It took US lawmakers eight attempts to push through a largely symbolic resolution that is doomed to fail
RT | May 19, 2026
The US Senate has advanced a resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran without congressional approval or a debate on the rationale, cost, strategy, and clear end goal.
The chamber voted 50-47 on Tuesday to take up the war powers resolution, which would require Trump to end US hostilities against Iran, marking the first time either chamber has moved such a measure forward since the conflict began in February.
Four Republicans – Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – joined almost all Senate Democrats in supporting the eighth attempt to advance such a measure. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against it, while three Republicans did not vote. Cassidy, who had previously opposed the effort, switched sides after losing a primary race in which Trump had endorsed his opponent.
The measure is highly unlikely to pass, as it still faces a final Senate vote, major obstacles in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and an almost certain veto by Trump if it reaches his desk.
Even so, Democrats have cast the vote as politically significant, arguing that it forces Republicans to go on record over an increasingly unpopular and costly conflict. … Full article
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 19, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The court rejected the case without comment, upholding a 2025 federal appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021 by Health Freedom Defense Fund and LAUSD employees with California Educators for Medical Freedom, alleged LAUSD’s vaccine mandate violated their fundamental rights to reject medical treatment.
The mandate resulted in more than 1,000 employees losing their jobs.
In July 2025, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier dismissal of the lawsuit, ruling that it was reasonable for LAUSD to think the vaccines protected public health, based on comments by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health authorities.
Τhe 9th Circuit also found that LAUSD had a right to mandate the COVID-19 shots, even if the vaccines didn’t provide immunity or prevent transmission.
Michael Kane, director of advocacy for Children’s Health Defense, called the Supreme Court’s decision “surprising,” and said the lower court’s ruling creates a potentially dangerous precedent for unvaccinated employees in any industry.
“It is so incredibly scary what this precedent now is,” Kane said. “It’s a really bad blow to fired unvaccinated workers and to our liberties in general.” … Full article
By Freddie Ponton | 21st Century Wire | May 19, 2026
In March 2026, an investigation in Haaretz argued that West Germany may have “secretly financed” much of Israel’s Dimona nuclear project through off‑the‑books loans worth roughly 2 billion Deutschmarks, funneled under the cover of “Negev development.” Historical clues indicate that Germany secretly funded Israel’s nuclear program and raise the questions about how much Dimona cost, who really paid for it, and what that says about Germany’s postwar “moral responsibility”.
This article picks up where that story stops. It goes back to Bundestag files, development‑bank records and declassified intelligence histories to show, in considerably sharper detail, how Bonn built a secret credit machine for Israel, who ran it, and how it locked Germany into a nuclear order it still refuses to name.
Germany did not just look away while Israel built the bomb. It helped pay for it, hid the money off the books, and then spent decades pretending that nothing of the sort had ever happened. Today, the same state that secretly bankrolled Dimona presents itself as a guardian of non‑proliferation and lectures Iran on the dangers of nuclear ambiguity. … continue
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic rejected Israel’s proposed ambassador to Zagreb over the policies of the current Israeli government and what he described as a breach of diplomatic protocol, according to statements released on 19 May by the Croatian presidency.
“The proposed Ambassador of the State of Israel has not received, nor will he receive, the consent of the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović,” the president’s office said in a statement.
The Croatian presidency said it had previously avoided public comment on ambassadorial nominations in line with diplomatic practice. It accused Israel of violating an “unwritten rule” by publicly announcing the nominee before receiving formal approval from Zagreb.
“In light of this action by the Israeli side,” the office said, the president confirmed the nominee would not be approved, linking his decision to the “policies pursued by the current Israeli authorities.”
Israeli media identified the nominee as Nissan Amdur, who was appointed to replace outgoing ambassador Gary Koren, and is now expected to arrive in Croatia as chargé d’affaires, a diplomatic posting that does not require presidential approval. […]
Milanovic, who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, saying that “there is not cooperation with Israel as far as the Croatian Army is concerned,” adding that Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to “a brutal policy” and “horrific, unprecedented disregard for humanitarian law and humanity.”
The Croatian president also defended the decision as a sovereign prerogative of his office, saying that “granting or withholding of consent for proposed ambassadors is a sovereign right” of the presidency.
The reports said it is the first time a Croatian president has refused approval for an ambassadorial appointment.
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Italian authorities are holding three shipments suspected of carrying military-grade steel from India to Israel after activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and No Harbour for Genocide (NHB) exposed their contents, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 18 May.
According to the activists, the shipments amount to roughly 806 tonnes of military-grade steel and could be used to manufacture up to 17,458 artillery shells for the Israeli army.
They said the cargo originated from R L Steels & Energy Limited in Aurangabad and was destined for IMI Systems, now known as Elbit Systems Land, in Ramat Hasharon.
Three consignments transported by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are being held in Gioia Tauro and Cagliari, while another three were reportedly rerouted toward Sri Lanka after activists began tracking the vessels. … continue
Press TV – May 19, 2026
The Israeli army received about 2,500 complaints related to sexual assault and harassment within its ranks in 2025, amid a deepening moral crisis among the occupying regime’s forces.
According to data presented to an Israeli parliamentary committee on Tuesday, the army’s Yahalom unit received 2,420 reports of sexual assault within the military during 2025, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. [..]
Reports of sexual assault within the Israeli army have steadily increased over the years, rising from 668 complaints in 2014 to 2,092 in 2024.
The way Israel handles sexual harassment and assault complaints inside the army has drawn criticism, particularly due to the relatively low number of indictments compared with the total number of complaints filed.
The developments come as Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers use gender-based violence, including sexual assault and harassment, to force Palestinians from their homes in the besieged Gaza Strip and across the occupied West Bank.
Suicidal tendencies have also risen among Israeli soldiers amid the US-backed war on Gaza and the ongoing aggression in Lebanon. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
WEST BANK – Extremist Jewish settlers set fire to a wheat field and attacked Palestinian farmers in an attempt to steal their harvest in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that settlers burned parts of a wheat field in the village of al‑Sawiya, Nablus governorate, before locals and civil defense crews managed to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading.
Other witnesses reported that settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers in the eastern area of Idhna town, al-Khalil governorate, as they transported their wheat harvest.
One armed settler stopped a Palestinian vehicle loaded with wheat and tried to seize it, sparking tension in the area.
On Monday, settlers burned 500 dunums of farmland in the village of al‑Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah, under military protection.
IMEMC | May 18, 2026
Israeli occupation forces delivered demolition and stop‑work orders on Monday targeting 15 Palestinian homes, including inhabited structures, in the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, in a continued effort to restrict Palestinian construction while expanding nearby illegal colonies.
Occupation troops invaded the al‑Halqoum neighborhood on the western side of the town and handed residents military notices ordering the demolition or immediate halt of construction.
The orders give homeowners one week to comply, despite several of the homes having been previously targeted with similar notices.
Tuqu’ has faced repeated invasions and demolition threats in recent years as Israeli authorities intensify measures aimed at preventing Palestinian development while enabling the growth of surrounding illegal colonies and outposts.
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has ordered the forced displacement of occupied Jerusalem’s Khan al-Ahmar in response to reports that he may be targeted by an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, along with other officials.
