Washington “botched up” and now Kiev must accept worse peace conditions – retired US Colonel
By Ahmed Adel | November 10, 2023
Kiev will have to accept even worse conditions in peace negotiations because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put his faith in the United States, former Pentagon adviser and retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor said in an interview with the Judging Freedom YouTube channel. Macgregor’s voice is not alone in sharing this belief, especially now that the world’s attention has shifted from Eastern Europe to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“When he halted the advance of his forces in response to a stated willingness on the Ukrainian side to accept neutrality, he was being very serious,” the former Pentagon adviser said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that then Washington intervened in the dialogue between Moscow and Kiev, and “that was all botched badly.”
Macgregor agreed with independent commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano’s view that the conditions in the Ukraine negotiations will not be the same as two years ago. In addition, Western elites continue to lie, according to the retired US colonel.
“Zelensky was promised everything, and Zelensky believed it. He’s going to end up like everybody else that’s ever cooperated with us over time, out of a job and maybe lose his life in the process,” Macgregor pointed out.
Earlier, Macgregor highlighted that sooner or later, the US will have to admit the truth about defeat in the Ukrainian conflict publicly.
Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness for negotiations, but the Ukrainian authorities have imposed a legal ban on them. The Kremlin also noted that there were no prerequisites for the situation to become peaceful now while achieving the objectives of the special operation remained an absolute priority for Moscow.
Macgregor’s comments echo what Karen Kwiatkowski, a former US Air Force lieutenant colonel, also said in an interview with Judging Freedom.
“I don’t think he’ll be in Ukraine. I don’t wish him ill, but I don’t think he’ll be in Ukraine, and if he is in Ukraine, he might be underground,” said the expert, adding that the Kiev regime “destroyed their country, lost half their population” but will still end up with a similar peace deal that was offered to them beforehand.
Kwiatkowski drew attention to the recent death of Major Yuri Chistyakov, assistant to the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. In her opinion, his apparent assassination signals the “collapse” of the Ukrainian political and military structure. She believes that Ukrainian politicians and generals are now worried about their survival.
The expert noted that reports about the West’s attempts to persuade Zelensky to conduct peaceful negotiations with Russia put him in a “terrible position he brought on himself in many ways. He’s done for.”
The entire world already sees Ukraine’s president as no more than a “US puppet,” she said. “The puppet master is done, the game was over, the show was over.”
Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in an article published on November 1 in The Economist magazine that Ukrainian forces have reached a stalemate and that “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”
In the five months since launching its counter-offensive, Ukraine has advanced by just 17 kilometres in one section of the long front, which itself speaks of the catastrophic failure. More disturbingly, these measly gains in the much-lauded counteroffensive, with the propaganda behind it beginning in autumn 2022, have come at an immense cost.
Ukraine’s armed forces lost approximately 90,000 military troops killed and wounded during the counter-offensive it launched a few months ago without accomplishing any substantial tactical successes, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu announced on October 30.
“Only since June 4 – that is, since the start of the West’s widely publicised and generously funded Ukrainian counter-offensive – Kiev has lost over 90,000 military personnel killed or wounded, 600 tanks, and nearly 1,900 armoured vehicles of various classes. At the same time, no tactically significant successes were made on the battlefield,” Shoigu said.
With the world’s attention now nearly completely shifted to the Middle East, Kiev has an even weaker negotiating position than it already had because of the catastrophic failure of the counteroffensive and the near destruction of its military. For this reason, Zelensky, even if he continues to deny it, is under increased pressure to open negotiations with Moscow.
NBC News reported on November 4, citing one current US official and one former US official familiar with the discussions, that Washington and Brussels have begun talking with the Ukrainian government about possible peace negotiations with Russia, including what they might need to give up. Reportedly, the discussions started in October during a meeting including NATO members due to concerns that the Russia-Ukraine war had reached a stalemate.
However, this is a false belief since the war is only at a stalemate because Russia has been in a defensive position, except in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and a few other locations, for over a year. Once Moscow launches its offensive, the stalemate will be broken in a way that will devastate Ukraine. For this reason, Macgregor and Kwiatkowski are urging Zelensky towards accepting a peace deal [to avert] the loss of more life and territory.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
Hezbollah’s actions showcase their perseverance to secure victory
Al Mayadeen | November 6, 2023
Benjamin Netanyahu desperately seeks to get the United States involved in a multi-front war, Scott Ritter, a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer, told Al Mayadeen.
