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Wrong, ABC News, Climate Change Didn’t Cause 2025’s Severe Tornado Outbreak

By Linnea Lueken | ClimateREALISM | April 14, 2025

A recent story by ABC News, “Climate and environment updates: Tornado activity doubled March average: NOAA,” classifies recent severe tornado outbreaks under their “climate crisis” category, implying that these storms were caused by global warming. This is false. Climate change is not causing an increase in the number or severity of tornados, nor can it be connected to such a limited event.

ABC warns:

The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us.

According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. tornado activity in March was more than twice the monthly average, with over 200 tornadoes recorded.

Although ABC doesn’t explicitly state that this tornado season has been caused by climate change, the story strongly implies it, and as such it cannot be left unchallenged, because it is wrong.

The United States did experience a destructive and violent tornado season in March 2025, but it was not a record breaker in terms of numbers or strength, nor does it reflect a long-term trend that would be necessary to prove the climate connection.

The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) disagree strongly with ABC’s claims. They report that tornado records in the past are spotty, because they are very short lived and aren’t always reported, especially as one moves further back into the past. NCEI reports “[m]any significant tornadoes may not make it into the historical record since Tornado Alley was very sparsely populated during the 20th century.”

Doppler weather radar did not become widespread until the 1990s. Because of the low coverage of weather radar before then, and much higher coverage in recent years, NCEI explains that “observation practices have led to an increase in the number of reported weaker tornadoes, and in recent years EF-0 tornadoes have become more prevalent in the total number of reported tornadoes.”

NCEI continues:

With increased National Doppler radar coverage, increasing population, and greater attention to tornado reporting, there has been an increase in the number of tornado reports over the past several decades. This can create a misleading appearance of an increasing trend in tornado frequency. To better understand the variability and trend in tornado frequency in the United States, the total number of EF-1 and stronger, as well as strong to violent tornadoes (EF-3 to EF-5 category on the Enhanced Fujita scale) can be analyzed. These tornadoes would have likely been reported even during the decades before Doppler radar use became widespread and practices resulted in increasing tornado reports. The bar charts below indicate there has been little trend in the frequency of the stronger tornadoes over the past 55 years.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tornado count show no trend in the number of tornadoes since the introduction of widespread Doppler radar. (See figures below)

Figure 1: Trend of all tornadoes counted since 1950. Note that the trend stops increasing once the widespread coverage of Doppler weather radar is achieved in the 1990s. Red are preliminary estimates for this year.

When it comes to the strongest tornadoes, EF-3 and above, there appears to be a downwards trend. (see figure below)

Climate at a Glance: Tornadoes points out that as recently as 2017 through 2018, the United States set records for the longest period in history without a tornado death and the longest period in history without an F3 or stronger tornado. In fact, the two record-low years for number of tornadoes both occurred this past dozen years, in 2014 and 2018.

Moreover, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that “[t]here is low confidence in observed trends in small spatial-scale phenomena such as tornadoes.”

ABC’s alarming coverage of the 2025 tornado season is at odds with the data. There is no dangerous climate signal in the tornado data, there may even be evidence that the modest warming of the past century is related to the decline in severe tornado outbreaks in the United States. A single severe tornado season, or concentrated outbreak, is not evidence of catastrophic climate change, only a long-term sustained trend would suggest climate change might be a factor, and there is no such trend.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Science and Pseudo-Science | , | Leave a comment

How Might The US’ Relations With Ukraine & Russia Change If It Abandons Its Peace Efforts?

By Andrew Korybko | April 18, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the US might stop mediating an end to the Ukrainian Conflict if it concludes within “a matter of days” that no peace deal is doable. That coincided with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told them that “Putin had been fixated on Ukrainian land in their discussions. He said that Russia might get some of the regions, but not all.” This analysis here explained why it’s so important for Russia to obtain full control over the disputed lands.