Smotrich also vowed to impose “war” on the Palestinian Authority (PA), while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, reportedly also a target for a potential ICC warrant, has lashed out at the court as well and vowed to continue escalating against Palestinians.
In response to the new reports about the warrants, Smotrich signed an order on 19 May for the displacement of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin community east of occupied Jerusalem whose strategic location is considered critical to the territorial continuity and viability of a future Palestinian state.
“Issuing international arrest warrants against the prime minister, the defense minister, and the finance minister is a declaration of war. The Palestinian Authority is the one that started the war, and therefore it will get war. I promise all our enemies. This is just the beginning,” Smotrich said on X.
For decades, the Jahalin Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar has faced persistent targeting and forced displacement threats by Israel, which seeks to demolish the entire village under the pretext of lacking building permits.
Israeli policies have hindered the community’s daily life by denying them access to electricity and water, repeatedly destroying infrastructure, and confiscating solar panels.
Located along a critical highway corridor in the West Bank’s E1 zone, the area is viewed as vital to a future Palestinian state. Israeli efforts to erase it are intended to connect Israeli settlements like Maale Adumim to occupied Jerusalem.
A day before Smotrich’s threats, Ben Gvir took to social media to slam the Hague and vow to accelerate the forced displacement of Palestinians and torture of prisoners. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
GAZA – Two Palestinian fishermen were injured by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, amid ceasefire violations persisting for the 222nd consecutive day.
According to media sources, two fishermen from the al‑Najjar family were injured in the morning when an Israeli gunboat opened fire at them as they were working near the coast of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes struck the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, bombing the tent camp for displaced families just hours after ordering residents to evacuate over the phone.
Another airstrike targeted al‑Tina street of Khan Yunis, while Israeli forces detonated several buildings in the eastern areas of the city.
A warplane also bombed the al‑Faluja area of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
Six people were killed and three others were wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon Tuesday, marking the latest breach of the ceasefire agreement, Lebanese media reported.
According to state news agency NNA, four civilians were killed and two others injured when Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the al‑Mahfara neighborhood of Kfarsir, Nabatieh district.
Earlier, a drone strike targeted a vehicle near the Harouf municipality building, killing one civilian and injuring a council member as they were going to distribute bread to local residents.
Another drone targeted a motorcycle in Froun, Bint Jbeil district, killing one person.
Further strikes that targeted other areas of southern Lebanon were reported last night and on Tuesday.
Press TV – May 19, 2026
The Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance movement has warned the Amman government against ongoing reconnaissance missions launched by the United States and Israel from Jordanian soil against Iraqi resistance fighters, particularly the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
“In the wake of unfolding developments across the region and US-Israeli actions against Iraq’s security and stability, the enemies are aggressively seeking to escalate tensions against the (Iraqi) resistance front and the PMU,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, the security chief of the group, said in a statement on Monday evening.
He warned that the patience of heroic resistance fighters in the face of blatant Israeli violations of ceasefire agreements and recurrent acts of aggression against Iraq’s national sovereignty is about to run out.
Assaf noted that the bulk of US and Israeli surveillance missions are being launched from Jordan, warning that this serves as a prelude for attacks against Iraq.
The Jordanian government, therefore, is strongly advised to take lessons from missile and drone operations conducted in retaliation for the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, as “patience is starting to run out,” the senior Kata’ib Hezbollah official emphasized. … continue
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Yemeni armed forces have intercepted and shot down a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it was flying in the skies over the northwestern oil-rich province of Ma’rib.
Local sources reported that powerful explosions rattled the provincial capital city of Ma’rib on Monday as Yemeni air defense units targeted the intruding surveillance aircraft over the nearby Ma’rib al-Wadi district.
The sources added that the US reconnaissance drone was struck with an anti-aircraft missile launched from the Sirwah district.
Images shared on social media platforms showed the wreckage of the drone strewn across a desert area east of Ma’rib al-Wadi district.
Among the debris was the fuel system of the unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as its reconnaissance equipment.
The downed drone was apparently armed with two AGM-114R9X air-to-ground precision strike and semi-active laser (SAL) guided missiles.
Press TV – May 18, 2026
A newly-released Congressional report says the American military lost at least 42 aircraft during 40 days of the US–Israeli war of aggression against Iran, with estimated costs already reaching billions of dollars.
The report, prepared for Congress using information from the Pentagon, United States Central Command, and defence media outlets, estimated the total cost of the aircraft losses at approximately $2.6 billion.
US lawmakers, however, warn that the real figure could be significantly higher, saying it remains “unclear” whether the Pentagon has fully accounted for all combat losses during the war against Iran. […]
Questioning Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jules Hurst, US Democratic Congressman Ed Case referred to an earlier report by the defence outlet The War Zone and asked whether the Pentagon had calculated the full replacement cost of the destroyed aircraft.
Hurst declined to confirm the losses publicly, saying the Pentagon still needed to conduct a “full diagnosis” before estimating repair and replacement costs.
The War Zone report cited by Case said that the United States Air Force carried out nearly 13,000 flights during the 40-day war with Iran.
The congressional report now says that actual long-term costs could rise far beyond current estimates.
According to the assessment, replacing some of the destroyed aircraft could require restarting production lines for systems that are no longer manufactured.
It noted that the destruction of an E-3 Sentry could force the Pentagon to revive the cancelled E-7 Wedgetail replacement program at a cost exceeding $2.5 billion.
Analysts cited in the report estimated that total aircraft losses and replacement programs could eventually exceed $7 billion. … Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly rejected “baseless and selective accusations” leveled by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz against the Islamic Republic regarding a mysterious failed explosion incident near a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
In a post on X on Monday night, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baghaei sharply criticized Merz for invoking international law and regional security only when it suits Western political interests, while turning a blind eye to clear acts of aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities.
“Mr. Friedrich Merz, hypocrisy becomes evident when a clear attack by the United States and the Zionist regime on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is not only not condemned, but is effectively justified,” Baghaei wrote.
“Yet, regarding an incident that was a false flag operation by the enemies of peace and regional harmony — and even the UAE has not officially blamed Iran for it — suddenly the language of ‘international law’ and ‘regional security’ is invoked,” he added.
The spokesperson stated that any genuine concern for the safety of nuclear sites and the people of the region must be applied equally and without double standards.
“If an attack on nuclear facilities is considered a threat to the people of the region, this principle must apply equally to all countries, not only when it serves Western political interests,” Baghaei stated. … Full article
Press TV – May 19, 2026
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says that a resumption of the US‑Israeli war on Iran is unlikely given the widespread global opposition and lack of public support in the United States for another war in West Asia.
In an interview with Geo News’ “Capital Talk” program on Monday, Asif said Israel strongly desires the war to restart and be fought by America on its side, but “my hunch says that this war will not happen again.” … continue
RT | May 19, 2026
The EU will turn to a long-term strategy involving cow dung to stave off a looming fertilizer shortage, rather than supporting farmers with immediate measures like suspending tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports, Politico wrote on Monday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles an estimated one third of the global fertilizer trade, and a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) – a commodity important in the production of nitrate fertilizers. The key waterway was blocked during planting season in the Northern Hemisphere, with analysts warning of a potential global shortage of crucial crop nutrients and a delayed world-wide food shock.