During a panel discussion, Ritter explained that Netanyahu is the only person who wants the Northern Front to open with Lebanon, in order to draw the US into the war his government is leading on Gaza because he realizes that his forces are “not up to the task; they can’t defeat Hamas and Hezbollah at the same time.”
Ritter also pointed to the crucial role that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, is executing regarding the unfolding events. “The key player here is Hassan Nasrallah what he will do and he’s made it clear that he is in the business of escalation management; that he is not willing to precipitously escalate the violence with Israel unless provoked.”
For Ritter, Hezbollah’s actions showcase their perseverance to secure victory against the Israeli occupation.
‘Israel’ has lost the propaganda war
“There was a horrific attack against civilians in Lebanon, a sovereign state, carried out by Israel. Nothing we can say can change that reality But this is not the first time this has taken place nor will it be the last time it takes place. This is the standard Israeli operating procedure, Ritter said.
The former Marine Corps officer highlighted Hezbollah’s awareness and perseverance in responding to such situations, which has exacerbated contradictions between the Israeli and American governments.
“The people of Lebanon, the people of Syria, the people of Iraq, [and] the people of Palestine have suffered under this kind of Israeli behavior for decades now,” Ritter told Al Mayadeen.
He later underlined the key factor that will affect “Israel’s” ability to commit brutal and careless crimes in the region, which is the “unquestioned backing of the United States.”
Ritter underscored “that is no longer as guaranteed as it used to be in the past,” as disparency between the United States and “Israel” grows.
This has been accelerated by “a paradigm shift taking place” where “hundreds of thousands of people were in the streets, demonstrating in support of the Palestinian cause, demonstrating in many in support in Hamas,” Ritter underscored.
The political analyst shed light on the vast protests happening in core US cities, such as New York and Washington, as well as popular protests all across the world as factors that have pushed the Palestinian narrative to the forefront of discussions.
“This has never happened before. This is a historical moment, as President [Joe] Biden likes to say, it is an inflection point on American relations with the Arab world, on American relations with Israel today.”
Sayyed Hassan’s foresight cracks Israeli-US ties
Ritter reiterated that Hezbollah’s approach to the war on Gaza has pushed the Palestinian narrative to the forefront globally. In a scenario where Hezbollah instigates a wider escalation, Ritter believes that “people will stop talking about Palestine. People will stop talking about Israel’s aggression, and they will now focus on a new front that will probably include Iran.”
“This is again why Hassan Nasrallah speaks of perseverance. Perseverance means that you have to struggle through the difficult times to ensure that you are not distracted from the strategic vision,” Ritter explained.
He reiterated that “Hamas is winning this fight. Israel cannot prevail. Israel cannot defeat Hamas on the ground. Israel has lost the propaganda battle globally; they have lost in the United States.”
Violent clashes break out in northeast Syria in response to US airstrikes
The Cradle | November 9, 2023
Local sources in Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate report that intense clashes broke out between the US occupation army and its Kurdish proxy – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies stationed west of the Euphrates River in the morning of 9 November.
Attacks on the US-occupied territory east of the Euphrates started shortly after US jets bombed an alleged weapon storage facility the Pentagon says was used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Wednesday night that two F-15 jets bombed the facility, adding that attacks on US troops in West Asia “must stop.” According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least nine people were killed in the attack.
“If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people,” Austin stressed.
As the clashes raged early on Thursday, missiles and drone strikes hit the US-occupation bases in Al-Omar and Conoco oil fields in Deir Ezzor. Earlier in the night, the Iraqi Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced that a new round of airstrikes hit US troops stationed at the Al-Harir air base in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The latest attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria happened mere hours after Yemeni resistance group Ansarallah announced they had shot down an advanced US MQ9 Reaper drone that was “carrying out hostile, monitoring, and spying operations in Yemeni territorial waters.”
According to the Pentagon, 45 US troops have been injured in drone and rocket attacks by regional resistance forces since the start of the Gaza-Israel war.
In response to the growing threat from the Resistance Axis, Washington has deployed nearly a dozen warships and thousands of troops to the region. Special forces from the UK, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have also been deployed recently to provide support for Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza.