If no breakthrough is achieved, such as the US coercing Ukraine into withdrawing from those regions or Russia agreeing to freeze this dimension of the conflict, then the US might indeed abandon its peace efforts. The question therefore arises of how that could change its relations with Ukraine and Russia. Beginning with the first, Trump and his team’s explicitly expressed exhaustion with this conflict bodes ill for the scenario of the US continuing military support for Ukraine, which would please Russia.

The Europeans would try to replace some of this lost aid in order to keep the conflict going in alignment with Zelensky’s vision, but they’d be unable to replace all of it and he might ultimately be forced into agreeing to worse terms than the US’ if Russia successfully expands its ground offensive. At the same time, however, the US might also suspend its talks with Russia on the strategic resource deals that were supposed to serve as the centerpiece of their planned “New Détente” as long as the conflict continues.

This balanced approach would be predicated on pressuring Ukraine and Russia into committing to compromises aimed at restoring the US-led peace talks since the first doesn’t want to lose territory in other regions while the second is interested in shaping the post-conflict era in partnership with the US. These evidently aren’t their top priorities, however, otherwise the land issue would have already been resolved one way or another and there wouldn’t be any talk of the US abandoning its peace efforts.

Other than the unlikely scenario of the US “escalating to de-escalate” on better terms for Ukraine, another comparatively more probable one exists but which is still less likely than the aforesaid, and that’s the US discontinuing military support for Ukraine but continuing resource talks with Russia. These negotiations are connected to Ukraine since the US is seeking privileged terms from Russia in exchange for coercing Kiev into Moscow’s demanded concessions but can still proceed even if that doesn’t occur.

The reason why this scenario is considered less likely than the balanced one described above is because some of the US’ sanctions that impede the clinching of resource deals with Russia can’t easily be lifted without first bringing about an end to the Ukrainian Conflict. Moreover, sanctions relief and the prospect of jointly shaping the post-conflict era are the only carrots that the US can dangle for incentivizing Russia to compromise on ending the conflict, which Trump wants it to do for solidifying his global legacy.

He’s therefore expected to at least temporarily suspend such talks with Russia for that reason in that scenario but might resume them if the conflict remains protracted with no clear diplomatic or military solution. That would make the most sense since he wouldn’t prematurely give up the only means that the US has for incentivizing Russia to compromise for peace but he also wouldn’t lose the objective economic and strategic benefits that a resource deal would bring.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , | 1 Comment

Trump Administration Targets $1.4B in Federal “Misinformation” Grants

NIH and State Dept. Order Crackdown on Speech-Policing Programs Funded Under Biden

By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | April 19, 2025

It started, as so many federal science fair projects do, with a grant and a vague idea. The University of California, Irvine secured a $683,000 pot of taxpayer gold to study how social media “misinformation” affects vaccine acceptance among black and latino communities. Their plan was to track the followers of so-called “vaccine-hesitant influencers” and feed the data into a visualization tool.

That grant is now dead. Not because it failed, but because the broader disinformation-industrial complex is starting to crack under the weight of its own contradictions.

The UC Irvine project was just one tile in a mosaic of more than 800 federally funded efforts, totaling over $1.4 billion since 2017. All of it was earmarked to combat misinformation, disinformation, and whatever the marketing department decided to call lies [and unapproved views] this week. More than 600 of these contracts were approved during the Biden administration, and it turns out people started noticing that the government was quietly inserting itself into the content moderation business.

Enter Donald J. Trump, stage right, with his first-day executive order accusing the federal government of turning buzzwords like “malinformation” into permission slips for clamping down on speech. The Department of Justice was assigned to dig through the records and figure out just how far the thought policing went.

The public got a good look after The Free Press decided to play matchmaker between obscure federal records and actual journalism. That triggered a glorious round of internal audits, panicked reviews, and in some cases, the rapid self-destruction of programs that suddenly couldn’t remember what they were for.