As the EU had already secured fertilizer supplies this crop season, any knock-on effect for the bloc’s farmers and consumers is likely to be delayed, Politico wrote.
However, some EU officials have reportedly warned that a long-term strategy relying on cow dung would not be enough.
“Manure can be a contribution, but it can never substitute the urea-based, the nitrogen-based fertilizers,” Politico cited Italian MEP and AGRI Committee member Herbert Dorfmann as saying. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 19, 2026
China reaffirmed its support for Cuba on Tuesday, condemning US sanctions and calling on Washington to end coercive measures against the island nation, Global Times reported.
Speaking during a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions that are not authorized under international law and expressed support for Cuba’s efforts to protect its sovereignty and national security.
“China has consistently opposed illegal unilateral sanctions lacking basis in international law,” Lin stated, while urging the United States to “immediately end its blockade against Cuba and all forms of coercion and pressure.”
He further accused Washington of undermining the Cuban people’s rights to development and basic living conditions. … continue
RT | May 19, 2026
NATO should strike Russia’s Kaliningrad to make a point to Moscow, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has said.
Kaliningrad Region is a Russian exclave of over a million people, which sits on the Baltic Sea coast and borders NATO member-states Lithuania to the north and Poland to the south.
In his interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Monday, Budrys insisted that the Europeans “need to turn our fear of the [Russian] threat into a sense of self-empowerment.”
“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate their small fortress that they have built in Kaliningrad,” he said.
The minister claimed that “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground in an emergency.” … Full article
RT | May 19, 2026
Estonia has shot down an alleged Ukrainian drone over its territory for the first time, the NATO and EU member state’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has said.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of incidents related to Ukrainian UAVs targeting northwestern Russia, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region. Some of the aircraft eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland.
Moscow has warned that if it turns out that the Baltic States and Finland “deliberately provide their airspace” to Kiev’s UAVs, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter. … continue
By Jacob G. Hornberger | FFF | May 18, 2026
To date, President Trump and the U.S. national-security branch of the federal government (i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA) have assassinated around 200 people in small boats on the high seas near South America. Such assassinations are quickly becoming a normalized part of American life, especially within the mainstream press. […]
Make no mistake about it: The Pentagon’s assassinations of those boat people constitutes murder, pure and simple. In its enforcement of US drug laws, the Pentagon has simply been operating as a police force, one that legally and constitutionally lacks the power to exercise deadly force to enforce the drug war. None of those 200 dead people were ever been convicted of a drug crime. None of them has ever even been charged with a drug crime. There were no grand-jury indictments of any of them. There were no warrants issued calling for their arrest. Every one of the victims was an innocent person, given our system of criminal justice that presumes people innocent of crimes until they are proven guilty in a court of law based on competent and relevant evidence.
Were any of those assassinated boat people American citizens? We don’t know. Some of them might well have been. We just don’t know because their bodies were left in the ocean where they were killed. But US officials don’t care whether they were Americans or not because the power of the executive branch and the national-security branch to assassinate people extends not just to foreigners but also to American citizens.
That’s what the Anwar al-Awlaki case was all about. He was an American citizen who was accused of engaging in terrorism, which is a federal criminal offense. The federal judiciary had the opportunity to stop the national-security branch from assassinating him, but refused to do so. The Pentagon ended up assassinating him. Again, he was an American. They can do the same to any American.
How is it possible to live in a free country in which the government wields the omnipotent power to kill people? It’s not possible. Any people who live under a regime that wields the omnipotent power of assassination are not living in a genuinely free society, no matter how much they convince themselves that they are. … Full article
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | May 18, 2026
The UK’s Online Safety Act has been in force for less than a year and it is again being used to censor political speech during an election.
TikTok blocked and then deleted a campaign video by Reform UK’s Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Zia Yusuf, after someone reported it under the OSA’s content reporting mechanism.
The video was about immigration policy and takes place during a period of campaigning for a by-election.
TikTok cited its “Hate Speech and Hateful Behavior” rules. The law that gave the complainant the reporting tool and that gives TikTok every financial reason to comply without asking too many questions, is the Online Safety Act.
The OSA was sold to the British public as child protection. The actual legislation requires platforms to police all content against UK law, including broadly defined “hate speech” provisions.
Companies that fail to comply face fines of up to £18 million ($24m) or 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. For a platform the size of TikTok, that penalty could run into billions. The rational response to that kind of liability is to delete first and never think about it again. […]
TikTok did not say it independently concluded the video was hateful. Someone filed a report through the OSA’s mechanism and the platform treated that report as reason enough to act. There is no requirement that reports be made in good faith, no penalty for filing frivolous ones, and no transparency about who complained or why.
This is a system built for political abuse. If you want a political opponent’s video deleted during an election, you file a report. The platform, facing enormous financial penalties for under-enforcement, does the rest. … Full article
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | May 18, 2026
X has agreed to process the vast majority of content flagged as illegal “hate” under the UK’s Online Safety Act within 48 hours, giving Ofcom, Britain’s speech regulator, a significant new enforcement win. […]
X’s agreement also includes the dedicated UK illegal content reporting tool, which is specifically designed for flagging content that violates Britain’s censorship law.
That tool creates a direct pipeline from whoever reports the content to X’s review queue, and from there to Ofcom’s auditing process. The 24-hour average and 48-hour backstop create a system where the pressure is always toward deletion. When you have to process 85% of flagged content within two days and a regulator is auditing your speed, the incentive is to delete first and reconsider never.
Every platform operating in the UK is watching this deal and calculating the cost of resistance versus compliance. The message from Ofcom is clear: agree to our terms, on our timeline, using our preferred partners as evidence sources, or face investigation, fines, and potential shutdown. – Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
The Lebanese health ministry has reported eight fatalities from the latest Israeli strikes against multiple locations south of Lebanon, marking a fresh flagrant violation of the ceasefire brokered just weeks earlier.
The Israeli military unleashed a wave of airstrikes across the region on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding 15 others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
The ministry’s Emergency Operations Center confirmed the toll from several Israeli terror attacks targeting residential areas and towns in southern Lebanon, in yet another blatant breach of the fragile US-brokered ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump on April 16.
Among the deadly assaults was an airstrike on the town of Tayr Falsay, which claimed at least three lives and injured eight others, three of them children.
Additional Israeli strikes pounded the Tyre district town of Tyre Debba, killing two civilians, including a child, and wounding three others.
Three more people were killed in a separate Israeli attack against the town of Jouaiya in Tayr. … Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
The Israeli regime has launched the largest property seizure in al-Quds Old City since 1967 to expel Palestinians and expand Israeli settlements near al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli authorities approved a plan on Sunday to confiscate Palestinian homes and shops along Chain Street, locally known as Bab al-Silsila Road, in the Old City of occupied al-Quds.
The move marks the first such large-scale expropriation in the area since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
The decision confirms an order signed nearly 10 months ago by Israel’s so-called Minister of Heritage, which targets properties near the western side of the al-Aqsa Mosque complex and would lead to the expulsion of dozens of native Palestinians and shop owners.
Israeli Army Radio reported earlier this week that the road could soon become part of the so-called “Jewish Quarter.”