Biden regime moves to clamp down on pro-Palestine student groups in US
By Shabbir Rizvi | Press TV | November 8, 2023
Since the onset of the Al Aqsa Storm Operation more than a month ago, the US has seen an unprecedented level of support and solidarity for the Palestinian people and resistance.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in different US cities, not only condemning the Zionist regime for its horrific war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip and the ongoing occupation but for the US government’s direct role in supporting such crimes.
A particular note has to be made regarding the role of young people – specifically university student groups and coalitions – who have organized marches, rallies, speakouts, walkouts, and more.
Organizations such as the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Muslim Students Association (MSA), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and others have not only devoted much of their time and energy championing the Palestinian cause on campuses – but have done so with tremendous bravery.
These demonstrators have been braving great risks and threats from pro-Israel lobbies.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are conflated in the political mechanisms of the United States. These political tendencies, which are really just Zionist propaganda points, are also disseminated into college campuses through special interest organizations and the academic curriculum itself.
Pro-Palestine organizers put themselves at great risk with their activities – groups like the “Anti-Defamation League” or other Zionist groups often target activists to smear or doxx them.
Despite this, the Palestinian cause has become unshakable on campuses. From prestigious universities like Harvard to the small-town community college, the Palestinian struggle is making itself known – and it has turned heads. So much so that the federal government is now taking action to clamp down on it.
The Joe Biden administration, revising Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, asserted a new, egregious clarification to the 1964 law – insisting it prohibits “certain forms of antisemitic, Islamophobic, and related forms of discrimination in federally funded programs and activities.”
It is worth noting that the update to the civil rights legislation is being done directly through the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
Clearly, the ongoing struggle for Palestinian freedom has struck a nerve with the Biden administration.
Adding this clarification would threaten universities with having federal funding pulled – which many universities cannot exist without – if the federal government deems the university is breeding “anti-semitism.”
Anti-Semitism, under the Biden administration’s official definition, conflates criticism of Israel with anti-semitism.
Through this egregious conflation, Zionist groups can play the victim as they notoriously do and claim that cases of anti-semitism are on the rise when that is simply not the case. Calls for Palestinian liberation is on the rise, which the state – through its legal definition – deems as “anti-Semitic.”
The definition lays the groundwork for enforcing a total ban on all pro-Palestine student activity as the very nationhood of Palestine is under direct threat by the US-backed Israeli occupation regime.
Every and any act of solidarity with Palestine on university campuses could mean arrest or expulsion.
Through bureaucratic measures, the Biden administration – and those that would follow after – could crack down on Pro-Palestine groups within universities by forcing the university to either comply with its new definition of anti-semitism – or face all of its federal funding being revoked.
Universities would then be the ones forced to stop Palestine solidarity demonstrations – and not an arm of the state, which would likely invite different legal hassles and challenges.
The Biden administration is moving fast to enforce this unpopular measure – more than 200 security experts at the Department of Homeland Security have now been deployed to schools to “monitor antisemitism” according to a White House official.
The state is acknowledging that it is devoting a significant amount of resources to prevent the spread of the Palestinian freedom movement.
And as such, some universities are already caving in to Zionist and state pressure.
Brandeis University, in Massachusetts, has completely banned the Students for Justice in Palestine organization. The local SJP chapter was then forced to cancel a vigil they had planned for Monday night to honor the 10,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza by US-funded bombs used by the Zionist regime.
Other states are experiencing more heavy-handed repression. Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has issued a complete ban on Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Of course, legal action is always an option on the table. But the process can be lengthy, and full of different obstacles – such as money, time, and ongoing threats from the state and Zionist lobby.
This is by design – slowing down the rapidly growing march of the Palestinian cause on universities is pivotal for the Biden administration as it brazenly defends Israeli war crimes.
So even if the student groups could win a legal case, this critical moment in US politics would be something the student organizations could not legally pursue through campus mechanisms.
The binding false definition that ties anti-Semitism to anti-Zionism will be the primary legal hurdle, and not just in universities.
By using this standard on campuses, it is plausible to extend it to cities too – threatening to cut federal funding for city projects if local authorities do not crack down on Palestinian groups and their activities.
It is a dangerous precedent being set and lays bare the hypocritical nature of freedom of speech and assembly in the United States.
The silver lining here is perhaps tied to that exactly – never before has the Palestinian cause been so powerful in the United States as it is today.
With Biden’s tanking numbers in the polls ahead of an election year, complimented by hundreds of thousands attending Palestine marches in the streets, this legislation has the potential to backfire against not only Biden but the US political apparatus as a whole.