NIH: From Health Science to Thought Control

The National Institutes of Health got caught mid-sprint. In response to press inquiries, the NIH not only canceled the UC Irvine grant but also torched a $22.4 million payout to UnidosUS, a group whose mission had somehow morphed from Latino advocacy into online speech policing. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya hit the panic button, sending out an “URGENT” internal email ordering a review of all research touching the sacred trinity of mis-dis-mal information.

An NIH spokesperson said the agency is now “taking action to terminate research funding that is not aligned” with updated policy priorities. In plain English, they finally read the Constitution and realized they might be setting it on fire.

The State Department’s Digital Hall Monitor Gets Benched

Meanwhile, the State Department has been busy putting its own houseplants on leave. Secretary Marco Rubio, now running Foggy Bottom like it’s a Senate hearing, has suspended dozens of staffers from the Global Engagement Center. He says the agency crossed the line into censorship, which is a bold claim until you look at the receipts. The Center has spent years telling Americans what is or isn’t true, always with the urgency of a substitute teacher discovering TikTok.

The department has begun attaching “no-cost amendments” to existing grants. That’s bureaucrat-speak for telling award recipients to sign a bunch of legal paperwork and swear they aren’t doing anything unconstitutional. A little late for that, but sure.

The Pentagon: Same Game, New Label

At the Pentagon, they’ve decided that the problem is just a branding issue. So the term “disinformation” has been retired in favor of the more patriotic-sounding “countering adversary propaganda and information operations.” A senior Defense Department official explained that the shift brings the program into alignment with the new White House directive. Which is the kind of sentence that usually ends with somebody testifying in front of Congress about data collection gone wrong.

None of this seems to affect Peraton, a defense contractor that holds a $979 million contract to identify threats in coordination with US Central Command. Peraton did not respond to The Free Press’ requests for comment, possibly because they were too busy deciding whether your aunt’s Facebook post counts as hostile influence activity.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | | 1 Comment

Microsoft Broadens Always-Watching AI-Powered Recall Tool That Logs and Indexes User Activity

A built-in memory machine disguised as convenience, Recall quietly turns every moment at your keyboard into searchable history.

By Ken Macon | Reclaim The Net | April 19, 2025

Microsoft’s renewed push to roll out Recall, an AI-powered feature in Windows 11 that automatically logs user activity every few seconds, is reigniting deep concerns among those focused on digital privacy and personal security.

Initially paused following a storm of backlash last year, Recall has quietly returned in a preview version of Windows 11 (Build 26100.3902), now available to select testers. The tool takes snapshots of a user’s screen at regular intervals and creates a searchable timeline of everything from app usage to websites visited and documents accessed. While Microsoft pitches this as a convenience tool, privacy advocates see a surveillance mechanism in disguise.

The company claims the tool is safe. It requires users to opt in and enroll in Windows Hello to access stored snapshots. Microsoft describes the feature as a way to “quickly find and get back to any app, website, image, or document just by describing its content.” Users, the company says, can pause recording and choose what is saved.

But these assurances fall flat for those warning about the broader consequences. The fact that Recall is opt-in does not prevent the exposure of data from people who never enabled it. If someone with Recall turned on receives a private photo, message, or sensitive document, it will be silently captured, analyzed, and indexed by the tool, regardless of the sender’s intent or privacy tools used.

The feature’s ability to store and catalog data so comprehensively opens up a host of legal, security, and ethical issues. Lawyers, governments, and spyware operators would gain an unprecedented level of access to a user’s digital life; not through brute force or phishing, but through a built-in tool that essentially creates a time-lapse of computer activity.

For those wary of the increasing creep of AI into daily computing, Recall has become a textbook case. Critics have framed it as part of a larger trend where companies inject AI features into existing platforms not to serve users, but to drive engagement, data collection, or lock-in.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

From Ms. Rachel To Anti-War College Students: The End Of American Free Speech

By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | April 19, 2025

Working together with the most powerful government in the world, Zionist organizations are smearing and persecuting anyone who expresses sympathy with Palestinians, subjected to a genocide subsidized with their own tax dollars. From the media to academia, American free speech rights are being stripped.