Israeli authorities described the move as part of efforts to strengthen Israel’s so-called “sovereignty” in the area.
The area sits only a few meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque and carries major religious, historical, and political significance for Palestinians.
The al-Quds Governorate described the plan as a “dangerous colonial escalation” that targets the heart of the Old City. … continue
MEMO | May 18, 2026
Two Palestinians were killed and four others wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, in the latest violation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement, medical sources said, Anadolu reports.
The sources said the body of a Palestinian man and two injured people arrived at Nasser Medical Complex, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after an Israeli strike near the Bani Suheila roundabout in the city.
Witnesses said an Israeli drone shelled a group of civilians near Bani Suheila, causing the casualties.
A Palestinian child also breathed his last from injuries sustained from a drone strike in Bani Suheila on Thursday.
Two young Palestinians were also injured, including one critically, in Israeli shelling of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. … Full article
The Cradle | May 18, 2026
Israeli naval forces raided and seized the latest Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters on 18 May after 54 vessels carrying activists, doctors, journalists, and humanitarian workers departed from Marmaris in Turkiye in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli warships surrounded the convoy roughly 250 nautical miles from Gaza and began boarding vessels in “another illegal high-seas interception in international waters.”
Israeli forces targeted the “non-violent civil society mission” whose participants were unarmed, detained activists, and deliberately destroyed cameras and filming equipment during the raid, according to the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG).
The committee said Israel was attempting to prevent documentation of the seizure and called for “immediate safe passage” for the legal humanitarian mission.
Turkiye condemned the raid and seizure as “an act of piracy,” while Israeli media, cited by several reports, said activists were transferred to a navy vessel before being taken toward Ashdod.
According to organizers, the flotilla included activists and supporters from around 70 countries.
Live broadcasts cited in the reports showed Israeli naval forces approaching and boarding vessels one after another in the Mediterranean Sea.
The raid followed an earlier Israeli operation near Crete that unfolded along similar lines, with forces seizing several flotilla vessels, brutalizing and detaining activists before transferring them to Israeli prisons.
The Global Sumud campaign said the latest operation reflects a broader effort to block both sea and land humanitarian routes into Gaza, including a separate overland convoy halted near Sirte in Libya. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 18, 2026
ROME – Italy witnessed a nationwide general strike on Monday, affecting transportation, education, and logistics sectors, following calls by labor unions protesting military rearmament programs, rejecting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and expressing solidarity with the “Global Sumud Flotilla” attempting to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The strike coincided with demonstrations in several Italian cities under the slogan “Stop Everything,” organized by labor unions and civil society groups to protest rising living costs, military policies, and increased spending on weapons at the expense of healthcare and education, while also demanding an end to what protesters described as the genocide against Palestinians and supporting the flotilla heading to Gaza.
In the capital, Rome, protesters gathered in one of the city’s main squares, carrying banners urging the Italian government not to continue what they called “complicity in crimes” alongside Israel.
Demonstrators also waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans, including “Free Palestine,” expressing outrage over the Israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla. … continue
MEMO | May 18, 2026
Large-scale shipments of weapons and ammunition were allegedly transported to Israel over the past 24 hours through US military bases in Germany using dozens of cargo aircraft, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s Channel 13 reported Monday that dozens of cargo planes arriving from Israel at US bases in Germany were reloaded with ammunition before returning to Israel shortly afterward. […]
On April 30, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that two cargo ships and several aircraft carrying 6,500 tons of ammunition and light armored vehicles from the US had arrived in Israel.
Media reports this week also claimed that the US and Israel have been making intensive preparations for possible strikes on Iran. – Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
A leading French opposition figure has denounced “European complicity” in the recent war of aggression waged by the US and Israel against Iran that ignited a wider conflict across the region.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the prominent figure of the left-wing to far-left La France Insoumise political party in France, and an expected contender in the 2027 French presidential election, made the remarks in a post on his X account on Monday.
He blamed Western capitals for sacrificing global peace for the sake of the colonial ambitions of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Trump and Netanyahu’s crude threats to destroy Iran are only possible thanks to European complicity,” he wrote.
Mélenchon added, “The world’s peace is reduced to the interests of Trump and Netanyahu’s colonialism.”
The politician also directly addressed French voters, urging them to use the upcoming election to end their country’s subordination to such “criminals.”
Mélenchon called on the electorate to put an end to “France’s alignment with these criminals” and to “break the leash” at the ballot box. … Full article
blueapples on X | May 18, 2026
Ahead of a monumental primary on Tuesday, May 19th, which will determine whether or not the dying embers of America’s democratic process will be completely extinguished by the pro-Israel lobby, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has introduced a bill into Congress that could deter future politicians actually willing to put America before Israel from suffering his same fate. On May 14th, Massie introduced the Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act (”AIPAC Act”) in an effort to finally force the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (”AIPAC”) to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (”FARA”). The proposed legislation is the apotheosis of a crusade fought by Massie that has opened the eyes of the American people to see how the pro-Israel lobby has taken control over the country’s electoral process. Yet, despite widespread public support to force AIPAC to register as a foreign agent under FARA, the pro-Israel lobby’s stranglehold over Congress stands as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle keeping Massie’s proposed legislation from turning that into a reality. … continue
By Jack Hunter | The Libertarian Institute | May 18, 2026
When Donald Trump ran for president in 2024, he promised, among other things, no more U.S. regime change wars, no more of America sending its citizens’ dollars to fund foreign nations, and that he and Elon Musk would drastically cut federal departments and overall spending, finally taking a hatchet to the country’s mounting debt.
In other words, the opposite of the last Republican president, George W. Bush.
It is 2026, the United States is stuck in a seemingly endless regime change war in Iran, America continues to funnel money to nations around the world (particularly Ukraine and Israel), Musk is long gone and any promises of spending cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are but a distant memory.
At this juncture, President Trump’s goal seems to be to become more George W. than George W.
Then there’s Thomas Massie, the libertarian-leaning Republican U.S. congressman from Kentucky’s 4th district, who was an avid supporter of Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. … continue
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man | Responsible Statecraft | May 18, 2026
Israel is officially entering election season, and with it comes the perennial and inescapable excitement among some progressives in the United States who are eager to see Israeli voters send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing.
That excitement, however, is an illusion. It is built on a belief, long clung to by American supporters of Israel, that Israel without Netanyahu would somehow become a liberal democracy that aligns more with their own values.
That illusion is based on a false view of Israeli policy in the decades before Netanyahu’s reign. It ignores the fact that the foundations of the current reality — the massive expansion of settlements, the entrenchment of the occupation and the repression of the Palestinian people — were a collective national project long before Netanyahu became their champion. Today, the cognitive dissonance that allows Americans to brush aside that same Israeli national consensus is reflected in the fantastical picture painted of Netanyahu’s would-be successors.
Take, for example, Naftali Bennett, the only Israeli politician who has managed to unseat Netanyahu in the past decade. In a blitz of Hebrew-language interviews in recent weeks, Bennett has laid out his political platform, looking to appeal to secular Israeli voters who seek political change. He vowed to legalize civil marriage and introduce public transportation on the Jewish sabbath — a strategy that may win a significant share of votes, but only represents a small slice of his worldview.