Only time will tell what legal battles will arise from this political fiasco. But one thing is for certain: the road ahead is long, and the state should expect a fierce fight from activists who are already willing to risk their lives for Palestine.
Shabbir Rizvi is a Chicago-based political analyst with a focus on US internal security and foreign policy.
Red Cross condemns attack on aid convoy in Gaza City
MEMO | November 8, 2023
Humanitarian aid convoy came under attack in Gaza yesterday, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Condemning the strike, the ICRC said it was “deeply troubled that its humanitarian convoy in Gaza City came under fire on Tuesday. The ICRC reminds the parties of their obligation under international humanitarian law to respect and protect humanitarian workers at all times.”
The convoy of five trucks and two ICRC vehicles was carrying lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities, including to Al-Quds Hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, when it was hit. Two trucks were damaged, and a driver was lightly wounded.
“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” said William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza. “We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital assistance can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law.”
After the incident the convoy altered its route and reached Al-Shifa hospital where it delivered the medical supplies. Afterward, the ICRC convoy accompanied six ambulances with critically wounded patients to the Rafah crossing.
Israel has intensified its bombing campaign in the northern Gaza Strip and has called on all civilians to leave, saying that those who remain will be assumed to be fighters and therefore targeted. This is in spite of the fact that tens of thousands do not have the means or ability to leave the area and thousands are working as emergency workers supporting their local community, including at Al-Shifa Hospital.
US media say Israel is retaliating. The facts show the opposite

A woman taking part in the women’s march near Israel’s fence imprisoning Gazans on July 3, 2018 is carried on a stretcher
By Alison Weir | If Americans Knew | November 8, 2023
US media reports virtually always say that Israeli violence against Palestinians is “retaliation”. The chronology, however, shows the opposite.
Time after time, US news coverage of the issue begins when Palestinians have committed violence, without noting that this violence was preceded by Israeli violence.
Most recently, US news reports make it appear that the current violence began on October 7th, while failing to mention that Israeli forces had been killing Palestinians regularly in the days, weeks, months, and years before that.


Current news reports also fail to note that October 7th was basically a prison break from what many have accurately described as the world’s largest open air prison, imprisoning over 2 million men, women, and children.
Media reports also neglect to inform Americans that the communities surrounding Gaza are built on stolen Palestinian land, many of the former owners imprisoned in the Gaza ghetto, destitute and desperate.
Media reports also fail to inform Americans that before the October operation, thousands of Gazans had gathered every week for over a year and a half to protest their imprisonment and dispossession – and Israeli forces had shot them, week after week.
Media also fail to inform Americans that it is Israel that regularly initiates the violence after periods of calm, according to an MIT professor’s study on the subject.
This type of news coverage is not new, and has often been found in alternative media as well as legacy media companies.
While the pro-Israel lobby in the US is arguably the most powerful special interest group in the country (it appears that $19 billion may go to Israel this year alone), and while media coverage of the issue is demonstrably slanted toward Israel, there are growing numbers of Americans who are demanding a stop to US support for Israeli crimes.
Until Americans learn the many facts on this issue being obscured by US media, the tragic violence in the region, and the wars fought on Israel’s behalf, will continue, and Americans, too, will continue to die.
Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew, president of the Council for the National Interest, and author of Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel.
Hamas faces off against Israeli troops pushing into ‘heart’ of Gaza City
The Cradle | November 8, 2023
Hamas’ Qassam Brigades continue to confront invading Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, as Tel Aviv claims its forces have reached the “heart” of Gaza City.
The Qassam Brigades announced in a statement on 8 November that since the early morning, its forces destroyed “15 enemy vehicles in several areas in Gaza.”
The statement also announced “the sniping of a soldier in the Al-Tawam area, wounding him directly.”
Resistance fighters also targeted a gathering of soldiers and vehicles south of Gaza City with a Konkurs guided missile, as well as two tanks and an armored troop carrier near the Al-Shati camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the group’s Telegram page.
Fierce clashes were reported in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, as well.
The Quds Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement also targeted several Israeli armored vehicles with mortar fire near the Al-Mashtal hotel in northwestern Gaza.
The Israeli army said on 8 October that two more soldiers were killed inside Gaza. This brings the number of casualties admitted by Israel up to 33 since 27 October, when Tel Aviv announced limited ground operations inside Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army claims that its troops are now deep inside Gaza City.