Fulfilling an agenda laid out in a 33-page document named “Project Esther”, published in October of last year by the Heritage Foundation, the US government is teaming up with extremist elements of the Zionist Lobby to crush criticism of Israel.

From its recommendations to form a federal task force to combat alleged antisemitism, which is really just criticism of the Israeli government, to its strategy to tear down leading academic institutions, the plan is being followed.

The Heritage Foundation, most well-known for its “Project 2025”, is known to possess considerable influence on the Trump White House. Yet, despite its obvious influence and policy recommendations that are being followed, almost down to the letter, there has been little connection drawn between these think-tank documents and Donald Trump’s anti-free speech crusade.

It is evident, however, that the Democratic Party also presided over the greatest assault on academic freedom in American history, placing itself in line with the Zionist Lobby, which is why it makes sense that there is no incentive from Democrat-aligned media to give light to this topic. Although the situation has only grown more dire for free speech rights, particularly on college campuses, since the departure of former President Joe Biden.

Uncharted Waters

Under the Trump administration, it started to become clear with the detention of Mahmoud Khalil that we were entering uncharted waters. The mere fact that a Green-Card holder, accused of no crime, and who is married to an American citizen, was snatched in the night by plain-clothed ICE officers, who ferried him off from New York to Louisiana, was a tell-tale sign of things to come.

Thereafter, things only grew worse. Zionist student groups and racist extremist organizations have worked to put together lists of completely peaceful, law-abiding individuals who are set to be targeted by federal security agencies.

Claiming persecution themselves, these groups hide behind the cloak of being offended by anti-war protests, in order to work with the state to see their political opposition suppressed by force.

Yet, the crackdown has not been limited to students/former students. Instead, this campaign that aims to trample on the First Amendment rights as they are laid out in the US Constitution is beginning to empower pro-Israel extremists.

Weaponizing the claims of antisemitism and claiming that their targets are “Hamas supporters”, these organizations no longer are required to even present evidence for their allegations.

The Case of Ms. Rachel

This lack of any proof for the claims being made was no more evident than in the case of Ms. Rachel, a popular children’s entertainer.

A pro-Israel organization known as “Stopantisemitism” decided to accuse Ms. Rachel of spreading Hamas propaganda and requested the US government investigate whether she is receiving foreign funding.

Ms. Rachel has not commented on any of the political dynamics concerning the genocide in Gaza, yet has long expressed her sympathies for Palestinian children suffering in the Gaza Strip, as well as the Israeli Bibas family. There is nothing even remotely antisemitic about her posts on the topic, nor do they have anything to do with Hamas.

Yet, the US government appears to have reached the same point Israel has, where an accusation that someone is affiliated with Hamas needs no evidence to corroborate it before action is taken.

In Israel’s case, the action taken is the detention, torture, and/or murder of that individual, whereas in the United States, it can come in the form of detention or legal battles for now.

This assault on free speech is being carried out against media outlets also, using similar tactics of providing baseless claims regarding collaboration with Hamas, and even on behalf of Israeli citizens filing their cases in US courts to take down registered not-for-profit organizations.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Fired employees call for boycott of Microsoft over its role in Gaza genocide

Press TV – April 19, 2025

Two former Microsoft employees slammed the company for complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza and systematic apartheid in the West Bank, urging global boycotts against the tech giant.

Hossam Nasr, a software engineer, and Abdo Mohamed, a data scientist, who were both fired in 2024 for organizing a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza, called for severing Microsoft’s partnerships that support military operations.

According to Nasr, Microsoft provides cloud services, AI capabilities, translation, and data storage to the Israeli military, and “they use Microsoft translation services to translate the data they collect on Palestinians from Arabic to Hebrew.”