On the issues that have soured the American public against Israel — namely, its war on Gaza, which human rights organizations, genocide scholars and a U.N. Commission have called a genocide against Palestinians — Bennett doesn’t represent a change for the better. In fact, Bennett’s strategy is to outflank the current government from the right.
Unlike Netanyahu, who ultimately relented to international pressure and began letting food into Gaza in May 2025 to curb a famine of his own creation, Bennett stated that his future government “would not let hundreds of Hamas trucks to enter [Gaza] every day.” Like Netanyahu, Bennett has said that Gaza must remain under permanent Israeli control — even after the war. And although Bennett has been careful to claim that Israel does not target Palestinian civilians, he has regularly suggested that Palestinian civilians are legitimate targets, most recently asserting that 70% of Palestinians want to murder all Israelis. Even back in 2018, Bennett explicitly advocated shooting Palestinian children attending protests in Gaza, stating, “They are not children — they are terrorists.”
In Bennett’s telling, it is the personas of hard-right cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir — not the policies of the Israeli government — that have led to growing international pressure. He is betting that a new government, by being more careful in its choice of words and presentation, would improve Israel’s ties with the U.S. and European states, even as the country executes the exact same policies of displacement and violent domination. He is not offering liberal democracy; he is offering a more efficient, quieter version of the same repression and expansionism. … Full article
RT | May 18, 2026
Andrey Yermak, formerly the chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, has been released from custody after posting bail worth approximately $3.2 million, one week after being charged in a major money laundering case.
Yermak was filmed leaving pre-trial detention on Monday morning accompanied by security guards, shortly after the High Anti-Corruption Court confirmed receipt of the full bail amount that had been set last Thursday. Some Ukrainian commentators interpreted the fact that the influential former aide spent the weekend behind bars as a sign of weakening political influence surrounding Zelensky’s inner circle.
Opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak claimed the necessary funds had been assembled by Friday evening, but delays in processing the transfer meant the payment was finalized only after business hours, forcing Yermak to remain in custody over the weekend.
The charges against Yermak, brought by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, are linked to a wider investigation into businessman Timur Mindich, often referred to in Ukrainian media as “Zelensky’s wallet.”
Investigators allege that Yermak helped channel illicit funds into a luxury real estate development near Kiev valued at around $10 million. Reports claim the project was jointly owned by Mindich, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, Yermak, and a fourth silent partner believed by some media outlets to be Zelensky himself. … Full article
Sputnik – 18.05.2026
The US would need to deploy 7,800 satellites costing $743 billion over 20 years to intercept a limited raid of 10 simultaneous missiles as part of a space-based layer of the proposed Golden Dome system, Sputnik found based on analysis of the system by the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The space-based interceptor layer represents the most expensive component of the Golden Dome system that CBO estimates would cost $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for two decades. This space layer alone accounts for 60% of the total expenditure and 70% of the $1 trillion in acquisition costs. This total estimate significantly exceeds the $185 billion figure cited by the director of the Office of Golden Dome for America for the system’s objective architecture over the next decade. … continue
RT | May 18, 2026
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has accused the US of fabricating a pretext for a potential invasion following an Axios report claiming that the island had acquired attack drones from Russia and Iran.
Rodriguez Parrilla described the Axios report as an attempt to concoct a “fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and, eventually, military aggression.” He added that Cuba “neither threatens nor desires war.”
“Certain media outlets are playing along, spreading slanderous claims and publishing insinuations leaked by the US government,” the minister said.
US President Donald Trump imposed an oil embargo on the Caribbean island in February, prompting blackouts and fuel shortages, and has repeatedly threatened military action. Earlier this month, he suggested that Cuba could become Washington’s next target after the conflict with Iran.
On Sunday, the US-based outlet cited classified intelligence reports alleging that Cuba had acquired more than 300 drones since 2023 and had discussed possible attacks on the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, American warships, and Key West Air Force Base in Florida. A senior US official told Axios that the White House views Cuba’s potential use of drones as “a growing threat.” … Full article
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • May 16, 2026
President Donald Trump is back from his business trip to China which had a lot of ambiguity over issues like Taiwan without having done either much discernible damage or benefit to American interests. The trip ended with the American participants dropping all the gifts that they had received from the Chinese into a large garbage bin on the tarmac before they boarded their plane. And while the president was gone Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to everyone’s surprised announced that he was canceling plans to deploy an additional 4,000 Texas-based US soldiers to Poland for a long-planned nine month rotation that includes training with NATO allies. The assignment was also originally intended to serve as a possible resource should the situation with Russia-Ukraine happen to spill over into adjacent NATO countries. The troops were already moving to establish themselves and their equipment in their new Polish bases when the surprise cancelation order was issued, possibly as a follow-up to Trump’s threats against NATO for failure to support the US war against Iran.
As the situation in Eastern Europe stands, Russia has warned that an increasing level of NATO involvement in the conflict through its provision of weapons, intelligence and even some boots on the ground is already crossing several red lines which might quite plausibly be regarded as acts of war. … continue
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said that any possible agreement with the US must ensure an end to the war on all fronts and lift the naval blockade and sanctions imposed against the country.
Gharibabadi laid out Iran’s conditions for an agreement with the United States to end the war as he briefed members of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Monday, according to Ebrahim Rezae, the committee’s spokesman.
Rezaei said the deputy foreign minister updated lawmakers on the ongoing indirect negotiations between Iran and the US and the proposals exchanged between the two sides through Pakistan.
“Gharibabadi emphasizes that in any possible agreement, [it must be stipulated that] the war must end on all fronts, including Lebanon, US forces must withdraw from the region surrounding Iran, the naval blockade must be lifted, sanctions must be cancelled, and Iranian assets must be released,” the spokesman said. … continue
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
Tehran has signaled that, under Iran’s sovereign rights over its territorial seabed, the country could regulate optical fiber cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz through permits, oversight mechanisms, and transit fees, highlighting the strategic importance of the waterway in global communications and finance, Iran’s Fars News Agency has reported.
Iran could require sovereign permits, impose oversight measures, and levy fees on subsea communications infrastructure passing through the strategic waterway, as per the report.
The report underscores the growing geopolitical importance of undersea digital networks alongside the strait’s longstanding role in global energy transit.
Fiber-optic cables routed through the Strait of Hormuz facilitate more than $10tn in daily financial transactions worldwide, the news agency reported, citing a report by the UK-based Policy Exchange research center. The corridor reportedly serves as a critical link connecting Gulf states, Asia, and Europe through high-capacity telecommunications systems. … continue
The Cradle | May 18, 2026
Two months after US President Donald Trump announced a $40-billion scheme to provide insurance for vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, not a single dollar of coverage has been provided, the Financial Times (FT) reported on 18 May.
In March, Trump said the US would provide insurance “at a very reasonable price” to ships seeking to navigate the strategic waterway after it was effectively shut after the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Amid the fighting, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it would attack ships linked to the US and Israel, while maritime insurers in London raised insurance rates drastically or canceled coverage altogether.
As oil prices skyrocketed, Washington recruited insurers Chubb and AIG to help provide cover for ships, while promising escorts from the US Navy in a bid to allow traffic through Hormuz to resume.