Israeli forces are operating “in the heart” of Gaza City and are “tightening the noose” around Hamas, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on 7 November.
“Gaza City is surrounded. We are operating within it; we are deepening the pressure on Hamas every hour, every day,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that evening.
The prime minister vowed that there would be no ceasefire until all prisoners inside Gaza were returned to Israel.
The Israeli air force has also continued to launch indiscriminate air strikes across the strip, including in the south, where Tel Aviv has called on civilians to evacuate.
In Khan Younis, Israeli warplanes destroyed two Mosques on 8 November. Several other areas in central and northern Gaza were struck by fighter jets.
Hamas to remain key player in Gaza’s future: Resistance group’s senior official to Netanyahu
Press TV – November 8, 2023
A senior member of Hamas political bureau says the resistance movement will continue to be the key player in the politics and the administration of the Gaza Strip which has been under brutal aggression by the Israeli regime for over a month.
Ghazi Hamad said on Wednesday that claims by US officials about the diminishing role of Hamas in Gaza are in fact a sign they have failed to defeat the group after more than a month of military action.
Hamad told Al Jazeera that despite the claims, Hamas is currently a powerful political and military force in Gaza that still determines the course of action in the territory.
He said efforts by the Israeli regime and the US to redefine the situation in Gaza have failed and they have achieved nothing in the small blockaded territory and have only caused mass killing of civilians and destruction of hospitals and the civilian infrastructure.
The official said restoring order to Gaza is purely a Palestinian issue and Hamas will remain a key part of that process despite the will of the US government and the Israeli regime.
The remarks came after Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel would maintain “overall security responsibility” for Gaza “for an indefinite period” when the war ends.
He, however, did not elaborate on the kind of security mechanism such a plan would involve.
At least 10,569 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli regime launched its military campaign on the territory on October 7.
The aggression started after an operation by Hamas that killed 1,400 settlers and military forces in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine near Gaza.
Israel has declared its main ambition from invading Gaza is to eradicate Hamas, which has ruled the territory for the past 15 years.
Military experts say the Hamas operation against Israel dealt a huge blow to the regime’s myth of invincibility and boosted the morale of resistance groups in Gaza and in the wider Palestine.
Why Does US Keep Mum on Arms Supplies to Israel?
By Oleg Burunov – Sputnik – 08.11.2023
The Biden administration remains tight-lipped about “critical” US military equipment being delivered to Tel Aviv amid the ongoing armed conflict between Palestine and Israel.
US claims that transparency about Washington’s weapons delivers to Tel Aviv would endanger Israel’s operational security are misleading, experts have told The Intercept.
William Hartung, a fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on weapons sales, said: “The notion that it would in any way harm the Israeli military’s operational security to provide more information is a cover story for efforts to reduce information on the types of weapons being supplied to Israel and how they are being used.”
According to him, “the purposeful lack of transparency over what weapons the US is supplying to Israel ‘on a daily basis’ is tied to the larger administration policy of downplaying the extent to which Israel will use those weapons to commit war crimes and kill civilians in Gaza.”
Hartung added that even as the Biden administration supports Israel with “weapons and rhetoric, it is a delicate matter politically to give all the details on US weapons supplied to the Israeli military, some of which will certainly be used in illegal attacks on civilians if the war continues to grind on.”
The Intercept also cited an unnamed retired US Marine general as saying that Washington keeping mum on details on its arms supplies to Tel Aviv can be attributed to the political sensitivity of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
In particular, weapons used in door-to-door urban warfare, which […] result in civilian casualties, are not going to be something the [Biden] administration wants to publicize, the retired officer said.
The remarks come after US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby admitted late last month that the White House is “being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what Israel is getting [in terms of military aid]— for their own operational security purposes, of course.”
Although the US Department of Defense at first declined to identify any specific weapons systems supplied to Israel, it finally revealed that these include “precision guided munitions, small diameter bombs, artillery, ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors and other critical equipment.”
The Intercept noted in this vein that, “What ‘other critical equipment’ entails remains a mystery, as do specifics about the quantity of arms being supplied, which the US administration has refused to disclose.”
The US news website also recalled that while the Biden administration “put out a three-page list of arms for Ukraine, information on weapons sent to Israel could fit in one sentence.”
US President Joe Biden earlier requested $14.3 billion in funding for Israel in addition to the over $3 billion in military assistance Washington already provides.