“Then they feed that into a pipeline of AI targeting systems that help determine where to bomb in Gaza and help Israel classify innocent Palestinians as terrorists,” he said, citing reports showing a 200-fold increase in Israel’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools between October 2023 and March 2024.

“Their usage of cloud storage increased to 13.6 petabytes,” he added.

“Microsoft Azure also hosts the target bank for the Israeli military,” he said, noting: “It hosts the civil registry of the Palestinian population.”

“These systems allow Israel to accelerate and exacerbate its genocide in Gaza to unforeseen levels,” he said.

Nasr pointed out that Microsoft staff became deeply embedded in Israeli military units, including Unit 8200, the notorious Israeli military intelligence branch.

“Microsoft employees become so embedded… that they become described as soldiers, acting as soldiers within those units,” he said.

“This kind of deep partnership allows Israel to automate and remove any sort of human element to the Palestinians,” he added. “It turns the mass murder of Palestinians into essentially a video game.”

Nasr said Microsoft’s technology is also used in the West Bank through applications such as Al-Munasik, which helps control Palestinian movement.

“Microsoft is enabling the apartheid system and the racial segregation system in the West Bank and the rest of Palestine,” he said.

He also criticized Microsoft’s employee donation program, saying, “They allow donations to illegal Israeli settlements and match them.”

“No Azure for Apartheid” campaign, which they co-founded, was inspired by earlier efforts at other tech companies.

“That campaign started as bombs were dropping on the heads of Palestinian children in Gaza in the wake of the Sheikh Jarrah events in 2021,” Nasr said, adding, “We took inspiration from our colleagues at Google and Amazon… to launch our own campaign at Microsoft in 2024.”

Nasr explained that the goal of their campaign was to sever Microsoft’s partnerships that support the Israeli regime’s forces brutal attacks against Gaza and the West Bank.

He insisted that holding meetings and writing letters did not have the necessary impact, and boycotting the company was the only way to stop its cooperation.

Nasr said that their campaign coordinated the April 4 protests during Microsoft’s 50th anniversary events.

“As soon as we became aware that Microsoft was planning a celebration… we made it clear that we will not allow Microsoft to celebrate while their hands are stained with Palestinian blood.”

“It is no longer sufficient to be in meetings with executives or writing emails,” Nasr highlighted.

“It is imperative for us… to stop materially contributing and materially partnering to the genocide of our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” he emphasized.

“We have made a huge dent in this Microsoft castle,” Nasr concluded. “I do believe that Microsoft’s reputation has never been more tarnished because of its complicity in genocide,” he said.

Nasr said losing his job or being deported from the US was a “cheap price to pay” compared to what Palestinians endure.

“A lot of the time I’m asked… Are you not scared of being fired? Of being deported?” he said. “And my response is always… Are you not scared of being complicit in the Holocaust of our time? Of what you’ll tell your children and grandchildren when they ask… Where were you when the genocide in Palestine and Gaza was happening?”

The Israel regime launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023.

Since then, it has killed at least 51,065 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 116,505 others.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Yemeni Armed Forces Announce Downing US MQ-9 Drone over Sanaa: Second in 24 Hrs, Sixth in a Month

Al-Manar | April 19, 2025

Within the framework of confronting the ongoing American aggression against Yemen, the Yemeni air defenses succeeded in shooting down a hostile American MQ-9 drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Sanaa Governorate, according to a statement read by the military spokesman General Yahya Sarea.

The drone was shot down with a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile, Sarea affirmed.

“This is the second drone our air defenses have successfully shot down within 24 hours and the sixth during the current month of April. This brings the number of drones shot down during the Battle of the Promised Victory and Holy Jihad to 21.”

The continued airstrikes and targeting of civilians, properties, and public and private facilities will not break the will of the faithful, struggling Yemeni people, the statement added.

“This will only lead to greater steadfastness and unwavering support for the oppressed Palestinian people in confronting the genocidal war crime being perpetrated by the Zionist enemy against our people in Gaza, in response to our religious, moral, and humanitarian duty.”