“But the up to $40bn program has not yet been used at all, two people familiar with its operations said, even as insurance rates have been stuck at multiples of their prewar levels,” FT wrote.
According to insurance brokers speaking with the British newspaper, Trump’s scheme failed because it could not meet all the requirements for ships transiting the strait and depended on the US Navy providing ongoing military escorts, which it was unable to do. […]
Chinese ships and vessels belonging to other nations, which have coordinated with Iran, including France and India, have crossed throughout the war and the so-called ceasefire period. – Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
In a statement published on Monday, the IRGC said its forces prevented an operation by armed groups based in northern Iraq that were attempting to transfer a “large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran via Kurdistan province.
The IRGC said the shipment was confiscated and contained significant quantities of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies, adding that any actions threatening Iran’s security would be met with a “decisive and strong response.”
Intelligence operation in West Azerbaijan
In a related statement, IRGC intelligence forces in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province said they had also identified and confiscated a large shipment of security-disrupting materials during an attempted transfer near the border city of Urmia.
According to the statement, the shipment included explosives, ammunition, and improvised explosive devices, which the groups allegedly intended to transport deeper into Iran to “destabilize security and create chaos.”
The IRGC also referred to past statements by US President Donald Trump, who had previously spoken about arming groups near Iran’s northwestern borders. … Full article
RT | May 18, 2026
Tehran will take the US and Israel to court over attacks on Iranian cultural sites, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, has said. […]
Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X on Sunday that at least 149 historical landmarks and museums in 20 Iranian provinces, including five UNESCO-registered sites, have been damaged by the US and Israeli bombardment.
The authorities in Tehran “will register, document, and pursue this assault on its cultural heritage within the framework of international responsibility; for it will allow no power to sacrifice the history of the great Iranian nation to its military and political objectives of today,” he wrote.
Cultural sites must be protected during conflicts in line with the 1954 Hague Convention and the fundamental rules of humanitarian law, the diplomat added.
“Iran’s cultural heritage is not merely a national asset of the Iranian people; it is part of humanity’s shared memory,” Gharibabadi said.
The Persian civilization, centered in modern-day Iran, is one of the world’s most historically influential and oldest cultures, stemming from the Achaemenid Empire founded in 550 BC.
The attacks on historic landmarks by Washington and West Jerusalem constitute “a clear manifestation of the lawless behavior of the American regime and the Zionist regime,” the deputy minister insisted. … Full article
By Trita Parsi | May 17, 2026
The Middle East is once again teetering on the brink as Trump appears poised to reignite war with Iran. Press reports indicate he will convene military advisers on Tuesday, though my understanding is that both the meeting and the decision are likely to come sooner. Over the past several hours, Trump has flooded Truth Social with a barrage of incendiary threats. While some of this may be theatrical brinkmanship designed to force Tehran into submission, sources in the Iranian capital tell me they expect the United States to resume hostilities within the next 48 hours. … continue
By Anthony Watts | Climate Realism | May 12, 2026
The Guardian claims in “‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds” that New Orleans has effectively entered a “terminal condition” and must begin an organized population retreat because sea-level rise will surround the city within decades. This is false. The article relies on speculative climate modeling, paleoclimate analogies, and worst-case sea-level projections that are nowhere near what actual tide gauge measurements of sea level show today.
The story warns that southern Louisiana faces “3–7 meters of sea-level rise” and shoreline retreat of up to 100 kilometers inland. That claim is extrapolated from comparisons to a warm period 125,000 years ago when ice sheets were in a very different configuration, not based on observed current data trends. The result of computer model simulations of ancient paleoclimate conditions has no bearing on the present, nor is it in-line with actual sea-level trends.
Measured sea-level rise along the Gulf Coast is well documented by long-running tide gauges operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The observed rate in the region is on the order of millimeters per year, not meters per decade as seen in the sea level trend graphic from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration … continue
By Paul Homewood | Not A Lot Of People Know That | May 15, 2026
I think we can all see where this is going! … continue
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
A senior commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Wael Abdel Halim, and his daughter were killed overnight in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential apartment on the outskirts of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the Bekaa Valley reported that Israeli occupation aircraft struck the apartment in the al-Basateen neighborhood shortly after midnight using a guided missile, killing martyr Abdel Halim and his daughter and injuring several others.
Rescue and emergency crews continued operations at the site following the attack, working to remove rubble and search for survivors beneath the destroyed building.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli occupation forces continued their aerial and artillery attacks on several areas. … Full article
IMEMC | May 17, 2026
Israeli occupation forces shot and injured a 14‑year‑old Palestinian child on Sunday evening during a military invasion of Silwad, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank’s central region.
Raed Hamed, head of the Silwad Municipality, reported that the child was struck with live ammunition in the leg after illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers attacked the Tal al‑‘Asour area overlooking the town.
According to Hamed, the colonizers — some driving four‑wheelers — invaded Palestinian lands, chased residents, and assaulted several Palestinians in the area.
Residents mobilized to repel the colonizer incursion before Israeli occupation forces invaded the area simultaneously and opened fire at the civilians confronting the attack.
Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) rushed to the town, treated the child at the scene, and transported him to a hospital in Ramallah.
The assault on Tal al‑‘Asour is part of a sustained pattern in which armed colonizers, operating under the protection of Israeli forces, intensify their presence on strategic hilltops surrounding Silwad.
Over recent months, colonizer groups have repeatedly attempted to seize or establish outposts in the area, with Israeli forces routinely intervening to suppress Palestinian residents resisting these encroachments.
Also on Sunday, Israeli occupation forces carried out a series of invasions across the occupied West Bank, deploying troops, breaking into homes, conducting field interrogations, and abducting several Palestinians in multiple districts.
Press TV – May 17, 2026
Israeli settlers’ continuous attacks have forced Palestinian residents to abandon a farming village in the occupied northern West Bank.
Media reports on Sunday cited Yanoun residents as saying the repeated attacks and harassment by Israeli settlers forced them to abandon their land.
The village, located 12 kilometers southeast of Nablus, which housed more than 200 residents, is now largely empty, with Israeli settlers having taken control of more than 16 square kilometers of surrounding farmland.
Rashid Murrar, a Yanoun farmer, said the Israeli settlers set up outposts near his village, blocking the roads, stopping much-needed supplies from reaching the city.
“I would plant my fields, only to watch settlers let their livestock graze on and destroy my crops,” Murrar complained.
The Israeli settlers have installed gates on the road, blocking Palestinian residents from returning. They regularly beat up the residents who manage to enter the area. … Full article
IMEMC | May 17, 2026
Israeli occupation forces shot and injured a Palestinian youth late Saturday during an invasion of the Al‑Mahjar neighborhood in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank’s northwestern part.
Local sources said a large Israeli force stormed the area, firing heavy live ammunition and illumination rounds.
Medical sources said a young man was shot in the shoulder and thigh and was transferred by Palestinian Red Crescent Society medics to the hospital. … Full article
Press TV – May 17, 2026
UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese has stated that Israel systematically uses torture against Palestinian detainees in its detention centers and against the wider Palestinian population across the occupied territories.
In a report prepared for the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese said on Saturday that torture is not confined to prisons or interrogation rooms.
