inch toward Russia,” Mema said on X.
NATO’s “disastrous policies of enlargement” will exact a heavy toll on Europeans, as well as Europe’s rapid rearmament and its “disastrous policies in Ukraine” send dangerous signals for the future, the politician said.
“Finland and Sweden should be among first countries to exit NATO as soon as possible,” he added.
In recent years, Russia has raised concerns about unprecedented NATO buildup along its western borders. The Kremlin argues that Russia poses no threat to anyone, but will not ignore actions potentially dangerous to its interests. In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had no intention of attacking NATO allies and accused Western politicians of scaremongering.
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