We will continue our support operations until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted, General Sarea affirmed.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , | Leave a comment

Israel is the sole obstacle to nuke-free West Asia, says Iran’s FM

Press TV – April 19, 2025

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Israel is the only obstacle to the realization of a nuclear weapons-free West Asia, warning that the occupying regime is fomenting Iranophobia while committing genocide in the region.

Araghchi made the remarks on Saturday in Rome during a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani. The two met ahead of the second round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, mediated by Oman at its embassy in the Italian capital.

Reaffirming Iran’s commitment to diplomacy, Araghchi urged all parties to seize the opportunity for a “logical and reasonable understanding” that would recognize Iran’s legitimate rights and lift “unjust and illegal sanctions.”

He emphasized Iran’s peaceful nuclear intentions, reiterating the country’s rejection of weapons of mass destruction based on its religious and national values and defensive doctrine.

The Iranian minister also thanked Tajani for Italy’s coordination in facilitating the talks and conveyed Easter greetings to the Italian people.

Tajani welcomed Araghchi and expressed Italy’s strong interest in deepening ties with Iran. He said hosting the talks was of great value to Rome and stressed Italy’s readiness to assist the negotiations in any possible way.

Araghchi arrived in Rome earlier in the day for talks on Tehran’s civilian nuclear program and termination of Washington’s unlawful sanctions against the country.

Iran had ruled out direct negotiations with the US under pressure or threats of war but stated that it remains open to indirect talks.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Diego Garcia: ethnically cleansed for US forever wars

By Aidan J. Simardone | The Cradle | April 18, 2025

US President Donald Trump’s recent threat to strike Iran unless it halts its nuclear program has revived interest in a long-standing American asset: Diego Garcia. B-2 stealth bombers have been deployed to the island – British territory in name but an American garrison in practice – suggesting that Washington is either preparing for war or raising the stakes with an aggressive bluff.

Located in the heart of the Indian Ocean, the Diego Garcia island gives the United States unmatched reach across West Asia, Eastern Africa, and South Asia. It has been a launchpad for every major US war in the region – from Iraq to Afghanistan. Now, it may be key to a possible assault on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But this island, remote and seemingly uncontroversial, is steeped in colonial injustice. Its original inhabitants, the Chagossians, were forcibly expelled to make way for the base. The UK, under pressure from Washington, detached the archipelago from Mauritius and ethnically cleansed it.

In 2024, Britain finally agreed to hand back the islands to Mauritius, but the US lease remains. For now, Diego Garcia is securely in American hands – and poised once again to serve as a launchpad for imperial warfare.

From paradise to genocide

Once colonized by France and later Britain, the Chagos Islands were home to a unique Creole population descended from African slaves and Indian laborers. For generations, the Chagossians lived peacefully on the islands, building a distinct identity with their own language and customs.

As anti-colonial movements swept across Africa and Asia in the 1950s and 1960s, the US sought new bases to maintain its influence around the Indian Ocean. Camp Badaber in Pakistan ultimately closed in 1970 as the country became closer with China. The Eritrean War of Independence threatened Kagnew Station in Ethiopia. The loss of both bases would be a major blow to US intelligence gathering of Soviet activities.

Diego Garcia could plug this gap, but there were two problems: the islands were part of Mauritius and had inhabitants.

In violation of international legal norms, Britain pressured Mauritius into giving up the Chagos Archipelago.

Then began the ethnic cleansing. To intimidate the islanders, their beloved pet dogs were killed en masse through shooting and gassing. The largest plantation was closed, depriving people of employment.

Food and medical supplies were restricted to kill the population or force them to leave. By 1971, those who remained were told they needed a legal permit, which no one received. With little notice, many were forced to leave their homes. Reminiscent of the slave boats their ancestors were brought in, Chagossians were crammed into the bottom of boats as they fled the islands.