The report emphasizes that Palestinians are also subjected to torture through mass displacement, sieges, restrictions on humanitarian aid and food, military violence, and attacks by Israeli forces.
It further argues that the systematic torture of an entire population can serve both as a means of domination and as evidence of genocidal intent under the Genocide Convention.
The report states that Israeli authorities have deliberately created an environment designed to break Palestinian resistance, dignity, and determination across the occupied territories.
Titled “Torture and Genocide,” the report examines the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. It focuses on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians since 1967, with particular attention to the period since October 7, 2023, when the Tel Aviv regime launched its genocidal war against the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to the report, torture has long been a central element of Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians. … Full article
Press TV – May 17, 2026
Israeli authorities continue to block the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting thousands of Palestinian abductees held in the regime’s jails, despite Israel’s obligations under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, a report says.
In an editorial published on Sunday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel remains legally bound to allow ICRC representatives to visit Palestinian abductees, yet authorities continue to reject such access.
Israel justifies the ban by falsely accusing the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of previously denying similar visits to Israeli captives held in Gaza after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023.
Before Hamas released all the Israeli captives on October 13, 2024, it had repeatedly declared that it was willing to allow the ICRC to visit them.
However, the movement feared revealing the locations where the captives were being kept because Israel would deliberately strike these places, killing both the captives and Hamas fighters. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 17, 2026
Israel’s terrorist strikes have killed at least four more Palestinians as the Tel Aviv regime steps up its aggression against the people of Gaza.
Gaza health officials said on Sunday that an Israeli strike killed one Palestinian near a police post in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Separately, Gaza medics said another Israeli airstrike killed at least three people at a community kitchen near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza area. … Full article
Press TV – May 17, 2026
The New York Times has reported that an Iraqi farmer was likely killed by Israeli forces after stumbling on a secret Israeli military base in the Muslim country.
Media reports on Sunday cited a NYT investigation revealing the Israelis had set up a covert outpost in Iraq’s western desert during the US-Israeli war on Iran. The site was reportedly used by Israel to support air strikes and housed special forces units.
Awad al-Shammari, who was on his way on March 6, 2026, to buy grocery supplies, stumbled upon the Israeli military units and informed the local security forces that he had sighted suspicious activity in the Najaf-Karbala desert. […]
The NYT sources said the base discovered by al-Shammari had been known to Washington since at least June 2025, suggesting the US had withheld the information from the Iraqi government despite being a close ally.
Raed al-Maliki, an Iraqi lawmaker, slammed Washington for giving the zionist forces access to Iraqi airspace.
“The United States handed Iraqi airspace to the [Israeli] entity during the war and ordered radar systems to be shut down,” al-Maliki said, adding, “Now it has become clear that Iraqi territory was also used to establish a secret intelligence center or base for the Zionist entity.” – Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 17, 2026
A newly published report by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) has delivered a critical assessment of the United Arab Emirates’ role in African conflicts, describing Abu Dhabi as a systematic spoiler that arms proxy forces, manipulates diplomatic processes, and bears significant responsibility for some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, all while facing virtually no political consequences from its Western partners.
The report, authored by researchers at one of Europe’s most influential foreign and security policy think tanks, which directly advises the German government and Bundestag, calls on Berlin and its European partners to fundamentally reassess their relationship with the UAE. … continue
By Tamer Ajrami | MEMO | May 17, 2026
When military power fails to impose “deterrence,” oil becomes politics. And the Strait of Hormuz is now writing Gulf security rules instead of the Pentagon.
With Hormuz still closed and the emergency oil stock releases used to calm markets running down, prices are moving _ no matter how much some people deny it _ toward a new surge. The real problem is not the price as a number. It is the chain reaction: gasoline and diesel, shipping and insurance, raw materials, and then inflation that travels from Asia to the United States. And even if the strait opened tomorrow, the damage would not vanish. Supply chains do not reset overnight, and parts of the oil and petrochemicals flow would take time to recover.
In my previous Middle East Monitor article, I said clearly that Gulf states “have nothing but to talk to Iran now”. That was not idealism or goodwill. It was hard security math: the old formula is eroding. Bases do not protect the way people assumed, and guarantees shrink the moment they face a real test. Today, this is no longer an argument. It is a reality driven by markets before politics. … continue
Sputnik – 17.05.2026
Ukraine’s two main anti-corruption bodies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) – have “more than enough grounds to detain Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife,” a security source told Sputnik.
“A decision is currently being made on which criminal case to pursue first,” the source said.
The information is no secret to the head of the Ukrainian regime, who has already begun bargaining with Western partners and tightened his family’s security, the source added.
By Kit Klarenberg | Global Delinquents | May 17, 2026
On April 15th, Declassified UK published a bombshell investigation exposing how in the mid-1990s, senior British political and military officials were well-aware NATO expansion into Central and Eastern Europe “would provoke [the] Russians,” and likely trigger all-out war. Hitherto unreported Ministry of Defence files reveal London knew Moscow’s “sensitivities” over a “hostile military alliance” enlarging up to its borders were profound, and based on very “real” concerns. Yet, NATO’s dangerous crusade to absorb Central and Eastern Europe continued apace, ultimately producing the Ukraine proxy conflict.
Since the so-called Special Military Operation’s February 2022 eruption, British officials have relentlessly reiterated the mantra the proxy war was “unprovoked”. However, a declassified March 1995 Foreign Office memo noted “there was a widespread psychological and intellectual perception in Moscow that NATO was a real threat.” In May that year, then-Prime Minister John Major succinctly articulated Russian anxieties to his Irish counterpart John Bruton, as a “fundamental fear…of encirclement.” Concerns about EU membership were comparatively muted:
“For the Russians, NATO had a much more threatening symbolism and political resonance… The Baltics were particularly difficult, with extreme sensitivity for Russia. It would be very hard to have a NATO border directly against Russia.”
Still, in 1997 NATO invited Czechia, Hungary, and Poland to join, which they did two years later. In 2004, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania simultaneously joined the military alliance. So too did ex-Warsaw Pact members Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and former Yugoslav republic Slovenia. Declassified UK shows how back in August 1996, British Defence Intelligence prepared a NATO enlargement study specifically forecasting that these countries joining could trigger war, and an alliance military operation launched via Article 5 of the NATO treaty in response. … continue
Sputnik – 17.05.2026
The overnight mass terrorist attack carried out by Ukraine once again targeted exclusively peaceful civilians, apartment buildings, and private homes, stated Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“To the tunes of Eurovision songs, the Ukrainian regime has committed yet another mass terrorist attack using money from EU citizens,” underscored Zakharova.
She added that these terrorist acts — like those before them — are part of a long chain of crimes committed by Zelensky, his regime, and the “collective Western minority” that finances them.
In a single night, Russia’s air defense forces shot down 556 drones, about 130 of them in the Moscow region. Three people were killed during a drone attack on Khimki and Mytishchi in the Moscow region.
By Larry C. Johnson | SONAR21 | May 16, 2026
… President Xi dashed Donald Trump’s hopes that China would play a role in pressing Iran to end the war in a way that would benefit Trump. Xi said no.
I suspect that Xi did not tell Trump about the work that China and Russia are doing in collaboration — with the help of Pakistan — to erect a new security architecture in the region that will be led by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
I am told that the goal is to create the equivalent of a NATO for the countries of West Asia.
The upcoming week will provide a clue whether Russia and China are achieving significant progress towards this goal if Saudi Arabia and Qatar refuse to let the US conduct military operations from their countries against Iran. … Full article
By Alan Cassels | Brownstone Institute | May 17, 2026
In medicine, we love a good heroic story. A patient suffers a serious disease. A drug company produces a brilliant new drug which proves to be beneficial. Lives are saved. Everyone is happy. Another battle won in the war on disease. Science marches triumphantly forward.
But sometimes the real story is less heroic and far more awkward. And the major “advance” comes not from a new drug, but from the opposite: because patients stopped swallowing a drug that never should have been so widely used in the first place.
That is almost certainly the case of breast cancer in North America in the early 2000s.
The pivotal moment came in the summer of 2002 when a major randomized trial, called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was published, aiming to answer a question which physicians had long pondered: was long-term use of hormone replacement therapy, typically prescribed for women going through menopause, good for the heart?
Up to that point, hormone therapy had been marketed as a kind of fountain-of-youth elixir for menopausal women. Promising to protect the heart, keep bones strong, preserve youthfulness, and generally smooth out biological inconveniences of aging, women were prescribed these drugs and stayed on them for years, sometimes for decades. At that time, there was considerable debate about long-term effects, with some experts claiming the heart protective-effects of hormones were so pronounced that even studying the issue was a waste of time.
Launched in 1997, the WHI enrolled more than 16,000 post-menopausal women to test the effects of combined estrogen-progestin. Another arm tested the effects of estrogen alone in 10,000 women who had undergone a hysterectomy. The larger trial was terminated three years earlier than originally planned, once the findings showed an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke, and blood clots among participants. The smaller trial was also halted a year earlier than planned due to increased risk of stroke.
That was the day that the music died for hormone therapy.
Or at least we thought. … continue
RT | May 17, 2026
Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) will become the first American medical institution to open a clinic for adolescents seeking to reverse gender-related medical treatments, the US Department of Justice said.
The move comes as part of a settlement of a years-long probe by the DOJ and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into America’s largest children’s hospital over its alleged false billings to secure insurance coverage for pediatric gender-affirming treatments.
The Justice Department said in a statement on Friday that Texas Children’s agreed not to offer sex change services, inducing administration of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, to minors anymore.
The Houston-based center will also pay over $10 million in damages and “dedicate millions to the provision of medical care to children harmed by the provision of such procedures,” the statement read.
Paxton announced in a separate statement that the TCH will also dismiss five doctors, who according to him, “harmed patients by performing dangerous medical interventions for the purpose of ‘transitioning’ them.” … Full article
By Jeffrey A Tucker | Brownstone Institute | May 16, 2026
The grim circumstances behind the death of George Washington (1732-1799), America’s first president and popularly known as the Father of the Country, are not wholly unknown. The details have been reported by historians for more than two centuries.
What’s strange about this dry biographical knowledge is that it is not reported with shock and alarm and hence never conveyed to popular culture with lessons for our lives. This is because Washington’s physicians were following standard protocols when they bled him to death.
The facts: Washington came down with a throat infection. Three doctors, all convinced of the settled wisdom of the healing arts deployed since the Middle Ages, participated in draining blood from his body, to the point that they took 5 pints or fully half his blood, while giving him an enema on top of it all.
They literally drained the life out of him, not from malice but simply by following the established protocols as recommended by the best physicians at the time.
To invoke a popular phrase, where is the outrage? Nineteenth-century biographies reported the details but celebrated Washington for his bravery in enduring the treatment, then called phlebotomy, which was considered the best science. […]
What’s happening in medicine right now is a massive rethinking of many conventional practices coming out of the allopathic monopoly that is a century old. In pursuit of keeping an orthodoxy in place, how many healthy practices have been left behind from other traditions such as Chinese medicine, homeopathy, chiropathy, or naturopathy, all of which are discouraged by conventional insurance and disparaged by pharma-funded media? How many practices today called the Standard of Care will in a generation or two be regarded as obviously horrible as the practice of bleeding?
George Washington’s terrible fate ought to have sounded a national alarm to ring through our long history. The lesson should be never to replace epistemic humility in medicine with institutionalized dogma. That lesson did not stick because then and now, the prevailing medical wisdom gets a pass even when it kills people. Even the Father of the Country. – Read full article
An Essay on the Machinery That Decides What Counts as Knowing
Lies are Unbekoming | May 16, 2026
The 1992 Inversion
In November 1992, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper titled “Evidence-Based Medicine: A New Approach to Teaching the Practice of Medicine.”¹ The authors, the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group at McMaster University, led by Gordon Guyatt, announced a paradigm shift. The first paragraph named what was being replaced: “intuition, unsystematic clinical experience, and pathophysiologic rationale.”¹ The replacement was a hierarchy in which the randomised controlled trial sat at the top and clinical observation sat near the bottom.
The paper was not modest. It described its proposal in Kuhnian terms and predicted that the old approach — the physician’s accumulated judgement, the recognition of patterns across thousands of patients, the reasoning from mechanism and first principles — would be superseded.¹ Within a decade, the framework had been adopted across major medical journals, accreditation bodies, and clinical guideline organisations. In a 2007 BMJ poll of more than 11,000 readers asked to name the most important medical milestones since 1840, the sanitary revolution placed first, antibiotics second, anaesthesia third; evidence-based medicine appeared on the shortlist of fifteen.²
What was elevated to the top of the hierarchy was the one form of evidence pharmaceutical companies could afford to manufacture at scale. What was demoted to the bottom was everything they could not control. This was not the discovery of how medicine should be practised. It was the redefinition of what counted as knowing. The framework called itself evidence-based. What it actually was, was evidence-biased — a hierarchy in which what counted as evidence was determined, first, by who could afford to produce it.
The essay examines what that redefinition did, who it served, and the cost in lives. … continue
Press TV – May 17, 2026
A powerful blast shook the Beit Shemesh area west of occupied al-Quds on Saturday night, with Israeli media confirming loud explosions that sent tremors across the occupied territories and triggered panic among settlers.
The Israeli regime’s Tomer company, a key player in developing rocket and missile systems for the Israeli occupation forces, rushed to issue a statement claiming the detonation was nothing more than a “preplanned test” carried out “according to plan.”
The statement, relayed by Kan news, attempted to downplay the incident at one of the regime’s sensitive military sites.
Yet dramatic videos rapidly spreading across social media tell a different story. Footage shows a massive explosion producing a towering mushroom cloud that billowed high into the sky, visible from a considerable distance and resembling the aftermath of a major mishap at a weapons development facility.
The scale of the blast has raised serious questions about the true conditions inside Israel’s military-industrial complex, which has come under increasing strain as the Zionist entity continues its aggressive campaigns across the region.
Such facilities, responsible for producing propulsion systems for missiles and interceptors, operate under heavy secrecy precisely because of recurring safety concerns and the constant pressure from the Axis of Resistance.
The Israeli regime’s military and police maintained silence for some time before the carefully worded statement from Tomer was released.
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