A launchpad for endless war

With the island empty and the runway extended, Diego Garcia quickly became central to US war strategy. It played a key role in the 1980 failed hostage rescue mission in Iran, “Operation Eagle Claw,” and later against Iran during the Iran–Iraq War.

In 1987, the runway was improved for the stationing of US B-52 Bombers, which can deliver large payloads and precision-guided munitions. These bombers were vital during the Gulf War for attacking Iraq’s command and control centers, and again during the beginning of the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.

As the US expanded its footprint in the Persian Gulf, bases in Qatar and Bahrain took on greater significance – hosting long-range bombers, the US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) headquarters, and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. These two bases were vital: bombers from Qatar and vessels from Bahrain helped strike Taliban strongholds during the invasion of Afghanistan and hit Baghdad in the Shock and Awe campaign.

But proximity to the battlefield has become a double-edged sword. Iran’s significant missile arsenal, including hypersonic ones – demonstrated during its October 2024 retaliation against Israel – makes those Persian Gulf bases vulnerable.

Close proximity is also a challenge for B-2 stealth bombers, which can be detected at ground level and during takeoff. With only 20 B-2s, costing $2 billion each, this is a price the US cannot afford. If war breaks out, Tehran is unlikely to spare the economic infrastructure of its neighbors.

It is unlikely that either Bahrain or Qatar would be willing to bear the cost of an Iranian attack. Iran could not only attack US military bases, but also oil and gas infrastructure, which would destroy their economies. The two nations have also been edging closer to Iran: Tehran was one of the few capitals that supported Qatar during its diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf emirates; in the past year, Bahrain and Iran have also been working on restoring ties.

Diego Garcia, by contrast, sits well beyond the range of most Iranian missiles – at least that is the assessment for now. It allows stealth bombers to launch undetected, and Iran’s limited ability to punish the island’s British overlords makes it an ideal staging ground for Washington’s war plans.

According to available data, Iran’s longest-range missile is the Khorramshahr-4, with a reach of approximately 2,000 kilometers. Yet, the US military base in Diego Garcia – located deep in the Indian Ocean – is nearly 4,000 kilometers from Iran’s southern coast. While there is no confirmed evidence that Iran currently has the means to strike such a distant target, the existence of capabilities – undisclosed by the Islamic Republic – that could reach the US base cannot be entirely ruled out.

Moreover, the Khorramshahr-4 missile’s proven ability to evade Israeli air defenses raises concerns about the US’s ability to defend Diego Garcia in a major conflict – particularly if Iran possesses long-range missiles capable of striking the remote base.

Any attack on Iran could trigger a wider regional war, with blowback against American assets and allies across West Asia – from Tel Aviv to Riyadh. Killing a few Iranian leaders might offer symbolic victories, but Tehran’s command structure is built for resilience. The risks far outweigh the tactical gains.

A homeland turned fortress

Despite a 2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling demanding Britain end “its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible,” real justice for the Chagossians remains elusive. Although London agreed in October 2024 to begin the process of returning the archipelago to Mauritius, the US base is staying put. Mauritius offered a 99-year lease, without securing the right of return for the expelled Chagossians.

That could soon become permanent. If war erupts, Diego Garcia may once again be expanded, militarized further, and rendered uninhabitable. A concrete fortress will be all that remains of what was once a peaceful homeland.

In the end, whether through military strike or imperial inertia, the Chagossians risk losing their islands forever – not to history, but to America’s wars.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , | Leave a comment

Ties with Russia, China key to global peace – Iranian foreign minister

RT | April 19, 2025

Iran, Russia, and China intend to deepen their cooperation in order to promote global peace and security, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said in an exclusive interview with RT.

Tehran has been strengthening its ties with Moscow and Beijing in recent years, joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2023 and the BRICS group in 2024. Military cooperation has also expanded, most recently through joint naval drills conducted by the three countries off Iran’s coast in March.

Given the current international climate, working closely with Moscow and Beijing is “a necessity” for Tehran, Araghchi told the broadcaster on Saturday.

“We have started trilateral talks between Iran, Russia and China on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program for some time now,” he said, adding that two such meetings have already taken place. “We are ready to continue these talks and expand them to other issues,” the minister added.

Araghchi expressed confidence that “Iran, China and Russia – in a coordinated move – can take effective steps towards international peace.” The three partners “are serious about this,” he insisted.

Tehran’s top diplomat also said that bilateral “relations between Iran and Russia have never been so close and so strong” than at the current moment.

“We now have a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that raises the level of our relations to a strategic level. Major economic projects are underway between us. The volume of trade between us has increased tremendously,” he said.

Despite harsh Western restrictions slapped on both Iran and Russia, the two countries “are not waiting for the sanctions to be lifted, but we are expanding our relations in this situation,” Araghchi noted.

“We have the same and close positions on many international issues. I do not want to say that there are no disagreements between us. Sometimes there are also differences of opinion, but in most cases we have close positions with each other and, most importantly, we are in constant exchange of views,” he said.

Earlier this week, Russia’s Federation Council, the upper house of the country’s parliament, unanimously ratified the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Russia and Iran, which was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Peseshkian in January. The pact stipulates that the two nations will develop equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of politics, defense, economy, security, trade, investment, energy, infrastructure and other areas.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

Russia, China to Discuss Guarantees on Iran Deal with US – Iranian Lawmaker

Sputnik – 19.04.2025

The United States will not be the only one providing guarantees for a potential Tehran-Washington agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said ahead of the second round of US-Iran talks in Rome.

Russia and China will discuss with the US the issue of “more reliable guarantees” for Tehran, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said.

“During the negotiations between Tehran and Washington, guarantees will not only be provided by the US. Countries such as Russia and China will enter into negotiations with the United States on more reliable guarantees,” Boroujerdi said, as quoted by the Iranian state agency SNN.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was on an official visit to Moscow on Thursday and Friday, and in the next few days, according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA, Araghchi will visit China.

During his visit to Russia, the Iranian diplomat held a meeting and talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, conveying to him a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Araghchi also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The parties discussed regional and international cooperation, as well as the situation around the US-Iran talks, the first round of which took place on April 12 in Oman.

Indirect talks between US Presidential Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Araghchi took place in the Omani capital on April 12. According to the US special envoy, they were positive and constructive. Araghchi also described the atmosphere of these talks as constructive and calm, and announced that the second round of talks between the Islamic Republic and the United States would be held on April 19.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Russia announces Easter ceasefire

RT | April 19, 2025

Russia will pause hostilities with Ukraine from 18:00 on Saturday Moscow time until midnight on April 21, President Vladimir Putin has announced.

The president announced the temporary ceasefire on Saturday after a meeting with Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov. He expressed his hope that Kiev will show goodwill and observe the truce.

“At the same time, our troops must be prepared to react to possible violations of the ceasefire and provocations by the adversary, to any aggressive actions,” Putin stated.

Ukraine’s reaction to the Easter ceasefire will clearly demonstrate whether Kiev is able and sincerely willing to participate in the potential negotiations to bring the conflict to its end, the Russian president noted.

Putin invoked the 30-day energy truce between Moscow and Kiev, brokered by US President Donald Trump on March 18, noting Ukraine’s repeated violations.

“We know that the Kiev regime has violated the agreement on pausing energy infrastructure strikes more than a hundred times… Therefore, I ask you to be extremely attentive and focused, to be ready for an immediate full-force response,” he told Gerasimov.

Shortly after the president’s announcement, the Russian Defense Ministry released a short statement on the matter, urging Kiev to show reciprocity.

“The ceasefire regime is being introduced for humanitarian purposes and will be observed by the Russian Joint Group of Troops, provided that it is mutually observed by the Kiev regime,” the military said.

April 19, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

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